Quite a few things had been on my mind recently. So of course, only one person could be there to hear it all out.
"Mom, things might get intense in Poptropica soon," I told my mother as we left the house.
"What do you mean?" Mom asked.
"It's got to do with the prophecy I was talking about," I grimaced. "But don't worry about me too much… Fierce Fox is there with me. We'll be okay."
"At least you're not alone," Mom breathed out. "Fierce Fox is nice to you, then?"
"Most of the time," I chuckled. "But, changing the topic slightly…"
I got into the car, biting my lip. Mom tilted her head, getting into the driver's seat.
"What is it?" she asked.
"So, um, about Poptropica," I said. "It has this… thing called membership where you pay real money and you're able to unlock more stuff to do. I think it could be useful for me."
Mom raised her brow. "Hmm, so you're saying…"
"Can you maybe…" I looked at the ground, fiddling with my fingers.
Mom breathed. "How do you know this membership will help you out?"
"There's something going on inside the game," I told her. "I need to be there to see it."
There was a silence between us. Mom gripped the steering wheel.
She sighed. "Alright. How much is this membership?"
"Creatures from the forest have forced me to stop development on my new construction project." a lumberjack - or should I say lumberjerk - complained to us. "Please, journey into the woods and stop the threat!"
"Yeah, sure," I said, trying not to roll my eyes. "Come on, Fierce Fox."
We neared the forest. Fierce Fox gave me a funny look.
"You okay?" she asked.
"The developers are trying to build a new casino where the forest is, but the forest creatures are stopping them," I told her. "And the forest creatures are stopping them because if the development goes ahead, they'll die."
"Harsh," Fierce Fox commented, as we headed to the forest. "What's our mission, then?"
"Vice-versa of what that punk told us to do," I answered. "We help the forest."
We passed a fallen trunk, which had a strange, glowing blue mushroom in it. As if it was shy, it popped away when we were near, and re-appeared when we were gone. Passing it, we entered the forest at last.
The forest was a dark, shadowy and misty place. Thick trees covered the sky, and every time I turned I saw trees and various other plants of many dark and twisted colours.
Rare patches of sunlight crept through the tree craziness, and the floor was covered in soft vegetation. Magic filled the air, making my skin tingle. I could've gazed at it for hours (there are some seriously beautiful things in Poptropica), but we needed to move on.
In a hollow tree, there was a glowing, acorn-shaped rune. Fierce Fox snatched it; in its place, gazillions of tiny, buzzing and glowing fairy-like creatures called dryads flew out.
The dryads surrounded Fierce Fox, and picked her up with ease. To avoid being left behind, I reached out for her leg and leaped up; we took off.
"Scare them off when they take you too high!" I ordered, as the dryads lifted us up. We worked together (the dryads included), and jumped over a section of platforms.
I'd never liked the dryads; they were so small and flittery. However, strangely, they didn't even notice me. They only seemed interested in Fierce Fox, and carried her around. But me? To them, I didn't exist. Just a liability hanging onto Fierce Fox's foot.
The good news was area two was just as beautiful: long, hanging, green vines fell down from the trees. The dark, twisted roots sit in the background, shadowy as the trees.
The bad news?
"Ack!" Fierce Fox shrieked, as an elf hit her off a vine.
She landed on an outstretched branch, with a frown. Gulping, I grabbed the first vine, but no elves came to knock me off. In fact, they all seemed to be avoiding me.
Weird, I thought. Weird. I should be suspicious… but I kinda like that they're not trying to kill me.
Fierce Fox grumbled, on the other hand, was getting beat up quite a lot by the elves.
"You got this!" I cried out.
Fierce Fox just glared at me with a bruised eye.
Eventually we passed the elves, and collected another rune - the kobold. Area three was on the tree tops, where light was visible and the area was mostly leaves forming a path.
This time, our old friends the dryads had returned, and were forming dangerous patterns in order to sting us - well, Fierce Fox, that is. They just flew right by me.
"Why don't they attack you?" Fierce Fox grumbled, as she narrowly missed an attack from the dryads.
"I don't know!" I answered, in honesty. "Just… ok. Stay behind me."
Fierce Fox sighed, but raced behind me.
The dryads, like I guessed, didn't attack, so we were able to pass them. Though Fierce Fox's expression couldn't be bypassed, and it stung way more than the dryad stings.
"There's gotta be something behind their weird behaviour…" I uttered. "But we can use this to our advantage. I can protect you."
"As if I need you to do that," Fierce Fox huffed.
I chewed my lip as we continued.
