Super Brothers

“Can’t catch me~” the preteen let out in a sing-song voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you next time!” his older brother replied.

That older brother, Arte, had a focused look on his face, breathing with his mouth open from the half an hour they had spent playing and running already. He was confident however, and one could make out a smile on his face.

The younger brother on the other hand, Piet, was jogging in place, keeping his distance as he stuck his tongue out to provoke his older brother. Despite his playful personality, he was still paying attention and was ready to react to any move Arte thought of making.

Arte knew he’d have a chance to get some payback and discipline his little bro as soon as he caught him. He was in a good position; he had Piet backed into the corner of their backyard, two wooden fences severely limiting his options. Arte spread his arms out to cover more ground and walked slowly toward his sibling. All it would take was one slip-up. And Arte carefully moved his body until he got close enough to pull off his plan. In a seemingly desperate move, he reached toward Piet with his right hand.

Of course, the younger sibling reacted to it and ran the other way. However, that was a mistake as Arte had simply done a feint. He predicted exactly where Piet would go, and used all the strength in his legs to dash toward that spot.

“Got you!” Arte shouted as he flew with great speed toward Piet.

“Waaah!” Piet screamed before getting tackled by his brother.

Arte wasn’t gentle. He reached out with his hand, grabbing Piet’s cheek and pushing him full force toward the ground. Not only that, Arte had also jumped, with full intent of landing with his knees on top of his brother’s back. To make matters even worse, with their trajectory, Piet was going to land face-first onto a large rock. There was nothing stopping that brutal fall. That small body just had to take that massive impact with a sickening dull thud.

“There, finally!” Arte celebrated, his voice coming from way deep in his belly.

He stayed where he was, pinning his brother’s limp body to the ground, seemingly not caring about Piet’s well-being or what he had just done. Something that most likely would result in his brother’s skull being split open. And yet, he showed nothing but happiness. Just a moment later, however, Piet’s head began turning.

“Ah, come on!” Piet said while looking defiantly at Arte.

All he had on his face was a bit of dirt from the ground. There wasn’t a single scratch, not even any redness. He looked just as fine as he did before the fall.

“Now now! I think you owe me an apology, little bro…” Arte said with a malicious, devious look on his face before sticking his pointer finger in his mouth and sucking on it for a second. “...or else you know what’s coming to you~” he teased as he moved that wet finger closer and closer to Piet’s face.

“No, no! Anything but this! Oh, come on…!” Piet protested, unable to escape his brother’s grasp. He could only watch as that horrible thing got closer, sending shivers down his spine at the thought. “...Okay, okay! I’m sorry!” he desperately said, giving up.

“Sorry for what?” Arte said, still keeping that saliva-soaked digit close.

“Sorry for calling you stupid!” Piet blurted out, gritting his teeth.

“And…?”

“...And for calling you bad at chess!”

“...Good boy,” Arte said calmly, finally giving Piet some time to relax. “...but, unfortunately for you… Sorry sometimes isn’t enough!” he suddenly said, and with a maniacal laughter, shoved that wet finger into Piet’s ear, without any signs of remorse.

“AAAAAH!” Piet cried out, his face contorted in all kinds of ways as he felt what could only be described as pure discomfort.

Arte wasn’t all that merciless, so after just a couple twists, he pulled his finger back and shamelessly wiped it on Piet’s tank top. “Hope you learned your lesson!” he teased as he stood up. Arte then quickly grabbed Piet’s ankles, lifted those legs up, spun him around twice and threw him across the backyard.

Piet bounced a couple of times, landing on his belly. It didn’t take long for him to stand up again, wiping his ear with his tank top. “You suck…” he said while pouting, watching Arte pick up the heavy stone he fell onto with just one hand to place it somewhere safer.

Despite their occasional fights, those two were perfect for each other. They loved each other to death. Arte had been blessed with immense strength, though, in his mind, it certainly wasn’t always a blessing. Playing with other kids, he’d be constantly worried about hurting them by going just a little too far. So, what better way to not have to worry about that than to have a brother whose body is basically made out of rubber? No matter how hard he fell, got hit, bent or whatever, he always got back up without a scratch. It did also help that Piet seemed to enjoy having those things done to him. Though, it did mean Arte had to get creative to actually punish and mess with his little bro.

Piet walked over to the proud Arte, who had his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. Arte broke out a gentle, quiet laugh before wrapping his right arm around Piet’s neck and rubbing his left knuckle violently along his brother’s scalp. “Just doing what’s best for my little bro!”

