Otoriphobia

3: Sell your soul to the robot rat.

"D...Debut...?"

"..."

Tomoko didn't say anything else, for there was no time to speak.

The quake had started out as a moderate tremble, but it was picking up the pace, becoming a violent storm that twisted Yuuna's world and nearly threw him off his feet.

At this point, he was holding onto Tomoko for dear life, and she was doing the same with him, despite being far less terrified than Yuuna was.

The trembles roared over the frightened yells of the other strangers...

"W-Wait! There's something coming out of the ground...!"

Yuuna slowly raised his hand, pointing at a distant black shape that slowly arose from its place underground. Yuuna couldn't make out exactly what it was due to the violent commotion it was causing, but something was definitely making its appearance.

And then, all of a sudden...

The trembles stopped.

"..."

The earthquake had left the guady room in shambles.

Cracks covered the floors and walls, and even the ceiling above them.

It looked like a herd of dinosaurs had ravaged the place, leaving it in a pitiful state of decay.

"Y-YUUNA!"

Yuuna quickly raised his head upon being called on, only to see a dust-covered Korekiyo running over hurriedly as he pulled Yuuna close, examining him.

"Y-You alright over here?"

"...Yeah..."

Korekiyo quickly turned to Tomoko, grabbing her wrist and glancing her over as well.

"...I'm fine, sir. Thank you."

"Ah, thank God..."

Korekiyo let out an exasperated sigh.

"I seriously thought... we were all going to di-"

"HEY HEY HEY, EVERYBODY! WHAT'S WITH THE BLEAK ATTITUDES?!"

"H-Huh?! That... That voice..."

Everyone turned to look at the center of the room- where Yuuna had seen a mysterious object rising from the floor earlier. The object that had caused this massive uproar.

...

It was a stage.

A large, star-covered performance stage that looked fitting for a cheesy comedy routine.

But also expensive-looking enough to suit a corny 80's pop star...

And in the center of the massive stage stood...

An animatronic rat.

"A... A rat?! It... It's holding a microphone!"

The animatronic- a robotic, black-furred rat holding a shiny microphone and fixing his sparkly gold bow tie, stood upon the stage with pride and glamor.

"Hey, I can hear ya from over here, ya know. Tone down the insults... we just met. That ain't the kind of welcoming party I'm looking for, either..."

"Anyways, that's not important!"

The rat animatronic turned its head to look at the crowd, as the confused and shaken-up people pulled themselves back up to their feet and slowly approached the stage to get a better view of the new guest.

"The name's Ricky Nezumi. R-I-C-K-Y! Ricky! Not Niki or Nikki. Screw it up and you're dead. Anyhow, sorry about all the ruckus... this stage is pretty damn big, ya know? Cost a lot to have it built. Then again, it's a worthy price to pay for lookin' snazzy."