McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Part 5 - Dougie Poynter

Here's part five of my brand new McBusted Fan Fiction which is a 10-parter interconnected story. The McBusted boys were making their way to their show, only for them to get kidnapped and forced to take part in an escape room based on video game genres. Can they make their escape in order to make it to their show on time?

The five chapter focuses on Dougie Poynter,. It will guest star Hayden Christensen, my original character Dominic and the Pokémon they have used for the Pokémon Adventures story . Make sure you keep an eye out weekly for each chapters.

Here's Chapter 1 with Danny Jones

Here's Chapter 2 with Tom Fletcher

Here's Chapter 3 with James Bourne

Here's Chapter 4 with Charlie Simpson

Dougie Poynter

Yo! It’s your favourite bass player in the whole wide world, Dougie Poynter, getting ready for the McBusted show, but it’s we McFly boys who will be the real stars, having to put up with those Busted losers (but please, don’t tell them I said that, especially not Matt.  I love them really).

I thought I’d make my way to the arena in the most awesome way possible, wearing my dungarees (since my fans adore me in that outfit of mine after all) while riding on my trusty Bonneville T100 designed by yours truly. Get ready for the greatest bass player motorcycle ride, driving forever in the sun together, living in the endless summer forever!... So I started my engine, and let’s just say it would have been the greatest ride if I remembered to refill some petrol last night, so I have to walk it.

On the bright side, it’ll help with the environment, and the weather is nice, which is ideal for our show, with it being set outside. This makes it a nice walk in the sun, as said by Danny Jones for our Motion in the Ocean album (you know, the Frontman who had a Snake in his pants).  The sun is shining, the grass is green, the birds are chirping, the butterflies are swarming, there’s a flying arcade machine in the sky...wait! That’s not normal! It was beaming me up. Oh no! I’m going to be late! My fans and bandmates are going to be mad at me.

I must have blanked out until I woke up and found that I was in a room with a grassy field. What the heck is this place? What the hell is going on? Just then, the screen monitor was turned on, showing a shady Roman soldier. “It’s Gaming Time! Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Binary Pals to Escape The Gaming Room! I am your host, Pluto! Tonight we have some very special guests taking part; it’s the boys from the best-loved boy bands McFly and Busted, who have formed together as McBusted!”

“Hey, you! You must be the alien who kidnapped me! Don’t even think about experimenting on me, or I’ll hijack this ship to the moon!” I cried. “I wouldn’t dream of it since you have been chosen to catch and raise shadowy entities known as Emblemmons for the beloved RPG monster taming game Emblemmon! And I am not an alien!” said Pluto.

So I’ve been selected to take part in this Pokémon rip-off gaming room. Ok, that sounds fun. “You gotta find and catch Emblemmons using your trusty Emblem Key to catch them, raising them as your army to become the very best like no one ever was” explained Pluto. “So I gotta build an army; trust nobody” I said. “You have the idea here!” said Pluto as I was given the Emblem Key, which resembles a Key Blade.  So starting today, I thou be the world’s best Emblemmon Master!... While getting the heck out of here.

Use this theme for Emblem Mon - also a Pokémon parody

Some say to keep off the grass, but I’ll be breaking that rule to find as many Emblemmons to tame for my army as I make my way to the coliseum, where Pluto told me that the boss awaits. I’ve found the three Embemmons that surrounded me. One of them resembles a panther with an axe in its mouth known as a Barkrong. It attacks me with its axe that summons roots on the ground.

The other one resembles an angry dog that is holding a sword known as a Celerus. It swings its sword at me, which produces flames, so I wouldn’t want to touch that. Then there’s a horse made out of Kelp Plants named a Kelphie, which charges at me while holding a spear that is made out of aquatic essence.

I have to fight them so that I can capture them with my Emblem Key, but the trouble is, I don’t have an Emblemmon that I can fight with. “You could have at least given me a starter, Embemmon!” I cried. “Whoops! I guess we had an oversight. You have to figure this one out yourself,” said Pluto gleefully.

Use this theme for All Mighty Man

So I tried swinging my Emblem Key at them, but nothing happened. I did consider using my mind-controlling powers, but they were so fast that I couldn’t grip their mind. It looks like I’m becoming Emblemmon food...that is, until a hunky superhero with huge booby pecs shows up out of the blue. “As long as I am here, then you have nothing to fear! For it is I, All Mighty Man!” said All Mighty Man, whose true identity is Dane. He used his muscular strength to restrain the Emblemmons as he firmly held them onto the ground while using his reflexes to dodge their attacks.

“Of course, I wouldn’t normally use my strength on animals, but I can’t leave you all alone” he said. “Well, good or off with your head for harming defenceless creatures!” I replied, but regardless, I used this chance to weaken them using my Mind Spheres. They did manage to break free from Dane’s beefy hands, but I hypnotised them to attack each other instead. This helped to weaken them enough for me to capture them with my Emblem Key (which absorbs the Emblemmons and turn them into keychains). So now I have an axe user, grass type Panther, a sword-wielding, fire type dog and a water type horse that uses a spear in my army! “Folks, you have witnessed our first capture!” said Pluto. “And may my heart become their guiding key”, I said, being chuffed with my success.

I have Dane to thank. “Let me accompany you to find and capture those Emblemmons while I find my comrades, who I believe were captured here. We’ll be killing two birds with one stone this way,” offered Dane. “And you shall be my Emblemmon”, I said jokingly, which made Dane chuckle.

Use this theme for Emblemmon again

So we made our way through the grasslands towards the coliseum, encountering more Emblemmons, including a humanoid fairy that uses a tome that fires ice magic known as a Pixcle, an anthropomorphic Anubis that fires electrical arrows called an Anuzap and a floating stone tablet that shoots out rocky darts called a Rolat.

“Remember to consider their strength and weaknesses, for example, a fire-type Emblemmon has the advantage over ice-type Emblemmons, while a water-type Emblemmon is weak against an electric-type Emblemmon. That will make a difference in battle,” advised Dane. “Sure thing, I know my Pokémon”, I said (since we have been on a Pokémon tour after all) as I set my Emblemmons to fight.

It started off well at first with my Barkrong slamming its axe on the Rolat (which was surrounded by a green aura, summoning leaves upon impact), which was super effective, and Celerus slashing its fire sword at Pixcle and Anuzap while protecting Kelphie from Anuzap’s lightning arrows. However, things started to go awry with the Pixcle firing an icy spell towards Celerus, which froze it solid, allowing Rolat to take it out with its dart. I thought Celerus would have a type advantage against Pixcle! Barkong’s movements slowed down after getting hit by Anuzap’s arrows, which led it to get taken out by Pixcle’s icy magic.

Upon defeat, Barkong and Celerus have vanished. “Where did they go?!” I said. “Sorry, but if they are defeated, you can’t get them back as it’s permadeath for them! And this is no casual mode!” said Pluto. What? Noooo! Barkrong and Celerus were my first Emblemmons, and I had future plans with them! Dane noticed my distress, but he helped me compose myself by saying, “I know how you feel, but the battle isn’t over yet. You still have Kelphie left”.

He’s right; I’ll be putting it all into my Kelphie for Barkrong and Celerus. I commanded Kelphie to swing its spear to counter Anuzap’s arrows, which would otherwise take a big hit from them. This allowed Kelphie to charge into Rolat by thrusting its spear towards it as it was surrounded by a veil of water, scoring super effective damage!

Pixcle fired its icy magic towards Kelphie, but it wasn’t hurt as much, as Kelphie resisted ice-based moves, so it was able to take it down by slashing its spear, striking Pixcle like a tidal wave crashing down. It was about to get shocked by Anuzap’s arrows, so I said to Dane, “Dane, use that body of yours to shield Kelphie!” Dane seemed perplexed, but he followed orders. “Um...my body shall be tough as steel!” said Dane as he tanked the arrows. This gives Kelphie a chance to sucker punch Anuzap, allowing me to capture the three Emblemmons with my Emblem Key. And now I have more Emblemmons in my party!

“He’s not an Emblemmon!... But it has already happened, so...” said Pluto, who seemed surprised that I’ve used Dane. “Now we can move onwards!” said Dane. But first, I told him that we’ll have a few minutes' silence for Barkong and Celerius. I was still salty to lose them before I barely used them.

We walked a bit further and spotted two Emblemmons that resembled a large bird with long talons and a spiritual being made out of sand, holding a staff. According to Pluto, they are known as Talonrus and Sandyman (get it?).  I would certainly want these Emblemmons in my party! That said, Talonrus do look fearsome, so I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of it. “Shhh. If we can sneak up on them, we could capture them without having to fight them,” said Dane quietly. “My lips are sealed”, I whispered (which isn’t practical for a musician like me).

We crouched down, and I focused on capturing them with my Emblem Key while we were behind those two Emblemmons. However, the grass was making my nose all twitchy. I was so close to capturing them, but at the last second, I sneezed. I must have sneezed so loudly that the Talonrus and Sandyman have heard us. They turned and attacked us. “What have you done?!!” cried Dane.

I quickly sent out two of my Emblemmons: Anuzap and Pixcle, as they have the best matchup against those two. Talonrus strikes like a hawk, swooping down and attacking with its long claws and beak, while Sandyman uses its staff to summon sandstorms or earthquakes. But we fought back with Anuzap shooting down Talonrus with its thunder arrows and Pixcle freezing Sandyman with its icy magic. “You sure know your matchups”, said Dane. “You have Pokémon to thank”, I said.

Even with a type advantage, those two Emblemmons were tough, with Talonrus having the speed to dodge moves and Sandyman healing any damage for itself or for Talonrus with its staff. The Talonrus then attacked by flapping its large wings, which summoned a hurricane that surrounded Anuzap and Pixcle. I recalled them both and swapped them with Rolat and Kelphie as suggested by Dane, who advised me to save them for later.

I told Rolat to fire its rocky darts at Talonrus, shooting it right down and Kelphie to strike its aquatic lance on Sandyman, ordering them to keep on attacking like they never attacked before. However, The Sandyman has the ability to use its staff to make itself and it’s allies stronger. Talonrus’s Attack and Speed became boosted, swooping into Kelphie fast and hard while Sandyman handles hits from Rolat and hits hard back with super effective damage with its earthquake. “Nooooooo!!!” I cried as I lost two of my Emblemmons. “Dearly me; it looks like it’s turning into a heartbreaking tragedy”, said Pluto.

“You can’t always rely on offence alone. Sometimes, the best offence is the best defence,” said Dane. He does have a point, and I have an idea to get my back on them. I’ve sent out my Pokémon Glaceon, firing its Blizzard at Talonrus and Sandyman, which froze them solid (and hitting them with super effective damage, I bet). “Ha! This shall be your punishment for killing two of my Emblemmons!” I said. “Hey! That’s not an Emblemmon!” cried Pluto. “Well, Pokémon are the real thing!” I said just before sending out my Anuzap and Pixcle.

