Around 1:00, the fast-paced scavenger hunt was about to begin, in which I eagerly signed up first, rented one of the cameras, and joined the assembly at the Brooklyn Bridge Park with some opponents including the babysitter who was always following me, King K. Rool, who wanted to win the toy to give to Kenny, King Dedede, who I met during the quiz and playtime with the kids, Ness, who I teamed up with at Monday's arena, Nabbit, with a tracking device attached to his leg to keep him from stealing anymore valuables, Mona, who competed with Lily at Blurry Match yesterday, and Roy Koopa, who was "scarred" by Virginia's intimidating strength. There was no way for anyone to win but me, as I was so determined to get that frog toy, that meant so much from me as I never got to own it back in Subcon.
"I hope you'll enjoy the hunt, Warty," said Ginny. "Because I know it'll be a blast."
Sonic showed up, feeling a bit uneasy. "And if you win, you'll get that Mini-Frog, which you always wanted, according to some voices I've heard in a pond." Afterwards, he left, thinking, "And I've heard gossips about a turnip throw, to get that frog into an allergic reaction to humiliate him. So it looks like I've got to do something about it."
In due course, the hunt started with me taking some pictures of a gold ring next to a bench; that was one down, as there were 29 more items to go. It may seem easy, but I was sweating like crazy, considering the time pressure and wild competition I had to deal with. Later, when I had four more down, which were a Chaos Emerald, Sonic's shoes, a Chao doll, and a plastic replica of Amy's Piko Piko Hammer, I would see that fat penguin Dedede quickly floating like a balloon and with his feet, holding a Waddle Dee taking the pictures for him; maybe this was to take photos of several items in a bird's eye view, am I right?
"Hey, Dedede, you stuffed turkey!" I hollered. "You're supposed to capture the items independently, or you'd be disqualified! Sheesh…"
"You realize that it doesn't say in the rulebook!" laughed Dedede. While he was steadily floating, I was sprinting and "snapping" at every item in sight, as quickly as possible.
Next, I saw King K. Rool riding a red wagon while taking multiple photos, which all were said to be blurry despite his camera's "sports mode" and due to the bumpy ride and his recklessness. All of a sudden, Kenny's dad screamed when he was about to crash into a stiff Star Post imitation. Then, he went flying in the sky, and rolled into the pond. "There goes the last piece of Kenny's Chrono Trigger toy collection," He sighed, spitting out water and holding up his water-damaged camera. "And so much for redeeming my son's babysitting of that Koopaling. As for you, Wart, I hope you keep taking those pictures!"
Later, after taking a picture of Shadow's hover shoes, in which I had 19 more to go, there was Mona moving on roller skates and shooting the images effectively with her bulky DSLR camera. "Hello there, hoppy! Are you snapping some snaps?"
"Quite a bit!" I croaked.
"I just want to mention to you that I happen to work for the Diamond City Times as a photojournalist noticeable for being the consistent in exposing hidden criminals, which is why I was the host of a game called "Shutter"."
"I promise you, I'll have all of the "pics" I need the earlier than everyone else, because I need that frog SO BADLY!"
"You're pretty determined to win that prize, aren't you? You better give it your best shot, because I'll be giving it mine."
That was when I realized that pizza girl was my first real competitor; she apparently had more experience with photography than me! So I tried to hurry up with extra hopping power, as I tried to complete my list as soon as possible. Then, I met Lily at the playground, taking a picture of a Dr. Eggman puppet near the slide. When she saw me sweating, she advised me to take it easy, since "winning wasn't everything", but I rejected the advice and told her restlessly about my obsession of the Chrono Trigger toy, citing that it's presence thoroughly brought back the geek I once was and "dragged me back to my childhood" when I was part of the fanbase of comics, novels and so on."
