Let's bring back one of Sarstar's characters in an explosive Festival chapter!
A lovely twilight glow had been cast over Cooking Island, but even as the atmosphere was cooling, people were still lively and active. Some were even running for their lives. "Aaaaaahhh!" Killua darted toward Karin and Jinta and took cover behind the Asians. "Protect me!"
"The heck is wrong with you?" Karin asked.
To answer their question, Morgiana and Chie had come charging toward them. "Using other people as a human shield?! Now you're REALLY gonna get it!" Chie declared.
"They've been using me as a kicking bag all day!" Killua yelled. "Like a punching bag, except for kicking! It'll take forever to straighten out these prints." He lifted his shirt, revealing several footprints that were either bare or sneakered.
"Hey, Jinta, Karin, maybe you would like to play, too." Morgiana smirked.
"Whoa, wait!" Chie gasped. "You guys are Sector JP, right?!"
"Yep." Karin nodded. "Just roamin' about boredly until the real Top Chef arrives. …But I think we found a way to entertain ourselves." She was drawn to Jinta with a smirk.
Jinta flinched and crossed his legs impulsively. "H-Hey, what does that mean?"
"Don't worry, Jinta, I'll only aim for the top half this time." Karin flexed her leg in preparation.
"Hehe…uh-oh." Jinta sweated.
Sphira was going for a stroll in her short white top with blue jean shorts, her blue gem-like hair shimmering softly in the twilight. The child she was with had gone to play with Sector GT, and was currently flying around in Uzu's remote control plane.
"AAAAHH!" Sphira looked quizzical as Jinta and Killua came dashing, zipping past her. Morgiana, Karin, and Chie whooshed across the air with a leg aimed forward, the gold feathers on Sphira's head flapping in the breeze they created.
"Hm hm hm! They're gonna be sore in the morning! Maybe I should find something fun to do, too." The teenage Phoenios rubbed her chin in thought as she looked around the many festival-goers. "I could always look for Melody or…" Her eyes fell to a strange, elderly ghost with bushy hair and a grayish veil. "Is that Albert Einstein?" She was baffled to see him of all spirits attending the fair. She curiously approached the ghost. "Excuse me? Are you Einstein?"
"Ah, guten tag." Einstein greeted her courteously. "Yes, I am Albert Einstein. You are the first person to notice me."
"There really are a lot of famous people here." Sphira smiled. "But I guess you can only eat the ghost food, huh?"
"I enjoy a nice glass of orange juice, with bacon, eggs, and a side of buttered toast." Einstein spoke plainly as if doing an educational documentary. "And make sure to brush your teeth in-between meals, and get eight hours of sleep." He raised his finger to emphasize his point. "That is the secret to getting made, and getting laid."
With that, Einstein flew away. "…" Sphira was kind of blank after that interaction.
BOOM!
"Huh?" Sphira heard an explosion and looked to one of the shores. There was a bright, glowing cruise ship that seemed to sail across the air. "A fireworks show? Let's go see!"
More fireworks flew and exploded around the cruise ship, becoming octopus tentacles that wrapped over the ship. It was then the ship was timed to crumble to pieces. "Deku-san!" Eri cried, riding the shoulders of the green-haired hero. "That ship is being eaten! Someone's gotta do something!"
"Don't worry, Eri, it's not real." Deku smiled up at her in comfort. "But if it were, I hope the firework people get out okay."
Smaller fireworks burst and took the forms of people, falling into the 'sea' where the Kraken 'lurked.' "…See, I'm sure they'll be fine!" Deku grinned.
After arriving at the beach, Sphira looked around for the source of the fireworks. A few more seemed to launch from a cliff, so she headed up in that direction.
Kodama (from One Piece) and Crossette (from Xenoblade) were helping their selves to some Noodle Crackers; ramen noodles that left streaks of sparks like fireworks as they were slurped down their throats. The girls were damp with sweat and their clothes were riddled with colorful soot as they rested on the grass, smiling as their next round of fireworks lit up the sky. Kodama's sandals were put aside as she relaxed her feet on the grass, while Crossette's mechanical legs were bent sideways. For their next round, they formed a giant jack-o-lantern chasing a frightened little boy, then eating him.
"These materials are incredible, Kodama!" Crossette exclaimed, her red horns flaring with sparks. "I never imagined fireworks that could animate!"
"You can thank Sector MG! Magic flares can put on a great show!"
