Satan’s Space Amusement Park Chapter 3 - Strange Hospitality

“So then, after we have a good time here, we’ll be able to head back home?” I recapped and pulled myself together, first and foremost. "That sounds incredibly fun, actually! Hey hey, let's go and enjoy ourselves!"

I declared, darting my attention all over the place. There so many horse figures lined up over here, a trolley that we could ride on, and a tent that couldn't be anything other than a circus tent! Wherever I look, it's all decorated with really pretty beads of light that's radiantly shining in a rainbow of colors.

"Oh, what's this? The marbles seem to be shining..." Ringo muttered to herself. "So this is their illumination source. Whatever the reason behind their lighting power, I do not know."

And she answered herself. I-llu-mi-nation? Oh, I'm beginning to see it now! Man, Ringo really knows about a lot of stuff.

Getting here for myself is making things unfold in a weird way. I should put a lid on all this awe, there's so much I don't know, everything is so pretty, and it's somehow getting me all psyched up! My eyes are practically beaming, and as for the doubtful-looking Arle and Ringo, they ended up letting it go and laughed it away.

"Well, guess I can't really question it any further..."
"Let's go off and have fun, then! Why not!"
"Gu guguugu!"

Carbuncle agreed by hopping and skipping around everyone's feet. I'd do the same thing with how excited I'm feeling!

"So hey, how about we start the fun tour with that first?"

For now, the first and closest thing I pointed at was the thing with all the horse figures. There's so much detail on each of them, but I've never seen horses with a pole sticking out right next to their heads!

"Oh yeah, Amitie, is this your first amusement park?" Ringo asked.
"Well, I've been wondering about the thrill of an amusement park!" I answered with a smile.

I've been born and raised in Primp Town and there's none of that here. Though, since Ringo's from another world, would she know something?

"I see, so it seems other dimensions have differing cultures..."
"Cultures?"
"You needn't worry. Merely talking to myself. An amusement park is a place where many differing playgrounds are gathered in a vast area. That is a merry-go-round. You ride on top one of the horses and they spin round and round."
"The horses spin? Does that mean the horses just go and spin in place?"

How is it done then? As if she saw a question mark over my head, Arle chimed in.

"No, but we better hurry up and hop on. Look, the merry-go-round gives us exactly one stamp for the Stamp Rally."
"Okay, let's get on then!"
"Yaaaay!"
"How many years has it been since I got on one of these...Alright then, I'll be riding the red one right here!"

The merry-go-round itself has many horse colors lined up right here. Looks like Ringo picked out a red one. Arle, alongside Carbuncle, went and hopped on a black-colored one. I'm a bit lost, but I went and saddled up on the sparkly white one.

"When's it gonna go I wonder...ah!"

Before we could ready ourselves, something like a "ding-dong" played.

"Produced by Satan♪ Dreamy Merry-Go-Round, start!"

I heard some kind of announcement from above, and then some music began to play. Then right after...

"Whoah~~~!"

The horses began spinning round and around the big pole at the center! So this is what Ringo meant by "spin round and round." As they went onwards, they bobbed up and down, almost as if I'm riding an actual horse that's galloping and racing about!

"This. Is. Amazing! It's so fun~!"
"Aha, yeah for sure! Carby's having a great time too!"
"Gugugugu!"
"So then this is one stamp of many? Fufu, now I wonder if the amusement park could get any better!"

The music continued to play as we went around. The music playing alongside this...huh? It only just hit me.

"H-Hey, guys. You two finding this song a bit on the weird side?"
"Huh..."

The moment I brought it up, the cheerful-sounding Arle and Ringo went quiet. So now we listened closely to the Merry-Go-Round's music.

It's Satan's singing apparently...

Oh~ The great Satan is the Demon King on a white horse!
The Adonis of power, kindness and grace!
To love the great Satan
is a future of eternal happiness!
Arle, Arle, Arle
With haste come and fall into the bosom of mine~
(Carbunny~!)

"......"
"A-Arle, watch out!"

I shouted in a panic, catching sight of Arle about to fall off of her horse. The sinking feeling isn't something I'm not used to, either...

"What~in~the~hell~...is this song!"
"Calm down Arle! Furthermore, moreover, do you hear something from underfoot!?"
"Uh..."

When Ringo pointed it out, she went quiet for the second time. We couldn't pick up Satan's voice playback, but we listened down to the ground...

"Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho!"
"No time for rest, turn, turn~!"
"Do it for the precious Arle's sake~!"
"Rrrrragh, spin it, merry-go-rounnnnd!"

"Th- this merry-go-round is powered by human muscle and labor!?" Ringo shrieked.
"R-Ringo, that's not normal, is it!?"

From the start of getting on the merry-go-round, actual people were doing the work from under the scene!? The moment it came to mind, Ringo fiercely shook her head.

"No way! We listened to Satan's song while hearing strange voices from underground, and the merry-go-round is powered by the mystery people's muscle! NO WAAAY!"
"Guguuuu!"

Arle shouted. But then...

"Hm? Did you not enjoy it, Arle?"

The music suddenly stopped and, now we're hearing Satan from above again.

"Wha...then perhaps the song was pure distilled karaoke..." Ringo muttered to herself.
"Oh good, it was just a normal merry-go-round!"
"Guguguguu!"

Arle exclaimed in relief...

"Mh...I see then. I must prepare all of the amusement park attractions so that they have special hospitality to give deep, immersive joy to Arly and Carbunny..."
"Is it hell!? This is hell isn't it!?"
"I'll hand out the stamp if you have a good time. Now then, one more song, and this one is a wonderful love song...ahem, ahem, aah, aah..."

Upon hearing Satan prepare his singing voice for the next song, Arle got all blue in the face.

"Hold it! S-Satan! The merry-go-round was so incredibly fun, so there's no need to take the extra mile!"
"Hm, do you mean it, Arle?"
"I mean it...so then, so for the love of Puyo just drop it!"

---

We finally got a breather from the merry-go-round.
"Grr, that freakin' moron Satan is seriously crossing a line right now...!"
"Guuguguu!"

Arle and Carbuncle sighed, letting their shoulders droop all dead-like. Despite trying to listen in, it seems only that weirdo song is left.

"It appears we were not prepared for the crisis at hand...It's likely the other attractions share the same tone." Ringo looks somewhat pale and unsteady too.
"I wonder what's going to be the next one on the stamp card?" I took a peek at the card again, and it said... "It says 'Starry Sky✰Jet Coaster' right here."
"Jet coaster!?" Ringo lit up all of a sudden. She's even got the gleam in her eyes.
"Je-...W-what?"
"In a jet coaster, you board on a rail car-esque vehicle and travel up and about on rails at high-speeds, it's quite the thrilling attraction I must say!"
"Ooh, are they your favorite, Ringo?"
"They're considerably splendid in itself!"
"Hearing it from you though, they seem kinda scary..."
"Surely. But the exhilarating sensation of zooming around is just incredibly captivating to me. That's why they're my favorite!" Ringo keeps hammering her point down, but Arle timidly spoke up.
"But see, you know those two made it, right? Don't you think it's rigged with something?"
"The likelihood of that is considerably high..."
"Yeah yeah..."
"But there's no other choice if we're collecting stamps! Let's try the jet coaster!"
"......"

We're following Ringo's lead I guess. She's usually the one that goes double time with thinking things, but when stuff she likes gets thrown in, she's bouncing everywhere. Then again, we do have to go around and collect stamps, but Ringo's the one pulling Arle and I in the direction of the jet coaster.

---

Arle and I were getting pretty nervous about all this…

“Whoah, what in the world is this!”

The moment I stood in front of the jet coaster, I was blown away at the sight! It’s all bright and shiny, the carts are nothing I’ve ever seen before, and rails are spread about high in the sky, just waiting for us to get on. The rails aren’t even straight either, going all loop-de-loop like a ribbon with some extra twisty turns thrown in. What a curious-looking thing! On top of the twisted rails, there’s also tons of twinkling stars.

“Heya, how do we get up there?”
“Ah yes, right this way!”
“Oh neat! This is actually getting pretty exciting huh, Carby!”
“Gu guguu!”

Seems like one glimpse of the coaster snapped Arle and Carbuncle out of their funk from earlier.

“Hurry up and get on, hop in!” everyone cheered as they got on.
“Amitie, will you be riding the leading cart, or maybe the back-most one?”
“Er, say what, Ringo? There’s a leading one?”
“Yeah, I firmly stand by the lead cart! While the back ones bring some heart-pounding thrill from what you can’t see, it doesn’t beat the vast view from up here...”
“I’m not following, but hey, let’s sit in the front ones anyway! I wonder if the four of us can fit here?”
“Wa-hoo! Let’s go have at it!”

