Satou:- Damn!! *sigh* ...I guess it's back to being a drifter....

Defacto's glare turned to bitter shock.

Defacto:- ...W-what do you mean by that....?

Satou:- What do you care? All you're concerned about is your next big development project! Here's some advice, Defect-Oh - Why don't you plant some more homeless shelters around here? In fact, you have enough money and influence to fund the existing ones to open more often than just Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Defacto:- Oh.... *Good! My research hasn't been leaked* ...Maybe I'll think about considering that later.

Satou:- Uh-huh, sure. What a typical bureaucrat comeback. C'mon, guise, follow me back to the van.

Satou stormed off back toward the parking garage. The others followed shortly thereafter.


Anime-style opening - "Unfathomable Cycle of Life" by Xenogenocide - http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/104300

Shift 02 – "Discovery! Hidden Powers"


Defacto:- ...Sorry for the sudden disturbance, folks. *ahemmu* The winner of the top-floor suite is.... Ticket #625!!

A couple seconds passed, and then the holder of the ticket exclaimed in triumph. It was a pastel blue cat-rabbit with yellow stripes, named Baxter.

Baxter:- All right! Now I have my very own pad!

???:- What about us....?

Baxter:- Oh yeah, almost forgot! ^^;;; Manxx, you'll get to sleep in the kitchen sink, and Ishii, you'll sleep in the bathroom sink!

Nar.:- Meet Manxx, the grey tabbey with no tail, and Ishii, the purple mongoose with nothing but a collar on.

Ishii:- *distraught* Hey!!

Manxx:- Gimme that ticket!

Defacto:- Ticket #625....? Going once.... Going twice....

Baxter comes running up toward the stage, with his two prospective roomates grabbed onto his tail. This causes a scene, as people and furries alike are knocked down, creating a random cloud of dust in their wake.

Baxter:- AAAAAHHHM HEEERREEE!!!

Defacto:- Oh dear. D:

Meanwhile, back at the parking garage....

Satou:- Now where did I park again?

Nugget:- Uhm, by the screamingly obvious big gaping hole and the pile of rubble? <<;;;

Pocky:- Or, right over there by the Security motorbikes.

Yada:- Wait a minute.... "Security motorbikes"? What is this, 5D's?

Satou:- ...Oh goodie-great.

As expected, surrounding the van was the Meter Man, with his companion Tyrone at his side.

Tyrone:- Insert some cliché "we meet again" -type line here! *growls*

Meter Man:- Well said, deputy.

Satou:- Damn! Already, we hafta fight these guise again?

Meter Man:- Not an option. Lucky for you, I charged my photon phaz0r this time around!

Pocky:- Couldn't we just settle this over a cardmatch?

Meter Man:- ..."Cardmatch"? What is this, 5D's?

Tyrone:- Don't try to negotiate; you four are already under arrest! So you can tell it to the warden!

Yada:- But.... But I don't wanna be somebody's bitch!

Nugget:- *cries*

The foursome succumb to the Meter Man. Next thing they know, they are on trial in the county courthouse. The trial looks grim so far.

Judge:- Has the jourey reached a verdict?

Jourey:- We have, Your Honour.

Satou:- *oh fuck*

We find the defendants, Satou Fujimaro, Yada Garasu, Pocky, and Nugget....

Foursome:- *cringe*

Jourey:- ...Not guilty.

Meter Man:- Objection!!

Judge:- Overruled. This isn't Turnabout. Good try tho'. *bangs gavel* Case dismissed.

The foursome are escorted out from the courthouse into the parking lot. Nugget sees something before they leave the room. A semi-distinguished man clad in a grey suit is discussing something with the judge, handing him a stack of bills. He appears to be an Orion Group representative, shown by the emblem on his shoulder.

Nugget:- ...Huh?

Satou:- C'mon, what're you waiting for? Let's go home!

Nugget follows. The van has been salvaged and is only three blocks away, at the "They Paved Paradise" transit station. This is where they would spend the night.

*COMMERCIAL BREAK*

Yada:- Phew! What a day.

Pocky:- I'm exhausted.

Satou:- Dinner's ready!

Nugget:- I'm not hungry.

Pocky:- Nor am I.

Yada:- Likewise.

Satou:- Um, okay, I guess we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

Satou stores in a cooler the three other head cheese and brussels sprout sandwiches which he had saved from the fate of a supermarket dumpster. Then he takes a bite of his own.

Satou:- Dang, there's no ice.... Oh well, they'll keep.

He carefully climbs over his snoozing friends and climbs into his sleeping bag. It has several tears in it, and the zipper is broken, but he doesn't seem to complain. Within a few minutes, he too falls asleep.

