Eda, Luz, King and Maxwell arrived at the carnival that was there in the town of Bonesborough. There was a big metal sign on top of the entrance of where the event is happening at and it read "Bonesborough Carnival" they walked through the entrance and saw a lot going on there.
There were stands that served a lot of food such as stands there had games being held where those who play and win can win a prize that they had in their stands, places where people could get something to eat like sweets such as cotton candy, ice cream of any flavors, bigger size portions of candy, fried foods such as fries with ketchup, pizza of any toppings, fried chicken with the choice of gravy or any dipping sauces, sweet drinks that was obviously different flavors of soda pop. Maxwell was feeling like a kid in a candy store from the excitement he was feeling.
"Well, here we are, kids. Look at all that fresh meat." said Eda looking thrilled. "Maxie, how does this look to you?"
Maxwell looked at everything they had at the carnival and saw so much that he felt like he was taken to a place that would be paradise to anyone. He smiled.
"Permission to roar like a lion?" asked Maxwell excitedly.
"Let me here you roar!" Eda encouraged with a grin.
Maxwell sucked in a big amount of air and let out his loudest, most powerful lion like roar he ever made. It sounded so realistic, strong and pure. A lot of the people there saw and heard him roar like a lion, they were surprised that he could roar with such power but they cheered and applauded for him, much to Maxwell's surprised relief.
"Looks like our big lion is a mighty one." King complimented.
"You said it, little man." said Maxwell feeling confident.
"While you three are having fun, I'll be running a stand to sell human trinkets and making money that way at a carnival is a perfect idea." said Eda.
Owlbert came to alive and was nearly about to fly off but Eda stopped him.
"Hold up, Owlbert. We've got scams to run." instructed Eda.
Owlbert looked towards Eda while hooting a few times.
"The fun police won't be trying to get me this time because he wouldn't expect me to come here twice." said Eda.
"You sure about this, Eda? Owlbert does make some sense out of this." said Maxwell agreeing with Owlbert.
Eda looked at Maxwell with surprised wide eyes. She didn't expect Maxwell to understand what Owlbert says since she was the only person who could communicate with Owlbert.
"You understand what Owlbert says?" said Eda slightly bewildered.
Owlbert spoke in hoots as it looked like the little owl was confirming Maxwell's words to be correct as he nodded. This looked new for Eda but she brushed it off as she figured it could be something good to know about in case a situation for it comes up. Owlbert looked at Maxwell as if he could tell what he was thinking. Maxwell winked at the little owl as if to show he was listening and agreed. Owlbert looked back at Eda and hooted a few times to her. Eda seemed to give a little smile.
"You're suggesting that Maxie uses his shadow copy to watch my back?" said Eda.
Both Maxwell and Owlbert nodded. Eda reached out and patted Maxwell's head.
"I appreciate that you want to make sure no one tries to harm me when my back is turned but I'll be fine." Eda said kindly declining.
"Come on, Eda. I know your tough as nails that are sharper than a razor but it's better to be safe than sorry. You've encountered trouble before when you were doing business at the market place but this time, could you allow me to do this for you, at least for my sake and yours?" said Maxwell kindly insisting.
Eda could tell that Maxwell didn't want anything bad happening to her, despite the fact that she is a powerful witch whose tough as Maxwell stated. But seeing that Maxwell and Owlbert were both right and agreed, she let out a sigh.
"Alright, but you three watch out for each other while you're here. Just in case some nut job tries to target you like a dart board." said Eda relenting.
Maxwell smiled and felt happy to know that Eda was willing to accept Maxwell's assistance in keeping her safe from any possible harm. He made a stance with his hands and fingers, muttering some words in an unknown language and a shadow like figure formed right next to him as the shadow like figure took the form of a solid body that looked like a person and took the form to look like Maxwell's appearance once again. It looked like an identical twin of Maxwell. Eda, King, Luz and Owlbert looked surprised to see this. Eda smiled from how Maxwell performed such magic.
