Chapter two
Who is Darth?
**Everyone does the Rod 'N' Reel**
"And this is my imaginary fruit fly, Fiona." She gestured to the air at the right of her shoulder." I know she's not real, my parents told me yesterday."
Giving blinked while Akira and Niksy exchanged confused looks. "You aren't one of the funky goggled dolphins freaks, are you?" he asked awkwardly.
"Why have you come to torture us? Leave my siblings alone; take me in their stead! It was written in the stars! Take me…" Niksy cried, flinging herself at Auntie Shrew and landing into a crumbled heap at Auntie Shrew's feet.
They heard an echo saying " Tawhoo Tawhoo!"
"Darn echoes. They ruined the dramatic tension," said Niksy, getting up and brushing herself off.
"Tawhoo! Tawhoo!" The voice echoed into their ears as a whisper. "Hey, that's kinda catchy!" said Auntie Shrew. And she said " TAWHOO TAWHOO!" doing a dance with it.
"Now this is getting very annoying." Giving said crossly, watching Auntie Shrew dancing around the small tree. " Come, Fiona! Dance with me! It's fun! Riaow!!!!" Suddenly Auntie Shrew stopped and narrowed her eyes.
"Darth Hates Fiona. Darth Hates dancing." She swiped out the pair of tiger-striped ears and put them on. Then she made motions of catching a fly in mid-flight. She pounced on the furniture a bit, and then ran out of the room.
"Is she a pink bunny?" Niksy whispered.
Just then Darth called "Has anyone seen my cat-nip mouse??"
Auntie Shrew came back in, taking off her cat ears.
"What was that?" Giving asked nervously. Auntie Shrew looked confused. "What was what?"
"Um, Darth."
"Oh, Darth. You, see, he's my split personality…He's a space-tiger from the planet Are You My Conscience. It's a long story from my child hood." She giggled and did the Rod 'n' Reel. They all did the Rod 'n' Reel. We all did the Rod 'n' Reel. Bwah ha ha ha ha and a couple of tralalas.
"That's…odd….." Akira said, in a puzzled tone.
"It was written in the stars," said Niksy solemnly. "It was declared in the heavens that you would take care of us!"
"Yay!" the children cheered. And there was much rejoicing.
"Make some hot chocolate," Giving said.
And there was much rejoicing. Again.
Auntie Shrew grinned wickedly. "Hot chocolate is my specialty, my dearies." She giggled, placing her hand to her lips. Then she set off to make her "special" hot chocolate.
Then an echo sounded through the window…"I didn't know turtles could fly!" Followed by "Wow! You are tan!"
Everyone in the tree exchanged confused glances at this.
"Well," said Auntie Shrew with a shrug. "Here's my hot chocolate. Enjoy!" And she handed them each a steaming mug of cocoa.
"Is it poisoned?" asked Giving suspiciously. "You seemed kind of. . . .Wicked just then."
" Heh, Darth isn't evil." She flipped on the ears again. "Drrrrrink up, me hardies!!!!
Akira and Niksy exchanged nervous glances and Niksy mouthed " In the stars…"
They picked up the mugs and said, " To the Funky Dolphin Freaks!!!" and drank deeply.
It was just like heaven in liquid form, until Niksy choked and sputtered—on a marshmallow. " Don't pay attention to her," said Giving, irritated. "She just wants attention. But this is marvelous hot chocolate, Auntie Shrew."
"I told you!"
"No, you didn't!"
"Yes, I did. I told you chocolate was my specialty."
And that was how they began their happy new dolphin freak-free life. Auntie Shrew was marvelous, like her hot chocolate. She let the kids try on their little woodsy beds—except the time Akira broke through, then she put her foot down. She let them stay up all night—at least till about 11 PM. She told them bedtime stories about her life in the Himalayas and the time she hiked up Mountain Everest—and threw rocks down among the innocent villagers. Giving thought that was pretty dang cool, and they bonded over that. And they taught Auntie Shrew the Rod 'N' Reel. So they could all do the Rod 'N' Reel together.
