Inner-Selves, No. 25, Part A

After several hours of practice, Fidget was still not able to form a stable cannon ball. It was approaching 2 am, and despite his efforts, he either put in too little energy and nothing happened, or he put in too much and came close to blowing up. Dash came in to check on him once again, Fidget was exhausted, but still he kept trying. "You're still going at it? This girl must mean a lot to ya" said Dash, sounding tired. "Heck yeah, she saved my life once, and my family too, and now it's because she loaned me her power that she's been sentenced to death, saving her life is the only way I can repay her, I couldn't live with myself if I just sat back and did nothing" Fidget replied. Dash's jaw dropped in awe, Fidget didn't seem like such a bad guy after all. "Anyone would be honored to have a friend like you," he said, "if you'll have me, I'd like to come with ya tomorrow."
Fidget was taken aback, did he hear him right? "Huh, why would you come along? I thought you hated youth sprites, including me" he asked. "I do, but I need to find out something, and the only way to do that is to get inside the playhouse, besides, you could use the extra help, I'm not useless in a fight ya'know" the cheetah replied. "Why do you hate youth sprites anyway? I thought it was their job to take care of the spirits here, what'd they ever do to you?" Fidget asked. Dash sighed, it wasn't really a comfortable subject for him, but he figured that since the two of them would be working together, he might as well tell him. "A long time ago, me and Ignacious had an older brother, he left us to attend the youth sprite academy, from what little we'd heard, he was an excellent student there, he graduated in only 2 years, and became a sergeant in 3 years, some said he might even be a good candidate for overseer, he made us proud" Dash said, as he reminisced. "What happened to him?" Fidget asked. "I was so young and clueless back then, but I witnessed the whole thing...my brother...was killed by another youth sprite" Dash answered solemnly.
A gasp escaped Fidget's mouth, he understood now why Dash hated youth sprites so much, he would feel the same way if he were in his position. "Killed him, but why?" Fidget inquired. "I don't know, that's why I wanna go with you, to find out what happened that could have made the youth sprites so angry at him" Dash answered. "Well, we won't be going anywhere if I can't figure out this stupid thing" Fidget said. "That's right, so I'm gonna tell ya a secret, close your eyes" Dash said. Fidget did as he was told, although he didn't quite get where he was going with this. "The reason you can't do it is the same reason I couldn't do it the first time I tried, your spirit energy is wild and unruly by nature, so you have a hard time focusing it" Dash explained. "Ok, then how do I get around that?" Fidget asked, with his eyes still closed. "When you send your spirit energy into the orb, imagine an invisible target in front of you, and aim your spirit energy at the center of the target, I know it sounds stupid, but that's exactly the same as focusing your spirit energy, if you can do that, you'll form a stable cannon ball in no time, I asked you to close your eyes because it helps you to get a better picture of that target in your head" Dash told him. "Alright, I'll try" Fidget said. He imagined a target a few feet away from him, he slowly began to add spirit energy to the orb, as he did so, he imagined shooting the energy at the bullseye like an arrow. The arrow fired, and it hit the bullseye head on.
Dash grinned, the sphere surrounding Fidget was a pretty good size, but it was stable. He woke up his sister and called her in to see it, when Ignacious saw what Fidget was doing, she smiled, he was ready. "Alright kid, I've seen enough, I'm convinced that you're ready to go" she said. Fidget heard this and got excited, as he did so, the sphere began to glow again, ready to explode. The tiger smacked him hard on the head again, that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't stopped focusing on what he was doing. Fidget finally settled down and got some sleep, tomorrow they would finally go to the playhouse.
The next morning, Fidget woke up early despite staying up most of the night. He was surprised to see Sophie cuddled up next to him, her diaper appeared to be soaked. She was squirming a bit in her sleep, as Fidget looked down, he noticed that the puma was starting to develop a diaper rash. He quietly opened her diaper bag, careful not to awaken the stuffed animals concealed inside, and took out some wipes, powder, rash cream, and a clean diaper. Since no one else was awake to watch him, Fidget didn't feel as embarassed about this, besides, he did owe her since she'd changed him once already. Trying hard not to wake her up, he changed her wet diaper and treated her rash. As he changed her, he noticed her starting to coo and suck her thumb, he blushed a bit as he realized how cute she was. After he finished, he went back to sleep for a bit longer.
