By the Squoishomellow Squad
Prologue
Previously… A sound I had heard at the beginning of the dream. The others heard it too. It was coming from all of our BP austinas’. Then, I blacked out, again…
Chapter 1: Deja Vu
We woke up in Spele…again. I knew we were in Spele because it was where we had started out in the dream. Or…was the dream really a dream? I considered the possibility of 2 people having the same dream with all the details exactly the same. Extremely unlikely. 4 or 5 people having the same dream is even less likely.
All my friends started where they were last time. Laimigs was half-buried in the sand. “Yay! We’re back in Spele.” he said.
“Really?” said Lojals.
“We need to find the Squoishomellow Squad,” said Laimigs. We all gathered together and looked around the beach. Just then we saw something in the distance and heard faint noises. “Uh oh, I wonder what that is?” I said. We decided to take cover and see if it was safe. And when it got closer, we saw it was the Squoishomellow Squad.
“Wow,” said Laimigs, “I say we need to find the Squoishomellow Squad, and they come to us.”
We went out into the open, and shouted together, “Over here Bob, Felix, Gordon, and Charles!” The Squad hovered quite close to the ground and looked up at us cheerfully. Bob said, “Do we know these guys?”
Charles replied, “No we don’t, I remember everybody that we meet.”
“Me too,” Gordon added on.
“Me three,” replied Felix.
“Don’t you know us? asked Uzticams.
“No,” said Felix.
“But we would like to get to know you,” said Gordon.
“I’m so sorry you can’t remember us. We were the people looking for information about a robot. We traded you a banana for information about how to get into a secret lair.” I explained.
“I wish that I’d tried a banana before,” said Charles.
“Yeah, me too. Me three. Me four.” the rest of the Squad chimed in.
“Anyways, what’s happened lately?”Laimigs asked.
“Human beings have just exited the Stone Age, and now they’re in the Bronze Age,” answered Bob.
Uzticams looked at me thoughtfully, “Something almost seems to be…reset here.”
“I remember Zaglis hitting a button that said World Reset,” said Laimigs. “There was some fine print on the button that said something like anybody not from Spele during reset will be deleted.”
“Then what happened to Zaglis…” I asked.
Chapter 2: Upgrades
We reached into our pockets because last time we had cool and helpful stuff. Last time I got a map, Lojals the stick of Justice, Uzticams a sack of money and laimigs got the amazing Ring O Plenty.
This time I got a map that located me and my friends with icons, Lojals got a stainless steel sword and armor, and Uzticam got a box with a keyhole in it. The Squoishomellow Squad explained it is a mystery key box. This time Laimigs got the same thing as last time: a Ring O’ Plenty, but this time it was quite overpowered.
“Cool!” said Charles. “You have a Ring O’ Plenty. Weren’t you talking about giving us a banana before?”
“What’s that other symbol on it?” said Bob. We looked closer. “It looks like a star fruit,” I said.
“Can we try a banana…and a star fruit for all our help?” asked Charles.
“Sure,” we replied. “But I think we should get moving.” I asked, “Want to travel with us for a while and we can give you a banana to eat on the road?” The Squoishomellow Squad agreed and we all headed towards the Capital.
Chapter 3: The Capital..or maybe not
Nom, nom, nom um, nom, mmm, ummm nom nom. We had stopped for a rest and the Squoishomellow Squad was happily munching on bananas and star fruits. “Yummy, this is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!” said Charles. “Thank you,” said the Squoishomellow Squad together. “You know, this fruit is so delicious we owe you a lot more help. So what else do you need to learn about?”
We thought about this awhile as we resumed our journey toward the capital. Eventually, I asked, “Have you seen anything that seems out of place for the Bronze Age? Some kind of advanced technology?”
“Sure,” the Squoishomellow Squad answered together without hesitation. “It’s on that island over there.” Bob pointed east across the water to another island.
Uzticams speculated, “Maybe we should skip the capital and go straight there. When we looked for advanced technology in Spele before, it led us to a way home.”
“I agree with that plan!” said Laimigs happily. I thought to myself, Laimigs agrees with all plans. Nonetheless, soon enough we all agreed to skip the capital and go to the other island.
We walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked (you may read this at your own risk or you can skip the rest of this paragraph) walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked.
The rolling hills were in front and behind us, and everything seemed calm and peaceful. We climbed a hill and then… you know how in cartoons there are a few people walking in a line and the person in front abruptly stops and the people behind him walk into the first person and so on? When the last person bumps into the person in front of them, they all tumble down. That’s exactly what happened to us. I had been at the front of the line, and what made me stop short was the sight of The Black Knight blocking the path. A mace the size of a small island. A thirty-story-tall sword! Imagine seeing that? If you died, that was your last life. You can imagine why I was so scared. We scrambled to our feet and stared up in terror.
Chapter 4: The Black Knight
Now that we got closer, we saw that he had armor. And his armor was radiating darkness. His sword and his mace were black, and they were radiating darkness, too. His sword looked much bigger up close. From a mile away the sword did not look like a thirty-story tall sword, but up close the Black Knight’s sword was much taller than he was—it looked like it was thirty stories tall. From a mile away his mace had also looked much smaller, but up close we could tell it was the size of a small island.
“How did we not see this guy?!!!!” Quietly shouted Uzticams.
Gordon answered, “The darkness he radiates makes him hard to see. But it also makes it hard for him to see. Maybe he won’t notice us and we can sneak across the bridge.”
I whispered, “let’s look for another way.” and pointed away from the Black Knight and toward some boulders we could hide behind. We crouched behind the boulders and I said, “We need a plan. In Spele a lot of things go wrong. We need to make sure things don’t go wrong. Otherwise, we’re in big trouble.”
“Bananas are overpowered in this world,” said Laimigs. “Maybe if we give him a banana he’ll let us pass?”
“I don’t think a banana is going to be enough,” answered Lojals. “Maybe there’s another bridge.”
“You can look,” said Felix, “but there isn’t another bridge between the islands.”
“What about a boat?” said Uzticams.
“No boats either,” added Felix. “Crossing that bridge is the only way.”
We had no other option. We approached the Black Knight and hoped we could get across unnoticed.
“Whooo dares attempt to cross MY bridge!!!” roared the Black Knight as he saw us. I thought in my head, “well, that plan went down the drain”.
“We do!” said Laimigs happily.
“What?” roared the Black Knight in outrage. “How am I supposed to scare you if you’re just that happy?!!”
“We’re not all that happy,” said Uzticams.
“Interesting…” said the Black Knight, stroking his imaginary beard.
“So, what’s the toll to pass the bridge?” I asked.
“A baaaaattttlllle!” said the Black Knight.
“Ok!” said Laimigs still smiling, “I’ll battle with you.”
“No. No. No. No.” said the Black Knight. “Not you. A battle with someone else.” (In his head he was probably thinking this was not the proper reaction he should get out of the people he was supposed to terrify.)
“How about we pay a banana as a toll to cross?” Laimigs suggested.
“A ba-na-na?” said the Black Knight. “You have a Ring O’ Plenty? I’ll take a banana!” And then in his most fearsome roar he added, “Give me a banana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Here you go,” said Laimigs and he handed the Black Knight three bananas.