“Oh sure, whatever! Can we play some soccer now finally?” he said, struggling to open his eyes from the rough treatment.

“Fine, fine…” Arte replied, giving his younger sibling a couple of gentle pats on the head before finally letting him go with a flick on that forehead. It made Piet’s head bounce backward, and any regular kid would be crying from the sharp pain.

“Yaaay!” Piet let out as he got himself ready for their little game.

The two played together daily, be it inside with video games or board games or outside with more physical activities. They tended to prefer the latter, as it let them get a fair bit more… creative, to say the least. For instance, they usually played soccer together, but they didn’t even own a soccer ball. Instead, Piet, in his comfy shorts and sneakers took matters into his own hands.

He began by curling backward, folding his spine in half like it was absolutely nothing. With a little push, he cleanly got his shoulders past his thighs in a Ruppelbend. After that, he got down on his knees, crossing his calves in front of him. He casually used his hands to tuck his feet beneath the opposite leg, hiding them and ensuring he wouldn’t need to hold them close to him by himself. As he pulled, the shape of his legs began changing a bit as well. His calves and thighs actually curved around his body. With his legs in position, he just had to keep his arms crossed over his chest for him to serve as the perfect oversized soccer ball. His head did poke out from the shape, but that never bothered either of them.

“Alright, let’s do it, I’m ready!” Piet happily said, his little heart racing.

“Get ready!” Arte replied, taking a couple of steps back.

The older, stronger brother took a deep breath before dashing as fast as he could toward Piet. He wound his right leg backward before delivering a powerful kick, propelling his brother forward at breakneck speeds. Arte’s running shoes dug deep into his brother’s abdomen at the moment of impact, and he could feel it was a nice, meaty kick.

“Wheeee!” Piet screamed as he flew through the air, just a moment before slamming face-first into the fence.

The sound it made was pretty sickening. As soft as he was, it wasn’t like he was made out of actual rubber. The wood creaked, and it sounded like someone took a sledgehammer to that fence. The only reason it didn’t break was because their parents had reinforced it… After it broke last time. The neighbors were pretty mad, though at the very least Arte was quick to pull Piet back so they didn’t find out about their powers.

Now though, Piet just bounced back from the wall, then bounced once on the ground, having just enough speed to reach Arte again. Only to be kicked back into the wall again. Piet chuckled constantly almost maniacally, truly having the time of his life as he felt the wind on his face and the harsh impacts on his small body. Arte had a fun time too, in great part due to how much fun his brother was having.

The older brother had enough strength to make this a possibility, not many could kick such a heavy “ball” over and over again. Even the trajectory was hard to predict sometimes, with Arte having to quickly react and run to where Piet would end up before it was too late to catch him. After a few minutes, however, Arte switched things up. Instead of kicking him back like usual, he launched his brother upward, allowing him to start juggling that “ball” with his knees and feet. With the first knee going right into his brother’s stomach, Arte began counting how many times he was bouncing Piet in his head.

“Let’s see… if you can… beat… your record,” Piet challenged, his voice getting louder and quieter with him moving up and down.

Him talking like that almost made Arte laugh and lose his concentration, it was something right out of a cartoon. But he remained composed, accepting the challenge. Arte had gotten pretty good at this, even able to kick Piet extra high to bounce him with his head. However, he did have to be careful to avoid Piet’s head when he did that since that skull-to skull-impact did hurt him a bit.

“Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven…” Arte began counting out loud, which Piet knew meant he was getting serious.

“Fifty-seven, thirty-six, one-hundred and two~” Piet spouted out, unable to keep himself from chuckling.

“Shut up,” Arte said with an annoyed, playful tone, unable to hide the smile on the corner of his mouth.

Arte drowned out his brother’s dumb attempt at throwing him off and continued counting in his head. Piet could easily tell Arte was getting nervous though, and as that number got closer and closer to the record of sixty-five, the stakes were getting really high.

As he neared those final hits, calamity struck. For Arte, at least. His knee kick just barely touched Piet’s neck, which sent him flying forward. Arte tried his best to run after him, but all he could do was desperately kick his leg forward, barely able to kick him one last time before Piet touched the fence, voiding the attempt.

“Dang it! One off?! Oh come on, you and your stupid neck…” Arte let out in frustration.

