Operation: MASKED, Part 8: A Man, A Sack, and His Tent

We have another VERY long chapter! This includes the next stage, the second dungeon, and then the world's boss!

Chapter 8: A Man, A Sack, and His Tent

Booster's Bigtop

"Dude? You okay?" Celeste asked as Cheren the Sackboy finally awakened. "You just sort of conked out."

"You mean you didn't see 'em either?" Cheren asked.

"See who?"

"The Zo-… never mind."

"OW!" Celeste was suddenly whipped in the butt by Booster.

"I don't know what you kids did, but thanks to you, my star attraction gone and disappeared! But, since these people seem to think you're part of the show, I guess YOU kids will be performing the obstacle course!" Booster decided.

"What? No way!" Cheren shouted. "Listen, you, we want answers, what do you know about these demons- OW!" he was whipped.

"Not another word! Either you run the obstacle course or I'm suing!"

"Man, people like you really make the circus less fun." Celeste replied.

"I don't make the circus fun, kid. I just give the vultures what they want."

Cheren sighed. "Alright. We'll play your course. Then you have to tell us what we wanna know." (Play "Specter Circus" from Ape Escape.)

Sub-game: Booster's Playground

Mission: Make it through the obstacle course.

The kids stepped up into the obstacle course and first had to bounce across some trampolines while avoiding flamethrowers from the sides. Afterwards, they had to swing across some rings over a pool of purple electrical goo. They made it onto a solid pathway, with their path continuing above a small ledge. They saw an Arrangement Pad, and Cheren used it to gain an overview of the area. There was a blue block on top of the ledge, and Cheren was able to knock it down, putting it below the ledge. He went out of Rearrangement Mode as they both went to climb to the ledge using the new block. They turned around and looked up to see the second-floor path, which went in the opposite direction of their first one.

They found a teeter-totter as Cheren had Celeste sit on the end furthest from the ledge, then proceeded to use his new hammer to smash the opposite end, sending Celeste onto the second floor. From there, she kicked a rope ladder down, which Cheren had to jump to and grab to help himself up. Their way ahead was blocked by a gate, and the only way under was through a tiny, worm-sized labyrinth under a glass floor. Cheren saw an opening and was able to unravel himself into a strand of yarn and squeeze through. Celeste noticed electrical barriers blocking his path, so she had to stand on switches to deactivate them to allow him to pass. Cheren came out on the other side and pushed a button that opened the gate, allowing them both to get through.

The two came up to a large door with a big keyhole. Cheren once again had to unravel into a strand of yarn and enter the keyhole, moving through another worm-size labyrinth. Within the keyhole, he had to move past three different dials and turn them. When he turned them all, he came out of the keyhole, and the door opened, revealing a trampoline that bounced them to the third floor. There was another seesaw that aimed at a higher ledge, which was protected by two parallel flamethrowers that moved up and down. Celeste worriedly sat on the seesaw as Cheren readied his hammer. He tried to time it right to fling Celeste over when the middle was open, and when he slammed down, Celeste shut her eyes as she went flying between the flames. Cheren sighed with relief as Celeste stepped on a switch that deactivated the flames, allowing him to bounce on a trampoline to get to where she stood.

The two operatives then had to swing up more hoop swings and get to an open area below a small tower, where six trampolines were lined in a circle along the wall on each floor, and they each faced a certain trampoline on the next floor. At the top was a ceiling with a circular hole in it. There was also an Arrangement Pad beside them, along with another seesaw. The two shrugged at each other before Celeste sat on the seesaw, and Cheren smashed the other end to send her flying at the first trampoline, causing her to bounce her way up the others, and eventually collide her head with the ceiling. She then came crashing down to the floor with a dizzy look.

Cheren took this time to study the alignment of the trampolines, knowing that only a certain one would lead into the hole. When he saw the right combo, he stood on the Arrangement Pad and had the seesaw face the first one. After Celeste recovered, she sat on the seesaw again, and Cheren sent her flying and bouncing up the tower. She was able to make it up through the hole and step on a switch. The switch opened the floor where she stood, and activated an elevator where Cheren stood, lifting the Sackboy up the tower. At the highest part of the playground, they found a long, green slide. Cheren sat on Celeste's lap as they excitedly zoomed down the twisty tunnel, eventually shooting out at the end, where they zoomed upwards and out of the slide before coming down on a soft pad where Booster stood. The two kids and Booster waved as they earned cheers from the audience.

"Thank you, thank you!" Booster announced. "Join us again tomorrow for more thrills and kills here at your FAVORITE tent in Carnivilia! This is Boosterrrr signing off!" (End song.)

"Hey, wait!" Cheren called as Booster hopped on a truck with his henchmen and drove off. "I still have questions! COME BAAACK!"

"He's gone, dude." Celeste told him.

Cheren sighed. "Yeah, I figured." The two were then greeted by Colonel Flounder, who hurried over.

"I am terribly sorry Booster forced you to go through that." he said to them. "He has run this carnival for many years now, with my assistance. And he has not been the same since the Grand Bigtop was taken over."

"What's the Grand Bigtop?" Cheren asked.

"You've seen the big tent in the carnival's center, yes?" They nodded. "The Grand Bigtop was the source of all of Carnivilia's merchandise. It existed long before any of us at Carnivilia. Not many knows where it came from, but it was-a from there that the rest of this fabulous carnival was founded. But until recently, the Bigtop was home to young Sackboy, who was believed to be its caretaker. You see, Sackboy is an amazing creature. He was brought to life by the imagination of carefree young children, and was given the Bigtop to live in peace. That is… until Booster discovered him. Since then, the Grand Bigtop has been crawling with monsters. And now that the Sackboy's spirit rests within you, YOU must rid the Bigtop of its evil curse."

"No problem." Cheren nodded. "Celeste, let's help out some carnies."

"Right!"

"Not-a so fast!" Flounder stopped them before they ran off. "When the Bigtop was cursed, they-a shut it down, to prevent monsters from getting in or getting out. Only Booster knows the way of reopening the Bigtop, but he is afraid to without the solution of ridding the monsters from it. You must follow him to his tower and reason with him. We are all-a counting on you."

Celeste sighed. "I miss the days when the author was lazy, and every mission objective was within a reasonable walking distance."

"Heheheh! I think we were lucky enough to not be around during those days." Cheren laughed.

"Wouldn't kill him to give us a little more character." She mumbled.

"Oh well. Anyway, let's head after Booster. This tower shouldn't be too hard to miss."

Outside of Booster Tower

After leaving the circus tent, the two operatives saw a path to their left that led to a colossal building that towered over the rest of the park. The two followed this trail as it led outside the park, to an area surrounded by trees and bushes. The humongous tower stood before them, with a sign that said, Booster's Private Tower. No entry, unless you are a masochistic acrobat, dangerously looking for thrills and chills. The tower's front door was locked, but a seesaw sat in the center of the area, and they looked up at a big, red switch several feet above the doorway.

"Well-p, y'know what to do here." Cheren said as Celeste seated herself on the seesaw. Cheren raised his hammer above the other end and slammed it down, sending Celeste headfirst into the wall just above the door. "Um… whoops." Celeste dizzily returned to the seesaw, and this time Cheren charged a more powerful slam. He sent Celeste too high this time, and she slammed against the wall. "Hehe… oops." After falling down and regaining herself, the Stork child angrily approached the Uno Sackboy, grabbed him, and hurled him straight at the switch. The doors opened as Cheren fell to the ground.

"That's how it's done." Celeste said, brushing her hands off and stepping over Cheren as she entered the tower. Cheren only blushed sheepishly as he walked in after her. (Play "Booster Tower" from Super Mario RPG.)

Stage 9: Booster Tower

Mission: Find Booster.

The inside of Booster's Tower was very nicely polished, with auburn-colored walls, dark-chocolate-colored ceilings, and chessboard-tiled black and white floors. They could faintly see their reflection in the chessboard floors, they were that clean. The first room was small and cube-shaped, with a staircase that led to a higher pathway on their left, which led around to a locked door. This lower floor was guarded by a bunch of Snifits, the gray sock beings in black masks and cannons for mouths. The Snifits already took notice of the operatives and began blasting tiny cannonballs at them. Cheren went back into human form and defended from the cannonballs using his shield while Celeste rolled out from behind and started blasting the minions with her S.C.A.M.P.P..

