Chapter 13
The next morning, Hunter was up and ready to go before Stardust knocked on his door. "Hey, Stardust," he said.
"Oh, you're ready to go," the costume said with a smile. "Though you might have just woken up."
"Guess I'm really eager to complete my quest," the boy said. "But I really have enjoyed helping everyone."
Midnight smiled as she came up, having caught that last bit. "Everyone's talking about how well you've been doing," she said. "I have no doubt they'll be rooting for you when you face your opponent."
He nodded, though he was still worried about that, but he took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. "There you go," Malika said as she came up to him, smiling. "Ready to go help Aunt Lucy?"
"Yeah," he said. "What's she like?"
"She's an artist and loves to paint," the Maestro of Reassurance said. "She also teaches art classes."
"Is painting the only art?" Hunter asked curiously.
"Oh, no, there's many forms of art," Stardust replied. "Books, sculpting, drawing, and many more."
"Some even find their niche in being an artist," Midnight said. "Our Malika is a great storyteller."
The young woman blushed a little. "Well, I've always loved stories," she admitted. "Guess I got that from my dad and uncle. They always read books to me when I was little."
"And you still enjoy it when we tell you stories," Lance said as he came up to them, smiling. "Breakfast is ready."
They headed to the dining room where Balan had just finished getting the buffet ready. "Dig in, everyone," he said with a smile.
Hunter sat down and looked deep in thought, which Balan noticed. "Is everything alright, Hunter?" He asked.
The young man nodded. "Yeah, just thinking," he said as they began eating. "Just wondering what Lucy might need help with. Malika mentioned she's an artist."
"Yes and Lucy is a wonderful artist," the Maestro of Positivity said. "I have no doubt you'll have fun in her world."
Moon Walker came up to him after breakfast was over. "Hey, Hunter, you ready to go see Lucy?" He asked.
"Yeah," the boy said, going with the costume to World 10, entering through the door. Someone suddenly hugged him and he jumped before seeing it was a costume that looked like an octopus, who smiled at him.
"Welcome," she said. "We've been expecting you."
"You have?" Hunter asked in surprise, worried that he had made someone wait for him.
Moon Walker smiled. "I told them you were coming over today," he said.
That put the young man's worries at ease and a unicorn came up to him. "Hi, I'm Air Unicorn," she said. "Inky Blaster and I agreed to bring you to Lucy when you arrived."
Hunter smiled and nodded. "Okay, lead the way," he said.
The two brought him and Moon Walker to Lucy, who smiled at them warmly when they entered her studio. "Welcome," she said, her voice pleasant. Hunter immediately felt at ease around her, which surprised him. Moon Walker smiled at this.
"Hi, Lucy," the costume said. "Hunter has been looking forward to helping you today."
"Ah, for his quest," she said. "I've heard many good things about you, young man. Befriending Negati and helping everyone in their worlds. Much like how our Leo and Emma did sometime ago."
Hunter nodded. "What can I help you with?" He asked.
"Well, this will be a bit different," Lucy said. "I have an art gallery expedition coming up soon and while I have my pieces I'll be submitting, I feel that the space with my pieces are missing something. Like maybe something to go with my paintings."
"Like another type of art?" The young man asked, recalling an art project that Camilla showed him once of a diorama that was not just a painting, but had clay models of people and a town. It even had a hand-drawn paper sun and clouds hanging from string in the sky to complete it. "Like maybe a sculpture or music?"
"That or another type of painting," she said.
The boy fell into thought and looked up at her. "Would it be okay if I tried something?" He asked. "I'm not an expert, but I do like to create things."
Lucy smiled. "Of course," she said. "Take a look around my studio and see if something catches your attention."
He nodded. "May I see the pieces you are submitting to the expedition?"
She nodded and he was awed when he saw two pictures. They were colorful with one being of geometric shapes painted as abstract art and another of a big orange moon in the sky overlooking a town. He fell into thought and smiled before he saw a Negati that looked like a ballerina that was spinning around and when it did so, paint was splashing onto the canvases, making it look like it was just a messy painting, but as he looked at it, Hunter couldn't help by admire one of them that had the color splatters all flowing perfectly, looking like a wave of color.
"Who's that?" He asked.
"Oh, that's a Kurukuru," Moon Walker said. "They're doing splatter art."
"It's a bit abstract, but I think it looks similar to fireworks exploding together," Lucy said with a smile.
Hunter went up to the Kurukuru, who turned to him curiously and he could see there was paint on the ends of its outfit. "Hi," he said. "These are really neat. I especially like this one that looks like an ocean wave."
He pointed to it and the Kurukuru squeaked happily. The boy then smiled. "Would you be willing to help us with something? Lucy has a couple paintings that are really neat and I think a couple pieces of art like this that could match her paintings would really make her entry complete. What do you think?"