“Oooh, what’s that? You failed, what a shame… Oh what a shame, you failed, you messed up! You”—Piet teased before suddenly getting hoisted in the air by his wrists—”Waaah!”

“That’s enough outta you…”

Arte stared menacingly at Piet with a sly grin on his face, holding up his balled-up brother with one hand while keeping the other one on his hip, the two of them face-to-face. Before Piet could say anything else, Arte violently shook his brother up and down, treating him like nothing more than a ragdoll. A few shakes up and down were enough to untuck Piet’s feet from where they were and undo the backbend. The momentum was so strong that it caused Piet’s whole body to stretch out a bit whenever he changed directions. But now, with his brother straightened out, Arte could grab his ankles and hold them together with his free hand.

“...Now, you be quiet like a good jump rope!” Arte commanded, looking down at his brother who had his butt and lower back on the ground and his legs and arms raised.

Piet had no complaints at all about being handled roughly like that. He once again felt that thrill that he loved as his strong brother raised him into the air and swung him around. At the peak of that trajectory, Piet’s back folded considerably, though it was still child’s play to him. More interesting was the feeling of his limbs lengthening ever so slightly as that rotational motion continued. More and more his body behaved like an actual rope.

“You’re just a sore loser!” Piet commented, just dying to rile up his brother more and more.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you~” Arte replied before whistling to himself and closing his eyes.

Arte continued jumping over his brother’s body with great precision. His arms showed no sign of getting tired either, even after several minutes of nonstop exercise. Piet was handling himself quite well too, now used to the nausea of such wild movements. A few years ago, he’d get dizzy and on the verge of vomiting whenever they played too hard, but now he had become practically immune.

“Umm… So, you’re gonna be starting high school, huh? Are you excited for it, big bro?” Piet said in a somewhat sad tone, breaking the ice after a good stretch of silence.

“Huh? Well, I suppose…” Arte said, sporting a gentle smile on his face. “...Look, I know we’re not going to be attending the same school anymore, but we’re still gonna be together! We’ll have lots of time to play!”

Piet awkwardly chuckled, his brother having seen right through him. “I know… It’s just a bit sad, y’know? We did so much stuff there and—BWAH!”

Arte shook his head, looking down at his brother who he had just stomped down with both feet, digging them into his belly and pinning him to the ground. “...And we’ll do much more. So no moping here!”

Piet had his eyes opened wide. The impact didn’t hurt him, but it still knocked the wind out of him. He quickly regained his breath, however. “Heh… Sure thing, big bro!” he replied with an innocent toothy grin.

Arte finally let go of his brother’s limbs. “Good boy. Now… It’s getting late, let’s take a bath before Mom and Dad get home. You especially, you’re so dirty!” he teased while aggressively pointing at Piet, knowing fully that it was entirely his own fault.

“But you were the one who—” Piet began before getting harshly kicked, bouncing on the grass a couple of times and landing near the door that led back inside.

“What’s that? Oh, you wanna go first? Sure thing, bro!” Arte said with both hands by his ears.

“Ugh, whatever… Gonna kick your butt at Smash later, though!”

Arte laughed to himself as his brother went back inside the house. He did wonder what it was going to be like now that he was in high school. What new friends he’d make, How much free time he was going to have, how tough it was going to be… But he knew there was no point in mulling over such things. After looking at the orange sky for a bit, he went back inside as well.

A couple of hours later, they were clean, well-fed, and ready for a fun gaming session to close out the day. It was summer, so they chose to just stay in their shorts and nothing else since they weren’t going to leave the house anyway. Both of them rushed to the living room after helping out their parents with the dishes. It was a simple setup, a large couch in front of the TV. Though, with the way they usually played, an armchair would suffice for the two.

“Alright, let’s go!” Piet said, jumping onto the nice, comfy couch with his running start after grabbing a controller.

Not on his butt, however. It was more like he flopped on his belly while also turning himself around. With a little more adjustment, he settled with his chest on the seat, with his lower body at a 90° angle accompanying the backrest. Then, he simply let his legs fall on top of him as he got himself more upright, resulting in a bend far beyond a Ruppelbend being performed as casually as breathing. He even crossed his legs in front of him, keeping them on the couch.

Arte followed right behind. Once Piet was in his position, Arte stood in front of him and did a big jump backward. Enough to clear Piet’s upper body so he could land right on his brother’s hips. What should have caused an awful, horrid sound of a spine crunching and cracking into several parts, instead sounded like someone landing on a pillow. Arte crossed his legs around Piet’s torso, letting them rest on top of his brother’s legs. And now that they were in position, they could start gaming.