Area four was a large, rocky, cliff area. It was like Mount Everest from Time Tangled, except there was no snow, no bridges made of ice, there were way more plants and roots, it wasn't 1953, and also, there were trolls throwing boulders at us.
If I was given a choice, I'd pick Mount Everest. Getting boulders thrown at you was not ideal.
I gripped Fierce Fox's arm and pulled her out of the way of the boulder. It sailed past us, and the troll was preparing another one. I pointed to a platform; we jumped onto it, me lagging slightly behind. I still hated platforms, it seems.
Fierce Fox shook her head. "I'm still protecting you."
"We protect each other, right?" I shrugged.
We raced across a rocky slope. I stared at the wall, which was covered in paintings, plants and a fence made of bones.
My feet sunk into the moss, as we reached the end. The troll was beneath us; its back was a platform, leading up to the next level. So, with a few failed attempts, we used it and got to the next level.
We passed a cave full of riches and a human skull (trolls are rich and stupid- like most rich people). Then, we leaped to another elevated space, as a boulder rolled underneath.
As soon as it did that, we jumped back down and raced across the rocky floor, passing more strange, glowing plants. At the end, we used the troll's back as a stair.
Level three was the rockiest one, with many grass-covered platforms and holes in the ground. The troll continued throwing massive boulders, which were getting harder to dodge.
At one point, the troll launched me back, and I yelped. Fierce Fox tightly gripped my arm, determination on her face.
"Regardless of what the prophecy says… you're my hero, Fierce Fox," I told her.
Fierce Fox rolled her eyes, grinning. "When'd you get so cheesy?"
"My mom approves of you," I told her.
"Isn't that just amazing," she deadpanned.
In the end, the troll accidentally dropped the boulder on itself, and we used it as a platform. It led to a smooth, rocky surface, which had a massive, shiny tree on it. Oh, and the Jötunn Rune.
The path continued into the creepiest part of the island: the Nøkken.
The Nøkken's area was daunting enough; it was dark, with shadows covering everything. Large toadstools gleamed with shining lights, and icky, standing-up, curled vines were sticking up.
There was a thick, black tree, which was scary enough to appear in my nightmares. And of course, there was the Nøkken itself.
It glared daggers at Fierce Fox, and turned invisible. Glowing, blood-red pawprints surrounded us, aimed for Fierce Fox, and not me.
"Come on," I urged my friend.
We raced along the dark path, the Nøkken on our tails. I leaped into an open stump, which was full of translucent, glowing plants, like you would see in an aquarium with jellyfish.
Fierce Fox and I leaped into some… well, fascinating… glowing water, which was full of stinging nettles. The Nøkken chased us- sorry, I meant Fierce Fox- in the form of a tornado. Fierce Fox and I kept a grip on each other, as we continued dashing through the water.
Finally, we made it to the end, the Nøkken still chasing us. It suddenly appeared, and lunged for Fierce Fox. With as much force as I could produce, I shoved her out of the way, and the Nøkken vanished again.
Then, I grabbed the Näckrosor Rune, and we raced off.
Area five was a flat, but still bushy area. A crowd of elves began chasing after us, wielding spears and other dangerous weapons. As well as that, obstacles stood in our way, which we had to either duck or jump over.
Being quick (well, not me), we managed to get ahead of the elves. A few of them were in swings above our heads, and shot spears at Fierce Fox. I made sure we kept a grip on each other, as we continued ducking and jumping.
"Ah!" I suddenly shouted, as I bumped into an obstacle. Fierce Fox faced me. "Just keep going! I'll be fine!"
Fierce Fox chewed her lip. "No… we're meant to work together. Remember?"
She grabbed my arm, pulling me up. The elves were right behind us, and adrenaline forced energy into my legs. We leaped and ducked, and my vision turned into a blur, as I let my actions take care of themselves, while my brain sailed off to La La Land.
Thank goodness for Fierce Fox.
I finally returned to Earth when we got the Dökkálfar Rune, and when the elves plummeted to their deaths. Sorry, little guys. Fierce Fox and I leaped onto a flying fox (puns welcome), and we landed in an especially forested area.
Trees were everywhere, of all different shades of green. Spiky vines were curled up in the background, and vines hung down from trees. Little crystal-blue flowers were growing on trees.
And finally, there was another large tree, which had a door covered by vines. Little holes were above the exit; shaped like the runes we got.
In the order we received the runes, we placed them into the holes. The vines pulled apart, leading into a tunnel. I nodded at Fierce Fox, and we entered.
Inside, it was a giant space. Tree-roots make up the walls, and gigantic mushrooms are scattered on the floor. In the center in the room, above a throne, a pearl-coloured orb floated and glowed.
