...
The man smiled at her, as she sat in his lap. "You see the stars, spark?"
She looked up at the black sky, noticing the glittering diamonds between puffy clouds. "Yeah… I see them. They're pretty."
"Back in the day, sailors and heroes used them as guides," the man explains. He pats her back. "These days, people use Google Maps and the internet. But I say the stars are still one heck of a guide if you ever want to use them. Maybe even better if you know where to go."
She smiled. "Especially when I'm a hero?"
He grinned and ruffled her hair. "Of course. The stars will always be your guide, spark."
ALICE
Game Show Island, in short, is totally taken over by robots. There are signs about robots everywhere, and most buildings have electronic cameras controlled by robots. And basically everything's a robot; even the trees. The only things that aren't robots are the Poptropicans (aka humans), of course. We skipped speaking to people- or should I say robots- and headed into the white, marble museum. Like everything, it's powered by electricity.
Inside there are statues of robots, and platforms built from circuits. Fierce Fox and I watched a video explaining the backstory, which was good for me because I didn't have to explain it for once. The video shows how robots were once used for 'slavery', then this man called 'the inventor' built an intellectually intelligent robot, Holmes, that beat everybody in a game show called Brainiacs.
However, the inventor received all the prizes, and Holmes got jealous. With his intelligence, robots took over the world. Meanwhile, the inventor got away, and the robots were looking for him so they could complete their 'justice'. Kind of weird, but understandable.
After that, we spoke to a Poptropican wearing a robot costume. He told us to find a toolkit, so we could sneak into a nightclub, which isn't something I would normally do (my mom would hate it). We found the toolkit on the nightclub's roof, then headed over to a factory. A couple of robots gave me skeptical glances, which I tried to ignore.
Soon, we arrived at the stone-built factory, which has so many conveyor belts I can't even tell you. We entered the factory, climbed up some moving platforms, and controlled a crane. Why, you ask, did we do this? It was to get a machine working, so we could receive an incredibly powerful fan (or, two, since both of us helped out).
Then we entered the nightclub, Club Nouveau Riche. It's a typical nightclub- dance floor; disco ball; dancing robots (well, that's not very typical); comfy lounges; lack of light. The humidity in the air made my skin itch, as we approached a disco robot. I blasted him with the powerful fan. Unlike other robots, he actually thanked me, and paid me a nickel.
Fierce Fox and I returned to the factory. Except we passed it, and found a homeless guy chilling on the outskirts. I noticed mountains of discarded robot parts behind him, which is like if we humans had mountains of our bones sitting around. A little creepy if you ask me.
Anyway, we gave the homeless guy the nickel. He accepted it with a smile.
"Thanks, friends," he said kindly. "I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." Fierce Fox replied proudly.
"Here, I found these goggles in the trash bin behind the factory. I'm not sure what they do, but they look pretty sharp." the guy handed us heat vision goggles, which to me looked like an insect's head or something.
"Um… thanks?" Fierce Fox said, just as weirded out by the goggles as I was. The guy left to buy some soap, so we returned to Club Nouveau Riche.
"These are heat vision goggles," I explained, once we were inside. "They're gonna help us find an important character." Fierce Fox shrugged as I placed on the 'insect head'. I looked around, the humans glowing a bright orange. One of the orange creatures snuck into a vent; I let out a gasp (only for dramatic affect, of course). "A guy just went up a vent! Let's get him!" I said, and Fierce Fox nodded.
We exited the nightclub and stood nearby the entrance. I whipped out the fan and turned it on. It must've been a pretty powerful fan, because it was able to lift me into the air (either that or I'm pretty skinny). It was a little hard to control; a bit more difficult than flying on Super Power Island.
Fierce Fox was way better at it, of course. Eventually we made it onto a glowing tower of Club Nouveau Riche, where there's a door. Using the toolkit, we broke in. What we discovered is an old, abandoned, garage-like space. There are stacks of planks, dead machines and boxes. And a broken air con.
