Welcome, dear readers. Are you ready for the next episode? Take a seat, this might take a while, for the Kings found the do over watch and are now playing with it. Boz doesn't have the time to take it away from them, so... enjoy the Do Over episode. But before we really start, I'm gonna give a response to the people who reviewed last chapter:
Wendy Pierce: I'm not touching the almost-kiss, since things could've turned out completely different (or the same). Don't worry, there's still the Evil King to look forward to. And thanks for the review!
SGJMBCfan98: Thanks for reviewing! And if you think there is comedy in here, then I also thank you for that because I normally don't write comedy.
Enjoy!
-Writer207
The next morning, Boz was very tired. Mahuma had given him a night shift, so he had to stay around the plaza for potential Tarantula attacks. So he didn't sleep all night, and had only rested a few hours after the sun rose. It didn't help it stormed that same night, so he was also wet and he wouldn't be surprised if he'd get a cold or caught the flu last night. And now, he was exhausted and was almost asleep when two guards entered with a lot of noise, keeping him from sleeping.
"Rise and shine, my kings! It's Giki-Biki Day!" Mason's loud voice rolled through the room like thunder, and Boz groaned. Couldn't the Sasquatch use a softer voice? There were still people who weren't kings trying to sleep around here!
"You have to throw the ceremonial gourd today, so – lose the cookie on your face." Mikayla continued, and Boz opened his eyes after he heard the word cookie. He wondered what the guard girl meant by it, but son he realized it was just Brady who had a cookie on his face.
"And lose the cookie on your face, too." Mason said to Boomer. Boz lay down again. This was about Brady and Boomer, so it wasn't about him. So the Makoolas and his brothers should leave' him alone, since he has nothing to do with it. He closed his eyes and hoped for silence. Hoped, because he knew he wouldn't be getting it.
"Where'd you get the cookie?" Boomer asked, and Boz groaned again. Why did everyone forget there was a fifth person here, laying on the couch and trying to sleep?
"Didn't I tell you about my cookie bed?" Brady said. "It's so much better for my back than my chocolate pudding bed." Okay, that's it. They may not know what happened last night, but Boz had and he was tired and exhausted and tired and he couldn't think straight and couldn't remember any more words that meant the same as 'tired'.
"Guys," he said still laying on the soft and comfortable couch, "I had a night shift and wanna sleep. Would you please be silent?" Luckily, the Kings got the message. They knew better than to mess with Boz when he's tired. Silently, they put on their clothes and left the room, so Boz could sleep in peace.
And Boz indeed slept in peace until Mikayla woke him.
The Kings' bedroom was completely calm; no sound could be heard from the rom or the plaza. The sun shone into the room, and still Boz slept peacefully in the light of the beautiful sunny day. Birds were singing, the guards were training and Mikayla roughly woke the strawberry blonde up by screaming in his ear.
"Wake up!" Boz almost fell out of the couch by the sudden noise. As he looked around, trying to find the culprit, he saw Mikayla and glared at her, still feeling a little sleepy, but he was well-rested. He wasn't in a bad mood in the morning, but he hated being woken up like that.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, rubbing in his eyes with one hand and with the other he checked if he wore underwear. Luckily, he did, and Mikayla sighed.
"I'm sorry Boz. I know you had a night shift, but you promised you'd teach the new applicants today. You're supposed to be there in one hour." Boz groaned. He could've easily slept another half an hour and hurry to the applicants, but no; Mikayla just had to wake him up now so he wouldn't come too late. Today's class wouldn't be too long, though; it was Giki-Biki Day, which meant people could attend the ceremony and all guards – including applicants – had to be present for the Kings' safety. The Tarantulas were very active these days.
"Thanks for the warning." Mikayla waked back out of the room, leaving Boz in the room. Well, you can't rest forever. You still need to protect them. He got up and quickly dressed himself, leaving the castle with a light lunch. He could still pick some bananas and other fruits on his way to the training court.
He swung through the trees, varied by just walking and eating. He needed to swing lianas from time to time, he needed those specific abilities or he would lose them one day. He already noticed he was less agile than eight years back, and he now realized he needed to train it. Civilization made him weaker, but strengthened him in other cases.
