%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
Earth goes under intense heat from global warming and 3 of each animal are moved 2 Neptube |
|
Abandoned ?1? The snow was swirling in clouds of mist, and the abandoned baby fox was wandering through the snow covered dessert. He was scared, for he was on his own. The world around him had a temperature that was dropping rapidly. The planet Neptune had very long, intense winters that sometimes lasted centuries. Ever since Earth had gone under intense heat from Global Warming, a large group of scientists and animal specialists brought three of every animal to Neptune on a space shuttle the size of America. They transported each threesome to a different part of Neptune. The animals were expected to adapt to the strange climate, though some were not able to. The mother of the young fox had not been able to find enough food for them both, so buried him gently under a small mound of snow while he was sleeping. Assuming he would die in his sleep, she walked away with her head down, ashamed of her decision. She did not turn around, afraid to see the baby try to escape. But the baby fox did wake, when only footprints were left, and even those had turned to ice and were being covered by more snow. He tunneled out of the snow pile and started wandering in the direction of his mother’s paw-prints, confused by what had happened. His big ears were getting clogged with the big snow chunks that were plummeting down from the dark, angry winter sky. He kept shaking his head, trying to get the snow out, but it only crumbled farther into his ear. As he walked, his small body trembled from being so cold. His almond shaped eyes were filled with fear of this new planet. When he slipped on the thin, icy layer of ice on top of miles of snow, he fell several feet under. The farther he fell, the colder it got. The baby fox’s future was not bright, but dark and blank, like Neptune’s sky. >< <> >< Though the baby fox that it was impossible, it got colder and darker. His white and red fur coat was crystalized with snowflakes that were frozen together and forming a layer of ice around him. Whenever he trembled a paw, you could hear the thin ice snap. His long whiskers were frozen-stiff, and when he gingerly touched it with a paw, it snapped completely off. He felt abandoned, and missed Earth’s bright, warm mornings with his mother. On Neptune, you could not see anything except the menacingly black sky and the piles and piles of snow, some miles high. The baby fox kept wandering, even though he had lost sight of his mother’s paw-prints far earlier. Since he had lost hope of returning to his mother, his only determination was warmth. As he was wandering, he stumbled over something frozen. Since he was long used to this, he stumbled on, but froze when he heard a muffled, “Help-p-p-p p- p-p-please,” He pawed at the mysterious, chattering, ice chunk, until it cracked open. A small bluejay, who’s feathers were clumped and frozen together, hopped out from the ice rubble. Its legs were sealed together by snowflakes, and its eyes were crusted over with ice. The baby fox waddled over to the little bird and lowered its head, now leveled with the bird. He opened its mouth and began breathing warm air onto the bird. As the bird’s body thawed out, the bird was able to look up at the baby fox. The baby fox realized that this bird was just as old as he was, for his feathers were sparse, and his eyes were filled with fear, as were his own. The baby fox looked deep into the birds clear blue eyes, and knew by the way his eyes darted away, that it had been abandoned too. >< <> >< The baby bird and the baby fox had a special connection. They had trust. The baby fox carried the light bird in its mouth, careful not to close it completely. The bird would chatter away about how it stunk inside the fox’s mouth, but was secretly smiling behind the fox’s teeth. “What have you been eating? It smells HORRIBLE in here!” mused the blue jay. This was a common comment, but the fox did not pay any attention to it. He knew the bird was happy to have a companion, as he was. “Jay, I haven’t eaten anything since we were on that shuttle. I don’t even know where we are or where we are going.”As the fox said it, his stomach growled. This was not a good thing, for there was no food in sight. Surely the scientists made sure there was a food supply? “Foxy, your teeth are getting iced together,” whined Jay. This was happening quite often now, and Jay had to scrape the layer of ice that was filling the gap of Foxy’s teeth with his beak.Foxy fumbled in the darkness, searching for food. He was not sure if it was morning or night, just that it was-there. It was always dark, and extremely difficult to find food. The thought of food made his stomach grumble again. “I feel terrible,” Foxy admitted, and collapsed into the icy snowbank. “Open your mouth,” instructed Jay from behind Foxy’s sharp teeth. The baby fox’s mouth opened, and Jay walked across his tongue and fluttered himself into the air. With hard concentration, Jay levitated in front of Foxy’s eyes. Foxy was filled with a new courage, and smiled at his friend. Without thinking, Jay perched himself onto Foxy’s head, right between his ears. “Are