The day was like any other on Seal Island. The skies are blue, the city is thriving, and the stock market hasn't crashed. Yet, at least. It's just a normal day.
Or at least, it would be as close to normal as it could get, if it wasn't for one thing…
The siblings smashed through a wall of a building with a piano, the seat still attached to it. The piano careened down the city freeway with Bro frantically playing it, Zaire sobbing uncontrollably, Amelia looking unhappy, and Porter and Lily on top of the piano, arguing loudly.
As the chaos around her ensued, Amelia could only wonder how they got to this point…
Earlier in the Day
Seal flopped into the kitchen where Porter and Lily were having sandwiches for lunch.
"Hey, Porter?" Lily asked.
"Yes, Lily?" Porter replied.
"Why do they call it 'breaking the fourth wall' on TV when there's only three walls we can see at one time?" she wondered, taking a bite of her sandwich.
Porter paused for a moment, thinking about the question. Eventually, he resumed eating, answering between bites, "I don't know, you might want to search it up."
Lily nodded and continued eating. As soon as she saw Seal, she waved at him.
"Hi Seal, you got Bro's wallet?" she asked.
Seal nodded and placed a small gray wallet in Lily's hand.
"Huh? What do you need Bro's wallet for?" Porter asked.
"Oh, nothing. He just owes me some money is all," Lily answered.
"Why not just tell him directly instead of taking from his wallet?" suggested Porter. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that's stealing!"
"Eh, you know how he can be," she sighed.
"Still, it's not right to take money behind his back, even if he does owe it," Porter then finished his sandwich and got up from the chair. "You wait right there, and I'll get Bro."
"No, wait!" Lily shouted, chasing after him.
Porter quickened his pace, but it wasn't fast enough for Lily, who tackled and knocked him to the ground.
"Get off me!" Porter yelled.
As the two fought on the hardwood floor, Seal jumped into the fight to try to intervene. He got thrown out of the fight and thrown into the air immediately.
Just then, Amelia opened the front door holding a bag of groceries. Before she could say anything, Seal landed square onto her face.
"Oh, hi Seal! How are you?" she asked, peeling him off her face.
But before Seal could do anything, Amelia noticed the two kids fighting on the ground.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" she shouted, getting the two off the floor and separating them with her arms.
"Now, what is going on here? Why are you two fighting?" she asked.
"Lily was trying to stop me from telling Bro he owes her money!" Porter replied quickly.
"Excuse me?!" Bro scoffed as he walked out of the boys' room. "I don't owe anyone anything!"
"Except the twenty dollars you were supposed to give me last week!" Lily retorted.
"The same twenty dollars you spent at the trampoline park last week?" Bro fired back.
Lily went pale, then pink in realization and embarrassment, immediately handing Bro his wallet.
Bro nodded his head. "I'm not mad, just disappointed. If I owe you anything, just bring it up with me instead of taking money behind my back," he advised before walking back into the boys' room.
"Well, that could've been a lot more extreme," Amelia sighed. "Lily, you might not want to do that again, 'kay?"
Lily nodded, looking away out of shame.
"Good," she yawned. "After I put up these groceries, I'm gonna go take a nap. If you're thirsty, I bought a bunch of Brite Cranberry," she added before walking to the kitchen.
"Yes! The best drink!" Porter whooped. "Come on, Lily! Let's help put up these groceries."
Lily quickly followed Porter into the kitchen. A bit too quickly, actually…
A minute later, crashing could be heard from the kitchen. Bro and Zaire ran out of their room to check the ruckus. As they neared the corner, Seal ricocheted off the wall and splatted onto Bro's face.
"Yikes, Seal! You okay?" Bro asked, gently peeling the stuffed toy off of his face. The kitchen was a mess. There were stains on the wall, the dining table was flipped over, and Lily and Porter were fighting on the ground again. Amelia was stuck in the wall, struggling to get free.
"You two, stop!" Bro ordered, grabbing the two while Zaire helped Amelia from the wall.
"What has gotten into you kids?" he asked, with his question being met with incoherent shouting.
