Satan’s Space Amusement Park Chapter 9 - Atop the Crescent Moon

"Alright Satan, haven't you learned enough!?"
"You too Ecolo! I've had enough of your games!"

The both of them scolded, Arle with a hand on her hip, and Ringo crossing her arms. Satan and Ecolo are right in front of them, both of them looking and feeling pretty sorry. Satan's down on his knees with a huge bump on the head, while Ecolo's nothing but the hovering space core thing on his chest. ...well, this is kinda surreal, actually.

“Are you sorry yet!?” Arle yelled.
“I’m so sorry...Arle...” Satan whimpered.
“Don’t apologize to just me, apologize to everyone else too!”
“Guguguguu!”

Even Carbuncle’s scolding him! That’s what I get from how loud he is.

"...Sniff...but..." Satan sobbed, looking all teary-eyed, then he burst into tears. "But you see, every time I invite you, you never come along for the ride, my sweet Arly and Carbunny! It wounds me dearly! I just wanted a date with you! WAAAH!"

Now he's flailing his arms like a kid on a tantrum!

"Whoahwhoah-what!?"

I couldn't help but jump backwards from the huge gap of a mood swing. Arle and Carbuncle, though, aren't moved one bit.

"Oh, don't you go guilt trip me like that!"
"Guu guu!"

Is this normal!? I turned over to Schezo, and he straight up tells me "If you're wondering, yes, this happens often." before I asked. O-often, huh? But then why isn't Rulue reacting so strongly?

"Ahh, my darling Satan...you're always so cool, even if you're crossing the gap to being a miscreant. I can't tear my eyes away from your mysterious aura~!"

Because Rulue is busy swooning over him, with the dreamy sigh included too. ...I guess there's no problems here.

"Before you say any more, you really need to learn from Amitie, Satan," Arle said with a look of concern, making me jump when I heard her say my name.
"Huh!?"
"If you knew any better, you'd know everyone was actually getting along. Just look around, everyone's got a smile on their face! Me, Amitie, heck, everyone else loved it here."
"Wh-what...? A-Arly, do you mean that?" Satan asked, confused by all this praise.
"Yup! Amitie's always thinking about everyone's needs, and not saying anything selfishness is beyond ordinary kindness! Satan, Ecolo, if you learn from her, you'll make us smile too!"
"R-Ringo wait! Stop that!"

I don't even know what to make of this. Satan's an adult, right? So why learn from me? What IS this supposed to be about...? Uhm... er...

Satan darted a menacing glare at me.

"Okay then, tell me something, little girl..."
"C'mon! You're not holding a grudge, are you!?"

Th-they're scaring me!

"...Uh?"

Well, this is something. Things got dark really quick. Everything used to be all bright and shining, and now there's this light fog coming in.

"So you're saying this place isn't fun?" Ecolo asked. I don't really understand why he's asking that out of the blue.
"What the-!? Ecolo!?" Ringo blurted out and tried to spot him, but he was nowhere to be found.
"And you're still mad at Old Man Stan, right Arle?"
"Uh...?"

Ecolo looked over Satan as he asked more.

"He's lookin' all sad because he's not having fun. I feel the same way since Ringo's mad at me."

I have a bad feeling about this.

"W-What are you up this time, Ecolo!?" Ringo shouted in a panic.
"Ahahahaha! ♪ I still wanna have some fun here. Us losing that Puyo Battle and getting angry, all that was that meddling Amitie's fault, isn't it?"
"No it isn't..."
"Enough with that nonsense, Ecolo!"

Arle and Ringo clamored against him. But...

"Maybe I should her away from you two~! ♪"
"H-Huh...?"

M-Me? As soon as he said that...

*woosh!*

"Huh...? Wha...?"

I found myself getting swallowed up and lifted by that black fog. I felt myself getting carried off to somewhere.

"Wh-... WHAAAT'S GOING OOON!? What even is this~~~!?"

I helplessly flailed around in the air, kicking and struggling to break free, but it didn't do anything.

