"Hey! We're almost there! It's Junon everybody! Let's go!" Jessica
exclaimed excitedly. She burst into a sprint as they came within sight
of Junon.
"I'm in too much pain for this," Harry moaned. He was limping
along, carrying with him a big black eye, a swollen lip, bruises everywhere
and a nearly broken nose.
"Oh come on Harry, it could have been worse. You'll feel better
when we get into the city. We'll stay at the inn and then you'll feel as
good as new!" Jim said, cheerfully. He turned and dashed after Jessica.
"Don't worry, Harry. You're tough, you can pull through," Florence
encouraged. She slapped Harry on the back and chased after the others.
"Oh goodness, my back!" Harry screamed as he fell to his knees.
He watched as the others ran off. "Oh, that's just fine! Leave me behind!
I don't care!" Sarah wandered up to Harry and licked him on the forehead.
"Oh great, the goat." Sarah looked at Harry angrily and proceeded to turn
around and kick him in the gut. He promptly let out a cry of pain and the
goat trotted off happily.
Before them, stood the mighty city of Junon. The sweet sound
of polka music emanated from it. The place appeared to be coloured in red,
green, purple, blue and yellow dots. Polka dots as far as the eye could
see. Junon was made of two levels. The lower level was made up of slums.
The upper level was more sophisticated. Still, no matter where you were
in Junon, anything polka related wasn't very far away.
Junon used to be a fishing town until the polka cult came around.
It was soon transformed to a Gengai military base. Pointing out over the
ocean was the famous cannon: the Polka Ray. The Polka Ray was never used
unless it was dire emergency. The thing can pack quite a punch.
Jessica stopped suddenly, gazing up at Junon. "Polka City has
always been so beautiful. If I had enough money, I'd move here. The town
is always so happy and joyous. It's a beautiful town to live in. Some day,
I'll come here again, without a bunch of idiots."
"Yep, sure is a nice place," Jim commented as he walked up behind
Jessica. "Still, I'm not a huge fan of polka-dots. I'll be just as glad
to get out of here before they drive me insane."
"How can you say that? They're beautiful. They are perfection,"
Jessica said, fading out of reality, gazing at the polka-dots.
Florence jogged up beside Jim. "It's kind of nice. I think we
should wait here a minute. Or until sunset, whenever Harry decides to hurry
up!" The last five words Florence shouted so Harry could hear her.
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! Keep your dress on! Wait," Harry
called, and a hint of a smile crept on his face. "Forget that last part."
"Don't even think about it!" Florence snapped back and
then sighed, "Men. Does that man always sound drunk, even when he's sober?"
"No, at least when he's sober his speech isn't slurred. That,
and he doesn't wobble around quite as much. Otherwise, he's exactly the
same," Jim said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Hey, who's that?" Florence asked, pointing to a teenage girl
who stood a short walk down the road.
"Let's go find out," Jim said. Florence and Jim walked on to
greet this person while Jessica stayed behind, still hypnotized by Junon's
polka-dots.
The girl was humming softly to herself as she skipped around
in circles on the path and then reclined on a rock. She was wearing a pair
of dirty brown shorts and a maple red top. She also wore a pair of brown
and black hiking boots, burgundy gloves and a deep black headband that
matched her hair.
"Hi there," Florence greeted the girl with a smile. "I'm Florence
and this is Jim."
"Hi!" the girl said with a big grin. "I'm Muffie from Wutai."
"Wutai? I thought that was just a legend," Jim said, puzzled.
"No, no, no!" Muffie exclaimed. "It does exist! Want me to show
you where it is? Yeah! I'll show you, just follow me! Come on, don't be
shy!" At that, she ran around Jim and Florence and started to run to the
nearby cliff that looked out onto the ocean. She jumped, and dived. There
was a huge splashing sound. Before Jim and Florence knew it, they saw Muffie
swimming out to sea.
"She was certainly strange," Jim commented.
"Yeah. Well, uh, let's get Jessica and Harry so we can get to
Junon before it gets late," Florence said.
"Hey, wait a minute. She took all the spoons I was carrying!"