Meanwhile, around this area, Sonic was busy speed-hunting for those frog gossipers who were planning to give me an allergic reaction to sabotage my chances of winning the game. "If I was a frog, where would I like to hang out?" He assumed that they were under one of the ponds, but before going in, he began to hesitate since he couldn't swim underwater due to his dense body. Conversely, there were no signs of bubbles coming from a frog underwater nor there seemed to be anyone there. After 15 minutes of sprinting to every tree and architecture, much to his shock, he finally saw the frogs on the horses in Jane's inactive carousel; they were revealed to be the Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors, who were singers mentioned in the Zelda Book #5: Ocarina of Time, and also harassed me when I was little, before they moved to Zora's River. "There you five are!" he shouted angrily. "Planning to hurt someone with a vegetable?"
"Uh oh," gasped the pink frog, "It looks like some blue hedgehog found us. Run!"
"Forget the flight!" protested Fred, the orange frog. "He's fast enough to catch us all! I say we play our Song of Teleportation to bring us to a place where he'll never find us again!"
"How are you going to play it?" the blue blur replied. "You got some kind of magical instrument like the Ocarina of Time or something like that?"
The green frog, named Regol, groaned. "Don't tell us you forgot our instruments."
Fred started sweating. "Oh, um…that's a big problem." Surprisingly, he changed his mind since he got a new brilliant idea. "Boys, let's find out if that spiny rat's allergic to something. Ed, you got something that people can be sensitive to?"
Leoni, the purple frog, firmly threw a pineapple at Sonic, causing a ton of rings to scatter away from his body; then, the hedgehog swelled up from head to toe and began floating, like a balloon. Everyone else started laughing at him crazily until their spleens strained.
"How was I supposed to know that I am allergic to pineapples?" the hedgehog muttered in a chipmunk-like voice.
Meanwhile, when I had 11 items to go, tension of the competition was rising, as I've seen that almost all of my contenders including Ness, Nabbit, and especially Roy, were quickly capturing their photos faster than Kirby inhaling a giant serving of noodles in 10 seconds. So I hurried up with maximum force and managed to take the rest of my pictures using sports mode, which I've learned from King K. Rool, before his camera was damaged by the pond.
The last of my photos included a Knuckles model, a spring with a star in the center, a white Wisp (from Sonic Colors), and a Sonic statue. After I completed my list, before I let anyone make it, I sprinted my way to Mario, Pauline, and DK, hoping to win the contest, but there was one practical tragedy; when I was almost getting there, I suddenly got hit by a turnip causing me to swell and drop the camera, which cracked on the concrete of my path. Not only that, I started sneezing green bubbles, gained purple itchy dots all over my body, and turned red as a pepper, as symptoms of my turnip sensitivity. After that, I got hit by more turnips, worsening my conditions. Then, those frogs showed up from the bushes and made fun of my treatment clothes and recent behavior.
"Nice shoes, geek!" guffawed Regol. "Bet they don't change how slow you've always been! And why is there a tattoo on your face? You look extra ridiculous with that!"
I tried to rub of the blue silhouette of Sonic's head, but it wouldn't come off, thanks to the permanent paint.
"Who would want to be friends with someone who cares about plastic junk and stuff more than his personal hygiene?" laughed Leoni.
Fred continued, "You know, Wart, I never thought I'd see the day in which years later, you turn back into the nerdy child who failed to follow your duties just to read fictional nonsense and do all of those immature activities like what all okatus do."
"Remember the time when in a play, you used to be King Dedede, stealing all of the food in Dream Land?" added the second purple one. "As a result, Leader Ōsama ordered you to ditch the stages for good, for how "silly" you've been."
"There was also the time when you stole the money from Poki and Piki to buy all of those action figures with the result of Imajin and Lina throwing vegetables at you," Fred continued further. "The thing is, when will you grow up and realize how merchandise companies trick you into wasting your money for impractical junk that you eventually get sick of when novelties wear out? And let that allergic reaction be an aide-mémoire that you should stop doing stuff all of those geeks been doing throughout the week!"
