Hello everyone, sorry for the long wait. As you've all might've noticed a lot of things have been happening these last few months. Good news is that I have the next chapter ready to go. The next two actually. I was originally going have this and the next be all one chapter but I noticed they both didn't go well together like that and they stretched on. Sooo… Next Monday expect the next chapter.

Word of warning, this one's a little out of left field.

Enjoy.

Honey pot

Chapter 15- Blue Banana Split

"Did that one kid have opposable toes?" Little Ron asked, watching a trio of odd five year olds. His gaze shifted from the kid with blue skin to the one running on all fours as he picking up the red rubber ball and handed it to the little girl in pigtails who had chased them away.

"You're weird." The little girl in pigtails said, taking the ball before smiling at little Ron. "But I like you."

"Thanks, I like you too." Little Ron said. The tiny four year old boy smiled at the little girl in pigtails. But something happened, or rather something didn't happen. The little girl in pigtails just stood there, smiling at little Ron as she held the ball, and didn't move. She didn't even breathe. "Um, hello?"

"So this is when it happened." A voice coming from nowhere announced. Little Ron looked around and noticed that everything was frozen, not just the little girl. The other kids at the playground were. The preschool teacher was still sitting at the bench sipping her coffee as she read the paper. Even the cars in the street were just sitting on the pavement, the smoke coming out of their tailpipes just hovering in the air. "Dang kid, you started young."

"Hello, who's there?" Little Ron asked. "I can't see you."

"Up here, little buddy."

Looking up, Little Ron saw none other than a small blue monkey no bigger than the ball he just gave to the little girl, floating above him on his side as.

"Whoah, cool, a monkey." Little Ron smiled, waving a hand. "Hi monkey. Um, why are you blue and floating?"

"Kinda surprised I didn't hear a 'why are you talking' in there." The blue monkey joked, waving back to Little Ron. "Short answer, magic. As to why I'm here...meh. I've been in you for a while, kid. Been dying to talk to you, but can only do that when something rattles your brain."

"What, my brain's been rattled?" Little Ron asked, patting down his scalp. "What did it?"

"Oh, sorry buddy. To really get there, I gotta tell ya lil something something." The blue monkey whistled as he gestured to the frozen preschool before moving over to the little girl and tapping on her head. "You never grew beyond this moment. Not since wee li'l Kimmy saved you."

"Huh, why?" Little Ron asked, confused.

"Ugh, it's a blessing and a curse." The blue monkey said floating around little Ron, ignoring him. "It keeps you from remembering...gawh, that."

Looking to where the blue monkey was pointing, little Ron saw none other than a giant dark furred chimpanzee swinging on the monkey bars. The chimpanzee was wearing a loose fitting blue T-shirt and a raccoon skin cap, and its swinging turned into just banging its fist against the metal bars. All of that stopped when the chimpanzee finally noticed the blue monkey and actually slipped from the bars and fell flat on its behind. Hopping back up on all fours, the dark chimpanzee stared at the blue monkey for a moment before it started foaming at the mouth, slammed its front paws against the ground with a shrieking taunt and then rushed off and out of sight.

"That other monkey looked mean." Little Ron noticed.

"Horrible roommate. But, primal fears. Can't kick 'em out. Right there in the lease." The blue monkey shook his head, holding up an actual sheet of paper and pointing at the bottom paragraph before flicking it away into nothing. "Now back to the curse thing. I can only talk to you in your dreams, and only about stuff a five year old would understand."

"Is that hard?"

"It. Is. Maddening." The blue monkey clenched his fists, his eyes wide open, as he took a deep breath. Letting out a relaxed exhale, the blue monkey looked back at little Ron. "I've been around for a long, long time. Full disclosure, no idea how long I've been on terra firma. Something about a guy watching a monkey slapping another monkey for a banana. I don't know. Whatever. But even for a kid as smart as you... GAH!"

"I'm smart?"

"Little buddy, most toddlers don't spout philosophy when dealing with school yard bullies." The blue monkey explained, smiling down at Little Ron. "You had some serious brains. It all went out the window on this particular day."

"Why?"

"Gotta love kids before they get to the 'know nothing, know-it-all' stage. Full of questions." The blue monkey folded his arms, his tail shifting behind him before he dropped to the ground, standing eye level with the young five year old inner Ron, an annoyed, almost defeated look on his face. "Still never sticks."

"What's wrong?" Little Ron asked.

"We've had this conversation before. It never sticks. Every time we do, you always forget when you wake up. No matter what I do. And I've gotten creative, you little prodigy." The blue monkey snapped his fingers and suddenly a burst of blue bananas appeared above them. At first it was just a blue jumbling blob before shifting into a sign that read 'Remember'. A moment later, the blue bananas peeled themselves, with the yellow fruit blinking as other tiny blue bananas appeared behind the sign and exploded like fireworks. "Sky writing, building sized alphabet soup, even synchronized swimming in underwater polka suits as I held up a neon sign. Whole nine yards. Nothing got through."