Jim said as he looked in his backpack. "But everything else of value is
still there."
"Spoons? What would anyone want with spoons?" Florence asked.
"I have no idea. That girl was really weird. Let's just get going."
The group of five entered the gates of Junon to find a man standing
before a crowd, calling out to them. Curious, they stepped towards the
commotion to see what was going on.
"What's going on?" Jim asked one of the spectators.
"That Colin Basnett is at it again," the person replied. "He's
going to get jailed for sure this time."
The man, Colin Basnett, wore a strange polka-dot sweater, matching
pants and goofy polka-dot sunglasses. He was a scrawny, little thing, no
taller than Jim. He spoke in a loud voice to the crowd.
"I'm the boss around here! I order you all to do what I say!
You aren't done yet? Well darn you, get your rear in gear! I'm the boss
damn it! I'll be your mayor and supreme overlord! Ooh, look at me! I'm
the mayor," his voice was quickly changing from overly bossy to sarcastic,
"I'm Mr. Big Shot! Look at me as I run around in circles like a big idiot!
Polka this, and dot that. We need more polka! Polka everything! La, dee,
da! Down with the polka I say! Down with polka!"
Colin began to madly rip off his polka-dotted clothes. He threw
the sunglasses into the crowd. He was soon half-naked, wearing nothing
but orange, striped boxers. "Stripes is the way to go people! Stripes forever!
No more oppression! Let the word be known!" He jumped up and down and began
to roll around in a mud puddle, frantically. He kept screaming "Stripes!"
over and over until the Junon police came and took him away.
The crowd began to separate and go back to their homes while
the five companions stared at the place where Colin was screaming with
confused and almost frightened looks in their eyes.
"Serves him right. I hope he never gets out of jail. Stripes
are the lowest things ever, not when you have the perfection of polka!"
Jessica exclaimed, gazing at the polka-dots all around her.
"Jessica, I think you're taking this a little too far. I mean,
they're just polka-dots," Florence said.
"Just polka-dots? How dare you say such things! These aren't
just polka-dots! These are perfection, these are our masters! They were
sent as holy messengers! That's it, I'll meet you guys here later when
you have seen the light!" Jessica shouted and stormed off down the street.
"Okay, see you later Jess!" Jim called after her. "Come on, let's
find a place to rest. Maybe there's an inn by the beach." Jim lead the
way towards the beach. When they got there they saw a young girl.
The girl looked at the group, smiled and then ran off into the
water.
"Oh my goodness! Look out little girl!" Florence cried. In the
water, was a great beast, about to attack the girl.
"We have to help her!" Jim exclaimed and started running into
the water. "Come on you guys!"
"You go on ahead," Harry said. "I'm in way too much pain to do
anything."
Florence and Sarah chased after Jim, and suddenly, a great battle
against this water beast began.
"Alalaorfaleed!" came the battle cry from Jim and it had begun.
Jim slashed at the beast while Florence wildly attacked with her rubber
chocobos. Sarah finally finished it as she charged and slammed into the
creature head on. The monster fled, leaving behind something.
"Hey, this looks like a costume. What the hell?" Jim asked curiously.
They quickly brought the girl back to shore as a man ran down
to see what was happening.
"Chinchilla!" he cried. "Oh Chinchilla, are you alright? Oh my
goodness, she isn't moving. I think she needs CPR! Can you help her young
man?"
Jim stared in bewilderment. "Me? Okay, I'll try." He knelt by
the girl, Chinchilla, and took a deep breath. "Hey, wait a minute." The
girl's lips began to pucker. "She's breathing perfectly! What's going on
here?" Jim stood up.
The girl sighed and opened her eyes. "I'm sorry. It was all a
trick to get close to you." Jim stared at her in bewilderment. "Ever since
you walked into Junon ten minutes ago, I knew I was in love. I had to stage
this act so you would love me too." Chinchilla wrapped her arms around
Jim's leg and locked on, not preparing to let go.
"I'm flattered and all but," Jim tried shaking the girl off,
"I'm not really looking for a relationship. Hey," he shook his leg some
more, "let go of me. Come on now," Jim was waving his leg madly, trying
to get this girl off, "let me go!"