you up to another mile?”Jay asked into Foxy’s ear. “Miles make no difference to me. This planet is made up of snow and darkness, and I don’t think we’re getting anywhere near...wherever we’re going!” Foxy had a frustrated look in his eyes as he groped toward their unknown destination. They were sure they were going to freeze in the darkness of the night when they heard a crunch in the snow behind them. Foxy froze (not literally) where he stood. Jay was nervously chirping a soft tune into Foxy’s ears to calm him down, for he was shaking violently from fear, not cold. He stopped, for his own voice went dry at the sight of a giant shadow in the glistening snow. A long, gray, textured trunk was brushing in front of them in the snow. Jay and Foxy had never seen this type of animal before, and they looked at the long trunk fading from the blackness like it was a terrible monster. When the rest of animal materialized from the twilight, they were stunned. This animal was giant compared to the two babies! The little companions whimpered and stepped away from the giant. Was this a creature of the planet? It had long tentacles and antennae sticking out in different directions, like probes. It had small, but many eyes, all of different colors. As Foxy and Jay looked at the animal, they noticed it doing a strange thing. It was digging deep into the ice and sucking up a brown liquid. As the young animals watched the monster very intently, it looked up at them with all its eyes. “VAGHH!” it roared, surprisingly quiet for such a big animal, but loud enough to scare the already nervous babies. The snow crunched as the baby animals stumbled backward, and Foxy slipped, which caused Jay to fall off and sink into the fluffy snow. They were fumbling, stumbling, trying desperately to escape the terrifying creature of Neptune. Except, the creature wasn’t chasing them, or roaring, or charging. It was staring at the baby animals, with a bewildered look upon its ten eyes. Despite its large, scaly body, it looked quite harmless. It actually had a look of concern in some of its eyes! As Foxy and Jay realized this, they slowly stopped scurrying out of the thick snow. “W-w-h-h-a-t-t a-r-r-e y-o-o-u?” questioned Jay, his beak chattering below the many feet of snow. He was peaking out from above an ice chunk, his eyes darting all over the mysterious Neptune creature. Foxy nestled his chin into Jay’s ruffled feathers, his eyes squeezed shut with all the left over terror. “I’m so scared.” Foxy whispered to Jay, who was getting buried deeper into the snow. The animal of Neptune stepped giant feet backwards, looking nervously over his shoulders. He was ready to bolt. The Neptune Creature ?2? The Neptune creature did not have any violent intentions. All the creatures of Neptune were kind, humble animals. This creature who had crossed icy paths with the two Earth babies was also a new born. His parents had left him when he was born a monstrous sized creature. The baby Neptune animal had learned its parents’ way of life from the few moments it had with them, for its memory can hold an amazing amount of detail until it reaches an old age. As the Neptune creature bolted away from the strange, miniature animals, it heard a very welcoming chirping song. It skidded to a halt in the snow and looked back at where the song was coming from. He could see very faintly that on top of the small fox’s head, a bird was perched and chirping a beautiful tune. The Neptune creature stood still in the snow, listening attentively to the slow beat song. He slowly started across the snowy, dark horizon, toward the small Earth creatures, who were both smiling nervously. The goon, for the first time, smiled a huge grin, with all his teeth. He stood tall, with his head high. He had nothing to hide, and for once felt like he belonged to something. He stopped a few feet in front of his new friends. Their eyes met, and the fox and bird both knew by the creatures many eyes that the he had also been abandoned. “Join the club,”muttered the animals, so lightly under their breath that the creature did not even hear. After several minutes of aimlessly wandering... “I’m so hungry and cold! I feel numb and empty.” Foxy complained to his new friend. The Neptune creature had an astonished look on his face, and he was staring at Foxy and Jay as if they were crazy. “Why do you not wish to eat the warm food the planet provides?” asked the Neptune creature wonderingly. Jay and Foxy looked at eachother with very confused faces. “Well, Neptune Cre-I mean, um, creature of Neptune-eh! What is your name?,” asked Jay difficultly, for he had tried to avoid calling him anything but “hey you”. “For the time I was with my parents, they called me 'Ugly Goon’,” he said with disgust at how cruel animals could be. The threesome looked at eachother with that I-know-what-you-mean-I’ve-gone-through-the same-thing look. They had an understanding amongst themselves, and that drew them closer. In a way, they were becoming attached to eachother. “Yeah, well, back to the food situation,” Foxy tried to bring up nonchalantly, and his friends understood his subtle ways. “Yes, back to the food situation. Did you not notice the chocolate lava beneath the snow? It is what makes