The Explanation, Rules of the Circus

Mr. Smiley stirred his tea with his spoon, cleared his throat and began telling his story. "You see, about 50 years ago, I was the local town magician in Flipside. It was honest work you see, and don't misunderstand, it wasn't a miserable career. I was already rich to begin with and was happy and content with my life as a humble entertainer making little children laugh at birthday parties and amusing the public with my magic."

"Gak! Gak! Gak! Gak! Gak!" cackled Sir Grodus. "How ironic it seems that someone like me would be kidnapped by a lowly street performer!"

Mr. Smiley gave a patient smile at him, "Ah, but I was a rich and successful street performer!"

"If you were so happy with yourself, why'd you turn into a crazed megalomaniac?" questioned Antonia.

"MEGALOWHATZIT? What sort of tongue are ya speakin at lass?" blurted O'Chunks in confusion. Count Bleck smacked his head at O'Chunks lack of vocabulary.

"Ahem, if you could just stay quiet for a moment, so that I could finish my story, I can answer any question that you have" said the ringmaster.

"Oh $#!%! I wish I had stayed dead in the Underwhere!" thought Dimentio with his heart pounding rapidly. Ever since Mr. Smiley had revealed himself to Dimentio, all he did was stay frozen, attempt to hide his fear, but was showing every ounce of that fear in his wide open eyes. (By that I mean the eye sockets on his mask since that's already his face)

"As I was saying" continued Mr. Smiley. "After about 15 years of being a 'street performer', I felt a sense of emptiness in me, fearing that my existence would be nothing if my name was lost in oblivion. Although I was already rich, money seemed empty, food became rotten in my mouth, and the touch of a beautiful woman's skin felt cold. So to ease my emptiness and to satisfy my ambition, I had invested everything I had into the Crimson Circus with me as its ringmaster. Yes… for 19 years, my circus had become the talk of the town! People were always lined up for the weekly new shows that I had in store for them. The question of morality was in place with Flipside's shamen, but even they couldn't defeat me."

Mr. Smiley stopped to transfer all of his attention unto Dimentio. "…At least not without help" he said with a wide malice grin and anger flaring in his eyes. Dimentio lost his ability to breathe at that moment.

"Now after those 19 years of paradise had gone by, I had received a… a letter concerning the death of my… beloved… sister, who was SLAUGHTERED!" he slammed his fist onto the table, broke the table and spilled all of the food that was on it. "BY THAT BASTARD BROTHER IN LAW, WHO WAS ALSO MY SISTER'S HUSBAND, AND YOUR FATHER!" he roared, which shook the room placing fear into both the heroes and the villains, but none were as devastated as Dimentio who was being yelled at directly.

Mr. Smiley regained control of himself and made a small gesture, which undid the damage that he just did. "I apologize for my outburst… anyways, as I read on about my sister's untimely demise; it seemed that she had left her…son, in my care. As I was reading this, I saw Dimentio on my doorstep, who was 5 years old at the time. My anger clouded my judgment, as when I heard that this boy at my door was the spawn of the wretched man who killed my sister, I rose my fist at him and was about to strike him… but I couldn't… because I knew that this… creature was also my nephew, and that it wouldn't be right for me to dishonor my sister by hitting her… offspring. I took him in, but seeing as how my feelings for Dimentio were mixed. I decided to be impartial with him and treated him as equal as all of my employees. And in those 7 years I had always felt there was something sinister to Dimentio, but his excellent performances at every death-defying show seem to have distracted me from what he was doing behind the scenes. I found out that he had been scheming with the shamen of Flipside and Flopside. Dimentio had distracted me while the shamen defeated me at my most vulnerable moment. And because of that, I lost my circus and was forced to live in EXILE! Ever since that day, all I did was think about how I could make my comeback and how I could get my vengeance on that backstabbing nephew of mine." Mr. Smiley gave a small chuckle. "So I guess… in a way… Dimentio is also responsible for all of you people being kidnapped."

Everyone casted a hateful glare unto Dimentio, which didn't seem to affect him since he was already too busy being shocked with fear at the return of his vengeful uncle, who, in Dimentio's opinion, was able to go beyond cruelty.

"All right we get it, we all hate the clown's guts" said Bowser. "But even if you kidnapped all of us, what's stoppin' us from walking right out the door?"

"Ah yes, I had almost forgotten to explain your current situations" said Mr. Smiley with his smile coming back to him. "You see… the contracts you all signed were no mere contracts I assure you. The moment you had signed them your souls, had become linked to them, meaning that if you left the circus, or killed me, or broke any other rules, you would face a fate worse than a simple Game Over."

"BuhHuhHuh, what's worse than death?" asked Lord Crump.

"Well…" said Mr. Smiley with a large grin. "There is the Box, which is something I'll explain for another time" "Anyways, inspite of all of the threats, the kidnappings, and the chance that you might not be able to leave this place alive, I have arranged all the proper accommodations, in hopes that you will all enjoy your stay here." He hands all of them a pamphlet , which describes how their stay would be like. "As you can see, if you are able to live through the next day, you'll be able to experience your stay here as if you were at a 5 star resort." The heroes looked in awe at the master bedrooms they were going to stay at, which had its own Jacuzzi, buffet table, king sized bed, etc.

"Well this isn't so bad after right Countie?" said Mimi with anticipation.

"You don't actually think you can win us over with… oh my… free massage therapy?" asked Nastasia.

"And spa treatment of course" clarified Mr. Smiley.

Antonia was still not convinced. "These shows… they're gonna get us killed right?"

"Well… not all of them" said Mr. Smiley. "As you all already know… the Crimson Circus is no ordinary circus. It has events that share some of the concepts of coliseums and many game shows that you see on television. Don't worry though, as long as you play the game right, and that you follow my rules… chances are, you'll only leave with a couple of bruises." Mr. Smiley looked at his watch. "Oh my, it's getting late… well my contestants I hope you'll get a good night's sleep because tomorrow, you're gonna give a show that will be recorded in the pages of history" And with a stamp of Mr. Smiley's cane, the contestants were warped into their rooms for the night, while Dimentio slept in the Box.

Hey everyone, just so you know, my 2nd semester of school is really taking away my "me time" and I'm kinda losing my inspiration here, so I wouldn't expect another chapter for at least 2 weeks. Sorry…

If you'd like to help, here are 3 things you can do to inspire me to continue my writing.

Draw a picture of how I describe Mr. Smiley, then email them to me at or post them to your deviantart profile and ask me to take a look.

Ask anyone you know that might like my work to read this stuff, cuz lately the low hits and visitors I've been having this month are depressingly low.

Constructively criticizing comments might help… or flattery :D