"This isn't as bad at it looks," the doctor said. "Some pain relief and cough medicine might help with the coughing, and drinking some water first would help with the burning and the scratchy voice.
"His voice isn't going to fix, but whatever." Velvet shrugged.
"You said you got in an argument? The yelling probably messed up his throat. Or...what's left of it. He might have to get a new voice box if things get this bad again."
Cobblestone cringed. "It's that bad?"
"Yeah."
"Oof."
"But just take my advice and you should be fine." He walked out. "Stupid teenagers wasting my time..."
Cobblestone hugged his knees. "I'm sorry for dragging you two around everywhere, and for getting you wrapped up in my trauma. That was really sick of me, trying to burn your house to the ground."
"Stop beating yourself up about it," Veneer said. "It's in the past; forget about it."
"I wish it was that easy. You two were let off easy, a few months in jail. What do you think they'll do to me?"
"Trust me on this," Velvet said, "when I say that Troll torture is much worse than attempted arson."
"But lip-syncing is a serious crime in the Troll community," Cobblestone muttered.
"We're not Trolls?" Veneer shrugged. "But didn't you say you wanted to do something?"
"Yeah, we need to go back to the Ragedome."
"We really are running around everywhere," Velvet said.
"It's fine, I can pick up some gas on the way there. Let's go!"
Veneer let Cobblestone sit in the front seat this time. Velvet frowned a bit when he put Banana Puddin' on the dashboard, and told herself to wipe it off later.
"So, what are you going to sing?"
Cobblestone put his hand back into the car, as he'd been feeling the wind. "A song, from the heart; on how I've felt this whole thing. If I throw out my voice after, who cares? I'm finally going to make things right."
"Good for you! Break a leg!"
Cobblestone looked at his arms, which were still missing their lights. "I really wish that doctor didn't die. She'd be able to replace these, like Ruby said I should've done a long time ago."
"I bet Ruby could do it," Velvet said. "He loves his tech stuff, you know. And if it comes to something being outside his skill range, you'd bet he'd figure that out too."
"Oh? Where's this coming from?" Veneer peeked at her from the review mirror. "I thought you didn't pay attention to other Mount Rageons."
"He's the only guy who loves tech more than fashion. He's weird, that's why it's hard to ignore him. Trust me, I've tried."
Veneer stopped the car and quickly hopped out. "Come on! We've gotta hurry if we want to beat the crowd!"
Cobblestone got out, then stopped and looked back at Banana Puddin.' He grabbed him. "Alwight! Let's get started!"
"You're going to sing in that?" Velvet judged.
Cobblestone stopped. "Uhh...yeah? Can I not show off in casual?"
"Not well. We'll grab you something to match. At least change the shoes. Heeled boots like that were soo a few months ago."
His new outfit was the SYNTH shirt layered over a black long-sleeved, form-fitting shirt that ended in fingerless gloves. She'd also brought the ruff around his neck back, his boots were now reflective, and the heels were in the front now instead of the back.
"H-how am I supposed to keep my balance with these?" He stumbled.
"You'll get it."
"And the bracelets don't match. The thinner one's in the back on my left arm, but in the front on my right? Can't I just-" He went to take one off.
She stopped him. "It makes it stylized. But we're wasting time."
Cobblestone put Velvet and Veneer on the job of ushering people into the room when the show they were there for wasn't going to be on for another half hour. Cobblestone was putting his mask back on when Veneer came back with Crimp.
"Hey. Crimp wanted to talk with Fold. Do you know where he's-Cobbie? Why are you wearing that again?"
"Oh, don't worry! It's for the show. I'll show my face pretty soon. Fold's setting up the stage."
"Thank you." Crimp hopped off Veneer's hand and shuffled away.
Veneer walked over to him and folded his arms. "You don't have to do this, you know."
"I know, but I was thinking about the song during the drive, so I want to do this before somebody catches wind of...that. You can join me, if you want. I'm sure you and Vel got plenty of practice in jail."
"I got a bit, but I still sound pretty bad; at least by Velvet's standards. I'm not sure if she ever practiced."
"Worth the shot to ask." He ruffled his hair. "Do you think it's weird how I died over the white? I just thought it didn't work well with the rest and-"
"You look great, Cobbie. I'm not judgy like Vel."
"Do you...think it's weird how I still like you? Even though I know you don't like me?"
"Nope, not weird at all. Feelings are always going to be there, but I'm sure you'll find somebody else you like who would also like you the same way!"
Cobblestone giggled. "You're so strange, Venni. Is anybody inside yet?"
"Yeah," Velvet said, poking her head in the room. "But you should hurry up, they're starting to get impatient."