When he arrived there, he saw three young men standing there, and they were a bit younger than the kings. Boz nodded to them, but they just kept talking and weren't paying attention to their substitute. He knew he wasn't going to have patience with them, so he decided to make a good first impression and drew his machete. One of the three looked, and Boz winked at him, only to 'attack' the boys no second later.
The three screamed, but stopped when they noticed Boz didn't continue and stopped the machete at an inch from the loudest of the boys. Boz gave them a smile and pulled the machete back. Now he had captured their attention, he would begin his lesson.
"Good midday, applicants. My name is Boz, the personal bodyguard of the Kings, and I am here to teach a little about weaponry. Today, however, I won't be talking about a machete. I want you guys to attack me without that piece of metal. Please, Colton, put it away – that piece of metal is so overrated." Unsure about Boz' tactics, they dropped their machete and the braver of the boys, Colton, decided to do what the teacher asks. He came forward and tried to hit the bodyguard with his fists. Colton had expected to hit his teacher, standing there comfortably with a wide smile, but at the last second Boz moved his head. This way, he avoided any punch or kick Colton tried to hit him with.
At the last moment, Boz turned around and grabbed the branch the youngest of the initiates, Tavion, tried to hit him with from behind. Boz grinned to Tavion and took the branch out of his hand and hit Colton in his side with the branch. The last applicant, Myles, jumped on him from behind, but Boz hit him with the branch and the boy fell on his back. With a smooth move, Boz tried to hit Tavion, too, but the boy was able to grab the other end of the stick. The initiate pulled as hard as he could and fell back when Boz just let go of the branch.
With the three boys on the ground, Boz went to sit down, too. He smiled at his three stupefied students. "Not bad. Not bad at all. You're all doing great, and I see potential in the three of you. There's only one small problem: you're too impulsive." The boys looked at him, surprised. "Hey, I'm not saying being impulsive is bad; it saved my butt many times. But being too impulsive is a big problem, too. If you don't learn to look before you leap, the Tarantulas will slaughter you in no time."
The three young students looked distressed. Shit, I'm scaring them! "But I'm your teacher. Me, the Kings' personal bodyguard! You'll definitely learn some stuff with me, and I hope you'll never forget it. Because it might just…"
Boz was interrupted by a sudden force wave. Even if his mind had no idea what was happening, his body recognized the force wave. It forced Boz to close his eyes and he fell on his back, onto the soft comfortable couch. In the distance, he could hear a gong sound once, and even without opening his eyes, he knew he was back on the couch in the Kings' bedroom, and not with the three initiates in the jungle training court which was no more than just a spot in the wild jungle where the guards sometimes trained.
"Wow!" he heard Brady say, "Weren't we just on the beach?" Boz panicked, but didn't say anything. He'd better stay silent right now, alone with his thoughts.
"And your face cookie is back!" Boomer said, "What's happening?" and while Mason and Mikayla repeated their lines, Boz realized the storm of yesterday must've washed up a lot of unusable stuff and other things the Kings should not have in their possession, just as the do over watch he had thrown in the ocean after the incident with the plants doubles.
The kings found the watch! Boz thought. Shit!
"That's exactly what Mason and Mikayla told us this morning!" Boomer said, and Boz groaned again. He had no idea why, but he had the sudden urge to do this, and so he did. This was about the same time he groaned this first morning. Anyway, this time he wouldn't complain about them making noise, because their theories might be amusing to hear.
"Dude," Brady began, "I think we just started our day over." Boz nodded, though they couldn't see him in this position. He was right, even if it might have been a guess from the king.
"Then why do I still have the watch?" Boomer questioned. Boz would've answered if he wasn't intensively listening to their conversation for his amusement.
"Maybe that's what gave us the do over." Brady said. No second later, Boz heard a gong and the force wave rushing all over him. The two Kings shot up, screaming, ("Make it stop!" Boomer shouted) and Boz had trouble with holding in his laughter. They were so naïve with not enough knowledge to understand the true workings of the watch.
"You're the one who's holding the watch." Brady said accusingly, as if it was Boomer's fault.
