Out of all she had seen today, she was more intrigued about Bing Bong than her fear of the weasels. To her they were all bark and no bite. She seemed to be level with Gurri but she wasn't sure about Geno who seemed a little wild. Or perhaps, a lot. As she could see as she was helping to get the ball out of place, she saw Geno giving an effort to pull against his bonds with swift hits with his sharp antlers and harsh kicks with his back legs. Bing Bong did not take the action lightly.
"I really dunno about him though..." she heard him say.
"Me... me neither." she replied, rather honestly.
She was tempted to ask questions but recalled what Gurri said on the matter why Bing Bong was 'asleep', if that was the right word. She didn't dare mention that it was a spell because it could frighten him further. He asked probably the same things she was asking. Who knew? So she had to be careful, for the others too. As she moved though, she stepped on something. Sarah looked down and moved her shoe only to see a flower made entirely out of colored fabric. She lightly picked it up, but it looked okay.
"Wow..."
Bing Bong looked curiously over at her, but his eyes lit up and he smiled.
"Oh, you found it!" he said, clapping.
"Huh? Is this yours?"
"Oh, yes! I thought I lost it."
"Oh." she said as she handed it to him.
In glee, he placed the multi-colored flower on the left side on the collar of his thick jacket. To her, he looked even more official, as a clown and she smiled.
"Looks good!"
"Thanks!" Bing Bong gave her a hug, which felt pretty sudden to her.
She accepted it though. Like Gurri and the fawns, he was a friend to her and Woody. There was something about this creature, who seemed so kind and was as sweet as the sugar he was made out of. He was soft too as his appearance showed and he even felt warm when he hugged her. He was almost as tall as she was, surprisingly yet if he was an elephant, he was quite small for his size.
"So... what are you, exactly?" Sarah asked soon after as she helped him get the giant ball rolling.
"Aw... I'm uh... I think I'm made of cotton candy..."
"Obviously..." Sarah giggled.
"Heh? And... I think I'm a cat and then elephant." he said, swishing that fluffy tail and then lifted his trunk up a bit.
"You know, that's pretty cool. No wonder the fawns like you."
"They do... Jumper likes to hide under my tail." Bing Bong giggled.
While they were conversing, once again there was that silent but beautiful observer. She was able to fight against the spell that was holding everyone in and she found someone who could be of great help who was scoping out the place before. It was a plan to free them all. Then seeing the two get closer was a pleasant sign.
Woody ran off the stage and hid against the beam, trying to catch some breath.
"By my perspective, this has to be the most messed up circus that I have ever seen... or imagined."
Sarah and Bing Bong looked at him with worry. Through the tarp, they could hear cheering and Geno was lying down in this sort of corral, on his side with his front leg tied up with some sort of thick rope, as if he fell. He was huffing in rage.
"You're up!" came Pete's booming tone at them as he took stepped inside, shutting the tarp.
Sarah was able to see the Boss fully and glared up at him. He glared back down at her and lowered down, smartly puffing smoke from his cigar at all three of them. Sarah coughed and tried to wave the smoke away. Bing Bong's eyes watered and turned his face away.
"Got somethin' to say, kid?"
To give you a good kick to the pants is what I'd say... she thought.
Bing Bong's only defense was the ball and he slowly hid behind it, but there was no escape. Even he held a little anger in his eyes.
"Make 'em look good, Bing Bong." Pete widely smiled, although it wasn't genuine. "Ya never ceased to fail so far. Do good tonight and you can stay up."
"Okay." was the timid reply.
Stay up? Was he referring to that weird spell? Well, that had to be looked into later. Right now, they had some pressure. Sarah didn't know what she was going to do but she was sure Bing Bong knew what to do out there. As soon as the corral was cleared and Geno was taken aside, it was obvious that it was their turn. She could tell though, Bing Bong was not willing to go out either.
"Oh!" he whimpered in dread as Pete left.
She turned her head to him.
"You know what to do, right?"
"I-I do. But... they might throw things again." he replied.
"Just try to ignore them. We'll make it fun!"
Hopefully, that was enough. If they went through the whole act freely with just the two of them. Or maybe three now that Woody hopped onto Bing Bong's shoulder.
"She has a good idea there. We'll make it fun." Woody added, which made Bing Bong smile.
"Okay!" he perked up.