"AMITIIIE!!"

Arle and Ringo called out, trying to reach out for me. They're only getting smaller and smaller as I got further away!

"Eep...AAAAAH!!" I shrieked, as I continued to get taken higher and higher.

---

"Geez...did you really need to do that?"
"Oh come on, why wouldn't I, when you're the one getting showered with praise, Amitie?"

And before I knew it, I'm high and far up in the sky. I was even sitting on some pretty, curved, golden-yellow boat-like thing. At one end of the kinda-sorta-boat, Satan was sitting with me, while on my other side, Ecolo was floating around.

 "Where...am I...?"

"G'mornin' Amitie! You're on the crescent moon!"
"Huh!? Crescent moon!? THE actual moon as a crescent!? What!?"
"Ahahahaha! ♪ Don't think about it too hard!"

In my shock, I looked down.

"Amitiiie!"
"Gu gu guuu!"
"You alright there!?"

Off down below was the amusement park, with Arle and the rest shouting in the distance. That includes Schezo and Rulue too, but being so far high up here is giving me the height scare since no one can reach that high.

"I-I'm alright!" I called out, waving my hands at them from above...
"Careful now, falling off here would mean the end of you," Satan warned, sounding quite stern.
"W-What do you want with me...?" I nervously asked.
"Well you see, you're our hostage!" Ecolo answered, and is unsettlingly upbeat about it.
"Hostage...?"
"Correct. I request you let Arly and I be so we can go out on our honeymoon♪..."
"And let me make Ringo not angry and bring a smile to her face!"
""And you're not stopping us!""
"W-whaaat~!? You can't do that!" I shouted, and got really panicky.
"You needn't worry. We wouldn't do things that isn't mature of us."
"Yep yep, we're gentlemen around here~! ♪"
"No you're not! You're gonna trouble Arle and Ringo so much from all the trouble you're planning, aren't you!?"

Satan and Ecolo only gave me a staredown to what I said. What do I do!? I gotta get outta here! But I'm stuck up here in the sky... I look back down to Arle and the others trying to think of...huh? I think I see some hands waving this way.

"......"

I stared back for a moment, then turned back to Satan and Ecolo.

"H-hey, why are you doing this?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you like her, why are you putting her through this nonsense?"
"This is NOT just some nonsense!" Satan huffed, crossing his arms.
"But Arle's always running around and away from you..."
"Hmph. Arle's just being a bit shy for me."
"Shy?"
"That's right! She's so embarrassed she couldn't bear to show her face to me after reciving that invitation!"
"Wait, what???"

Arle couldn't not come to mind. She's always got a bright, spirited smile on her face, and is pretty much a "to-the-point" kind of person. But when Satan says he knows everything about her since he's seen and been with her for a long time...

"Uhm, DOES he know that's not exactly true?"
"What was that!?"
"Meep!"

I ended up thinking out loud and not keeping it to my self, unsurprisingly getting a threat from Satan. Urf, but what's said is said, no take-backs.

"Arle loves you, you say? Rather, you think that's true. But here's the real talk: you're being a big fat bother to her. Even then, even now, you're demanding her attention..."
"......"
"And heck, you built this gigantic amusement park just for her. Even if it is meant for only her, she couldn't take it seriously. She ended up getting seriously annoyed, and wanted to give you what-for to teach you a lesson..."
"......"
"And you still think that attitude..."
"......"
"...hello?"

Eep, I'm not liking that silence! I stared at him, expecting him to speak or butt in, but he said not a single thing! I'm at a loss of words right here, fidgeting, and waiting for something. Then Satan finally breathed a sigh.

"Huhu..."
"Eh?"
"Heh...Hahahahaha! AHAHAHAHA!"

Satan let out a laugh that practically pierced the heavens. It's not his same old laugh though. It didn't sound like the laugh of someone who cooked up a scheme of some kind. It was more the little kid with rosy cheeks having fun kind of laugh.

