The Wondrous BananAmusement Park

"Who lives in the park in the jungle?"

"Baby Banana!"

"Long, yellow, lively, and lovable!"

"Baby Banana!"

"Boom boom." The drum sounded two and a half times, and the baby bananas woke from deep sleep, ready to leave the banana tree and begin a new day! Some baby bananas woke up full of energy, made pastries out of durian, and played chase in the jungle. Some baby bananas were more mature and rubbed coconut over themselves so they would carry the scent of coconut. The little monkey looked with satisfaction upon that scene brimming with life, and could not help calling out cheerfully to the baby bananas...

"Are you ready? Baby bananas?"

"Ready, Captain Monkey!"

"I can't hear anything!"

"Ready, Captain Monkey!"

"Boom boom." The drum sounded three and a half times, and it was time again for the daily "Banana Peeling Club". The baby bananas grew tense, some shouted out loud, some quietly shed tears, some felt their hearts turn to ash... The monkeys questioned the healthy baby bananas one by one, and the question upon the banana leaf never changed... "Do you still remember the time outside the banana?"

A simple question that always receives a bitter answer, and the baby bananas cannot understand where the sad feeling comes from. It is like when a baby banana must bear pressure from the outside world, of course the flesh inside will oxidize and turn black.

"If exploring everywhere is your wish,"

"then knock upon the banana tree and let Captain Monkey lead the way."

"Boom boom." The drum sounded seven and a half times, and the "Banana Cheer Game" was about to begin. In this jungle park, every banana was once promised that so long as they tried hard enough, the baby bananas would not have to be bananas forever. Every baby banana has a dream, striving without pause to become a great monkey... The jungle drew back to both sides, Captain Monkey stepped out from the middle, bowing gently and humbly before the baby bananas, and the baby bananas politely bowed in return... Captain Monkey brought a brand new game, and wished to "trade" it for new stories.

"Boom boom." The drum sounded eleven and a half times, and the baby bananas were carried back to the tree by the monkeys, swaying as they entered the ideal land. The green sun glittered, and the babbling sound echoed all through the park.

The ruins of Research Institute Ba-77 lie in the Celestial Assembly Constellation ψ, hidden beneath the ground of some jungle world. Extremist Sentinels once destroyed this place, and to this day the cables left behind still blink with signals of no clear meaning.

"That damned research institute is as hard to find as a leaf in a forest"... Beneath layers of bark, tree bones formed the shape of an entrance, and after passing through a long hollow in the trunk the Sentinels at last found their target.

This research institute resembles an "art museum" more than a "laboratory". Complicated cables weave together into a single mass in midair, giving off different colors of light according to the intent of the designer. Everyone who looks at it holds their forehead and feels dizzy. Then strange hallucinations appear one after another before their eyes, a threshold space of pure yellow, a series of portraits gradually vanishing, the shadow of a monster hidden behind a curtain...

The Sentinels were far too familiar with these tricks. If they lingered inside, they would begin talking nonsense and groping about with their limbs... After a crisp sound from the impact of a gun stock, the young Sentinel used the pain and the dizziness to escape the maze of perception.

With clear vision, the Sentinel advanced into the deepest part. Research Institute Ba-77 was full of collapsed statues, damaged murals, ornaments of extremely high color saturation... And the shattered containers everywhere made the terrain of this place resemble a prison. At the deepest point, the Sentinel found a report, then imagined the countless "perception experiments" carried out before the facility collapsed... In some unconscious moment, everyone suddenly turned their heads and realized that they were inside the jungle park, where the leaves waved at them without stopping, asking whether they still remembered the good things up in the tree.

"Am I not a banana? And what did we come here for?" The young Sentinel wanted to return up the tree, so that he would no longer have to "worry".

But the blind Sentinel realized the problem, and before everything became beyond saving, the blind Sentinel pulled the young man out of that place by force.

"Banana... Those monkeys will have to turn into bananas too!"