The Black Knight to the bananas in amazement and said, “You may pass…”
“Ok, let’s go before he changes his mind,” I said and we rushed onto the bridge. Snap! A rotten floor board broke beneath my foot. “Wait a minute,” I said, “it smells like the bridge is rotting.” Everyone took a moment to look down and realize I was correct. There were huge gaps in the floor of the bridge. Below the water was rough and had a jagged coral reef beneath the surface. If we fell it would be game over. Or more like: life over. Either way, we didn’t want to test it out.
Lojals said, “Maybe I should take the first steps. I can poke the wood with my sword and make sure it will hold my weight. Follow as closely as you can in my footsteps. So we continued across the huge, rotting bridge. We made it over small cracks and rotting gaps, and huge gaps, too. Finally, when we had almost reached the end of the bridge we realized an area had completely fallen out. Gordon of the Squoishomellow Squad said, “Maybe Lojals can whittle a key for the mystery box? Perhaps it would have something to help us get across the bridge.”
As we waited for Lojals to whittle a piece of the bridge into a key, we paced back and forth, discovering all the rotten spots through trial and error as the wood broke beneath our feet. Finally Lojals was done. We took the key and put it in the mystery key box. He turned the key and the lid opened…
Chapter 5: Surprises
As the lid opened, a long piece of wood sprang out and launched into the air. I didn’t see how it was possible for the height or the width of the piece of wood to have fit inside the box. The piece of wood reached its peak height and started to fall down. I shouted “Lojals quickly! Hand me your sword.” Lojals handed me his sword. I extended it and was able to catch the piece of wood before it fell into the water below. One of the ends tipped over and hit the other side. “I guess we’re supposed to use this wood to get across the bridge,” I concluded. I pulled in the sword and the end of the plank that was closest to us fell on our side. One by one we started walking across the bridge. The Squoishomellow Squad, not needing a bridge, flew over and waited for us on the other side.
We made it across, but barely. One too many of us went on the plank at once and it snapped. Laimigs almost fell in the water, but managed to race across the falling piece just in time. “That was fun!” said Laimigs as he reached the other side. We breathed a sigh of relief and turned up the trail. “What’s that big dark area?” said Uzticams.
“Oh, the second Black Knight” answered the Squoishomellow Squad in unison.
“Wait, there are TWO Black Knights?” I asked.
“Two Black Knights!” said Laimigs. “How great. Maybe we’ll find a third Black Knight to Night” he added.
The second Black Knight turned around and bellowed, “WHoooo goes theeere!!!”
“We do!” replied Laimigs cheerily.
“What?” replied the second Black Knight. “You are supposed to cower in fear and/or run away, back to where you came from.”
“Well, it’s a little too late for that,” Laimigs explained. “You see, there’s another Black Knight on the other side of the bridge and besides, the plank we used to cross the bridge snapped in two so we can’t go back.”
“Anyways,” said Uzticams, “Can we pass because we already had enough trouble with the other Black Knight. It’s been a really long day.”
“But I’m supposed to be guarding,” said the Black Knight. “In case the other Black Knight fails to do his duties…erm his work” he finished, blushing.
“Well, if you let us pass, I’ll give you a banana.” said Laimigs.
“Hmmm….” roared the Black Knight. “A banana? Ok! You can pass.”
Like before, Laimigs gave the Black Knight not one but two bananas and the Black Knight let us pass. Happy to leave the Black Knights behind, we continued on our way…
“Boy oh boy this Ring ‘O Plenty is sure great. We made it across the bridge!” exclaimed Laimigs extra excitedly. I asked the Squoishomellow Squad, “Well, it certainly was an effort to get here. So, which way do we go now to find the advanced technology?”
Then, the Squoishomellow Squad did something unexpected. They said “that way” all at once while pointing in different directions. Bob extended each of his eight legs in a different direction—toward the beach (West and East), the jungle to the North, the swamp, a bamboo forest to the South and, what seemed to be a valley far off in the distance.
“So where’s the technology?” Uzitcam asked again, sounding just a little bit frustrated by the situation.
“We just showed you silly!” said the Squoishomellow Squad. “It’s all over this island.”
“So, where should we go first?” Lojals asked.
“I’ve got an idea!” answered Uzticams. “How about we go to that valley. Even though it’s farther than everything else, we had good luck finding Zaglis in a valley before.”
“We also had bad luck with the World Reset” answered Lojals.
“What’s a World Reset?” asked Charles.
“Where everyone gets their memory wiped and everyone loses all their technology!” answered Laimigs happily.
“Sooo…is that why you think you remember us, but we don’t remember you?” asked Charles.
“Precisely!” Laimigs said.
“That’s amazing,” replied Bob seriously.
We started walking toward the valley… “Wait a minute, it’s getting dark. We should set up camp for the night.” Lojals said pointing toward the setting sun. We decided to head toward the bamboo forest because it offered more cover than being out in the open… and it was closer than the jungle. I don’t think we realized how exhausting our day had been. As soon as we hit the ground, we fell asleep.
Chapter 6: Ninjas
The next morning we had star fruit and bananas from the Ring ‘O Plenty. But in the blink of an eye a bunch of people appeared in the bamboo forest dressed in black pajamas. Or were they black pajamas.
“Ninja suits?” whispered Uzticams nervously. We looked around and saw the ninjas surrounding us.
“There’s no use trying to fight them,” said Uzticams. A small eternity passed as we waited for one of them to speak.
Finally, Laimigs said “Bananas are overpowered.”
The most important looking ninja with a red band around his head said, “You have bananas?”
“Yes we do,” continued Laimigs. “In fact, do you want a banana and a star fruit?” Before the same ninja could answer, Laimigs produced a star fruit and a banana and handed them to him.
The important looking ninja seemed astonished. “You gave the banana and a star fruit for…free?”
“Yes of course! Why wouldn’t we do that?” replied Laimigs.
A second small eternity passed. Then, the important looking ninja said, “Attack!” Just then a miner popped out of the ground where we were and said in a raspy voice, “Woops. Wrong area” and popped back down.
“Follow that miner!” I cried. And we all jumped down the hole and started to fall.
Felix said, “You think it’s a smart idea to go down a mysterious hole where there’s a mysterious miner who just said “woops, wrong area?”
Just then we saw some shiny objects following us. Not the ninjas, definitely, but were those… katanas…and shurikens? Thankfully Lojals was the last to hop into the hole and put on his armor. He made sure all the shurikens and katanas hit his armour. With a clang they hit Lojal’s armour harmlessly.
“That was close,” said Charles.
“Wait a minute.” said Gordon. “That looks like the ground down there.”
“Looks like we’re getting close to falling to our deaths,” said Bob.
“Not if I can help it,” replied Felix. And with that, Felix started using his flying power, slowing down our fall. “Grrpppffff that is a lot of—Bob, what’s the word for it?”
“Inertia.” said Bob.
“This fall has a lot of inertia,” said Felix. Finally, Felix managed to slow down the fall enough that all of us wouldn’t splat down at the bottom of the hole.