Since strength didn’t matter in video games, their play was far more balanced than what they did earlier outside. They both won about equally, and the room was constantly filled with grunts, protests, celebrations, trash talk… Neither of them could ever see the hours flying by, only realizing it was late once one of their parents told them to go to bed.

They’d occasionally play a bit more while in their bedroom, though always careful not to wake Mom or Dad up. Nothing more complicated than wrestling or one of the board games they had stashed away in their closet. They had a bunk bed against a wall, so they’d just pull a blanket and drape it over the open side to create a little fort. Arte, as the older brother, naturally slept on the top bed. It was always fun for him to wake up, get down and see what insane position his brother decided to sleep in that night.

The last few days of their summer break flew by just like this. Just playing around without a care in the world, enjoying their lives to the fullest. Unfortunately, those good times did have to end, as Arte’s first day in high school soon drew near. Arte brushed his red hair and checked himself out in the mirror multiple times to make sure he was presentable on his first day, wishing to make the best first impression possible.

“Come on, bro! We’re gonna be late!” Piet said, hyperactively jogging in place.

“Alright, alright! I’m ready, you silly you…” Arte replied, rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he left his bedroom with his brother leading the way.

It was indeed Arte’s first day, but since Piet’s classes wouldn’t start until a week later, he practically begged to go with his big bro on the first day, at the very least to see what the school was like. Arte chuckled at the notion that Piet was more anxious than even he was about this.

The two of them got in the backseat of their parent’s car and chit-chatted during the entire twenty-minute trip. Once there, Arte was quickly off to his classroom, while Piet and both parents walked around the school. Those two had some stuff to talk about with the principal, which gave Piet a little bit of time to wander around. And on a nearby corridor, something he saw made his eyes light up. He pulled out his phone to take a picture of it quickly before his parents returned. After that, they returned home.

Piet spent the entire afternoon scribbling away on his little notebook, lying in bed in a backbend so tight, his legs stayed perfectly straight behind him. It certainly helped pass the time, he would have gone crazy having to wait for his brother to get home if he had nothing to do. Thankfully, before he even knew it, Arte entered the bedroom, ready to get changed.

“Oh, bro, BRO! I was waiting for you, there’s something I really got to show you!” Piet replied, jumping out of bed and nearly pouncing on Arte.

Arte was completely taken aback, taking a step back and looking at his little bro with wide-open eyes. “Huh…?”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Uh, how was your day? Was it cool, fun?” Piet said, awkwardly chuckling and taking a step back.

“It was fine, nothing more than orientations and meeting the teacher and my classmates and stuff. What are you so excited for, anyway?” Arte asked as he took off his shoes, stepping on his heels to get his foot out of them.

“Oh, this! Check this out!”

Piet pulled out his phone again, opening up the photo he had taken earlier before handing it to Arte. The older brother grabbed it and carefully examined it.

“Talent show this weekend! All students welcome!” the poster in the picture read, along with the finer details written below.

Arte looked at the picture, then at Piet, then at the picture again, and at Piet again. He was like a little dog begging for a treat. The older brother just sighed as he took a seat and slumped over.

“You know we can’t go showing off what we can do to everyone, right?” Arte asked, having had conversations similar to this about a thousand times already now.

“I know! But, here, I made a plan for us!”

Despite this conversation having happened so many times, it had never stopped Piet from trying to get into trouble, Arte always having to save face somehow. So he wasn’t very confident in what that tiny little brain had in mind. Though, once Piet brought his notebook, Arte at least gave it a chance. There were just two pages filled with crude drawings, but that described surprisingly well what Piet had in mind.

“You know… this might actually work,” Arte said with a somewhat shocked expression.

“YAAAAAAAAY!”

Piet basically exploded, jumping in happiness higher than Arte could ever recall.

“Ah, ah, ah! However!” Arte sternly said. “You’ll be in charge of getting the stuff we need. We can come up with the act before bed, and we have to rehearse in the morning. Gotta do this right! Only if we have something going by Thursday I’ll sign up!”

“Yes, sir!”

Piet hopped out of the room like an adorable, excited bunny. Arte just shook his head. He couldn’t lie though, this was also somewhat exciting to him. A chance to do what he was able to in public, even if in secret. He finished changing out of his school uniform and shortly began to work adding some of his own ideas to that little notebook, looking at his brother fondly. He loved when they worked together toward something, concocting a plan. It had been a while.