"Okay, that's enough!" he shouted, plummeting the house into silence. After a moment, he spoke up. "I don't know what's going on with you two, but you need to snap out of it. Zaire, would you mind taking them somewhere out of the house?"
"Can't I just bet you into doing this instead?" Zaire complained.
"Sure, but if you lose, you have to take them out and you have to do everyone's chores for the rest of the month. What do you say? Feeling confident?" Bro replied.
"Ugh, never mind," Zaire sighed, grabbing Lily and Porter's arms and leading them out the front door.
Bro and Amelia were the only ones in the house.
"Now what?" Amelia asked.
Bro looked around the kitchen for a few seconds. "After we clean this mess, wanna play some No-U?" he suggested.
"Sure! I'll go get the cards!" Amelia smiled.
Meanwhile, at Softener Coast
Lily, Porter, and Zaire were sitting by the seaside watching the waves. Zaire took a deep breath and relaxed as he felt the sunshine on his fur.
"Ah, this is nice," Zaire sighed. "I don't know about you guys, but I think all you need to be happy is a nice, calm breeze, the warm sun, and a loving, caring family to take it all in with."
He then laid his head on the sand and closed his eyes, all the while continuing to talk. "You know, most people don't realize what they truly have until it's gone. Even though that saying has been used to death, it still rings true to this day. When you guys move out, things just won't be the same."
Zaire continued to keep talking until he talked himself to sleep.
After a while, the two younglings were also lulled to sleep by the warm sun and the soothing sound of the waves.
And then a large wave washed them awake.
Zaire, startled awake, put a hand to his hair and realized his faux hawk had turned into a droopy pile of gel and hair on his head.
"My hair! MY HAIR!" he screamed in agony as the hair he spent two hours on dangled above his eyes.
As for Lily and Porter, they were yelling at each other about moving them closer to the water despite already being close to the ocean already. Lily struck with a slap, and the two began to fight again.
"Eeeenough!" Zaire screamed, stomping his foot. "We're going home. My day is ruined," he grumbled, as he started to fly back to the house, carrying Lily and Porter. "It feels like you two are fighting for the sake of it," he added.
Some time later, the three arrived at the house. Zaire opened the door and let themselves in. Amelia and Bro were in the living room still playing No-U, the famous card game where the first player always wins.
"Fourteen losses in a row!" Bro yelled, throwing his cards down. "We need a third player, like Porter, or Zaire, or Mary, or Lini, or Lini… or- how about we get Lini and ask if she wants to play?"
As he asked that, Bro looked over to his younger siblings.
"Welcome back!" Amelia greeted. "How'd it go?"
Zaire wordlessly pointed at his hair and the sand-covered younglings and frowned.
"Uh, Zaire? You know those sand scrub things aren't for your hair, right?" Bro joked.
"Shut up," Zaire hissed.
"Let me give it a go!" Amelia smiled. "C'mon, kids!" she said, dragging the two back outside.
"Can we at least change our clothes?" Lily asked.
"Nope!" Bro answered, shutting the door behind them.
The house went silent for a minute.
"Now what?" Zaire asked, his face downcast.
Bro picked up a reverse card and asked, "No-U?"
Meanwhile, at the Mall
After a trek through the city, the three made it to the plaza of Fluffy Plains Mall, taking a break in the center.
"Okay Porter, me and Lily are going to the fashion store. Is there any place you're thinking of going? How about the game store?" Amelia asked.
"No, not really," Porter replied. "The latest installment of Zoomy the Porcupine won't be here for another two weeks, so..."
There was a long pause.
"...So I guess I'll tag along with you!" he stated.
"Aww, that's adorable, wanting to take a walk on the girl side," Amelia giggled, patting Porter's head. "Well then, let's go!"
The three walked to Fresh Stylez, the fashion store located on the west side of the mall. The store was decorated with pastels of different colors and aligned with mannequins wearing different clothes for boys and girls, but mostly girls.
One of the employees greeted the three and asked if they were looking for anything specific, in typical retail store employee fashion.
"Do you have anything that sparkles?" Lily asked the employee.