"Never!" Chinchilla shouted. "I'll never let this moment go."
"Okay then, I'll just shove you back in the water again." Jim
started walking back to the water when a large dolphin swam in Jim's way.
"That's Mr. Skibbs. You fought him. It was all part of my clever
plan for us to be together," Chinchilla said, gazing up at Jim.
"All right, this is just stupid. You're in love with me? Well
then, take a look at this." Jim took off his hat to reveal his mangled,
messy, spikey ball of hair.
Chinchilla screamed at the top of her lungs, released herself
from Jim's leg and ran as fast as she could.
"Good work, Jim! That could have been quite a problem for us
to have that girl stuck on your leg,?" Florence congratulated, smiling.
"Let's just find that inn and get some needed rest."
"Who ever thought that my hair would actually help me?" Jim sighed.
"Yeah, let's just get going before things get worse around here."
The companions hurried down the beach until they came to a nice
looking inn. Perhaps not as nice looking as dilapidated. Still, it was
an inn and the group was dreadfully tired. They walked in to find that
the inside looked worse than out. There were loose floorboards and caked
on mud everywhere. Spiders and their webs were strung all across the walls
and the ceiling had green footprints on it.
"What a lovely place," Jim commented smiling.
"Yeah, yeah," a woman at the counter said. "You want a room?
You get one! We have a special 'President Coming Into Town Sale', only
153 gil for family suite!"
"The President's coming into town?" Florence inquired.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I said. Now, are you going to pay up
or what?"
Florence thought for a moment, remembering their last encounter
with President Doofus. "Yes, we'll stay for the night. Jim, pay the woman."
Their transaction complete, the group went into their suite which
turned out to be more of a cramped, little room with a few grungy looking
cots scattered around the room. The formerly blue wallpaper was now peeling
and resembled a combination of yellow and purple.
"You'd think that at those kinds of prices they would clean up
this joint," Harry said.
"I find it kind of cozy. It reminds me of the time I was stuck
in that barn when I was a kid. I was looking for Sarah. She had run away.
Ah, we were such crazy kids, right Sarah?" Jim reminisced, looking down
at his goat. "It was almost exactly like this place. The smell of old cow
and goat manure mixed with the sweet aroma of rotting wood. It was a very
unsafe place to be in. One of the best nights I ever had as a boy. Well,
more like a week and a half. That's when Dad found me choking on the fumes
of that sweet, sweet manure. Those were the best times a boy could have."
The others stared at Jim for a while. "Maybe that explains Jim's
current mental. . . issues," Harry whispered to Florence and she nodded
slowly.
"Where did you run off to anyway, Sarah? We found you nearly
two weeks after that. You were frightened and shaking when Dad found you
in that ditch. Never were quite the same after that."
Sarah looked up at Jim for a moment. She then sheepishly turned
and curled up into a corner for some sleep, glancing around nervously.
"Let's just get some sleep before this entire place collapses,"
Jessica said, laying down on a cot. The group slowly drifted off to sleep
listening to the low harmony of polka, far off in the slums and the world
of Upper Junon above. While the others slept, Sarah got on all fours and
silently trotted out of the room.
Jessica walked down the streets, invigorated by the polka party
around her. Men with giant accordions danced in the streets while children
in their polka-dot clothes danced around them. Polka bands were on every
corner and people were painting dots on the wall of every colour imaginable.
The world was a beautiful place in Junon. Everything was colourful, even
the slums. Polka was everywhere to be seen and there was a certain mirth
that was brought with it. Jessica thought she could never leave this place.
She could just wrap herself in a warn polka-dot blanket and dance to the
beautiful rhythm.
There were polka-dotted signs pasted on polka-dotted walls that
spoke of President Rufus coming to Junon. He was on his way to the western
lands and would be stopping by to give his praises to polka.
Now that's a real President, Jessica thought. Someone
who will give polka the praises they deserve.