"How did you get here?!" a voice demanded. A man popped out of a vent. It was none other than the inventor. He stared at me. "Oh no. Not you!" Really nice greeting, man.
"We're here to help!" Fierce Fox said reassuringly. I attempted an amiable smile.
"No! I don't trust you, robots-in-disguise!" the inventor yelled. "Especially the hero girl! No one's going to catch me!" He raced off, leaving Fierce Fox and I in the dust. He knocked over a few things on the way, which made the chase a little harder. Eventually, he escaped onto the roof and locked the door. We broke through using the heat vision goggles and some science (science is what I'm all about). We arrived on the tippy top of Club Nouveau Riche, where the inventor was standing.
"I never thought anyone would have the brains to figure out how to catch me," the inventor observed, raising his brow. He has thick, chocolate-brown hair styled on his head, and a brown goatee. He wears glasses; a lab coat; black pants. "Are you going to turn me over to Holmes? I mean, you're the hero and all."
"No," I answered. "That's not what I'm here for. Fierce Fox and I want to help all these people who seem so sad. Though Holmes says you're a greedy thief…"
The inventor sighed. "It seems you've only heard one side of the story. Here, take a look at my UPad." We watched a video on his 'UPad'. As well as discovering his real name- Dr. Harold Langley- we learnt that Holmes was built for technology of the future, and a 'new age of prosperity'. Apparently, Holmes was only used in Brainiacs to test his competitive ability, and the inventor- or should I say Dr. Harold- didn't care if he won or lost. Dr. Harold sighed. "As you can see, things didn't work out as I'd hoped."
"Is there anything we can do?" Fierce Fox asked.
"Humans have lost their belief in a brighter future. If you two- especially the hero- become game show champions, you may be the inspiration they need." Dr. Harold answered, which made sense to me. After all, humans built robots. We can take them apart, too.
"But how can we get on those shows?" Fierce Fox asked, her brow raised.
"I think I can arrange a ride for you two." Dr. Harold said, handing us a remote control. So, we basically got a free plane to fly and travel the world in, which was pretty awesome. I pressed a button on the remote, and like a puppy dog, the plane came right for us.
Our first country was Istanbul. In case you didn't know, it's a city in Turkey. The real Istanbul is a little different from Game Show Island's. First of all, in real life, there are more… humans. Also, in Game Show Island, everything has that robotic touch. Even the food. This includes a robotic version of the Byzantine Hagia Sophia (I recommend you look it up; it's pretty cool). We climbed some robotic palm trees and found a Poptropican standing next to a crane.
We helped him sort out some pedestals. In return, he handed us a Scaredy Pants game ticket. Then I gulped, realizing something.
"Oh no…" I said, staring nervously at Fierce Fox. "I just realized! Only one of us can compete in each challenge! Gah… I'm an idiot!"
"Well…" Fierce Fox tapped her chin. "How about we work as a team? What I mean is, both of us compete separately and all, but we make it obvious we're working together, like we're on the same team. It'll freak the robots out, because the more the merrier, right? There'll be two humans going against them!"
"That's not a bad idea…" I replied, contemplating the idea in my head. I felt it click, which in my mental terms, means the idea's good. "Yeah! Yeah! I mean, no offense, it's probably better if I compete in more events than you, but both of us should definitely compete." Then I raised my eyebrows. "Wait… since when do you come up with the ideas?"
"Maybe getting a break from my voice has given me some freedom," Fierce Fox answered, her eye twinkling. "Anyway, who's going to compete in Scaredy Pants?"
"You can," I answered. I smiled. "But first, we'll need to make sure everyone knows we're on the same team."
Fierce Fox entered Scaredy Pants under the alias 'Team Foxes at Manchester' (hence Fierce Fox's name, my last name- Manchester- and the place in New York). We ended up going to the Poptropica Store (whole other story) and buying an outfit for the team- Fierce Fox was strangely excited about this, though she tried to hide it. It was a simple costume of black pants and a rainbow shirt. Fierce Fox went on Scaredy Pants, and crushed the competition. Good thing, since I didn't want to be on that show.