While Talonrus and Sandyman were frozen, I’ve told Pixcle to cast a spell on itself and Anuzap, boosting their offensive, speed and defence. Just as Talonrus and Sandyman have thawed out, I told Pixcle to cast a spell on them that debuffs their status, weakening them and removing their status buffs. “That was good thinking of you!” said Dane, praising me as he watched Anuzap and Pixcle dealing lots of damage while striking and moving fast and handling hits. This helped to weaken Talonrus and Sandyman enough for me to capture them, adding them to my team.

We were nearly at the coliseum, and a huge Emblemmon that resembled a huge dragon had flown by. “Whoa! Bet that would be a powerful and valuable Emblemmon!” I said, astonished by its size. “That is a Negagon, one of the strongest Emblemmon you can have. But if you want it, then you have to fight it,” explained Pluto. I thought I’d start off with Dane first. “Since you’re a powerful superhero fighting for equal rights, I can preserve my Emblemmons”, I said. “Er, if you say so”, said Dane, blushing.

As expected, the Negagon is a powerful, badass dragon with powerful moves, swift movements and durable defences, but Dane is able to hold his own as he restrains Negagon with his superhuman strength, enduring some hits and hitting back hard. “Again, I don’t intend to fight innocent creatures who only act according to nature but it’s all for you to clear this challenge” said Dane as he held the Negagon’s claws when it lashed them at Dane who tossed Negagon onto the ground, counter its laser beam that Negagon fired from its mouth with his All Mighty Beam and stop Negagon’s tracks when it charged at him using All Mighty Punch. “Now now, we can’t let you beat Negagon that easily!” said Pluto, who must have recognised Dane’s strength, and he teleported away. So I am left with my Emblemmons.

I sent out my Sandyman, who slowed down Negagon’s movements with the speed debuff spell using its staff. I then withdrew Sandyman and sent out Pixcle, which I commanded to buff its ranged attack using its spell, for it to fire an icy spell attack at Negamon, who is supposed to be weak against it (since reptiles can’t handle cold temperature). However, Negagon got mad and fired its laser beam at Pixcle, which took it out. Rest in peace, Pixcle.

So I sent out my Sandyman and Anuzap, using Anuzap to strike down Negagon with its thunder arrows while it was in the air and Sandyman to provide the healing whenever Anuzap got hit. Negagon went on a rampage, trashing the place with its high speed and brute force, taking down Sandyman and meeting its demise, needless to say, while dealing heavy damage to Anuzap. I withdrew Anuzap, not wanting to lose it just yet, and sent out Talonrus and Glaceon (since it’s an Ice-type, so it would have a type advantage).

My Talonrus is just about evenly matched against Anuzap who can catch up to its movements with its aerial mobility while hitting hard with its talons and wind based moves and Glaceon hits hard using Ice Beam but Negagon was still troublesome to deal with who charged into them while having super armour to withstand hits and used its breath attack that intercept any ranged hits that was fired at it.

“Oh my, it looks like Negagon is giving them some trouble, which makes it even more thrilling. Audience loves to watch participants struggle after all!” said Pluto. It looks like Negagon will sweep us all...until there was a paintball shot that fired at its face, blinding it. It turned out that it was fired by Busted’s bass player, Matt Willis, holding a paintball-like gun. My hero!

“Here, Dougie, I thought I’d give you a helping hand”, said Matt. We looked at each other with admiration as fellow bass players. I may have said a lot of stuff behind his back, but that means I love him. Thanks to him, the Negagon was open for Talonrus’ attacks. I commanded it to unleash its hurricane, which did massive damage to Negagon. It freed itself from the paintball, and it was about to strike, but Matt got into his ship and fired several missiles towards its direction. “Nobody picks on my bandmate but me!” said Matt. He didn’t need to do that, but I appreciated his generosity nevertheless. This gives Glaceon a chance to fire its Ice Beam, which manages to freeze it.

“Alright, now to tame this dragon!” I cheered as I used this chance to successfully capture it with my Emblem Key. “Congrats on this capture, Dougie!” cheered Matt, congratulating me like I was his son who came in first place, though I couldn’t help but smile with delight. “Now that you have added Negagon to your collection, you may now enter the coliseum where your challenge awaits. And you too, Matt,” said Pluto. So we entered the coliseum. I bet they’ll be an even stronger Emblemmon.

In the coliseum, where two Roman soldiers with weird-looking outfits were, so I guess I was half right. The one I’m facing has a white colouration and has icicle-like extensions on his armour, and goes by the name Aquilo. “It may not be an Emblemmon, but you have to fight him if you want to get out of here”, said Pluto. So, I sent out my Emblemmons, plus Glaceon, to fight Aquilo.

Use this theme for the boss battle

Aquilo uses ice-based moves, summoning huge snowballs towards my Emblemmons, making it a snowball fight! But I have Anuzap, who countered the snowballs by firing its thunder arrows at them. Some of the arrows missed Aquilo, but that’s ok since the arrows that had landed on the floor next to him released status electricity that trapped him.  While Aquilo was surrounded by the arrows that released static electricity, I commanded Talonrus and Negagon to directly attack Aquilo with their claws and Glaceon to fire its Shadow Ball. However, Aquilo summoned a huge blizzard towards my Emblemmons. I told them to dodge the blizzard fast, especially with Talonrus and Negagon being weak to Ice-type moves (although Glaceon helped to withstand the blizzard with its Ice-type resistance).

I told Anuzap to fire more of its thunder arrows, but Aquilo summoned an icicle shield that blocked the attacks. He then fired an icy beam at Anuzap, defeating it, so bye-bye Anuzap. It was nice knowing you. I still have some strong Emblemmons left. Talonrus uses its speed to dodge Aquilo’s attacks and swoop down towards him like a greedy Seagull stealing your food (don’t let that happen to you folks!) while Negagon fired its breath to take out Aquilo’s snowballs. However, they both then become frozen solid by Aquilo’s blizzard, so we got ourselves into a fuzzy pickle.

But Glaceon helped out by firing a barrage of Shadow Balls at Aquilo, which kept him busy as he fought them off. Good job, Glaceon! That’ll help to buy me some time to free Talonrus and Negagon with my Emblem Key from their ice. “This is what they call the power of friendship and teamwork!” I said. You may call it corny, but it’s true.

Back with the battle, I’ve ordered Talonrus to summon its hurricane at Aquilo, which helped to repeal his attacks, which allowed Negagon to charge into him, dealing great damage. However, Aquilo fired icicle-like missiles towards them. I ordered them to use their speed to dodge the icicle-missiles with Talonrus flying through the air with grace and dived towards Aquilo as it was surrounded by an aura, only for him to charge towards Talonrus as he was surrounded by ice like an avalanche.

At the last second, I told Talonrus to grab Aquilo with its claws, followed by flying up to the sky and dropping him onto the ground. I bet it was a joy ride for Aquilo! But just as Aquilo rose, he fired his icicles directly at Talonrus, shooting it down towards the ground, which defeated it, sending Talonrus to Emblemmon heaven or hell.

On the bright side, Aquilo’s movements were straggling from the joy ride, which makes it easier for Negagon and Glaceon to fight him with Glaceon firing its Ice Beam against Aquilo’s icy beam, which gives me time to command Negagon to power up its offensive and speed for it to hit like a truck. This is shown when Negagon’s laser beam overpowered Aquilo’s snowballs and dodged his charging attacks while directly attacking Aquilo with its claws and charge attack. This makes Negagon my overpowered Emblemmon!

Or so I thought as Aquilo summoned a blizzard around Negagon to restrict its movements with the freezing cold and an icicle shield to block its laser beam attacks. This leaves Aquilo to slay Negagon by charging at it as if he’s skiing. This game stinks!

“Oh dear, it looks like Dougie has no more Emblemmons left to fight with. Could this be the end for him?” said Pluto with Aquilo skiing toward me. “It’s not over yet!” I replied defiantly. I had Glaceon, and I was filled with determination. Glaceon fired its Shadow Ball towards Aquilo’s direction, causing him to ski off course and crash into the wall. And that was for my Emblemmons!

But things got even tougher with Aquilo teaming up with the boss that Matt was facing, Silvanus, who pounded his fists onto the ground, causing a tremor. As Glaceon and I were shaken, Aquilo fired his icy beam at me, freezing me solid. My dungarees make it even colder, men! But that's when Matt is a good boy who used his spaceship to fire missiles at the ice to freeze me. “You’re free to go!” said Matt, giving me a reassuring thumbs up. I smiled at Matt, appreciating his heroism and bravery even if he sucks (but don’t tell him I said that!)

Aquilo and Silvanus were still tough cookies, with Aquilo using his Icicle Shield to block our attacks, including the paint balls and missiles from Matt’s weapon and ship, while Silvanus attacked by pounding on the ground that released sharp, pointy stones and roots. So I thought it’s about time I use my mind controlling abilities, using Puppet Manipulation to control both of their minds to attack each other. I am the crazy genius behind McBusted after all. “Ha! Ha! That’s smart of you, Dougie!” laughed Matt, who followed up the attack using Mind Explosion. Our Glaceon and Flareon did the same using Ice Beam and Flare Blitz.

Once my mind control had worn off, they both resumed taking us on personally, with Aquilo skied towards me, but he made a foolish mistake as I caught him in a psychic tornado created by my mind using Mind Storm. He twirled around the vortex and off he went, landing hard onto the ground! His helmet got removed, which revealed a young athletic lad by the name of Mathieu. “Ugh, why am I here? I am meant to be at the gym to make myself stronger so that I can help Dane to stand up for others.”

I figured that Mathieu was brainwashed, so I went over to him and said, “Hey mate, I believe that you were used as a puppet for this Halloween costume.” Mathieu looked at his outfit and said in disbelief, yet with guilt, “Really? Being controlled and wearing this stupid outfit won’t help me to grow at all!!” “Rest assured that we’ll be the ones who’ll find the mastermind behind all this”, I said, which seemed to make him feel better.

I bet it was Pluto who is responsible for all of this. On the screen monitor, he said, “Congrats on passing your gaming challenge. You may proceed to the next area if you wish to make your way out.” So we all made our way there to get to the bottom of this once and for all! And to reunite with the others, of course. Also, I’ve been wondering what are Emblemmons actually? I mean, they do look real but the question remains if they are real beings that came from another world or some mad scientist created them?

To be continued

Trivia 

• Emblemmon has combined elements from the following RPG series; Pokémon (with the monster catching aspect and the type matchups). Fire Emblem (the weapons that the Emblemmon uses and the permanent death feature including the line "Build an army, trust nobody" from an advert for Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade) and Persona/Shin Megami Tensei (the designs and inspiration of the Emblemmons).

