Hot Air Tiff

One day, Tiff was about to show her brother, Tuff, and her best friend Kirby something extraordinary.

Tiff: *guiding Tuff and Kirby with their eyes closed* "Keep your eyes closed. Don't look."

Tuff: *with eyes closed* "Sure sis. Although I'm not sure I can keep them closed for much longer."

Tiff: "Don't worry. We're almost there."

Tuff: *eyes still closed* "I hope so, because I'm dying with anticipation!"

Kirby: *nods his body in agreement*


It was quite a walk for the 3 short legged travelers. But eventually, they finally reached their destination.

Tiff: "Okay, you can open your eyes now!"

Tuff and Kirby opened their eyes and were in awe of what they saw before them. There, right in front of them, was a hot air balloon. Strangely, although the balloon looked old and useless, it appeared to be operational.

Tuff: *amazed* "Wow! When did you find this?"

Tiff: "Well, remember when I came running to you and Kirby an hour ago?"

Tuff: "Yes."

Tiff: "I wanted to share my discovery with the 2 of you. Which is why I came running to you as fast as my feet could take me."

Tuff: "Awww, thanks sis. You must be exhausted what you went through."

Tiff: "Thanks for you concern bro, but I feel fine. Just a little tired though."

Then Tuff looked at the balloon and a light bulb appeared above his head as if he had an idea.

Tuff: "Hey! Why don't we use the balloon to go around Dreamland?"

Kirby: *raises and eyebrow in confusion*

Tuff: "We can use it to go anywhere without walking."

Kirby: *smiles in approval*

Tiff: "That's a great idea! But lets make sure that this balloon still works."

Tuff hopped into the basket and started the burners. After a couple of tries, the burners were burning bright and the balloon was slowly getting bigger.

Tuff: "Kirby, grab Tiff and hop aboard!"

Kirby: *nodded and did what his friend told him to do*

After 5 minutes, the balloon was slowly lifting off the ground.

Tuff: *excited* "Here we go!"


Up in the air, Tiff and her friends could see all the marvelous sights of Dreamland from above.

Tiff: "This is beautiful."

Tuff: "I'll say, it's like we're part of a documentary. Do you think we could show this to people? We can give them a bird's eye view with this thing!"

Tiff: "Bird!"

Tuff: "That's right. We'll give them the view of a bird."

Tiff: "Not that, look!"

Tuff looked ahead and saw a big bird heading towards the balloon! They both tried to change their courses, but it was too late. One of the bird's sharp talons left a hole on the big balloon and it started to deflate at a quick rate. Tuff had to turn off the burners, because it was useless trying to inflate a balloon with a hole on it. The gang was scared as the basket plunged and was heading toward the ground.

Tiff: *hugs her brother and friend* "Guys, before we go, I just want to tell you how much you mean to mean."

Tuff: "Me too." 

Kirby: *nods sadly*

Tuff: *sadly* "Its times like this that I wish these things has a spare."

Suddenly, Tiff had an idea.

Tiff: "That's it!"

Tuff: "What's it?"

Tiff: "I have a plan. Kirby, I want you to inhale a little air so you can become airborne. Once you do, I'll hop on you so you can take me to the site of the hole."

Kirby: *salutes, inhales a little air, and becomes airborne.*

Tiff: "A little bit ahead of the plan, but great. Tuff, I want you to stay here. Once Kirby and I are at the sight of the hole, I'll tell you to turn on the burners."

Tuff: *confused* "Um, sure. Why?"

Tiff: "It's to save our hides. Now, come on Kirby. There's no time to lose!" *hops on Kirby and they both go to the hole*

Tuff: *nervously as he goes to the burners* "I have a bad feeling about this."


Tiff and Kirby were soon at the area where the talon scratched the balloon.

Tiff: *to Tuff* "NOW!"

Tuff: *hearing his sister* "RIGHT!" *turns on the burners at maximum power*  

Luckily, the hole wasn't really big. Tiff covered it with her mouth and stayed put as the hot air was going inside her body. Pretty soon Tiff became a hot air Tiffloon! Suddenly, the burners short circuited and stopped working.

Tuff: *scared as the basket was descending* "Oh no!"

Kirby saw this and rushed down to help by allowing his friend to hop on him. He did it just in time. Because as soon as they headed toward the balloonified Tiff, the basket crashed down below.

Tuff: *sighs with relief* "Thanks Kirby."

Kirby: *smiles*

Tuff: *sees his inflated sister* "So this is what my sister had in mind. What a quick thinker."

Kirby and Tuff hopped on Tiff's back as she slowly descended to the ground with ease.

Tuff: "That sure was something."

Tiff finally let all the hot air out of her body and was back to normal.

Tiff: "It sure was."

Tuff: "This really proves you're the smartest person in Dreamland, sis. I don't see anyone else thinking of this kind of plan quickly as you did in that situation."

Kirby: *nods in agreement* 

Tiff: *happily* "Thank you so much, you guys!" *hugs both of them*

Tuff: "But the sad thing is that we no longer have a balloon to give tours to people."

Tiff: "Oh well, we'll find something that can be just as exciting."

Tuff: "Lets hope so."

Tiff: "We should probably head home now."

Tuff: "Yeah we should."

Kirby: *nods*

The gang walked back home thinking of how clever their unofficial leader saved their lives for certain doom. All the while, Tiff was happily thinking how good it felt to be a balloon.



The End