BALAN WONDERWORLD REDUX

Chapter 10 part 1: A New Goal

"Steetbeat!" Fighter got off the bench in almost an instant and as Steetbeat was trying to stand up, Fighter hugged him tightly as Balan flew near the two.

"You're ok!" She hugged him. Relieved that both she and Balan didn't show up too late. Steetbeat however was trying to struggle free.

"Yeah, yeah! I got it!" Noticing that he was trying to pull away, Fighter quickly backed off. Balan floated over and leaned in on both of them.

"Has everyone regained their memories now?" He said it as if he was talking to some little kids, but with enough of a hint of sarcasm to let them know he was joking. Without letting them respond first, he stood straight and clasped his hands together.

"Well then, that sorts out that issue! Thankfully we were able to suppress your darkness before you were consumed by it."

Bringing up the dark marks that still lay on their foreheads reminded Fighter of something really important. She quickly looked over in Balan's direction.

"Oh right! Guys, we gotta hurry! The others are-"

"There are some...complications with that." Balan cut Fighter off.

"C-complications? What do you mean." Both she and Streetbeat looked at Balan. Streetbeat's stare was a bit more distanced. Balan glanced over at him as he had a grave expression on his face, lost in his own little world. Balan took notice but decided to leave it for later as Fighter was still super concerned. He gently glided over to Fighter and Streetbeat.

"I'll explain so listen carefully." He said as he kneeled in between them. Fumbling with his ruff, it was clear he was going for a long explanation.

"The thing about those marks is that those are called 'negative marks'. They are used to control something about your bodies or minds in some manner, in Lance's case, when he took you he removed your memories of me and your memories of your lives outside of the Wonderworld. He essentially sealed away your heart, but the magic that I gave you remained with the costumes! With that, I was able to retain some of my magic and so I created a small space close to your stages that Lance wouldn't find me in. I stowed away for a long time, regaining my strength and when I was ready, that was when I began speaking to you!"

Fighter in her thoughts for a moment had a revelation that shocked her.

"You! You were the voice that was speaking to us!"

"Quite right Fighter!" Balan smiled at her in his usual way, charmed by her enthusiasm. Although Fighter felt proud for realizing she suddenly thought of all the people she had met, people who she felt as though she could call "friends".

"Wait..." She put her hand solemnly to her chest, filled with worry, "What about the others?" The way she said it was timid and Balan also took notice. He sighed, leaned in, and put a hand on both her and Streetbeat's shoulders.

"That is...where the complications occur. The reason your marks didn't activate was that I was initially able to block it with the light magic that was still on both of you, the others are probably under its influence now."

Fighter put a hand to her mouth. All at once, she was thinking of all the people she met. She felt as though she'd let them down, being influenced by Lance and her not being able to do anything about it. All of this piled onto her feeling betrayed by Lance, but before she could start crying, Balan called out.

"But, there is a way we can save them!-"

"No." Steetbeat started walking away, head faced to the ground; as he was walking, Fighter grabbed onto his arm, holding him in place.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Fighter looked at him, but Streetbeat didn't turn around. Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew something was wrong. "Y'know, if you wanna talk about something-"