Chapter 2: A Balance
Part 1: Fighting Fire
"This is the gate to Silly Sands," said Goombud, as they stood at a small doorway in Dove Town's cobblestone wall.
Of course, things were never easy, as a guard stood in the way.
The guard was obviously a Bob-omb, and a Bulky Bob-omb at that. It was midnight black, instead of the usual pink or brown color schemes. He was wearing a helmet that was too small for him, and sat on top of his head. A fuse uncurled out of the area where the head would usually be.
This would be all fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that the fuse was lit.
"GAH!" Mario said when he saw it and immediately jumped away from it.
"Hey buddy, that's not nice…" The guard said in a deep voice, "Come on, and give old Bobby a hug…"
"You-you-your fuse is lit!" Mario stammered.
Goombud and Perry laughed.
"It's okay Mario!" Goombud explained, "We have a species of Bob-ombs here that are able to control fire, without blowing-up."
"Yeah…" said Bobby, "Those guys are the coolest. I wish I was one of them…"
"…But… your fuse is lit…" Goombud stammered, shocked.
Bobby looked up at his fuse, "Huh… it is… Cool…"
It took Bobby a few seconds to realize the problem, "Wait…"
"AH! HELP! MY FUSE IS ON FIRE! I'M GOING TO DIE!"
Bobby began scurrying around, shouting, "HELP!" at the top of his lungs.
"I'VE GOT YOU!" yelled Perry and threw her wing. It circled around Bobby's fuse, and the air put out the fire.
"Whew…" Bobby said, "Well then, I guess I'm safe…"
A few citizens snickered.
"Right this way," said Bobby, and his fuse relit, as he bowed and waved it towards Silly Sands, "Enjoy their performance…"
"Your fuse is relit!" Goombud shouted.
Bobby looked up, "Huh… it is. It's a good thing I'm a Fire-Wielding Bob-omb, otherwise I could explode…"
Mario and Perry face-palmed.
"Guys, I need a bit of help," Goombud asked.
Perry slapped her hand to his forehead.
"Thanks."
….
The desert was hot… Extremely hot.
Sure, it sounds like stereotypical, but it was true.
But, despite being hot, sweaty, and probably in need of a shower, Mario felt like cartwheeling and doing a handstand.
It made absolutely no sense. Mario was wondering whether there were dune buggies in Silly Sands when he stepped on it. Now he wanted to run through the entire desert while making desert puns.
"Welcome to Silly Sands!" said Goombud, "It's a good thing we're not going to desert each other here. I also managed to pack us some sandwiches! Luckily, it's cactus out here and not just cacti. Anyways, this desert has a funny effect on us, and makes us all quite silly. I think that whoever made this desert had a goof-up. But it's okay. We should be able to snap out of it as long as we keep our minds straight. Maybe it'll grain… oh my Grambi, what is wrong with me?"
Perry randomly cartwheeled, straight into a layer of sand that appeared to have turned grey. She suddenly stopped and grew a look of pure determination on her face, "We have to go and get those two emotions!
"Aww c'mon, relax!" said Goombud, "Look!"
He stuck out his tongue. Mario burst out laughing, but Perry didn't look amused.
"This isn't the time to be idiots! This is the time to be serious!"
"Aw c'mon!" said Mario, and walked over to her. He suddenly got a serious expression on his face.
"We are being goofballs! Goombud, we need to stop messing around!"
"BUT C'MON!" Goombud rolled on the ground, "IT'S FUNNY!"
As he said that, a line of sand was snaking towards him.
"GOOMBUD! GET OUT OF THERE!" Perry yelled.
Goombud noticed the line, "JOKES ON HIM! He's a line!"
Goombud rolled out of the way, and the line stopped. Goombud was laughing, "Jokes! Because we're in Silly Sands! Get it?"
A small pit opened up, and a figure made of sand and cloth popped up.
It wrapped an arm around Goombud and began to drag him in.
"WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! Loosen up man! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Perry threw her wings at the figure, and it shrieked, before throwing Goombud into the grey area of sand. Goombud got up with a serious expression on his face.
"Guys… that's a Rut. Ruts are pretty much beings who like you being down-in-the-dumps, literally! Try not to walk into their little pit, because it's… the pits!"
The grey sand suddenly turned to yellow sand, and the group started feeling goofy again.
Perry did a back-flip and threw her wings at the Rut, who shrieked in agony and burrowed again.
A long line snaked away from the group.
"Oh my Grambi! That was totally rad, dudes and dudette!"
A black Bob-omb with orange shoes and a windup key shaped like the "Hang loose" hand symbol walked up. He also had on some sunglasses and a black and white trucker hat sideways on his head, with "The Bombardiers!" on the rim.
