Mission: Double Trouble

"So...." Aldous murmured as his feet left their prints into the dirt-like ground of Peace Village. It has been a long time since he has been to this aptly named village. Out of all the villages in the treacherous lands of Earth-land, Peace Village is the most infra-structurally developed, with a size that was not too far from the smallest cities and with rows and rows of buildings organized neatly in the style of urban development. Probably some day in the future, this place might even get a Magic Guild of its own, though the likelihood of that still remained slim to none. At the moment, however, it seemed that Peace Village had enough finances to add some entertainment, as Aldous noticed from the large Ferris Wheel spiraling near at the border of the village, where the new amusement park for the place had been built just recently.
"Guess we got to go babysitting, huh?" Aldous confirmed from the new job leaflet in his hand.

"After the last job with that stupid letter, we are now going babysitting, Aldous?!" If he had eyes, Abraxis would have rolled them, but instead, he rolled his wheels over the ground as Aldous pulled him along towards their client's house, a small two-story bungalow. "Why can't we just get out there and kick some ass? Flex those magical formulas of yours? I'm getting bored to death with all these odd uneventful jobs."
Aldous shook his head as he gave a disagreeing sigh. "I highly doubt that our last job delivering the letter could be more eventful, especially since you had a lot of fun fighting off the ten thousand guards that you claimed surrounded you and-"
"Fine, fine. I guess I did have fun with that one."
"Well, this time...," Aldous' voice turned stern as he rapped his fist against the hardwood of the house door, "I hope you can keep quiet while we babysit the twins. I'm afraid they might either get scared by you talking...."
"Why in the world should they be afraid of my fine chasis and gentlemanly speech?"
"....or will get so excited that they will dismantle you."
"Never mind, shutting up right now.

After his knocking and waiting for a few seconds, Aldous' ears perked up at the sound of three sets of feet approaching from within the building, one of them rushed and hurried, obviously the one who had been expecting him. The other two were similar in pace and size, but one of them was obviously more energetic than the other.
With a turn of the knob, the door opened, revealing a disheveled woman, whose initially tired-looking face lighted up at the sight of Aldous standing at the door and then fell when she probably noticed how serious-looking he was. Truth to be told, Aldous himself had seen himself in a mirror, and he really did not have the look of a baby-sitter, more like a boot-camp instructor. If he could not convince her that he was genuine babysitter material, he might be refused from taking her children to the park, effectively costing him his job.
"Greetings, Madam. My name is Aldous Focusine, a mage, and I am here to take the caretaking job that you pasted up." Aldous tried to make his voice sound cheery and gave out a smile, but when you have wolf-like eyes and conspicuous frown-lines, coupled with a deep, smooth voice, it's mighty difficult to convince someone that you are friendlier than you look.
"May I ask if you belong to a guild?" The woman's voice was stiff, serious and wary. And her question made Aldous bite his lower lip. Here on Earthland, most guildless mages meant trouble to citizens and having no guild to back you up meant that you will have questionable abilities. If he told her straight-on that he is guildless, chances of being turned away are as big as Abraxis screaming at their client.
Point is, he really wanted to earn some money and lying would be the best way to get this job, but it meant betraying his honor at the same time, even if it is a small white lie.
"I....."

"I...." Aldous was about to try to improvise an answer out, but just as his mouth muttered out
"Mummy, is that man supposed to take us to the amusement park?"
"Chris, please...."
"And he's got a bicycle! How cool is THAT!?"
"Zack, I need to..."
At that moment, Aldous remembered the other two sets of footsteps that he had before and sure enough, popping out from behind their mother's apron, were two brown-haired boys, as identical as two peas in a pod, with their only difference being that the boy called Zack had this wide, proud smirk on his face as he raced out of the door to check out the silent Abraxis, while the other, Chris, had only a small smile as he shyly watch on from the side of his mother's apron. Much to his surprise, Chris gave Aldous an examining look from head to toe, as if the little boy was aware enough to check him out. Not only that, once the child was done, using his small hand to tug onto his mum's sleeve.
"Mummy, I like this man. Can we go to the park with him, please?"
"Yeah, mum, I WANT TO GO TO THE ROLLER COASTER!!"
"I....I...."
Be it the awkwardness that parents feel when they cannot decide whether to deny their children what their want or the weirdness they get when they have to do so in front of a stranger, the mother was left dumbfounded and unable to speak.

It was not too difficult to see that the mother was in a dilemma. Deciding that this was probably his best chance to get the job and keep his honour at the same time, Aldous stepped up as he gave a firm, comforting assurance. "I can ensure you that you can trust me, Madam, and that I will look after your children to the best of my ability." Pausing to pointing towards the sun now descending over the west horizon, Aldous continued, "By the time that sun touches the west edge of the world, your children will be back with you, safe and sound. I promise you that."

Allowing the woman to take in his words, Aldous felt himself get a little worried as he watched the mother gave her two children a caring, worried glance, which they returned with enthusiastic begging stares. Finally, giving out a sigh, the mother kept a straight face as she motioned the twins towards Aldous, which they obeyed with a unified "YAY!". Turning back to Aldous, she gave him a threatening glare as she warned, "If either of them loses a hair, I will get this entire village to come after you."

"Understood, Madam." Aldous gave an acknowledging nod as he turned towards the two kids. Zack was already on top of the still silent Abraxis, while Chris was just beside, hesitant about getting on it despite his brother's excited encouragement. Smiling gently, Aldous placed his hand onto the child's shoulder to calm him. "It's alright. I assume I may call you Chris, right?"

