Part 1

"What if we try to throw a party?" I suggested while trying to draw figures of the different members of the island reunited on a huge leaf using a piece of chorcoal.

"A party?? In here?" Balla asked looking kinda unsure about my suggestion. At least I think she did... Her expressions as always are kinda hard to read.

"Why not? Your cave is huge! We could probably fit about thirty members of the island in here at least."

"I don't know... I'm not good with crowds..."

"I know... That's kinda the point... We are trying to help you have an easier time talking with them."

The two of us were trying to come up with different ideas on how to make Balla get rid of her bad reputation. Many members of the island were afraid of her because of the little incident involving her almost absorbing everyone while she sleeps. So we needed to show that they had nothing to fear and that she was just like everyone else.

"And then they will be my best friends too? And we can watch each other while the other sleeps and follow each other wherever they go?"

... Ok, maybe not like everyone else...

"Balla, focus!! This is to help fix your image! We can't have you go around talking about watching people while they sleep like a creepy stalker!" I said while poking her with the charcoal.

"Cree- Creepy?? I'm creepy??"

Oh, no... Did I go too far? I'm still not used to talking with people... Actually, now that I think about it... Am I really the best person to do this job? What do I even know about the act of making people like you?

"Well... Maybe not creepy... Just... You know... Not aware of personal space and stuff..."

"Personal space...? Is this a joke about me being a black hole?" she asked while frowning.

"Ugh... You know... Forget the party... Let's just focus on what side of yourself we can show to make people like you."

"Ok..."

"What can you do?"

"Uhhh..."

"Besides absorbing things inside of you..." I added.

"Oh! Hmmm..." she said while crossing her arms. At least, I assumed they were her arms. Kinda hard to tell since her whole body was covered in blankets. I was starting to get curious about her anatomy, to be honest...

"Come on... There has to be something you're good at!"

"Oh! I can keep my eyes open for more than thirty hours without blinking!"

"... ... ..." Yeah, this isn't going to work. "I think we need help..."

Part 2

My plan of helping Balla to get popular was looking like a dream that would never become a reality with each passing moment. However, I still didn't want to give up just yet, so I decided to ask for the help of the smartest creature I knew.

"Mr. Serpent!!?? Are you there??" I yelled as we approached the lake that Mr. Hog took me to when I first arrived at the island.

"Is it ok to come here like this?" Balla asked while shaking. She seemed a bit nervous to be there. Could it be that this was her first time visiting Mr serpent?

"It will be fine, don't worry. Mr. Serpent is a super cool guy!" I said while trying to calm her down.

The water then started to rise and before we noticed, a huge snake with beautiful colors had emerged while piercing the sky. I forgot how big this guy was, my Lord...

Balla looked like she was about to have a panic attack. I can't blame her though.

"Ah, nice to see you again Chloe..." He said while gazing upon me. "Are you feeling ok?"

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Feeling ok? Oh, right! I smacked myself against the sky barrier like an idiot and ended up losing most of my body... Good times...

"Yeah... I'm good... But it looks like I won't be going anywhere for a while... I hope you don't mind me staying on the island for a bit longer."

"It will be my pleasure. Everyone is welcome here in Omni-island."

"Yeah... This is what I wanted to ask about... My friend over here is not feeling very welcomed." I said while pointing at my left with my index.

"Your friend...?"

"Mmmm...?" I turned my head and realized that Balla wasn't there. "What the...? Balla!!? Balla, where did you go??"

I turned around and realized that she was cowering behind me. She was still shaking non-stop.

"Balla, what are you doing?" I asked.

"So- Sorry... He was so scary!!" she answered with a trembling voice.

I got behind her and pushed her a little bit so she would get closer to Mr. serpent.

"This is my friend, Balla." I introduced her.

"Ah, I see... The black hole child that likes to spend all day inside the cave of red bats." Mr. serpent sai- wait... Cave of red bats...? What was that about??

"Uh... Hello... Nice to meet you..."

"Nice to meet you too. I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you for a while now."

"Really??"

"Of course! It is my duty to officially welcome all the newcomers on the island."

"I see..."

Red bats, red bats... Were there any red bats on that cave...? How come I never- Oh! They are talking about something, I need to pay attention.