"You think we could make a whole cartoon with these?"
"That would be amazing!"
"So, this is where they came from!" Hearing the voice, they looked to see a gem-haired girl climb up the cliff. "Are you guys working for the festival?"
"Nope, we just work for our hearts!" Kodama sported a grin covered in noodles. "So, who're you?" she asked before slurping more noodles.
"I'm Sitasphira. From the Phoenios."
"Finny-who?" Crossette asked.
"Ur yah." Kodama mumbled, her noodles flapping. After slurping them up, she spoke more clearly, "Well, I'm Kodama! She's Crossette, and we're the Pyro Duo!"
"Kodama…" Sphira rubbed her chin. "Sector JP, right?"
"Bingo!"
"But I don't think I read about you." She looked to Crossette.
"That's only fair." Crossette sighed, looking away. "I'm nowhere near as popular as Pyra."
"Who's Pyra?"
"WHO'S PYRA?!" Crossette outbursted, sparks flying from her horns. "Only the kindest and strongest Blade on Mira!!"
"Hey, Crossette, settle down!" Kodama panicked, quickly patting the fires that got on her blue robe and messy black hair. "Listen, this girl is from another dimension. Her people are sort of fans of the KND due to that Seven Lights business, but I think they only researched the famous sectors."
"So, you came to meet Kodama?"
"Actually, I was just wandering around." Sphira replied with a smile. "But it's great to meet both of you! In fact… you wouldn't be a Zathurian, would you?"
"Hah, because you have monochrome hair!" Kodama laughed.
"What's wrong with my hair?!" Crossette clasped it in an offended manner.
"I was just saying that Zathurians have hair like that!"
"I'm a Xenoblade from Planet Mira."
"Oh, I think Dime—I mean…I think I know what those are." Sphira recalled from a recent story. "Basically, you came from some kind of crystal and were awakened by a master, right?"
"I think you mean a Driver, but yeah~" Crossette laughed. "But don't make me sound like a maid!"
"Does that mean Kodama is your Driver?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not." Kodama sighed. "Only Mirans can awaken Xenoblades. Otherwise, I would make this baby all mine~" She smirked with wicked intent.
"You would be unstoppable with that much power!" Crossette panicked, sparking a giggle from Sphira.
"You're darn right I would be! So, are you a pyrotechnic, too?" the Asian asked.
"Not exactly, but I love fireworks. How did you even get them to animate like that?"
"I've got incredible resources! I might as well give these people a show until the Main Course arrives!"
"Main Course?"
"My friends say Yuzu is on a quest right now, and I believe she'll come back with something big!"
"Cool! …But hey, since I'm here… do you think I could help too, maybe? I kind of have nothing to do and I'm just wandering around."
"You getting sick of food?" Crossette remarked.
"No, it just looks like everyone has something fun to do. But I'm also sort of hesitant to take too much food when I don't even get hungry. One of my other friends is here and she's just writing down all the recipes so she can make them herself."
"Alright, but if you wanna work with us, you need to prove you're a Fire Tongue." Kodama winked, pulling out another bowl of Noodle Crackers. "Try a helping of these first."
Sphira examined the noodles, which were white with small fragments of light. She picked up the chopsticks and slurped them up, the noodles releasing flares in the process. "WAAH!" She dropped them after a second. "Ouch, that's hot! How do you handle this?!"
"We're Fire Tongues~" The technics stuck out their tongues, explosion marks on them.
"How are you even speaking clearly?! But in any case… I can handle it! As long as I can drink something afterward!" And so, Sphira endured the heat and swallowed the festival noodles.
"Dah dunuh duuuuuun!" Kodama and Crossette clapped hands above their heads. "Alright, you're in the club!"
"But if you're not a technician," Crossette followed, "what can you do?"
"I can do this!" Sphira molded clouds from her hands and shaped them into a phoenix. She applied more clouds to expand the phoenix's size, making it float up into the heavens.
"Oooooohh!" The girls gaped. "So, you're a cloudbender, huh?"
"Yep! So, I was thinking you could put your fireworks into my clouds to give them color, and we could maybe think up a show like that. I know yours can already animate, but this way they would have more physical forms and could interact with people… something like that."
"I know EXACTLY where you're going with this!" Sparks flared in Kodama's eyes.
"Oh, you do?"
"Yes! A flying platform parade of floating fire! We'll call it… THE FIRE FLOATS!"