"Uh- UHHMMMMM...I-Is something up?"
"Not at all. The words you spoke to me, it reminded me that I still have much to learn."
"!"

Satan placed a finger upon his lips, letting a chuckle pass through as he looked down at me.

"I'm sure of it, Amitie. Perhaps I am a tad overbearing on Arly here."
"...Uh..."
"Those words vented out up front and frank, they lingered and resonated. You truly love Arle, don't you."
"Er, yeah...but..."

I think I learned something ever since I came to this amusement park.

"Isn't your kind of love and my kind a little different from each other?"
"Oh...?" Satan cocked his head to the side, cracking a smile.
"I heard it from Rulue. The love from friends is not like the special kind of love. But the special love has so many mysteries I can't really understand. It's a really weird, mysterious feeling."
"Ah..." Satan narrowed his eyes in interest.
"I-I-I still don't really get it! But-but see! That's just one thing of more!"
"Really? Spit it out then."
"Love is that kind of being you think about, but can't be forced upon someone."
"Hm?"
"You want to care, you want to do something, but you don't wanna be pushy. It’s gotta be something heartfelt..."

Ba-bump ba-bump, my heart thumped... And I let my hand slip away from the edge of the crescent moon.

"Like this!"
"Wha-...!?"

Will it work? Maybe it won't! But I believe in Arle and Ringo! It made Satan shout in a panic as he watched me take the fall from the moon.

"W-What have you DONE!? AMITIE!"

And because of what I did, Ecolo suddenly jumped in to try and stop my fall. He didn't do it in time though. I readied myself in the air, arms out open as I got closer to my target landing. And right there waiting for me is a Puyo chain mountain made by Arle and Ringo!

"Amitiiiie!"
"No need to worry, you're right on the mark!"

The two of them called out. With a smile, I closed on in.

"Take that Red Puyo up top and pop it!"
"Here!"

Arle and Ringo passed a Red Puyo to me. And with that Puyo, time to land on top of that Puyo mountain.

*Pop!*
*Plop, plop, pop!*

Right on cue, the Puyo all started to pop away. Like the Puyos, I came down with them as they chained, down to the Blue Puyo, and then to the Yellow one... I was using the popped Puyos like a cushion, bouncing upon them as I got closer and closer to Arle and Ringo. And once it's all over...

"I'm baaack!"

I jumped straight into their arms!

"Ahaha, welcome back Amitie!"
"Gu gu gu guu!"
"Glad you could come back down to us!"
"I always believed I could! Thanks so much, guys!"

I turned up to the skies above, spotting a flabbergasted Satan and Ecolo.

"I-I think..."
"We've been outplayed..."

Without wasting time, Arle and Ringo grabbed them by the shoulders and gave one heck of a talkdown.

"Alright, let Amitie go this instant, Satan!"
"And no more kidnapping from you, Ecolo!"
"What do you have planned next?!"
"Whatever it is, leave us out of it!"

But then...Satan just cocked his head in silence.

"Well, consider this my loss to you, Arle. But it was fun!"
"Huh...?"

Ecolo also cocked his head, a hand over where his mouth is.

"You sure did a wild and crazy thing, Amitie~. Crazy and fun though!"
"Ecolo...?"
"Hey Amitie, what were you doing up in the sky?"
"Now spill! What sort of mischief has my darling Satan done!?"

Schezo and Rulue tried to get answers from me...

"Huh!? Uh-, well- I'd rather not..." I stammered.
"Alrighty then, it's time to head back home! Here we GO!" And by Ecolo's words...

*bwoosh!*

"Yikes!"

Some floaty sensation took over my body. Everything around me turned all twisty, then faded to black!

"T-This is...!"

Other than the three of us, Carbuncle, Schezo, and Rulue, there was nothing else.

"We're all getting taken out of here!" Ringo shouted.
"Always with the surprises I see...!"
"Gu gu guu!"

After we've been swimming in the dark for a bit, we eventually ended up back in Primp Town.

"Let's play again next time!"
"Ahahahaha! ♪"

I felt like that was the last things they said.