this season so warm,” explained Ugly Goon. “What! First off, what chocolate lava, and second, you call this warm?” Jay asked, while asking the same thing Foxy was wondering. “If you wander enough, you will come upon clear patches of slush. If you search beneath the layers of the ice, you will find warm, sweet chocolate lava.” “ Also, for your information, this is the warmest season of the year!”exclaimed Ugly Goon with an experienced look on his face. He definitely knew more of the secrets to the planet than the Earth babies, and they were glad they had come across the useful goon. The goon had a panic stricken face, and he immediately started to talk. “Oh my! You will never survive on this planet! I have just realized you Earthlings have no tentacles in which you need to scoop up chocolate lava! I will have to scoop it out for all three of us! Well, we better start searching for slush-spots now! It is almost time to slumber!” Jay and Foxy took a minute to filter out all the information. If they did not have tentacles, Goon could not scoop out enough for all three of them every day! “We will have to sleep on it...after we find some chocolate lava for Jay and I” suggested Foxy with a shrug of the shoulders. They wandered on, something they were used to and experts on. They were all deep in thought, intently searching for slush-spots. “Hey! Is this one?” Foxy shouted across the vast darkness, tapping his foot impatiently with the thought of food, when Goon and Jay appear out of the darkness. He had found an almost clear spot of ice in the snow, and when he looked down he could see a hint of brown. He could already imagine the familiar smell of chocolate syrup that humans fed him on Earth. Jay flew to Foxy’s shoulder, excited with the thought of food also, even though he had never had chocolate. Goon left huge sized footsteps as he romped over to where the two were huddled. Goon examined the hole very closely before reaching a tentacle down underneath the many layers of slushy snow. “Yes, this is a correct location of chocolate lava!” exclaimed Goon as he retrieved a huge scoop of chocolate lava. Foxy looked at food with such longing, his heart was beating so fast. Finally, food! He stepped up close to the scoop of steaming, chocolate lava in the cup of Goon’s hand. “While it’s warm!”, urged Goon, the excitement thick in the air. Foxy scooped the thick chocolate with both paws, and licked every spot clean. And, there was still more. Jay flew over to the chocolate and perched himself on Goon’s tentacle while pecking his beak with the thick chocolate. “Mmmmm,” he hummed as he swallowed the sweet, sugary chocolate. The chocolate lava warmed them all up, leaving them with refreshed attitudes and warm bodies. “For the first time, I’m full and warm!”, exclaimed Foxy. “Oh, yes, me too!”, agreed Jay. The looked at eachother and smiled, their teeth smeared with chocolate sauce. They all giggled together, and if you were standing behind them at that moment on Neptune, it would have been a strange site to see a baby fox, bird, and Neptune goon all laughing and sharing chocolate lava. >< <> >< After feasting on chocolate for half the night, they soon got very tired. None of them had a warm place to sleep so they decided to dig a burrow. “Hey! I just got a great idea! We can dig a hole right above the chocolate lava, so we can be warm from the steam and always have food close by! We can make it our home, and we can carve furniture out of the ice! We could have an ice sculpture for a home!”, Jay exclaimed, with a flabbergasted look in his eyes, for it was his first great idea! “Yah! That might work, great thinking, Jay! Let’s get to work!”, said Foxy happily, almost positive the plan would work. Just imagine, a toasty warm burrow with everlasting chocolate! “Hey...where’s Goon?”, asked Jay suspiciously, raising a concerned eyebrow and tapping Foxy’s ear to get his attention with his claw. Foxy turned around, searching in all directions to find the goon. “Oh my, I don’t know! I didn’t see him leave! Do you think...do you think he got lost after we ate the lava? Maybe he stopped for a second and lost sight of us? Oh, no!”, exclaimed Foxy, and he knelt down close enough to the snow to feel the cold mist sting him. “Are you looking for footprints?”, Jay asked in a baby voice. “I’m trying, but it has snowed the whole time we were wandering! I don’t think we’ll ever be able to find-” Foxy’s comment was cut short by a short burst of exclamation from Jay. “That’s it! No one else’s foot prints could be that large! He must have gone this way! Bend down closer! It’s hard to see from up here!” Foxy bent close to the icy snow and brushed off the top layer of snow with his tail to reveal preserved footprints in the ice. Jay hopped off of Foxy’s head and fluttered ahead into the darkness. “No, wait! Come back! I can’t be abandoned AGAIN! Jay! Come on!” Foxy called into the vast darkness. A faraway voice answered him, “O.k, o.k., I’m coming!” Jay chirped across to Foxy, although it sounded as if he was getting more distant. “I’m over here, Jay! Follow my voice!”, Foxy called out. Jay was getting farther away, he knew it. “Jay! Jay! Over here! I’ll stay still, you come to me!” Foxy was now desperate, and