Arte was surprised at how lax Mom and Dad were about the idea as well. They took a look at the notebook and agreed to it, with Mom even going as far as to sew up the suit they’d need. That just gave them even more motivation for this to work. They began waking up extra early, setting their alarms an hour earlier than usual just so they’d have more time to train and rehearse. With that, Arte knew they had something going for them. Even if they didn’t win or weren’t the crowd favorite, he was glad to be able to do something like this. Come Thursday, he didn’t think twice about signing up.

Piet worked even harder, taking the time while Arte was in school to polish up his acting skills. He needed to make absolutely certain he had it down pat for the effect to work properly. Especially the part where he wasn’t allowed to let any sound come out of his mouth. His favorite method was getting on top of the bunk bed and either belly-flopping or head-diving onto the ground.

With that, by Saturday, they had the entire act memorized. They got the few things they’d need into the family car’s trunk and anxiously waited for that car trip to end. Once at the school, they made their way to the auditorium. Not exactly in a conventional way, however.

“It’s a bit hot in here… Are we almost there yet?” Piet complained, his voice a bit shaky from the movement.

“Shhhh! There are other people around, I’ll let you know when we get there!” Arte whispered back, leaning his body forward.

Piet just took a deep breath inside the almost pitch-black confines of the large, colorful toy chest he was inside of, being simply pushed along by his brother with the help of a little cart. The chest had a hole to both let some light inside and to allow Piet to breathe. Arte did feel a little bit bad though, especially given what Piet was wearing inside there. But it wouldn’t last long. A few more bumps and they were in the auditorium backstage along with a few other students who decided to participate as well.

Arte left the lid open so Piet could be a little bit more comfortable, though he stayed in the corner of the room where no one else could look inside. Thankfully, he was only the third in line to perform.

“...And now, let’s welcome one of our freshmen this year… Artemian Natzaus! Let’s give him a round of applause, everyone!” the announcer said into the mic.

“Alright, let’s do this. Just like in the rehearsal, got it?” Arte whispered into the box as the cheering died out.

“You got it,” Piet replied, sounding weirdly relaxed.

Arte pushed the box with his little cart through the curtains onto the stage, sliding it off with a gentle push so that the toy box was right in the center, with the latch facing away from the crowd. He quickly moved the cart behind the curtain and assumed his position, sitting on the box. And once his song of choice began playing, he started his act.

Arte began by stretching his arms and calmly walking behind the box before crouching down and opening it. And from inside, he retrieved a rather large ragdoll. It was simple in design, all black with shiny bits of glitter to make it look like a starry sky, and the face was constructed out of planets and shooting stars. And although that doll was quite large, the crowd could tell it was extremely light, since Arte effortlessly held it with just one hand.

The soft material was also evident by how much Arte’s hand sunk into it as he gripped it. The doll did still have some structure to it, however, as it only slightly slumped over with gravity. Arte showed that thing off to the audience, turning it around in his hands, making it go sideways and even upside-down. Arte pretended to examine it as he moved it as well.

Soon, he began spinning that thing around faster and faster. He really made a fan out of that doll and showed impressive technique as to not let his arms get tangled as he kept that going for about ten seconds. Once he slowed down to a stop, holding the doll upright once more, that thing inexplicably began rolling his head around in circles, like a dizzy cartoon character.

Arte looked at that with a confused expression, even pointing at it before looking at the audience in a somewhat forced motion. While acting was not his forte, it still got a couple of chuckles from the crowd.

Arte moved the doll’s limbs around a bit more. He grabbed both legs and raised them in opposite directions at the same time, quickly making them meet above the head. He moved those legs back and forth, twisted the doll’s torso around 360°… a variety of quick little tests to show that it was truly just a doll. With that, Arte began the first little trick.

Holding the doll by the wrists, Arte gently set its feet on the ground, lowering it bit by bit. Instead of just laying it down on the floor, however, Arte folded the doll back and forth, essentially making an accordion out of it. Just the legs had been folded in four parts, and this kept going until the neck was folded back all the way.

Once the doll was properly folded up, Arte pushed down on it to compress those bends even further. He then initiated a countdown with his hand, going from three to zero. Once time was up, he released the doll in one go. Doing so made it propel itself into the air like a spring. Arte grabbed the doll in midair before repeating what he did two more times, the doll going higher with each repetition. That was enough to pique the interest of a lot of people in the crowd.