"They both look like clones but are probably both just as madly in love with me." said Eda.
"How do you tell which one is which?" asked King curiously.
"On the back of the clones neck, there's an insignia of a star. Only the clone has the insignia, the real person has the insignia of the moon on the back of their necks. Anyone other than me that taps the insignia of the clone once, they alert the real one that those they're looking after are in danger through their minds, tap it twice, the clone disappears and joins my body once again but also alerts the real one same way." explained Maxwell.
Both Maxwell and his clone lifted their hair from behind and showed them the insignias. The clone had a gold star insignia on the back of it's neck while Maxwell's insignia was that of a silver waxing crescent moon. The insignias looked more like tattoos.
"They look like tattoos." said Luz looking amused.
"Speaking of which, don't get a tattoo unless you're over the age of eighteen. You will not believe where some people put a tattoo on them." advised Eda.
"This is not the appropriate place for discussion." said Luz and Maxwell.
Eda didn't expect them to say that but she assumed they already knew where some people put tattoos on their bodies such as their underwear area.
"Okay than." said Eda surprised.
"If it makes you feel any better. I don't do tattoos but I understand what you mean." said Maxwell showing he understood.
The older witch smiled and patted Maxwell's head once more, leaving him to blush and grin.
"I love it when he listens." said Eda with a proud grin.
Afterwards, Maxwell turned to his clone.
"You watch Eda's back at all times and make sure no harm comes to her or Owlbert." Maxwell commanded.
"Yes sir." said the clone with a salute.
Eda walked off with Owlbert staying on the staff. Maxwell's clone followed Eda as he obeyed the real Maxwell's command. Both Luz, King and the real Maxwell walked off to see what fun they could experience at the carnival. This was Maxwell's first time being at an actual carnival in the first fourteen years of his life. They saw all sorts of rides, games, and stands to try out that looked interesting.
"Maxie, one, what do you wanna try out first? Two, if you're going on a ride, don't eat something before you go on one. I learned that the hard way." King asked while giving some advice.
"Friends at twelve o'clock." said Maxwell pointing.
"Never heard of that ride before." said King confused.
"Hey guys!" came two voices.
They turned to see Willow and Gus coming over which now King understood what Maxwell meant immediately.
"Didn't know you guys would be here." said Luz looking thrilled.
"I did, I saw you two from a distance." said Maxwell.
"Lets just hope that we don't end up encountering Tibbles and end up in a crazy situation like before." said Gus.
"Whose Tibbles and what did he do?" asked Maxwell curiously.
They looked towards him and just realized that Maxwell didn't know about Tibbles. They knew that if they encountered him again, Eda would tell him about the short but equally evil male pig demon.
"Who is he?" Maxwell asked again.
"I'll tell him." King chimed in.
King explained to Maxwell who Tibbles is, he told him about the two incidents that they had with him. Telling him what Tibbles looked like and about the time he tried to drain Eda of more money in order for her to get more elixir when she once was out of it with her previous elixir brand and hustled Eda in a game of Hexes Hold'em, tried to use King as a clothes model that King hated, than during the time they conjured Eda's house, it destroyed Tibbles stand and part of his way of life, even when he tried to turn Eda in for her bounty.
Than King told Maxwell the second incident about how King felt ignored by Luz, Willow and Gus and was tricked by Tibbles to use a spray bottle on them to solve a problem but the spray bottle shrunk the kids, and Tibbles tried to use them to feed them to his miniaturized creatures as live entertainment to an audience, King ran by what Eda went through when she got caught by someone who was considered the actual fun police about Eda's stand since she didn't have a permit for it. King admitted that he shouldn't have felt the way he did and should've had a good time with Luz, Willow and Gus but his personal feelings got in the way which he admitted that he was sorry for what he did, and got both him and the other to return to their normal sizes, Eda rescued them and Tibbles plans got foiled while his now huge sized animals took off with Tibbles. King admitted he reconciled with them and apologized for leading the situation to happen.