They were wiped out pretty easily as they began looking for the key. Cheren spotted the sparkling thing sitting in the mouth of a small, black piano in a corner. When Celeste walked over to grab it, the piano immediately came to life, having grown sharp, steel teeth that tried to munch on the girl. The piano charged momentum before charging at the two, mouth wide open, but they dodged and made it ram into the wall. The piano turned around and prepared to charge at them again, but this time, Cheren shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into its mouth, which the piano munched on before blowing up. They retrieved the key and headed up the staircase to enter the locked door to the next room.

They found their selves in a straight, narrow hallway, the door just on the other side, with a switch sitting a few feet before it. Cheren stepped forward first, but when his foot pressed down the first square tile, a dart zipped out of a hole in the wall, missing his face by just a few inches. They could see the rest of this hall was guarded by these traps and stepped back. However, Cheren then noticed a tiny ledge up by their left, which led all the way across the hall. Cheren allowed Celeste to stand on his open hands before hauling the girl upward, enabling her to stand onto the ledge. She hugged the wall tight as she sidled her way across, her left cheek squished against the wall, careful not to fall onto the tile traps below.

After she was partway across, she was flinched and almost fell when a Snapdragon shot out of a hole above her, snapping its huge teeth over the ledge. When the creature retreated back inside, Celeste sidled further across the ledge. The next Snapdragon tried to munch her from below, but she still avoided it and kept moving. Near the end of the path, there was a Snapdragon below her and one above her, and each took turns coming out to try and snap her, making it seem impossible to get across. However, when the top Snapdragon came out again, Celeste grabbed it by the neck, making the lower one come up and snap him by accident. The lower Snapdragon proceeded to drag the upper into its own hole, allowing Celeste to get past.

Once all the way across, Celeste jumped down on the switch, causing all the dart holes to close. Cheren was able to make it all the way across, and the two entered the door to the next room. This room was small, with only a few Snifits, and a thin staircase that led up to a walkway where the next door sat. On the left of the walkway was another door that was locked. Cheren Youth Rolled to the center of the Snifits and performed a Great Spin to wipe them all out in one slash. The two proceeded to enter the door above the staircase, coming into a colossal room that went several stories high. There were ledges on each story, and each one had a wooden peg sticking out. They didn't see anything around that could help them, however, so they decided to look somewhere else.

In the previous room, the two noticed a 'Prop Closet' on the lower floor. They jumped down and entered the closet, which was larger than the average closet. It was dusty and filled with old park equipment, such as swinging hoops, cannons, strobe lights, and a crate that read, Homestuck Cosplay Outfits. Celeste's attention was directed to a simple rope hanging from a hook on the other side. The rope was tied into a lasso, and that lasso hung from the hook. Celeste smiled with interest as she walked over and took the rope, twirling it around like a cowgirl. "Hey! I've always wanted one of these!"

"Let's take it!" Cheren said with a grin.

Celeste got a rope! A tool like this is useful to any spy! Now she'll be able to grab distant objects within a reasonable reach! It's a little withered, so it might not be safe to have two people hold onto it.

Having gained this rope, the two returned to the towering room with all the ledges. Celeste began using her new lasso to grab onto one peg at a time, climbing her way up to each ledge. Cheren watched as his friend made it high up the tower, reaching the highest point where she opened a chest with a key inside. She looked down and saw Cheren holding his arms open, and Celeste proceeded to jump down and trust that he would catch her. The Uno child broke her fall, but she landed on his head rather than his arms, and he got crushed under her weight. She got up off of him as he brushed his messy hair and stood up, following her to the locked door in the previous room.

They entered this door into another hallway, which was another large room that went up several floors, with a path on each floor. At the top of the room, a Snifit was shooting giant cannonballs out of a real cannon, and the balls were rolling across each of the pathways throughout the room. They were unable to jump it, but there were branches sticking out from parts of the wall, which Celeste used her rope to swing across and avoid the cannonballs. At the end of this first path, she came to a staircase that took her to the next path, and she repeated the process down the opposite direction.

When she got up to the third path, there were Bombballoons that flew over to try and knock her down. Celeste shot her S.C.A.M.P.P. at the balloons while swinging the cannonballs at the same time. She continued across until she arrived at the highest path, where the Snifit waited at the end with his cannon. As she swung across, Celeste saw no means of getting past the cannon, which was wedged in the door. However, Celeste noticed the little wheel on the cannon's back and tossed her lasso over to catch it, pulling the rope, and flipping the cannon backwards. As a result, the Snifit was shot himself.

Cheren followed her up afterward as the two operatives proceeded to pull the cannon out of the doorway before jumping over and going into the next room. It was a smaller hallway that had a ledge above it with a small train track. The little kid-sized train came passing by just then, with Booster and his henchmen riding on it, the little ringleader gnome drunk with some kind of beverage. "Yeahh! Thomas da Train! Chugga-chugga-choo-choo, Thomas!"

"Next stop, the medicine cabinet." Grate Guy said.

Cheren and Celeste shook their heads in disbelief before trying to follow the train, but it entered a tunnel above them and they couldn't follow. The two looked and noticed two curtains in the corner of the hall. They went behind the curtains and came out, and they saw that their forms had changed to the choppy animation style from the very first episode of KND. They exchanged weirded glances before going back in the curtains and coming out, having changed back to normal. Afterwards, they entered the door that was around the corner, finding a small room with a lower floor below two ledges. They stood on one of the ledges that faced the other. Before them was a seesaw and a wooden peg. There was also a Bombballoon floating over the pit, and Snifits were firing cannonballs from both sides, each hiding in a safe compartment.

The two already saw the trick to this puzzle, so Celeste used her rope to grab the Bombballoon and throw it into one of the Snifits. On the floor below, a balloon-pumping machine was pressing air into the next Bombballoon, which came to life and floated upward. Celeste caught the balloon with her rope and tossed it at the next Snifit, then repeated this process 4 more times. When the Snifits were cleared away, Celeste sat on the seesaw, and Cheren got into Sackboy's form to smash the other end with his hammer, sending Celeste flying over. When she landed on the parallel ledge, she twirled her rope and tossed it to wrap around the wooden peg on Cheren's side. The Uno son went into his Kateenian form and balanced across the rope while Celeste held on tight from the other end.

After he made it across, Celeste brought her rope back as both went through the next door. They found themselves on an outside area, standing upon a small path on the side of the tower. They walked up a small slope that led to a gap in the pathway. There was a wooden handle sticking out of the wall above the gap, which Celeste was able to catch with her rope and swing across. Cheren saw a tiny opening in the wall and turned into Sackboy to unravel to a strand of yarn and enter the tiny tunnel. The tunnel zig-zagged up and down in areas where buzzsaws sliced through the wall. The Uno son had to wait for the saws to go by so he could get across. He came out at the other end and formed himself back together beside Celeste. The two then had to bounce across some large balloons over another gap, while avoiding cannons that were inside the walls.

After landing on the other side, they had to walk across an outer pathway that was cut off from the tower's wall. There were gaps in that path where firecrackers shot up through from the ground below, which they had to avoid. They made it across, and the path led back to the wall. They then had to climb a more rugged wall to reach the door above. As they climbed the tower's side, the fireworks that came from below exploded and sent colorful fireballs at the rugged wall, but they were easy to avoid as they made it onto a platform at the top. There was a door up there, and beside that door was a sign. Emergency fire exit. Of course, these places need defenses, too! (Note: Make sure Booster takes medicine before designing security defenses.)

The duo entered the door and were now in another thin hallway. Along the walls of this hall were posters of different kinds of clowns. The first one read, In Memory of Bozo the Clown. Founder of all clowndom, he will always be remembered as the creator of all classical clownie antics, and setting the records for the lowest grades in school. May all future clowns wear crazy makeup and make low grades like he did. The next poster was one of a crazy-looking clown with white skin, green hair, and a purple tux, and it read, In Memory of The Joker. A clown who demonstrates making anything humorous through his infamous murders and crimes. May all strict people before him take into consideration the question, 'Why so serious?' (Note: It is highly recommended you not give this man a glass of water.)