After that, we hopped onto the plane and flew over to a tropical paradise: good old Miami. I'm pretty sure you've at least heard of Miami. If not, look it up. We landed on a large, gleaming cruise ship. The two of us climbed off and jumped onto a sandy beach, which is decorated with seashells. Next to the sea is a little, white hotel. The bottom part of the exterior is decorated with seashells.
A robot husband and wife (I think) were arguing over something. The lady robot was retiring from the show because she'd been kicked off, and was chucking prizes out the window. Or at least onto the ledges. Meanwhile, the guy robot was begging for her to stop harming his 'babies'.
We saved the guy robot's 'babies'; he thanked us by giving us the next game show ticket- Spin for Riches. This time I was competing, since it's way less dangerous (and terrifying) than Scaredy Pants. Now, Spin for Riches is more of a 'guess and check' kind of game, which is what I'm all about. (Have I mentioned science is awesome? I mean, guess and check is science.)
You have to spin a wheel and earn clues to figure out a hidden word. Sort of like hangman. For example, I got this clue: Cat and U.S president. I had to spin a wheel, guess some letters, until I got the answer: Garfield. I got a little lucky and won on the first round. I had to repeat this thrice. (Though I wasn't ace the entire time, admittedly. But then again, I'd played the island a gazillion times.)
And so, 'Foxes at Manchester' had a winning streak of two. Our faces were starting to become a little more recognized (especially me), and I had a feeling the robots were getting a little agitated. We took our plane to Buenos Aires, which is the capital of Argentina. It's a really pretty place, with towering, marble buildings, that'd make a beautiful historical site. Unfortunately, the tower clock wasn't working, so Fierce Fox and I fixed it- well, with a little help from a strong robot. The effort tired the robot out, so he handed Fierce Fox and I his Kerplunk game ticket.
"Looks cool," Fierce Fox said, smiling. "So, am I up?"
"Actually…" I tapped my chin. "I'm in a bit of an adventurous mood. Spin for Riches was kind of boring. How about we do a little, well, switching places? You can play Brainiacs and I'll do this."
"Since when are you adventurous?" Fierce Fox asked, with a chuckle. I shrugged.
"I don't know," I answered. "Wish me luck."
"A big welcome to our final contestant, Alice!" the host robot announced, as I walked into the show. "As you know, the contestant with the fastest time on the course wins!" He proceeded to show everyone the course, and I had second thoughts about choosing to compete on Kerplunk. Oh well, I thought. My fault.
The first part of the course is a wall of boots in cages, lunging out to kick you. Fun. I crawled on the ground, a boot bursting out above me. My skin tingled; I gulped. A boot shoot out in front of me; I shivered. Then, like a cheetah, I darted forward, as I was racing against time. I also shouted 'YOLO!' Next was a fountain of falling barrels and a few platforms. I leaped across the first platform, timing my jump so I didn't hit the barrels.
Then I had to grab onto a robot face that's attached to a swinging pole, to swing across to a moving platform. Gulping, I slipped off the swinging pole, and almost missed the platform. Luckily my fear stepped in- actually helping me for once- and allowed me to land on the platform. I hopped across the next few moving platforms, coming to the worst part of the obstacle course- slippery platforms.
My feet slipped on the purple muck, as I jumped over to the large, swaying, mushroom-shaped platform. I bent my knees to leap over to the next one, but I tripped, and fell on my face (really great for my reputation, especially since I was on TV). I wiped the purple muck out of my blonde hair and continued leaping across, having a few close calls. But overall, I did okay. I was slowly improving at platforms. I came second. The bad news was that there's more of the course I had to do.
