iKoffeeholic's Word:

I'm not dead…yet.

The Defeat of Shark Tooth Island: Chapter 2

Well, here I am. Somewhere on a beach, I guess. The boat that I paddle away in somehow got trashed to pieces, probably by landfall on impact. But anyway, when I look around, I notice that this is an island.

An inhabited island.

With blue sand.

And blue palm trees.

I stand up and see bright yellow things peaking over the palm trees. They have writing on them, but I'd have to get closer to see. And I can even hear people—kids. I rush my feeble body on down the shore to find the source of the noise, and hopefully get fed and watered. My stomach is roaring!

About a few minutes into my sprint for survival, I find out that this wasn't just a small gathering, this was a festival. Stupidly, I scream, "HELP! I NEED FOOD! WATER!" That got me enough attention. Then a blue-skinned man with pink beard, wearing a purple top hat grabs me by the hand. Oddly, he's my exact height. And so is everyone else around.

"Young boy!" he says. "You don't need to cry. This is a happy day."

Still crying some, I ask, "How so? I just ran from home after selling my sister's stuff and crashed my dad's boat. I am now starving! How could this day be happy?"

"Not only is it happy, it is lucky!" He smiles even harder. "These blimps, you see, are taking children to a wonderful set of islands called Poptropica! We give each of them a map, a backpack, games, and a customizer key. And we let them fly away in a blimp to start an adventure of their choosing. Beautiful, yes?"

"I guess so. Can I have a blimp, too?"

He nods. "Right this way." He pulls out a brown crate and asks me to step in it. There's no way I can fit in there, I try to get him to understand. But he insists, and I do that. Then, unexpectedly, a lid slams down to close me in.

I answer a series of dumb questions while I'm floating in bright blue space. Pleasuring torture.

"Boy or girl?"

I cough, "Boy."

"Age?"

"I'm 13."

"Hair colour?"

"Blue."

"Skin?"

"White!"

"Clothes?"

My patience evaporated, I shout, "OH MY GLOB! YOU JUST SAW ME!"

The man only laughs and knocks on the crate thrice. "And out you come, Icy Thunder!"

I somehow escape the crate with a loud bang, feeling bouncy and more limber than ever. How did the man know my name? But before I could ask, he slipped a backpack on me and rushed me to a blimp. Another old man in a blue top hat, but with orange-spotted skin took my hand as soon my other one was let go.

"In your backpack is everything you need for Poptropica. I'm sure Happy Lobster told you everything you need to know!" said the orange man. "I'm Orange Pear, by the way."

I am too confused to speak! Anyway, I just got tossed into the basket of this yellow blimp that read Poptropica. As I look out over the basket's edge, my now lopsided eyes catch a glimpse of this beautiful girl in the blimp next to mine. Her orange hair, her creamy skin tone, and her dreamy smile. I feel like we're being lifted off, floating away—then I realise—we are being lifted off. And floating away!

"Where am I going?" I shout.

"POPTROPICA! POPTROPICA!" the crowd below yells, growing smaller and smaller.

Then the girl I just fantasised about calls out to me. "Hey! Pull out your map and go to Shark Tooth Island! Meet me there!"

I get so happy. At least I won't take this weird journey alone. "Okay! I will!" I reach into my bag and grab this rolled-up paper that could be the map. It is. It opens, and I see moving pictures all over. There's a tiny blimp moving around on it, probably some avatar for me, and a script next to a pointing hand reading: Pick an Island.

I find an island at the far right. I touch it with my fingerless hand and read it. "Shark Tooth Island." And like magic, the blimp zooms off at light speed, making the entire world around seem like that bright blue void I was drifting through in that crate.

I close my eyes because I'm getting scared—and nauseous. But when I lean over the basket to hurl, the blimp stops. The once blue space I travelled through is now a focused picture.

An island.

Shark Tooth Island.

The Defeat of Shark Tooth Island: Chapter 2

My blimp hovers over the shore next to another identical blimp. Must be that girl I just met.

I shimmy down the rope like a fireman and land my noodle legs on the dock. Waiting on the sand by a café is a cart that selling something. When I get a closer look, the yellow guy's selling—no—giving away shark fins.

"Hey there, visitor. Your outfit's not complete without a sleek shark fin," he says, handing me a fin. I slip it into my backpack. I thank him and hurry over to the next cart, giving away bubbly coconut milk. This guy says it's on the house, too.

"Oh, mon. Dis gerl, she es waiting for you in da Coconot Café for you," he tells me in his tropical accent.

"Thanks, man." I tuck the bottle away with my other things, rushing into the place to find that girl. I look around and see a weird place above me. Nothing but ledges and edges here. The straw I saw outside the coconut is actually inside.

I feel like leaving since the place gives me the creeps, but before I can exit a girl pops up beside me. She takes a thinking pose and talks. "You're that boy I saw at the PopMeet."

"PopMeet? That's that crazy place?" I say.

"It's really called Poptropolis, but most call it PopMeet." She makes a happy face. "Want to take the Shark Tooth quest with me?"

I'm confused. "A quest. No one told me about a quest! Not Happy Lobster or Red Pear!"

"That guy was Orange Pear, but you help people on the islands to get medallions and store credits. It's a nice way of life." Her face shrinks back to its natural dreaminess.

I agree to do this quest with her only because she's cute. "What are we doing here anyway?"

She answers, "Judging by the chunk out of the sign by the dock, it's sharks." She blushes and throws her arms in the air. "I almost forgot! What's your name?"

I tell her shyly, "Icy Thunder."

"I'm Smart Carrot. Nice to meet to Thunder." She put out her knob of a hand to shake my knob of a hand. It feels weird having no fingers.

"Now let's start that quest!" I declare as I lead her out of the café. Strangely, I have no idea how to deal with sharks. My only hope is not to feed them with myself. Cowards don't taste good.

The Defeat of Shark Tooth Island: Chapter 2

iKoffeeholic's Word:

See, I'm not dead. Anyway just six whole chapters to this story… 1,000 plus words each.