"I think we just signed up for something very dangerous." Crossette said.
"YEP!"
An hour had passed as the sky grew darker. The stars were being shrouded by a large group of clouds that had moved into the area. As people were still out and about, a husky man in white clothes, long brown hair, and a brown goatee was stomping through the island in a squat-legged fashion, a huge pack strapped to him. "COOKING FEST IS ABOUT TO HEAT UP!" he exclaimed with a big mouth on his stretched face. "I, BILL DESTROY, WILL BLOW EVERYONE'S MINDS! THEY'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIN'!"
"What the heck is that guy shouting about?" asked Yosuke Hanamura (from Persona 4).
"Men always have the craziest things on their minds." replied his shorter cousin, Chef Teruteru Hanamura. "But back to the topic, you think Chie would let me join in their little kicking game? I'd be happy to dress as their soccer ball~"
"I'm starting to remember why we never have you over."
Einstein's ghostly head popped up between them. "I would be delighted to hear more!"
"NOW, TO FIND SOMETHING TOTALLY RADICAL TO BLOW UP!" yelled Bill Destroy. "MAYBE THAT…huh?"
A whistling sound cut through the air as a firework streaked the sky. With a burst, the sky was lit with the banner of FIRE FLOATS!
"Step right up, step right up!" Crossette announced through a megaphone. "Step right up to ride the Rocket Cloud up to the sky-high Fire Floats! It's perfectly safe, for if you fall, the Nice Nimbus will happily catch you and lift you to safety!"
"Hey, is that Crossette?" Rex asked, he and his team looking in their friend's direction.
"Huh?" Karin ceased chasing the boys, looking up at the banner. "What is Kodama up to this time?"
"COOL!" Sheila screamed, racing that direction. "I wanna ride the Fire Floats!"
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Beerus still charged after her.
"Ooooo!" Maria's eyes gleamed in awe. "Koa, did you know about this?"
"No, I didn't know about this part of the festival!" Koa's fists pumped. "But let's go see!"
"All right!" Kodama cheered. "People are already coming! They're really fired up!"
"Hey, here comes our first customer!" Crossette pointed.
"I'm boarding the first rocket outta here!" Sheila leapt and sat herself on one of the fireworks.
"Wait, you're supposed to ride the-" Sphira tried to say.
"FIRE!" Kodama lit it up and flew Sheila to the sky.
"Yoohooooo! I'm ready, guys!" A rainbow-haired figure danced in the air above them, Meloetta spreading her wings to a halt.
"There you are, Mela!" Kodama beamed. "What music you got for us?"
"I was thinking the Firework song by Katy Per-"
"NO." Kodama's eyes turned black and wide like something from a horror game. "We do not disgrace fireworks with that song."
"Eeeeee!" Crossette and Sphira clutched each other in fear. "I guess she doesn't like Katy Perry!"
"I'm just sick of hearing it on the radio!" Kodama said with cheeks puffed in frustration. "Just play something criminally underrated!"
"Coming right up!" Meloetta materialized two discs made of energy and began to spin them. (Play "Picture Perfect" from Hat in Time!)
Sheila leapt off and landed on one of the clouds Sphira had conjured. From here, a series of fireworks flew up from the ground, intending for Sheila to jump them, their gentle bursts propelling her up to continue her jumping chain. Those fireworks also popped into comic book expressions like POW, BAM, or BOOM, and when a missile had flown from her side, Sheila threw a punch, and it exploded into a giant fist that seemed to impact hers. Sheila landed on a cloud and approached one that was uniquely shaped like a merry-go-round. Sparks alit and gave it the form of whirling horses with beaming faces. Sheila mounted herself on one and rode it around, the flares helping the horses to spin with greater speed.
Sheila used the momentum to fling over to a drum-shaped cloud, and it sparked with color as soon as Sheila bounced. She bounced across a series of drums, horizontal, diagonal, or vertical, in a rhythm that mimicked a drum solo. Sheila then landed on a long cloud that was colored like a Chinese dragon. The dragon flew and snaked like ripples on water, Sheila having to jump and duck incoming fireworks. The dragon spat out fireworks that burst to form various images: Maria with her arms spread and flying, Cheren with a beaming smile and extending a welcoming hand down to the viewers, and a giant illusion of Sheila with her fist skyward, bright as a sun.