They had to try and do a good one, to spare Bing Bong of that spell. She still had much to ask about all of this, but for now...perhaps they should lay low. Pete's whole presence felt threatening, as far as the weasels were concerned. Her stomach jumped the moment they rolled the giant ball out into the open and she tried to not look at the audience. There was one light pointing down to the heart of the stage and all around it looked dark. It was all loud only a second ago. Now she was regretting this. She hated this kind of thing and yet she wasn't the only one. She and the Elephant both rolled and centered the ball in the middle of the stage. Among the Toons in the audience, in the side lines, Gurri was helplessly watching and she did not look well after watching the baiting of her brother before. Another light shot down at them which made them have to shield their eyes.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS!" boomed Pete's voice from nowhere in particular. "WHAT WE HAVE FOR YOU HERE IS BING BONG, THE ELEPHANT! WITH HIS ASSISTANTS, JACKIE AND WOODY THE COWBOY!"
"Well, snake in my boot, you'd think his head would've exploded by now..." Woody whispered.
Sarah almost burst out laughing at that comment. Bing Bong looked over at her wondering what Woody said, but now it was time.
"I think we bit off more than we could chew..." Woody sighed as the drum roll began.
He climbed atop Sarah's shoulders and climbed onto the ball at the same time as Bing Bong was doing the same. Sarah was frantic now since all eyes were on them. The laughter of a child though cheered up Bing Bong as he attempted to get on top of the ball with Woody in such short time. There was an applaud. The only one stuck was Sarah... After hugging it after he got on, he glanced down at her and Woody provided some leverage so it wouldn't roll. Toons started laughing at them. Sarah saw Bing Bong nervously look down at her, but then he reached his hand down to her. She had her turn of getting on, awkwardly, up there with them. All the while, Pete was watching, the weasels were watching, the dark hyenas were there too. Gammy was beside Gurri as she watched on with worried anticipation. Sarah made one last jump and was able to grab hold of the Imaginary's hand. He pulled her up fast so the ball wouldn't roll. Startled, she gave a shriek and hugged Bing Bong's arm tightly.
"Ohmygosh~ this is so weird!" she trembled, seeing how high they were.
"Stand up!" Bing Bong whispered after spotting Pete's glare.
"What??" she squeaked, still holding his hand.
"We gotta!" he had to pressure more, but she did her best.
Helping one another, the two stood slow and the giant ball was prone to rolling. It did not feel good but the audience clapped as they all worked together. Woody slipped and climbed up Bing Bong's arm and then his trunk. Once he was up, Woody took his hat off and bowed and so did Bing Bong. The audience whistled and clapped louder than before.
*
Meanwhile, from the outside, someone was sneaking through the grass with a quiver on his back. He was a red fox, wearing a green tunic and pointed cap with a single red plume. He spotted the one place the fairy told him of and the prisoners held inside. He was solo for now and some sort of unseen guidance provided clues of stolen spell pages through out the woods that led him offroad. With his sensitive hearing, he could hear the show go on inside. There was a spell holding them all in, which meant the same for him when he would go in. He was known as Robin Hood, and he was quite impressive with his skills of improvisation and when it was for the sake of others, it worked out more passionately. He took his cap off and buried it and his quiver of arrows right beside this one stone. There was no use for weapons here. He had to wing it the best he could this time and speak to the captives as soon as possible. Also, there was a true child from the real world in there with them. This was going to take some work.*
She improvised for the first time and Bing Bong was surprised when she climbed onto his back. He stood on all fours at this point and gasped.
"What are ya doin'!?" he worried.
"Going to make them laugh!" she replied and climbed onto one of the beams, much to both Woody's and Bing Bong's surprise. Bing Bong gave her a quick push up with his trunk.
"Keep going!" she encouraged.
"Are you nuts?" Woody was surprised.
"Yes!" she cried, running along the beams, remembering a gym trick she learned a few years back.
When she would break rules by climbing the monkey bars the wrong way, here was the perfect time to do it. It left everyone confused and anticipated. When she got to the middle and Bing Bong continued rolling the ball, Woody flipped off and grabbed hold onto one of the fixtures. Sarah got to the middle of her beam, grabbed a rope. This had better knock them dead because she didn't want to do this either. Making a make shift swing, she hung down and swung, screaming in surprise and some ducked. There was a ball pit near by and she swung higher and higher until she flew off the swing and landed right in it.... The audience broke into laughter. Bing Bong rolled the ball fast and kicked it off stage after he jumped off as a rain of balloons fell from the net above. She knew how stupid she looked but it worked. Even Pete was going nuts. Was it that bad? Dizzy, she climbed out of the ball pit to see candies being thrown and balloons being played with.
"...I'm done..." she sighed out to herself.
Soon Bing Bong took her hand and helped her out of the pit, very excited.
"Ya did it! Ya made them laugh!" he cheered with laughter in his voice.
"Say, we make quite a team!" Woody said, giving her a fist hit in the shoulder.
"That was something!" she added, feeling better.
"BING BONG AND HIS POSSE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" concluded Pete, taking some spot light for himself.