The next poster was one of a white-skinned lady in a red harlequin outfit. It read, In Memory of Harley Quinn. She is a true inspiration to women who wish to partake in the crazy clownie business. May all men remember to never insult a woman for her clowning dreams. The next poster was one of a shadowy being in a jester's hat, and it read, In Memory of Jack Noir. He is a true inspiration to royal jesters everywhere. May all future rulers remember to NEVER treat their fools as a lowly minion. It's more deadly than giving The Joker a glass of water (see Joker's poster for details).

The two entered a door at the end of the path that led to a room with some tall stairs. They climbed up the large stairs to reach a hallway that led to a door with a creepy face on it, designed like Booster's. Before they could enter, the face suddenly spoke. "HOOOLD up! No one gets by that easily! Only Booster may enter! If you can answer these questions, I'll know if you can be acquainted with him. Question 1: What was the first area you had to go to?"

"Jungle of the Apes." Cheren answered.

"What's the name of that assistant guy down at Booster's tent?"

"Colonel Flounder."

"What gimmick is too overused nowadays?"

"Shrinking."

"What area are you headed to next?"

"Holoska."

"What's the last number of pi?"

"Er-" Cheren nervously gritted his teeth, trying to think of a possible answer. "…Six?"

"Okay. You can come in. Please remember to give Booster his daily medicine."

The two were able to enter the door to Booster's room. It had an office desk with a notebook, a jar with pills, which they believed to be his medicine, a feather pen, and a container of ink. In a corner of the room was a soft-looking purple bed with Majora's symbol on the blanket. On the right wall were three windows, with the middle one being the only not protected by bronze-colored curtains. The two approached the locked door that was on the other side and peeked into its window. The door led to a balcony that had a pedestal with some musical pages. "I didn't think Booster was secretly a musician." Celeste joked.

"That probably has a song or something that can open the Bigtop. Let's look for a key and-"

"The bed's still in there, right, boys?" Booster's voice asked from the other side of the entrance to his room.

"Yeah, Boss." Cheren and Celeste exchanged worried glances and frantically looked for a place to hide. They decided to squeeze in behind and close the middle curtain on the wall. They tried to stand on a windowsill together, but couldn't quite fit.

"Get your own!" Celeste whisper-shouted.

"My stuff makes it too cramped, anyway!" Cheren whispered back. "Hold on." The boy slipped on his Sackboy Mask and turned into the little boy of yarn. Celeste grabbed and hugged him to her chest as only the heels of her shoes stood on the thin windowsill. (End song.)

They were able to hide just in time for Booster and his henchmen to come in. The bearded ringleader glanced to his right at the closed curtain, but his eyes were then directed to the bed in the corner. "Ahh, there it is!" he exclaimed. "Perfect! The masked girl is on her way right now!" The door was opened again, and the three turned to see a pack of Snifits walk in. "Ahh, perfect timing!" (Play Majora's Theme from Majora's Mask.)

The Snifits were accompanied by the masked child herself. The hidden operatives' eyes peeked through the curtains, and their eyes widened. "Miyu-!" Cheren tried to shake away, but Celeste cupped a hand over his mouth and kept him pressed against her chest.

Miyuki glanced toward the curtain, hearing a strange sound, but decided to ignore it and look at Booster. "So… is it ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's ready." Booster said as he went over to pull the bed into the middle of the room. "One soft, cuddly bed, made specifically to give anyone who lies on it warm, peaceful dreams, fit for even a demon."

Miyuki proceeded to jump on the bed, lying on her front as her arms stretched to both sides. She gripped the bed tight, her eyes closed behind her mask. "This bed… is so warm. I almost want to die in it…"

"Meh, I'm sure you'll get that chance. Now, hold up your end of the deal, girlie! Move the monsters out of the Bigtop now!"

"I can't…"

"WHAH?!?!" Booster's mouth dropped open.

"The demons roam of their own free will. I merely supply them with the setting in which to do so. They don't listen to you… nor do they listen to me. A monster needs to have its freedom."

"GYAAAH! You have the gall to invade my carnival and rip ME OFF?? Just WHAT kind of game are you playing at?! And why'd you go to all this trouble for a BED, anyway??"

"This bed is more important to me than you know." Miyuki/Majora said, sitting up and staring at the ceiling. "I must be sure I am able to have sweet dreams. My people are all about sleep… and the dreams give us power. And as for the 'game'," the child looked at Booster again, "it is the most exciting game in the entire world. A simple carnie like yourself could never have the skill to play it."

"BYAAAAAAHH!" Booster screamed, steaming with rage.

"Good-bye, Booster. I wish you luck with your performances." And on that note, Miyuki and the bed were swallowed in a sphere of darkness, and both disappeared. (End song.)

"Aaaaaahh!" Booster shook. "Huff. I am so mad right now. I NEED MY VIDEOGAMES! Grab my medicine and let's go."

Grate Guy grabbed the medicine container while Booster grabbed the notebook and left a key on his desk. As they were about to leave, a sound came from behind the curtains: "Achoo!"

"HAH?!" Booster's attention immediately shot to the curtains. "What WAS that?!"

"Um… pay no attention to the sneeze from behind the curtain." Celeste's disguised voice said.

"Boss, I think someone's hiding behind the curtain." Knife Guy said.

"Baah! I'll check! Snifits: ready your weapons." Rather than their usual mouth-cannons, the Snifits pulled out huge machineguns, which made the operatives freak out. As Booster approached the middle curtain, Celeste carefully reached her foot to behind the curtain on their left (the right curtain) and stepped over to that windowsill, still holding onto Cheren. Booster closed the curtain and approached the left one, throwing it open to find nothing. Celeste was about to step over to the middle one, expecting Booster to come to theirs, but she stepped back when Booster threw open the middle curtain again. He closed it and walked back to the left curtain. However, he immediately ran to pull open the right curtain, but the operatives were already behind the middle again.

"Meh. See, there's nothing there."

Celeste and Cheren quietly sighed with relief. "Boss, maybe we should open all the curtains?" Their eyes shot wide open, incredibly anxious.

"I just checked them all, there's nothing there! I WANT MY VIDEOGAAAMES!" The two frantically looked for a way out.

"Come on, Boss, just one quick check."

"Bah!" Booster ran to the end of the row of curtains, charged by, and ripped them all down. "HAAAAAAH! See, nothing there!" Indeed, the windows were free of anyone trying to hide. "NOW we have to buy some new ones! Or just… hang these up again. Anyway, let's go. Lock up and let's see WHO rams who in Mario Kart!" With that, the carnies and the guards left the room. The door closed as Booster said, "By which I mean you guys."

Outside, Celeste was holding tight to the windowsill by the tips of her fingers, struggling to hold on while she held Cheren in her right hand. When she looked down, her eyes went wide at the sight of the long drop below. She still kept a tight grip as she hauled Cheren onto the windowsill. The little Sackboy tried to open the window, but his hands were too big and stubby to fit into the crack. The boy had to take off his mask and become a human again, carefully balancing on the sill. He tried to dig his fingernails into the gap to pull the window open, but couldn't. He took a step back, and accidentally stepped on Celeste's fingers.

"Oof!" The girl did her best to fight back the screams of pain. "Ow you big stupid piece of crud I'm going to stab you with your own sword if you don't get off." She said quietly in one breath, feeling incredible pain in her fingers.

"Sorry, sorry!" Cheren whispered, stepping off her fingers. Celeste grabbed the ledge with her right hand and was forced to release her left. Cheren carefully pulled out his sword and hit the window, breaking a hole open. He reached an arm in and pushed the left half of the window open. He stepped inside, grabbed Celeste's hand, and pulled his friend up to safety. When she got to her feet, she immediately laid a punch across Cheren's face. "Owwww!"

"I think you actually cracked one of my nails!" she shouted through gritted teeth before picking the key up off the desk.

