Awesome Land!: A Rebooted Story

[Monika]

Chancellor Awesome turned to Azzi to explain the party. "It is...whatever you want it to be. An ocean of adventure and excitement await you." He was clearly playing along in an attempt to expedite his own departure. 'I cannot deal with...this...' His eyes went from Stella to Cow-man to the UFO to Vampire Balloon Ridley and his mind was made up. "With that said, I bid you farewell. Giggles, be a pal and accompany our guests during their travels."

"I'm sorry, WHA-

Before Giggles could finish, the chancellor had already vanished.

"Yea, whateva! I gotta bunch of material ready anyway. Speakin' of oceans, guess what the mermaid did last Sunday night? She went to sea a movie! Wuh ha! Wuh ha! Wuh ha!" Giggles made a miniature tidal wave crash into the town to emphasize his joke.

[Mizagium]

Suddenly bored, Stella fluttered away from the group before dismounting the UFO. She landed on her feet with enough force to crack the pavement. With the UFO hovering over her shoulder like a mechanical balloon, she wandered through the stalls.

But something caught her ear. "Step right up and win a prize!" Challenge accepted.

"Hello there smelly carnival man, how do I play this game?"

"...Er, you toss this baseball at those bottles. If you knock them down, you win a stuffed animal."

"Silly man, I'm a space ninja." As if that explained everything. She eagerly took the ball offered to her and wound up. "Planet buster asteroid toss!" The ball left her hand and instantly caught fire. It whizzed past the vendor and set his mustache aflame. Before he realized it, it was gone. Then the ball hit the bottles. The entire stack melted on impact and the ball exploded like fireworks. When the confetti (because she likes confetti and had thrown a handful along with the ball) cleared, the ball was nowhere to bee seen, but the bottles were a sculpted glass statue of herself.

"Do I win?"

The vendor was speechless. Obviously, she hadn't knocked down the bottles, but now he was afraid she would kill him

A short while later, Stella marched triumphantly down the street with a giant stuffed lawlasaurus.

[Calefrun]

After asking the receptionist, Cale was able to find his father in their room pretty easily. When he entered, he found that it was an extremely nice room. Apparently Aurora had found Mr. Efrun earlier, though she was nowhere to be seen now.

Upon seeing his son, Mr. Efrun, who was sitting in a cozy-looking chair reading a book, said, "Why, there you are, my boy! But tell me, why aren't you out there enjoying yourself? There's a party! We aren't leaving until tomorrow, so you might as well take advantage of what this city has to offer while you can!"

Cale wanted to bring up what Stella had suggested before, but he couldn't bring himself to. It IS kind of a ridiculous idea... he thought. In the end, he decided that it could wait. While he wanted to get away from the craziness as quickly as possible, he figured that a little partying couldn't hurt.

"Ehhh..." he sad aloud, "I guess you're right. I'll be back in a couple of hours."
With that, he left.

[Myrdraxxis]

Azzi walked over to one of the carnival stands. He noted that many curios on-lookers were beginning to join in the festivities. Excellent! "One moment..."


A few minutes later he was in line at the booth. "Welcome!" The vendor grinned widely. "Step on up and...uh..."

"What?" Azzi asked.

"Is that...blood on your chin, sir?"

"Of course not."

"I think it is."

"I think your imagining it."

"There's a body laying behind you."

"My good man," Azzi leaned close. "Are you going to let me play the game or are there going to be two imaginary bodies?" he asked. The man began to sweat.

"Err, alright then! The game is simple. Take this air rifle and shoot the moving target!" the man handed him a rifle over the counter. A single target popped up and began to rotate back and forth in front of Azzi.

Azzi looked down at the rifle, then up at the target. "Oh, I get it."

Two seconds later the target jerked back as it was speared through the center by the rifle Azzi had just hurled like a javelin. Azzi flexed his arm. "A good throw if I do say so myself."

