The Autumn breeze of Great Pumpkin island ruffled my blonde curls. Sitting on the golden grass are Autumn leaves, that fell down from the trees. The whole island looks like it was taken straight from a comic. Like Big Nate island, it's monochromatic. Even the houses have this simple appearance.
For the first time in awhile, I actually didn't feel threatened by anything. There were no gods, no pirates, no deadly plants, and no bionic, psychopathic half-humans. The only thing was a little plane scene, and some pumpkin-pushing. And, by then, I think I'd gotten over my fear of such things (like I was ever afraid of pumpkin pushing).
Fierce Fox followed me across the cement path, headed to the pumpkin garden. It's a bushy and leafy garden, filled with pumpkins peaking from the leaves. The grass felt soft beneath my feet. A girl was standing in the garden. She has wavy, black hair, with two buns near her neck. She wears a lacey, pale blue dress, and black and white sneakers.
A little boy was next to her. He wears a red, striped t-shirt, and holds a soft, baby-blue blanket. His sneakers are yellow, and his head is covered in wispy hair. He also sucks his thumb. Like the island, he and the girl have the cartoonish appearance, and look very different from Fierce Fox and I.
"Lucy wants me to find the biggest, heaviest pumpkin in the patch. Can you help me?" the boy, Linus, asked. The pumpkins were lined up in a row, standing nearby a seesaw-like scale. Fierce Fox and I tested out the pumpkins, until eventually we found the heaviest.
"Well, you picked a good pumpkin," Lucy, the girl, approved grudgingly. "But I doubt you blockheads can get it to our house in one piece!"
"I'm doomed!" Linus cried. "Can you two get it back to my house for me? If you do, I'll give you both a reward."
Fierce Fox heaved the pumpkin up a grassy, leaf-covered hill. I stood in front, both to direct and make sure the pumpkin didn't roll to its demise. The pumpkin rolled down a slope and came to a section of rabbit burrows. I stood in front of the pumpkin and grabbed it from the front, while Fierce Fox pushed. One of the rabbit's burrows began to shake, so I stopped the pumpkin. Then we rolled it over.
We got past the rabbit part (admittedly we may've failed once or twice) and arrived at the log. We stood on a small hill, and shoved the pumpkin. It soared into the log. It popped out the other side; we rolled it over another hill. Then we came to a bunch of kids on swings. It was all down to the luck of the draw. Both of us shoved the pumpkin; unfortunately it got hit, so we had to start over. Great.
A gazillion tries later (thanks Poptropica logic) we finally passed the pumpkin part. The pumpkin was brought into Lucy's house, which has a yellow wallpaper; an orange, dotted carpet; a plain window. The pumpkin sat on a smashed cardboard box.
"Thanks for your help!" Linus said gleefully to us. "Here's a treat bag as the reward I promised," He handed a paper bag to Fierce Fox. Then he faced me. "Sorry, I don't have another one."
"It's fine. We're going to lose it soon anyway." I said, with a shrug. Linus gave me a perplexed look. We turned to Lucy, who was wielding a sharp knife. She brought it down onto the pumpkin, making Linus' hair stand straight up.
"Oh! You didn't tell me you were going to kill it!" Linus exclaimed, with disturbance and dread. Then, the screen blacked out, and said the words, 'Later that night'.
"On Halloween night, The Great Pumpkin rises out of his pumpkin patch," Linus explained. "And flies through the air, with his bag of toys for all the children." I couldn't help but smile at his beliefs. I was like that when I was young, except with Santa Claus.
"You must be crazy!" a boy nearby us retorted. He has fine hair; a yellow t-shirt with a black, lighting-bolt design; brown, leather sneakers; a circular-shaped boy. He also has small, piggy eyes. His name's Charlie Brown. "When are you going to stop believing in something that isn't true?"
Linus scowled. "When will you stop believing in that fellow with the red suit and white beard who goes 'ho ho ho'!"
"That sounds a lot like my friend up in the heavens." I whispered to Fierce Fox, gesturing to my necklace. She sniggered; I laughed along. The boys gave us a weird look.
"We are obviously separated by denominational differences." Charlie Brown scoffed, walking away. Fierce Fox and I exited too. We stopped in front of a house and spoke to a guy called Pig Pen. His name matches his appearance- he has dirty skin; scruffy hair; a brown, muddy overall and matching shoes. I handed him the treat bag.
"Thanks! Here, take this sucker. It's lemon-flavoured. Blech!" Pig Pen said, giving me a lemon flavoured sucker, more commonly known as a lollipop. We returned to Linus' house and gave him the sucker/lollipop.
