Dripping Yellow Madness

By TossingTheScissors

PROLOGUE

It was a peaceful night in Free Country, USA. Bubs had shut off the lights in his concession stand on gone to sleep in the tiny apartment set up in his basement; Coach Z had shut his locker room door and shoved himself into one of the lockers; Homestar and Pom-Pom had just arrived from a wild Monopoly and Melonade party over at Marzipan's, the remnants of which Marzipan was cleaning up before tucking in for the night; Strong Bad and The Cheat lie asleep in the basement, the "Li'l Brudder and Maybe Tendafoot, Too!" show blaring noisily from their TV. All in all, the nightlife of Free Country, USA was all as it usually was around 2 in the morning. That is, until a mysterious visitor decided to make his presence known.

A mysterious figure drifted through the currently abandoned fields and roadways of Free Country, USA. He looked as if he knew where he was and where he was going, but did not know much about the stops in between, as if he had once been to this place but it had greatly changed since his last visit. He looked angrily down at a piece of paper with what one could assume to be a map or directions scrawled on it (it was so obviously hasty and messy it was hard to distinguish what it was) as he took a rest in an empty lot behind the dumpsters. He surveyed his surroundings - a bunch of junk, mostly. He saw an old Stop Sign leaning against a cinder block to his right, and to his left, an old tire leaning against the fence separating the lot from the dumpsters. He looked again at the scrawled sheet of paper then, regaining his composure, stood up and walked gingerly toward what only looked like a small rectangle in the distance.

In reality, the rectangle was Bubs' Concession Stand. The stranger was halfway towards the stand when he started to make out the distinguishing characteristics of Free Country's only shopping establishment. He smiled warmly as if the stand was an old and familiar hunt, bringing back pleasant memories.

The visitor stepped through the basketball courts and looked to his left to find a rusty-looking door with a barely discernible sign directly in the middle, reading "Men's". He smiled as the sweaty smell of the locker room reached him, an odd reaction for this kind of smell but typical for Free Country residents familiar to it.

The stranger took a few more steps past the courts before e was tackled by none other than the Coach Z himself. The coach had a fierce glint in his eye and an angry tone to his face.

"What are you doing here, stranger?" Coach Z demanded in his trademark accent.

"Zeddy - its me…" The strange visitor announced, obviously annoyed that he had been discovered midway through his mysterious travels.

"Xavier! Stan Xavier is it really you?" Coach Z said, standing up and allowing the man called Stan Xavier to do the same. Coach Z was obviously beaming, a tough feat for someone without a mouth. "Good ol' Coach X - I never thought I'd see the day when you came back from Big -"

"Please don't call me that…" Coach Z's fellow coach said in a hollow-soundign voice.

"Oh, sorry about that, Drippin' Yella…"

"No, not that either…" The multi-named visitor muttered quietly. "Just call me Stan…"

Coach Z seemed surprised at the man's request, but decided against looking any further into it and returned to his chipper mood. "Well, then, Stan - what brings you back to Free Country? Wow - y'know, Bubsy will be so happy to see you…"

"I came here to see Bubs, actually - and I didn't expect any interruptions…" He gave a condescending look to Coach Z, who blushed and tried to hide his face from behind his hat.

"Well, you know how it is with me and poking' my nose into other people's business…" Coach Z said with a light, forced laugh. He and Stan exchanged knowing looks and both flashed forced smiles at each other, as if remembering an unpleasant memory that they were trying to disguise as good fun in their minds.

"Well," Stan said, changing the subject. "As much as I'll love ot see my good friend Bubs again, I don't think the news I'm bringing will make him all too happy…" Stan sighed after saying this, and Coach Z could sense a weight and a burden he had obviously not picked up on before.

"Well, let's go up to the stand - I'm sure Bubs will be excited no matter what kind of news you bring…" Coach Z said this uncertainly, and walked ext to Stan with a nervous look in his eye. What did X know that he didn't?