People stared.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five figures loomed ominously at the edge of the party. "Are you sure this is going to work?" A man with a ridiculously large mustache glued onto the front of his helmet/mask and an overcoat said. Three others were dressed in similarly unconvincing disguises

"Of course it will Gree." Sindri said. The shadow mage was wearing a pin-stripe suit, glasses-nose combo and a large bushy afro. This was rather difficult feat for someone without any visible face.

"I still don't see the point in this..." Taler muttered.

"Recon, my dear sergeant. Recon." With that, the five set off into the crowd.

[Mizagium]

Stella happened to be walking by at that very moment. She saw Azzi skewer the target in a true display of vampire ninja athletics. Or something.

"Man, Vamp is crazy," she mused. Meanwhile she had a giant stuffed lawlasaurus on her back. And a smile that was sweet enough to cause insta-diabetus. Which she may have done recently.

"Whad'ja win?"

[Calefrun]

Cale, as the others had before him, approached one of the stands.

"Why hello there!" The vendor greeted him. "Would you like to give this a try?"

Cale looked at the device before him. It had several holes in it, but he had no idea what they could be for, and had never seen anything like this before. "What is it?" He asked.

The man replied, "Why, it's whack-a-mole! You take one of these here mallets, and hit as many moles as you can before the time runs out!" He smirked. What he didn't mention, was that in order to win the prize, someone would have to hit all of the moles in order to win, and they appeared in large numbers and at rapid paces.

Cale shrugged. "I might as well give it a try." The man handed him a mallet, and he asked, "Is it all right if I have another?" The man, not entirely sure how that would be too much of a help, and not really caring since he had made the game near-impossible to win, gave him a second mallet.

The game started, and the moles began appearing almost instantly. Cale responded just as quickly, and started attacking the mechanical creatures with pinpoint accuracy and lightning reflexes. Even after they sped up to the point where up to seven moles would be present at once, each for no more than half a second, whacked away, not missing a sing target.

When it ended, the vendor was stunned. He had, in fact, not prepared for this. Not expecting anyone to have won, he hadn't bothered removing any prizes from the chests he kept them in behind the stall, save for the ones he put on display to lure in those who were unaware of the difficulty of defeating the rigged machine.

"Excuse me for a moment." he said, and walked out of the stall, and over to the chests where he his arsenal of giant stuffed lawlasauruses and other such items.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Cale approached the stall, there stood a man, or rather a boy, watching from a safe distance. He had been watching the other boy for a while now, and was well aware that, while Cale was undoubtedly skilled, the rigged machine surpassed his capabilities.

The boy crossed the street to where Cale stood, remaining undetected by the young Efrun. He produced from his jacket a canister containing a fine green powder. He scooped some up into his hand, and blew it into the air behind Cale, where it mixed with the air he was breathing.

He didn't bother to wait and see the results, he knew already how it would end. He instead walked around to the prize chest, and used magic to undo the lock. He quickly placed two items into the chest, then closed it and relocked it. He departed just as the bewildered vendor rounded the corner.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's this?" Cale heard from behind the stand. The vendor reemerged, holding a pair of sheathed twin katanas. "I didn't put these in there!"

"Those will do nicely." Cale said, not having expected more than a silly children's toy.

"Eh..." the vendor wasn't entirely sure what to do, but decided that it couldn't possibly hurt to give two mysteriously appearing swords to a complete stranger. "All right, here you go!"

[Monika]

"Hey, I guess I'll play some of these games too, huh?" Giggles said to no one in particular, stumbling over to a classic 'high striker' game, the game with a giant tower whose object was to hit the base with enough force to cause the bell at the top to ring. Sitting next to the game was none other than Leon Veralice in his adorable little kid form! He was poorly disguised with a fake mustache and top hat and looked very much like a classic Victorian era villain who would be responsible for tying many a woman to railroad tracks.

"Step right up, test your strength! Play the High Striker and show how manly you are! 100% not rigged, I guarantee it!" Kid Leon shouted out, making no mention of the miniature magic portal that sat inside the game, a portal that would intercept the internal puck before it had the chance to hit the bell.