“Is it just me, or is it hot in here” asked Uzticams.
“No, it’s not just you,” answered Bob. “We are close to the end of the planet’s crust, and it’s hotter closer to the core of Spele.”
Just then we heard a familiar gruff voice. “Who goes there? Who dares enter my whole?”
“We do,” said Laimigs.
“How come you’re not scared?” said the gruff voice.
“Well, technically you kinda did save our lives” said Lojals. All the weapons he had saved us from were magnetically clinging to his armor.
“How did I save your lives?” asked the miner.
“Well, you dug a hole to where we were, and when we decided to jump down you didn’t prevent us so…I assume you allowed us.”
“Uhhhh, fine. Well, as long as you survive you’re allowed to stay down here. Which won’t be long.” he said.
“How do you know that?” said Laimigs.
“You’ll find out.” he rasped.
“What’s your name?” said Gordon.
“Ummm” the Miner had to think about it, “Doug.”
Just then we saw something coming out of the wall. It looked like a floating yellow raccoon mask. When it fully came out of the wall, it materialized into a fuzzy, yellow pompom. Doug, who was about this creature’s size, shot out a pump that impaled itself into the yellow pom pom. He started inflating the creature.
“How come you’re inflating this poor thing?” said Charles.
“Because it was trying to kill you,” said Doug.
“It was? Fascinating,” said Bob.
Finally, the creature reached such a size that it exploded. But it didn’t explode guts, it exploded the simple number 100. As quickly as it appeared, the number disappeared.
“Oh butterscotch, you’ll never survive down here without me. You better come to my house, and we should get going. Stay clear of the walls. One of the creatures like a Demon Firefly or Plant Dragon might appear,” said Doug.
Chapter 7: Dig, Doug!
We followed Doug through the dark tunnels. Occasionally, we would spot a Demon Firefly, and twice we spotted a Plant Dragon. Finally, we reached Doug’s… “home.”
“This is my home!” said Doug.
“It just looks like a pile of mud.”
“Well, yes, that’s part of the disguise.”
“Disguise from what?” asked Lojals.
“From any enemies that come down here!”
“Is it effective?” Uzticams asked.
“Not really…” Doug pointed to a huge sign that said, “home sweet home” next to the mud mound and another huge sign that said “main tunnel.” We entered the mud mound through the sign that said “home sweet home,” which turned out to actually be a door.
Inside, there was not a spot of mud. In fact, everything gleamed inside from platinum, rubies, sapphires, gold, silver and other precious gemstones. “This is only a small sample of what I’ve collected,” said Doug under his breath.
“How did you make all of this?” I asked.
“Easy. I put some of the materials in a bin with a letter describing the things I want made with the materials. That bin goes up to the surface and later, a bin of finished items comes down. Doug said, “the only price for you staying here is that I get some of the weapons sticking to his armor.”
“Sure,” said Lojals, looking down at his armor. “And with some difficulty and a sound like “sprunnngggg” he pried off some of the ninja weapons that were still sticking to him.
Doug greedfully took those weapons and put them in a display case. Then Lojals pried off another one of the weapons. This weapon happened to be a shuriken.
“Look at this,” said Gordon pointing to a symbol on the shuriken that looked like a trident with seaweed on it. There were also details on the trident that almost looked like fish scales.
Doug recognized it immediately. “Oh, that looks like you have a weapon there from the forges at Atlantis.”
“How do we get there?” I asked.
“All you have to do,” said Doug, “is go down my eastern tunnel and go up the very last tunnel. You will arrive at the Capitol. From there, you should be able to find a bit to take you to one of Atlantis’ outposts above water.”
“When should we get started?” asked Felix.
“Now I guess, if you have a timeline,” replied Doug.
Chapter 8: Guuk
We had a quick meal of more bananas and starfruit, then paid Dig Doug with more bananas and star fruit. We went out the door… Lojals first, then me, then Uzticams, then Laimigs and the Squoishomellow Squad. The tunnels were wide and spacious with torches on the sides of the walls. We hurried and followed the map that Doug had lent us because he was actually such a nice guy (and because we tipped him an extra banana for it!). And so we walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked and walked walked and walked and walked and walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked and walked walked. Surprisingly, we didn’t encounter any of the creatures Doug had warned us to avoid. Finally, we came to the end of the tunnel. There was a sign with an arrow pointing up and the words “Capital” written on it.
“Lojals, you go first,” said Uzticams.
“Boy, aren’t I lucky to have this armor?” said Lojals as he started to climb the ladder.
“At least you get to make peace with them before everybody else does!” said Bob cheerfully.
And so Lojals climbed up the ladder and disappeared from our sight as he emerged from the tunnel outside. We listened carefully for a few moments.
“All clear!” shouted Lojals, and so we all climbed out, and cautiously looked around. We noticed there were other people around, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to us. The place looked extremely primitive except for one thing: it had advanced materials to build the primitive huts. Gordon asked, “Why would they build primitive huts out of advanced materials…just out of curiosity? Not to be rude, or anything.”
“Maybe they got a supplier that gave them advanced materials, but they don’t know how to build advanced structures.” I said.
“So they have these semi-advanced buildings?” answered Gordon.
We decided we needed to talk to the leader.
“Let’s try our luck out with that hut over there,” said Felix” as he pointed to the largest hut in the village. The hut was about fifty times the size of the regular huts. Very easy to miss… NOT!
We walked over there. The villagers continued to ignore us.
The door to the hut was fabric so we knocked on what can only be described as a knocking stump. It was a stump that had a flat top, and was hollowed out inside. Kind of like a drum. When you knocked on it, the stump made an echoing tapping sound.
The primitive version of a butler lifted up the fabric that was used for a door.
He said in a deep butler-ish voice, “You may come in.”
Inside the house, everything was bigger. (Because for some weird reason, whenever you enter somewhere—a house, a car, a virtual reality game—everything seems bigger. And, since we were entering a house while in a virtual reality game, everything seemed ultra big).
Charles said, “Is this where the leader lives?”
“Chief!” said the butler. “Yes. This is his hut. I’ll go to hut room number 37 and get him for you.” The butler walked down a long hallway to a room made from drywall and denim. When the chief came out he looked oddly familiar… but, I couldn’t put my finger on it… So, I decided to have a little bit of a chat with him to see if I could jog my memory.
“Hello, what’s your name?” I asked.
“My Name is Guuk” said the chief in a booming voice. “What is your name?” ‘Guuk’ said.
“Stastitajs” I said.
“Ok, Stuuge” said the chief.
“Did he just call you Stuuge?” Lojals asked.
“Isn’t that what he said his name was?” said the chief.
“No, he said his name was Stastitajs.” siad Lojals.
“You keep on telling me his name is Stuuge, but you get angry as if his name isn’t Stuuge.”
“You should call him Stastitajs,” said Laimigs.
“It’s ok,” I said. “I thought I might have recognized him, but he’s dumber than anybody we’ve met so far.”
“Thank you,” said Guuk happily. “I am very dumb! But most people call me smart behind my back. But someone has finally called me dumb!”
“I have a feeling we just gave him a compliment in his own language.”