Cheren rubbed his jaw and sighed, "Sorry…"

Cheren walked beside her as she began to open the locked door. "You know, you kinda deserved that." He told her. "That was probably my chance to yank that mask off of Miyuki's face. Probably coulda just took one Song of Healing to end this whole entire fiasco."

"With a bunch of armed guards just waiting to blast you to pieces??" she hush-shouted back. "Besides, the Song of Healing probably wouldn't even work anyway."

After unlocking the door, they stepped out onto the breezy balcony. They approached the music book that sat on the pedestal by the balcony's railing. A group of notes were scattered along a musical line on a page. "I wonder if this song opens the Bigtop?" Cheren said.

That's when a whip shot over, grabbed the pedestal, and pulled it over. "That's for me to know and you to find out!" Booster told them, his henchmen by his side.

"Booster, we need to get into the Bigtop." Cheren told him.

"No! First, you kids tried to ruin my show, you're not getting in over MY dead body!"

"You wanna arrange that?" Celeste smirked.

"Booster, we're trying to help you recover it from the demons." Cheren tried to explain. "We want to go after the masked girl, but there might be something in the Bigtop we'll need."

"Forget it! As far as I know, ALL you kids are nothin' but trouble! Knife Guy, Grate Guy: turn them to confetti!" On that order, Booster took the pedestal and went back inside, locking the door.

The operatives readied for battle against the two jester henchmen. (Play the Mini-boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Sub-boss: Knife Guy and Grate Guy

The two operatives quickly dodged when Knife Guy threw the first two knives. Celeste jumped overhead when Grate Guy tried to run her over with his balancing ball. Cheren charged at Knife Guy, who swiftly dodged the boy's quick strikes and sliced Cheren across the chest with some knives. Celeste kept running around to avoid the Grate Guy, then used her rope to catch the balancing jester and pull him off, afterwards proceeding to lay a few punches against him. Cheren pulled out his Bananarang and tossed it at the Knife Guy, who dodged the incoming projectile, but the boomerang returned from behind and conked him on the head, allowing Cheren to lay some blows against the dizzy jester.

The Grate Guy got back on his ball and started to bounce smaller balls at Celeste and knock her down, making her defenseless as he bounced over and began bouncing on her. Cheren saw this and tossed his shield at the jester to make him fall. Celeste was able to push the large ball off and start whaling on the henchman again. Cheren quickly dodged Knife Guy when he slashed quick knives at him. The knife-wielding henchman took a bunch of the weapons and hurled them at Cheren, pinning him to the railing by his sleeves. Celeste saw Knife Guy approaching the trapped hero and ran behind the jester, tossing her rope over the jester to catch Cheren, and gave a tight pull, yanking Cheren from his binds and making him fly into the Knife Guy, knocking him out. (Pause song.)

It was then that Booster unlocked the door and came back out. "Hey, guys, I forgot my- WAAAH?" Booster wore a look of shock at the sight of the defeated henchmen and the victorious operatives. "YOU…YOU BEAT UP MY JESTERS! HOW COULD YOU? Grrrrr I'M GONNA MAKE YOU REGRET THIS!" (Resume song.) The ringleader pulled out his two whips and readied for battle.

Sub-boss: Booster

Cheren ran at the gnome for the first attack, but Booster immediately caught him with a whip and hurled him against the wall. Celeste tried to shoot him with the S.C.A.M.P.P., but Booster wore metal padding on his arms which he used to defend. Cheren got up and ran to strike him from behind. Booster immediately countered by spinning and trying to slice him with the pointy tip of his padding, but Cheren ducked and pushed the ringleader away. Celeste tried to rope the crazy man, but he swiftly jumped and spun in the air, lashing his whips around to slap them.

Booster then began chomping his huge teeth together as he ran at the operatives, trying to bite them. They dodged as Cheren tried to shoot M.A.R.B.L.E.s at him, but he flung the explosives away with his whips. While she was dodging, Celeste noticed the tiny jar of pills sticking out of his pocket. She dodged to the right one last time before tossing her rope to catch the container. She popped it open and dropped a pill out, and as Booster charged at her again, she tossed it into his chomping mouth, and he proceeded to swallow it.

Booster's eyes fell weary as he stopped in place, feeling his head go numb. Cheren took this moment to run forward and lay a series of blows against him. "Hm, giving the crazy guy a pill, and then beating him up… Boy, that works even better than how the doctors actually do it." Celeste remarked.

Booster regained himself and jumped away. He leapt and spun around in midair, laying quick whips against the operatives. He landed, caught both of them in his whips, and threw them at each other, bashing their heads as they fell to the ground. He then started whipping both of them on their backs while they were down. Cheren quickly raised his sword in the air and caught the whip around it. The Uno boy pulled Booster toward him and he kicked Booster upside the jaws, knocking him on his back. He took the medicine from Celeste, jumped to his feet, and dropped a pill down his throat. He laid a few more strikes against Booster before kicking the defeated carnie into the wall. (End song.)

"End of the line, Booster!" Cheren exclaimed as he aimed his sword at the bearded carnie.

"Ack! Okay! I give up! Just please spare me!" Booster pleaded, on his knees with his hands folded. "I have so much to live for! SO MANY SHOWS, unshown!"

"Huh. Sure. Lucky for you, I don't kill." Cheren said as he lowered his weapon.

"Uhhh, haven't you been killing demons all this time?" Celeste asked.

"They don't count. When demons die, they just get sent right back to the Underworld. …And then probably punished to death. Anyhoo, I sort of take after Mr. York in that aspect, I don't kill defenseless people."

Celeste then took notice of a small book dropped on the floor by the balcony railing and went to pick it up. She found several colorful drawings of what looked like Sackboy, drawn as if by some little kid. "Hey, what's this?"

"Gimme that!" Booster yelled, immediately swiping the book from her. "This is mine! This book's been passed down my family for generations, all the way to my great-great-great-great-great…" he counted his fingers as he spoke, "er… etc.-etc. grandfather! He was the one responsible for the creation of Sackboy."

"He… was?"

"That's right! He built the Grand Bigtop for him to live in! Each new generation of the Booster bloodline was given the task of protecting the Bigtop. I spent years searching the Bigtop for my ancestor's creation, and when I finally found him, all of these monsters showed up!" Booster sighed. "I made a deal with that masked girl who led the monsters. She said that if I let her guide the monsters into the Bigtop, I would be given control over them, and use them to help spread the former glory that was once my ancestor's creation. But then I couldn't get far enough into the Bigtop to use my ancient equipment without those monsters gunning after me. Huuff. And I was just so mad, I took it out on Sackboy."

"Then… you're just an innocent guy who was just trying to keep his family's legacy." Cheren smiled.

"Pssh, if you call that INNOCENT." Celeste yelled.

"Meh. Whatever. But how am I going to recover the Bigtop now?"

"Well, we'd be happy to do it for you." Cheren said.

"Really?? You mean that??"

"That's what we were trying to tell you, dude!" Celeste replied.

"Great!! Hey, you kids are a couple o' suckers, I'll give you that much! And that's a compliment in this biz."

"Thanks??" they exchanged baffled expressions.

"But that place is locked up nice 'n' tight, only members of my family know the way in. But just 'cause I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you this: play this song, and it'll let you straight in." The gnome-like carnie pulled out a trumpet and played a tune.

Dada-dat-dat, daDA-dada, dat-dat-dat-DAAA! He played his trumpet loudly. Dada-dat-dat, daDA-dada, dat-dat-dat-DAAA! He played it again.

The notes that Cheren had to play were the third-highest twice, third-lowest twice, second-lowest, second-highest, third-highest, third-lowest, second-lowest, third-lowest, third-highest, and then the highest.

Do-do-doo-doo, do-do-do-do, doot-doot-doot-DOOO!

Right away, Cheren and Booster were engaged in a jam session of loud carnival music. The music echoed from the tower balcony all the way across the carnival. Celeste was forced to cover her ears, it was so loud. Grate Guy and Knife Guy, however, were only moving with the tune. After a few more seconds of jamming, the song came to an end.