"That sounds funny." Little Ron laughed, pointing at the glowing banana sign. "Why don't I remember anything."

"You didn't want to." The blue monkey rolled his eyes, his tone flat as he snapped his fingers again, the spectacle of bananas vanishing behind him. Twirling his tail around like a lasso, another mesh of blue bananas appeared, forming into big Ron. His older self looked half-asleep in his pajamas as he wrote on some paper. "Even when I convince you to write something down during one of your sleepy strolls, which you do a lot BTW, the second you wake up you go out of your way to either misinterpret it or just brush it off."

"Wait." Little Ron said, looking back at the blue monkey. "You said we never talk, now you're saying we talk all the time?"

"Don't forget the 'rattled your brain' part." The blue monkey tapped his fist against his head. "Without that, best I've got is suggestion. Best nights, hit and miss. Goes a lil something like-"

The blue monkey snapped his fingers again, and another mesh of blue bananas morphed into a very familiar sign.

"I love Nacos." Little Ron smiled. "I gotta write down to get more."

"Yeah, pretty much like that." The blue monkey sighed, the message vanishing above them. "Short version, no rattle no talkie."

"Has my brain been rattled before?"

"Not as much as as you'd think, you explosion magnet grease jockey." The blue monkey said, hopping off the ground and floating upside down above little Ron. "We're getting off topic here."

"What is the topic?"

"You need to stop holding yourself back." The blue monkey announced, floating back upright above little Ron.

"What?" Little Ron asked, confused.

"Little buddy, most people are like Snickers. Full of all kinds of stuff that sound good on paper, but just taste 'meh'." The blue monkey stuck his tongue out. "But you, you're a Reese's. Chock full of that peanutbuttery goodness. Nothing to add but everyone in the world loves them... unless they've got an allergy. Usually means they're evil. You getting the metaphor here?"

"I-I think so?" Little Ron shrugged.

"That's good, but from this moment on-" The blue monkey snapped his fingers again and suddenly the whole world around them started running backwards. Step by step, until the little girl was jumping up and down on the blue kid, his face in the dirt as the other two backed away. "You've gotten it into your head you gotta play second fiddle to everything and when you can't you try to weasel out of it."

"Is that bad?" Little Ron asked. The two stared at each other in silence for a moment before the blue monkey silently floated down to Little Ron's eye level, put a hand on his shoulder and sighed.

"Little buddy, when someone stops themself from doing their best, it's just unhealthy. It's like eating nothing but candy. Not the good kind, either. The cheap off-brand sugar-free kind. Remember candy kernels?" The blue monkey asked, smiling as little Ron stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Yup, just like that."

"How do I get to the good candy?" Little Ron asked, eager to learn the answer.

"Easiest way? Trying new stuff. Meeting new people. Don't fall into the same rut and routine you were in before." The blue monkey explained, floating back up, folding his arms. "But the best way? Find someone who's in the same boat. Work through it with them together."

"Do I know anyone like that?"

"You've already met 'em." The blue monkey smiled. "You're already making progress. Without that special someone, we wouldn't be talking right now. Good on ya."

Little Ron looked up at the blue monkey, returning the smile, before turning back to the frozen little girl and frowning. "What about her?"

"Ughhh... remember what I said about only stuff a toddler would understand?" The blue monkey cringed, and little Ron nodded. "Well, can't explain. Not really. Just know that Special K over there is on her own path now. You can't help her... at least not now. Now, you need to think about yourself."

Little Ron went to open his mouth, but before any words came out both he and the blue monkey heard cackling coming from the opposite side of the playground. Turning over, Little Ron saw a grown up version of Ron but with a big toothy grin taking up most of his face, wearing a black leotard with a red 'Z' on the front, and doing cartwheels on the swing set. Laughing all the while.

"I was wondering when he'd show up." The blue monkey groaned. "That's your evil side, little buddy. But don't worry. As long as I'm in your noodle, he can't touch you."

"Wait," Little Ron asked, turning back to the blue monkey. "Do you keep me good?"

"Nope." The blue monkey asked, ruffling Little Ron's hair. "Just keep you goofy- NOT CRAZY."

"O-okay." Little Ron said, seeing the blue monkey glaring at his evil self. The evil Z-man only cackled back as he crab walked up the school wall and out of sight. "Is he a bad roommate too?"

"Oh yeah, even worse than the fear." The blue monkey answered. "He actually thinks he's funny."

RRR...RRROO...RRROOONNN...

"Whoap, time to go." The blue monkey said to Little Ron, sitting on his head. "Now go out there, try new things, do your best. All that. Oh, and try to meet some girls while you're at it, alright?"

"Okay, I'll do-what was that last one?"