“Indeed! That is a great compliment. Smart people go out in the woods and get eaten by wild predators. Dumb people build things. That is basic literature in Guukish.”
“Let me guess, Guukish was named after you because you’re the ruler of a place called Guukland, or something like that?”
“Exactly,” said Guuk.
“Anyways… Guuk, can you tell us where you’re getting all this advanced stuff?”Gordon asked
“Easy,” said Guuk. “We’re getting it from the gods. There’s the sea god, natural god, soft god and hard god. Although, the gods don’t like being in each other’s presence. We never see them together.”
“Where do these gods appear?” asked Uzticams.
“Oh, they appear on an island to the north,” said Guuk, pointing south.
“Um, I’m pretty sure that’s south?” said Bob.
“North!” said Guuk again, still pointing south.
So we headed “north” (south), leaving Guuk and the villagers behind.
We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. We passed by the bamboo forest. The air seemed quite still, and we fell into a trance as we walked. Finally, we arrived at the beach. It was getting late, so we decided to set up camp. That’s when I noticed that Laimigs was missing—along with the Squoishmellow Squad.
“Where could they be? Are they captured? Maybe the ninjas got them?” I started going back the way we came, and saw Laimigs and the Squoishomellow Squad walking toward me more slowly than usual. I looked closer and noticed that walking with them was a…panda?
“Laimigs! Where did you get that panda?” I askamed (exclaimed and asked at the same time).
“In the bamboo forest, of course.” he replied. “Didn’t you notice?”
“Uhhh…whaaat?” I commented.
“So, can we keep him?” asked Gordon.
“Yeah! Can we keep him?” said Felix.
“Can we keep him?” asked Bob
“Can we please Keep him?” begged Charles
“Can we keep him?” said Laimigs
“Fine.” I replied in an irritated tone. “Under the warning not to get too attached to him because we can’t take him back with us into the real world.”
“Yay!” the Squoishomellow Squad and Laimigs cried!
We ate dinner from the Ring ‘O Plenty and fell asleep under the stars.
Chapter Nine: Prophecy
I woke up with a start to a monstrous noise.
“Huggggnnnnkkkk.” It sounded like some sort of monster’s roar combined with an earthquake.
Then I heard the sound again, “Huggggnnnnkkkk.” I looked around for the source of this noise and noticed that everybody else was also up.
“Huggggnnnnkkkk.” I looked around and realized the only one that wasn’t awake was the panda.
“Huggggnnnnkkkk,” snored the panda, and it too woke up with a start. “Birrllll” said the panda in a very quiet voice. Laimigs got all excited, “Oh we found a panda with super snore power!”
“Laimigs, that’s not a good power to have because what if, I don’t know, people are trying to sleep?” I objected.
“What if the bad guys try taking a nap in the middle of a fight? Then with the super snore power, we can keep the bad guys awake and they’ll be easier to defeat,” said Laimigs.
Uzticams replied, “if we are going to be in a fight, then the bad guys won’t try to take a nap.”
“You don’t know the bad guys,” contradicted Laimigs, “unless you’re one of the bad guys.”
Lojals said, “Looks like there’s a temporary land bridge in between us and that island.” We all turned around and saw that Lojals was right, and decided to take our chances with the temporary land bridge. we knew that it was temporary, and it only came in during low tide. We just had to hope that high tide wasn’t anytime soon, and so we started on that land bridge to the ruins.
Suddenly Felix broke into a trance and started speaking in a different way from how he normally spoke. “Beware the lair of heat and fire. Beware the god of liars. Beware the ruins of nire. The geiser shall be your despiser. The future that is facing, is not what you desire.”
“Wait a minute,” said Bob. “Are you okay Felix? Are you a prophet or something?”
Felix replied, “I just blacked out and then I woke up again.”
“You said a prophecy,” said Charles.
“I would have remembered the prophecy if I’d said it,” objected Felix.
“But you blacked out,” said Uzticams.
“Anyways,” continued Bob. “Anyways, I think we should start running down the land bridge because it could be high tide at any time.”
So we continued at a running pace to the ruins that might, or might not, be the ruins of nire…
Chapter Ten: Crash course to smart and not
Bob was right. As we started across the land bridge, the waves began to slowly but surely make the land bridge skinnier and skinnier, as if the water was alive but didn’t want us to notice that it was trying to block off our path…
“This seems familiar,” said Charles. “Seems like once we’re safe, something happens to us. The water had almost consumed the entire land bridge, which was now extremely thin.
“We better start going even quicker… at this rate we won’t make it to the ruins that might or might not be the ruins of Nire!” exclaimed Lojals. We looked behind us and the land bridge had been completely covered up, but just by a thin layer of water. We kept running as fast as we could. By the time that we got to the ruins of nire (maybe), the tide had gone up to waist height.
We were all soaked, and the panda also smelled terrible. the panda’s odor was a combination of wet fur that has never been bathed before and something else that I couldn’t put my finger on.
We entered into the ruins. The ruins looked like a ruined windmill, except it’s been so ruined it had no windmill. Most of the wall had either crumbled, broken or in some other way of having no wall where walls should be. In the center of the ruin, there was a spot that looked like a symbol could fit inside all of it.
Lojals asked everybody, “do you think we should put the symbol there, or should we look around first?” All of a sudden the panda started walking towards Lojals, grabbed a ninja’s star in his mouth and walked over to the slot in the ground. He promptly sat on the ground and started chewing on it. On his fourth gnaw, the ninja star fell down and clinked on the spot and fell perfectly in.
There was a large rumbling sound. “Noooooooo” everyone shouted except for Laimigs and the Squishmallow Squad. They replied to this instead, “Cool, we got a smart panda.” Then the ruins underwent an extreme transformation. the walls became sturdier and curved upwards. The dust was cleaned away, and shapes above us started to form like huge gravity-defying floors. “Woaahhhh.” All of us couldn’t help but be amazed at how many secrets we’re lying in these ruins. Suddenly a loudspeaker said: Welcome to the Temple of Nire.
Chapter Eleven: BleeRaKu
I remembered the lines to the prophecy: Beware the lair of heat and fire. Beware the god of liars. Beware of the ruins of nire. The geiser shall be your despiser. The future that is facing, is not what you desire. “Didn’t it say beware of the ruins of nire?”
If you ever had a puzzle maze ball with a little ball inside to run up and down the track, you basically would have the Ruins of Nire—with the modifications that it was big enough for people to fit inside and, if you walked along the walls, gravity would apparently change so you could move in any direction. Then we heard a loud clank, clank, clank, clank. We saw a huge person walking down one of the walls—yes, I mean one of the walls. It was a giant figure, part giant and part robot.
“Who are you?” asked the Squoishomellow Squad.
“I am BleeRaKu,” he replied.
“Who is BleeRaKu?” asked Laimigs.
“How can you not know that I am one of the gods!” said BleeRaKu.
“Gods don’t exist!” answered Uzticams.
“Well then, how would you explain me?” bellowed BleeRaKu.
“You’re part giant and part robot, that doesn’t make you a god,” said Uzticams.
“But I have godlike powers!” said BleeRaKu.