Jay was nervously fluttering around, trying to find Foxy in the darkness. “Jay, please, please...” muttered Foxy to no one. He had lost his mother and his two best friends, Goon and Jay. “Foxy? Where are you? Am I closer?” asked Jay dubiously, now sounding closer. “Yes, keep coming! I’m over here!” Foxy had a hopeful, encouraging tone that kept Jay moving in the dark, frigid night. Jay was shaking as he flew closer to Foxy, dreaming of the fox’s warm mouth that probably smelled of chocolate lava. Foxy was waiting in the mounds of uneven snow, watching the white mist puff out from his mouth as he breathed. He was nervous, for he was alone again in the strange planet. He heard a fluttering noise, and called out to his friend, “Jay, is that you? Please hurry, we have to go find Goon!” “I must be getting closer by now? Do I sound close-” Jay’s response was cut short when he bumped into a furry, dark wall. “Oww-Jay, is that you?”, asked the furry dark wall, which turned out to be Foxy. “Ya, it’s me, sorry I couldn’t see you, it’s so dark!”, Jay chirped on happily as he made his way into Foxy’s mouth. He curled up in a corner and started to sleep as Foxy wandered into the darkness, searching to find their lost friend. >< <> >< Jay was tapping on Foxy’s teeth with his beak, and shouting, “Open up!” to Foxy, as if his teeth were a door. Foxy opened his mouth and Jay fluttered out, leaving Foxy spitting out fuzz balls. “Nice nap?”asked Foxy to the stretching blue jay who was on top of his head. “Mmmm hmm...” Jay grunted, and bent down in front of Foxy’s eyes. “Did we find Goon yet?” “No, when you wandered off, I lost track of his footprints. By now, they must be under at least twenty feet of snow. It’s been snowing hard for the last few hours.” “He must be so scared, to be abandoned and alone again” Jay thought aloud, recalling his own feelings. “I’m sure he he’s fine, he does know how to get food-oh no!”, Foxy stopped abruptly in his tracks, and Jay hopped off Foxy’s head and perched on a tall ice chunk, level with Foxy. “What? What? Tell me!”insisted Jay, stomping his claw on the ice. “We can’t survive without him, we don’t have the tentacles to get the chocolate lava,” Foxy explained, deep in thought. He thought of the sweet, sugary chocolate that made everything seem all right. Then a frightening thing happened: His stomach growled. Survival on Neptune ?3? “Well, I don’t know what we’ll do. I guess we just have to keep searching for Goon, since we absolutely need him. He must have more answers to the mysterious ways of Neptune, he is essential to our survival! And, if you ever want to taste that sweet, sugary choc-”Jay was rudely interrupted by Foxy, “Ugh, I do! I’m hungry again, and describing the sweet taste of the food we can’t reach is just making us more hungry! Let’s just focus on finding Goon, then we can direct all our attention toward the chocolate!” “Fine, let’s keep going.” Jay agreed, and they set off to find Goon. >< <> >< Meanwhile, Goon was snug in his burrow next to the slush spot. The sweet smell of chocolate drifted from the chocolate lava river, and he was dreaming of when he and his new friends were giggling and shoving chocolate down their throats. But, something was going wrong in his dream. Where were his friends? It had suddenly become very quiet, and a feeling of loneliness and dread crept over his now cold body. He very quickly climbed out of his burrow, and out into the dark, snowy sky. “Jay?” he called out. No answer. “Foxy?”he called out, but received the same response. He was alone again, abandoned. Had his friends gotten tired of him? No. He trusted that his friends were out there somewhere, looking for him. He slowly crawled down into his burrow and curled up on the bed. He finally decided to grab a blanket and wait above his burrow, where he could still smell the chocolate, incase they were coming in his direction. “Did you just hear that? I think someone just called my name!” Foxy said hopefully, knowing they both had Goon in their minds. There was another faint noise coming from somewhere in the distance. “I just heard my name too,”Jay said, searching to see where it was coming from. “Let’s go that way,”he said and pointed behind them. “I think that’s where he is too. Hop on.” Jay hopped onto Foxy’s head, since he was warm enough to not go in his mouth, and they set off in the direction they thought was Goon. Meanwhile, Goon was cozy under his heavy blankets, waiting. He wanted to descend under in his den, but he had faith his friends would search for him. He had called their names, but he got no response. Could his friends survive without him? He was not sure. Foxy being a fox, and Jay being a bird, Foxy wouldn’t...he wouldn’t eat..he wouldn’t eat Jay, right? He had no definite answers, and that was what made him stay up all night under the covers. Foxy’s stomach rumbled again. They were going in the direction they thought they heard Goon calling them. They could not help imagining in their heads a cold, frightened Goon waiting in the immortal miles of snow. As they trudged on through the compressed snow, they heard a strange noise behind them. They both stopped and were completely silent, intent upon their listening. What they noticed