You learned the Carnival's Opening Parade! There's no better way to announce the arrival of spectacular events! Play it before the Grand Bigtop.

Cheren stuffed the Spirit Flute away as Celeste rubbed her ears. "What's the point of even playing these songs, the readers can't hear them…"

"Thanks, Booster." Cheren smiled. "We'll save the Bigtop, we promise." He waved at the gnome before running off, followed shortly by Celeste.

"Come back to my playground, sometime! New dangers await! Ha haaa!"

The Bigtop Grounds

After leaving the tower, the operatives discovered a path through the bushes on the side of the tower, which led straight to the Grand Bigtop itself. The land around the Grand Bigtop really was dark compared to the rest of the carnival. There was a small stone staircase near the right area of the grounds, which led to a beautifully lit fountain of red fairies. Cheren already recognized them as Stray Fairies and made a note to collect them during their venture. The Uno child noticed a small, round stand that stood before the Bigtop and went to stand on it. He faced the massive tent and started to play his song.

Do-do-doo-doo, do-do-do-do, doot-doot-doot-DOOO!

Once again, it was quiet for the first few seconds. The silence was broken by the sound of a fuse alighting. They looked over to see a single fireworks fuse lit on its own before flying into the heavens and exploding into green fireworks. Many other fireworks soon followed, creating a sea of colors that gave light to the Bigtop. Many spotlights around the Bigtop sparked to life and shined on the massive tent, revealing its assortment of colors. The flags around the tent were now blowing by a calm breeze, and the front curtains of the Bigtop flew open. Cheren and Celeste exchanged eager grins before running inside. (Play Witchyworld's Theme from Banjo-Tooie.)

Dungeon 2: Grand Bigtop

Mission: Rid the Bigtop of its monsters!

The inside of the Bigtop was as dark and gloomy as it previously looked on the outside. The place was loaded with barrels and crates of old park equipment. Cheren slipped on his Great Fairy Mask and already felt the hair begin to sparkle. He looked over at the group of barrels stacked by a corner of some crates and walked over to fire a M.A.R.B.L.E. at them. When the barrels exploded, he watched as a Stray Fairy came out, and he proceeded to catch it in his bottle as it flew over. The two operatives proceeded onward in the gloomy circus, already having to deal with some Miniblin Jugglers. The monsters juggled bombs and threw them at the operatives, but they grabbed the bombs and threw them back just like last time.

The nearby curtain door was sealed with a lock, but the kids spotted the key that hung on a high wall a few feet away. Celeste tossed her rope up and grabbed the key, pulling it down for them to open the door. The door led to a few stairs, which they followed upward to another long room where Bokoblin Archers sat atop some wooden platforms. The archers spotted the kids and began to shoot arrows down. Cheren dodged and was about to pull out his bow… but then remembered his bow was stolen. Celeste tried to toss her rope up to catch the demons, but they were a little too high.

However, Cheren remembered his mom's old stories and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. at the base of a platform, blowing it up and causing the Bokoblin to fall. Cheren smirked and quickly ran around to repeat this process with the other Bokoblin. After beating them all, they looked around to find two doors at both ends of the hall. The door on the right was locked, so they decided to head in the door on their left. It was immediately sealed with metal bars behind them as they appeared in a small room, with a few wooden beams holding up this part of the tent, as well as three cash registers.

The registers came to life and stared at the operatives with their three slot-machine eyes. The Crushin' Cashiers spat big, golden disks at the kids, who avoided as Cheren ran forward to strike at the first one. However, it was too hard for his sword to deal any damage, and the boy was then pounded by the cashier's lever. Celeste jumped disks from another cashier before swinging her rope to tug its lever. Its eyes spun as a result, and its mouth hung open. Cheren noticed this and quickly fired a M.A.R.B.L.E. into it, blowing it to pieces.

The two smirked as Celeste tossed her rope to open another register, allowing Cheren to fire a bomb and blow it up. The remaining register nervously glanced both ways before sticking a white flag out from its mouth. Cheren merely shot the M.A.R.B.L.E. into its open mouth and blew it up anyway. The door to the room opened as a chest appeared in the center. Cheren opened the large chest, finding the old, brown map inside.

You got the Dungeon Map! Use this to have a layout of the dungeon! But of course you already knew that.

The duo went back into the previous room to look for a key to open the other door. They spotted a blue pad sitting under a barrel, so Cheren Youth Rolled into the barrel to break it, revealing an Arrangement Pad. Cheren turned into Sackboy and knelt down on the pad, gaining an overview of the room. There were some giant crates he was able to turn over, and Celeste saw a key on the ground where one of the crates used to be. While she was grabbing it, Cheren noticed an upside-down chest squished between two boxes, so he moved the boxes out of the way, then grabbed the chest to flip it right-side-up. He went out of Rearrangement Mode to go open the chest, finding a Stray Fairy inside.

After collecting the fairy, they went to open the locked door on the side of the room. It was a small, narrow room with just a staircase that led up on their right. There was nothing else, save for the yellow target with a red dot on the diagonal ceiling. With nowhere to explore, they simply walked up the stairs and entered the door. They appeared in a more expansive room with lots of stacks of large crates. They climbed some crates to the top of a stack to have an overview of the room. Several tightropes connected to two wooden pegs, both at the tops of stacks of crates. There were also Miniblin on unicycles balancing atop those ropes.

Cheren became a Kateenian and balanced across a rope to the first stack of boxes, followed by Celeste. They got onto some boxes on the left side of the room and stared at a tightrope that led to the opposite side. However, the rope was guarded by a Unicycle Miniblin. They began to balance across when the Miniblin saw them and started to pedal over. When the monster was close, Cheren and Celeste began shaking around on the rope, still keeping their balance while the Miniblin lost its. The monster fell to the floor below, allowing the two to keep going across. They reached the next stack of crates and looked across the next tightrope. This tightrope seemed to only lead to a treasure chest, so Cheren balanced across on his own. He opened and climbed in the chest in his little Kateenian body, finding the item that went with his map.

You got the Compass! Use this to find chests and stuff! What more do you need to know?

Cheren saw they were now on the second half of the room, behind the wall of crates that was dividing the two halves. There were other stacks of crates they had to get to, but there were no tightropes leading to them. However, that's when Cheren noticed the Arrangement Pad on the floor below. He jumped down and became Sackboy to go into Rearrangement Mode. He wasn't able to move any blocks, but he was able to move the two pegs connecting the tightrope! He grabbed the peg beside the chest and stuck into a hole in one of the crates in the middle area. Afterwards, he climbed back to join Celeste as they both crossed the tightrope to another stack of crates.

However, there was no way to get across further, since no other tightrope connected to another stack. There was, however, another tightrope connecting a peg beside a door and another peg atop another wall of crates. Cheren gave a stressful sigh and jumped down to go in Arrangement Mode again, trying to move the peg beside the door. However, he couldn't move it to where he wanted because the tightrope stretched too short. Instead, he had to put it back and move the peg that was on top of the wall of crates, sticking it in the other hole beside where Celeste stood.

Cheren made his way back to his friend, and both crossed the new tightrope to get to the door. Since there didn't appear to be any way to the wall of crates, they just decided to enter this door, hoping for a solution. (Pause song.)

The door immediately sealed with metal bars, shutting them in a circular room where three pots of fire sat in the left side, right side, and northern side. A Miniblin was sitting on the floor beside a large glass hamster ball in the center. The short creature was staring in a mirror, cleaning his teeth out with a pitchfork. When the demon noticed the operatives, he flinched, jumped to his feet, and quickly climbed into his ball. He shut the ball's hole and began rolling around to crush the operatives. (Cue Mini-boss theme from… Majora's Mask.)

Sub-boss: Miniblin Bowler

They ran out of the way to avoid the Miniblin's giant glass ball, but the roll-happy creature stayed hot on their tail. Celeste dodge-rolled around the ball and attempted to rope it while it chased Cheren. Her rope went around the ball, but it was strong enough to pull her over and squish her like a pancake. Cheren turned around and raised his shield to block the giant ball, but he still couldn't defend as the Miniblin crushed the leader. Cheren shook his head as he recovered, but quickly ran when the Miniblin started chasing him again. He then decided to see if his M.A.R.B.L.E.s would do anything, and when he fired one that blew up on the ball, it sent it flying and bouncing off a wall.