Something about this giant robot god seemed familiar. “Have we met you before?” BleeRaKu answered a little too confidently, “No.”
“Anyways, what are you the god of?” asked Lojals.
“I’m the god of hard stuff,” answered BleeRaKu. “How about you stay the night?”
“But, morning was, like, just three hours ago,” said Lojals.
“Look out the window,” said BleeRaKu, pointing to the clear bubble of the temple. It was dark as night.
“This is weird. ‘Cause I could have sworn we just woke up a few hours ago. We couldn’t have slept in that long,” Lojals said. But, we realized how tired we were and accepted the offer to stay at the temple overnight…
Chapter Twelve: Overnight
We woke up to a loud rumbling sound. The entire building was rumbling.
“What’s that rumbling?” shouted Charles.
“Maybe it’s a giant furry beast from underground coming to say hello to us,” replied Gordon.
“Or, it might be coming to eat us,” exclaimed Uzticams.
We realized that the ocean level all around us seemed much, much, much lower. Booooowwwhhhhhhh!!! And we flew up into the air. The sound was like a million pieces of dynamite exploding all at once.
“Cool,” said Bob. “The floor underneath us is going up, so our legs are having to use more energy than they normally would, making us feel heavier. In a few minutes the floor will start to fall and we’ll start to feel like we are floating. Oh, and if we don’t get out of here, we’ll be flattened like a pancake.”
Chapter Thirteen: The Geiser
“What?” we shouted at Bob.
“We’ll all be flattened like a pancake if we don’t get out of here,” repeated Bob.
“Why is it that every time we think we’re safe in Spele something happens? Like being blown up by….whatever this is,” said Uzticams.
“Hey,” said Gordon, “Maybe it’s a geyser. Remember the prophecy said The geiser shall be your despiser.”
“But what was the prophecy I said?” said Felix. “What geiser?”
“We’re about to be flattened like a pancake—” said Bob. “We need a plan now.”
“I have an idea,” said Felix. “How about you all hop on my back and we fly down.”
“We can’t all fit on your back,” objected Bob.
“It will at least cushion your fall,” Felix answered. “It probably would be better than falling on top of that mountain range over there.” And Felix gestured to the window. Sure enough they saw a mountain range suddenly getting closer. I felt weightless now as we were falling. Bob said, “We’re experiencing 0 G’s, so that means that we will be floating around and if we hit the ground anytime soon you’ll go flat.”
“Grab on everybody, get on my back.” We all hopped on Felix’s back. It was quite crowded and we had to hold Bob, Gordon and Charles above us so that we wouldn’t make them plummet to the ground.
“Wait a minute,” Uzticams pointed to the walls. “How are we going to get out of here?” said Gordon and Charles at the same time. Jinx 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. “Oh man, I was able to get Jinxed in the middle of a life or death crisis,” said Gordon.
“We can’t be fussing over silly things like a simple jinx, do any of you guys have keys on you?” said Utzitcams.
“I don’t have a key,” said Charles.
“I don’t have a key,” said Gordon.
“Not me,” said Felix.
“But since I’m an octopus, I have no bones so that means my hands can act as keys,” said Bob.
“Why didn’t you tell us on the bridge?” I asked.
“Cuz’ you didn’t ask.” replied bob
Bob stuck his arm in the keyhole and started to feel around. “That’s weird, there isn’t any mold for the key to fit into. Maybe this opens with any type of key?” Click went the box. And the box opened. Inside there were a hundred different keys.
Uzticams was surprised and upset, “what am I going to do with these keys?” he said.
“Maybe we should try those keys in the box’s keyhole,” Charles said.
Uzticams unlocked the mystery key box again with one of the new keys he was given. A geyser shot out of the mystery key box and drenched everybody. That was not helpful. Uzticams said, “the last time it was so easy to get the tool that we needed.”
“Maybe you should try and use one of the other keys.” said Felix. The next thing Uzticams did was reach his hand inside the box again. Pinch! A crab in the box was pinching his thumb.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” said Uzticams.
Gordon said, “Looks like a yummy snack!” The crab took one look at Gordon and let go of Uzticam’s hand and dropped back inside the box.
“We are getting pretty close to the ground now,” said Bob. Just then Laimigs looked up.
“Look, the geiser broke an opening in the top!” Uzticams immediately pulled his hand out of the box and snapped the lid shut.
“Hey, what are we waiting for?” said Gordon.
“I’m not going to get my hand pinched by a crab again. Let’s go through that opening. We don’t need to make our own.” said Bob.
So we unmounted Felix and zoomed up the walls and onto the ceiling. In less than a minute we reached the ceiling. But now the ceiling became the floor and where we’d been standing before became the ceiling. We remounted on Felix and went through the opening.
Chapter Fourteen: The Crash
“Ahhhhhhhh!!!!” we all screamed as we fell. Except for the Squoishomellow Squad who happily said “Weeeeeeeee!!!!” as they fell. The ground was getting closer. We were maybe a hundred feet above the ground, but it was definitely getting closer… 50 feet above the ground, 40, 30, 20, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, a yard, 2, 1—Floomp! We hit the ground. Surprisingly, it did not kill us all instantly, or break any of our bones.
“I told you my flying power could save you guys, and it did!” Felix half gloated, half stated.
“Where are we?” I asked as I looked around at the scenery.
“I know where we are!” said Bob. “We are in the mountains.”
“But I thought the mountains were on the other island?” said Felix.
“We must have been pushed to the other island by the geyser,” said Gordon. Just then, we heard a loud KA-BOOM! We looked at where the sound had come from, and saw a mountain with a huge crater on the top of it instead of a peak. “What’s that?” Uzticams asked. “I th-think th-that w-was th-the g-giant sphere w-we w-were in” replied Lojals.
“Well, I’m glad that we were not inside there,” replied Charles.
“Hey isn’t there a town nearby here?” asked Gordon.
I pulled out my map and we studied it. “We’re here,” I said, Pointing to our icons. “There is a town to the south of us.”
“Maybe they can help us.” Gordon said. “We are going to have to pass the Black Knight to get back to the other island.”
So we decided to walk south, toward the town. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked towards the City of the Mountains.
Chapter Fifteen:
Finally, after three days of walking, we ran into a village. “This must be the mountain forges,” said Gordon.
“The mountain what?” I said.
“The mountain forges,” replied Bob. “You know, the forges of mountains.”
“Well, let’s hope that they’re peaceful,” said Lojals.
“Why do you hope that?” said Charles.
“Because they are the third most vicious people in Spele, up there with the ninjas and the people of the jungle.” said Bob.
“Oh dear, well let’s hope they’re not that vicious for the third most vicious people in Spele,” I replied. We walked inside the village.
Inside the village, there was a lot of smoke in the air and loud noises. The noises, of course, were the noises of people forging metal. Clang, clang, clang. The smoke was the byproduct of whatever they used to melt down metal. But also, this village was very eerie. Like a village that was haunted. Other than the bubbling of molten metal and the clanging of people hammering on the metal, there was no other sound.
“This place is scary,” said Uzitcams.
Then, we heard a familiar sound. “Brrllll” I hadn’t realized it, but the panda that we had picked up had disappeared. And now, the panda had reappeared. “Brrllll” it said again.
