BALAN WONDERWORLD REDUX

Chapter 4 part 3: Tree Lady

Fighter stumbled back, sensing that she'd done something wrong unintentionally. Lance noticed this and put on his calm, friendly face.

"I'm sorry, but I should get going. I still have many residents to attend to." Lance extends his hand and opens a portal to the left of the dining table, "I understand if you don't want to come with, I'll be back-"

"No, I'm coming too!" Fighter interrupts Lance, "Those Tims could cause more trouble! We have to find out what's going on!" She turns to Streetbeat, anticipating a response. He nods his head.

"I'm coming too. I don't think I should leave Fighter to do this by herself." He said giving Fighter a sarcastic smirk.

"Hey!" She said playfully punching his shoulder.

Lance was at a loss considering he'd hoped that what happened would've deterred them from moving forward. He looked to Scarecrow and Bugsy who were looking around the castle's ruined furniture.

"It'd be best if I stayed ere'. Help clean the place up." Bugsy stood next to Scarecrow and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll stay and help too."

"Aww..." Fighter whined and walked up to Scarecrow and Bugsy, "But we were having such a good time together!" 

"Don't worry Fighter...We'll see each other again" Bugsy said while holding her hands. Fighter smiled back in a bittersweet way and ran back over to Lance and Streetbeat. Scarecrow looked to Lance, "Once you find out what's goin' on and met with all the residents, let's go to my stage and we can brainstorm ideas as to how to fix it."

After glancing back and forth, Streetbeat had just realized something

"Hey, where's Clocktower Kid?" He said and everyone else also began looking around.

"It's quite alright," Lance said, "She told me that she had to return to her stage for something important. We'll see her later."

"Something important?" Streetbeat and Fighter thought. Although they had several questions to follow on from that, they figured that it was best not to pry.

"Well, she can take care of herself."

Lance looked away, "Alright." He looked back to Streetbeat and Fighter, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah! C'mon Streetbeat!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

With that, they all entered the portal. Looking around the new landscape, there were gigantic trees, taller than the buildings that Streetbeat put in his own stage with bugs aplenty, the chirping of Cicadas being heard in the distance. Streetbeat didn't like all of the bugs, but Fighter didn't seem to mind. Looking up they saw a lady was tending to the treehouses that were all over the place. When she noticed her new guests, she slid down the slope of her rooftop and landed in front of the trio.

"Hey there Lance! It's been a while!" She gives Lance a big hug, a bit too strong because it looked like Lance was at a loss for air, but he seemed to appreciate the hug. "Yes...it has been..." She puts him down, "Umm...Hello? Fighter put her hand out in hopes that she would see them. The lady looked away from Lance to see the two children standing behind him. She leaned down.

"Aww, aren't you two adorable!" She gives them the same, very strong hug. 

"Too much! Too much" Streetbeat tried to free himself from the hug until the lady let him and Fighter go, as they attempted to catch their breath.

"Oh. I'm sorry! I often times do that cause I got a lot of strength to spare." She flexes her arms to show off her strength, "and you two must be...Streetbeat and Fighter?"

"That's us!" Fighter said, already used to the name recognition. "I must say that your dress is super cool!" 

"Well thank you! You're very sweet." She said smiling at Fighter.

"Can we get back on track please?" Streetbeat interjects as he stares at Fighter who backs away from the lady.

"So, you're the Watcher of the Woods?"

"That's me! You can just call me Watcher."

"Alright, well have you seen any fuzzy creatures-"

"Tims." Fighter interjects. Streetbeat gave her a glare and she stopped talking again.

Streetbeat sighs. "Have you seen any 'Tims' around here? The small fuzzy guys?" 

"Not that I can recall...or at least not in a while."

Streetbeat thought the lady seemed rather calm considering that the other residents thought the Tims were to be discussed privately until he noticed-

"There aren't any people in this stage. Just like mine." He said the second part quietly

"Yup! I prefer the quiet serenity of the forest rather than the bustling of the city."

"It's a very beautiful stage Ms.Watcher." Fighter was in awe at the massive treehouse architecture. The trees breaking through the skies with leaves falling down gracefully.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here at the moment, but have you hear any voices?" Lance asked.

"I have heard the voices...wait, are those Tims tied to them as well?"

"It's possible." Lance put his hand to his chest with an earnest face. "I promise to do my best for the residents of the stages. After all, that is my job!"

"Not just because it's your job, but because we're friends too!" Watcher put a finger to Lance's face. "Don't overwork yourself, I can help out whenever you need it!"

"Of course, but I'd feel more at ease if you didn't get put in danger because of me. I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

Streetbeat looked away from the two to notice Fighter looking all over the place. Up and down and all around. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What're you looking for?"

Fighter was a bit hesitant and Streetbeat was quick to notice. Fighter took a quick look to Watcher and Lance before whispering to Streetbeat.

"Look around."

Streetbeat looked all over the place to nothing in particular. Confused, he looked at Fighter again. 

"There's nothing there."

"Exactly!" Fighter whispered loudly, "There're no birds here!"

Streetbeat took note of this and looked all around to indeed find no birds to his bewilderment. Streetbeat turned back to Fighter.

"It's best we don't bring it up. Remember what happened to Seagazer?"

Fighter paused for a moment, glancing around one more time before nodding in agreement.

"Come, little ones!" Lance called out to them. "We should get going now, we have just a few more residents to attend to!" 

Streetbeat and Fighter walked over.

"Also, Watcher here has decided that she will come with us." 

Streetbeat and Fighter turn to Watcher who was standing patiently behind them before she rubbed their heads. "That's right, so don't worry about a thing! I'm very capable."

With that, Lance put up a portal to the left of him. He bowed and put his hand out.

"Ladies first."

Watcher chuckled and walked through the portal as Lance followed swiftly after. Streetbeat didn't know why there were no birds in the stage, but he figured it would be best not to worry about it. He walked to the portal, but just before he entered, he looked back at Fighter who was still looking out at the trees.

"Fighter!" He called to her. 

Fighter snapped back into herself, took one last look back at the trees, before walking into the portal as Streetbeat followed her in.

A/N: Sorry for the inconsistent updates. From now on, I at least want to update once per week. Perhaps once every three days.