• Addtionally, The Emblem Key is a reference to Kingdom Hearts and there are two references to Earthbound ("Fuzzy Pickles and "This game stinks!") 

McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Part 4 - Charlie Simpson

Here's part four of my brand new McBusted Fan Fiction which is a 10-parter interconnected story. The McBusted boys were making their way to their show, only for them to get kidnapped and forced to take part in an escape room based on video game genres. Can they make their escape in order to make it to their show on time?

The fourth chapter focuses on Charlie Simpson It will guest star Hayden Christensen, my original character Dominic and the Pokémon they have used for the Pokémon Adventures story . Make sure you keep an eye out weekly for each chapters.

Here's Chapter 1 with Danny Jones

Here's Chapter 2 with Tom Fletcher

Here's Chapter 3 with James Bourne

Charlie Simpson

My name is Charlie Simpson, the frontman for Busted. You may know me as the one who has left Busted, as I went to a different path for my career, but at heart, I knew that Busted is where I truly belong, so to make a long story short, I am here to stay, as pigs can fly, only this time I am now in McBusted. I can only hope that being in a supergroup will help advance my career while getting to know the McFly boys better.

Back to the present, I was driving on my way to the arena for our show, with the arena designed like an arcade machine, which is what the other McBusted boys have come up with for their second tour, MEAT (which stands for Most Excellent Adventure Tour). I’ve heard that it has some references to video games (including one time when the other McBusted boys played a video game that was shown on the big screen); only this time, I’ll be part of it! And who knows, maybe I’ll get to play a game.

Anyway, the traffic was all clear, so there doesn’t seem to be any problem getting to the arena...or so I thought, as there was an unexpected traffic jam. The cause of the traffic jam...was some ducklings crossing the road. It was so cute to watch, yet there were a lot of ducklings one after another, which is driving me quackers! (And now they made me do a pun).

Not wanting to be late, I looked around to see if there was a shortcut, and I was in luck as I spotted another road that looked like it would take me to the other side of the arena, which could work out well. So I turned the car around and took that shortcut. It was all clear until I was suddenly surrounded by a tractor beam that came from a U.F.O that happened to resemble an arcade machine. As my car was inevitably lifted up, I thought to myself, “Well, great! Why is that taking shortcuts is a bad idea?!”

I blanked out for a couple of minutes or so until I got round and noticed that I seemed to be in some kind of escape room that resembled a large open field with a castle in the background (and that I wasn't in my car!). I then noticed the TV screen monitor had lit up with a suspicious-looking Roman character dressed in black, saying, “It’s Gaming Time! Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Binary Pals to Escape The Gaming Room! I am your host, Pluto! Tonight we have some very special guests taking part; it’s the boys from the best-loved boy bands McFly and Busted, who have formed together as McBusted!”

“Alright, what is the meaning of this? We don’t have time to take part in this show of yours! And where’s my car?!” I demanded. “Cheer up, Charlie; you and the other boys from McBusted happened to be chosen to take part in my very own escape room that is designed as if you’re in a video game. If you wish to get to your show on time, you’ll have to escape my game based on your assigned genres. Isn’t that lucky of you all?” explained Pluto.

Well, he didn’t explain about my car...but no, this isn’t what I had in mind when I said that I’ll be playing a game earlier. It’s not what I call lucky either. Still, something tells me that he won’t be taking no for an answer, so I have no other option but to comply if I want to get out of here. “Alright, bring it on then!” I said.

“I like your spirit here! But it’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!” said Pluto, and a sword-like weapon appeared in front of me, so I took it. “Behold the Master Gadget, which you’ll need while playing The Legend of Castletroid! It may look like a sword, but that’s something that you’ll have to find out yourself, which makes it more thrilling that way, doesn’t it?” I guess discovering things is something to expect when it comes with adventure-based games.

“The objective for The Legend of Castletroid is to get into the castle and find the Golden Triangle that is said to make wishes come true. It’ll be bad if it falls into the wrong hands, so the hero must get to it. Oh, you’ll expect to have lots of exploration to uncover each and every secret. That’s the thrill of adventure that our audience craves for!” said Pluto. So I’ll be off to beat this game of his, or should I call it, the world of The Legend of Castletroid?

Use this theme for The Legend of Castletroid

I made my way towards the castle, fighting several demon-like enemies with my Master Gadget, which works just like a sword. I find that it was easy to use (just like with the Night Driver album song "Easy"), as I employed many sword-like movements, including trusting the Master Gadget to take out the demons, spinning around to take out the demons surrounding me, or performing an uppercut when facing airborne demons. “Now this is what I call some fine action!” said Pluto, watching this. I wondered if they are actually demons. Are they real or are they artificial?

Anyway, it didn’t take long for me to reach the castle, but I needed a key to get to it. “So where is this key?” I asked. “You have to backtrack and find it yourself”, replied Pluto. I looked around the large, open area and felt daunted by having to search everywhere just to find the one key. “Can’t you give me a hint?” I asked. “Well, it wouldn’t be a spirit of adventure if you don’t discover things yourself!” said Pluto, teasing me. I would object, but I suppose he has a point. Adventure games are about exploring and finding stuff. As a musician, I strive to improve my skills, and this adventuring could help me with that.

So I made my way towards the right side of the open field and found that I was having trouble against the flying demons that were too high up for me to reach, even if I used my uppercut slash. There has to be a way to fight them somehow. All I can do is defend myself using my shield-based PSI powers. Pluto watches with amusement and said, “It seems that our adventurer is struggling against the flying demons. Too bad he can’t fly!”

Use this theme for Almighty Man

Just about, I was about to get attacked by a demon swooping in, a muscle-bond hero came by and took it out with his fist. “As long as I am here, then you have nothing to fear! For it is I, All Mighty Man!” said local hero All Mighty Man, aka Dane. I appreciated his timely arrival, as I said to him, “Thanks, are you part of this Gaming Room challenge too?” “I came here to find my comrades who were kidnapped, only for me to bump into your bandmates that I’ve been helping before being teleported all over the place”, explained Dane as he took out the flying demons using All Might Punch and All Mighty Beam.

That gave me relief that all the other McBusted members are doing ok. Dane then gave me a tip, saying, “You want to help fight those flying demons too? I saw a treasure over there next to a ruin. Maybe that could have something that’ll provide you with an upgrade for your weapon”, pointing to it. I agreed that it could be worth checking out as we made our way towards it, although we have more demons confronting us. Pluto doesn’t seem impressed with Dane helping me out, saying, “Must you spill the beans?”

Dane handled the flying ones while I fought the ones that were grounded, using my Master Gadget’s sword function. Although Dane was strong, there were times when he was having trouble against multiple demons who were faster than him, so I helped him out by defending him using Magical Shield or slashing them with my sword. “I must say that you make a brave sidekick, as with your band mates who are dashing in their own ways”, said Dane, thanking me for my help. I was flattered to hear his compliment.  Still, I have to work hard to better myself and to help and inspire others.

With both of our teamwork, we made our way to the treasure chest, which revealed a whip. It was added to my Master Gadget, so now I can use it to fight flying demons as I swing my whip towards them. “Whipping them into shape!” I said excitedly just as I took down the flying demons using the whip. “Smiting them with justice!” added Dane.  

Use this theme for The Legend of Castletroid again

From this point on, Dane accompanied me while we looked around to find the key. While we were passing the middle path that leads towards the castle, I spotted a crate. I reckon that something could be inside, so I tried to open with it my Master Gadgets’ sword and whip, but with no avail. “You’ll need a stronger weapon to smash that crate. And don’t you think about using your fist, or I’ll teleport you this instinct!” said Pluto. I figured that it’s what Dane intends to do, but knew that Pluto wasn’t bluffing.

So we continued to move towards the left side of the open field and saw some flying demons that appeared to be guarding a treasure chest on top of a pillar. So it’s a good thing that I got the whip upgrade beforehand so that I can help Dane to fight them, swinging my Master Gadget’s whip towards the flying demons, which causes them to crash land onto the ground. This gives me a chance to finish them by slashing my Master Gadget’s sword at them while they are down. While I was fighting the flying demons, Dane helped to get the treasure chest. We may have just met, but we make a good team, and I can tell that he agrees with that with this warm, friendly smile.

“I believe that this belongs to you”, said Dane, giving me the treasure chest, which revealed a cannon, which was added to my Master Gadget. With it, I can charge up and fire powerful cannon shots from a long distance. “Now this will come in handy!” I said as I tested it out by firing a cannon shot towards a demon. We reckon that it’s what we needed to open that crate.

We headed back to where we found the crate, but there were some sleeping demons that were guarding it. “Hey! They weren’t there before!” I protested (but quietly, so as not to wake them up). “Adding a bit of challenge can’t hurt”, said Pluto slyly, implying that he has deliberately set them up to sabotage us. “It isn’t everything if you’re cheating”, said Dane sternly.

So we have to get to the crate without waking up the demons. “Once we get to it quietly, I could carry it with my super strength to a quiet place. That way, we won’t have to fight them,” suggested Dane. “That sounds like the plan”, I said, agreeing with him, and we tiptoed quietly towards the chest.

It seems that it isn’t going to be a problem...that is, until we got closer to the chest, I happened to notice the monitor screen that showed Pluto watching with several vehicles behind him, including a motorbike (I think it belongs to Danny), a cable car and a familiar-looking car. “Hey! That’s my car!!!” I cried, forgetting to stay quiet and woke up the demons. “What have you done?!!” cried Dane as the demons attacked us.

I felt ashamed of having to mess up this simple plan. This has allowed me to miss my attacks.  As Dane helps me to fight the demons, he notices my guilt and says with reassurance and optimism, “Don’t blame yourself. Mistakes happen, but it’s how you respond that counts.” That helped to give me courage (which is what heroes should do) and regain my composure as I fired my cannon shots at the demons at a far distance.

“See that? You have it in you, even if things don’t go according to plan!” said Dane brightly, who took out a larger demon that was about to sucker punch me using All Mighty Punch. A flying demon was about to swoop into him, but I spotted it first and lashed out my whip at it. Dane thanked me for it, and by then, we had cleared away the demons. “Guess that worked out”, I said, and I fired my cannon shot at the crate, which revealed the key to the castle.

“Now you can infiltrate the castle, and I shall be your guiding light”, said Dane. “Sorry, can’t let you uncover the castle’s secrets that easily!” said Pluto, who teleported Dane elsewhere. So this means that I am on my own, as I used the key to open the castle.