"Wow! Is that a lemon-flavoured sucker?" Linus asked, his eyes widening. "Thanks! You can have my invitation to the party. I've got a prior engagement at the pumpkin patch." He handed Fierce Fox the invitation.
"Does the invitation work for two people?" I asked, tapping my chin.
"Well, if I can convince someone else who was invited to the party to come with me, then she might give up her invitation." Linus answered.
"Sally." I replied, with a grin. Linus' eyes lit up again, and he left the house. He was standing near a desk, so naturally he left a pen on it. After picking that up, we exited and headed left. We entered a garden, which has tall, spiny, pale trees. Leaves cover the ground, and there was a pile of leaves in the center of the garden. Charlie Brown was hanging out there, standing next to a red dog house. A small, white dog with floppy, black ears was sitting on the ground. He has the colours of a border collie, but the shape of a beagle.
"Hey, Snoopy, could you help me put these falling leaves back into the pile?" Charlie asked Snoopy, the dog. However, we got to control Snoopy. We helped him blow floating leaves back into the pile, which took a little work.
"Thanks, old pal." Charlie said, when we finished. Suddenly, Linus, screaming a battle cry, leaped into the pile of leaves, creating a mess. "Good grief!" Charlie exasperated- his infamous catchphrase.
"Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker," Linus chuckled, his mouth covered in leaves. "Now, to mail my letter to the Great Pumpkin." After he ran off, Fierce Fox and I scanned the pile of leaves. We pulled our hands through it, until we uncovered a baby-blue mass: Linus' blanket. We exited the garden and found Linus; he was standing near a blue and red mail box.
"Where did I put my blanket?" Linus asked apprehensively. I handed him his blanket. "You found my blanket! Thank you!" Like an arm, he stretched out his blanket and pulled the mailbox's door open. Then he chucked the letter in the air; it flew straight into the mailbox, finished with it shutting tight. He grinned at me. "My friend Sally and me are going to wait for the Great Pumpkin, so I got an invitation for you!" He handed me a party invitation. "Would you two like to come as well?"
"We'd rather go to the party." I answered, holding up my invitation.
"I'll tell the Great Pumpkin you had a good excuse," Linus replied. "He's a strong supporter of Halloween merriment." I gave him a nod, then Fierce Fox and I returned to the garden. Charlie and Lucy were there. The latter was holding a brown football. We were about to witness one of the most famous Peanuts scenes in history.
"Hey, Charlie Brown, how about practicing a few placekicks?" Lucy asked, not appearing smug at all- though I knew she was doing something most rude.
"You just want me to come running up to kick that ball so you can pull it away and see me land flat on my back." Charlie scoffed, with a grimace.
"This time you can trust me. See, here's a document testifying that I promise not to pull it away." Lucy retorted, holding up a document.
"She's going to pull it away anyway." I whispered to Fierce Fox. I handed Charlie a pen so he could sign the document.
"Now I'll finally kick that football!" he exclaimed with joy. Lucy held the football above the ground; Charlie charged for it, his legs pumping. Lucy pulled it up just as he was about to kick it; he fell flat on his back.
"Peculiar thing about this document," Lucy observed the document. "It was never notarized!"
Charlie scowled and got to his feet. "Come on. We need to get our costumes ready before the Halloween party."
"What are we doing now?" Fierce Fox asked, once they left.
I smiled. "Going to the party."
Snoopy was standing on two legs (somehow Fierce Fox wasn't surprised by this, but yet again, this is Poptropica), on his dog house, gazing up at a tree. On the tree's branch was a green pilot's hat with goggles, sort of like Amelia's hat. I chucked Lucy's football at the hat; most accurate throw for me ever. It hit the hat; it floated down onto Snoopy's head.
Fierce Fox leaped onto the dog house, controlled by her imagination. "Looks like the World War 1 Flying Ace is ready to take on the Red Baron." I immediately thought of the Red Baroness, back on Monkey Wrench island. The Red Baron was similar, in a way. It led me to think about Amelia, too. Perhaps the first person who'd befriended me. I climbed aboard the 'flying ace'.
We took off into the orange, sunset-lit sky. There were pale yellow and red clouds floating around, as well as the Red Baron, who's actually Woodstock. Our doghouse flew around, though Fierce Fox and myself were strangely absent. But we were controlling the doghouse. Yeah, I'm confused too. Anyway, the doghouse soared through the red sky, staying near the top. The Red Baron followed us around, shooting bullets.
