A new dawn arose to the sound of Crimm screaming as they re-entered the atmosphere and ended up leaving a smoking crater a few feet away from the fountain. Thankfully, nobody was hit, though the Prisma Café would have blackened umbrellas for quite some time.
Their return, unfortunately, also woke up all four contestants. Bombette even blew up, sending feathers everywhere. The next ten minutes ended in a lot of rage-induced cleaning, and by the time it was over, practically everyone just wanted out.
Upon greeting the quartet at the slightly scorched Prisma Café, breakfast was prepared for all of them by Toad staff (and the bill covered by "definitely legal" methods from Fortilla). Huey sat off to one side, pen busy scratching away at paper. For a minute or two, all was quiet, until Mr L snuck a look at the paint can to make sure he couldn't hear them. Then he spoke up in a low voice.
"Y'know, this party kinda sucks."
"What?" Bombette turned to him, nearly spitting out her drink. "I mean..."
"I don't think I've ever been to any party where I've been forced to perform onstage," the Green Thunder replied. "And if that isn't a sign of a bad party, I don't know what is."
"He's not wrong," Goomboss added. "Like... are you sure this is entertainment?"
"Definitely not what Flavio expected," Flavio said.
"I would agree, but..." Bombette shook her head. "You do realize the host is only a few feet away from us, right?"
"Nah, probably not," the Goomba King replied.
All four turned to see Huey wasn't there.
"Never mind, then." The Bob-Omb slouched in her position. "It was getting kinda out of hand, though, some of those..."
Flavio just took another sip of whatever his drink was. "I must say the party is not up to the great Flavio's standards. This 'Huey' has a lot of improvement to work on before the day is over."
"I expected this to NOT be biased against us handless species," Goomboss muttered.
"Hey, I don't have hands and I was doing just fine!" Bombette argued.
Before another debate started, though, an ominous shadow appeared near the harbor. Upon seeing it, Flavio promptly dropped whatever he was holding. "Th-that-"
"We should probably check that out," the Bob-Omb said. "Come on."
As the four scurried off, they began to hear bits and pieces of someone's conversation with themself.
"What was I thinking..."
"...trying to bring some kinda happiness or friendship..."
"...heh, I guess I did the complete opposite..."
Goomboss gave the others a look. "...okay, maybe he heard us."
"So, uh, can we like, snap him out of it?" Bombette looked at the others. "I mean, this is kinda our faul-"
Before she could finish, a dark cloud flew by overhead, catching the attention of all four. The skies darkened a little, the bright blue deepening to a deep cerulean. The waves reflected this new hue, the waters turning inky black. Even the land - wait no, the land was just the same.
Mr L looked around, grimacing. "So this is what happens when he's in a bad mood? Yeesh."
"Flavio demands an explanation!" With that exclamation, the clouds rumbled. "Uh..."
"Guys, I don't know about this anymore. Wait, Huey? You know how to-" Bombette suddenly fell silent as she turned back to the sentient paint can. Goomboss looked next, also freezing. Flavio ducked behind the mushroom monarch, and Mr L gave the scene a once-over and scoffed. It took a moment before Bombette spoke up, her voice a little more wary than before.
"...Huey?"
CHALLENGE 8 - PREDICTION CHALLENGE
THAT'S RIGHT, HERE COMES THE STORY I WAS TALKING ABOUT! But before that, I will leave you on a cliffhanger. In fact, it will be such a cliffhanger that I will force you all to guess what's going to happen. I'm not sorry.
For this challenge, you are going to predict what is happening/will happen to Huey, and Huey only. The Paint Stars, the partygoers - their reactions should not be documented. After one week of your theorizing, I will upload the answer in the form of artwork that I've already finished.
"But Sooouuuuupp! You can't do that! We have no idea what you're planning!"
Of course, I won't leave you completely in the dark. Starting from today, I will give out a hint every day until next Tuesday (speaking by 12am HKT), and then you will have two days until Friday to finish your submission.
RULES:
- The only help you will be getting from me is from the hints and from some other details in earlier chapters. Asking me for extra hints will result in:
1st offense: "after much careful consideration, lolno"
2nd offense: "this is against the rules"
3rd offense: "yeah, disqualified"
- Please don't team up with other people! This is a solely individual event.
- If you want to, you can use writing OR art to submit. I would recommend writing, although you can make a quick doodle and send it to me via DeviantArt or Wattpad book you can delete once I tell you I've received your submission.
- Be as descriptive as you can! More details mean more chances of getting a correct detail.
- No matter how accurate your predictions are, I am ranking them based on accuracy COMPARED TO OTHERS' PREDICTIONS. You can get it 100% correct and still get only second because someone else got it 110% correct.
- That being said, if anyone actually gets it completely correct, they get a special shoutout.
- PM me your predictions - you don't want people taking sneaky looks at your answers!
- If you want your prediction as part of an OOC intro for the next chapter, just tell me! I won't reveal anything unless you're okay with it, though.
Let the guessing games begin!
Below are the Hint Spaces, which will fill up with hints as time ticks by.
Hint #1: Of course, it has something to do with a certain threat established in the earliest chapters.
Hint #2: This involves a common trope among the more recent final bosses of the PM series.
Hint #3: Beta elements of Color Splash are involved in this.
Hint #4: Let's just say Huey won't be around for quite a while... well, not Huey...
Hint #5 (FINAL): And a new character will be joining the roster in his stead!
YOU ARE READING
Paper Mario Party (User Interactive)
Humor(ORIGINAL IDEA BY @pinkandpeachy ) This is based on the book "Mario Party 9.5" by @pinkandpeachy , except with my own rules and with a bare semblance of a plot instead of slice-of-life style. In a nutshell, you Wattpadders will sign up as a Paper M...