As I entered the castle, I could see an upper floor with platforms that could lead me there, a staircase that led to the bottom floor, and something glowing in the middle room. I reckon that it’s the Golden Triangle, but it was blocked by a mirror-like barrier. “Could this be the very Golden Triangle you’re looking for? The only way to find out is to explore the other rooms. It wouldn’t be as fun if I made it too easy after all!” said Pluto.  Pluto is such a smart aleck, but anyway, I considered checking the upper floor, but the platforms were too far apart for me to jump. I tried my levitating ability, but I can only levitate for a few seconds, and the gaps were too wide for me to levitate this long – it’s as if Pluto had thought ahead when coming up with this gaming room. So this leaves me no other option but to investigate downstairs.

The bottom floor has lots of demons, so I have to fight them all with my Master Gadget; using its sword function to take down demons at close range (also using my spinning technique to defend myself when I get surrounded), the whip function to reach flying demons and the cannon function to fire from a long distance.

It was hard work having to fight those demons alone, but I eventually reached a puzzle room where there were eight unlit torches, a stick, a large candle and a treasure chest. The room is also surrounded by a pool of water, oddly enough. “The chest can only be solved by lighting the torches. We can’t have adventure games without puzzles after all,” said Pluto. Ok, that seemed easy enough, so I picked up the stick, pointing it towards the candle and lit the first torch. As I repeated the procedure, however, I got attacked by a demon that dropped from nowhere.

“Gotta make the puzzle more challenging this way!” said Pluto gleefully as I fought the demon with my Master Gadget, swiftly defeating it before I lit the torch. Trouble is, more demons keep on coming every time I light up each torch, which was driving me batty, even if they weren’t too hard to take out. But it wasn’t until I lit up the seventh torch and was about to light up the eighth torch that the demons suddenly appeared, and sucker punched me, causing me to drop my stick into the pool.

“Ho! Ho! That’s one way to mess things up!” laughed Pluto. I angrily fought the demons in frustration, but I then had an idea. I sent out my Vaporeon to swim into the pool to retrieve my stick while I took out the demons. It’s a Water-type Pokémon after all. It managed to get the stick that was at the bottom of the pool, and by the time it swam up, it noticed that I was having some trouble against a larger demon (it was the one who knocked off my stick). It dropped the stick on the floor and fired its Scald towards the demon, causing it to become burned by the hot water. Ha! That’ll teach it! It allowed me to finish it off.

“You did a good job, Vaporeon”, I said, praising it and patted it on the head. Vaporeon seemed delighted to help me out. I was able to finish the puzzle, and the treasure chest was opened, revealing some angel wings. As much as I would look silly wearing them, I can use them to reach the upper floor, so we went back there right away!

With the angel wings, I can reach higher places by using the power of flight, although I nearly hit my head on the roof. I gotta be careful using them. Moving on from that, I have made it to the upper floor and was confronted by more demons who attacked me at close range, so I fought them with my Master Gadget’s sword. Vaporeon helped me out, too, using Protect to shield me and hitting back using Scald.

After fighting through the enemies, we encountered yet another puzzle, as said by Pluto, “Aren’t puzzles wonderful?” “They sure are, Pluto”, I said with sarcasm. Anyway, the puzzle involves moving targets that I have to take out by firing my Master Gadget’s cannon shots so that the treasure chest can be opened. However, there were also many flying demons that got in the way and were wearing mirror-like armour that was designed to counter my cannon shots. “Guess you have me to thank for thinking ahead!” said Pluto gleefully.

This makes it twice as annoying, so I swing my Master Gadget’s whip on the flying demons, which breaks their armour. They still attacked me with their quick movements, but Vaporeon helped me out by firing its Ice Beam, which froze them, so they got the last laugh! Some of the flying demons tried to attack Vaporeon by swooping towards it, but I defended it by using my Magical Shield. It’s good for us, McBusted boys, and our Pokémon to work together as a team this way.

Once we took out the flying demons, I was able to shoot all the targets without any demons interfering. The treasure chest revealed a mirror shield, which could be useful to reflect ranged attacks, just like with those pesky flying demons. I figured that it would be needed for the puzzle on the castle’s main floor, so we headed back there.

Once we arrived back at the main floor, I looked at the mirror barrier, where there was something glowing behind it. As I was wondering how I could use my shield for this puzzle, a large demon appeared. “Looks like you have one last obstacle!” said Pluto. The demon fires laser beams that are quick and deadly, so I held my mirror shield to reflect the laser beam back while Vaporeon provided additional shielding using Protect. This gives me a chance to strike using my Master Gadget’s arsenal, striking forward with my sword, lashing my whip and firing charge shots.

The demon was still tough, who can dodge my attacks with its quick movements or counter them using its laser beams. As Vaporeon protected me, the demon fired its laser beam towards it (with Vaporeon’s barrier formed by Protect, which was getting weaker due to constantly using it), so I protected it with my mirror shield. The laser beam was redirected towards the demon, who dodged it, and it hit the mirror barrier, which shattered it and revealed the Glowing Triangle!

“Looks like we hit the jackpot!” said Pluto with surprise. Talk about a lucky accident! I still have to finish off the demon, who was getting weaker just after I fired my charge shot at it to intercept its laser beam. I delivered the final blow by striking my sword straight towards the demon, but I happened to charge straight into the wall and broke right through it, which led me to a battle arena, hitting a brawler-like warrior.

I then noticed Danny Jones, the vocalist and Guitarist from McFly. “Whoa! How did I get here? Is that you, Danny?” I said with awe. Danny seemed surprised yet relieved to see me as he said to me, “I’m so glad you showed up just now, Charlie!” “Whoa, it looks like we have another surprise gust, which makes things even!” said Pluto.

So I ended up in Danny’s Gaming Room challenge by the name of Street Smashers. As a fellow bandmate and frontman, I was willing to give Danny a hand to fight the Brawler Warrior, using my Master Gadget’s Sword to block their fists, which gave me an opportunity to take it out with my whip and cannon shots, winning this round for him. It was lovely to see Danny’s smile, happy for my help, which made me feel so warm and charmed. We happened to be alike in many ways as frontmen. Even if we’re from different bands, we still unite people with our music and talent combined, as shown during our Busted Vs McFly duet singing 3am and Not Alone, which also brings us Masked Singers, together.

Anyway, I have to fight the Samurai Warrior, who is the last opponent. “After a turn of events, round 2 is coming to a close! Will our contestants pull through, or will the opponent ultimately turn things around?” said Pluto. Our swords clash together as if we are sword fighting. I’ve been using the Master Gadget for a while now, so I became more skilled using it as I blocked the Samurai Warrior’s sword with my sword, performing an uppercut. However, the Samurai Warrior countered me with their special move, slashing me with their sword upwards and slamming me down, which was a heavy blow.

But Danny took over for me and fought the Samurai Warrior with his powerful physical attacking moves. It was an intense battle throughout, especially with the lava eruption, which made me nervous. I thought Danny would fry, but he managed to overcome the battle with his bravery and courage by dodging the lava, countering the Samurai Warrior with a baseball bat out of all things and finishing it off with his Megaton Punch, leading him to his victory.

“And we have our winners for round 2!” said Pluto, with Danny cheering in triumph . I went over to him, saying, “I’m so glad you’re safe and to show up on time!” “I’m happy that you’re here as my fellow frontman”, replied Danny happily as we embraced each other. We tenderly held our elbows while making direct contact, which made us feel safe.

“Isn’t that a tender moment? Anyway, no game is complete without a boss, with both of you having to make it pass your round and level,” said Pluto, as two mysterious figures had appeared, wearing weird Roman-like armour. The one I’m facing is named Zeus, who has yellow and black armour that gives him the appearance of a thunder cloud and has lightning-like extensions to match. It’s up to Danny and me to defeat those bosses and get back to our show (with Vaporeon healing Danny’s Espeon using Wish, with it being injured from earlier). “Let’s rock baby” I find myself saying.

Use this theme for the boss battle

Zeus fights with electricity-based moves as expected, summoning electrical bolts towards me. They were really shocking (yes, I have to do this pun) as they hit the ground, knocking me down, but I remembered that I have my Mirror Shield that I can use to shield myself from the electrical bolts. I also use it to protect Vaporeon since it's weak against electricity. This allowed me to get closer towards Zeus for me to deliver a powerful thrust with my Master Gadget’s Sword.

“Don’t expect your shield to win every card!” said Pluto as Zeus fired his electrical spheres at me, which were too fast for me to counter with my Mirror Shield or my shield-based moves. So instead, I used my angel wings to fly upwards to quickly dodge the electrical spheres and fired two charge shots using my Master Gadget’s Cannon, one to counter an electrical sphere and the other that was aimed at Zeus.

Zeus fired another electrical sphere towards me. I repeated the same strategy, flying upwards with my angel wings, only for Zeus to summon a thunder shot from above, striking me down. Men, that was pretty nasty, and that was one way to drop my guard. While I was down, Zeus ran straight towards me and was about to pound me with his fist, surrounded by static electricity. With my quick thinking, I got up and countered his fist using my Master Gadget’s Whip. Bet Zeus didn’t see that coming either! While Zeus was countered, Vaporeon helped out by firing its Scald at him.

Zeus continued to summon thunder shots. Not wanting to be shocked again, I held my Mirror Shield above me or dodged them. It wasn’t easy keeping up with the thunder shots striking so quickly everywhere. They say that lightning doesn’t strike in the same place. But Vaporeon helped me once again, firing its Scald at Zeus while he was firing his Thunder Shot. He spotted Vaporeon and fired his electrical bolt towards it, but I ran and shielded Vaporeon using my Counter Shield, shocking Zeus! I then strike Zeus with my Master Gadget’s sword.  

I may have dealt a lot of damage to Zeus, but the battle wasn’t over yet, as Zeus joined forces with Vulcan, who was fighting Danny. Their combined fire and lightning attacks make things more hectic for us, Frontman.  “My my, sparks are certainly heating up the battlefield!” said Pluto. I guess that’s one way to describe it. Still, I’ll be the one who’ll break through their attacks as I said, “Here, let me clear the way!”and held my shield to reflect  Zeus’s lightning bolts. Meanwhile, Vulcan’s fireballs were repelled by Vaporeon and Espeon using their Scald and Psychic.

However, Vulcan summoned a huge fireball that was about to crush us from above. I don’t think my Mirror Shield would be strong enough to withstand an attack this big! But that’s when Danny came in, who leapt onto the platform so that he could get closer to the fireball. He was struck by Zeus’ lightning bolt, but fortunately, he fell next to an item box containing a bomb, which he used to counter the fireball. It created a huge explosion, which Danny used to leap towards Vulcan, aiming directly towards his torso while avoiding Vulcan’s punching attack. Now that was amazing of Danny throughout! (Although I got distracted by his torso, I wonder why his shirt is unbuttoned and his belt is loose?)

Suddenly, Zeus fired an electric sphere at me. I leapt up with my angel wings. Zeus expected that and prepared to shoot at me. “I’m not falling for that this time!” I said, shielding myself with my Magical Shield. While protected, I fired my Master Gadget’s cannon.

