omari

Prologue

Welcome to White Space. You have been living here for as long as you can remember.

The space is quiet. The space is white. A black light bulb hangs overhead. There is a sketchbook on one corner of a spread white blanket. On another is a laptop. Opposite the laptop is a black tissue box. There is a cat soundly sleeping just barely out of reach of the blanket. This is White Space. Plain, stark, hollow, and the home of Nieta. A girl with waist-length black hair and skin as white as paper. Her hair matches her dress, dark and prone to fluttering. If there was any wind here, that is.

Nieta looked at the journal she kept on her laptop. Lately she had been visiting friends. Everything had been okay so far. Today should also be a good day to spend time with her friends. She would need something, though, but she wasn't sure-

White Space rumbled. Something fell nearby, she was sure. Ah yes, her jump rope. It was a mighty weapon only she could use. Now it was time to cross the only door in White Space. It was usually a finicky thing, locking and unlocking as it pleased, if it bothered to show up at all. She opened the door easily this time.

This was the Neighbor's Room. It was a lot more cheerful and certainly more populated. You could see the magnificent violet of space with all of its constellations overhead and through cat-shaped holes in the floor. Watching over it all, seemingly unnoticed by everyone except Nieta, was a bear with a smiling face and a softball jersey. On the counter was an unopened present, a toaster, a pillow shaped like the head of a girl, and a picture of somebody familiar. There was also a table, but the only thing on it was a plate with a single bean. In the center of the room were red playing cards, and around those cards were three people. They all had bluish tones to them. One was a girl with a pink bow in her hair, and a nightgown like a too-long t-shirt. Another was a boy with short hair and a checkered, loose tank top, with shorts underneath. The last boy wore a plain shirt with a pocket on the front, shorts, and plush socks that came up to his knees.

"Nieta! We were hoping you'd be here today!" The girl with the bow dashed the cards aside without much thought and ran up to greet the new arrival. This was Aubrey. "We were just about to start another game!" She looked back behind her. "Oh... whoops. Never mind."

"Aww, man... What the heck, Aubrey!?" The boy in the checkered shirt called out. He was Kel. "You messed up all the cards! I was winning, too!"

"Ah, but it's only a game... We can just play again!" The final boy, Basil, had a smile on his face. "Besides, Nieta is here now, maybe we can do something else now. The possibilities are endless, after all!"

"You're just saying that because you were losing, Basil." Kel pouted.

"Maybe a little... haha." Basil sheepishly scratched his head. "But remember? Sunny and Hero said they were having a picnic today at the Playground. I bet they would like it if we went to visit, what do you think, Nieta?"

Nieta nodded her assent.

"Then let's- WAIT!!!! I don't have Mr. Plantegg!" Aubrey checked all around herself and huffed. "Kel! Did you take him again!?"

"Noooooo~!" Kel said with a cheeky smirk.

"Kel! You jerk! Give him back!"

"N-now now..." Basil said sheepishly. He was practically being talked over. "If Kel really took it then it has to be somewhere hidden here. Let's-" The argument cut him off.

Nieta took the hint and looked around. Ah yes, a conspicuous watermelon with the letters "K-E-L" written on it. She smashed it open. All watermelons had something in them, this was common knowledge. Sure enough, Mr. Plantegg was in there, dry and intact. She walked over and handed Aubrey the stuffed toy.

"Nieta you found him! Was Kel really hiding him somewhere?" Aubrey twirled and hugged her plush.

"...It was in a watermelon that had Kel's name written on it." Nieta finally said.

"Well that solves it! Nieta never lies, everyone knows that!" Aubrey exclaimed.

"Curses! Foiled by my own ego!" Kel fell over in dramatic fashion before Basil hurried to pick him up.

"Come on Kel, you'll do better next time." The boy with the flower crown said.

"WHAT!? Basil, how could you!? Come on Nieta, let's leave the boys to it!" Aubrey turned up her nose and followed after Nieta, pushing her a little.

"...Oops. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, Aubrey." Basil joined and was allowed alongside the others.

"Hey wait for me!" Kel zipped along, and the four friends left on the stairs, and out of the stump.

---Ssssssss? (Going somewhere? Here's your allowance.) Nieta got 50 clams.---

The Playground was on the more northern end of the Pinwheel Forest. Here and there you could see the giant toys turn in the wind. A host of children of all shapes played. On swings and slides, or with a puzzle. The four friends, instead of playing with any of the games and equipment, walked to a picnic blanket where a boy with the same bluish hair as the other three friends raised a hand in greeting. He was rather cliff-faced and wore something that seemed to be a school uniform. The other was a tall boy who wore an apron, and had messy dark red hair.

"Hey guys! You're just in time, Sunny and I made burgers!" Hero gave a winning smile.

"Hero did most of it." Sunny's voice was quiet, but came with a small upturn of the mouth.

"What? I couldn't have possibly done it without you." He looked over to an overflowing basket. "Maybe we overdid it a little, though."

"Not with how Aubrey eats!" Kel had a mischievous look as he snatched a burger.

"There's nothing wrong with what I eat! R-right, Sunny?"

Sunny nodded his head and held up a burger. A vote of confidence from the stoic one.

"So lively, haha..." Basil laughed before grabbing his own and sitting down near Sunny. The six friends all passed a wonderful afternoon, eating their burgers and playing.

"Hey Hero! Hero!!" Van, a large dinosaur man, waddled up to the group. "Boss showed up on the playground and Berly went to go fight him off!"

Hero gave a concerned look. "That sounds serious. Didn't Berly put up the rules forbidding him?"