The show then swiftly continued with Arte tossing the doll on the ground, setting it on its back and keeping it sideways from the audience’s point of view. Arte carelessly tossed the ragdoll’s arms back so they stayed stretched out behind its head as well.

Arte then rubbed his hands together in another exaggerated motion. He knelt behind the doll and reached to grab its leg by the ankle. He lifted it up easily, the soft material making the bend a pretty unnatural curve, ignoring the knee joint entirely. As he lifted it up, however, something else happened. The doll’s arm rose at the same time.

Arte held that leg still, which, in turn, made the arm stop moving as well. Setting it down also made the arm mirror the movement. Up, down. Up, down. Arte did it a few times, switching up his timing. But no matter what, the arm followed. With a shrug, he casually threw that leg over to the other side in what would be a frontbend motion, making the doll’s foot land near its head. The arm rested near the hips, flat on the ground.

He repeated the sequence with the other leg as well, though a bit quicker this time. Now, that doll was in a perfect frontbend, those legs in a “V” shape. Arte then stood up and bent forward, grabbing the doll by the wrists this time. He lifted the doll up by the arms raising its torso. But that didn’t make the legs go back to their normal position. Instead, that frontbend only deepened the more Arte lifted. In the end, it was almost like the doll was upright normally, only its legs had done a 360° loop. The cloth around the hips had many tight creases, but it didn’t tear.

With Arte holding the doll’s arms above its head, he tried out another motion. He moved the doll’s left arm down slowly, still holding him up by the right arm. As he did that, the doll’s left leg moved upward at the same pace, undoing the ridiculous twist. Once that left arm was all the way down, the leg was all the way up, still in a frontbend.

Arte played around with this as well, making both legs go up and down at different times by raising and lowering those arms. After a pause, he decided to simply release the doll’s left arm, letting it fall down at full speed. What that got him was a doll heel right to his forehead.

He really put his acting skills to the test, reeling violently from the impact and aggressively rubbing his forehead. That little light-hearted stunt did get a few more laughs out of the crowd. The frustrated performer then rashly threw the doll high into the air. Maybe a little too high. He had to hide an expression of worry as that doll almost bumped into the lighting.

Arte quickly recomposed himself, watching carefully as the doll unfolded itself in midair as it spun around. The performer had quick reflexes and was able to catch the doll by the ankle perfectly. Then, he used his free arm to gather all of the doll’s limbs and hold them together with both hands, folding the doll’s back in half. He then proceeded to go to town on that thing, swinging it like a sledgehammer repeatedly, bashing it into the ground with all the power he could muster.

That show of aggressiveness ended with Arte moving the doll’s arms behind its back and tying both of them together in a very simple half knot, pulling those arms tightly so they crossed over as close to the back as possible. He did the same thing with the legs before folding the doll in half again. Now that it was pretty compact, Arte haphazardly stuffed the doll back into the box before closing it and sitting on top of it.

Then, after just a couple seconds of silence… a few knocks could be heard from inside the box. Arte looked just as surprised as the audience. He quickly stood up and decided to investigate. He knelt behind the box and popped open the latch.

Then, to the surprise of everyone, the doll stood up as fast as a rocket. Only, it was no doll. It was Arte’s young brother wearing a suit resembling the doll, only without the head piece. He hopped out of the box and joined his brother at the front before they both took a bow. They smiled hearing the crowd cheering for them.

“Let’s give it up for Artemian and his amazing magic show, everyone!” the announcer chimed in, getting onto the stage again.

The two brothers waved in unison, Piet barely able to contain his smile. The two of them noticed the announcer coming closer to them.

“That was incredible! You both did a great job, you must have quite the clever little mind to engineer a doll to act like that! Say, Artemian, who is this you have with you?”

“Ah, this is my younger brother, Piet! He helped me… um… design the doll. And he just couldn’t go without making his appearance at the end, either!” Arte replied, wrapping his arm around his brother’s neck.

“Well, there you have it folks, a very talented family! Thank you for your performance today! Next up, we’ll move on to…”

As the announcer continued his speech, the two of them walked away, grabbing the now completely empty box and chuckling to each other like maniacs. They might not win the contest with such an obvious “magic trick”, but that didn’t stop them from having the time of their lives on stage that night. Arte knew Piet wouldn’t shut up about it for several weeks, anyway.