A while later, everyone was awake, and Ignacious informed the others that Fidget had managed to form a stable cannon ball, they were ready to enter the playhouse. "Alright, Sulphur, Phosphorus, prepare the cannon, these friends of ours are ready to fly!" the tiger said. "Yes ma'am!" the two rhinos said in unison. Fidget and his friends all went to one of the back rooms, where a huge cannon was seated in the center. "Whoa! It's so big, it looks like it can fit all of us!" Sophie exclaimed. "Yep, all of ya'll will work together to create a huge cannon ball, then this cannon will launch you towards the playhouse, the energy radiated by the cannon ball is powerful enough to temporarily penetrate the forcefield surrounding the whole place, that's how you'll get inside" Ignacious explained. "Thank you so much Master Ignacious, we're truly grateful" Seth said. "I'm always glad to help out Daisy and her servants" the tiger replied, grinning. "We're still just servants?!" Seth and Fidget thought in their heads. Daisy turned around and looked at them all, what she had to say was very important. "Alright, listen up everyone, we need to go over a few things for when we enter the playhouse: first of all, we must stick together, our chances of success are greater if we work as a team, number two, avoid any unnecessary battles, if we waste our energy on weak opponents, we'll be too exhausted to handle strong ones, and most important of all, if you encounter any overseers, don't fight them, they're much stronger than your average youth sprite, it's too dangerous for any of you to take one on, got it?" the teddy bear asked. The others all nodded in agreement, they heard footsteps behind them as Dash walked in, wearing a shirt and shorts, he also had a backpack slung over his shoulders. "Dash, what're you doing dressed like that?" Ignacious asked. "I'm going along to help them, and find some answers" the cheetah replied. Everyone except Fidget was confused, he knew what Dash meant already.
"You think I'm just gonna let you leave?!" Ignacious shouted. "Nothing you can say or do will change my mind sis, this is what I want to do, don't try to stop me" Dash replied. Ignacious sighed, "Ok, but just be careful," she responded. She then handed him a piece of paper with some instructions written on it. "I had a feeling you might wanna go with them, besides, they'll need someone to guide the cannon ball once it's in the air" Ignacious said to him. He took it from her and put it in his pocket, then the rhinos informed their master that the cannon was ready for launch. The back of the cannon was opened, then the group stepped inside, and Ignacious handed them the orb. "Ok, everyone put one of your hands on the orb, and form a cannon ball together" she instructed. They did as they were told, and the cannonball formed around them all. "You all need to keep your hands on the orb, and you all need to put in an equal amount of spirit energy, if any of you remove your hand, or you put in unequal amounts of energy, the cannon ball will disappear, and you'll fall to your deaths" Ignacious said. Macho was a bit concerned, but said nothing, the others got a bit nervous, but tried to keep calm. "Is everyone ready?" the tiger asked. "Yes!" they all answered. "Ok then, good luck everyone! Sulfur, Phosphorus, close the cannon!" the tiger said. The cannon was then sealed off, and Ignacious lit her fist on fire so that she could light the fuse. "Master, we've also prepared a proper send-off for them!" Sulfur said. "Good, send it up just as soon as they're in the air" Ignacious said.
The ceiling opened up, and the mouth of the cannon raised and pointed up to the sky. "Countdown, 5...4...3...2...1..." said Ignacious. She touched the fuse with her lit hand, and it immediately began to burn away. "Take cover!" said Phosphorus. The two rhinos and the tiger cleared the area, the fuse disappeared into the cannon, then there was a loud explosion, as the cannon fired the group of friends up into the air. Sulfur pressed a button on the wall, and as the cannon ball soared up into the sky, a fantastic fireworks display was launched up from the ground outside, as a grand send-off for the heroes. Fidget and his friends looked down below them at the fireworks, admiring the light show that the fireworks maker had prepared just for them. "Alright, let's go, Kat is waiting for us!" Fidget declared. The cannon ball sailed towards its destination, the sky above the playhouse.