And then everyone went and took their seat...

“Heyo! Thanks for coming to the Starry Sky✰Jet Coaster, you guys! You’ve all been invited to our shiny sparkly space trip. Without further ado, let’s go!”

From above us was the sound of Ecolo’s announcement. Huh, that’s short and sweet...and then the next moment just hit me,

*clang!*

“Yikes! I-It moved! Ah-...”

*clank-clankclankclank...swoosh!*

Once it got up the high point, the coaster slid down the rails started zooming at high-speed!

“AAAAH!” I couldn’t help but shut my eyes in a panic…
“Ahahahaha, Amitie! Open up your eyes for me!”
“Wha?”

By Ringo’s cheerful request, I slowly opened up my eyes. And then…

“...whoah~~~!”

There were twinkling stars everywhere I looked. This is while the coaster’s going all zip-zoom. Up, down, side to side, it’s even got little breaks in between! The tingly breezy chill on my face feels great, and my hair’s fluttering in it. Now we’re going down again from a high point, swerving and turning side to side with this cool feeling. I’m having a blast up here!

“This is really exhilarating, Carby! The scenery looks so pretty too!”
“Gu guguu!”

Looks like Arle and Carbuncle having good time too.

“Ya-hoo! It’s like living a dream with this electrifying feeling of soaring through the night sky!” Ringo doesn’t look much like her usual self with that blooming smile bursting with joy. And then...
“Ahahahaha, isn’t it fun? Really fun?” Right in the dark space,  Ecolo jumped in our face outta nowhere!
“Bwah!” I shrieked. Ecolo even began soaring at the same pace as the jet coaster.
“Y-Yeah, it’s really fun! Right, Ringo?” I turned to the side, with Ringo agreeing as it is, though still darting her eyes about.
“Looks like the fun’s delivered! Okey-dokey, I’ve got a stamp for you once this is done!”
“Yay!”

While the merry-go-round from earlier was a bit on the weird side, this attraction is actually pretty cool! We all swapped smiles and laughs with each other…

“Nuh-uh-uh, I want to see Ringie’s smile just a bit more~!” Ecolo declared, laughing and making that drool splatter.
“Wha…?”

Then something happened right after I asked…

“U-UWAWAWAWAAAAH!”

Get real with me, the coaster began flying off the rails and into the sky!

“It’s a special course made just for Ringie here! Hope you like the rail-less space coaster!”
“EEEEK!” The three of us shrieked in unison…
“...whoaaaah!” But then it turned into a joyful shout in unison. The coaster we’re on just turned into a wondrous trip into space.
“Hey Ringo, what’s that curtain-shaped light over there?”
“That is most certainly an aurora!”
“Look Carby! Shooting stars~!”
“Gu gugu~!”

It's a really romantic scene that'd make you spellbound.

"Thanks so much Ecolo!" I turned over and thanked Ecolo for this.
"Hustle-hustle, go go go!" Ecolo’s hanging at the back of the coaster, doing nothing but pop some Puyo.

“...Ecolo? What’cha doing?”

Puyo are squishy little creatures that are seen everywhere around town. They’re colorful and cute, but the main thing about them is that if you connect four of the same color together, they pop. Once you do that, they leave behind some mysterious power…

“Eh~? The coaster’s all powered by Puyo poppin’ magic power, so I’m doing my best to keep the Puyo popping coming~” Ecolo happily answered.
“R-Really now...”
“Yup!”
“K-keep on popping then, Ecolo!”

Ringo eventually noticed what Ecolo’s doing, trying to cheer on with a twitchy-ish face.

“Indisputably, do not stop popping the Puyo...”
“Woo! Keeping at it!” Ecolo replied and waved back… hold up! Don’t let the Puyo just slip from your hand like that!

*clang!*

“Whoahwhoahwhoah! How fast are we going down!?”
“Gugu!?”
“Ecolo, do you know what is the current situation about this right now!?
“Huh? Well about that.”
“What about ‘that’!?”
“We’re kinda falling, I guess?”
“NNAAAAH!!??”
“There’s a Puyo here, Ecolo!”
“Pop it, Carby! Anything to stop us from falling!”
“Gu, Guguguguuuu!”

And then… The three of us continued to frantically pop the Puyo in Ecolo’s place, all to give the coaster a safe landing. As for the surrounding area? It didn’t feel fun and leisurely at all, since we were so focused on the Puyo...