A Fire Float came flying toward the dragon, its bright colors depicting Chimney driving a party train. Sheila had to bounce a drum to her left to get atop the train, but had to run along its roof as it tried to drive her into a wall of sparks. Other fireworks were launched from ahead of her, so Sheila jumped them. The back of the train was incoming, but Sheila saw a Lightning Chariot float zipping by her right, so she jumped onto it. The chariot streaked the sky and dropped her off on a giant Jirachi float.
From here, clouds began to explode into giant stars that rotated and shifted in whichever direction. Sheila jumped these Fire Floats with caution, and from the last star, she jumped a series of fireworks that exploded to form expressions of herself grinning, looking fierce, and doing a raspberry. The fireworks led Sheila to a huge, round Fire Float that resembled Saturn, Sheila landing on its ring. The ring was very soft, colorful, and bumpy: that's because it was made out of Rainbow Monkeys!
"WHEEEE!" Maria and Koa had just arrived on the ring from a different direction. "Wow, it's true! Saturn's ring really IS Rainbow Monkeys!"
"What's Saturn?" Koa asked.
"A planet from Milky Way! Now let's pillow fight!"
"Okay!" The duo started grabbing and smacking the cloud monkeys into each other. Sheila fought her way through the piles of monkeys to make her way to the opposite side of the ring. Saturn was rotating vertically, so she had to reach the side where the rotation curved upward. She jumped to grab and ride the planet up, and from the top, she could jump to grab a rope. Sheila had to swing a series of ropes that were linked to shells, and those shells would explode to become Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Groudon.
Sheila landed on a C.O.O.L.-B.U.S. Fire Float and had to jump across others that resembled KND ships. A firework of Fybi Fulbright sparked to life, pulling back her bow and loosing firework arrows. They exploded to form the shapes of Maddy Murphy, encased in black flames, a chibi Plex, Mal Masque's malicious mask, and Nolan and Danika York hugging. Sheila landed on a cloud path where small fireworks became rings of Kittentias, connected via fiery strings in the centers. Sheila carefully jumped over the Kittentias until she reached a path blocked with several Dimentio bowling pins. Sheila had to punch and roll Kittentias to knock the pins over.
Several others were riding the clouds up to the lively sky, including Deku and Eri, Chimney, Kirie Beatles, or Suki and Ursula. It did Sphira's heart joy to see everyone having fun with a project she was involved in, her eyes as bright as the heavens their selves. "Sphira? Is that you?"
Sphira turned to the familiar voice with delight. "Melody! Yes, it is me!"
"So, that's where these clouds came from." Melody smiled, a piece of cake in her hand. Its sky-blue icing covered her lips. "You did an amazing job here!"
"I have Kodama and Crossette to thank, too!"
"I'll bet. Want some of my birthday cake?"
"IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?!"
"No, in a couple days. This other girl basically made cake for the Gilligans, since theirs is on the same day."
"Well, sure I'd like some! This has been the best day of my-" (End song.)
BOOOOOM!
The Fire Floats erupted with soulless orange flames that seared the colorful clouds. Sphira, Kodama, and Crossette were horrified at the sight, the attendees crying from the unprecedented explosions. "Hey, they weren't supposed to explode like that!" Kodama yelled. "What's going on?!"
"OH YAAAAAAAAAH!" The white-clothed, big-mouthed man was standing by a line of cannons, making a rockstar pose. "It's time to give this festival a REAL fireworks show!" He whipped out a guitar, strummed, and a few buildings exploded.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Crossette screamed. "Who are you?!"
"I am BILL DESTROY! I destroy things!" He snapped his fingers. "Rebuild them," a team of Legoans quickly rebuilt the ruined buildings, "and then DESTROOOOOYYY!" With another strum, the buildings exploded, sending the Legoans flying. (Take a wild guess where this guy is from.)
"You realize there's people up there, right?!" Sphira yelled. "You could've hurt them!"
"Explosions make everything cooler! It's even cooler to be part of them! YA-YAH!" He strummed, and his cannons fired to destroy more of the Fire Floats.
Sphira quickly controlled her clouds to rescue the kids as they were jumping off. "Then we'll see how YOU like it!" Kodama strapped a firework to her back to lunge at him while Crossette was skating on her mechanical, spark-powered legs. (Play "Deadly Six Theme" from Sonic Lost World!)