"It must be a king-thing," Boomer realized, "so stop saying those words!" that would be a wise tip Brady should have taken. But instead of understanding, he had to double-check and ask.
"What words? Do over?" A gong sounded, the force wave came again and the day started over for the third time, with both kings screaming again. If Boz knew his brother – and he did – Boomer was probably glaring at Brady right now. And the oldest was trying his best to hold back his laughter.
As they continued to stay in his room, Boz was thinking about the possibilities. Eventually, he decided to let them keep the watch – they wouldn't figure out how it worked and they sure wouldn't look it up in the Great Book. And if they only started over the day, they wouldn't do much damage.
But when things got out of hand or if they acted childish, he would try to get it back.
The morning just was the same for Boz, except for the fact he had an actual breakfast and didn't sleep too much since he wasn't feeling too tired to stay on the couch. He walked through the jungle to Colton, Myles and Tavion, the three applicants he had to teach (again) the basics of fighting without the most overrated weapon: the machete. He told them to attack him again, and they also fought the same way. And soon, the three lay on the ground and Boz sat down next to them again.
"You're not doing bad," Boz said, "You're having a great potential in you. But there's one problem you're all suffering from: you three are way to impulsive. I am not saying it's a bad thing, because it saved my life quite some times. But being too impulsive is the biggest problem here. You gotta look before you leap sometimes, or else the Tarantulas might kill you."
The three young students looked distressed. "Hey, don't worry, pals! I'm your teacher. Me, the Kings' personal bodyguard! You'll definitely learn a lot with me, and I hope you'll never forget what I'm teaching you. Because it might just save your life. Now, get up." He added as he stood up himself and the three young boys got up, too.
"Now, look around you. What do you see?" The three boys looked around them, but they couldn't find anything interesting to work with. Boz saw at least a dozen of unused weapons while the three young men just saw the jungle as they've always seen it.
"The jungle?" Tavion said, as Myles wandered off, staying close to the three others though. Boz nodded.
"Yes indeed. The jungle. That's why you're being taught here today. As I said earlier, the machete is completely overrated. Why use a bunch of steel when you have the weapons of nature always at your disposal?"
"I don't really get it," Colton said, shrugging. Boz didn't lose faith in the boys and patiently explained it to him.
"You don't? Then maybe I should tell you why I was assigned to teach you this in particular. I was raised in the jungle, surrounded by everything I could ever need until I moved here. Those years have been a great help. I know a weapon when I see one and while you were looking around for a few minutes and seeing nothing, I saw a dozen new weapons with just one glance." He paused, and then smiled, "Maybe I should make an example out of Myles; he knew where to look." Quickly, he turned around and blocked an attack from the third applicant.
Myles was confused – he had been certain Boz wasn't paying attention to them at all. Boz smiled and took the branch the young boy had picked up. "Not bad," he said, "But I fear this one would break to easily. I would've picked the one to the right. Bigger isn't always better."
Boz turned back to the two other boys. "The weapons of nature. In this jungle, we can find everything. We have fallen branches, though not always effective. We have lianas and everything else. You can lure your enemies to places where they dare not go or you could count on a weather phenomenon, like a big storm or the eruption of Mount Spew. That's the beauty about the weapons of nature. There's no limit defined. It's different with the machete. It's a piece of metal which can slash through things. But can it destroy, even sink a whole island almost instantly? No, it can't.
So…" Boz wrapped up his little story, "Always trust nature. Be impulsive when you think you need it to survive. Don't rely on your machete. Rely on your faith. Rely on those who need you, and those whom you need. And always keep in mind nature will offer you weapons when you need them."
"Wait, isn't today Giki-Biki day?" Tavion asked, and Boz nodded.
"Yes, it is," Boz said, "but we're not going to watch it. You can watch it another year. Besides, one day, you'll be standing there and protecting the Kings throwing the gourd… but only if you pass our hard tests. It might be possible none of you will ever become a guard, but as long as you train hard, you will reach your goal."
"Yeah!" Myles shouted, "What he said." Boz started to laugh.