Once I landed back on the ground, with my angel wings’ power having worn off, Zeus charged towards me, intending to punch me with his electrifying fist. I guess he didn’t take that well, but I countered him using my Shield Counter. “And now for the finale!” I declared, as this was followed by delivering the final blow using my Master Gadget’s sword.

Upon defeat, however, Zeus’ mask has fallen off, revealing a fitness model with blond hair named Attila Toth. I didn’t expect him to be there. I went over to him and asked, “Hey, are you ok?” Attila felt dazed, saying, “...I don’t remember a thing. What happened?” I explained that I was fighting Zeus, who turned out to be him. “I was fighting you? I only wanted to use my strength to improve myself and defend others. Please forgive me if I hurt you or any of your friends,” said Attila remorsefully. “I understand that you never intend to hurt anyone, and this wasn’t your doing”, I said reassuringly. Attila smiled and thanked me. He added that he was originally a chubby child until he got into bodybuilding, and is one of Dane’s sidekicks who vows to use his athletic strength to stand up for others (including for LGBTQ+ communities).

I then faced the screen monitor and asked: “Hey Pluto, I bet you have something to do with Attila’s brainwashing.” All Pluto said was, “Congrats on passing your gaming challenge. You may proceed to the next area if you wish to make your way out”. So I headed towards the exit, along with Danny and the others. I can only hope that we’ll get to meet up with the rest of our bandmates. We got a show to catch after all.

To be continued

Trivia 

• The Legend of Castletroid is based on The Legend of Zelda and the Metroidvania genre (Metroid and Castlevania) with the items are based from these games. 

• There's also reference to The Devil May Cry series with the demons as the enemies and Charlie quoting the famous line "Let's Rock Baby". 

• The Angel Wings is a reference to the Power of Flight from the Kid Icarus series. 

McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Part 3 - James Bourne

Here's part three of my brand new McBusted Fan Fiction which is a 10-parter interconnected story. The McBusted boys were making their way to their show, only for them to get kidnapped and forced to take part in an escape room based on video game genres. Can they make their escape in order to make it to their show on time?

The third chapter focuses on James Bourne It will guest star Hayden Christensen, my original character Dominic and the Pokémon they have used for the Pokémon Adventures story . Make sure you keep an eye out weekly for each chapters.

Here's chapter 1 with Danny Jones

Here's chapter 2 with Tom Fletcher

James Bourne

What’s up? I’m James Bourne, otherwise known as Future Boy from Busted. In a couple of hours, I’ll be having a show with the McFly boys since we’re part of this awesome super group McBusted which is cool since McFly are my close friends and watching them succeed after introducing them to our fans on our CD:UK show is just like watching my sons passing their school exams (well, unless they slag us off, then I’ll get my fly swatters out!)

But before that, I thought I’d take a quick nap before heading off to the show, drifting off to the land of dreams. I had a weird dream when we McBusted boys were dressed as bananas for a show, doing the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" Dance, which caused our audience to roll their eyes, boo, and throw pancakes at us. It must have been a tough crowd, but that's likely because it’s an outdated meme that’s barely relevant in this day and age.

So we decided to give it a twist by playing Gulie’s theme from Super Street Fighter II and dancing to it, which was received better with the audience, combining two memes in one. Well, this meme has also shown its age, but maybe it’s because Gulie’s theme goes with everything.

I then woke up and noticed that I had overslept, with the time for the tour approaching. There’s no way I am repeating the Busted Summer Tour (when my phone was on silent, which will teach me a lesson)! If my Brother Chris Bourne is here, then I would have woken up from my weird dream sooner! Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Chris for a while. I’ve been contacting him, but I don’t think he’s been receiving my messages or getting back to me. I’m starting to think that he’s missing. I’ll perform a search party after the show.

But hey, I shouldn’t be rambling on as that’ll delay me even further, so I darted out and got onto a cable car, which will take me to the arena just like the last time it happened during the Summer Tour. But then this weird thing happened aside from my dream; a UFO that resembled an arcade machine had appeared right above the cable car. Its tractor beam surrounded the cable car with me in it, somehow pulling it from the cable. Don’t ask me how it’s possible. Maybe it’s the technology, physics, or I am still in a dream...but now I am going to be even more late!!!

I blanked out until I found myself in what appeared to be a racing course. Is this still a dream? I then saw a large kart in front of me that resembled a stylish-looking DeLorean. I went over to it and knocked on its door. It felt solid, so it couldn’t possibly be a dream.

But that doesn’t mean that it’ll get any less weird as the TV monitor has just lifted up with a shady Power Ranger Roman Soldier looking character appeared on the screen, saying “It’s Gaming Time! Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Binary Pals to Escape The Gaming Room! I am your host, Pluto! Tonight we have some very special guests taking part; it’s the boys from the best-loved boy bands McFly and Busted, who have formed together as McBusted!”

“So what’s the big idea?” I asked. “I’m glad you asked! You and the other boys from McBusted are set with the challenge that’ll involve making your way out of the escape room based on video game genres. It’ll be a fun, thrilling challenge where you’ll aim to be the best at real-life gaming with the stakes high! Aren’t you McBusted boys lucky to be chosen for The Gaming Room?”

Now the idea of us taking part in a video game-themed escape room sounds cool, except for one major thing, which I called out to Pluto, “That all sounds like fun and games, but we are already scheduled for a show! Can you let us go and arrange this another time?” “Why, this is the perfect time for gaming, and if you want to get to your show on time this badly, then you’ll have to make your way out yourself!” replied Pluto.

I guess he is not taking no for an answer, so I’ll have to play along with this game of his (see what I did there?). “If you insist, then challenge accepted”, I boldly said. “See? There’s no stopping anyone,” said Pluto. The game I’m assigned is a chaotic racing game, Hedgehog Kart, which is based on the popular Super Hedgehog Brothers platform game (though I wonder if I should call a lawyer?). I have to race against my opponents, but it won’t be an ordinary race as it’ll have all kinds of power-ups, weapons and traps that’ll change the tide of the race.

Come to think of it, I have been writing and singing a song for Sonic Racing:Crossworlds; Cross the Worlds (for which I feel proud, being a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog!). Maybe that’s why I am chosen to take part in Hedgehog Kart. “Gotta race for first place, show that you’re better than anyone!” said Pluto. “Here I go, fast like ‘woah’. I’ll be trial blazing,” I said, getting onto my DeLorean, though not before glancing at Pluto, which somehow gives me a strange yet familiar vibe.

Use this theme for Hedgehog Kart which is sang by James Bourne himself

I got into my DeLorean and noticed the other racers that I’m up against, who resemble Roman soldiers. I guess that whoever came up with The Gaming Room is a fan of Roman soldiers or something. Anyway, as soon as the lights turned green, it was time for me to make the tyres burn! “And they’re off! There’s no stoppin’ anyone, let alone these racers!” said Pluto.

The other racers were already speeding ahead of me (maybe their cars are made to be faster than mine unless they’re cheating – don’t cheat on video games, folks!), but I’ve spotted item boxes that I can use to catch up to them. They include missiles that I can toss towards the other racers, banana skin peels that I can drop for other racers to spin out and cucumber that give me a booster. “So hit that power up. Don’t miss that power up!” I find myself saying lyrics from Cross the Worlds,.“Then go get another one!” said Pluto, who seemed to play along with me. Does he get the reference, too?  

Anyway, with thanks to the help from the weapons and the fruit I’ve collected that increased my speed (so I guess I am becoming healthy), I was getting ahead with most of the other racers, almost reaching first place but the other racers can use items too including the shells and the fake item boxes which is actually a bomb (it resembles an upside down item block which is not hard to tell but in my defense, I was racing right in front of it). But that didn’t stop me from overtaking the leading racers, putting me in the lead...that is, until I got hit by the dreaded, flying blue shell! Seriously?! Guess this is the curse of being in first place with all the other racers now overtaking me. “You gotta catch up, or else you won’t be number one!” said Pluto, rubbing it in, so I gotta speed up as I set my goal.

So I make use of the speed pads that give me a speed boost and race towards every item box that I can find, even finding a sneaky shortcut. All of this has helped me to catch up to a few other racers who were also trailing behind, although they were ready to toss shells towards me. I had an item to shield myself. I sent out my Leafeon, telling it to swat the items away with its leaf. I’ve been training my Leafeon to do this, so it’s all paying off.

It feels like I am catching up to the other racers. The track I’m racing on is pretty basic and ordinary with little gimmicks to be concerned about...that is, until there’s a portal that opens up ahead. “Hold on tight and get ready to be sent into another track! Will it be the future or the past?” said Pluto. So I’ll be adventuring into another land, which could be a world that I don’t completely understand.

As soon as I arrived in the portal, it took me to a sky-based course with my DeLorean changing into flight mode with its wings as I flew through the air. “Better hold onto your paws, Leafeon”, I said to Leafeon as it was hanging onto its seat. I don’t think Grass type Pokémon would do well on air unless they’re part of the Flying type. Suddenly, one of the racers has fired a shell behind me, causing some damage to the DeLorean. “Uh oh, it looks like it’s mayday for them!” said Pluto just as we were falling to our doom.

Use this theme for Almighty Man's theme

That is, until the DeLorean was carried by a muscular superhero named All Mighty Man, also known as Dane De Bruin, the hero I certainly needed. “As long as I am here, then you have nothing to fear! For it is I, All Mighty Man!” said Dane as he carried me onto the road safely. I showed my appreciation to Dane by saying, "You couldn’t have come at a better time. How would you like to be my racing partner?” I offered him a seat since the DeLorean has room for more people. “Certainly, I shall do what I can to lead you to victory”, said Dane as he readily hopped in. “So this is turning into a double dash”, said Pluto, witnessing this. Dane added that he came here because his comrades were apparently kidnapped here. I told him that I’d help him find his friends. Anyone who helped me out in a race is a friend of mine.

Use this theme for Hedgehog Kart again

Dane helped me to catch up to the other racers by tossing the shells towards the other racers at a greater distance thanks to these massive biceps of his (as he said “Earning these gains has paid off!”) and serving as my eyes as he watches over any incoming weapons, short cuts, obstacles or item boxes like one time when I nearly missed an item box while I was flying on the air. He spotted one hidden in the clouds and told me to make a sharp turn towards the cloud. While I was heading towards it, one of the racers tossed a shell towards me, but Leafeon continued to help out by swatting it away with its leaf. It’s nice to have helpful passengers. Thanks to them, I obtained the Lightning Bolt, which I’ve used to strike the other racers, temporarily shrinking them to slow them down. Mwa Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Now I am in second place, but it wasn’t an easy ride with the racer in front of us firing a barrage of shells behind us that were too quick for Leafeon to swipe, but also using them to defend themselves from the shells that Dane throws at them. “I may have wasted them, but let’s see if we can find something else that’ll help us”, said Dane rationally, which is smart of him.