Maxwell heard everything and not only did he hate what this Tibbles did towards his friends and the one woman he loves, but he hated what it could've lead to.
"Okay, the first incident, Tibbles paid for the consequences of his greed when karma got him. The last incident, King, you didn't know he was tricking you when he was in disguise, although you shouldn't have taken and used a bottle of mysterious liquid that you had no idea what it would do to anyone, basically, you should've done the same thing Eda did before, just toss it as far as you could like Babe Ruth hitting the ball right out of the baseball field and out of the park. Even though you did do some wrong, you made up for it and redeemed yourself as you reconciled with your friends. But if someone you don't know hands you something like that again, ether test it on an object like a table or something and if it does anything you know is alarming, than toss it like a baseball. Understand?" Maxwell kindly told King as he advises him never to do that again.
King actually felt good that Maxwell didn't yell or scold him for his mistake. Maxwell was tough but fair.
"I'll do that if it happens again." said King. "I still feel guilty about what happened though, I was a bad little demon that day."
"Oh King, you've been forgiven for that, you at least redeemed yourself and apologized for it. You always do when you make mistake, I'm the same way." said Luz showing her forgiving nature.
King felt better knowing that as he went over to her and hugged her by the legs. Luz smiled as she hugged him back. They all took off to join in on the fun festivities.
The first thing they did was play a few games, one of them was what looked like skee ball. Luz, Willow and Gus showed to be decent players at the carnival game, King however needed Luz to carry him up in order to join in and he was a fair good player at it, each one of them made a few shots into the hole. But Maxwell surprisingly was a marksmen at this as he would toss the ball up and he mostly made it into the hole.
"Yes, I made it in!" said Maxwell happily.
"Maxie the marksmen!" cheered Gus.
The next thing they did was place their heads through the holes of a picture that would take pictures of those who placed their heads through them. The picture painted on the wooden wall had King's head looking like he had his body on an eagle, Luz's head on the body of a bear, Willow's head on the body of a tiger, Gus's head on the body of a wolf and Maxwell's head on the body of a lion. They would place their heads in different holes and several pictures were taken of them.
The next thing they did was play darts by tossing the dart at blown up balloons on a wall. They were fairly good at it, Maxwell picked up King this time so he could play too. King showed he was quite good at the carnival game. But Maxwell was showing to be more of a marksman at it but he did miss a few shots.
"So you're saying the pixie infestation was actually caused when Boscha's pet pixie escaped its cage?" said Maxwell.
"Big time." answered Willow.
Maxwell showed disgust when Boscha was mentioned as he remembered that Boscha was a mean girl who caused trouble for them before but they would have karma get her back a lot.
"Forgive me for the language guys but Boscha should be given an intervention about her behavior and her choices or someone's going to knock her down on her cotton candy ass because that's what she's got for a brain." said Maxwell knowing he shouldn't say the said swear word.
"Well, Boscha sure needs someone to have her make better life choices. Also, Maxie, avoid those nasty words." said Luz agreeing with him while advising him to avoid swearing.
"I'm sorry." said Maxwell apologizing.
Luz hugged Maxwell to reassure him that he's still loved and is forgiven as he hugged her back. The next thing they did was eat something as each one of them had what looked like fried chicken on a stick. The chicken tasted so good that it looked and tasted like it was cooked to perfection.
"That's some good chicken." said King letting out a burp.
"King! You ate the bones!" said Maxwell shocked.
King saw that as his stick that had a big amount of chicken was now just stick, he looked at it and at himself.
"I ate the bones!" said King looking wide eyed.
"Don't worry kids, this time, it's boneless chicken on a stick." said the male demon at the food vendor stand.
They all let out a sigh of relief. Maxwell had gotten a big thing of cotton candy on a stick as it looked like he was about to pig out on it.
"Wow! They got cotton candy here too? Awesome!" said Maxwell happily.
They heard him mention "cotton candy" and they instantly remembered about what sugar does to Maxwell.