"Wuh ha! I'm pretty manly! Hand me one of them hammers, kid!" Giggles laughed. An amused Kid Leon grabbed one of the mallets sitting next to the game (mallets filled entirely with feathers) and effortlessly tossed it to the clown. "Hit the puck up to the top and show that your strength never stops! Ring the bell and be a star! Win a brand new, fancy car!" In front of Kid Leon materialized a shiny red convertible that he had no intention of giving away.

"No problem! I can do this in my sleep!" Giggles stepped up to the game and lifted the hammer behind him. "Huff...huff...huff...This thing's pretty heavy, pal!" Giggles huffed.

"It's made of feathers..." Kid Leon rolled his eyes.

"What was that, kid?"

"I said...It's not rigged at all. Take a swing!" Leon corrected himself.

"Riiight. Well, here goes nothin'!" After 5 minutes of struggling to move the feathery hammer, Giggles brought it down upon the game's base with the force of a 1 gram toy truck. The puck moved about a centimeter up the tower.

"Aw, what a shame! Well, better luck next time!" Kid Leon shooed Giggles away to make room for the next contestant.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute, kid! I'll have you know I'm one of the Empress's top entertainers! I demand another chance!" Giggles went back to the game and poked Leon.

"Hmph. Fine. No harm could come of this, I guess." Kid Leon muttered.

"You know, you sound pretty old for a little k-

"Just take a swing, clown!" Kid Leon was growing impatient quite rapidly.

"Yea, yea, yea." Once again, Giggles lifted the feathery mallet and slammed it against the base of the tower. Once again, the puck inside moved about 1 centimeter, reaching the marked 'I've seen balloons stronger than you.' point.

"Yea, I'll let you know that some balloons can be pretty strong, pal." Giggles said, apparently talking to the tower.

"Alright, well, thanks for play-

"HEY! I want another shot, kid! Entertainer's privileges!" Giggles shouted, preparing to take another swing. Leon raised no objection (no visible objection, at least) and let Giggles try again. And Giggles failed. And then he demanded a retry. And Leon let him try again. And the cycle repeated for a good hour or so...

"Don't worry, kid!" Giggles huffed, out of breath from swinging the bag of feathers on a stick so many times. "I'll nail this one eventually! Wuh ha! Wuh ha! Wuh ha!"

"Wh-what did you just say?" Leon looked at Giggles in disbelief.

"I said, I'll nail this eventually! Wuh ha! Wuh ha! Wuh ha!" Behind Giggles appeared a picture of a nail being hit on the head with a hammer.

"Oh, God...You didn't! You...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" After a few moments of stammering, Kid Leon began to cry. Gushers of genuine tears flowed from his eyes, dampening the ground of the entire city. The joke was clearly that bad. "I...I'm telling my sister on you!" With that, Kid Leon teleported away, leaving the car unattended.

"Well, I guess I win, then. A smashing victory, wuh ha!" Giggles proceeded to hop into the car, taking the feather mallet with him. "I wonder if this car has something more my speed. Wuh ha!" Giggles pressed a rubber nose shaped button on the car's control panel. Instantaneously, the vehicle transformed into an infinitely spacious, brightly colored clown car! How convenient.

"Wow! I guess this car really is a convertible!" Giggles put the car in drive and began riding around the city. "Man, I'm on a roll today! Wuh ha! Wuh ha! Wuh ha!"

[Myrdraxxis]

Azzi looked over the prizes with a small hum and finally noticed something in the back. "I'll have that." he pointed. The nervous vendor followed his pointing and frowned.

"You sure? It's just cerea-"

"I'm sure." Azzi said. The man sighed and retrieved the prize.

"Here you are sir. One box of Rice Crispy cereal."

Azzi took and with a huge grin. Then stopped. Why had he just picked out a cereal product for a prize? Oh well. "Whadda ya think?" he asked Stella


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm hungry." Sindri ignored the comment.

"I'm tired." again he ignored.