was, when whenever they stopped in the snow, they almost heard an echo of footsteps in the snow behind them. Afraid they were being followed, Foxy had Jay turn around on his head so Jay could report anything out of the ordinary. Foxy stopped abruptly in his tracks again, and they heard that same echo of footsteps in the snow. “G-g-oon?”, Jay whispered into the darkness, his voice cracking. “Is that you?”, Jay was whispering, Foxy was sure, just to break the silence. They both knew that Goon wouldn’t stalk them so mysteriously. “Goo-”Jay started again, but Foxy cut him off. “OK, stop it. Seriously, Goon wouldn’t be stalking us. He’s probably waiting for us somewhere close. So, let’s just focus on finding him. The footsteps are probably just hallucinations!”, but as he said it, they heard the familiar crunching behind them. “Foxy, go! Run! I see something! Hurry UP!” Jay shouted as a shadowed dark figure emerged from the darkness. He was one of Goons’ kind, but not as promising. It looked like this guy was “not happy with their presence” as Goon would put it. He was moving on his tentacles, each one like a giant size snake. He had a mean determination in his dark, gloomy, many eyes. Foxy was trembling so violently as he fled the area, Jay was thrust into the air. He flapped his weak wings, and landed lightly on the fox, who had slowed greatly for his friend. Why was this thing chasing them? They were two, innocent toddlers of animals, how could they be hated so much by this creature who did not even know them? They kept going, Jay not even daring to look into the strange and confusing creatures many eyes. They speedy fox was gaining distance, as the creature lost strength and collapsed into the dense, slick snow. Foxy did not lose speed, for he was not going to risk meeting that thing, not ever! He had his first priority, finding Goon. His next one, and this one Jay’s also, was finding a warm place to spend the chilly nights. They kept trotting through the icy winds and blank darkness, as Jay clasped claws tightly around the tufts of Foxy’s fur. How many more Neptune creatures were there? Were they all after Jay and Foxy?, they both wondered as they moved on, closer to finding Goon. Goon was still under his blanket when he heard distant footsteps crunching in the snow. At first, he thought, Jay and Foxy found me! But when he threw the blanket off and jumped up, about to scream his friends’ names, he didn’t see his friends. He saw, very faintly, about 10 glistening, mean eyes and long scaly tentacles. He was quite scared, because he did not recognize the monsters that were approaching! He had never seen what he looked like, and just assumed he looked like Foxy. For Foxy was closest to his size and, and was most imprinted in Goon’s memory. He grabbed his blanket and dove into his burrow. He shut the door and slid under the bed. Had they seen him? What if they find Jay and Foxy? What if Jay and Foxy come close, but he’s under the bed hiding? His head was full of worries, and he was scared more than ever. He heard tentacles slapping the ice above him, looking for slush spots. He heard them become distant, and he groped his way out from beneath the king-size bed. He stood facing the ice wall, and almost screeched at the sight. A monster was right behind him! He spun around and saw nothing. He slowly turned his head toward the wall again. “Aghh!” he screamed, because it was back! He turned around again, and again saw nothing. He stepped toward the wall, and placed a tentacle gently on his reflection. The monster was him. Had his parents just passed his home, not even knowing it? Or maybe it was just more of his kind, searching for a place to find a home? Now he understood why Jay and Foxy probably abandoned him. He was ugly. He told himself he was wrong, because Jay and Foxy needed him to survive. Jay and Foxy looked beyond his appearance, into his soul, right? He wasn’t sure, but he had a better feeling that Foxy and Jay were his friends. He climbed out of his den with a blanket once again, but this time with two saucers of chocolate lava, incase they did show up. >< <> >< “Goon!”, Foxy called, once it had been hours after their close encounter with the Neptune creature. “Goooooon? Where are you?”, Jay chirped loudly, a little to close to Foxy’s ear. “Quit it! That’s my ear you’re screaming into!” “Well, sorry, I thought you said to focus on finding Goon!”, Jay said, in a friendly way, not meaning to cause an argument. “Well, does making my left ear deaf have anything to do with finding Goon?” “No, sorry. You keep calling him, and I’ll stay on the look out.” “Okay.” This was a common argument as they kept searching for their lost friend. After many hours of not sleeping, it’s hard to keep from arguing. Jay was a little less grouchy only because he had snuck a few naps on Foxy’s head, not because he was a better friend. Foxy was always glad when Jay settled an argument because he didn’t like fighting, he liked it when Jay and him got along. It would be a lot easier when they had full tummies and a nice nap. Just the thought of food made his stomach rumble again, like a warning. Jay looked too skinny, his bony wings by his sides. Foxy’s ribs were showing, and his big, round, innocent