"Uh oh!" they said in unison.
"Maxie wait!" warned Luz.
By the time Luz warned him, it was too late as Maxwell took a few bites of the cotton candy. He tasted the sweet and delicious ball of cotton candy. He swallowed it down and suddenly, his eye pupils dilated and he began to laugh in a crazy tone as he suddenly devoured the entire bit of cotton candy which was the size of his entire head.
"Sugar rush?" guessed Willow.
"Yep!" said Luz and King.
"Hyperactivity?" guessed Gus.
"And lots of jumping and running around." answered Luz.
Maxwell felt the sugar rushing through his system as he laughed in a crazed tone and began to jump up into the air. He jumped forty feet into the air and laughed like he was going insane. He kept jumping into the air like that over and over.
"Too much sugar?" guessed King.
"A little." answered Luz.
"Reduce his sugar intake by smaller doses?" suggested King.
"Wooo hoooo! Una boca ruidosa como yo se está volviendo loco!" said Maxwell really fast.
"Do we wanna know what he just said?" asked Willow hesitantly.
"No, you do not!" answered Luz.
It took at least thirty minutes for Maxwell to stop jumping and running around like crazy as the burst of energy from the sugar rush in his system finally warped out. But he had a headache and felt dizzy.
"Maxie, you feeling alright?" asked Luz showing worry.
"Mama Luz, no me siento tan bien." groaned Maxwell.
Luz and Willow came to him as they tried to relieve him of his stomach discomfort by rubbing his stomach while they took him to the medical room that the carnival had set up in case anyone got hurt or sick. One of the nurses gave Maxwell some antacids and some pain killers for his headache. They walked out of there after Maxwell assured them he was feeling better.
"Maxie, I know you're having fun but what did you learn?" asked Willow.
"When eating sweets, take smaller bites." guessed Maxwell.
"Right, but that doesn't mean we're cutting you off. Just take smaller bites next time." Willow advised.
"Yes Willow." said Maxwell obeying.
They turned one direction and saw what looked like a ride. There was a mechanical ride that looked like a mechanical bull ride but instead of it being a bull, it was a griffin so it looked like it was the Boiling Isles version of the mechanical bull ride. Maxwell smile as he looked as giddy with excitement like Luz when she was learning magic.
"A griffin version of a mechanical bull ride." said Maxwell excited.
"Are you sure you wanna do that? Looks dangerous." advised Gus.
"Now lets think of this for a moment." said King.
Before anyone could utter another word was when Maxwell took off running over to the ride faster than motorcycle at full speed limit. He let out a couple of whoops in excitement.
"He's already doing it?" said Gus.
"Yes he is." replied King.
They came over to the ride as Maxwell was next in line since there wasn't a line to the ride for the time being. Maxwell straddled onto the ride and placed his left hand on the rope that would keep him on the ride while the operator to the ride had him wear a helmet.
"Ready for it, kiddo?" said the ride operator.
"Give this cowboy your best shot!" said Maxwell giddy with excitement.
The ride operator saw he was excited for this and the operator adjusted a speed dial before pushing a button on the rides control panel. The mechanical ride started wildly moving around, looking like it was trying to buck Maxwell off like a real bull ride.
"Yaaahoooo! The wild west has nothing on me!" cried Maxwell.
"Yeah Maxie! Ride that griffin!" cheered King.
Maxwell ridden on the ride for the time it lasts and once the ride was over, he dismounted from the ride, gave the helmet back to the ride operator.
"Whoa! He didn't fall off." said Willow surprised.
A loud gurgling sound was heard and it came from Maxwell as he felt his legs were shaking a bit. He felt a pressure in his lower body and he knew what that meant.
"Where's the bathroom around here?" said Maxwell blushing.
"Sir, where are the bathrooms around here?" asked Luz.
"Over there, but they're port-a-johns so." the ride operator began.
"Meet me at the snack bar, friends." said Maxwell quickly.