The Bob-omb did a head-spin on the ground, and fire burst from beneath him, forming into the same symbol as his wind-up key. He got up.
"Sorry dude. Every time I see some wicked fighting going on, I just have to do some wicked moves to add to the awesomeness!"
"…Umm… Who are you?" Mario asked, as the sand around his feet turned gray.
"They call me Boom-ski, but I also go by Bro-ski! I'm a backup dancer for the sickest band ever, 'The Bombardiers!'"
"'The Bombardiers?' I don't like their music…"
"It's not our choice, dudette!" said Boom-ski, "In fact, last performance, we actually did the song, 'Black Hole Grand Star,' by the Sound Petal Meadows!"
"…I actually like that song!" said Perry.
"Oh yeah, we did a sweet gig, and were asked to do an awesome twist on the music video for it. It was WICKED!"
Mario could swear that if the thing had a mouth, it would be sticking out his tongue and waggling it around.
"Oh, by the way dudes and dudette! I think you guys need these!"
Boom-ski tossed the trio necklaces. On them were the Yin and Yang symbols, but instead of white, there was yellow. The group put them on, and clutched their heads.
"Hey… I feel a lot less serious now!" Goombud cheered, "I feel like MYSELF! Yes!"
"You're welcome bro-skis!" said the backup dancer.
"Wait, are these Balance Necklaces?" Goombud asked.
"Sure are dude! We give them, free of charge. Especially as those sick monsters started showing up, we want to make sure people don't get to cuckoo in the head so they don't, you know, fall into their hands or fall into the ocean. It causes bad revenue!"
"What are Balance Necklaces?" Mario asked.
"Woah… this dude is totally a tourist, isn't he?" asked Boom-ski.
"Definitely…" Perry muttered.
"Well then, dude, let me give you the low-down. This desert, the one where your rad boots are, has some weird chemicals, or whatever, that mess with your head. The yellow sand makes you act like a total dork-a-tron, while the grey one makes you straight as a board. Of course, both can cause total bummers, so the Balance Necklaces use some rad magic, or other chemicals, or something, to make your mind be cool."
"Wow… That made no sense…"
"Sorry my bro-tastic language doesn't work with you. But it's OK dude. I cannot stop the flow dude. My words make everything sound wicked to me, and grammar doesn't mean anything to this bro-ski!"
"…Ok?" Mario asked.
"But dudes, because you're so chill, do you want to see our wicked dance-off today?"
"…Dance off?!" asked Perry.
"TODAY?!" squealed Goombud.
"Wicked..?" Mario asked, still not understanding the bro-tastic language.
"Yeah, dudes. Tonight? It is going to be super awesome man! Hey… seeing as you guys have some wicked skills, here!"
Boom-ski gave each of them another necklace, this time with a card saying: VID.
"Very Important Dude!" Boom-ski explained, "Just make it tonight, and you're going to have some wicked fun! Later dudes, and dudette!"
Boom-ski breakdanced into a fiery whirlwind… and was gone...
"Woah… sick magic trick," said Goombud, "Wait. I'm talking the bro-tastic language! Gah! Were my grammar lessons in vain?"
….
"So… the Balance Necklaces keep us… sane? Is that how you would say it?" Mario asked.
"It's easier to understand it as it balancing your goofy and stern aspects," Goombud explained, "It's based on Silliness's and Seriousness's eternal war against each other."
"Could you explain that more," asked Mario, "Because we'll most likely be encountering them someday here."
"I'll explain that!" Prince Voib shouted, completely shocking the group.
"Oh great, the orb returns," Perry grumbled.
"I TOLD YOU! CALL ME PRINCE, VOIB, OR PRINCE VOIB!"
Mario and Goombud snickered.
"Gah… anyway, the legend."
"A long time ago, when the emotions came into the world, Silliness and Seriousness were brought in together. While considered brothers, even twins, the two despised each other. Their personalities, and what they brought to the world, were polar opposites. So, when they met, they attempted to trap and suck all the life out of each other. Both, however, are always at an almost even end, but have never achieved true balance."
"Wow…" Perry said, "That was needlessly dramatic…"
"I'm good at storytelling, so what?" countered Voib.
"Anyways, I guess that explains the sand here…" Goombud stated.
"Yes, it does," Prince Voib agreed, "Where Silliness and Seriousness fought, the land would spread with the power of both siblings. They almost always fought in a desert, so that explains this regions name. Although, calling it Silly Sands is just making the land beg to get attacked by Seriousness…"
"So," Goombud stated, "With Perry and Resret, they both countered each other. Resret represented The Negative emotion, Guilt, while Perry is the host of Perseverance, the counter of this. So, with Seriousness and Silliness, who's The Positive emotions, and who is The Negative Emotion?"
"Yes," Prince Voib replied.