"People of Polka City! I ask you to join me on a quest! I have
been spoken to in a dream by four mighty polka-dots! They have told me
to gather their children and take them to their home land! Come with me
and be one with polka and all its sweet glory! Come with me to the land
of cheese and honeycomb! There is more out there children! Follow me! Follow
me, I say! The homeland of all polka awaits us!" A man at the street corner
was yelling to a small crowd that had gathered around him. He wore old,
torn up clothes, a polka-dot top hat, moth eaten gloves and polka-boots
that had a large hole, revealing the man's big toe. His face was covered
in a thick, black, tangled mess of a beard and bushy eyebrows. He had a
long, chubby nose and deep brown eyes. To add to all of this was the scent
of fresh alcohol. Obviously, this man was unbelievably drunk. "Now, who
will join me?"
A soft murmur came from the crowd as the man asked his question.
They weren't about to join some drunk on an insane quest for something
he made up in his own drunken imagination. All except for Jessica of course.
Such a smart man, she thought. At that, she jumped up and exclaimed,
"I'll join!"
"Wheeze! Have you found Olaf, yet? Wheeze! I don't
want him ruining my welcoming ceremony. Wheeze! Oh, drat it all.
Where are my glasses? I'm blind without them. I need to find them so I
can get my inhaler," Doofus said, feeling around his desk.
"Sir, your glasses are on top of your head and you left your
inhaler in your coat," Murry said with a slight sigh.
"Oh, of course." Doofus quickly put on his glasses, got his inhaler
and took a deep breath. He let out a sigh of relief. "Much better. Now,
what about Olaf?"
"We've lost track of him, sir. We don't even know what he looks
like. Our people have been on the look out for a man carrying a large fish.
We've turned up with five already."
"Let's have a look at them."
Murry and Doofus walked over to a large window. "We can see them,"
Murry explained, "but they can't see us."
Doofus looked at each carefully. A few were carrying baskets
full of smelly, dead fish. He looked at one and shouted out in surprise.
"Is that a woman? We were specifically looking for a man carrying
a large fish."
"Yeah, we're still trying to figure that one out. The lab tests
should be coming up soon."
Doofus sighed. "None of these can be Olaf. I want him found and
brought to me. He will pay for father's death! He will pay!" He started
coughing madly and wheezing. "Get me my inhaler!"
Sarah trotted along a cold, dark street of Junon. She moved slowly,
nervously. She turned at a sound, to only find a couple of people turn
a corner to another street. They were talking and laughing. Why had she
left? It was almost as if she was being drawn by something. She shuddered
to think of what it was.
"Hello Sarah," a cold, ancient voice said from the darkness.
"Do you remember me?"
The goat shivered. She tried to burst forward in a great run,
but she found her legs had frozen in fear. There was no where to run, no
where to hide. That voice had sent a horrible chill up her spine. She knew
who it was, but there was nothing she could do.
A pair of glowing green eyes stared at her through the darkness.
The face that those eyes belonged to suddenly flew right in front of her.
A large purple fish was slapped to the ground in front of her, those green
eyes staring into her soul.
"If you don't remember me, then you should at least remember
Jimbles. Yes, you remember. Glee-hee-hoo!" the voice laughed. The voice
stepped forward, so Sarah could see it. A man with long, balding, silver
hair stared down at her with frightening blue eyes. He held Jimble's tail
in his right hand and wore a long, trench coat. Beneath the coat was a
red and white striped uniform shirt for Uncle Bobby's Fried Chicken. He
also wore a sticker that read, "Hello, my name is: OLAF".
Jimbles foamed whipped cream from the mouth as Sarah trembled
before her. A thousand memories returning to her goatish mind after being
locked away in the deepest parts of her memory.
"You remember it all quite clearly, now don't you? You still
don't know the full story. Perhaps I'll share it with you some time. Glee-hee-hoo!
Ha ha ha!" Olaf cackled and laughed. He raised Jimbles high and then sent
the fish swinging into Sarah. The goat flew a meter into the air and fell
again to the earth.
Olaf lugged Jimbled over his shoulder and then dashed off into
the night's darkness. "Ow! Stupid wall!" He continued his rush forward,
hopping on one leg.