Before anyone could say another word, Maxwell took off running towards the bathroom. he successfully dodged everyone and everything in his path till he made it to the bathroom. He knocked on the door of the port-a-john, heard no one make a sound in there and walked inside, closing and locking the door.
He took a minute or more to use the bathroom and once he was finished with using it, he came out of there, feeling relieved that he made it to the bathroom and used it. He knew where the snack bar was as he told his friends to meet him there as he used the bathroom. He looked for the snack bar as he walked around to look for it.
"That felt so much better." sighed Maxwell with relief.
"Oh, my, my, my. You seem troubled by something that bothers you." came a male's voice.
Maxwell stopped as he heard that voice. The voice sounded male but it had that effeminate tone. He didn't see who spoke to him till he turned to see what looked like a small male clown. He was slightly taller than King but he had a thick, shaggy beard and mustache, a full head of crazy red hair, white paint was all over his face but he red paint on his lips which for some reason, his lips were abnormally huge, he wore a clown costume that having the colors of the rainbow on it and big red shoes. He had blue eyes and it looked like he was giving some flirty gestures.
"Well hello, tall, young and sexy. I'll bet you got all the girls chasing your cutie booty." chuckled the small clown.
This left Maxwell blushing and feeling a bit uncomfortable but he suspected maybe this male clown was preferring the company of other males.
"I already got a woman and she's the most beautiful woman to ever live." said Maxwell with a hiccup.
The clown laughed but had a oddly effeminate laugh for a male.
"And this one lady is lucky to have you as her man, sugar." said the small clown blowing big lipped kisses at him. "But something troubles you and your beautiful face."
Maxwell had no idea what this clown was talking about but figured that this clown meant well and tried to be compassionate.
"Sir?" Maxwell began.
"They call me Bubba Lei Lei, or just Bubba for short. Why not sit down and tell me what's bothering you, big boy." the clown introduced himself.
Bubba showed him what looked like a lawn chair while the clown motioned his hand for him to come over. Against Maxwell's better judgement, he went to sit down at the seat while the clown kept his gaze on him.
"I can assure you, nothing is bothering me." said Maxwell kindly.
"Are you sure? No one bullying you, harassing you, not feeling lonely or not going through daddy issues?" guessed Bubba.
Maxwell felt like one of them listed problems struck him like lightning as he suffered from dad issues when it was brought up.
"Do I know you? You seem to know something about me." said Maxwell confused.
"Oh honey, you and I never met, although, if you were single, I'd be hugging and smooching you big time and tickle you till you laugh." said Bubba giggling. "But tell me, tall, blonde and sexy. Did your daddy not properly love you when you were younger?"
Maxwell knew that this small clown guessed the truth. He remembered how abusive his father was as many unpleasant memories of his father came to his mind. He felt the painful memories were getting to him again. He let out a sigh. Maxwell explained to Bubba how cruel, mean and abusive his father was, the loving relationship with his mother along with his mother's passing, and how his father was always controlling his life and would hurt him everytime he so much as angered him in the slightest when he did nothing wrong but his own father said otherwise. Bubba showed shock and surprise as he climbed up his body to sit in his lap and hug Maxwell from his chest but he did pinch Maxwell's cheeks a bit.
"You poor baby. And all you wanted was to be loved by daddy, baby." said Bubba still playfully pinching his cheeks.
The short clown was starting to smooch Maxwell's cheeks and forehead but his huge, soft lips had covered a lot of his face. Maxwell raised his hand to stop Bubba from kissing him.
"Please, no kissing. I'm in a happy relationship with a beautiful woman." said Maxwell kindly asking.
"Oh no worries, sexy boy." said Bubba with a grin. "Although, would you give anything just to have your father love you and be able to feel like everyone else as they speak of their loving fathers, something that you've been deprived of while others had the one thing you never had?"
Now Maxwell was starting to get confused and mixed up. He knew his father was evil but he wondered how can anyone make even a bad father like his into the perfect father for even him? He knew that mind control was not possible nor was it possible to make that a reality.