"This place smells funny." he wedged his nonexistent eyes shut, trying to block out a headache.

"I wanna go on one of the rides."

"WILL YOU FOUR SHUT IT!" He finally snapped, turning on Havoc Squad. The squad quieted, looking sheepish.

"Seriously though, what are we looking for?" Corr asked. Sindri sighed.

"We're looking for any sign of weakness in Awesome Land's defenses." he replied.

"Why?"

"Because that's what we do." Truth be told it was a good question. Zais' orders had been rather vague, and Sindri wasn't exactly sure how to proceed.

"We could try and join the heroes!" Vin suggested. The others stared at him.

"...who?" Taler asked.

"Ya'know, the heroes. That group of people that always forms at the beginning of the story and shows up to combat the forces of anything unpleasant." Vin nodded furiously.

"I hate those guys." Gree muttered. Sidri sighed again.

"I hate to say it...but I think he's right. We're going to have to....*gulp* make friends."

[Mizagium]

"Crackly cereal?" Stella tilted her head. "You're strange, Vamp." There wasn't any malice or insult in her voice; she was just stating a fact. Although, calling someone strange might be her way of a compliment. No one can tell. "I got a lawlasaurus. RAWR!" She started running through the crowds making scary faces at people.

~~~~~

MEANWHILE in Really Cool Land

"Since when do we have Vampire Ninjas?" Sarah asked Johnny.

"I don't know, this thing is useless." He tossed the Awesome Land Wiki 2.0 out the window.

[Bruce Leroy]

"This looks interesting... A carnival at this time of the year? Oh well, I'm going to go win a stuffed animal," Captain Knerokin Mandigno declared.

He then began to twirl his cane as he strolled into the carnival.

"I wonder which game I should play first? Is that a bounce house?"

[Monika]

"Nothing like helping people make reservations and throwing unnecessarily extravagant parties, making everything nice and-"

VWOOSH!

An uncharacteristic noise sounded throughout the top floor- the throne room - of the Second Imperial Tower, interrupting Aurora's monologue as Kid Leon warped directly in front of the throne. He normally made no sounds when teleporting, but he was so distraught that his magic was slightly more difficult to control.

"-What in the world?!" Aurora was evidently taken aback as a small child appeared right in front of her. "Wh-who are you, and what are you-

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Kid Leon whined, running up to Aurora's knee and grabbing it.

Aurora looked down at the child and recognized him from her past. He reminded her of a child she knew when she was younger. "L-Leon?! Is that you?!"

Leon sniffed and nodded.

"What in the world is...How are you a...Why are you crying?!" Aurora decided to ask the most pressing question first, chalking up Leon's childlike appearance to magic.

"That mean old clown, he...

"What clown? What did he do?" Aurora put her hand on her forehead, knowing full well what clown Leon was talking about.

"That mean old clown, Giggles, he...He made me cry! WAAAAAAAH!" Oceans of tears streamed down Leon's face, flooding the throne room to about half its height.

"Ugh, Leon, calm down! What did he do? What did Giggles do to make you so upset!" Aurora started hovering above the now literal ocean of tears, levitating Leon to keep him from drowning.

"He...He told a really, really bad joke!" Leon stopped crying for a moment.

"He...what?" Aurora removed her hood to scratch her head in confusion.

"He TOLD A BAD JOKE! WAAAAAAAAAAH!" The tears resumed.

"You mean...Giggles told a joke so bad..." Aurora paused to make sure she understood the situation.

"Uh-huh..." Leon sniffled.

"...that it made my older brother who is in his mid 20s..." Aurora raised her eyebrow.

"Yea..." A few more tears rolled down Leon's face.

"...my brother, who was once the Emperor, the most feared man in all of Awesome Land..." The eyebrow continued rising until it was almost up to her hair.

Leon sniffed in response and nodded again.

"Cry?"

"WAAAAAAAAAH!" Leon nodded. The room flooded to about 3/4ths of its height now.

"Shh, shh. Calm down, it's okay, Leon..." Aurora was quickly losing space to hover in, and she knew that she had to console younger older brother before they all drowned. "If Giggles has the ability to make my brother, the Leon Veralice, cry, then he is clearly a threat to the Empire. I will have him banished immediately. Now please, stop crying...It's really, really awkward."

"Th-thank you, Sis." Leon sniffled, and with a snap of his fingers the entire ocean was gone. "Much appreciated!" Another snap, and Leon was gone as well.

"Uh...Bye?" Aurora waved to the empty space in front of her as she descended to the thoroughly soaked floor. "UGH! My throne room is ruined! It'll take seconds worth of magic to fix this!" she fumed, stomping down to the first floor of the tower. "Oh, boy, is that Giggles gonna pay...And I know just the place to send him..." With a devilish smile and a last look at the tower, Aurora left to go find everyone's least favorite clown.

[Mizagium]

"Hey look," Stella stopped a pointed at a figure jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Up in the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane - a plane? It's gonna crash! EVERYONE RUN FOR YOU LIVES!" She started running frantically in circles. "The sky is falling!"

