This sound of concern came from a red Mynci, who was sitting on a plush couch in the dressing room of the Tyrannian Concert Hall.

"I've been noticing it too, Joey," the blue Mynci said. "I wouldn't be too worried, though. After all, M*YNCI is practically synonymous with music and the Concert Hall."

"Still, maybe we should get back to the recording studio," the yellow Mynci replied. "We can't keep riding the fame of our third album."

The red Mynci, Joey, still didn't seem at ease. "I don't know, guys," he said. "Our latest single didn't go anywhere, and we're down to just three shows a month."

The green and purple Myncies of M*YNCI were silent, just slowly eating some sliced bananas that were laid out on the table.

After several silent seconds, there was a knock on the door to their dressing room. The door then opened and a sad-looking Kacheek entered. It was their manager, Timber.

"Boys," he said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

"What?" Joey asked. He stood up from his chair. "I thought you booked this place weeks ahead."

"I-I did, but there was a mix-up and, somehow, Twisted Roses got the stage." Timber let out an unhappy sigh. "I'm sorry, boys. I tried everything."

Without another word, the Kacheek left the room. The five Myncies were silent among themselves. All they did was look at each other with confused looks on their faces. The question on all of their minds was how this could happen.

"Out of all the concerts we've ever had, have we ever had a double booking?" the purple Mynci asked.

The other four Myncies looked at him. The purple Mynci was usually quiet, especially during something confusing like this. Out of all the Myncies that were in the room at the moment, the last one they expected to talk first was him.

"I don't think this has ever happened, Eli," the yellow Mynci replied. "Has it?"

"Well, we have had some concert cancellations, especially recently, but they weren't from another band," the blue Mynci answered.

"I wonder what happened?" Joey asked, letting speculative thoughts run though his mind. He couldn't help but think about the situation.

"So do we, Joey," the blue Mynci said, sounding a little irritated, "but what are we supposed to do about it?"...

"Hey, I think I might have an idea," he said slyly, inching closer to his bandmates. "What do you say we try and get the Twisted Roses cancelled? If they can't play, then they'll have to let us perform!"

The Myncies looked at each other. The idea seemed far-fetched -- after all, this cancellation probably wouldn't do anything to help their already-stagnant career. The boy band was desperate, though, and willing to try anything to help get themselves back on track.

"Wait," Joey said, speaking up. "Are you telling us that we should try and stop the Twisted Roses from being able to perform tonight?"

"Exactly," replied Zach, the green Mynci. He grabbed a pen and paper from the coffee table in front of them. "Does anyone know when they're supposed to perform?"

"6:30 pm. They took our timeslot," Eli recalled. "However, I bet they'll be here at least an hour in advance to get ready... maybe more if they need to do a soundcheck."

The green Mynci furiously scribbled down the key points. "So, we need to make sure to stop them on the way over," he said, glancing at the clock. "It's 3:30 pm now, so we only have a few hours."

The other four Myncies huddled together and whispered ideas among themselves. After a few moments, the yellow Mynci turned to Eli and spoke up.

"You know, I think I have a plan..."

"Wow, Greg. We just want to cancel their show, not get them eaten," Joey said, shaking his head.

"He might be onto something, though," Eli pointed out, ruffling his purple fur. "Perhaps we go with the tour plan but take them somewhere else, like to the jungle?"

"Yeah," the yellow Mynci agreed. "Emo girls love dark, dingy places."

"Right," Eli continued. "We then find a way to lose them somehow. They aren’t as familiar with the area as we are, so they're bound to get lost. If they can't get to the show, then it'll be canceled."

"And M*YNCI will be ever-so-conveniently ready to perform in their place," Joey finished, caressing his chin thoughtfully. "It might actually work."

"It's getting late," Zach stated, looking nervously at his watch. "The plan is fine and all, but how are we going to find out where they are right now?"

Joey smiled. "I know just how to find out..."

Zach snatched up the planner and leafed through it. "This is great!" He scanned the list until he found the current time. "3:45 pm. They'll be in the Village doing a meet and greet with fans until about 4:30."

"Alright, so we just head down there now, right?" Eli asked.

"Wait, wait," Greg cut in. "How are we going to make them believe that we're employees of the Concert Hall? Won't they recognize us from the band?"

Zach huffed and looked down at the floor. "Hmm, you have a point. Have you guys thought of anything for that yet?"

Joey shut his eyes tight to concentrate, then lit up within a few moments. "That's not going to be hard at all. We just have to throw some disguises on. The Concert Hall has a wardrobe, right? We can just pick some random things out from there!"

"We'd better hurry," Eli said, looking up at the clock. "It's nearly 4."

"Alright, boys... let's go play dress-up!" Joey said with a sly grin...

"I think we should give that Pteri a gift if this all works out. After all, it wouldn't have been this easy without him," Eli said while laughing to himself.

"Now, now... it's not his fault that he's the only security guard for the entire Concert Hall. Hey, look! There it is, and it appears to be empty," Joey replied as he pointed to the wardrobe department.

Zach took the lead, since he was the smallest and quickest of the bunch. The rest of the Myncies waited for his signal to follow him. After a few seconds Zach whistled and motioned his hands forward. They all then went into wardrobe and shut the door behind them.

"This is great; everyone find a mask and costume," Joey said as he, too, looked for the same.