I'm no pilot, but I actually didn't do half-bad. Fierce Fox, the amazing natural at everything, did better than me. We managed to direct the doghouse well enough. We swerved it out the way of the Red Baron's strikes, though... he? Got us once or twice. Our smoke turned red, as if we were bleeding. Then, the doghouse started going down; we landed in 'enemy territory'.
The sky had turned navy blue, and stars twinkled like diamonds. The grass felt soft beneath my feet. It would've been pretty if there wasn't a large spotlight coming from the sky, trying to find us.
"Uh oh, we're in enemy territory," Fierce Fox said. "We'd better hide!" She turned to me.
"This way." I replied, eyeing the spotlight. We hid behind a rock, and the searchlight passed over us. When it was out of sight, we ran again and dropped into a trench. It was a near miss when I had to grab Fierce Fox. Adrenaline rushed through me as we hid behind another rock. Then we moved again, hiding behind a haystack, then a waymarker.
Eventually we got to the hardest part- the old farm house. It's an old, cobblestone farm house, with a smashed glass window and straw roof. Snoopy caught up to us once the searchlight was out of sight. Fierce Fox jumped up, landing on the roof. The searchlight was returning as I was scrambling up. I yelped and rolled onto the roof, but too late. We had start over. Fierce Fox was not impressed.
Once we'd actually completed that section, we arrived at a little crop. There's a scarecrow there; a mask was on its face. I picked the mask up and handed it to Fierce Fox; she put it on. Snoopy was sitting on the ground, looking around for enemies. However, there were no more enemies in sight (thank goodness). I walked over to an abandoned barn, which was to my right. The walls are cobblestone, and the roof's straw. Lights flickered through the broken windows. Then I realized I didn't have a Halloween costume.
Suddenly, I got an idea. If Fierce Fox's Halloween costume came from the scarecrow, then so could mine. I pulled the brown jacket and hat off the scarecrow, which were covered in hay. I placed them on myself, so I looked a little scary. The hay scratched my skin and got caught in my scarf, but I endured it for the sake of the party. Bless me, because they let us both in. Reality hit me all at once, and the imagination vanished- we were at just a regular house.
Fierce Fox seemed just as dumbfounded, so I gave her a friendly shrug. The house has pink walls, and a darker pink carpet. There were Halloween decorations all over the wall, such as witches, skeletons, and of course, pumpkins. An old TV is at the back of the room, making me laugh.
We started to play all the party games. The first one was apple bobbing, which I'd never actually done in real life. It was pretty challenging, but I managed to nip a few apples. Lucy had a... Different story.
"Blech! Dog lips touched my lips!" Lucy exclaimed, wiping her mouth, while Snoopy walked away (I have no idea how he got in, so don't ask me). Then we moved on to carving jack o'lanterns. I'm no more of an artist than a pilot, so I just drew a smiley face.
"Ha! That looks great!" the girl standing next to the pumpkin said. I wondered if she was being sarcastic. Next up was Pin the Face on the Pumpkin. Since Sally had gone to wait for the Great Pumpkin, it was hosted by Charlie. We basically had to watch a pumpkin swirl around in a circle, and when it stopped, we had to place the pumpkin parts in the right places.
Once that was over, we headed to the end of the room, where a boy called Schroeder was playing the piano. I asked if I could play. The setup of the game is like Just Dance, except with a piano and a dancing Snoopy. Notes fell down from the sky and landed on my piano; I hit the keys. My eyes darted everywhere as I kept hitting keys (I missed a few), but with Fierce Fox's help, it was relatively easy. By the end of it, Snoopy was partying hard. I couldn't help but smile.
Lucy stepped forward. "This party's been fun, but it's time for trick or treats! Let's put on our costumes!" The screen blacked out again, and we were teleported to the pumpkin patch.
"All right, once and for all, are you staying or are you coming?" Charlie asked Linus, who was still in the pumpkin patch with a grouchy Sally. I don't think she was having a good night.
"Can I go?" Sally asked, furrowing her brow with a frown at Linus.
"No! The Great Pumpkin's still coming!" Linus cried gleefully, clutching his blanket. Sally groaned.
"Oh good grief!" Charlie exasperated, with his spotted ghost costume. "Come on gang, it's time for tricks or treats." They all left the scene, carrying their treat bags. Fierce Fox and I followed them. We came to the first house, which looks like every other house on this island. Fierce Fox knocked on the door, and the resident threw out candy. I leaped into the air and grabbed some popcorn.