Nar.:- Satou dreams about various random pointless nonsense.

Satou (dream):- Woah, pretty colours and flavours and sounds....

Nar.:- Nugget dreams about how he haphazardly acquired superpowers thru exposure to radiation.

Nugget (dream):- Oog, I think I'll throw up.... Wait, why do I feel all tingley? Oh! Now I remember, I can run fast! *zooms around*

Nar.:- Pocky dreams about how his family was murdered by a group of humans.

Pocky (dream):- Aahh!!! My siblings and my parents are all dead! And now they're after me!

Nar.:- Regardless of how potentially relevant these dreams may be to the plot, Yada's was the most important.

Yada (dream):- Huh? This is the Paradigm Tower! Wasn't I just here?

He is alone in the ballroom where the winner is to be announced. He sees Defacto on the stage, and looks down at a ticket in his hand.

Yada:- Where did everyone go?

Defacto:- The lucky winner of the top-floor room is.... #625!

Yada takes a second look at the ticket.

Yada:- ...We won...!?

All of a sudden, his delight turned to disappointment as he came upon an ironic realisation.

Yada:- Wait, damn!! This is only a dream; what the hell!

At that moment, someone that looked just like him snatched the ticket from Yada.

Yada 2:- Thanks!

Yada 1:- Hey, come back!

The real Yada chases the impostor down an endless hallway within the Tower. The impostor gains speed and vanishes in a flash of colour, which the real Yada runs into.

Yada:- Aahh!!

Yada wakes up. It's morning, he thinks. The stench of leftover sandwiches fills the van.

Satou:- It's alive!

Yada:- ...*grumbles*

Pocky:- Welcome back.

Yada:- Whaddaya mean? I never left, I was asleep the whole time.

Pocky:- Exactly! You returned to the waking world at last.

Nugget:- You musta been really bushed; it's already 2:30, just about.

Yada:- Woah, I had a crazy-ass dream.

Pocky:- Me too!

Nugget:- Me three!

Satou:- Tell me, I'd like to hear about others' dreams.

They circle circle up and prepare to listen to each other.

Satou:- Let's roll to see who goes first. Here's the D-20.

Nugget rolls a 19.

Nugget:- Mise!

Pocky rolls a 20.

Pocky:- LoL.

Nugget:- Damn.

Satou:- You start, Pocky, followed by Nugget then Yada.

Pocky:- Well, I had that recurring nightmare again. The one where my family was killed; not the one where I was tested upon. But this time, I learned more about who killed them! Apparently, they were in fact Orion Group rep's.

Satou:- Wow. o.o

Pocky:- I dunno if that was what really went on, but at least I'm one big step closer to solving the mystery.

Satou:- Your turn, Nugget.

Nugget:- Okay, I was back in that landfill wher I got my speed capabilities, right? This time, I felt more ill than usual, and I saw the transmitter. But it had the paradigm insignia on it!

Satou:- Y'know, this is starting to seem like the Orion Group is targeting us for some reason. They are, after all, a vague monolithic industry. Hey, maybe the writer actually intends to finally give our lives a plot??

Pocky:- I doubt it. You know how inconsistent he is.

Yada:- Anyone wanna hear about my dream?

Satou:- Sure.

Yada:- Alright, so I was back at the Paradigm Tower, and we won the room!

Silence.

Nugget:- ...WOO HOO!!! We're off the streets at last! *runs around in circles*

Pocky:- It was a dream, dillhole. <<;;;

Nugget:- *stops on a dime* D'aww....!!

Yada:- But that wasn't everything. I went and took the winning ticket from myself.

Silence again.

Satou:- ...Whut?

Yada:- I mean, someone that looked exactly like me. I dunno. It isn't important, we're still living here.

Satou:- Yeah. Okay, help me clean up this me- What the hell??

Satou picks up a slip of paper from the coffee table that had been sawed in half to fit in the van as an all-purpose surface area. He holds up winning ticket #625 for the others to see.

Silence once again.


Anime-style closing – "Hoodlum Chiptune" by Xenogenocide - http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/114938


Eyecatch:-
Baxter:- Where's our winning ticket?

Yada:- Don't look at me.... <<;;;

Satou:- We deserve this room, not you!

Defacto:- You all can live here! Next time, on Paradigm Shift - *EP NAME TBA* And don't tell anyone about my research, heh heh heh....!


Nar.:- Today's chapter was sponsored in full, once again, by the Orion Group! Thanks for bribing the judge; otherwise this story woulda been scrapped by now.