"Let's do this." I told myself. And have fun, mom's voice said in my head. I obliged. I mean, Poptropica's all about having fun, right? I scoured my head for the competitive energy from 24 Carrot Island, and prayed it'd help me now. I'm going to win. I have to win. I faced the first obstacle: spinning wheels. I leaped onto the large, brown, spinning wheel, and slipped off. I sighed, flailing in the water, and climbed back on. I jumped onto the next platform, which led to a giant, bouncy pillow below.
I clambered onto the pillow and headed to the end, so I could get bounced off by the force of junk falling on the pillow. The junk smashed onto the pillow; I was launched into the air. I landed on a floating platform (mind you- it was a near miss), and leaped across a few of these, until I finished the course. And this time, I did come in first place.
"Well done, Alice!" the host robot congratulated me. "You won round two! Now, it's time for course three!" As usual, the course was shown. It's a huge wall of shifting platforms, sort of like the pipes on 24 Carrot Island, except there's way more platforms, and no pipes. I hopped onto the first platform, which rumbled beneath my feet. With adrenaline making my heart race, I leaped onto the next platform, and the one above that. However, it suddenly opened up, and I dropped a level. So I changed my tactic and started leaping diagonally across. It worked surprisingly well, even though I missed a few platforms.
Before I knew it, I was on the top, and I'd won. Since I'd won two out of three courses, I was the overall winner, which was a winning streak of three for 'Foxes at Manchester'. Fierce Fox and I took our plane over to Moscow, which is the capital of Russia. I was actually enjoying my voyage around the world- I'd been to four countries in one day (Poptropican physics at its finest, everyone).
Anyway, we arrived in Moscow (hello to all my Russians), which has artistic, tall turrets and a large, black building, powered by robot electricity. A robot stands out the front, near a wall of lights. Way on top of the building was a helicopter that needed to land. So, we helped the robot out by shining the correct signals at the helicopter, assisting it in landing safely. The robot who was driving the helicopter thanked us by giving us a ticket for Brainiacs, the show that caused Holmes to go to the dark side (Star Wars pun intended).
Fierce Fox went onto Brainiacs, with my instruction. It's basically a quiz game, where you have to guess the answers correctly and win money. Although smarts isn't really Fierce Fox's department- at least in my opinion- she dominated the competition and won easily. Go figure, Poptropican physics.
After Brainiacs, our team headed on over to Tokyo, which was country number five on our 'world tour'. Tokyo is Japan's major city, if you didn't know. Alright, the geography lesson's now over (well, sort of). Tokyo's a really vibrant city, and everything's written in Japanese (of course I don't understand Japanese).
Anyway, we helped the people of Tokyo fix their television, so they could watch Mr. Yoshi's Super Terrific Challenge. Now, unlike the other game shows, you aren't competing against anyone. You simply have to amuse Mr. Yoshi, who's basically the emperor of Poptropican Japan. I didn't really want to run around in wacky costumes (and Kerplunk had given me all the adrenaline I needed), so I let Fierce Fox go on the show. Of course, she aced the show, earning another victory for FaM (Foxes at Manchester).
We climbed into the plane, ready to fly back to Main Street, where it all began. 'The inventor' sent us a message. It said that Holmes was looking for us. Wonderful. And to prove his point, Holmes' face appeared on a screen in Main Street.
"This is Holmes speaking," Holmes announced. "I order all robots to find and apprehend 'Team Foxes at Manchester'- the prophesied hero and Fierce Fox. Whoever brings me these human scums will get a lifetime supply of oil!"
"Psst!" 'the inventor' whispered-shouted from the sewer. "Down here!" Somehow, the robots didn't notice this, yet Fierce Fox and I, who were on top of the roof, did. Oh well. We snuck down the roofs, Mission Impossible style, into the sewer. It's not actually a sewer, but Holmes' inner sanctum, or where he controls all the robots.
"What're we waiting for? Let's stop him!" Fierce Fox urged, holding up her lighting staff, which summoned some harmless lightning (you've gotta love the dramatic effects).