"I got popcorn." I said.
"I got a rock." Charlie said, holding out his treat bag. We moved onto the next house, and this time I knocked on the door and Fierce Fox grabbed the candy. She got a lollipop, and Charlie got a rock. Believe it or not I've only been trick or treating a few times. I used to go every Halloween before the leg incident, with a small group of kids. My mom doesn't really like Halloween, and I never knew why. Something about it upsets her.
After the leg incident, I didn't go trick or treating anymore. Mom just bought me some candy, and I ate that on the day. But that was all. It felt a little weird going trick or treating again, since I hadn't done it since I was young. But I had fun all the same.
"I got candy sticks." I said, on the final round.
"I got a rock." Charlie said, totally surprising everyone (not). Then Fierce Fox and I left the trick-or-treaters, and returned to the pumpkin patch. I gave Sally all the candy we gathered, as a gift of our pitiful souls. Poptropicans are little sweethearts.
"Thank you!" Linus cried. "The only thing that will make this night better is the inevitable arrival of the Great Pumpkin!"
"Hey!" Fierce Fox yelped. "Did you hear something?" She pointed to a rumbling pumpkin. "What is that?!" All of us faced the pumpkin.
"What's that? What's that? I hear the Great Pumpkin!" Linus squealed, his hair going astray. The pumpkin lifted up, revealing… Snoopy.
"I was robbed!" Sally growled with a grimace, directed straight at poor Linus. "I spent the whole night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, when I could have gone to the Halloween party and trick or treating! Halloween is over, and I missed it! You blockhead!"
"You've heard about the fury of a woman scorned?" Linus questioned. "That's nothing compared to the fury of a woman who has been cheated out of trick and treats." Sally stormed away without another word. "Sally! If the Great Pumpkin comes, I'll put in a good word for you!" He turned to us. "Good grief- I said 'if'! I meant when he comes! I doomed!"
"Don't worry. We'll wait with you." I said sympathetically. I sat down, and Fierce Fox sat down next to me, while Linus gazed at the pumpkin patch.
"So…" Fierce Fox asked, with hesitation. "What's… uh, your world, like?'
"Shh," I whispered, eyeing Linus. "My world? Well… it's different from Poptropica. There are islands, but there aren't quests. They're called countries. And also, it's way easier to die, and I mean way easier. And, I'm a human, which are kinda similar to Poptropicans, except we can't jump, run fast and we're much taller. Oh, and we have thumbs. The physics are different too. Like, remember Super Power Island? There are way too many instances where we could've died if we were on Earth. Even jumping off a building is fatal for us. However, Poptropica and my world- Earth- have similarities, too. I mean, our tech is similar, and we have Greek Gods- I mean, they're more like… myths, and stories, and in books, but they exist, I guess. And, Poptropica and Earth are both planets, and share the same name in some instances."
"Okay," Fierce Fox replied. "So, there's no island medallions?"
"Nope," I answered. "Earth's not like Poptropica. There aren't quests. We just live in houses, go to school, go to work. We're not adventurers. Just people."
"And... Poptropica is a game or something, right?" Fierce Fox asked, her brow raised.
I nodded, "Yeah. It is. We humans… we create you. I know that sounds really weird. But it's true. I guess you could say I'm technically your mother." Fierce Fox cringed at that statement. I laughed. "If you want an idea of what my world looks like… Well, the next island's a pretty good representation. We're going to real countries in my world."
"Two more questions," Fierce Fox said. "How do all these people here know about you?"
"This prophecy business," I groaned as an answer. "But then again, I have a bad feeling about the people in my world. I mean, if I can cross dimensions, then I guess other people can, too."
"And… here's the other question," Fierce Fox said, taking a deep breath. "Do you think we're friends?"
I bit my lip. "I guess so." I answered, in finality. "Now, I have a question for you," Fierce Fox looked up. "Are… you afraid? Of... what's happening. Because… in all matters of the truth, I am."
Fierce Fox shrugged. "It depends," She gazed at my necklace. "But we've got help on our side, right? And you said it's harder to die here. I think we'll be fine." I didn't reply, though I felt doubts rise in my head. But maybe she was right. Maybe this would all be fine. Or maybe not. My fear was still there, and it was not helping my optimism.
"Thanks for taking care of my brother," a voice said behind me. It belonged to Lucy, who was walking over. "Here's something for all your trouble." She handed Fierce Fox the medallion.
"See you." I waved to Fierce Fox, my screen fading out.