eyes popped out from his slender face. They were starving again, and numb all over. Foxy’s small baby paws were crusted over with ice, crunching each time he stepped in the ice covered dessert. He only thought of it as a dessert because there were no trees, bushes, grass, or flowers. Just mountains of snow, ice, and more snow.They both stopped screaming for Goon. Jay watched as Foxy’s nose started twitching. “I smell chocolate! Do you think Goon is somewhere nearby? Maybe he’s still near the slush spot! Yeah, I bet that’s it! Let’s go!” They were excited now, at the thought of chocolate! They fumbled through the uneven mounds of snow, trying desperately to find their source of chocolate without any light source at all, not even distant stars. “Foxy? Jay? Is that you?” a very familiar voice called out somewhere close in the distance. “Yes! Yes it’s us! Foxy, go, go, go! I want chocolate!”, Jay ordered from inside Foxy’s ear, which to Jay’s comfort was very furry and insulated. Foxy was too happy to be close to his friend that he did not complain about Jay’s loud order. They were going to survive. Back On Track ❅4❅ “Goon!”, Foxy exclaimed when he saw him sitting under a blanket with cups of Chocolate Lava. He handed one to Foxy hesitantly, then pulled it back. He did not see Jay. Had Foxy really done what he was afraid of? “What did you do to Jay?” he demanded, as Foxy looked at the chocolate longingly. “He’s here. Please, I’m starving, can I have some chocolate?” begged Foxy. “Yes, me too!” chirped Jay as he uncurled himself from inside Foxy’s ear. Goon looked relieved as he saw Jay materialize out of Foxy’s ear. He quickly placed the chocolate on the ice, and Jay dove into the deep cup filled with chocolate. He surfaced, looking like a chocolate candy. “Mmm, mmm good!”he chirped, his mouth dripping with chocolate. Foxy then helped himself to his bowl of chocolate, smearing chocolate over his nose and mouth. Goon even had a bit more, since Jay and Foxy made it look so good. “So, where should we go?”, Foxy asked. “Ya, where did you get the blanket?”, Jay asked suspiciously. “There is a building not far from here that has many interesting things inside. When the creatures inside left, I went inside and took this. I thought it would make my burrow a bit cozier.” He explained, and pointed in the direction he thought the building was. “What burrow?”, Jay asked, now snuggled under the blanket with Goon. “This burrow, next to the slush spot,” Goon opened the ice door, and they descended down the ice den steps, the smell of hot chocolate thick in the air. Foxy immediately curled up next to Jay on the blanket and they slumbered for hours and hours, catching up for all the nights they stayed up. Goon watched them for a bit, then started planning an adventure to the building, and fell asleep imagining what else was in the building. “Morinin’” Jay chirped to Goon and Foxy, for he was the first up. Foxy stretched and gave a little yawn, but then curled back up in the blanket. Foxy was not going to be ignored, so he walked over to his friend and tickled his friend’s belly with his wing. Foxy squirmed and jumped up laughing. They walked over to the chocolate spring and drank the lava slowly. When Jay had a full tummy, he fluttered down the spring to explore. The underground burrow was huge and complete, with ice furniture and beds. The spring was a ways down the wide hall, and as Jay walked along it, his footsteps echoed throughout the hall to Goon. “Guys? Is that you?” They heard him yawn and climb out of bed. “Ya, it’s us! We’re just exploring,” Foxy replied for both himself and Jay. “Whatever...” they heard him mutter under his breath, but they could still hear it clearly, due to the gigantic underground mansion. Foxy then realized there was something in the water. He saw a lump in the water, swimming in zig-zags with water trailing behind him. Jay was flying close to the water-dangerously close. “Jay! There’s something following you, get away!” Foxy shouted as he trotted to keep up with the fast moving animals. What was in the water? Goon had heard him shouting, and was running after them. Jay seemed to not hear Foxy as he glided almost touching the water. “Jay, fly higher! JAY! Do you hear me? You have a Saber Tooth Shark RIGHT BEHIND YOU! JAY-” There was an enormous, chocolate splash as a giant shark with sharp teeth sticking up, ready at all times to catch prey leaped from the chocolate spring. Jay was caught in the thick, heavy, splash and disappeared under the thick chocolate. The Saber Tooth dove under the surface, its wide mouth open to its largest. If either Foxy or Goon dove in the chocolate, they would be dead in a second. Jay had a chance, because he was smaller than Foxy and Goon, but he was on his own, even though his friends were only a couple feet away. This was his battle, Jay’s alone, and his friends could not help him. He sunk farther in the hot, melted, chocolate. Would this be his end? He would never have guessed he would have died in his favorite, most comforting food. He squirmed and flapped his wings, but only sank farther in the chocolate. He screamed, although nothing happened. There were no sounds under chocolate, but he still tried calling his friend’s