"We might have a few left, check the purple side," the employee replied, pointing to a purple wall nearby.
As Lily started to walk to the purple wall, Porter following, the employee turned to Amelia and asked, "And for you, miss?"
"Actually, I was wondering where the hair accessories are. They change the store design so often, it's hard for me to memorize where everything is!" she responded in a chuckle.
"Yeah, it doesn't get any better when you work here, sadly," the employee sighed. "It gets even worse if you have bad short-term memory like me. You'll find them on the green side. I think."
Near the purple side, Lily walked out of a fitting room wearing a silver dress with a blue gradient at the waist. She sashayed out to meet Porter.
"Well, how do I look?" she asked, spinning around in the dress.
"Um, it looks nice. Yeah! That dress makes you look… innocent?" Porter said. "Sorry, I don't understand how fashion works. And I don't think the prettiest dress in the world can make you not look guilty in front of Bro," he added, looking confused.
"Don't worry, you'll learn about fashion eventually," Lily reassured. "That is, when you get a girlfriend. I'll change back and buy this."
As Lily went back to the fitting room to change, Porter sat on a nearby bench and thought about the events that happened today.
"I've never seen Lily act so aggressive before… Why did she attack me? Was she too scared to tell him? Should I have done that? What should I do now?" he thought to himself.
When Lily walked back out of the fitting room in her sand-covered outfit, Porter stepped in front and blocked her.
"Hey, Lil'?" Porter asked.
"Mm? What is it?" Lily asked, stuffing the outfit in a shopping bag.
"I was wondering why you tackled me earlier. Was I about to say something you didn't want Bro to hear? If I did, I'm really sorry. You probably could've taken care of the situation yourself," he apologized.
"No, you're fine," Lily responded, "and... sorry about that," she added.
"Don't worry about it," Porter smiled. "It's all good. You sorta dodged my question, though."
"Right, sorry. I was going to say…"
Before she could give an answer, Lily noticed a sparkling white dress with big gleaming wings on the back.
"Oh! Hang on a second, I just gotta..."
Distracted by the shiny suit, Lily pushed Porter away, which caused him to bump his back into a nearby shelf. The shelf tipped over, knocking over another shelf, which knocked over another shelf, which knocked over another shelf…
The two froze in their tracks as they watched the shelves tip over like a bunch of dominoes, picking up speed the longer it went. It moved through the indigo side, then the blue side, then the turquoise side…
Meanwhile, at the green side, Amelia was trying on different headpieces, varying from a yellow flower similar to what Lily wears, to an emerald-colored hairpin shaped like the letter A. Soon enough, she found a piece she liked- a lime-colored heart necklace which could double as a locket.
As she walked out of the green side and to the front to pay, she saw the aisles slant and crash into the wall, demolishing it instantly.
She followed the trail of wood and nails and spotted Porter and Lily, looking directly back at her. If looks could kill, the two would've been vaporized on the spot.
Amelia said nothing. She motioned them to her and pointed to the exit. She then placed the heart on the counter, mouthed the word "sorry" to the employee who helped her out, and walked out in a hurry. Porter and Lily followed her from a distance.
A while later, the three arrived back at the house. The two boys were still in the living room, playing No-U in the same manner that Amelia and Bro were.
"How do you keep winning?!" Zaire shouted, throwing his cards down. "It's bad enough my hair is ruined. Next thing I know, I lose seventeen straight rounds in this stupid game!" he screamed before breaking down in tears.
"How'd it go?" Bro asked, looking over at the three.
Amelia, with an angry frown, shook her head.
"Alright, guess it's my turn now," he yawned, getting up and stretching himself.
"I don't know what has gotten into you two, but you two are going to get along and make amends," he stated.
"But we-" Porter tried to speak.
"And how do we do that?" Zaire asked, interrupting them.
"Simple," Bro explained, "they discuss the problem in a calm manner and a calm environment."
He ran straight to the door, opened it and gestured for everyone to get out.
"Which is why we're going to the museum. Now. We're going now," he stated.