"Bubba, that's not possible to happen. Besides, my dad's not even here at the Boiling Isles." said Maxwell.
"Oh, but I can make it happen if you want me to? It may not be your real father but I can make an artificial person into the father you never had." said Bubba blowing kisses at him. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna bite, sweetums, unless you want me to."
Bubba shook his surprisingly thick butt in the air and slapped his own butt, making his butt cheeks ripple. Maxwell figured that this short male clown was possibly just a very effeminate male whose got the flirtatious nature of an effeminate woman.
"I know I'm quite the show off at times but that's just who I am at times. Am I a cutie? Absolute-y! And a sexy beauty, you can bet your patootie. But if a bruiser is to touch me or even get near me. I'll have the the stud arrested, do you hear me?" said Bubba excessively flirting. "Sorry, I just can't help myself and my womanly nature, honey."
Maxwell couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at some of what the short male clown said as he seemed to believe that this clown may be trying to make him laugh, despite his overly effeminate mannerisms.
"I got the cutie to laugh." said Bubba in a sing song voice.
"I'm not laughing." Maxwell said trying to stifle his chuckle.
"Yes you are, sugar. Look at this." said Bubba with a big lipped grin.
Bubba got Maxwell staring at him as the small clown crossed his big eyes but eventually got his eyes to bug out like a cartoon while he flopped out what looked like a long, very thick, wide and broad sized tongue as he made silly noises. This only got Maxwell trying his hardest not to laugh but he couldn't help himself and began to laugh at this humorously childish act of humor that this clown used to make him laugh. Bubba stopped making his funny face and noises as he chuckled in a feminine tone. He even squeezed his red clown like nose to make two loud, silly honking sounds.
"Yea-ah! I'm making you laugh! Say hey hey to Bubba Lei Lei, baby!" said Bubba in a sing song voice.
Maxwell laughed a bit while Bubba was making him laugh. Bubba showed mercy and stopped as Maxwell took a minute or more to stop laughing.
"Doesn't it feel good to laugh again, big boy?" said Bubba.
"Yes it does." said Maxwell calming himself.
"Than why not let Bubba give you the one thing you never had, a loving daddy." said Bubba offering.
Maxwell knew that there was no possible way this could happen just like how in the human world that no one can do magic or become immortal.
"Bubba, I appreciate you're trying to help me feel better but what your offering is something that can't happen. We can't turn back time nor can we live forever. I'm going to have to decline, sorry." said Maxwell kindly turning the offer down.
"Alrighty, sugar. But before you go, mind if we hug each other?" asked Bubba.
"Okay, at least you're a nice clown, a bit effeminate and affectionate, yes, but a kind clown." said Maxwell relenting.
As Bubba reached out to wrap his arms around Maxwell, he hugged him while giving him a firm grip. But without warning, the small clown looked up at Maxwell and breathed what looked like bright yellow energy like mist in his face, this suddenly made Maxwell feel very sleepy till he was knocked out. The clown released his grip on Maxwell and once he pulled off his wig, his beard and mustache, ripped his clown uniform off like velcro, kicked the clown shoes off him, took his fake red nose off, tapped his lips twice and it made his lips size reduce to normal along his tongue. He placed on a pair of round glasses. He had huge pig like ears, pig like nose, two small protruding tusks and a curly pigtail with a red barbed tip. He had a look of disgust as it revealed to be Tibbles.
"I can't believe I had to play all effeminately affectionate with this oversized human male monkey. So gross." said the pig demon. "But now the owl lady will have no choice but to come rescue her human pet monkey and give me what I want in exchange for lover boy."
Tibbles took hold of Maxwell by the front of his shirt and with powerful strength, he pulled him out of the seat and dragged him across the ground as he was looking like he was taking him somewhere.
"Good thing I'm using that power glyph from the construction coven or I'd never be able to lift this oversized, musclebound, stupid monkey." said Tibbles with an evil grin.