Hi! Here's the first chapter to the long-talked-about Gumdrop story! Also, in The Shifter, there was a character named Dana who was supposed to be Darwin's daughter. I changed that, so now instead of Dana, her replacement is a dude fish named Edwin (such an original name).

CHAPTER 1

It was a sunny day in Elmore. Inside, out of the summer heat sat two strange siblings and their cousins. Gumdrop the cat, Peter the fairy, Edwin the fish, and Ted the dino, all sat around a flashing screen (except for Ted, who was too big. He looked through the window from the outside.) playing Space Fights Front-of-war XVII (P.S. that's Roman numerals for 17, I think. Also does anyone get what I'm referencing with the name of the game they're playing?). All were merry blasting their opponents in ten-minute long matches they would completely forget they had played in like two minutes. Everything was splendid, until Peter's on-screen character was blasted. "Argh! Who did that?!" He grunted. "Hey, calm down dude. This is just a game." Edwin said, briefly turning his head to his brown shelled cousin. "It's more than that! It's a contest of strength! A match-up of prowess and reflexes! It is my destiny to achieve victory on the blaster-scorched fields of battle, to fight and respawn for my A.I. comrades... Sure, no one will remember my valiant efforts, but that's just how it goes..."

By now, Gumdrop and Ted were giving Peter weird looks, "Uh... Yeah. Well just don't zap our snack-"

"Argh! Not again!" Peter shouted. A laser shot out of one of the fairy boy's antlers and ricocheted a few times of the walls, until it disintegrated a box of crackers, the kids' mutual snack.

Not being one to complain, Edwin said after staring in horror at the crater of the dearly departed snack, "Who votes on getting a new snack?"

A little later, downstairs, Gumdrop found a bag of chips. "Well... Tortilla chips are nice, but they need some dip if you want them really tasty."

Ted remembered something, "Isn't there a chip dip in your fridge? The one left over from last time?"

"Are you sure?" Peter said, "Last time we had that was a month ago. It could be gone or spoiled by now."

"It doesn't matter to me." Ted responded, "Dinos can eat anything."

After more searching of the refrigerator, Gumdrop decided, "I guess there's nothing else in here for chips. We'll have to look for... The Chip Dip of Flavor!"

Edwin leaned over to stare into the Watterson fridge, "Looks like a long way to go, though."

Gumdrop wasn't too worried, "It's fine! There's walls around the fridge! It can only be so big right? We can get to the dip."

Peter agreed, "C'mon Edwin! It'll be fun!"

Edwin, being a little more cautious, said, "Said the guy who thought exploring the insides of a garbage truck would be fun, the guy who took apart unlit fireworks to see how they worked was fun..."

"This isn't as dangerous." Peter replied, "At least not for people besides us."

"Well, it is a chip dip..."

Soon, after squeezing Ted (the dino) into the fridge, the four young relatives walked down a frosty white corridor to the interior of the Watterson fridge, searching for The Chip Dip of Flavor...

TO BE CONTINUED...

So that's chapter one! I hope you'll like this story. PKM will probably get the next chapter.

-G.W.