The dancing Negati squeaked happily and danced up to him, nudging his shoulder gently while trying not to get paint on him. It then gestured to the paints and Hunter fell into thought. "How about one with colors to match her painting of nighttime and another one to match the brighter colors of her other painting?"
Kurukuru nodded in agreement and got to work straightaway. Moon Walker and Lucy were impressed. "Usually the Negati just do their own thing," the woman said. "Seems they've taken a shine to you, Hunter."
"He's good at making friends," the costume said.
Hunter turned to them. "Miss Lucy, do you have any wood to carve for a sculpture?" He asked.
"I'm afraid I don't, but I do have sculpting clay," she said as she showed him.
"Is it okay if I do a sculpture? I have an idea for it."
She nodded and the young man got to work, working the clay carefully and smoothing it out as he went. By the time the Kurukuru finished with their splatter paintings, Hunter had created a sculpture that depicted a large sphere and standing at the base while touching the sphere with one hand and leaning out with the other hand reaching out as if to touch one of the paintings surrounding them where the figures of Balan, Lance, Midnight, and Stardust.
"That's lovely," Lucy said.
"Thanks," he said. "But it's missing something."
"What do you have in mind?" Moon Walker asked.
The boy thought for a minute and then perked up, doing four more figures and Lucy gasped as she recognized two of them to be of Leo and Emma. Moon Walker smiled as Hunter then did one of Malika and then, smiling at the moon costume, the boy began creating a figure of Moon Walker, surprising him.
The young man carefully set these four new figures on top of the sphere and had them reaching out to the same paintings too. Lucy smiled. "I think this piece will be perfect for the entry," she said.
"I think it might be missing something though," Moon Walker said before looking at Hunter. "May I?"
The boy nodded and to his surprise, the costume created a figure of the young man and a cardinal and carefully placed them at the top. "Perfect," he said.
"I agree," Lucy said with a smile. "And luckily, I have a kiln that is big enough for this."
As the sculpture baked in the kiln, Hunter and Moon Walker helped set up the two splatter paints Kurukuru did next to Lucy's two paintings and the circle the four formed looked nice. "With the sculpture in the middle, it'll look fantastic," Hunter said as he smiled.
"Should we paint the figures in their individual colors, or do just one color?" Lucy asked. "Or leave it as is?"
"Maybe just one color?" The boy asked.
"What color?" Moon Walker asked.
Hunter fell into thought before he saw another sculpture nearby and it was painting gold. He gazed at it before nodding and making up his mind. "I think...gold," he said.
Lucy smiled. "An excellent choice," she said.
Moon Walker, who had had a feeling that was what Hunter would pick, grinned.
The sculpture was soon done baking and once it cooled, the three of them carefully dipped the sculpture upside-down into a bucket of gold paint. "The base can be painted a bit later on, but I've always found this to be effective for painting a large piece and any spots that got missed can be touched up too," Lucy explained.
Hunter smiled and once the sculpture was lifted out and carefully turned over, the three took brushes and carefully smoothed over the paint, making the sculpture shine as the paint dried. Once the top part was dry, the base was carefully painted. By the end of the day, it was finished.
"It looks amazing!" Moon Walker said.
"That it does," Lucy said. "Let's put this in the center of the four paintings."
When they did, Hunter smiled as all five pieces went together beautifully. "I think this will really catch people's attention," he said.
"Should we show the others?" Moon Walker asked.
"Yes," Lucy said, smiling.
The three Maestros were the first ones to be called to see the scene and all three were awed at it and stunned by the sculpture that Hunter had created with Moon Walker. "This is definitely going to be one of the highlights of the art expedition," Malika said.
"Most certainly," Balan said, smiling.
Lance smiled and went up to Hunter, lifting him up into a hug. "You've done so well, Hunter," he said proudly to the boy. "We're so proud of you."
Hunter hugged him back and felt Balan, Malika, Moon Walker, and Lucy join in the hug too. "You're ready," the Maestro of Positivity said confidently.
The boy looked up at them. "When do I have to face my final challenge?" He asked.
"Whenever you decide," Malika said. "Just let us know and we'll take you to the final challenge."
"You'll succeed, Hunter," Lucy said confidently. "I'm sure of it and here's something to help remind you that you're not alone."
She gave him a new paintbrush and he smiled as he accepted it. "In two days, I want to face my final challenge," he said. "Will that be okay?"
The three Maestros nodded and inside Balan's office, the red orb glowed much brighter, something shining inside of it, just waiting for the right moment to emerge.
Looks like Hunter is ready to face the Negaboss that is waiting for him. :)
Would anyone like to take a guess as to what is inside that red orb? :) Feel free to do so in the comments. :)
And please leave a review, but no flames.
GoldGuardian2418