"I-I guess so...." Chris smiled back as he lifted himself up to the space behind his brother, with assistance from Aldous. At first, he looked scared, but when Aldous snapped his finger and Abraxis, still maintaining silence, began to move on his own while Aldous followed by the side, Chris, together with his much easily excited brother, yelped in both shock and fun as the group headed towards the amusement park.

At the amusement park.....
When he first stepped into the park, Aldous thought he would have a lot of fun, especially upon sight of the many attractions and different activities that was available. But the moment the twins got off the bike, two special surprises was going to make its appearance and horrify Aldous.
"Z-Zack.....I see the cotton candy store on the other side of the park...."
One thing was that Aldous did not notice it before, but now when Chris managed to spot a cotton candy store through a ferris wheel, at least 5 stores and 40 people and a good spatial distance of 200 metres, Aldous realized that Chris' analytical eyes and constant look-overs were a sign of Clairvoyant Eye Magic: allowing him to see locations through obstacles and distances that would have otherwise been physically impossible.
As for the second surprise....
"ALRIGHT! LET'S GET OUR COTTON CANDY!!!"
For a few seconds, Aldous saw harlequin green Magic Seals appear at the back of Chris and Zack's preparing feet. In the next few seconds, the cogs in his mind finally told him that what he saw was Speed-Running Magic, but by then, all he could see in his vision was a cloud of dust and two boys running at fast speeds for their size, as people naturally parted for them. It seems that the village had long knew about the magical ability of Zack to empower himself and Chris with the ability to run at superhuman speeds.
"Looks like we are in for a little excitement...." Aldous jolted slightly when Abraxis finally whispered to him, as the two watched the boy run ahead, still in sight, just before a corner.
"I guess we are.....A little race?"
"Hell yeah!"
"Seal Floater: Ground Mode." Aldous commanded under his breath as he bent down to prepare for a sprint. On his cue, purplish-black Formulas revolved around him as they appeared, much to the shock of the people around him. Ignoring the stares, Aldous gritted his teeth in rare enthusiasm as he gave out an excited roar, shooting off after the boys through the increased speed given by his technique, with Abraxis staying neck-to-neck with his speed.

And so that was how it would be like from that point till sundown, with Aldous and Abraxis chasing after the twins throughout the amusement park in a battle of feet and magic. It was not just simple cat-and-mouse chasing. Think Tom-and-Jerry, that would a much better way to describe the situation. Sure, there were times when it was simple distance-chasing but the boys were sly at times. Not only did they weave through so many obstacles that Aldous sometimes smacked face-first into some of the oddities of the amusement park, but they also split up at times, with Chris' clairvoyance ensuring that he always returned to Zack after their split.

It was a clever tactic, one that would have been utterly confused on who to chase. Luckily, with Abraxis at his side, Aldous allowed the two of them to split just as the boys split themselves. While Abraxis kept up at the main speed-user Zack, Aldous followed Chris just to ensure that the little kid would be okay during his run.

At the end of the day, everyone was tired out, huffing and puffing at the entrance of the amusement park, as Chris and Zack sat on the bench with Aldous, while Abraxis supported himself at the side. The bicycle, in their escapade throughout the park, had already revealed his ability to speak to the boys, but the little kids were just too excited and having too much fun to care. Aldous felt a grin grow on his face as he recalled the twins' fun-loving faces while they rode the Ferris Wheel of Super-Revolution, the Bumper Carts of Hell, the Dragon Coaster, as well as tasting the holy flavour of Cotton Heaven and the sweet syrup-like stickiness of Popping Butter-Scotch Corn. In the books, there were legends of a time where there was no magic and amusement parks still existed then, but Aldous could bet that without magic, it would not have been as fun as this.
"MISTER, YOU WERE SO FAST!" Zack suddenly shouted out in a laughing bout as he gave Aldous a thumbs-up.
"You were not too shabby yourself..." Aldous replied with a smile. Zack was friendly outgoing and straight to the point; simple to read and the type that you could talk to with no worries of offending him.

As for Chris, the child was quiet, looking away from Aldous, as if he was afraid....
Aldous understood his fear, as he gave the surprised boy an assuring pat on the back. The little kid had just revealed that he had clairvoyant eyes, a very rare and very powerful trait. Most clairvoyants are typically like him, location-based and only able to see what they are already aware of. However, some of such people could develop even further, not only to the point that they notice everything by a simple reflex, but if they are powerful enough, to see through the illusion of time itself and predict the future with frightening accuracy. As a result, most children with such abilities are usually looked for by the Magic Council, so that they could develop their ability when it is most malleable.
Chris did not want that; he just wanted to stay with his mother in Peace Village and live a life of normalcy, no matter what rare magic he possesses.

When Aldous placed his hand onto the boy's shoulder, the kid looked up towards him in confusion. Aldous flashed him a smile and a nod, silently telling him that "It is alright." His secret stays safe with him. Probably realizing the mage's good intentions, the boy broke his worried frown as he returned the smile, even giving a laugh just as his brother did.

And so that was how Aldous passed that faithful day, as he returned the boys back home just as promised, right as the sun touched the horizon. Taking his payment, the mage gave one last wave of farewell to the family, before getting onto Abraxis and cycling into the sunset.