Cheren gave a wide smile, having figured out this monster's weakness. When it kept coming at him, Cheren shot more M.A.R.B.L.E.s to knock it around the room some more. He was successfully able to knock it into a pot of fire. The Miniblin began steaming inside of his ball, hurriedly jumping his ball out of the fire as he danced around inside. He started rolling his ball around faster to smash Cheren, the boy unable to shoot him with any M.A.R.B.L.E.s since it was moving so fast. That's when Celeste helped by shooting the ball with her S.C.A.M.P.P.. While she couldn't do damage against the ball, she was able to draw the Miniblin's attention away from Cheren.

When the creature started to attack his ally, Cheren was able to begin blasting it with more M.A.R.B.L.E.s. He knocked it around the room until he knocked it into a pot of fire, making the Miniblin burn again. It hopped off the pot and fumed with more rage. The Miniblin was now bouncing the ball on his own, desperate to squash the son of Rachel, and Cheren's M.A.R.B.L.E.s were no longer doing any good. He tried to run over beside the pot of fire, but the Miniblin was smart enough not to bounce over there now.

"Hey, dude." Celeste pulled Cheren over, whispering something in his ear. He nodded at her and ran out, immediately chased by the bouncing Miniblin. Celeste was able to catch the pot with her rope and pull it out. Cheren kept running around the room to avoid the Miniblin, watching as Celeste pulled the pot into the center. Cheren ran to one of the walls, luring the Miniblin over, then quickly ran underneath. The Miniblin bounced off the wall and still followed, and his eyes widened when he found he was bouncing toward the moved pot. He couldn't slow himself because of the momentum and fell straight into the flame. (End song.)

The Miniblin flew out of the pot as his glass ball shattered. The last words he said before fainting were, "I told Dave setting those pots there was a bad idea…" (Resume Witchyworld's Theme.)

With the monster defeated, a giant chest appeared in the middle of the room. Cheren walked over to open, and was already met with a golden light. The light reflected off his glasses as he reached in to pick up a familiar item.

You got the Hookshot! A classic item! With this, you'll be able to pull yourself to targets at a reasonable distance! You can also pull distant items toward you!

Cheren already took notice of the yellow target with a red dot on the ceiling above the door. He launched his Hookshot at the target and pulled himself up, pulling the switch down. As a result, the door opened. He dropped to the floor as both he and Celeste walked back out to the room with all the crates. Cheren looked to the wall of crates and noticed the chest on top of it. He held onto Celeste as he launched the Hookshot at the chest, pulling them both over. Cheren opened the chest and found an easy Stray Fairy. They looked to the other side of the wall of crates and noticed a peg connecting a tightrope to a peg by the other wall of crates, and two Unicycle Miniblin balancing on it.

The operatives hurried over as Cheren got into Kateenian form, beginning to cross the tightrope. They came up to the first Miniblin and shook around, making it lose balance and fall. The second Miniblin tossed bombs at them from afar that landed on the rope, but they shook around and made the bombs fall. When they were close enough to the second Miniblin, they shook a little more to make the demon fall. They were able to reach an area inside the first wall of crates that had a chest containing a Stray Fairy.

They made their way back to the other wall of crates, where Cheren launched the Hookshot to a target above a door, pulling Celeste across with him. They entered a room that extended to the next floor. There were two stacks of parallel crates on the other side, indicating they had to do a Wall Jump. The stacks were too far apart for either one of them to Wall Jump up, so they had to go together. Cheren kicked off the left side while Celeste did the right side, the operatives kicking off the crates and then off each other as they jumped their way up. They successfully made it up the crates and saw the door on the small ledge across from them. Celeste jumped to where Cheren stood and grabbed on as he launched his Hookshot to the target above the door, pulling them over.

They entered the door and were on a higher area of the previous room with all the crates. They stood on a ledge and saw their next door on the opposite side, far away from where they were. Two parallel walls moved back and forth between their ledge and the door's. The walls were far apart, so they knew they had to do another double Wall Jump. However, the door on the other side was locked at the moment. Cheren studied his map and saw a chest on the right side of the room. They looked over and saw two ledges, with the chest on the second one, and a wooden peg sticking out from the wall between the two.

There was no way to reach the first ledge, so Cheren looked to the area on the left side. There were two more ledges, connected by a tightrope. He launched his Hookshot to a target above the first platform, then became a Kateenian to cross the tightrope to an Arrangement Pad. He became Sackboy and gained an overview of the area, and was able to pull the wooden peg out from the wall and stick it into the wall between the first platform and Celeste. When the Stork child swung across to the first ledge, Cheren moved the peg back to its original spot, allowing her to swing to the chest and open to find a key. Cheren had to move the peg around again so she could swing back. When Cheren tried to get back, he saw there was no way back to the starting ledge, so he had to move the wooden peg beside him over to the starting ledge. (My GOD, these puzzles confuse me!)

He changed back to human and Hookshoted over to the first ledge, then became a Kateenian to cross the tightrope. He changed back as both waited for the parallel walls to return. When they arrived, Cheren took the left wall and Celeste the right, and both began kicking off the walls and each other, staying with the moving walls as they crossed to the other side. They unlocked the door and entered another tall room, where stacks of crates aligned the walls on each side. There was a seesaw in the middle of the room, so Cheren got into Sackboy form while Celeste sat on it, allowing the boy to fling her to the top of the crates.

Cheren looked for a way for himself to get up next. He noticed a tiny gap between two crates and walked over, becoming a single strand of yarn and sliding in between the many crates like a worm. He slid his way through the maze of blocks before finally reaching the top where Celeste waited. There was a ledge across from them with a Hookshot target above a door, so Cheren shot the item over to pull them both up. There was an Arrangement Pad beside them, so before they continued, Cheren studied the map and saw there was a door behind the crates on their left, as well as a Stray Fairy behind a crate on their right. He became Sackboy again and moved both sides out of the way.

Cheren also set up a staircase of crates for them to use as a shortcut. They jumped down to the exposed barrel on the right side and broke it open, saving the Stray Fairy. They collected it and went to enter the door on the left side.

Metal bars sealed them in the following room once again. In the middle of the room, a large circus net hung from two wooden beams. Across the room was another ledge with a blue and yellow chest behind metal bars. Cheren looked below the net, and his eyes widened at an endless pit of darkness. "Um… wasn't this tent built over solid ground?" Celeste shrugged.

The two jumped onto the net and walked around, searching for their potential mini-boss. "See anything, yet?" Celeste asked.

Cheren looked up, and his eyes shot wide again. "Eup! Uhhh… Celeste?" he tugged on her shirt and pointed up.

"IPE!" her eyes widened, too.

A giant spider was curled up on the ceiling of the room. It opened its three eyes and stared down at the duo. She rubbed two of her legs and licked her lips, thinking they looked tasty. She hung from a web from the ceiling as she slid down, releasing several eggs that hatched into baby spiders. (Play the Spider's Theme from Donkey Kong 64.)

Sub-boss: Princess Gohma

The giant spider slept while her babies went to attack the operatives. The Gohma Larvae were as big as their feet, but they could only stomp on a few before the spiders began crawling on them. Cheren did a spin attack and shook the spiders away, then ran to slice the spiders off of Celeste's body. She pulled out her S.C.A.M.P.P. and quickly shot away the remaining spiders. The mother spider opened her eyes, looking around for her babies. Cheren aimed the Hookshot at one of her eyes and launched at it, pulling the eye out of her body. Cheren looked disgustedly as it bounced around, so he quickly dealt a fatal blow against it.

Princess Gohma released more eggs that hatched into larvae. Cheren started performing spin attacks to wipe out several babies at once. However, the Gohma Princess spat a web at the boy and trapped him. Celeste hurriedly burned the web with her S.C.A.M.P.P. before the babies could get close, and was able to free him. Cheren immediately back-flipped and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. in the middle of the bugs, blowing the rest of them away. The spiders' mother opened its two eyes and looked around for her babies. Once again, Cheren yanked one of her eyes out with his Hookshot and did a fatal blow, leaving only one eye left.