"What I do is perfectly safe for kids! OYAH!" Bill aimed and shot the explosive cannons, the two dodging. Kodama launched Cheeseworks to blot the cannons while Crossette kicked a ball at Bill. The ball flared with sparks and struck him, and it homed back to bounce against him several times before returning to Crossette. With a strum of his guitar, Bill flew between the girls with a trail of explosions to knock them back. He hurdled a swarm of bombs at Sphira and Melody, the former conjuring a Cloud Shield to protect them. Bill then launched heli-bombs up at the cloud-riders, so Melody shot Water Bullets up to intercept them.
Crossette skied up and swung a firework-powered kick up at Bill's jaw, the villain rolling several meters, but was back on his feet to kick missiles from his shoes. Crossette willed her Bitball to rotate in the air and block the small projectiles. Kodama loaded several small fireworks into a pack cannon and fired them skyward, watching as they rained around Bill. The villain endured the damage and sent Bowling Bombs their way, Crossette swiftly kicking them back.
Bill retreated as a fountain of bombs spewed from his backpack. His big jaw swayed to his own rock music and he ran in a similar, silly manner. Those bombs made it difficult to get close, so Kodama and Crossette instead launched fireworks ahead of him. One became a giant jack-o-lantern, and Bill ran as it tried to eat him, but another became a Terminan Giant and tried to stomp on him. However, the flares would fade and pass through him. "HAHA! You can't fool me with these silly tricks!"
The pyrotechnics smirked, looking to the cloud phoenix of Sphira's creation. Crossette distracted Bill with more illusions while Kodama launched fireworks into the phoenix. It flared with golden flames and glided toward Bill under the command of other rockets. "HAHA! What's Kyogre gonna do? NOTHING!" Bill strummed his guitar against the Kyogre illusion, which vanished. "Ooo, is a giant snowman gonna crush me? NOPE!" He melted the snowman with the power of rock. "Oh, it's a big scary phoenix!" Bill boasted as the phoenix readied its talons. "You think your flashy little phoenix is gonna-"
And Bill was pinned under the colored cloud talons. "Maybe~" Kodama teased, she and her friend launching more missiles to push the phoenix to the sky, Bill still clutched in its talons.
"NOOOOO! It cannot be! I cannot lose! I am DESTROY… BILL…" And the phoenix lit the sky with a display of Kodama, Crossette, and Sphira's beaming smiles, "DESTROOOOOOOOYYY!"
The soot-covered villain crashed next to Beerus. "Get in line, amateur." With that, the "God of Destruction" struck him with a darkball that evaporated Bill to the dark dimension. (End song.)
"What a BIG SU-prise this night of the Cooking Festival!" Big Bird announced. "A sudden fireworks show with a shocking, climactic ending! Let's give a round of applause to these flashy young ladies!"
"Big Su-prise? Come on, that one was just cheating." Deadpool commented from the sidelines.
"Deku-san, that was so much fun!" Eri cheered. "It felt like we were really in danger, but it was all a show, just like you said!"
"Yep! Every part of that was certainly planned!" Deku laughed awkwardly.
"BOOM! BOOM!" Maria cheered, hers and Koa's legs hanging over the side of a cloud. "FIRE EVERYWHERE!"
"I wanna ride them again!" Koa fist-pumped.
"Oi, come on, Kodama-chan!" Chimney yelled. "Make some more clouds and let's go again!"
"Ha ha! I'd love to, Chimney, but I'm just about out of ammunition. And I'm just plain exhausted." Indeed, Kodama had become remarkably sweaty and tattered.
"That makes two of us." Karin replied, exhausted from chasing Jinta and Killua. "Why don't we head to the hotels? I think we could both use a bath at this point."
"Have some of this first, Kodama." Crossette tossed her Bitball up, popping into green dust that helped repair Kodama's injuries.
"You have healing powers?" Sphira asked.
"Yeah, but it's not as effective as waterbending."
"Speaking of, I'd better look for any injured people." Melody decided. "And I still haven't brought you some cake."
"Oh, that can wait until everyone's okay." Sphira smiled modestly. "Sigh…it's just too bad that had to happen. Everyone was so happy and I was glad to be a part of it."
"Don't worry, we still have five more days of festival." Crossette said. "And I don't get tired as easily, so I can probably get started making more."
"Then, maybe I can help, too! I have plenty of stamina to spare!"
"Then here's to a fun firework festival!" Kodama gave a thumbs-up and a wink. "Are you with me, girls?"
"YOU BET!" Sphira and Crossette responded passionately.