Demolished

Chapter 3

"Now, let's greet the latest intergalactic goofballs who'll be playing with us today." A strange voice introduced, and the Paladins blinked in the sudden light, very confused.

"Where are we?" Lance mumbled, glancing around.

"The last thing I remember-" Pidge began, but Hunk cut her off.

"OM goodness!" Hunk giggled, reaching over and picking her up, spinning around. "You're awake! You're okay!"

"-urkkk-" Pidge groaned, trying to get out of his death grip. "-yep...yeah...H-hunk...breathe-!"

"Oh, right, sorry." He set her back on her feet, before looking her up and down. "You look great!"

Keith placed a hand on her shoulder, offering her a small smile before turning back, confused.

A weird alien on a hover chair drove up to Keith, thrusting a microphone into his face. "Hello; what's your name, and where are you from?"

Keith purposely avoided the question. "Um. Where are we?"

"Wuh-oh." The strange alien grinned. "Looks like somebody wasn't listening to Norlox."

A very snotty alien 'humphed' in arrogance.

"What is this, everyone?"

Am invisible audience called out in unison. "Garfle Warfle Snick!"

Keith also chose to ignore the fact they had only 'spawned' at the end of the announcement. "Right...but how did we get here?"

"I'll tell you how Norlox got here." The alien grinned. "His Uncle runs the studio."

'Norlox' glared at the alien is betrayal as the audience laughed.

"My name's Bob." The alien grinned, facing them happily. "Now, son, introduce you and your friends."

Keith had to sharply remind himself that this...thing was not actually his father. Some cultures just called the younger generation 'son'. "Um...I'm Keith. This is Allura...Hunk...Lance...an-and Pidge." He settled a hand on her shoulder again, weakly grinning down at her. "Nice to see your legs are...healed. Now, I'm gonna be real clear on this, Bob." Keith slammed his hands onto the game show stand in front of him, fear for the youngest Paladin hammering in his chest. If anything happened to her, so help him... "We're going to get out of this place, and you can't stop us."

"Oh." Bob grinned sneakily. "I don't think so." Snapping his fingers, a glowy structure surrounded their legs, freezing them to the platform underneath their feet, and they all let out a gasp of horror.

"Nngh-!" Allura gapped with awe.

"It's so tight! I can't move my legs!" Lance protested.

Pidge rolled her eyes at this. "Oh-no, what a nightmare!"

"Sorry." Lance mumbled, then glanced up at Bob, confused. "Wait, Mr. Floaty Guy-"

"-Bob-" Bob corrected.

"-how did WE get here?"

"I hope not the same way I got here." Bob said, then went into a short story that backed up his words, finishing with, "I still smell like moog."

"Ew!" The audience laughed.

"Now, Keith, I'm sure you know how to play. All you have to do is accumulate qwaz-asbullion credits, and your team gets to go free. If you don't, you'll hear this noise;" a sad musical note played. "And that means you'll be trapped in this studio forever. Now, let's play!"