When the frogs continued to throw turnips at me, without my camera, I ran away back to the meeting area, to find out that Roy Koopa has shockingly won Speedy Search, and that frog I wanted. "N-O-O-O-O-O!" I screamed weakly.
"Beat that, losers!" laughed Roy. "I won this frog warrior thingy, and there's nothing you can do can about it!" He then noticed my purple spots and reddened body. "Wow, look at you, green lips! You look sicker than a dog, if it was bad enough already that you're not getting this toy. Whatever you do, don't touch me or I'll get sick like you!"
As for everyone else, including Mario's kids, Little Mac, Kenny and his dad, covered in mud, my Subcon crew, Mona, Ness, Nabbit, Dedede, and especially Lily, they were upset to see me infected by means of my turnip allergy. Robirdo quickly gave me a shot to cure my body, even though I could've used my magic to recover myself. After that, I became really gloomy and started bursting into tears, knowing that I didn't win the action figure. Meanwhile, after Tails Prowler gave him an allergy shot like me, Sonic was sullenly watching me cry a river of tears for hours, literally speaking, and later saw those Froggish Tenors with menacing looks while behind the trees.
Later, while I was still crying, I looked back at the time when I actually had the Chrono Trigger figure in my hands, after winning a bet with a pigeon-like Pidgit; the bet was in deciding which favored contestant would win at a public carpet-riding race. This kind of treat however, didn't stay with me very long; when all of my frog companions saw me with the toy, at one night, one of them sneaked into my house and stole it to show to Ōsama, to get me into REALLY deep trouble, after focusing more on my hobbies than my responsibilities.
Sometime after the end of the hunt, Stanley was making another report to review all of what happened for the day before the finale. Eventually, he came to me, asking for my opinion about Contendo Week, which will be the turning point of this story.
"I'm very sorry that you didn't get that toy frog when you lost Speedy Search, considering that you explicitly expressed how upset you were," he said. "But since you made everyone proud by coming to visit us, and that you did receive the treatment given by your beloved fans, what would you say about this special week overall?"
"I say…" I wept. This was when it hit me; I instantly remembered my encounter with the king in the throne room when I confessed to him that I was busy making a bet with the Pigit in order to win the toy. He didn't throw me to the dungeon or even assigned me extra duty in chains, but instead, he calmly showed me some newspapers focusing on the problems regarding fandom. First, what I've learned was that out of hype, huge numbers of fanatics have been "attacking" famous singers and novelists, who had very little time to spend alone without being noticed. Not only that, there were reports of people buying tons of merchandise every day, which resulted in less dedication in performance at school and less money for food. Furthermore, it was revealed that there have been tons of action-based memes that have affronted the stars, as well as certain cultures, stories, and history.
"Take a good look at all of these, my good frog," he said. "You know, if you were world famous, how would you feel if all of your bothersome fans wouldn't stop taking about you, sending you meaningless fan mail, taking pictures of you, making you look like a fool through costumes or poorly-written plays, and worst of all, losing their fortune just for silly merchandise, based on you, that they don't need? You would get sick of this treatment, wouldn't you? Luckily, enthusiasm for a certain person, fiction, history, or culture wears out, as while it lasts, fandom only gets in the way of all of those who need to fulfill their proper tasks. What I'm trying to say is, you should've focused more on taking my orders, instead of being a kid and focusing too much on devotion!"
Back to the present: "I say…" I said again angrily. Then I shouted in front of Stan's camcorder, "…YOU GUYS ARE ALL A BUNCH OF GEEKS!"
Consequently, everyone in the entire city, and those watching the con on TV heard exactly what I just shouted out. They all looked at me, heartbroken and shocked, without of any movement of muscle.
