Well this certainly is an early update! Reason being is that tomorrow I'm going on a little trip to NYC with my choir and will be afk for until next Tuesday (which is when I will post the next chapter). Though we're staying at a really nice hotel, I doubt there'll be a computer in the room and, if there is one, I wouldn't have time to fiddle around with SPP. So there you have it!
And now back to our regularly scheduled chappie!
World 4-3: The Gates of Space
"This is the Space Bypass!" the green child proclaimed.
"Are you sure? It looks like plain old space to me..." Rachel commented through her helmet.
"From somewhere in here, we can enter the Whoa Zone. C'mon, space grunt, look for the entrance, squeork!" He continued.
"'The 'Whoa Zone'?" Tippi asked unsatisfied. "You simply MUST be kidding with me… I demand answers…"
"Yeah! Ever since we picked you up, all you've done is keep information from us and order us around." Phred said.
"Fine, squirple... It's a prohibited zone, squirp. Some call it the 'Space Graveyard,' squoooiks."
"If it's a graveyard, I'm out!" Rachel said loudly.
"It's not a graveyard! It's only an overly complicated maze… They say once you go in, you can never get out…"
"Who's 'they?'" Ray asked.
"And supposedly," continued Squirps, "the Pure Heart is hidden at the very back of that maze, squinkly!"
"...And how did you come across all this information? Who are you REALLY, you incontinent little imp?!"
"But Tipps, he gave us the information! Does it matter where he got it?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, because if he had all that information at the tip of his tongue and withheld it for all that time, he could be working for the enemy and leading us into a trap!"
Before Squirps could assign punishment for Tippi's implied mutiny, his stomach growled.
"I made some room with that pit stop! Now I'm hungry…"
"You're joking, right?" Ray said. "We're in the middle of space! With no back up food! And it's not like we're going to find a Circle-K around here…" (He'd soon regret saying that.)
"Don't worry! Find the Whoa Zone entrance, squibble!"
Tippi muttered something.
"C'mon, we're wasting time just floating here and arguing. We should go now." The gang agreed with Phred and started on their way
On the way to the other side, they encountered the jellyfish-like creatures again. They also found some spinning platforms that caused damage when touched. Ray learned the hard way.
"Why me...?" he asked the narrator, who ignored him and continued on with the story.
At the end of the area, they found a random red X. Thinking it was a test for Fleep, Phred used him and discovered that it was. Two large green pillars appeared with a keyhole the shape of Squirps in one of them.
"Huh, he's a key annoyance. What're the odds?" Ray semi-consciously said.
"Squirble SQUAAAAAAAAK! This hole… what a lovely shape, squirp! I don't know why, but I want to be squeezed into there! Someone squish me in!"
"Let me!" Tippi pleaded. Phred did it for her (lack of hands prevented her from doing so) and instantaneously, a door formed in between the pillars.
"What is this thing?" Tippi asked Squirps.
"It's a space gate, squrip! These lead from the Space Bypass to the Whoa Zone! Through this gate is the way forward, space grunts!"
"I doubt this is the gate we need, but oh, well." They entered.
~*-SPP-*~
"Told you."
The team continued until they found another X. Phred repeated the process, which repeated the pillars. Yet there was something different about this set. Was it the fact that there were two keyholes instead of one? Probably.
"Another wonderful shape! I feel another compulsion… Must… get… twisted… into… there! Someone twist me in!" Rachel did this time. Space rumbled, but nothing happened.
"Something… Something's missing, squirk. Definitely, I can't shake it… There is only one solution: Squirps must eat something! Something yummy!"
"Again, where are we going to find a Chevron around here?"
"You said Circle-K last time…" Rachel corrected. Squirps interrupted the argument by declaring he wasn't moving until they came back with something that started with 'cho' and ended with 'late'.
"This I declare." He said. They left him in the hole and found a warp hole at the end.
~*-SPP-*~
"Wow… there is a 7-Eleven in space…" Ray said, keeping with his inconsistency of popular gas stations. The team causally entered the out-of-place and conveniently located convenient store. Ray ran to the back to see if they had a Slurpee machine while Phred and Rachel talked to the man at the counter.