Zaire and Amelia walked out while Porter and Lily (who were still covered in sand) held back for a moment.
"Can we please change our clothes first?" Porter complained. "There's sand in my underwear and it's starting to chafe!"
"Nope!" Bro answered, grabbing the two and dragging them out the house.
Lintwood Museum
While Bro, Amelia and Zaire were standing in front of a large marble block depicting an important figure on the island, Lily and Porter were in another section of the museum.
"How do we know chaos isn't going to happen?" Zaire asked.
"It won't," Bro replied. "Porter knows how to keep Lily in line."
"Isn't that your job?" Zaire asked further.
"I'm teaching him."
In the music area of the museum, Porter was checking out the music instruments of history until he heard some music in the other room. He took a peek in the other room and saw Lily playing a giant white piano on a large, slanted pedestal.
"Lily! Get down from there!" Porter whispered.
"Don't worry, we're allowed to play this!" Lily whispered back, pointing at a sign that read:
"Playable Piano. Please place stopper under the piano wheels before playing."
Porter looked to the pedestal and saw that Lily hadn't placed the stopper under the wheels. He quickly grabbed it and ran up the stairs while Lily was still playing it.
But it was too late. When Lily stepped on one of the pedals, the piano began to move and roll down the ramp. In fear, she climbed on top of it. Porter was in front of the piano, so he jumped onto it to avoid being run over.
As for the other three, they heard the sound and turned down a corridor. Zaire moved down first and got his foot run over by the runaway piano, causing him to sob loudly and uncontrollably.
"Oww, why?!" he cried. "Get back here!" he screamed, chasing after it.
Bro and Amelia looked at each other before nodding and running after Zaire. After a minute, the two reached the piano and hopped onto the seat with him.
"Brace yourselves!" Bro yelled.
The piano ran into several hallways, spun down a couple stairwells, and broke a few glass cases before smashing through a brick wall.
The piano careened down the city freeway with Bro frantically playing it, Zaire sobbing uncontrollably, Amelia looking unhappy, and Porter and Lily on top of the piano, arguing loudly.
The Present
As the chaos around her ensued, Amelia could only wonder how they got to this point…
"Any suggestions on what I should play after this tune?" Bro asked his sister as he was still playing the piano.
Lily and Porter were still arguing, not really paying attention to the fact that they were not in the museum anymore.
"Why didn't you put on the stopper?!" Porter yelled.
"I thought the stopper was already between the wheels!" Lily yelled back. "Besides, who puts a piano right in front of a ramp where it could move in the first place?!"
"Yeah, that's a fair point. It's just common sense to not put a heavy object with wheels near a steep slope…" Porter muttered, lowering his voice.
"But!" he resumed yelling.
This went on until the piano exited the freeway and entered the park.
"How did we get to this point?" Porter sighed.
"I don't know. I guess this all happened when I tackled you," Lily answered.
"Why did you do that, anyway? You never told me. Was it because you didn't want me to tell Bro you owed him money at the time?"
"No, that would've been okay," Lily replied. "It's just…"
She paused and stated flatly, "your breath reeks."
The other siblings all overheard this.
"What?!" They all shouted, before the piano collided straight into a tree. All five crawled out of the wreckage, surprisingly unharmed.
"You're telling me that this whole conflict all started because Lily just wanted to tell Porter his breath stank? It wasn't about Lily being ratted out?" Amelia asked, confused and slightly angry.
Lily nodded. "I didn't want my big brother to talk to others with bad breath."
"To tell the truth, I wasn't even paying attention to his breath," Bro admitted.
Lily gave her big brother a hug and said, "Sorry for attacking you and taking this way out of proportion."
"It's okay. I forgive you," Porter smiled, hugging her back.
The two stayed in a hug that felt like it lasted forever, until Zaire spoke up saying, "I hate to put this wholesome moment on hold, but what am I supposed to do with my hair? Or- or better yet, the piano?"
The five looked at the broken piano stuck in the tree, which had somehow managed to catch fire.
Bro shrugged while Amelia answered, "Why don't we brush our teeth and think about it tomorrow? We've had quite a long day."