"I like you, pal. Keep your eyes open. Can you point more of nature's weapons to your fellow applicants?" Myles nodded and showed them the places where he found natural weapons. Boz smiled at the work he's done. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he became a guard, or when he traveled back, but he was glad he took the job. Nobody knows as much as he does, except King Boz of Mindu. And he was teaching today's youth the value of nature! That is a nice bonus.
In the distance, he heard the sound of a gong. He felt a force wave hitting him at full force. He closed his eyes, felt like falling and before he knew it, he was back on the couch, a few hours earlier than a few seconds ago.
"That was a life-threatening emergency?" Brady asked Boomer. Boz concluded the two had made an arrangement to only use it in a life-threatening emergency, and thus wondered why they went back in time? What was threatening their lives?
Mason came in and repeated his lines, until Boomer cut him off, "Yeah, yeah, big bully. Out!" Startled, Mason and Mikayla left the room and Boz concluded Mason made fun of his favorite brother and Boomer now was mad at him. When they finally left the room, Brady turned to Boomer.
"A demon watch is looking pretty good right now, isn't it, king girly-hop?" Brady said, and Boz sat up straight. Not that the Kings cared, they were busy with their own private conversation. Yet, Boz couldn't help but listen. "You wanna redo your throw?"
"It's too late!" Boomer said, "Mason's horrible laugh is seared into my brain. I need revenge." Boz' conclusions were just confirmed by this statement. Conclusion 1: Mason laughed at Boomer, and he did this when Boomer had to throw the gourd. Conclusion 2: Lanny is always around spying on them, trying to find a chance to eliminate the Kings.
"Did somebody say revenge?" Lanny asked, and Boz was about to shoo the young prince away, but Brady was way ahead of him.
"Not now, Lanny!" he shouted, and Lanny just shrugged. Before he started to talk again he looked at Boz in a suspicious way. Boz knew the hobbit was trying to find out what his secret was, but he was sure Lanny knew nothing.
"Okay, well… just remember: revenge is my middle name!" Boz shook his head. If the boys ever needed his revenge, the troll would only make sure he had his own by killing of the two who took his throne away from him.
"Wait, I thought your middle name was Leslie?" Boomer said, making Boz almost laugh out loud. He never knew his full name was Lanny Leslie Parker.
"I changed it to revenge!" Lanny screamed and left the room. When he was gone eventually, Boz turned to his younger brothers (after all those time, he has gotten used to call them that) and listened to their further conversation, and eventually he realized it didn't sound too good. Their idea about actions without consequences wasn't a very good one and Boz only decided to ask the watch back when Boomer – Boomer, of all people! – smashed the vase.
"Okay, that's it!" he said, "give me the watch." Brady and Boomer looked at each other and then Brady continued.
"What are you talking about?" Boz didn't ignore the King, even though he wished he could, and he didn't sigh. They sure didn't know what he was talking about, since they thought only they could know they started their day over – and Boz
"I am talking about the watch you used to restart your day already a couple of times." Brady and Boomer looked at each other again, this time surprised, and Boomer started.
"How…"
"I still remember everything," Boz said, "Mason wakes you up and you need to throw the gourd today. I know about the face cookie and dirt. It's not fun to do, guys, you took me out of class! I was finally learning those applicants something and I know you're not bothering to listen to me, so just give me the watch and nobody will get hurt."
The boys looked at each other again, and spoke the two words which sent them back in time again. Boz was back on the couch and the kings in their bed.
"I still remember!" Boz told them just before Mason would enter for the fourth time – or was it the fifth?
After a lot of do overs and them being sneaky enough to keep the watch away from him, they arranged a guard appreciation day for the first time. Every guard was invited, also applicants, so Boz wouldn't have to teach the boys about nature's weapons for at least ninety times. Instead, he was probably the only guard patrolling and looking out for any Tarantula attacks. He was sure that if the Tarantulas knew, they would grasp this opportunity and attack the castle to kill the Kings and take the loot and the bat medallion.
So Brady, Boomer, Lanny, Mason and Mikayla were all at the palace, just as the guards and their families, and Boz was nicely patrolling through the woods. He didn't like being absent from the party, but the safety of the island came in first place when he had to make a choice.
