Balan Wonderworld: Melody of Balance

Ch 16: The Girl Who is Gaga For Bugs (Act 2)

Melody looked up at the enormous tree that stood before her. It shouldn't surprise her, given that in this world everything seemed to make her feel smaller at every turn, both now, and in her new costume. However, a little voice in Melody's head told her that there was no way she was going to make it around in this new form. She also saw that there was another odd looking switch a few steps away from her.

Giving it a little tap, she watched as the world grew darker, and the mushrooms that littered around the world gave off an ethereal glow. "Whoa...." Melody whispered, watching the world look entirely different Than how she saw it before. She was so enraptured in the glow, that she didn't notice the switch was slowly reverting, as well as a bridge forming in front of her. When the switch DID turn off, the light returned to the world and the bridge floated away.

Melody gave the floating bridge an uneasy look, but found that she needed to get across. Touching the switch again, she waited for the bridge to form, and then scurried across as quickly as legs could carry her before the darkness slipped away, and the bridge floated off. Melody panted at her scurry, when to her relief, she spotted another costume, and its key nearby.

Lugging the very large key, Melody stuck it in, Melody could feel herself grow, but her arms felt VERY heavy. When she could see again, she saw her atire had changed once more into a sleek dress with yellow leaf accents, but what shocked her the most was the gauntlets that held two, very large, very heavy, and very sharp looking Sickles.

Melody could feel the weight of them keeping her firmly planted on the ground. The squeaks of Negati snapped her out of her thoughts, and they slowly began to close in on her. The panicked girl Began to back away, regretting even picking up the costume, when she a creature with similar looking Sickles leaning its head, and pointing at said sickles before it swung its arm.

Melody didn't understand what it was trying to say but one of them was getting dangerously close to her. Letting out a shriek, Melody threw her arm out, making one of the Sickles fly around the Negati and slash them away before returning to her arm like a boomerang. She stood in shock for a moment before she remembers she's surrounded. Not seeing another option, Melody begins flailing her arms to make the Sickles attack the black creatures.

After her arms got tired, Melody peeked one of her closed eyes open, and saw she had destroyed them. "Wow...You're really fast." She heard the little girl say. Turning around, she saw her sitting near a mushroom. "Yeah, It's called panicking. Oh how I wish these things weren't that heavy..." Melody griped, her arms struggling from the weight.

The little girl giggled at Melody's straining "You're funny!" She said in a somewhat timid voice. Melody glared at her before she vanished again. Looking up, she saw steps that at least didn't require her to jump...but that didn't mean that the weight on her arms didn't slow her down. Lugging the large Sickles connected to her, she slowly walked up the steps and flipped the switches needed to advance to the black tree.

Stopping for a little break, Melody spotted another key, and (thankfully) another costume nearby. When the girl managed to catch her breath, she quickly grabbed the key, and the new costume. She momentarily closed her eyes from the bright light, but felt the weight from her arms gone, much to her relief. When the light vanished, she was relieved to see that she was in a Kimono like dress with butterfly patterns on it. "Oh. Thank GOODNESS! No crazy powers, or weird abilities." She said...until she felt SOMETHING on her back...something that felt like...fluttering.

Getting worried, Melody frantically rushed to a nearby switch and the night effect returned. However, this didn't bring forth a bridge like Melody's was hoping for. "How on EARTH am I supposed to get over that?" She asked herself. Melody though she was gonna die for this, but knew that there was no other choice. So mustering what...little courage she had, she ran towards the edge and jumped off. She braced herself for impact, but for some reason...it never came.