"…That's not a satisfiable answer."
"It's a simple way of saying that they both are. It's like asking someone: Are they smart, or are they strong? If you say yes, you're saying that they are smart and strong. Anyways, Silliness and Seriousness are technically negative and positive. When in perfect balance, both are technically positive emotions, but when out of balance, become negative. Technically, the counter emotion is the balance of those two emotions."
"Interesting…" Goombud pondered, "What would you call that?"
"I don't believe there's a name for that," Perry answered.
"Serilliousness?" Prince Voib proposed.
"…No," The trio all said at once.
"Fine…"
….
As the group continued to trudge on, a voice cried in the distance, "HELP!"
"WE'RE COMING!" yelled Mario, and the group rushed over a dune to find three Bob-ombs getting attacked by four Ruts, and one peculiar looking… scooper?
The group sprang into battle.
….
"Believe it or not, that's not a pooper scooper," explained Goombud, "That's actually a crown. Behold, Narcissism, and believe it or not, there's a flower under there. It's odd, I know. Anyways, this thing treats itself as the king of the lower people. It's incredibly weak, but it's able to divert damage to its cohorts… And heal them. In other words, try to take out everyone else as fast as possible. If two of them are in a battle, well then, may Grambi have mercy on you."
Perry threw her wings, which inadvertently hit Narcissism. As if to demonstrate Goombud's point, it spread the damage to a nearby Rut.
Mario focused on jumping on the Rut, as Goombud charged into another one.
Perry proceeded to hit the two Ruts with her wings.
But, like Goombud said, the Narcissism healed them all.
The four Ruts all created sinkholes around the group.
"Great, now we can't run across them… Hmm… I got an idea, but it doesn't apply to this battle… Anyways, good luck guys..."
Perry launched two wings at the same Rut, hitting it four times. Mario did a Jump Smash on the same Rut, and it proceeded to die.
Narcissism summoned a crook, and grabbed Goombud and pulled him closer, before smacking him in the head with his crown.
Two Ruts mumbled, and a dome of sand covered one Rut.
Perry threw her wings, and hit both Ruts. Mario hit one with a Jump Smash, hitting one and the other one with a shockwave. Both died from this.
The Narcissism squeaked when he saw that the three Ruts were dead, ignoring the dome of sand.
Goombud gave a wicked smile, and charged from it from behind, pushing it into the sinkhole. It promptly sank.
….
"Thank you so much!" said a pink-and-black colored Bob-omb, its skin formed of colored squares. It had a pink ponytail, and its wind-up key was shaped like a microphone.
Two other Bob-ombs stumbled up. One had some brown hair, and the other had glasses. Both had light-blue skin.
"Umm… thanks…" stuttered the Bob-omb with glasses, "I've been looking at the mythology of this area… and honestly, that was shocking!"
"THAT WAS WICKED!" the other Bob-omb hopped up and down, and Mario noticed it had some freckles.
"It's thank to you that we're alive right now," said the pink-and-black Bob-omb, "I'm Pop."
"You're the lead singer of The Bombardiers, right?" Goombud asked.
Pop gave a wink, and applause erupted all around them.
"Umm… How'd that happen?" Perry asked, shocked.
"Little trick I like to do," Pop laughed, and pulled out a recorder.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Shouted the brown-haired Bob-omb, doing a loud and obvious fake laugh.
"You're embarrassing yourself dude…" Muttered the Bob-omb with glasses
"Shut up," The Bob-omb muttered back.
"He's right though," said Pop, and the brown-haired Bob-omb blushed.
"Oh…"
"Anyways, it's a good thing you guys were so far off the beaten path, otherwise… I don't know what would've happened!"
"Wait," Perry asked, "We're off the beaten path?"
"Well, you have VIP cards on your Balance Necklaces, and you were walking opposite of the stadium, so… yeah…"
"…There was a path?" Perry muttered, her eye twitching.
"…There wasn't a path, was there?" Pop asked.
The group nodded.
"When I see Boomer, he is going to be slapped so hard…"
She left it up to everyone's imagination.
"Well, luckily, I know the path to the stadium, so follow me. Let's go!"
They all left, not noticing that the dome fell into the sand, without a Rut to be seen.
….
The stadium was silent when the group of six walked up.
It was as simple as it could be on the outside, but the inside was quite the opposite.
Rows of seats hung a few feet above the ground, with only iron bars holding them up. A giant dance floor, complete with stage and jumbo-tron were on the ground.
There, two Bob-ombs were standing.
One had a Mohawk, similar to Perry's, but it was blue. He was green, and his key was shaped like a music note.
"That's Boomer," said Pop, her fuse pointing towards the other one.
Boomer didn't appear to be any different than a normal Bob-omb at first.