“So that’s where that panda went,” said Laimigs.
I realized that the panda was chewing on something. Was it a…lever? “Brrllll” said the panda with a mouthful of lever. The panda yanked the lever to get a better angle to chew on it, and we went flying. It seemed we were on a sky expedition as we flew farther and farther away from the ground. The panda reappeared next to us in the air.
“Seriously?” said Lojals.
“Cool! A panda that can launch us into the air!” said the Squoishomellow Squad.
“How are we going to get out of this one?” said Uzticams. “I bet Felix is exhausted from bringing us down before.”
“That is kind of true,” agreed Felix.
“So how are we going to get out of this one?” asked Laimigs.
“I’m not sure,” I replied.
“Bob,” asked Lojals. “How far are we from the ground?”
“What units do you want me to tell you in? Miles, inches, centimeters, meters, decimeters, kilometers or feet?” Bob replied.
“Ummm….miles, and then feet,” said Lojals.
“We are three miles up in the air. And that is 15,840 feet. Ok, and now we’re falling,” said Bob as we started to feel the sensation of falling.
Ahhhhhhhhh we all cried.
“Everyone! Grab on to me and hopefully get on to me!” said Felix. Everyone air slammed to Felix.
The panda was attempting to munch the wind as it fell. “Panda! Come over here!” said Laimigs. The panda just looked at Laimigs and then poofed into a could of black and white smoke.
“Cool! We’ve got a ninja panda,” said the Squoishomellow Squad.
“Why couldn’t he take all of us with him?” asked Lojals.
“Because a good ninja never reveals his tricks,” said Gordon.
“I thought that was a good magician,” I said.
“Panda. Magician. Basically the same thing. They both do magic thingy-mabobs,” said the Squoishomellow Squad.
“Less arguing about ninjas and magicians and more planning to survive,” said Uzticams.
“Ok, now we’re just one mile from the ground. Which is—” began Bob.
“We don’t care how far we are from the ground! Let’s just try to survive!” I interrupted.
“Ok,” agreed Bob. “Well, the best way to survive is with Felix’s flight power. Now we’re just half a mile from the ground. Felix, use your flight power, we need to slow down a ton. Felix activated his powers, though it did not seem to do anything different. “Ok, we’re falling at a slightly slower pace,” said Bob. “Thanks for trying your best…”
“Buhh. nan. na…” said Felix weakly. Laimigs produced a banana from his Ring O’ Plenty and gave it to Felix.
Suddenly, after Felix ate it, he had a lot more energy. We slowed down by a lot more. “Yeah! Bananas are the super food!” cheered Felix. “They gave me so much energy I can save us!” and with that they swooped down the remaining one thousand feet and landed safely, but it seemed we were far away from the forges.
“Yeah, we’re alive and not squished flat!” everybody said as we caught our breath.
“You guys seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked, looking around. “We’re still in the mountains and there’s a huge crack next to us on the earth.”
“Isn’t that called a canyon?” asked Charles.
“Perhaps we should explore it,” said Gordon.
“I hear some human activity down there,” replied Felix.
“First, let’s rest,” said Lojals. “The sun is quite low in the sky, in fact I think it will set soon. We should set up camp here.”
And with that we set up camp, for now.
Chapter Sixteen: The Stalker
We woke up with a start. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
“What’s that noise?” said Gordon.
“Maybe that ominous looking mechanical thing over there,” said Bob.
“If it’s ominous, then why are we sitting here?” said Charles.
“Yeah, maybe we should go,” said Felix.
“Yeah, maybe we should go,” said Lojals.
“Hey!” said Laimigs. “Look, there’s a ladder over here. Maybe we should go down it to get away from that big, ominous looking thing over there.”
“Good idea!” said Gordon. They all went down the ladder.
“Hmmmm, this is a really big ladder. Are you sure it was here last night and we just didn’t notice it here because it was dark?”
“It seems awfully big, I’m sure we wouldn’t have missed it,” said Uzticams. “No, we must have missed it overnight. How else would it have been brought here? Unless there’s some mechanics that could bring it up. But I doubt there’s a mechanic around for miles.”
“If you say so,” said Bob,” and we continued down. Boom! Boom! Boom! The noises got closer. Boom! Boom! Boom! An ominous shadow came over us. Whatever was creating that booming sound and casting the shadow was close.
“Climb faster!” I said.
“Thanks for the encouragement!” said Charles.
We climbed down faster, and finally reached the bottom stairway. The shadow was looming like it was at the very edge of the ladder. Creak, creak, creak went the ladder, as if something was climbing down.
“We should get out of here!” I said.
“Thanks for the encouragement, again!” said Charles.
We ran along the path. The canyon had lava falls everywhere; streams of molten rock and ores on the sides of the walls. There were only a few waterfalls, and a lot of smoke and steam. The sides of the walls were all scorched black, and where it wasn’t black, it was grey. We continued along the path.
I thought “hmmm, this path looks too man made.” But I got rid of that thought. How could it be man made? If it were, it would be bustling with people, and they would have things to clean up the wall and smoke and contain the lava so they could use it? We continued along the path. Boom! A loud noise came from where we had been. It sounded like whatever had been coming down the ladder had hit the ground. “The next place we find a hiding spot, let’s go there,” I said.
“Great idea,” said Bob. “Except for, these types of canyons don’t really have any good ledges. Unless, you want to go into a spot where lava used to flow.”
“Yeah, not really,” I answered. “Let’s move faster.” Surprisingly and sooner than I had thought, we found a cave. “This place will have to do, maybe there are some hiding spots around here,” I said. Boom, boom, boom! The noises echoed behind us.
“I’m starting to think that whatever is behind us is actually trying to follow us. Because, there was a split in the path at the beginning and it chose the same split as we did,” said Bob.
“We have to find a hiding spot soon,” I said. “If we don’t, I don’t know what that thing will do to us.”
Boom, boom, boom! The footsteps got louder as they echoed toward us.
“I never thought I’d die in a video game,” said Uzticams.
“I never thought I would die at all!” said Gordon. “And I still don’t think I will die,” he added.
We continued searching for hiding spots in the cave. “Hey look, there’s a boulder here,” said Felix. “Maybe we can hide behind it and be extremely quiet.”
Boom, boom, boom. The footsteps were closer than ever.
“Ok, let’s go.” I agreed. “It’s our only hope.” So, we went behind it. Boom, boom, boom. The ominous shadow was cast into the cave. Boom, boom, boom. The shadow got closer. Boom, boom, boom. We saw one metal foot enter the cave. Then, the other metal foot entered the cave along with the body and the terrible M.E.K.. Boom, boom, boom. As I peaked out from my hiding space, I couldn’t see who was controlling the M.E.K.. Boom, boom, boom. The sound was so loud now. Boom, boom, boom. The M.E.K. was completely in the cave. The M.E.K. looked on one of the walls and banged on it: bang, bang, bang, three times. Then, a lever popped out of the wall. Whoever was controlling the M.E.K pulled the lever and a section of the wall opened with a hissing sound. The M.E.K. person stepped inside.