names. He had no choice but to swallow the chocolate. He took a big gulp, his lungs screaming for air. He swallowed, and gulped more. He then realized that he could breathe. He decided to open an eye, to check out the situation. There were air bubbles, thousands of the tiny things, floating around. As he sunk lower, there were more bubbles. Eventually, he was able to breathe normally. He felt something under his talons, and reached his head back. He was at the bottom of the chocolate spring! He was standing on a latch to a wide trap door. He nudged his beak under the latch and pulled with all his strength. There was a loud creak and a warm gush of air blew the door wide open and sent Jay fluttering into the bubbles. Against the humid wind, he dove down under the door, right as the gust of air ceased and the door shut, looking determined to never open up again. “Foxy,” Jay whined, looking up at the rock ceiling, not noticing the new climate he had entered. “Hey you, birdy!” Jay spun around, and, for the first time, peered into the blue sky! He could see far into the distance, something he could not do since his home planet. He was flying above a forest of vivid green trees, fields of flowers, and off in the distance was an ocean, all pink and hazy from the big, round sun that hovered on top of the oceans surface. Seagulls’ black silhouettes dotted the sky as they swooped around the palm trees. He could also see Earth, looking slightly brown due to the scorched forests. And although it was still light out, you could see far away galaxies. Once Jay was through looking into the beautiful vista, he paid attention to the person that called him, assuming he was ‘birdy’. He dove down through the warm air, perching himself on palm of a short coconut tree. Below him was a small girl with long, dark hair pulled high in a pigtails. She was wearing shorts and a tank top, looking much like Jay’s neighbor in Earth did. “Did you come from the cold place?”, she asked. Jay wondered if she had been one of the few chosen to leave Earth and come to Neptube. He remembered sitting on the handle to the screen door in the summer and watching the news, learning about how the world was quickly heating up, and how it was going to explode in less than a year. They had decided to send out nine space shuttles, each carrying a load of people to a different planet. They even sent one out looking for an undiscovered planet in some galaxy. His thoughts were interrupted by the small girl, “I did. Did you get help from a Neptune Creature too? And dive through the chocolate? Get lost in the dark? Are you-are you even listening to me?” “Yes, I’m listening. And yes I “dove”, more like drowned, in chocolate, and got lost, and yes to everything else you said. I’m sorry I haven’t been answering you, it’s just feels incredible to see the sun, it’s like being home.” The girl looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said, “Did you live in a neighborhood?” “Yes, right next to a big brick house, with marble columns.” “With a pool?” “Um, do I know you? More importantly, do you know me?” The girl smiled and said, “Yes, I know you! You are the blue jay that would sing sweet tunes every night at 7:30, my bedtime! Did you know that because my daddy’s the president, I got to pick the three birds that were brought here? I picked your parents, too, where are they?” Jay felt a sharp pain as he remembered his mother. He had never seen his father, but a memory was imprinted in his mind of his mother. “She left me when she thought she couldn’t take care of me anymore. Where’s your daddy? And your mommy?” The girl’s pigtails drooped, and her face crumbled. Tears started streaming down her face, and she kept shaking, her back heaving as she collapsed to the forest floor. Jay swooped down onto her shoulder and stroked her hair with his talons. “It’s o.k.” He said, not even knowing why the girl was crying. She looked up with glossed eyes and a red face. She choked out, “My dad is the president. He said staying on Earth and supporting the remaining people was the “presidential” thing to do, because he loves his country. My mom came here on the shuttle, but we got separated. That was when I met an alien thing and he helped me get down here, through that door. I don’t know where my mom is, she’s probably out there freezing to death-” she broke into sobs. Jay thought for a moment as he stroked the girl’s hair. “I bet your mum met an alien, too. I’m sure she’s drinking a cup of chocolate lava, worrying about you.” The girl considered what he said, then looked up and gave him a smile, wide with gaps between her teeth. He then jumped off her shoulder, and squawked, “Foxy! How am I going to reach him? That door looks real strong.” The girl looked up at him, with her eyebrows raised. She did not know who Foxy was... >< <> >< “Jay! Jay! Please...” Foxy shouted from the edge of the chocolate spring, getting soaked in chocolate from the violent waves the thrashing animal was making. “Jay...,” Goon was moaning as he searched puddles of chocolate for Jay, he thought he might have been splashed to the shore. “There’s no use whimpering. I’m jumping in!” Goon jumped around and screamed , “No! Please, don’t leave me. You’re not going