The racer in front of me has tossed a banana peel in front of us. I could have dodged it, but a racer behind me had tossed a shell towards us before Leafeon had a chance to swipe it, and Dane could spot it, knocking us towards a hurricane. “What have you done?!!” cried Dane. “Uh oh, looks like it’s going to be a bumpy ride! How will they get themselves out of this?” said Pluto. I say it’s more like a windy ride as we were spinning in the vortex.

“Not what I call a joy ride!!” I yelled. “Have no fear, as I’ll get us out of this!” said Dane, who bravely jumped out of the DeLorean and grabbed the car while flying through the wind currents. He used all his might, strength and endurance to push us out of the tornado, though even he wasn’t having it easy. That’s when I come in with my creative way of thinking by commanding Leafeon to fire its Sappy Seed outside the DeLorean. It was combined with the fireballs from my Psy Fire, creating an explosion behind us that gave us extra propulsion to get us out of the tornado.

“Excellent job, you both! Your bravery and strategy are what make you fine heroes!” said Dane, praising us, which flattered me as he carried the DeLorean back on the road nearby an item block, which transformed the DeLorean into a Monster Truck. Its increased size made us faster, invulnerable to attacks and flatten other races. “What a stroke of luck as we become a monster truck!” I bragged. “Monster truck, say what’s up”, added Pluto. This has helped me to reach first place, clearing this lap.

“So it’s James Bourne and his friends who are currently in the lead, but let’s see if you can maintain that position in lap two!” said Pluto as we were heading towards another portal, which would no doubt take us to another world. “With me by your side, I shall lead you to the road of victory!” said Dane. “And in return, I will lead you to your sidekicks. That will be justice, isn’t it?” I said. “Thanks, your generosity is the best form of justice”, said Dane, smiling. “Why don’t we make things more interesting? After all, it wouldn’t be as thrilling for our audience without a challenge,” said Pluto, who teleported Dane away. Well, that was rude of him. Looks like Leafeon and I are on our own as the portal has led us to an aquatic race course (though at least we’re ahead, for the moment).

The aquatic course has a mixture of dry land and water stream that I can drive on with the DeLorean’s ability to travel on the water surface. The currents are rather fast, which makes it tricky to navigate. “Hold on tight!” I said to Leafeon that the water stream had led me towards the wall on the dry land. This gives the other racers a chance to catch up. “Now that’s going to cost him the race!” said Pluto.

I quickly reverse the DeLorean to get back on track. I still have a chance to get back to first place with Leafeon helping to defend me from the incoming shells tossed at me. But what Leafeon couldn’t defend against was the racer behind me whose kart had transformed into a monster car. I sped up to outrun the monster car, which inevitably led me to the rushing stream, where there were missiles that fired from the ceiling that I kept on colliding with. It’s either because I was rushing to get away from the monster car (which has worn off) or the currents were too fast. Regardless, I was trailing behind most of the other racers, much to my frustration.

I made it on dry land, but if things couldn’t get any more hectic, one of the racers struck a bolt of lightning, which caused us to shrink. It’s just what we needed, indeed. To pour more salt in the wound, the other racers who were behind me were bombarding me with their barrage of shells. “Looks like we have some road rage, which creates more mayhem; all to make it more thrilling!” said Pluto.

By the time I returned to normal size, I was dead last. Well, that was no fun! I gotta go faster than ever, that makes the tyres burn (as I’ve said before), though the incoming missiles from above were doing no favours, which reduces my momentum each time I turn the DeLorean to avoid them.

Just as I head towards the waterfall, I spot Tom Fletcher riding on a raft, falling into the waterfall. I rushed over to grab his hand and pulled him in (though not before we had a moment with each other, with us exchanging warm looks). “You need a lift, mate?” I said to him, playing it cool, though I was glad to see a familiar face, regardless of which band we’re from. I can tell that he is chuffed and revealed to be rescued by me.  

“Thanks for the timely save. I take it that your gaming room challenge is based on racing games,” said Tom. He obviously (and coincidentally referring to one of his songs) got the picture as I explained to him, “You got it right. It’s Hedgehog Kart, all around the world, although thanks to several mishaps, I am trailing behind. But hey, at least this has led me to spotting you. Of course, you come first before any trophy,” which made him blush.

“Well, now that I’m here, let me help you to lead you to victory in any way possible!” said Tom eagerly. “Why certainly. We’re in this together,” I said as Tom helped to grab item blocks and tossed the shells and banana peels to the opposing racers, which helped me to overtake them. Just like with Dane, he also keeps an eye out for any traps and shortcuts, like one time when he spotted a stream of flowing water, which was a shortcut.  Working together brings me back to writing songs with Danny, as close friends. “It looks like we have an extra passenger, folks!” said Pluto as he noticed our teamwork. I bet he didn’t expect this!

Thanks to Tom and my Leafeon, who continued to defend us from the incoming weapons, we were speeding ahead of a couple of racers. We just need to beat the top racers ahead of us. I know that we should be able to make it with our teamwork. However, there were missiles that were fired towards us from the ceiling. “Whoa, what’s going on?!” cried Tom.  “This is the part when it’s a pain!” I ranted as I made a sharp turn to avoid the missiles.

Just then, several pieces of debris were dropping towards us...along with McFly drummer Harry Judd, who dropped onto the seat, just like that. “Hope you don’t mind me dropping in!” said Harry, who is quick to notice the missiles and defends us with his Healing Blaster. I don’t know how it happened, but hey, I appreciate the times when Harry watches over and stands up for me. “So this is a race? I shall help you to win!” said Harry as he continued to defend us from missiles and other weapons. “Now it looks like we have a third wheeler”, said Pluto.

With combined help from the McFly boys, I was able to overtake the lead racers, getting close to the finishing line. The lead racer defended themselves with the shells like before, firing them towards me, but Leafeon and Harry defended me with their attacks while Tom tossed a banana peel in front of the lead racer, causing them to slip (which was a pretty good aim on his part). All of this has helped me to beat the lead racer and make it to first place.

“Now this is Hedgehog Racing!” I cheered in triumph.  I looked back at Tom and Harry, smiling at them, being thankful for their help and for their safety. They returned their warm smiles to me. “And we have a winner for our Hedgehog Kart!... And um...I guess those two have technically passed their gaming rooms,” said Pluto. “Now that I have won the race, my prize better be getting us out of here!” I said.  “Not so fast, as I have set up a boss stage for you three!” said Pluto, who summoned three Roman soldiers with bizarre-looking outfits.  

The one I’m facing resembles an armoured goddess who goes by the name Aura, who has a turquoise outfit with wings as attachments on her armour. “I hope you’ll take the battle by storm!” said Pluto. Well, the sooner I take care of this boss battle, the sooner we can get back to our show.

Use this theme for the boss battle

For my boss battle, I’ll be staying in my DeLorean. Pluto told me that I have to push Aura off the course. “Now that is an unconventional boss battle,” I said, perplexed. Pluto replied, “Consider it fitting for your Gaming Room Challenge.” I suppose he has a point. Anyway, Aura was making it difficult for me to get her off the course. She blows me away with her gust of wind. This is why I don’t like to drive in windy conditions.

Still, I have to work around it. I make a sharp turn to dodge her gust of wind and speed towards the item block. It gives me shells. I fire them towards Aura, but she repels them with blade projectiles made of air. “You gotta hang in there!” Pluto taunts. He’s telling me, but Leafeon helps by slashing the blade projectiles with Leaf Blade. That’s a good Pokémon. I’ll give it extra treats for all the help. For now, I use this opportunity to toss my shell at Aura, knocking her closer to the edge.

Aura doesn’t seem to be willing to be knocked off the course as she summoned a hurricane that surrounded us, which is just like the last time we were on that sky-based race course, and no, it’s not as fun the second time around. To make it harder for me, Aura fires her blade projectiles towards my DeLorean while we are in the vortex. The DeLorean is going to have a lot of scratches, to say the least.

But Leafeon once again provided some assistance by slashing the blade projectiles using Leaf Blade like before, although it was getting hurt (with it being weak to Flying-type moves). I did my bit by firing my Psy Wood and Psy Fire behind the DeLorean, once again using the explosion to thrust the DeLorean out of the hurricane, conveniently landing towards an item block, which gave me a Thunder item. I’ve fired it on Aura, and while it didn’t shrink her, she was stunned by the lightning bolt (guess because electric-type moves are super effective against flying types, and with her having the elemental power of air, she would be a Flying type). That gave me a chance to fire a shell that I’ve got from another item block.

Aura was getting closer towards the edge, but she wasn’t making it easy, as someone unleashed a huge gale, which blew the item blocks all over the place before I got to them. Now that makes driving dangerous! Even if I did obtain the item block, the weapons that I fired towards her were blown away. “Looks like you won’t be taking the boss fight by storm!” said Pluto.

Oh yeah? Well, as I just happened to make a sharp left turn to avoid the wind, I noticed that Aura is unguarded at her side and from behind, so I fired a shell towards her left, causing her to fall towards her right. Isn’t that clever of me?

I may have knocked Aura off the race course, but the battle wasn’t over yet, as she joined forces with Juno and Salacia, who are the bosses that Tom and Harry were facing. Juno unleashed a bright flash that blinded us (I knew that I should have brought my sunglasses), which gave Aura and Salacia a chance to combine their hurricane and water sprout attacks on us to create a typhoon.  “Now that’s three times the fun to make it more chaotic! Our audience craves for more chaos after all!” said Pluto. “Not if someone gets hurt”, I said dryly. “Now that is so unfair!!!” yelled Harry.

You can say that again, Harry, as they were making it harder for us to get to them. But Tom had an idea, who spotted a ‘Kapow’ block that was surrounded by coloured blocks in the far distance.  He said to me, “Hey, James! How about you give us a lift over there for Harry to break these blocks? That’ll be the key to stop those bosses,” he said. I liked his way of thinking and said to him, “Well then, let’s go fast like whoa!” and they got into my DeLorean, driving full speed ahead.

The three bosses, however, tried to stop us with their light and typhoon heading towards us. “Hold on tight, folks!” I said and made a sharp turn as I steered away from their attacks. They aren’t going to damage the DeLorean even if it isn’t mine. Our Pokémon, Jolteon, Leafeon and Umbreon also defended us from the bosses’ attacks with their moves.

That gave Harry a chance to hop out of the DeLorean and use his pickaxe to break down the coloured blocks so that Tom could get access to the ‘Kapow’ block. The bosses’ attacks were about to hit Harry and me, but Tom did us a favour by stopping time. I am grateful for that, Tom, just like how you and the other McFlers have invited Matt and me to join you at the Royal Albert Hall, which opened the way to McBusted and has led us to become reunited with Charlie.