Princess Gohma decided to drop onto the net and fight them directly. She approached Cheren and swung her legs at him, but he protected with his shield. Celeste ran behind the beast and tossed her rope, catching her head. The spider shook around and ended up pulling Celeste on her back. The Stork girl held on tight as the spider tried to shake her off. Cheren noticed a Hookshot target on the ceiling and launched it up, pulling himself upward. He hung from the ceiling and looked down as the spider still tried to shake Celeste off, eventually opening its eyes to glare up at her. Cheren seized the moment, grabbed his sword, and dropped down, stabbing the spider clear in the eye.

They both hopped off as the spider shrunk down to the size of its larvae. Cheren and Celeste exchanged frightened glances, and both screamed as they frantically jumped and started stomping on the spider. After it was flattened completely, they gasped for breath and brushed the sweat from their foreheads. (Resume Witchyworld Theme.)

The metal bars protecting the room's entrance and the giant chest opened. Cheren shot his Hookshot to latch onto and pull him over to the chest. After going through another mini-cutscene of shiny lights, he pulled the golden, horned key out.

You got the Boss Key! Use this to open a particular room in the dungeon! Gee, I wonder which one?

The two left the room afterwards and climbed the stairs of crates back to the ledge in the previous room. Behind this next door was a smaller room, with a huge, metal door with a big hole in the center. It wasn't the Boss Door, but rather a similar door that was in Booster's Playground. Cheren recognized it and turned into Sackboy, going inside and maneuvering through the maze of locks. He had to avoid electrical Lock Worms as he made his way around, turning each lock at a corner of the maze. After turning all four locks, Cheren slid out of the hole, watching the massive door open.

The huge door with the horned lock was revealed on the other side. "Cool! We going to fight the boss now?" Celeste asked.

"Not yet." Cheren said, looking at his map. "We missed a couple fairies downstairs. Plus, we would have to leave and return them anyway."

"Uugh. Couldn't we just do that after the boss?"

"We're just gonna forget. Besides, it's more fitting to save the boss for last."

"Pfft, my butt." She mumbled.

With that said, they made their way all the way down the dungeon. They first returned to the small room that had only a staircase. Cheren remembered the Hookshot target on the ceiling and launched the device to latch it. The target was pulled down, and a chest appeared at the bottom of the staircase. Cheren walked down to open it, and saved a Stray Fairy.

The last fairy was located all the way in the first room. They spotted a Hookshot target above a wall of crates that blocked the other side of the room. He pulled himself to the target and reached the other side, which also had plenty of stacks of crates, though slightly shorter. There was an Arrangement Pad in the middle of the room, and Cheren noticed a circus monkey standing on one of the stacks. A wooden board made a bridge to another stack, so Cheren used his Bananarang to lure the monkey across. He then got on the Arrangement Pad and lifted the crate where the monkey stood, setting it onto another crate. Cheren then grabbed the wooden board and made a bridge to another stack of crates with a small opening in the wall.

Cheren tossed the Bananarang to make the monkey cross and enter the hole. The ape stepped on a switch that caused a chest to appear. Cheren proceeded to open the chest, rescuing the last Stray Fairy. He made his way back to Celeste and said, "Finally, have them all. Let's bring them back to the fountain." (End song.)

Bigtop Grounds; Fairy's Fountain

The two left the Bigtop and went up to the wide, circular fountain where the fairies drifted. Cheren opened his bottle and watched the fairies fly into the fountain with the others. The swarm of fairies spun around before vanishing in a flash of light. A geyser of water rose up from the middle, becoming a liquidy platform. Behind the platform, a figure shot out of the water, curled up like a cannonball and spinning. The fairy child landed on the geyser and made a 'ta-da!' pose, holding a hoop in her right hand. The spirit girl had hair and eyes just like Ashlyn, but she wore a big top-hat on her head, wore black boots with white laces, black shorts, and a black shirt that exposed her bellybutton.

"Whoa, that was a tight fit! If I didn't jump into a tiny glass from day-to-day, I might've suffocated!" she exclaimed in a British accent, but still had the voice of a child.

"Uh-" Cheren tried to speak, but the girl swiftly flipped over, caught him in her hoop, and pulled him closer, so that his face pressed against hers.

"Wow, that's a colorful outfit! Really red! You wouldn't by chance be a new circus performer, would you?"

"I-"

The girl released Cheren, flipped beside the water geyser, and said quickly, "My name is Gin, what's yours?"

Cheren shook out of it. "Uhh, Cheren!"

"Cheren, huh?" The girl stuck her right knee up and began to balance her hoop on top of it. "That's a very cool name! Very uncommon."

"Hehe!" Cheren grinned and blushed. "Well, Gin's a cool name, too."

"Not really. I was going to be named 'Vir-Gin', buuut… well, you see why that didn't work."

"Could've been named 'Virginia'." Celeste said.

"That was sort of the joke. So, how are you enjoying the carnival?" she asked as she began to flip and jump through her own hoop. "It's a fun place, is it not?"

"Hehe! Yeah, it is pretty fun! I'm glad Celeste brought me!" Cheren said, smiling at the girl, who smiled back.

"I should think so. The carnival is a sacred place." Gin was now rolling the hoop across her arms, afterwards twirling it on the tip of her left index. "Day after day, human beings are troubled with daily tasks and stressed with the problems of life. For just brief moments at a time, the carnival reminds people what it truly means to live. It shows them that life is not all about pain and struggles, but fun and joy, especially if you are accompanied by friends." She set the hoop on the floor, still keeping it standing as she got on and laid on it. "This is especially important when it comes to children. If children do not live and have fun as they are now, it could surely influence them when they're older."

She flipped over once again and caught Cheren in her hoop. "So, what about you? Have you remembered what it means to live?"

"I… guess so?"

"Well, we'll just have to make sure then, won't we? Step up here." She practically forced Cheren to walk with her as she pulled him onto the geyser of water. "We're going to jump into this tiny glass of water, are you ready?" Cheren looked down at a tiny glass of water in the fountain below.

"No!!"

"Good! On your mark, ready…" she held Cheren close to her, "get set…" Cheren shut his eyes tight, shaking nervously, "JUMP!" Gin held onto him as she leaped high in the air, the two spinning around like a cannonball as they shot into the small glass, creating a big splash of water that hit Celeste. Celeste stared at the glass, seeing it still sitting there with plenty of water inside. "TA-DAAA!" Gin stuck out of the water, her arm still around Cheren. The fairy spirit stepped out of the glass, pulling the child with her. "That WAS fun! You should be able to do that pretty often now." With that, she pushed Cheren away, who stumbled as he went over to Celeste.

You learned the Aerial Spin! Perform a rapid spin attack and wipe out enemies from above!

"It's been fun playing with you." Gin smiled at them. "Come back here to refresh if the fun's worn you out. Tata!" And with one more leap, the girl shot into her little glass and disappeared from sight.

Back inside the Bigtop

The two finally made it back to the Boss Door as Celeste gave a stressful sigh. "I can't believe we had to jump our way through this crazed tent again."

"Heh, where's that 'fun' attitude you had when we came here?" Cheren chuckled.

Celeste eye-rolled. "Just open the door, dude."

"Heh, okay." Cheren did so and stuck the skull key in the door, making the huge lock fall off. The door opened and revealed a steep staircase that led upward. They exchanged eager nods and raced up the stairs.

The staircase led them to the top-most area of the tent. The room was dark, and it seemed like just a wide open, empty area. The only light was a torch close beside them, next to a cannon and a pot full of sticks. But when Cheren pointed upward, they saw a series of tracks that twisted around a single platform. In the center of those tracks was the dark silhouette of a strange head with hands holding the strings of large puppets. Cheren pulled one of the sticks out of the jar and exchanged a shrug with Celeste, both operatives looking slightly worried. Cheren lit the stick on fire and lit up the cannon's fuse before they both climbed into the cannon. It aimed straight upwards and fired them high up and onto the platform.