"So... Uh..." Balla was looking at him, still shaking a little.

"Yes, child?"

"Would you like to be my friend?" she asked.

"Of course, young one! Why would I not want to be?"

"Ah, because of that one time where I almost sucked everyone into another dimension when I fell asleep and lost control of bugh-" Balla was about to reveal her little accident but I hurried to shut her mouth before things could get any worse.

"Wait, what...? Suck everyone into another dimension? What?" Mr. serpent widened his eyes. Oh no, I better change the subject.

"Ah! Mr. Serpent! We came here in need of a favor today!"

"Oh! Uh, sure... What can I do for you?"

"We were wondering if..." Oh, wait... I can't talk about how we need to fix her reputation or he will start asking about the incident again. "If there was something troubling the creatures of this island that we could help with?"

"We were? Ughh!" Balla asked but I gave a light punch on her stomach to keep her quiet.

"Yes! Yes, we were Balla! Don't you remember how we were talking about how we could probably help a little bit with our skills?" I said. Balla started to look confused so I grabbed her head and whispered in her ear, "Just roll with it!"

"I see... That's very kind of you two..." Mr. serpent said. Looks like we managed to make convince him. "There are indeed a few things that still need to be solved that could use an extra hand or two."

I don't even know if Balla has hands but this could work, "Just tell us! We love to help!"

"Mmmm... Let's see..." He said while beginning to ponder. We saw him raising the tip of his tail to scratch his chin as if he was an old man reflecting about what to do.

Somehow I ended up turning this 'Help me make Balla popular mission' into a 'Give us work to do' mission. But it wasn't a big problem. With my wind and water powers, I'm pretty sure there is no problem that the two of us can't solve.

If we manage to show Balla doing a bunch of good deeds we might change how people look at her.

"We have been facing some trouble with one of our latest visitors... He actually came right before you arrived here, Chloe... Unfortunately, I can't leave this lake to have a proper discussion with him, so if you could ask him to come here I would really appreciate it!"

Oh, that doesn't seem so bad. "And who is this visitor?"

"He is a small baby from the comet race that got separated from his family and has no one to help him. From what I heard he's a very sweet child but he has a bad habit of losing his temper and start combusting out of nowhere and starting fires on the island."

"Combusting...?"

"Comets are beings of stone covered in fire on every part of their body. They usually have a lot of self-control and try to avoid getting involved with other species... But that's not the case this time."

A baby made of fire... I think I saw someone like that when I first arrived.

"So we just need to bring him here to chat with you?" I asked.

"That would be a great help." he answered.

I looked at Balla, "What do you say? Wanna give your first step into fixing your image?"

"Yes!! Let's do it!! I'm feeling very confident with you by my side!!" she said while shaking her arms with excitement.

"Wait, fix your image...?" Mr. serpent barged into our little moment.

"It's nothing!!" I said trying to draw his attention elsewhere. "You can count on us Mr. serpent!"

"Uhhh... That's... Not my name you know..."

Part 3

We started to roam around the island to look for the baby comet. We kept approaching people to ask if they had seen him somewhere, but as usual, everyone was so afraid of Balla that it was hard to hold a conversation with them.

"Maybe I should hide..." Balla suggested.

"No way!! We need to show that you are trying to help! The people need to see you!" I said in rejection.

"But we will never find the baby at this rate!"

"Mmmm..." she sadly had a point... What should we do to convince people to let us know where he is?

"Oh, there he is!" Balla said.

"What?" I turned around to the direction she was pointing and saw a bunch of creatures coming in our direction and running away terrified. They were all so scared that they didn't even mind Balla's presence.

There was a monkey covered in petals, two deers with trees where their horns would be and a girl made entirely out of vines.

"Oh! Vina" I tried to wave at her but she just passed right through us. "Ok... Bye Vine, I guess..."

I turned around and finally saw what they were all running away from. It was the baby, and he was crying. That alone wasn't so bad but it looked like his emotions were connected with his fire powers because right now the little brat was in the middle of a huge storm of fire and burning everything around him.

Balla just looked at me with worried eyes. "Uh... Chloe...? What's our plan?"

The baby spotted us staring at him and began to charge towards our position, bringing the whole storm of fire with him.

I just looked at Balla and whispered, "Run!!"