Just as the Time Stop duration was finished, Tom slammed down the ‘Kapow’ block onto the ground towards the direction of the three bosses. And they all fall down! “Alright! Now we can get the upper hand!” cheered Harry, firing his Healing Blaster while they were down. “Reaching the finishing line!” I said, firing my Psy Thunder. Aura, however, got up and was about to fire her hurricane towards me. “Sorry, but I’ll be the one blowing you away!” I said, firing my thunder item, which finished her off.

Aura’s helmet came off, which revealed a transgender Woman named Storm. “I don’t remember what happened, but I seem to remember fighting a worthy opponent”, said Storm, who sounded somewhat dazed. “And that would be me”, I said. “Well, whatever happened, you must be strong enough to break me from my brainwashing”, said Storm, smiling at me. I take that as a compliment. Storm explained that she is a friend of Dane. Before she joined forces with Dane, she used to be an empress from a faraway land, seeking worthy opponents to fight until she met Dane, who defeated her in a battle. Since then, she sees him as worthy in her eyes and shares a common goal of fighting for equal rights for LGBTQ+ communities.  

“Still, I shall give whoever brainwashed me what for!” said Storm. “You said it!” I said, sticking up for me.  I turned to the monitor and said to Pluto, “I bet you have something to do with their brainwashing!” “It seems that you could be the one who... I mean, Congrats on passing your gaming challenge. You may proceed to the next area if you wish to make your way out,” said Pluto. So we all made our way to the next area. We'd better get to our concert after this. Still, I can’t help but have an odd vibe with Pluto.

To be continued

Trivia 

• Hedgehog Kart features elements from Mario Kart and Sonic Racing CrossWorld, the latter of which James Bourne sang a song for (with this chapter featuring lyrics from the song).

• The beginning of this chapter refers to the time when James Bourne has overslept and has to rush towards the arena during the Busted summer tour. 

McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Part 2 - Tom Fletcher

Here's part two of my brand new McBusted Fan Fiction which is a 10-parter interconnected story. The McBusted boys were making their way to their show, only for them to get kidnapped and forced to take part in an escape room based on video game genres. Can they make their escape in order to make it to their show on time?

The second chapter focuses on Tom Fletcher. It will guest star Hayden Christensen, my original character Dominic and the Pokémon they have used for the Pokémon Adventures story . Make sure you keep an eye out weekly for each chapters. PS, This story was written before his The Danger Game annoucement. 

Here's Chapter 1 with Danny Jones

Tom Fletcher

Hey, it’s Tom Fletcher from McFly and part of the awesome super group McBusted. Today’s the day when we’re set to perform on a special stage that resembles an arcade machine, just like during our MEAT tour. We may be musicians, but we do have a gaming side with us having our gaming sessions every now and then. Our fans did enjoy the MEAT tour, so we decided to recreate that tour.

Before I was ready for the tour, I was helping the lovely Giovanna with feeding our hens, checking to see if we could find any eggs that they had laid for our kids. It’s a pleasure to look after our animals with great care. They’re like a family to us. That said, I’ve accidentally tripped over an egg and opened the pen, which caused the chickens to escape! Giovanna and I have to run amok, chasing the chickens. We have to get Buzz, Buddy, Max and our dog Dennis to help (acting like a sheep dog or should I say hen dog?). I lost count of the number of times we bumped into each other! The chickens were scattered all over the place, including the duck pond. Our ducks, Jack and Vera, don’t seem to be happy to have gatecrashers to their pond, so they chased them off. At least they gave us a helping hand somewhat.

We eventually recaptured our chickens, though I had to dash out for my show. The frantic chase had eaten up my time, so I was going to be late for my very important date. There was no time to say hello or bye. Suddenly, as I was catching my breath, I spotted a U.F.O that looks like an arcade machine right above me. Its tractor beam pulled me upward. “No! Not now!” I yelled, twisting and pushing against the force, but I was helplessly drawn in and inevitably abducted.

I was blanked out for a moment until I was shine by a spotlight and saw the screen monitor that shows a shady figure, saying, “It’s Gaming Time! Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Binary Pals to Escape The Gaming Room! I am your host, Pluto! Tonight we have some very special guests taking part; it’s the boys from the best-loved boy bands McFly and Busted, who have formed together as McBusted!”

So it seems that I wouldn’t be the only one who’ll be late for the show...but no, I wasn’t having this and demanded, “I haven’t got time to play your silly games! I ask you to release us on the double!” “Now don’t be such a Party Popper! That would disappoint our audience, who expect the thrills of the escape room based on video game genres, causing our ratings to plummet! Once you’re in The Gaming Room, there’s no backing out unless you make it out alive to the next stage or get a game over! After all, it’s gaming time!” said Pluto.

So that’s how it is then; I have to comply if I were to get out of here for my show. I do admit that taking part in an escape room based on video games does sound fun, if only we were willingly signed up for this, rather than being forced into it. Still, I suppose I’ll have to see how it’ll turn out while focusing on getting this over and done with.

The room I was sent in resembles a wide area with tons of greenery (which is not surprising for many first-stage levels) and lots of obstacles, including blocks and giant loops. “Welcome to Super Hedgehog Brothers, which is a classic, beloved platform gaming franchise! All you have to do is make it to the castle, which is your end goal for each of the levels, while overcoming obstacles. It may sound simple, but it’s something that our audience can’t get enough of! You gotta go fast, but there won’t be a princess in another castle,” said Pluto excitedly. I can’t help but find the title very similar to two other popular video game franchises. Didn’t they have a rivalry at some point? Anyway, there’s no time to wonder as I’ll be McFlying and Busting my way out of here!

Use this theme for Super Hedgehog Brothers

So I went on ahead, and already I was finding myself breaking the item blocks by leaping towards them with my fist that gives me fruit, including cherries, strawberries, apples, melon and bananas. I think they give me health. Fruit is healthy after all, so I guess I have The Gaming Room to thank for giving me my five a day. There were also springs that jump me to high places, which makes them fun to use, wrap pipes that wrap me to different places (good thing that I fit them) and dash panels that give me a speed boost. I felt like I was faster than the speed of light, though I felt dizzy when I ran towards the loop (which has lots of fruit).

“Have fun in the world of gaming while you can, as there are baddies to take care of. No platform games are complete without enemies after all!” said Pluto as there were a lot of robotic enemies that made their way, including those that resembled turtles and crabs, and I lose fruit every time I get hit by them. I’m losing my vitamins!

But I can fight back by using items that give me temporary power-ups. They include fire balls that I shoot out, an arm cannon that shots out laser beams (I shall call it Tom Blaster!), red and white high top shoes that gives me the ability to spin (though just like when I was running on the loop, I felt dizzy after using it. I’m not made for spinning!), a yellow star that made me invisible, crushing any enemies that gets in my way (until it wears off) and a vacuum that sucks my enemies and grants me their ability (including the turtle’s shell that I can toss – let’s see how they like it!)  

Even if I don’t have any power-ups, I can use my psychic powers that control time and space, including my Time Stop that slows down enemies, Spacial Distortion to alter the space surrounding my foes and my glowing spheres that are shaped like planets; Planetary Spheres.

With all of these power-ups, I was confident that I could take on this gaming escape room challenge with ease, and the castle was up ahead as I bragged to Pluto while walking on the bridge, “It looks like I’ll beat this game of yours in no time!” “Well, you'd better watch out, as we have plenty of obstacles for some more thrills!” said Pluto as there were several enemies on the other side of the bridge that attacked the bridge, which caused it to give way. To my horror, I was falling towards the spike trap. Quickly, I used my levitation to get me out of the spike trap, but a pesky flying tortoise enemy had dived into me, causing my levitation to wear off. Such a convenience indeed!

Use this theme for All Mighty Man's theme

But just like when a hero arrives at the most convenient times, our local hero, All Mighty Man, aka Dane, has swooped in, grabbing me and saving my fall. “As long as I am here, then you have nothing to fear! For it is I, All Mighty Man!” said Dane. “Couldn’t have arrived at a better time”, I said to him. “Now it looks like we have an uninvited guest gate crashing our game!” said Pluto as Dane had placed me on land and helped me to take out the enemies with his mighty moves, including All Mighty Punch, All Mighty Laser and All Mighty Charge, as he said, “Sweeping evil with justice!” “Giving them justice for causing me to fall to my near-death!” I said, helping him out by trapping the enemies in a gravity field using Gravity Trapper before some of them could sneak up on Dane. “Now that is cleverly talented of you”, said Dane as he finished them off while they were stuck in mid-air. I felt flattered by his praise. With our combined teamwork, we cleared the path towards the castle, clearing the level and moving onwards towards the next area.

Use this theme for Super Hedgehog Brothers again

We arrived at an icy area surrounded by water. Ugh, nobody likes these kinds of levels. Pluto rubbed it in, saying, “You'd better be careful while treading in thin ice, or you’ll end up in hot water”. That pun of his rubbed me the wrong way (as I’ve just mentioned an idiom myself). Dane kept his optimism, though, saying, “As long as we keep our cool and walk on the ice carefully, we can avoid going into the water”, said Dane. I guess he’s right about that. Maybe it wouldn’t be a big idea after all.

Before we moved on, I asked him what brought him here. Dane put on a serious face as he gravely said, “My comrades were kidnapped. I’ve heard that they were sent here. They mean so much to me as fellow allies, so I have to find them as soon as possible”. I showed some sympathy and said to him, “I’m sorry to hear. I’ll help you find them. I think my band mates were sent here too, and we have a show to go to”. “Thanks, and I’ll help you find your band mates, getting you all out of here”, said Dane sincerely.

Back to The Gaming Room, we carefully walked on the slippery paths so that we wouldn’t fall into the water, collecting some fruit and items along the way, including a flying cap for me and a mushroom for Dane, which temporarily made him big. “Remember to consume those vitamins! You’ll be as big and strong as me!” said Dane, who crushed the icy blocks that were up ahead, knocking out several enemies along the way. “Well, I’m born to fly!” I said as I flew with my flying cap to avoid the large gaps and taking down my enemies from above (referring to the song that Danny and I sang at The Royal British Legion – I hope he and the others are doing ok with their escape room).

After our power-ups had worn off, we arrived at a large, wide-open area filled with numerous enemies and platform blocks. The ice was so slippery that even Dane had trouble keeping his balance while fighting the enemies. “Guess the bigger they are, the harder they fall”, said Dane, making a lighter joke, though I guess I can see for myself.

The enemies, including the flying tortoises and crabs, were a pain, diving into us or firing their weapons at us, often causing us to slip. I sent out my Jolteon as backup, firing its Thunderbolt to shoot them down. Electric types are super effective against Flying types after all. “Thanks for the help. Your Pokémon shall help to prevail justice!” said Dane just after Jolteon helped to defend him from an incoming flying tortoise. I agree with him. He returned the favour by protecting Jolteon from a flying tortoise that was about to dive into it using All Mighty Punch.