"If it's Boss then we're all in danger, we all need to go stop him!" Kel popped up and saddled a rubber ball under his arm.

"Let's protect the Playground, the last time Boss was here he turned hide and seek into a body slamming game..." Aubrey held her bat up.

"Guys, maybe we can solve this without fighting..." Basil said, picking up his camera.

"I agree with Basil, that's why I'll go on ahead. Wait here. Keep them safe, okay Nieta?" Hero nodded in her direction with a reassuring look. The remaining friends all traded looks of their own with one another.

"Nieta, are we really going to stand here? What do you want to do?" Kel asked.

"I... Don't want Hero to be alone." The words were halting at first. She felt pushed to do it, as if by some outside force for reasons she didn't quite understand. She picked up her jump rope and looked to Sunny.

"Be safe."

Nieta, Aubrey, Basil, and Kel all ran for the north side of the park, just in time to hear a deep laughter shake the air. A large violet kid, larger than Van even, was standing with Hero in one arm. He had a teal rhino horn and blue overalls.

"HWEHWEHWEHWEHWE!! You stupidheads! I have Hero now and no one can stop me from playing hide and seek! The real hide and seek!"

Berly, the one with a blue hoodie and a mohawk of a fish fin right down her head, hopped madly in place. Her sidelong hair waved into her eye and her red glasses nearly fell off her nose.

"Hey you good-for-nothing scoundrel! Give us Hero back!"

"Never! As long as I have him, this Playground is mine! Now I'll finally be the one to make the rules!"

Hero sheepishly waved from the giant's arm. "Hi guys, I guess I got captured."

Berly turned and looked at the approaching party. "Hey you guys, perfect timing! You're always with Hero, you must be almost as good as him, right? Go on, use your power of friendship or something and fight!"

"Gimme back my brother, Boss!" Kel stepped up.

"Yeah, quit hurting people!" Aubrey also stepped to a ready position.

"Are we really going to do this?" Basil asked.

Nieta readied her jump rope. "Let Hero go."

Kel launched his ball with two hands. He hit Boss square in the eye and crouched to retrieve his weapon from the low angle it bounced at. Aubrey flew in next, looking as though she were about to swing Mr. Plantegg. But instead a baseball bat collided with the bully's knee, causing him to hop around. The perfect opportunity for Nieta to lash out with the jump rope like it was a whip. The handle struck right in the back of his other ankle, and he fell onto his rear. Finally, with more than a little trepidation perhaps, Basil hit the flash on his camera. The light alone landed as effectively as a fist or a bat. Boss recovered from the fourfold strike and kipped up with a hop.

"That kinda hurt! Now I'm ANGRY!" A light reddish glow overtook him at the edges as he growled. Next he made a swipe of his hand and hit Nieta. She reeled back and waved her arms wildly to stop from toppling over.

"Nieta! Be careful, emotions are really strong!" It was Hero, calling from the bully's arm. "If you're not a strong emotion of your own, you'll take a lot of damage! Remember, HAPPY beats ANGRY beats SAD beats HAPPY!"

Nieta froze up for a moment. This wasn't like before. What's this new rule? Battles were simple affairs, she didn't have to feel anything. She watched as Kel made a face at Aubrey after she went through all the effort to cheer on his next attack. Basil looked at a wilted flower and tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. Nieta looked around in a fluster, these were clearly the rules, now, she had to play along. She had to. She looked at Kel and attempted to smile as wide as he did. She would just COPY an emotion, easy! A faint yellow glow overtook her, the same as the boy who was now throwing a ball once again at the great angry rhino. She guessed she was doing it correctly. Even if the act made her even more uneasy.

She had to, though.

Aubry stomped her foot down onto the enemy's, then called out to Nieta, who gave her a friendly wave. Sparkles filled the first girl's eyes and she made another attack, this time with her bat. Nieta snapped her wrist and hit in a uniquely powerful way. She felt the strum of Boss's heart through her rope, it felt devastating. She was noting her own strength when she noticed Basil come up and sprinkle her with a watering can. It didn't feel wet, only the feeling of being refreshed and whole again poured out of the spout. Even through his tears, Basil smiled at the thought of helping something or someone grow healthy.

"Hey, that really, really hurt! Fine then, it's BODY SLAM TIME!!" The friends' assault wasn't enough, Boss ran rampant through them all.

Kel became TOAST...

Aubrey became TOAST...

Basil became TOAST...

...

...Nieta did not succumb.

All around the edges of her vision, darkness encroached. Cracks and wisps flew in front of her, and she felt a little crack in her heart. She had to strain a little, but lashed out her whip. It flew too far to the right. Boss cracked his knuckles and took another step forward. This adventure would be over if she couldn't do this one thing. The jump rope whistled through the air one more time...

And struck! Boss was defeated, he released Hero and fell down. The plain TOAST became Kel, the TOAST with the bow became Aubrey, and the TOAST with the flower crown became Basil.

"Wow, we did it! We're the best!" Kel said triumphantly.

"You mean we're lucky Nieta hung on, or we'd all be TOAST right now." Aubrey rubbed her head clean of its grainy feeling.

"Thanks, Nieta. We can always rely on you!" Basil's tears were long gone, replaced by his brighter disposition.

Hero drew up now. "That's right. Thank you for being here, Nieta. Things always turn out well when you're around." He turned back to Boss. "Now about you..."

Boss seized up before Basil went to Hero's side. "Boss must have been really lonely, huh?" He said, half to Hero and half to Boss.

"Lonely? He stole Hero!" Kel shouted.