Someone was behind him in the bushes. He pretended not to hear it so he had the element of surprise while the person behind him thought he had the advantage. Soon, the person came through and didn't expect Boz to suddenly step aside so he would just fall down at his feet. To his big surprise, he saw Maverick standing in front of him. He hadn't seen the Tarantula young man in a while – since he was often away to socialize with this world's Tarantula folk – and the look of distress on his face meant something wasn't good at all.
"Maverick! What's wrong?"
"Mikayla wants you to know a couple of things. It's just two, but I know you won't like both." Maverick told him, and Boz nodded. Maverick wouldn't be sent here for a reason. If Kayla wanted the messages to be sent stealthily, she'd send Brady. But Maverick only came when she knew there was going to be trouble on his way to him.
"Make it quick, Mave. I'm patrolling. If I'm caught talking to you, I'm gonna be fired." Maverick just sighed – why have a job while you could always reveal you're a little time-traveler and the brother to the Kings? – and he grunted.
"I prefer Maverick. First, Kayla wants to speak to you. It's about Brady. And the repeated days. And Mount Spew. She'll explain it to you when we're back with her." Boz didn't know what could be so important she wanted to tell him personally? It was about Brady, the watch and Mount Spew. He could not put a link between those three subjects.
"And what's the other news?" he wanted to know.
"Tarantulas are on their way to attack the castle. If I were you, I'd go rescue them and I wouldn't be standing here, staring like an idiot." Boz shot into action and without even saying goodbye, he ran as fast as he could to the castle. The adrenaline flew through his body and without resting he sprinted back home. Everyone was depending on him.
He knew it was a bad idea. He knew the guards shouldn't have put down their weapons in times like these. he was going to be the last man standing between the Kings and their imminent death. He ran even harder than usual, trying to get there as fast as possible to rescue his family, the Makoolas and the three applicants. After ninety times of teaching, he had grown fond of them, even if they repeated almost always the same lines.
As he reached the double doors, with the machete in his hand, he stormed inside and realized his mistake. If he had been stealthy and not that eager to rescue them, he could've taken them down one by one. But now, every Tarantula and civilian present saw him. For one second, none of them reacted. The silence was broken by one enthusiastic cry of hope from Myles.
"Boz!" Brady and Boomer turned their heads and saw their bodyguard standing there with only his machete and his confidence to fight their attackers. Some of the Tarantulas came to him, but none of these had the task of keeping an eye on the Kings – they were taken to the dungeon immediately, just as Lanny and the Makoolas. Boz had to fight his way to their freedom.
He cried out as he absentmindedly, driven by his intuition, leaped towards the Tarantula attackers. In this madness, he had no idea what he was doing, but he was aware of the fact he was defeating these fine Tarantula warriors and that he was almost killing them in the process. But he didn't care. This was the first time the Tarantulas got in with him on (official) guard duty and he couldn't care less about what he was doing to them; he was the Kings' bodyguard, so he would never stop fighting for them.
The crowd shouted. They either cheered for him or were screaming in fear for the Tarantulas. Boz continued to defeat the Tarantula Warriors without taking their life and was becoming a little reckless as the number of attackers diminished. He gave another cry and continued to beat them, but that didn't mean he never made a wrong move.
This first wrong move of the one man army could have been a lethal one. The last standing Tarantula Warrior's weapon hit him in the stomach, knocking him on the ground, hitting it hard with butt and head. Boz didn't even have time to recover when the Tarantula pierced his weapon with the sharp pointy end in Boz' stomach.
Then there was only pain. He screamed as loud as he could, tried not to make any sound. It hurt too much to stay silent. He just felt how the deep red substance softly flowed over his sides to the grounds of the plaza. He pinched his eyes closed and bit his lip. This couldn't be true… he shouldn't leave now! He knew nobody who could save his life now. But at least he died trying to protect his best friends, brothers and friends with honor and dignity. He opened his eyes again, to look at it a last time. The Tarantulas were discussing things with a villager, who then eventually was allowed to come over to the guard with the strawberry blonde hair.
And Boz lost consciousness as Morris Kalooka-Kahn leaned over him.