"Great! Wish me luck, guys! I saved you seats in the back, so you get the best view in the house!" He rushed out.
He walked onto the stage, the crowd remembering him and booing him intensely. Somebody tossed a hairbrush at him.
"I wasted my time and money for this?!"
"N-now hang on! I wanted to tell you something if you would just quiet down!"
The crowd slowly grew silent.
"Frauding my way to fame was wrong, I know. But I'm not going to do that anymore! This will be my final performance, okay? Then you won't have to boo me off-stage anymore."
"Did you get a better voice yet?"
"Ouch. Get a load of this guy." He pointed a thumb at his general direction. "Rude, much? You barely even know me, and you want to insult me so horribly? What if I insulted you, ugly? You should really put a bag on that head."
A few people laughed at him, and he covered his face a bit with his hair.
"See what I mean? You don't like it, do you? Feels awful, doesn't it? Well, guess what? I was treated that way my whole life until I put on a mask and lived in a plastic world with the rest of you fashion-obsessed freaks. You all care about how you look, that you make fun of somebody who's just the tiniest bit different. And it really, really ticks me off!"
He extended his arm to the seat next to the guy, and the next thing Veneer knew, he was sitting next to him. He smiled at the guy.
"I remember you! You were the one who was so against frauds when I slandered Vel 'n' Venni! You've shown up to every one of my shows, huh?"
He stayed silent, and looked away from him.
Cobblestone took a deep breath through his nose. "Hmm...I'm getting the faint smell of hair dye. You died it this morning, didn't you? Blue not your natural color?"
He shook his head. "It's black."
"Black? Hmm...I can work with this."
"What? What'd you just say?!"
Cobblestone snapped, and Fold turned a spotlight onto the both of them when the lights went out. "You see the back of my hair? See the white growing out? Purple isn't my natural either. My bangs are just weird. None of it's died except the back." He stood up. "You look at perfection so much in yourself and others that you turn mean! But that meanness is what made me into a star! I used the treatment I always got from everyone, and I turned the anger into energy!"
He jumped from the seats and used his arm again to pull himself to Velvet and Veneer.
"I shouldn't have slandered them, it was wrong of me, especially since I was doing the same thing. But Venni here was the first person to not make fun of me, so you should all be more like him. And Velvet is...changing. I'm sure she'll get it eventually. Changing takes time."
The spotlight followed Cobblestone the whole time he moved around. He jumped back to the stage.
"Enjoy the show, of how I really saw all of this whole 'fame' thing."
"He slandered us?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah, I was there too." Veneer laughed.
"Ouch."
Cobblestone sounded a bit better than before, and Veneer had a feeling his new confidence and the cough medicine helped with that.
"Just move along, it's nothing new. No touching this or this or that!" He grabbed the microphone from a chair's cupholder. "Keep your tounge inside your mouth, don't say a word, a whisper." He volume dropped, but not enough so he was inaudible.
A screen behind him turned on, showing what looked like paper cutout people yelling. They were attached to puppet strings.
"Compliments, I fear they're not. Your gosh is not a silly face. A deity's performance oh, but I'm not like that."
Veneer saw that he was the one holding the cutouts, as when he tossed them aside and they flew off-screen.
"Move along, it's nothing new; no touching this or this or that! Don't assign my talents to the wrong category."
The screen showed "Jester" in colorful letters, but they were crossed out with "Singer" under it in red, dripping paint.
"Cross the rope, they mesmerize," he walked on top the seats towards the back of the room, "my balance lost, the crowd unpleased!" He fell backwards off the toppest seat, under Velvet and Veneer's outlook tower.
He popped up, back onto the stage. "In a deity's performance oh, but I'm not like that!"
While repeating a series of "la-ta-ta-ta-das," he used Banana Puddin', connected to a wooden x with puppet strings, and made him dance goofily on the stage until he finished and tossed the doll behind him.
"I don't see the correlation!" He popped up in the crowd next the the secretly black-haired guy. "Where's the logic, if there's any?" He went back to the stage. "I don't see the point in painting merry smiles to hide the truth!"
His mask had no mouth, so he grabbed a red crayon and drew an awfully scribbly smiling mouth onto it as he tilted his head a bit to add to the creepy affect. He quickly wiped it off; so fast in fact, that it took Veneer a second to realize it was gone.
"You know, it's rude to stare! Balloons we fill with air!" Fold released a bunch of balloons, and Cobblestone kicked one aside. "A helium-defining voice! Either way, you make too much noise!"
He went through the trapdoor on the stage and the screen showed a white, less detailed outline of him, with a background that displayed the blue screen of death.