Chapter Seventeen
“Let’s follow it,” said Laimigs.
“Are you crazy?” I said. “I bet that thing would have killed us if it saw us or found us.”
“So, we won’t let it find us,” said Laimigs.
“Easier said than done,” said Lojals.
“Well, we just did it. I don’t think we could manage that again. Especially on that robot-thingy’s home turf.”
“I think we’re already on its home turf,” I said.
“Exactly, my point proven. We hid from it once on its home turf, and I think we could do it again and be successful.”
“I think we shouldn’t push our luck,” said Uzticams. “I’m pretty sure that if this is its home turf, that has to be it’s super home turf.”
“Let’s just go. If we get caught, we can escape. We’ve escaped from life and death situations before.” Laimigs added to his argument.
“That sounds like a good idea. I support Laimigs. And besides, we’ve been following the trail of advanced technology the entire time,” said Bob. “And that robot is advanced technology.”
“I say we follow it,” said Gordon.
“All in favor of following it, say aye,” said Charles.
Aye said the Squoishomellow Squad. Aye said Laimigs.
“No,” I said. “We shouldn’t follow it. That thing looks too dangerous.”
“That doesn’t matter, you have to vote. Aye people said they did want to go.”
“Ugh,” I said.
Laimigs went to the wall that the M.E.K. had banged on, and banged on it three times: bang, bang, bang. A lever popped out. Laimigs tried pulling down on the leber. “Ugh! This lever is stuck. “
“It can’t be, we saw that M.E.K. brought it down super easily.”
“A M.E.K.’s strength is stronger than a human being’s strength. Maybe if we all work together, we can open it,” said Bob. Together, the Squoishomellow Squad and Laimigs slowly moved down the lever with a high pitched “scrrrrrreaching” noise like nails on a chalkboard. “Make it stop!” said Uzticams.
“Well come and help us, and make it come down faster,” they cried.
“Ok, I’ll be right over.” Uzticams went over. “Come on, are you going to help me, Lojals. We could make this terrible noise over if we all worked together.”
“Fine,” I said, and went to help. By then my eardrums were throbbing. And sure enough, when we all worked together, there was a loud thump and the door opened.
“Come on, let’s go inside. I have a good feeling about this,” Laimigs said.
Chapter Eighteen
Boombah! the door closed behind us. Some lights flickered on above us. Wahahaha a maniacal laughter laughed. “Hahaha, I finally captured you.”
“Finally?” said Bob. “I don’t think you’ve ever tried capturing us; if you have, then that’s news to me. And if you have, I’m pretty sure we would know cuz I don’t recognize that voice.
“I do,” I said, recognizing The Voice. The voice was Guuk’s. “Guuk show yourself.”
“Oh, my name is not Guuk,” the evil person said. “My name is Edward…”
“Edward?” said Charles, “I thought you would have something dramatic like, I don’t know, the Destroyer, Mr. Evil or Mr. Destroyer.”
“Ugh, why does everyone do that?” Edward said. “they always expect the villain to have a very dramatic name. This villain does not.” Edward stated. “Anyways, now is the time for you to die” Edward added.
“Why do villains always want to kill their victims? Can you try something new like, I don’t know, letting them live?” asked Charles.
Edward said, “Would they still be considered a victim if the villain let them live? Wait a minute, stop rambling, bear, your fate is inevitable.”
“It is? How do you know that? So, you’re going to kill us? Oh yeah, it’s always the Evil Apprentice who does the killing, the Evil Master is always a coward. Until, his Apprentice gets killed, or turns on him,” said Gordon.
“Why does everyone assume that the Evil Master is the coward? It’s always the apprentice that is the coward. Then, the evil Master sends the Apprentice on a mission to not become a coward. Then, the Apprentice either turns on him when he’s about to die or dies.” said Edward.
“So you’re admitting that I was right and yours might turn on you?” said Gordon.
“No, this apprentice is very loyal. I think you might have an idea who I’m talking about.” He addressed me, Uzticams Laimigs and Lojals.
“It can’t be. He was completely reset when the world reset happened.”
“Why would I waste a useful pawn like that?” he said. “But I’m not going to monologue about that. You’ve already got me monologuing enough today.” said Edward, addressing the shadows behind him,
“Kill them.” He commanded
Chapter Nineteen
BleeRaKu stepped out of the shadows. “Hey, that’s not Zaglis,” I said. “That’s BleeRaKu.”
Edward replied, “He’s as much BeeRaKu as I was Guuk.”
“Wait. So that’s…Zaglis?” said Uzticams.
“Hi Zaglis,” said Laimigs.
“Hi Zaglis-person-I-don’t-know,” added Gordon.
“You really do look like BeeRaKu. Are you sure you’re not him?”
“Ugh, do you have fluff for brains?” said Edward. “I just told you that he IS BleeRaKu, but his real identity is Zaglis.”
“Well,” Bob replied, “We really do have fluff for brains.”
“I’ll just ignore that,” said Edward. “Anyways, Zaglis, kill them.”
“Wait! I have a question,” said Bob.
“Ugh, said Edward. “I probably can’t answer, but what is it?”
“How did Zaglis survive?” asked Bob.
“Oh, that question I can answer,” said Edward. “I thought you were going to ask something difficult like ‘what’s one plus one.’”
“Well, that was my next question but anyways,” said Bob, “How did Zaglis survive?”
“Here is how he survived: I coded him into the game!” Edward replied promptly.
“Woah, I didn’t know that was possible,” said Bob.
“I didn’t get to program him completely in, so he lost a little bit of himself,” Edward explained. “I had to replace the missing parts of him with mechanics.
I told Guuk, “I also have a question.”
“Ugh, why do you people always have so many questions right before you’re going to die? Can we just get on with you all dying already?” said Edward.
“No!” exclaimed Lojals.
“Ahhhgg.” said Edward. “What is your question, Stastitajs.”
“Haven’t we met before?” I asked Edward. “How come I recognized you?”
“Oh, of course!” he replied to that. “You will know me as the mayor or the judge you met on your first adventure.”
“What!” everyone said in unison, including me. “Why didn’t you try capturing us then?” I added.
“Don’t question my logic!” Edward snapped. “Now, resume with your dying. Zaglis? Can you kill them now?
“Yes,” Zaglis said in a monotone voice. And he stepped forward. Clannnngggg. Claannng. Claanng. It was the unmistakable sound of the footsteps that had followed us to this place.
“Zaglis, stop this!” I cried.
“No,” Zaglis said in the same monotone voice.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked. Zaglis did not respond. I asked him again: “Why are you doing this?” Zaglis still did not answer me. I stepped forward and slapped him on the face. If I was going to die, I would go down fighting. Zaglis stopped, he blinked his eyes, and resumed walking toward me. I stepped back. And back. And back. Until I was against the wall. “A little help here, guys!” I said to my friends. And with that, mayhem broke loose.
Chapter Twenty: The Final Battle
Gordon did some shark Kung Fu on Zaglis. Bob started to play whack a mole with Zaglis’ head. Felix was playing ram-the-wall on Zaglis’ back and Charles was gnawing on his leg. Lojals took out his sword and started whacking Zalglis. I got out of Zaglis’ path. No sooner had I moved away then a laser beam came out of Zaglis’ eyes and hit the spot where I had just been. “That was a close one!” I thought to myself.