"Just look at all of you BABIES playing all of that plastic junk, wearing those ridiculous costumes, and reading all of that fictional nonsense! I've never thought I'd see the day that I've been bamboozled by games and stuff to end up as someone unlikable like all of you! Say, instead of invading cites to contaminate all of the residents with your fandom, shouldn't you be doing homework or study for a test, since you have summer school or somewhere like that?"
"Technically, not a lot of people sign up for summer school," responded one fan.
"The thing is," I continued, "all of this so-called dedication is turning you into a bunch of obsessives who wouldn't focus anymore on anything more important, like doing chores or volunteering for charity and such! As for those comic books, they're isolating you from reality, causing you believe in all of those dumb fantasies that just don't happen! It's time to wake up and accept reality, because many of those superheroes in those books are not real!"
"What about the Wonderful 101?" objected another fan.
"I'm not finished! As for those pricy action figures and cards, at first, you start playing with them at the beginning, but later, you eventually neglect them, due to the fact that you all want more and more! Let me tell you this: all of those merchandise companies are tricking you into draining your cash for useless garbage that you eventually get sick of, instead of buying food and paying for your mortgages! In addition, I've heard that you've been pestering those real life heroes, as well as stars, singers, etc. with your petty fan mail, eye-swelling paparazzi, and the demand for autographs until their hands get numb from writing a thousand signatures; no wonder why they all get so sick of you! In conclusion, every single one of you were supposed to start growing up and accepting life boring and dull as it was meant to be! But instead, you just had to do all of those dumb activities, only to end up BULLIED like me, when I used to be a nerd! For once, get an appropriate life, you PATHETIC, IMMATURE, ANNOYING, LOW-LIVED, MONEY-WASTING, LOUD-MOUTHED GEEKS!"
Since my speech, everyone became quiet and looked down, depressed rather than angry; even Mario was speechless when it came to hosting the convention. They should've been mad at me for insulting them, but when they began to look at themselves and the goods they've been buying or using, they felt kind of ashamed for what they've been doing and started to feel like if they haven't been mature enough in general. For that reason, with the support of my crew, I ordered everyone to hand over all of the toys and books so I can put them in a place where they're not to be seen again.
"Hand over your action figures and junk, if you don't want anyone to make fun of you!" I shouted.
"You heard the frog," added Mouser. "Throw 'em in the pile, if you want your reputation to be spared."
After 2,000 merchandises have been discarded to the mound, Lily slowly came to me with a sad look. "What happened? After all we've been through, you're actually condemning this convention ever since you lost the hunt."
"Look, this isn't about the toy, it's about people getting humiliated due to their fandom getting the better of them! I'm telling you, I have no choice but to put an end to this life-ruining event!"
"Well, don't you believe there's some form of importance of fandom at all?"
"No." Then, I instigated to notice that Pikachu plushie the babysitter was hugging. "Now how about to put that doll into the pile, just everyone else, like how Little Mac and Kenny gave up their limited edition Jergingha figures to avoid ruining their reputation?"
In response, she shook her head, which meant "no", so therefore I decided to take it by force; in silence, we fought over the doll for a brief amount of time until I won and tossed it in the pile. Consequently, Lily felt thick tears on her eyes, and began weeping.
*sniffles and wipes tears* "…And to think I signed up so I could give you that prize if I won the game…"
When DK saw the girl "leaking", he gave her a hug, wiped her tears, and gave me a look of disappointment after what I've done. When all, but me and my crew, left, I decided to write my journal right away, unlike before, in which I usually waited until each night. Here's what I wrote:
Day 6: Today has been the most devastating day I've ever been through since the time when the King of Subcon lectured me. When I received the special treatment from those fans, it only got me ridiculed by those Froggish Tenors, who threw turnips at me to sabotage my chances of winning the hunt. After that, when I started to revisit the time when the king told me everything about the problems with fandom, that was when I slammed the geek week and even took away Lily's Pikachu plushie, which made her heartbroken for some reason. Keep in mind that I never meant to make her cry, as I only did this to keep her from ending up with the same fate like me.