Then one day, the echoes stopped! No one knew what happened, only that the last echo was a stranger whisper of "Who ate my brownies?!" No one dared admit be the origin of THAT echo. But everyone had their suspicions. . . . The citizens of the Land of Whispering Echoes finally tied Old Man Morgus up to a post and pelted him with rotten berries, accusing him of destroying the echoes.
But despite whose fault it was, one thing was clear: They needed the echoes back! It was too boring without them, and they didn't want to change the name of the country to the Land of Normal Vocal Actions.
The King decided to send some brave Elf-Knight-People (with foresty jetpacks) to see what had become of the echoes. But none prevailed. Actually, they just were never seen again by human eye. Oh sure, THEY weren't human, but. . . oh, heck, you get the idea.
Worst of all, no one wanted to do the Rod 'N' Reel anymore. But some mysterious force led them to do it at certain times… at the SAME time! It's cool and everything when you're with your friends and you all doing it randomly at the same time, but when you're forced to… that's just not cool.
Niksy, Akira, and Giving were very sad about all this. Even Auntie Shrew couldn't cheer them up. Neither could Darth, when he came around. At least, they were sad at first, but they had suffered changes before—such as the disappearance of their parents—and had survived. So they put on brave faces.
"How about I take you to the beach?" Auntie Shrew asked cheerfully one morning. Then she put on the cat ears. "Darth likes the beach. Darth wants to go to the beach."
Niksy sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. "But beaches are so lonesome and sad. Like the end of the world. Alas."
"You're going to be the end of the world if you don't stop it," Giving snapped.
"Darth likes the end of the world," Darth growled. "Darth's mission is to bring it about."
Niksy burst into tears. "The end really is coming! I hoped to forestall it somehow, but I can't defy the mission of my dear auntie's split personality!"
"The world really IS going to end if you don't shut up," Giving said, rolling his eyes.
A few weeks passed and the echoes didn't come back. The king worried and sent more knights to try to bring them back. None returned. Then, another DISATER STRUCK!!
Auntie Shrew disappeared.
"No, she'll end up missing like our parents." Angst said. "Cry."
They all looked at the stranger who had mysteriously entered their tree.
"Who the heck are you?"
Angst blinked. "Oh, sorry. I went into the wrong house again." He disappeared in a burst of tears.
"Poor lost soul!" Niksy cried.
"Um…yeah." Akira said.
"I think you and Angst would get along great together, Niksy. If he comes back here I'll pop him one." Giving Grinned evilly at the thought. Ducky would have fun with that.
"Oh look. A note." A leaf screamed at them. "It's painted on the ceiling in ketchup! Stupid heads!"
"Catsup."
"Ketchup."
"Castup! Oh, for the sake of throwing rocks among the innocent, I can't believe I'm arguing with a leaf."
The leaf grinned evilly. 'Another person gone insane because of me for today!' He tallied a score on a leaf.
"Ow! Hey!" Yelled the other leaf."
"Sorry, I though that you were dead."
"There's too much pain going on!" Niksy cried. "Just read the stupid message, so the fates may be satisfied!"
The note said, and I quote:
"We have kidnapped the Aunt. Ha ha ha, ho ho ho, and a couple of tralalas. No, you idiot. Don't write down my maniacal laughter. Dang secretaries. So, anyways. We have cho aunt. You want her? Better come and get her. Homies.
Sincerely,
Your friend,
The Squirrel King"
Akira screamed in terror. "I hate squirrels!" She cried.
"He's not MY friend that's for sure." Giving Laughed for a good ten minutes.
"Yay! Another tragedy!" Niksy said happily.
"I'm beginning to think you're setting up these 'tragedies'." Giving said suspiciously. "Oh well, Let's go! Hop to it!"
They hopped out the door, and into adventure.
End of Chapter Two.