to want to come back...” but Foxy had jumped in, with a last confused look. Goon collapsed on the ice, crying. He was a bad Neptube Creature. He was a liar. He had been abandoned, but the rest were lies-lies to keep his friends on the Northern part of Neptube, and not go closer to the bottom, which was close to a small, but hot, sun. When he was abandoned by his parents, he started roaming the surface of Neptube. The Security Creatures found him, a young, ugly thing, and took pity on him. They let him become a Security Creature, and brought him to their laboratory to collect some things for the den they would build him. His job was to befriend any creature he found from Earth, and send them through the chocolate spring to the door to the South Side. He was always very lonely, and when he met Jay and Foxy, they became very dependent on him. They thought they needed him to survive the cold weather, and he was going to keep it a secret, and keep hiding from the other Security Creatures, the S.C. He knew Jay was in the planet’s wild flower fields, probably worrying about not seeing Foxy or him again. But when Foxy opened the latch, he would unite with his friend, and they would not be able to see him again. They would try, but Goon would leave his home. He didn’t want to be a S.C anymore, he could not trust himself. He could not join the south, for it was too hot and humid, and he was told he would dissolve, like many others who were tiered of the cold. He grabbed his blanket and a cup of chocolate from a puddle, and left. >< <> >< Foxy plunged into the water, a little farther down from the Saber Tooth Shark. He had heard Goon say something about him not going to want to come back, but why wouldn’t he want to go back to the warm den? He swam around with his eyes open, searching for his friend. His eyes bugged out, and he grasped his throat. He couldn’t breathe. The chocolate current was to strong for him to swim. He started to sink, even though he struggled. As he got lower, he started to see little bubbles. And the farther he sunk, the more bubbles there were. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer, and he gasped in air bubbles. He could breathe! HE went through the same happy shock as Jay did as his feet landed under the bubbles. Was he at the bottom of the spring? He bent his head to the ground, and brushed away some bubbles. There was a metal latch under his feet! Was this where Goon thought he wouldn’t want to leave? He eagerly lifted the latch, assuming Jay had found the same thing. The door creaked open, and a warm gust of air sent him sprawling back up into the bubbles. He stepped closer to the door, and peered out into the beautiful horizon. He gasped and smiled, enjoying the view of fluttering birds in the distance, and finally noticing Jay standing far below him in a field of wild flowers. He delightedly waved, and gestured to him that he couldn’t jump all the way down to the field. He was prepared, and whistled to a gang of fluttering birds. The flock, including Jay, soared toward him. They levitated in the air like a blanket, and Foxy cautiously stepped onto their backs. They very, very slowly flew toward the land, careful to keep all the birds wings even. Foxy flew away from the group and back onto Foxy’s forehead, where he belonged. >< <> >< Once Foxy had filled him in on Goon, with all the birds listening, they started chattering about Goon’s real life. Foxy and Jay listened closely, as everything seemed to click. Foxy and Jay protested, but stopped when they realized that the blanket Goon had was the one from the S.C. He had disguised his life to become friends, and to keep them from reaching the warm part of Neptube. The young girl introduced herself as Kristina to Foxy, after they were through discussing Goon. Foxy stuck out his paw, and she laughed, flashing her wide gapped mouth, shaking his paw. She joined the “abandoned” group, although they never told her the name. She was very sensitive, and they tried not to mention anything that could possibly remind her where her parents were, even though every night as they lay on the beach, she looks up at Earth and watches its color fade a scorching brown. They enjoyed the planets many wonders, including the beautiful sunsets, tropical rain forests, wild flowers, and most of all warmth! They slept on the calm shores of Sparkle Sea, and ate the wonderful fruit of the forests. They met many friends, and soon called Neptube home. The End Epilogue on Goon Goon went back to wandering, and eventually building a den. One morning, when he was gathering chocolate lava, he ran into a mother fox. She was very thin and frail, and stood a distance away from Goon. “May I have some chocolate?” she asked, her eyes bugging out from her head. Goon gestured for her to come over, and she slowly walked over, limping on one of her paws. Goon fed her, and then brought her back, all the way back, to his old den. He explained how to reach the latch, but said nothing about Foxy. She might not want to see him, but if she did, she would be so grateful to Goon and would explain to Foxy about what Goon did for his mother. He supposed Foxy might take that as an apology... |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