~~~~~

Elsewhere, a Mysterious Hooded Figure leaped from rooftop to rooftop, high above the festival below. MHF paused briefly before continuing.

"I know you are here, Gree," the Figure growled. "And when I find you, I'll kill you."

[Major Xeno]

The Doctor, having ascertained that he was safe to leave the TARDIS, quickly exited and locked his machine. He carefully passed the guards, who were once again irritated at him, and joined the bustling crowds. He enjoyed the new empressions and the amazing tales tossed to and fro, and just when he was getting bored, he spied somebody in an overcoat very similar to his!

"Oi!" The Doctor cried, thinking it was Captain Jack Harkness. "You there! Stop!"

[Mizagium]

((who is that directed at?))

[Calefrun]

Cale sat on a bench along the street where he had found the Whack-a-mole stand, admiring the swords. They were extremely finely crafted, and the sheaths were covered in colorful gems that made them look like they were made for a king. He paid no attention to the people walking by our Stella's frightened yelling, focusing instead on what seemed to be a strange, magical energy emanating from the blades.

Though the events that took place over the course of the day had given him no reason to trust logic or reason, he still wanted to know how the vendor came by these swords.

[Major Xeno]

((Who else is wearing a Trenchcoat? The Recon Boys))

[Mizagium]

((Havoc Squad then. Adam, you're up. On two counts, actually.))

[Myrdraxxis]

Gree stopped, hearing someone call out. The other squad mates glanced over to the Doctor. "Do you know this guy?" Taler asked.

"Negative.." Gree said, staring at the man. "Though he obviously thinks that he knows me..." which struck him as odd that a soldier wearing a facemask and a mustache could be a recognizable face. Gree sighed and turned to face The Doctor. "Can I help you citiz-er, sir?" he corrected himself.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sidri had wandered off into the crowd, trying to identify anyone that could be useful. What was he looking for? A person that seemed to be stronger than the others yet lacked any sense of logic or normalcy that you would expect from a hero-type.

He proptly spotted Stella running around in frantic circles. Yeah...that just might do it. "Excuse me!" He called out in (what he could only assume) was a friendly tone. "Is something the matter, miss?"

[Major Xeno]

"Captain! I thought I'd never see YOU again!" the Doctor crowed, enthusiastically pumping the confused man's hand.

"Are you still in charge of that whatsis-thingy-blackops-unit-thats-like-UNIT-but-not-quite?"

[Mizagium]

Upon hearing Sindri's question, Stella stopped running in circles. "Is something wrong? No, I just like running in circles." She started running around again, this time faster. "RAWR IMMA LAWLASAURUS! I eats ponies and doesn't afraid of anything!"

~~~~~

Torran reached under his robes for his dagger, feeling the reassuring steel. He'd come this far; now was not the time to act hastily. Of the masked men below, he couldn't be sure which one was Gree.

For now, he was content to wait.