He dropped his voice again. "Topsy-turvy, sweetly dreaming. Toss and turning in, a frantic state of disbelief, the crowd goes wild with applause; over absolutely nothing." He went back to the stage. "Sing a song that sounds a bit like la-ta-ta-ta-ta-la-da! Maybe you'll understand I mean, 'it's not that hard' you say!"
He placed his hands on either side of his mask. "Pull the mask up off the clown, you'll se the window to her soul!" He removed it just the slightest bit, revealing his mouth. but pushed it back down. "Deprecated acts of jest and telling jokes you take too seriously."
He went behind Velvet and Veneer, startling them both. The ruff and bracelets were now glowing, and his eyes as well. There was an UV light that made it look like his teeth were too.
"I don't see the correlation, where's the logic if there's any? I don't see the point in painting merry smiles to hide the truth! You know, it's rude to stare! Balloons we fill with air! A helium-defining voice! Either way, you make too much noise! I repeat, you make too much noise! I repeat, you make too much noise!"
He covered his ears and leaned over to stare Velvet in the eyes for a second before going back to the stage. This is where Cobblestone started moving really fast, and Veneer could tell Fold was having a hard time keeping up.
"A juggling act of choice," he juggled three small balls, then tossed them aside, "the acrobatic scene." He walked, backwards, on the seats' arm rests, then hopped back. "A lion's open mouth," he made a toothy monster of some sort with his hands, casting it on the walls. "The leader screams our names." He mimicked yelling into a megaphone with his hands.
Veneer glanced up at the top again, and saw Crimp had taken over one of the other spotlights and was helping Fold with it. Veneer smiled, as he thought that was cute and sweet.
"Walk the rope or fall," he slid down one of the ropes that is used to keep the curtains shut, "adorn the vivid lights! Declare the world is yours, I find it hard not to laugh."
A small ring of rope on the floor tightened around his leg and snapped him upwards. He now hung upside down, until he grabbed it and pulled himself right-side-up again.
"I should never be-ee, this high above the audience! In all honesty-and I mean every word-I'm not a freak, I'm not an act, I'm not a deity's performance!"
He cut the rope off his foot in one slice, and fell back through the trapdoor. He was now displayed as a shadow on the screen.
"I don't think the show is ending, everybody's still applauding! I don't see the point in painting merry smiles to hide my face!" He tore the mask off his face and kicked the screen down, crushing the mask in the process.
Veneer smiled when he saw Cobblestone's face again, then realized he'd just destroyed a-most likely-expensive casting screen, and was definitely going to be in trouble for that.
"You know, it's rude to stare! This really isn't fair!" He stomped on a balloon, popping it. "Your helium-infected voice, please shut up, you make too much noise! I repeat, you make too much noise!" He slid on his knees, clenching his fists and sing-yelling to the ceiling. "Oh, I don't belong in this show! I repeat, you make too much noise!" His arms fell limp, his body limply forwards, and looked back to the crowd just enough so his head hadn't moved much but they could tell he was staring at them.
Since he destroyed the screen by kicking it over, the image was instead projected onto the wall, almost making it creepier than it was intended to be. It was puppet strings, attached to the wrists, neck, and ankles on the shadow Cobblestone was casting onto the projection.
"Oh, I don't belong in this show!" His lights went out, making the shadow bigger.
Veneer could hear his hard breaths. When the lights turned back on, he was bent over, hands on his knees, panting still. His hair was a mess.
The crowd went wild with cheers.
Somebody yelled, "You sounded way better this time!"
"Why do you have to stop singing?!" Somebody else agreed.
"Haa...heh. Maybe I could keep going, but if I'm punished for fraud then I'll have to start back from the bottom again." He looked at Velvet. "But, maybe I could get some help this time?"
She smiled a bit. "We'll see, Cobbie. We'll see."
The died-haired Mount Rageon walked down to the stage from his seat near the back. "I'm a big fan...Can I get an autograph?" He held out a sheet of paper with Cobblestone's picture on it.
Cobblestone grabbed a pen and smiled. "Sure. What's your name?"
"C-Cole..."
"Aha! A fellow in the 'Co' name category! Heck, we both even have an 'l' and 'e' in it too! You're such a big fan, that even your name's similar!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Cobblestone scribbled down his name onto the paper, rather quickly. "Did you think Fizz was my real name? I'm Cobblestone."
Cole's eyes widened. "Wait, aren't you the Miracle kid?"
"'Miracle kid?' What's that?"
"That's what you're called on the news," said a girl as she came over. Her hair was pale orange and pulled into a ponytail. "You know, 'Miracle kid survives fire and explosion at his home.' You were all over the news when you escaped, you know."