There were still a lot of reinforcements that were persistent, even with Dane and Jolteon helping me out. “We aren’t going anywhere at this rate!” I ranted as I’ve fired my Time Spheres towards the enemies. “You just gotta chill out! Our audience loves the struggle after all,” taunted Pluto. There must be a way we can eliminate them all at once. That’s when I spotted a block that says ‘Kapow’.  I picked it up and tossed it onto the ground. The shockwave has blasted away the enemies, but it has also caused the platform blocks to drop onto the ice, which has shattered the ice. “What have you done?!!” cried Dane as the ice underneath us broke apart.

Oh no! We gotta act fast or else we’ll drown! I returned Jolteon to its Poké Ball so that it wouldn’t get caught in danger. I saw one of the blocks on the water surface and had an idea. “Let’s gather these blocks to form a raft!” Dane seemed impressed with my creative idea and said, “Good thinking there! Allow me to do my bit!” as he quickly flew towards the fallen platform blocks that were shattered about, using his superhuman strength to carry multiple platform blocks while I gathered the ones that I could find nearby.

We were doing a good job, working together to assemble the platform blocks into a raft, which is just like building Lego. Dane also handed me some platform bars that we could use as paddles. I then tripped over one of the blocks and almost fell into the water, but Dane quickly grabbed me in time. “I won’t let you fall! You gotta keep on going to reunite with your band mates and for your show!” said Dane reassuringly. “How about we make things more interesting by sending you elsewhere?” said Pluto, who teleported Dane. This means that I was on my own, much to my dismay, but I can’t afford to waver with the ice breaking apart fast, so I used my Time Stop to give myself extra time to gather some remaining platform blocks for my raft.

As soon as my Time Stop had worn off, I got onto the raft and paddled with the platform bars just before the ice drifted apart. I can see the castle up ahead, so I fought against the current.  “Now it looks like this is changed from a platform game into a river rafting game. I’ll give you credit for turning this around, but don’t expect it to be smooth sailing,” said Pluto as aquatic enemies, including those that resembled squids or metallic piranhas, leapt out of the water, firing ink-like bombs or launching towards me.

Well, they aren’t going to get in my way, so I fought back by firing my Time Spheres at the squid’s ink-like bombs and used my Gravity to freeze the metallic piranhas mid-air before they could get to me. I was occupied fighting them that I didn’t notice that I was drifting towards a waterfall. I paddled as fast as I could to get away from the waterfall, but the current was too fast, and I inevitably drifted towards the waterfall, seemingly falling towards my doom.

I thought my game was over...until someone grabbed my hand. The next thing I knew was that it was  James Bourne who rescued me while driving a kart. “You need a lift, mate?” he said casually. I couldn’t be gladder to see my fellow bandmate, even if he is from Busted, but regardless, he is a good friend who has helped us McFly guys to rise to fame. We embraced warm smiles as we held each other’s hands, gazing at each other before hopping into his kart.

James explained that he was in the middle of a race, trailing behind, which is when he spotted me. “Of course, you come first before any trophy”, said James. I blushed hearing that, though, nevertheless, I helped him out by helping him to toss items, including shells and banana skins, towards his opponents, helping him to get ahead of them (James’ Leafeon helped him out too, swiping the other racers with Leaf Blade if they got too close to our kart). Pluto noticed this and said, “It looks like we have an extra passenger, folks!”

We were about to head towards an obstacle that involved missiles fired at us from the ceiling. “This is the part when it’s a pain!” ranted James. There was something else that dropped from the ceiling, which was piles of debris, followed by Harry Judd, who fell on our seats. He noticed the missiles and defended us by firing his Healing Blaster at them. “Hope you don’t mind me dropping in!” said Harry. Well, I have no idea how he dropped in like this, but hey, I couldn’t argue with his timing, plus we have another one of us reunited. “I suppose we owe you one, Harry”, I said, but we were nevertheless grateful for his help. “Now it looks like we have a third wheeler”, said Pluto.

Thanks to both of our help, James has won the race. “And we have a winner for our Hedgehog Kart!... And um...I guess those two have technically passed their gaming rooms,” said Pluto, who sounds perplexed. “Alright, the game is over! Now, please be so kind and let us get out of here for our show!” I demanded. “Not so fast, as I have set up a boss stage for you three!” said Pluto as he summoned three Roman soldiers with strange-looking outfits. The one I’m up against resembles a goddess with bright white colouring who goes by the name Juno. “If you wish to go towards the light, then you have to beat this boss!” said Pluto. So James, Harry and I have to fight these bosses separately, with the fights based on the games that we played. I sent out my Jolteon to help out. The sooner we beat them, the sooner we can get back to our show, hopefully with the other band members.

Use this theme for the boss battle

Fighting Juno is rather...blinding with her dazzling light that stings my eyes. While I was blinded, she fired a barrage of light balls towards us. “And let there be light!” said Pluto, rubbing it in.  They say not to look directly at the sun. If only I had brought sunglasses. I was thinking of a way to avoid her blinding light when I noticed the platforms above. So Jolteon and I jumped on the platforms to avoid her incoming light and fired our attacks towards her, including my Astro Beam and Jolteon’s Thunderbolt (who fired it at the incoming light balls to intercept them).

“That was some bright thinking there, but don’t think that’ll win every card!” said Pluto as Juno fired a beam of light towards me, which nearly knocked me off the platform. As I got myself back up, she then summoned rays of light from the ground towards me. It’s certainly a battle of attrition at this rate. I’ll have to keep up with the speed of light myself.

That’s when I spotted some item blocks that I could make use of, though some were high up or were further away. I noticed some springs and wrap pipes that I could access. Of course, Juno wasn’t making it easy for me as she continued to fire rays of light towards me, but Jolteon helped to defend me from the rays of light by firing its Thunderbolt at them. Thanks there, Jolteon! This helped me head towards the spring (while collecting some fruit that gives me health), which led me to a platform with an item box, revealing a winged cap. I’ve used it to fly above Juno’s attacks and fire my Planetary Spheres towards her. So you could say that I am flying high!

I got hit by one of her light balls, which caused me to lose my power-up, crashing towards a platform. Luckily, though, this is the platform where it has a wrap pipe that’ll take me to the platform where the item block is located, so I didn’t hesitate to go into the wrap pipe with Jolteon catching up to me.

“No matter where you go, you cannot escape the light!” said Pluto as Juno fired large sphere projectiles, which are explosive when they hit near us, causing us to trip over. It’s as if she is trying to knock us off the platforms. Well, that’s not going to happen as there is no stopping me now (referring to our charity cover song here)!

Jolteon tried to counter the light sphere projectiles with its Thunderbolt, but they still caused a blinding explosion upon impact. I thought it’s better to avoid them, which is rather hard to do with their speed. But luckily, I’ve spotted those dash panels that give me a speed boost, helping me to avoid Juno’s attacks and to get to the item block (while collecting more fruit along the way). I obtained the arm cannon, allowing me to fire my Tom Blaster towards Juno!

Juno then teamed up with two other bosses that James and Harry were facing: Aura and Salacia. While Juno blinded us with her bright light, Aura and Salacia fired their hurricane and water sprout towards us, making it a typhoon! “Now that’s three times the fun to make it more chaotic! Our audience craves for more chaos after all!” said Pluto. “Not if someone gets hurt”, said James dryly. “Now that is so unfair!!!” yelled Harry.

This is getting crazy. I have to come up with something fast. That’s when I spotted a ‘Kapow’ block at a distance, surrounded by lots of blocks, which gave me an idea. “Hey, James! How about you give us a lift over there for Harry to break these blocks? That’ll be the key to stop those bosses,” I said. They both seem to understand the idea, with James saying, “Well then, let’s go fast like whoa!” and we gathered onto his kart.

James drove his kart at high speed, although Juno, Aura and Salacia weren’t making it easy for us with their pillars of light and typhoon heading towards us, but James bravely steered his kart away from their attacks. Jolteon, Leafeon and Umbreon helped out too by defending us by firing their attacks towards the pillars of light and typhoon. Harry then jumped off the kart and did his thing by breaking down the blocks with his pickaxe. I smiled at how our plan was coming together, which is just like how we come up with music, and when we performed together on stage to give our audience an enjoyable time, I had those two to thank.

However, James and Harry were about to get directly hit by the bosses’ attacks, so I quickly used my Time Stop to freeze their attacks. That helped Harry to give enough time to break the rest of the coloured block for me to grab the ‘Kapow’ block. It’s a good thing that I refrained from using my Time Stop earlier and saved it for this occasion, as I would have become fatigued if I had overused it.

As soon as the Time Stop effects had worn off, I slammed down the ‘Kapow’ block onto the ground near the three bosses, which toppled them over. “Alright! Now we can get the upper hand!” cheered Harry, firing his Healing Blaster while they were down. “Reaching the finishing line!” said James, firing his Psy Thunder. Juno got up and fired her beam of light towards me, but I leapt onto the platform to dodge it, hitting an item block that released a fireball. “Sorry, but it’s lights out for you!” I said, tossing the fireball towards Juno, finishing her off.

Juno’s helmet came off, which revealed a woman whom I happened to recognise. Her name is Madame Donna, a famous singer who is a gay icon, helping to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights and supports charities while having some top hits, including ‘The Way I Was Born’ and ‘Ula’. Dominic is a fan of her, just like us, McFly and Busted, and we liked her music too, even meeting her a few times during parties, but I never thought we would get to meet her like this.

I rushed over to her and said, “Madame Donna, are you ok?” “...You’re McFly? Never thought I would bump into you here,” replied Madame Donna, who sounded somewhat dazed, but she still kept her spirit high. I smiled at her humouring me. She said that she must have been brainwashed into becoming one of the bosses of The Gaming Room and is a friend of Dane. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though I wasn’t going to let Pluto get away with brainwashing a fellow singer, saying to him on the screen monitor, “You have some nerve putting us singers in your so-called game! If you have an issue with us, why don’t you face us directly?!” All Pluto said was, “Congrats on passing your gaming challenge. You may proceed to the next area if you wish to make your way out.”

James, Harry, and I headed toward the exit door. It was time to reunite with the other bandmates and break through this game. We couldn't miss the show—especially for my Galaxy Defenders!

To be continued

Trivia 

• As you will have guessed, Super Hedgehog Brothers is a combination of Super Mario Brothers and Sonic The Hedgehog. 

• Other Platform games that are referenced includes Pacman (with the fruit), Megaman (with the blaster), Crash Bandicot (with the shoes that spins Tom around) and Kirby (the vaccum that copies enemies' abilities). 

• Madame Donna is a parody of Madonna and Lady Gaga. I've only heard a few of their songs but I am aware that they are gay icons so I had the idea of coming up with a parody of them.