"It's not that easy," Dr. Harold sighed. "He's set up an advanced security system that I can't crack. But maybe you can."
"We'll give it a shot." Fierce Fox said bravely. Unfortunately, I'm no computer whiz, so I wasn't sure if that was a good idea.
"If you can reach him," Dr. Harold replied. "You should be able to reprogram him and end the robot menace. Upload this code to his mainframe!" He handed us a small, blue thumb-drive. We nodded and headed over to Holmes' mainframe, which is a giant, glowing, purple computer. Cogs are whirring around it, and there are tons of wires connected to it. We cracked the first code on a computer screen, which attracted the attention of a police robot.
"Stop right there, humans!" it yelled. "You'll never get away with this!"
"I am not impressed," Holmes' boomed, his face appearing on the computer screen. "I do not care that you are some hero of Poptropica. All humans are inferior to robots! Your prize money belongs to me!"
"We'd better hurry," Fierce Fox said, eyeing the police robot, who was cutting the wall. "That wall won't hold for long."
"Right," I replied, as we raced over to the next computer screen. "Let's take apart what humans- we- built." After a little configuring, we solved the next puzzle on screen. Holmes started to realize we were a threat.
"Perhaps we can work out a deal," he offered. We ignored him and slipped down an open passage. "You must forfeit your earnings and work for me. But I will give you weekends off!"
"When we're done, we'll have the entire year off!" I yelled mockingly at Holmes, which was my smart-mouth again. We passed more glowing machinery and stopped at the next computer; we solved the puzzle.
"I'll tell you what," an apprehensive Holmes appeared. "We can split the money, and I won't make you call me 'sir'." Again, the two of us ignored him, and slipped down another hole. We did the same old drill, and solved another puzzle. Holmes was getting more ticked off- and afraid. "You'll turn back now if you know what's good for you." We went down the last hole. There's a single computer- with Holmes' face on it.
"Let's do this." I said, as we approached the computer.
"Stay back!" Holmes warned, but of course we ignored him. Truthfully, I felt a little pang of sympathy for him. "I don't care that you're the hero! You can't touch me!"
"We'll see about that." I retorted. Fierce Fox pulled out the thumb-drive, and held it out. "Sayonara, Age of Robots." We plugged the thumb drive into the computer.
"What's going on?!" Holmes cried, as his face glitched. "Stop… aye… aye…" He made some weird beeping noises, and his language changed from French to Indonesian and a language I didn't recognize. "Mary had a little lamb…" he sung, as his face continued glitching. Finally, he kicked back into focus and stared at us. "Your intelligence is quite impressive… I can see why you were chosen to be a savior." he said to me, which made me smile. "Perhaps humans and robots were meant to work together." He paused. "Would you like to play tic-tac-toe?"
"That sounds like fun, Holmes." Fierce Fox voiced. 'The inventor' walked in behind us.
"Nice to have you back, Holmes," he greeted the computer. He faced us. "I can't thank you two enough for your help. Now we can look forward to a brighter future." He sighed. "Now I've got lots of work to do, as you have lots of… heroism to do. I assume your journey won't be easy, so feel free to borrow my plane whenever you need it."
"Oh, thank you!" I replied, grinning.
"On one condition," Dr. Harold held up his hand, which contained a letter. "Give this to my sister for me, please. I believe she lives on Virus Hunter Island. She's a doctor, and works with some group called the PDC. I haven't seen her since she went on a exploration to find some kind of virus." [A/N: This isn't canon btw.]
"Oh, sure…" I said, nodding and taking the letter. I had a feeling of who Dr. Harold's sister was.
"And one more thing," Dr. Harold held out the medallion. "As a bonus reward for your help." Fierce Fox accepted it, and I let the usual white feeling suck me away. I woke up on my usual bed, feeling my usual leg pain and hearing the usual birds outside tweeting.
"Oh well," I mumbled. "At least I've a science test."