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.
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 It must have been a tough crowd, but that's likely because it’s an outdated meme that’s barely relevant in this day and age.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 againDane 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- 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.
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