“Laimigs, help me defeat Edward…where is he by the way? Uzticams, trying opening your mystery key box!”
Laimigs came to my side and Uzticams started looking around the place to see if there were any keys. We bumped around looking for where Edward had gone. There was a sign on a door that said “Do Not Enter.” We decided that was our best bet. We entered the “Do Not Enter” door and found a set of staircases that led up into a room where someone was laughing hysterically.
Meanwhile
Mooahahahaha Edward laughed. “Look at them down there. I wonder where two of them went to? I’m sure they would never enter my “Do Not Enter” door.
“Don’t be so sure,” I said.
Laimgs produced a star fruit and a banana from his Ring ‘O Plenty.
“Oh no, not the banana!” said Edward with fear in his eyes.
Laimigs threw the star fruit and the banana. Splat! The fruit hit the ground with a small, slimy explosion of banana. The star fruit flew through the air and hit Edward on the head. The fruit split on his head and pieces of the starfruit flew like shrapnel. Edward hit the ground.
“I never knew star fruit could be deadly,” observed Laimigs. Edward reached into his pocket and grabbed a button that had a glass case around it. He broke the glass case and hit the button. “Countdown to world re-set.”
Chapter Twenty-one: Deja Vu Again
“Thirty seconds to world reset. I learned from the last time,” Edward said. “Last time you had, I think it was a minute, but now you only have 30 seconds.”
“Come on, we need to find a way back home quickly. Otherwise we’ll be completely and utterly reset and be deleted from the world.”
“What?” Laimigs said.
Hahaha. Delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete.
“Where’s that sound coming from?” I said.
“Oh it’s coming from all around us. The world’s getting deleted and then it’s going to be restarted.” 20 seconds until world reset.
I said “we need to find some way to get back.” We ran down the stairs. “Guys, it’s going to world reset again!! We need to find a way back home.”
The Squoishomellow Squad and Lojals were still attacking Zaglis. Uzticam was fiddling with his box. “Uzticams, what have you got there? I said. “I’m not sure just yet,” he said, “but it looks like this key is a bit stuck in the hole,” He replied.
“We’ve only got less than 20 seconds until we all get destroyed. So, I think you should hurry up,” I said.
“I am hurrying up. What do you think I am doing?” Uzticams said. 15 seconds until World reset. A loud clang and Zaglis hit the floor, unconscious. The magic box opened, and a button came out of the box. “Should we push it?” Said Uzticams. “We haven’t got much of a choice.”
Hahahahaha said Edward. “You will. Never. Leave. This. Place. Alive.”
“Come on everybody, I said. “Come on over here we need to press this button. We don’t know what this button will do but we’ve only–got 10 seconds till World reset. 9 seconds till world reset–that’s how much time we got till world reset,” I said. “So come on, we need to press this button,” I said ignoring the robotic voice.
“Should we bring Zaglis?” said Bob.
“I’m not sure, should we?” I said.
“All in favor of bringing Zaglis, say yay.”
“Yay!” said the squishmallows Squad and Laimigs.
I brought the button over to where Zaglis was on the floor. Come on! Everybody hold on to each other, and I will press the button.”
“Wait for me!!!” boomed a new voice.
One second till world reset. But, my hand was in motion, and I pressed the button.
Chapter 22: epilogue
Booommf! We all teleported back to my house—Squoishomellows and all.
“Wow, is this where you guys come from?” said Bob.
“I guess so,” said Uzticams.
“Wow,” said the voice that boomed earlier. “This place is weird.”
“And, who might you be?” I asked a bit hesitantly.
“Oh, my name is Devin. It’s spelled D-E-V-I-N. I think that’s how you spell it. I’ve never been one for spelling.”
Felix laughed “hahaha…that’s a funny joke.”
“Thank you, I always think that laughter is the best medicine.”
“Are you a Squoishomellow?” asked Gordon.
“I think so,” said Devin. “Are you guys the Squoishomellow Squad? I’ve been looking all over for the Squoishomellow Squad. I want to join the Squoishomellow Squad.”
“We’re the Squoishomellow Squad,” said Charles. “And yes, you’re allowed to join (right guys? Is he allowed to join? Right?).”
“Sure,” said the rest of the Squad, “Devin can join.”
“Yeah! I’m a member of the Squoishomellow Squad!” Devin jumped up and down.
“Careful, you might bring down this house!”
“Anyhoo, what are we going to do with Zaglis here?” said Lojals. “He may still be our enemy.”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Can he still be our enemy if we saved his life?”
“I don’t know…Zaglis is kind of unpredictable,” said Lojals.
“Hopefully he’ll pull through,” said Gordon. “Though, I never met him in his better days, so it’s hard to tell.”
“Well, I better get home,” said Uzticams.
“Me, too.” said Laimigs.
Uzticams put his hands in his pockets. “Guys?” he said. “Check your pockets.” We all did as he instructed. In my pocket I felt a map. Laimigs pulled out his Ringo ‘O Plenty. Uzticams was trying to bring the mystery key box out of his pocket. And for some amazing reason, Lojals could fit a sword and armour into his pocket and back again. He was taking it in and out and trying to figure how it worked. I pulled out the map. It displayed the icons of the Squoishomellow Squad, me, Lojals, Uzticams, Laimigs and it also displayed the icon of Zaglis.
“Guys?” I said.
“Yes,” everyone said.
“I’m pretty sure this map only displays friends” I stated.
“Probably,” said Bob. “Or, maybe friends and former friends. Or, maybe friends and enemies.”
“Well,” I went on. “This did not show Zaglis before, but now it does.”
“Does that mean he’s safe?” said Gordon.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He’s probably disoriented. We should take him home and give him some time to rest in bed. Maybe he will think it’s all a dream and things can go back to how it was.”
“I don’t think anything can go back to normal,” said Laimigs.
“Laimigs, that was your first negative comment. Are you feeling ok?” asked Uzticams.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it to be negative,” said Laimigs. “What I was trying to say was that there are probably some things about this adventure that we’ll never forget. Those things will change us, but maybe that’s for the better, not the worse. I don’t think we can go exactly back to how we were before—but we can get pretty darn close. Let’s see how Zaglis is after a night’s rest. Goodnight everybody! Welcome home.”
“I gotta go home too,” said Uzticams everyone.
“Where are we going to stay?” asked the Squishmallow Squad with their new edition.
“I guess you can stay at my house,” I said.
“Thank you!” said the Squad, and they promptly went to sleep and in a huge pile on one another.
I yawned. I better get to bed, I said to myself—and I went to bed.
By the Squoishomellow Squad
Felix, Charles, Bob, Gordon, Devin and Rocky make up the Squoishomellow squad. They are Squoishomellows that enjoy flying around on Felix’s back. Felix is a giant blue shark. Bob is a turquoise octopus. Charles is a dark blue bear. Last but kind of least and kind of not, Gordon is a small grey shark. The Squoishomellow pledge is to be nice to everyone you meet!
Studio Phillips 