The band had fun trying on different outfits and figuring what best disguised them. However, just as they were about the finish up and go find the Twisted Roses, they heard a voice outside the door.

"Why is this door shut? The Twisted Roses need their leather jackets before they go to meet the fans," a familiar voice said.

"It's Twisted Roses's manager, hide!" Eli whispered.

As all the Myncies were scrambling to find a hiding spot, the door began to open...

"E, are you trying to get us caught?!?" he snipped quietly, trying his best to get his point across without being loud enough for anyone to notice.

The Twisted Roses's manager was running frantically, finding the jackets and handing them to the band's members in turn.

However, the voice that worried the Myncies the most upon eavesdropping further was the same reason Eli had been frozen in place before being saved by his bandmate and friend.

The voice belonged to none other than the Myncies' own manager, Timber.

That's when...

"Yeah? What's that?" Eli wanted to know. The blue Mynci still had a certain look of astonishment about him at hearing Timber's voice directing the Twisted Roses, but he seemed serious in his inquiry.

"Just follow my lead." Joey drew a few speckled jumpsuits aside and stumbled from the closet into the harsh light of the dressing room. His bandmates followed suit, discarding their garish disguises as they went.

Timber turned at the commotion, a rumpled leather jacket clutched in one hand. "Boys?" the Techo said, for a moment looking lost.

"This isn't what it looks like," Eli started before Joey slapped him into silence with his tail.

"Is our makeup that realistic?" The red Mynci touched his face, feigning surprise. When he turned on his bandmates and saw their blank expressions, he knew he'd have to stage a more convincing act. "The band convention is here, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what the brochure said," Joey intoned, catching on to the ploy. "See, there's a group dressed as the Twisted Roses!"

Timber stared at the four Myncies a beat and then said, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong location. This is the Concert Hall." The Techo scratched his chin. "Do let me show you out. For your trouble, allow me to give you tickets to tonight's concert, free of charge."

The Twisted Roses were still busy rustling about, preparing for their upcoming meet-and-greet. Thankfully, they hadn't noticed the Myncies stumble into their changing room, and didn't notice Timber ushering them through the back door.

"Well," Eli said when they were safely outside the Concert Hall with their tickets in hand, "we've got a concert to infiltrate..."

"Alright!" he said loudly as he threw his hands up in frustration. "I can't take any more arguing! Let's stop trying to come up with a plan and just go to the concert. It's too late to do anything else at this point." He shrugged, then said, "Maybe we'll even come up with ideas on how to improve our own shows."

The bandmates murmured among themselves, then nodded their approval of Eli's suggestion. They joined the rest of the concertgoers in line and filed into the Concert Hall.

Once inside, a friendly-looking Ogrin greeted them enthusiastically. "Come with me, please!" she said cheerily. "All VIPs sit in the front row!"

The quintet looked at their tickets, shocked. Somehow no one had noticed that their tickets said "VIP" in bright red letters at the top. They followed the Ogrin to the front row, where she pointed out their seats.

"Enjoy!" she called over her shoulder, already on her way to help another group of concertgoers.

The Myncies sat in their seats and just stared at each other with mild amusement. "Well," Zach said, "I never pictured us doing this!"

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, but didn't get a chance to reply as the house lights dimmed and the crowd began to cheer loudly. The cheers turned to groans as a lone figure walked out onstage. The members of M*YNCI gasped in astonishment as they recognized their manager, Timber.

"Attention, everyone! Everyone, may I have your attention?" Timber said, his hands raised, asking for silence. The crowd grew quiet, staring expectantly at Timber.

"Thank you," he said loudly. "I need to inform you that there has been a change of plans for the evening," he went on. "Twisted Roses will not be able to perform, after all. However," he said, shouting now so he could be heard over the shouts off outrage, "I have something really spectacular in store that will hopefully make up for it! Allow me to present to you, for your listening pleasure,..."

The Myncies looked on in surprise as a group of native Tyrannians took to the stage and began to play music.

"Okay, what is going on?" Zach demanded.

The crowd seemed to hold the same opinion. Audience members were starting to leave when someone shouted out, "Hey! Are those dancers the Twisted Roses?"

The Myncies did a double take as the musicians parted to show the Twisted Roses dancing in the center of stage along with the beat. The band's leader grabbed a mic and winked at the audience.

"Are you ready to dance tonight?"

The audience roared with approval.

"Alright, then. Get up and move to the beat of our gracious hosts! If you liked our benefit concert for rebuilding Maraqua, then you're going to love this! We were going to perform with M*YNCI, but they seemed to have backed out... so it's all us tonight, dancers!"

There were cheers and the crowd began dancing along.

Eli looked speechless. After a moment, Joey stammered something and headed for the door. The remainder of the band looked at one another.

"Timber could have just told us."

"Yeah."

"Now what?"

The boys looked between one another and shrugged. Greg smiled sheepishly and started snapping his fingers.

"Well, I don't think we'll be able to talk our way out of this one."

"Timber should have told us he wanted to do a benefit concert," Eli grumbled.

"Maybe he didn't because you won't share a stage!"

"Hey, hey... arguing will get us nowhere!" Greg warned, pulling his bandmates apart. "We'll have to talk about that later."

"Okay, genius, but what now?"

Greg laughed. He then jumped in the air, drawing some attention before being swallowed by the crowd again.

"I guess we'll just have to dance."

The End