He was still black in color, and had the same shoes as a Bob-omb. However, his shoes and key were a brighter orange than normal, and his key seemed normal enough, but was more… fiery, than the normal one. His fuse was lit on fire, but it didn't appear to be getting any shorter.
Both of them stared at each-other, then Boomer shouted, "Let's go homie…"
Music began playing, until Pop hopped up, and yelled, "STOP!"
"POP! YOU'RE BACK!" said the green Bob-omb.
"Of course she's back!" said Boomer, "How you doing, girl?"
Pop walked up, and slapped him with her fuse. He fell onto the floor.
"Guess how I'm doing, Boomer, when I find two lost fans, and begin walking them to the stadium, when they're attacked by monsters. If it weren't for three travelers, umm, I don't know. Oh right, WE'D BE DEAD!"
"…Dead?" Boomer got up.
"DEAD!" shouted Pop, "Oh yeah, and we wouldn't be at risk of DEATH, if, oh, I don't know, YOU REMEMBERED TO GET THAT PATH MADE!"
"THE PATH ISN'T MADE?" shouted Boomer.
He pulled out a cell phone, dialed a number, and held it up.
"Hey, is this the Brock office? Yeah… OK, may I speak to your manager? Oh, you are the manager, OK… WHAT IN THE WORLD IS TAKING YOU SO LONG TO MAKE THAT PATH? I ordered it, OH, I don't know, FIVE MONTHS AGO? YOU HAVE BEEN CHARGING ME MONTHLY FOR THIS SUPPOSED PATH, THAT I JUST LEARNED DOESN'T EXIST! No, don't tell me that you're going to do it. I PAYED YOU FIVE MONTHS WORTH OF PAYMENT, PLUS, THE MONEY TO GET IT MADE! I EXPECT A FULL REFUND IN A MONTH'S TIME, AND IF NOT, I'M SENDING A LAWSUIT FOR DOUBLE THAT AMOUNT, GOT IT?"
He clicked off the phone.
"Sorry, I had a bit of a moment…" Boomer chuckled.
"Five months' worth of payment?" Pop asked, "AND YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THAT THERE WASN'T ONE?"
"I didn't, baby… I've been living here or using the back entrance to explore the desert."
"I told you that you should have checked it," said the green Bob-omb.
"And you were right, now shut up B."
B glared at Boomer, before jumping onto the stage, and walking backstage.
Boomer hopped down, "Ah, VIP passes… Well then, you might want to wait a bit. The show's actually going to start the soon. There's a line of fans at the back of the coliseum. Show them this, and you can get to the front of the line."
Boomer gave them a card. On it was Boomer's signature, and the words, "Boomer's Official Pass of Cutting in Front of the Line at Shows of His, Located in Silly Sands." It was a big card.
"Now then, I'll be keeping an eye on you…" He said, beamed, and walked away.
"…That wasn't suspicious at all…"
The group walked out of the back entrance of the stadium.
…...
"YO-YO-YO!" Boomer yelled into a microphone, and the crowd went wild.
The trio of heroes were able to get first dibs on seats, and got the closest seats they could.
A sweaty Fat Guy stood on the right, an odd being on the left. She looked like a sausage had grown limbs, with holes for eyes and a mouth. Her arms didn't appear to have fingers, and how she stood on her toeless feet were a mystery. She had a long wave of hair on the back of her head, braided with cornrows, and her dress was blue, with a yellow trim, and was diagonal, from her right to left, going downward.
"That's a Hooski…" Goombud said, "They're a race of mountain people. Easily confusable as Hoohooligans…"
"Ah, so you have heard of my people, small one?" She asked, and gave him a noogie.
"Well yeah," said Goombud, "I live here. Well, in Dove Town, but on the island, nonetheless."
She gave a hearty laugh, "Ah, that makes more sense. I thought you were tourists, because of the, ah, fat one you have."
"I'm not fat!" Mario shouted, causing Goombud, Perry, and the Hooski to laugh.
"Dah, you might be. But, whatever the case is, you seem like a tourist."
"That's because he is," snickered Perry.
"Ah, OK then. My name is Hooskina, and it's nice to meet you. Well, more a miracle actually. My father is very stubborn about my future."
"Why?" asked Goombud.
"Well, it might be because-"
"YO!" yelled Boomer, "CEASE THE TALKING! IT'S… DANCE BATTLE TIME! ALL OF THOSE WITH VIP PASSES, COME TO THE DANCE FLOOR!"
Boomer's eyes glimmered, "OR SHOULD I CALL IT, THE ARENA?"
PaintBrushJr: Sorry for the super long update guys. Got busy… and lazy. Again, I'm trying to keep a consistent schedule, so again, try to suspect daily updates. Sorry, and stay creative.