They landed on the wobbly surface as it tilted back-and-forth like a teeter-totter. When the wobbling subsided, they looked at the silhouetted head. A crackling sound was heard as the head began to shake, both operatives readying their guard. Immediately, spotlights came on from down below, shining around the walls of the tent before focusing on the silhouette, revealing it to be a ghostly-white puppet's head, bald with a long nose, tiny, puffy cheeks, an open-mouthed smile, and tiny purple googly eyes that wobbled back and forth. The google eyes shot their attention to the kids, who jumped in surprise. Another spotlights shone on the creepy, lifeless puppets as the monster's hands started moving them up and down. Creepy carnival music could be heard in the background as its lower mouth moved up and down as well. (Play Mr. Patch's Theme from Banjo-Tooie.)

Boss fight: Masked Maniac Puppeteer, PUPPO

The puppeteer zoomed along the tracks and stopped on the side of the platform before making its monster puppets dance. The puppets flew over and kicked the operatives upside the heads, making both nearly fall over, but Cheren gripped the ledge of the platform and held Celeste in his other hand before pulling them both up. The two puppets started dancing on both sides of the rectangular platform, taking turns jumping and causing both sides to tilt up and down. Cheren stood his ground as he pulled out the Bananarang and tossed it at the strings of the puppets, causing them to break. Puppo still held the cross-shaped holders of the puppets' strings and used them as boomerangs to throw and knock the operatives over the edge of the platform.

The two fell the long drop to the floor below and landed with a thud. They had to run over to the cannon and use it to blast them up there again. By this time, Puppo had reattached the strings to his puppets and was trying to kick the operatives with them again. Cheren dodged the kicks and used his Bananarang to chop the strings off once again. However, the duo then noticed a target on the holder on their right, and a hook on the one on their left. The two exchanged nods before running to either side, Cheren using his Hookshot to latch onto the target, while Celeste tossed her rope to wrap around the hook. Both operatives pulled their side with all their might before successfully yanking the monster's hands clean off.

The head's eyes spun for a bit before it began zooming across the twisty tracks, the operatives having to dodge as fireballs spat from its mouth. Cheren then noticed that a blue square pad just lit up. He put on his Sackboy Mask and stood on the pad, going into his Rearrangement State. He got an overview of the area with Puppo still moving across the tracks. Cheren discovered he was able to change the direction of the tracks and proceeded to do so. Puppo still moved across the rearranged tracks until moving along one that led onto the platform, causing him to crash. The puppet monster's head lay dizzy on the track as his mouth hung open. Cheren reverted back to human form and went beside the monster, aiming his M.U.M.B.L.E.R. at the open mouth and shooting a M.A.R.B.L.E. inside. His mouth munched on the tiny sphere until his eyes widened, and the weapon exploded and caused mustard to drip from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

Puppo shook the mustard off before going back along the tracks, which had fixed themselves up. The hands and puppets reattached themselves as Puppo had them start bouncing on parallel sides of the platform again. Cheren did the same as before and used the Bananarang to chop the strings of the puppets, making them fall. They were about to latch their items onto the respective holders, but Puppo held the holders above the platform and started moving them about aimlessly before slamming them both on the operatives. They recovered in time for Cheren to latch his Hookshot on the target and Celeste to wrap her rope around the hook, yanking both hands off.

The puppet master started to zoom around the tracks again, launching bombs from his mouth this time. While Cheren turned into Sackboy and went into his Arrangement State, Celeste had to defend him by grabbing the bombs with her rope and throwing them over the edge. Cheren repeated the process from before and redirected the tracks into the platform, causing the monster's head to crash. Cheren reverted back to human form and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into the monster's mouth, exploding him on the inside.

The puppet head got up, went back along the tracks, and turned slightly red as it steamed with rage. They watched as the tracks redirected their selves and created a ramp that led off the tracks. The puppeteer rolled along this path and rode off the track, sending himself flying to another, more distant track. Puppo stayed safe from Cheren's Rearrangement State over there as he spat big, blue bombs in their direction. When the bombs landed, they took a few seconds for their fuses to reach before they exploded. From up above, a rope holding some circus supplies suddenly came loose, causing two seesaws to drop and land perfectly by the edge of their platform.

Cheren and Celeste exchanged nods before the Stork child started grabbing the bombs with her rope and laying them on the seesaw, so that Cheren could use Sackboy's hammer to fling them across, laying successful blasts against the puppeteer. After about four landed hits against him, he stopped and fumed with rage some more. The puppeteer went along another track and sped along the sides of the circus arena. The tracks around the operatives changed around so that they led to the tracks around the sides, the kids watching as a minecart rolled over beside them as well.

The duo jumped in the minecart and began chasing the evil puppet demon. They were riding along three alternate tracks and had to steer their cart to switch to other tracks when Puppo set spots ahead of them on fire. The crazy puppet sent Bombballoons flying at the operatives, but Celeste easily caught them with her rope and tossed them back, making the puppet's eyes wobble with each blast. The big, plastic head was falling apart a little with all the damage done to it. After three rebounded Bombballoons, the giant head started bouncing dizzily along the tracks. When the operatives' minecart rammed into his face, his head began scraping along the tracks as his mouth hung wide open. Cheren took this perfect opportunity to fire one more M.A.R.B.L.E. into his head. (End song.)

The tiny explosive caused Puppo's eyes and nose to pop off. He went flying off the tracks, crashing on the ground below, where mustard leaked out of his smoking holes. The two operatives made their way down to him afterwards, disgusted at the sight of the defeated puppet. Barely able to keep his eyes open, Cheren pulled out the Spirit Flute and played the Song of Healing.

Doo-doo, doo, doo-doo, doo, doo-doo, do-do-dooo.

Puppo's mouth dropped open one last time. The demon moaned as it was swallowed in a light, and quickly faded from existence. All that was left was his mask, in which his eyes and mouth were all fixed up. Cheren walked over to claim his prize.

You've seized Puppo's Remains! You've just freed the innocent spirit that was kept imprisoned within the body of evil Puppo!

"Listen, dude… sorry about holding you back when, y'know, Miyuki was there. That probably coulda been your chance." Celeste said.

"Naah, you were probably right. Maybe we're not ready to take on Majora just yet. I have a feeling that, whoever these spirits are, maybe they can help us."

Celeste grinned. "Then I guess you're stuck with us until we find them all!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" Cheren laughed. "You were really fun to hang around. Sorry about stomping your nails earlier."

"Ehh, it didn't hurt that much. You were probably too spineless to do so, anyway!"

"What??" he playfully yelled.

"Being in Sackboy's body had an effect on you, probably!"

"Let's see you laugh after a few hammer bonks to the head!"

On that note, both kids laughed. "So anyway, where to next?"

"We have to head to Holoska." Cheren replied.

"What makes you say that?"

"It was in the dream I had; when I was knocked out. I think… someone's waiting for me in Holoska. A friend."

"Hm. Well, if that's what you think, Holoska it is." She smiled.

That's when Cheren felt Puppo's Mask shaking in his hands, and when he looked at it, he was swallowed in a flash of light.

Spirit World (Play the Giants' Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Firework explosions and zooming coasters echoed in the distance as Cheren stood atop the tall pillar, overlooking the vast, bright, red carnival. Columns of water still flowed into the starry heavens as bubbles floated about the realm. Before Cheren's eyes stood another one of the Giants, far away in the distance, and Fi floated before Cheren over his platform. "Just… what are you things, anyway?"

"Rowww-rr-rr-RRRWWR."

"…Guardians…" Fi translated.

"Guardians? So you… protect this world? Is that why you're in the temples? But why are the guardians…" There was silence as Cheren took time to think. "If only you guys can break the curse, why was Miyuki able to curse you to begin with? Do you guys have something to do with Majora? And where did you all come from, anyway? Where does Majora come from?"

The realm started to become swallowed in light, and Cheren could no longer see them. "What?! Hey, I'm not done yet! You can't just leave now! You have so much to explain! WAIT!!"