"I was actually noticed? Weird, I don't remember the news mentioning anything about me..."
"Was it a newspaper? Because that was the last thing the paper printed before it went fully digital. The digital one was an update about them trying to figure out what caused the explosion."
"I might have had something to do with it. Heh. My fireworks blew up."
Cole was staring at the dots on his mouth.
Cobblestone noticed. "These? Born with them. That's why I was made fun of."
Fold and Crimp came over to him. Fold held up Banana Puddin'. "You forgot him."
Cobblestone grabbed him. "I don't really need Banana Puddin' anymore, I have good friends now." He looked right at Veneer when he said that. He held the doll out to Cole. "Here. I'll bet he'd like you. His name is Banana Puddin' and he's here to make you happy when you feel sad. Remember, a sad clown is nothing to laugh at!"
Cole grabbed Banana Puddin' gently and looked at him. "He...kind of looks like you. Even the dots are black..."
"Huh. Never noticed. See? You're doing better than me already!"
"B-better than you?"
"Wanna pick up my legacy? I'm leaving the jester biz for good. I might settle down, live the quiet life...Since you're my number one fan, I thought you'd love to take over my job! Banana Puddin' can show you the ropes. Oh! Here!" He held up Fold. "You'll need a good manager too, so take Fold with you! He loves jesters and clowns too, but uh...not as much as me."
Cole began to sweat. "I'm not looking for a job! I'm really sorry but...youcankeepyourjobyoudoitbetterthenmeanywaysandyousoundbetterand-"
Cobblestone laughed, loudly. "I only jest! You need to learn how to understand when somebody's joking, otherwise somebody's going to get hurt. I'm not giving away Fold like some sort of object! You can keep Banana Puddin' though, if you want. If not, I'll find somebody else to take care of him."
"I like Banana Puddin'..."
Cobblestone waved. "Well, have a good day!"
"Bye."
Cobblestone faced Veneer. "What now? What am I going to do now that my music career is ruined?"
"Ruined? Pfah! Nonsense!"
A woman, not much taller than Veneer, came down from a seat towards the back. She wore a suit with a purple tie, and hint of purple in the black of the suit. Her heels were also purple. Her purple hair was pulled into a messy bun, and she was holding a clipboard.
"I've been going to every one of your shows, and I'm highly impressed by you, Fizz!"
"I'm going by Cobblestone now..."
She looked at him over her square glasses. "Hm, you do look the name. You. You're friends with Velvet and Veneer, right?"
He nodded. "They're right here."
"You three have some talent, I can tell. I'm looking for underdogs, people who fell, but rose again from the ashes like a phoenix! You three fit the part perfectly!"
"Wait, what do you want with us?" Velvet asked.
"You two went to jail recently, right? I feel like that was a pretty bad burn-down. But with me, I can give you all your fame and glory back! What do you say?"
They shared a look. "Uh..."
"Ven, Cobbie, are you kidding? We can be popular again! Wasn't it fun the first time?"
"I guess, but we also did some pretty terrible things then too..." Veneer rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know..."
"No crimes this time. And, we'll actually practice."
"Well, okay then! I do miss singing." He looked at Cobblestone. "What do you say? Wanna turn this solo act into a three ring circus?"
He messed up his hair. "Argh! I can't say no when you use clown jokes on me! My only weakness! Buuuut, what the heck; why not?"
"Great! I'll give you guys a few days to get prepared. Our first stop on this crazy train is Troll village! I hope to find one of everybody! Off we go! But first, do you have a manager? I don't know how to do stuff with the stages and things, I'm only knowledgeable in the skill of time management."
Veneer held up Crimp, and Cobblestone Fold. "Right here!" They looked at each other. "We can't use both..."
"S-sure we can!" Crimp said. "It'll be a lot easier on the both of us if we worked together..." She looked at Fold. "Plus, he's pretty cool..."
"The lover hath spoken!" Cobblestone said, bowing formally. "We shall keep both our trusty companions, miss."
"Um, alright then. Well, I'll see you in a few days. I'll come pick you up." She left.
"While we're there," Veneer said, "you can pay Lilac a visit."
"Oh, yeah! I can!"
"Lilac?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah! I can tell you all about her while we go back to the car! Okay, so after my first performance..."
Veneer smiled as Cobblestone went over how he met Lilac with Velvet. Maybe things could turn out better this time, now that they had all changed? He didn't know for sure if things would stay that way, but he did know one thing.
He, Velvet, and Cobblestone were all friends again.
And that's all that mattered.