"HAVE A TWINKLE DAY! Welcome to the Twinkle Mart! If we're not closed, we're open!"
"I'm glad you have logic. Now, we need some chocolate. Do you have any?" Rachel asked. He ignored her.
"WAAAAAAA! I was SOOO lonely! Since our grand opening, you're our first customer!"
"Fun, but we need to buy something!" Rachel said again. He started rambling to himself now.
"I think I should have thought about location more when I bought this place…"
"Look," Phred sternly said, "We need to buy an item or three."
"Oh. Whatcha looking for today? Just grab whatever grabs your eye, Twinkle shoppers!" Rachel made a face while Phred bought one of each chocolate bar. After paying, the couple exited and waited for Ray.
"Now I know how you felt when Mimi ignored you back in the mansion." Rachel said, starting conversation.
"Heh heh, yeah." He turned to Tippi and asked, "So how are you?"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine... and irritated with that Squirps character..."
"You can say that again!" Rachel said. "He's so commanding for a child! Thank God I decided not to have children."
"What?" Tippi asked. "How come you don't want the joy of being a mother?"
"She thinks it's way too much responsibility to bring up a child." Phred answered.
"Is it a problem with money?"
"Tippi, she's carrying a one thousand dollar bill on her. I don't think it's money problems."
"Oh... I just can't see anyone not wanting to have a child... I've always wanted to mother a newborn and raise it to be a good, loving adult like its father--" She stopped herself there. What was she saying? Who was this supposed father? It didn't matter...
Soon after things got quiet, Rachel decided to sit on the recycling bin to rest a bit. She sank into it a little and looked stuck.
"I'm recyclable!" She said, laughing all the way.
"Rachel, you better get out of there... I don't want to see what Ray thinks of this..." Tippi suggested.
"She's only having fun... but speaking of Ray, what's taking him so long?" At that moment, the sliding doors whooshed open and the alarm chimed. Ray floated out with a Double Gulp sized cup filled to the brim with Coca-Cola Slurpee® Slush, decorated with a long spoon straw sticking out from it, and met up with the gang.
"Ray," Rachel started still in the recycle bin, "how did you get that?"
"How did you get in there?" He countered.
"Easily."
"Same."
"But… this isn't 7-Eleven… how?" Phred asked.
"I dunno. Don't question Nintendo logic. Now get outta there, Rachel, and let's just get back to Squirps."
~*-SPP-*~
"Squirps so hungry… Squirps can't move… Well, Squirps CAN move, but only very slowly. Squirps needs to eat something yummy!" Without speaking, Phred gave him the blue candy bar.
"Squirps is a gourmet! You think I'd be satisfied by something like this, squaaag?" He almost didn't eat it, but Ray force-fed it to him. Seconds passed.
"TH-THIS IS… … the chocolate and nuts melt together, creating a full flavor with a clean finish! It's a sweet, chocolate sonata written for lovers… it's pure cocoa love!" He shouted, adding a heart in the comment.
"Squirps… are you okay?" Rachel asked, concerned.
"TOOOOOO GOOD!!!" This response surprised everyone to float backwards abruptly. What happened next was even stranger. Squirps split himself into two parts and landed in both keyholes... thus triggering the door to appear. When it did, the two merged back into one.
"Squirp! Sorry about that… Squirps got carried away…"
"You're telling me." Rachel mumbled.
"The gate… it appeared…" Tippi spat out speechlessly.
"Our goal is almost in sight, squoogle! Let's go, space grunt." They did. In the next section, they found the Star Block and a bunch of enemies. They took the easy way out and dodged them all in 3-D.
~*-SPP-*~
Phred and his friends took
the Space Byway and merged
into the Whoa Zone.
Known to some as the Space
Graveyard, it was said to
consume all who entered it.
"Just a little bit longer…
We'll be arriving soon."
Said young Squirps
With his unblinking eyes
glimmering, Squirps continued
to forge onward.
Would Phred and his friends
get their hands on the Pure
Heart at long last?
I doubt anyone will guess what happens inside the Whoa Zone... not even you CaHF... :D