Some of our old creature friends were hanging out, and there was one new one: the Elf Queen. She had long, green elf ears; her matching green skin coloured in gold markings. She was beautiful, her naturalistic dress flowing around her.
"Welcome, young humans," she greeted. "You are the first of your kind to journey so deep into these magical woods."
"Yes, and we aren't the only ones," I replied cautiously. "A group of humans who want to destroy this place followed us here- hide the orb from them!"
"Thank you for advising us," the queen told me. She nodded, and the orb floated into her hands. "I see you are the prophesied hero."
"Um… yes." I agreed, scratching the back of my neck.
"You seem to have knowledge about our home," the queen noted. "And a special kind of heroism that other heroes lack. Perhaps you can save us." She gulped. "You see, the developers are not the only threat. A bigger force - power I could not recognize - has been active in our home, and affecting our creatures. I do not know if you can stop them, but you must try. I fear they will cause major harm."
I got a bad feeling. "We'll try."
Fierce Fox grimaced at me. "Hold on, could it…"
"Yeah," I nodded at her. "I think it's got to do with what happened to you. They're playing games with us. Trying to split us apart."
"They're gonna have to try harder than that," Fierce Fox spat, and I nodded in agreement.
The Elf Queen shouted something in a language I didn't recognize, and the forest creatures surrounded her. With wide eyes, she faced us. My heart thumped.
"The developers are coming," she cried. "You must stop them!"
"I don't think asking them politely will do the trick," I said, tapping my chin. "We need to stop them with force!"
"Use this," the queen handed Fierce Fox an amulet, which gave her powers of creatures of the forest. She faced me. "As for you… you have different powers. Together with your friend, you shall come out the strongest."
I nodded, shaking badly.
Approaching the forest was a group of construction vehicles: a bulldozer, a crane, and a truck.
They were storming viciously towards the forest, like nothing mattered in the world. We were way behind them, as they took out everything in sight.
"Right," I turned to my friend. "Use your goblin speed - the green button on your amulet - to catch up to that crane. Then, use your troll strength- it's orange- to shove the wrecking ball onto the next truck."
Fierce Fox nodded, and dashed off with the speed of Speeding Spike. Meanwhile, I was helplessly behind.
Great… what do I do now?
The Elf Queen approached me, her body weakening. "I give you one last surge of power, Alice Manchester… the all seeing."
I felt my head thumping. I gasped, floating up into the air. I could see… everything. I was everything. I was everything and nothing. My mind almost couldn't comprehend it.
But there was only one thing I needed to focus on: Fierce Fox.
My Poptropican was catching up to the crane, the machines groaning beneath her. The earth was shaking. I waved a hand, sensing her thoughts, her brainwaves.
She was listening.
"Go," I told her. "Do it. Shove the wrecking ball now!"
Abs so she did, shoving the wrecking ball. It crashed into the ginormous crane, finally slowing it down.
The lumberjerks were freaked out by her, and packed up their things and left. The forest creatures thanked us graciously - and I mean both of us this time.
The Elf Queen pulled us aside.
"Well done, you two," she said. "We will never forget you. As a reward, dear Fierce Fox, you may keep the amulet."
"Thanks!" Fierce Fox replied cheerfully, staring at her amulet. "Yeah, it was all me…"
"And as for you, Alice," the Elf Queen turned to me. "You used your powers well." Her face darkened. "However, I sense powers coming from a foreign island…"
My face paled. "I think I know who's behind this… you see, the creatures weren't really attacking me, or even noticing me. Only my friend here."
"Are you aware of what magic this is?" the Elf Queen asked.
"It's foreign magic from another island," I explained. "Long story. But if you see anyone called Dr. Jupiter, or a huge man with a white beard and red robes, don't trust him. Or some kind of girl… I'm not sure what she looks like, but…"
"I see," the Elf Queen replied, the information sinking in. "Thank you… for your words. My only gift to you is the respect of our magic. Wherever you are, the respect of the forest will be with you. And perhaps… sometimes, it will reach out to help you."
"Um… thanks." I said, feeling a bit strange. To be honest, I felt that Dr. Harold's private jet was a better gift, but I kept my thoughts to myself. After all, I had saved the forest.
The feeling after a good deed was a prize itself. Maybe that was something Fierce Fox didn't realize. Maybe.
"Remember, Spark," Dad grinned at me. "People'll give you gifts. Great things, like money, gold, a new iPhone, whatever. But the greatest gift isn't something you can buy- it can only be earned." He stared into my eyes. "Respect."