I sat down at a table in the cafeteria, grimacing at my crutch while placing my food down. My friend sat opposite me, a chicken sandwich on his plate. A pink wristband was around his wrist. It was decorated with My Little Pony characters. Yeah, he's a major brony.
"So, what'd you have next?" my friend asked, biting his chicken sandwich.
"English," I answered. I smiled; my eyes lit up. "Then Science! Looking forward to it. We're doing biology- can't wait!"
"Really?" Marcus (that's his name) asked. "What's so good about science? Seriously, all you do is talk about growth and physics and get homework."
I rolled my eyes. "And what about you and My Little Pony? If I had a dime for every time I've seen you watching it, I'd be at an expensive private school, in a fancy uniform, drinking high tea and saying, 'good day, dear sir'."
Marcus laughed. "You've got your Poptropica." He sighed. "Well, that's how we get on. Anyway, this is off-topic… but have you noticed Louisa hasn't been coming to school the last few days? She's in my English and Math class, so I see her often. But she hasn't been around for a bit, although her gang- or Chrissi's- has."
I felt my throat grow dry. It was true, Louisa had been strangely absent. For some reason, I thought of the brown-haired girl I saw in my dreams… was that her? I hoped not. But then again, Louisa had been acting off for a little while.
"Yeah, it's weird," I replied. "I guess she's sick or something."
"And, not only that, she was being really creepy, too," Marcus added. "Like, I saw her whispering with her friends and stuff, and not like you girls normally do; they looked pretty sinister. Do you think they're, y'know, doing… drugs?"
Drugs were bad, but they sounded oddly relieving compared to the brown-haired girl stuff. I mean, that was legit world-destroying. But how do I know that girl is even Louisa? She could just be someone who looks like Louisa. I mean, plenty of girls have brown hair…
"Maybe," I replied, feeling fear well up in my chest. "Maybe."
Immediately I felt a chill as Fierce Fox and myself landed on S.O.S. Island. We were standing on a slick iceberg. Ahead of us was a large, grey cruise ship, called the S.S Pequod (aka the Titanic's successor). It was a nice ship, apart from the fact it was sinking and people were trapped inside.
"Help!" a lady cried, running up to us. "The ship is sinking and people are trapped inside!" Now, normally, if I came across a situation like this, I'd call 911 then run for safety. But this is Poptropica. We're the 911 here.
"This big chunk of ice is blocking the entrance." Fierce Fox said, gesturing to a chunk of ice that was covering the ship's door. I pointed to a large ball of ice sitting on the ship's roof.
"Push that ball down, and it'll crush the ice." I instructed. Fierce Fox nodded and did just that. The ball indeed crushed the ice chunk, giving us a clear entrance. We entered the ship. There were fluorescent lights on the dark stairs, and water sloshed at my feet. Fierce Fox and I went through a door that said, 'Bridge'. In there, we passed various things, such as a mermaid statue and a boat model.
Fierce Fox and I climbed a ladder and came to a space full of fizzing wires. There was a computer there, and a bunch of wires and buttons. Also, the captain was standing there, trying to send out a message.
"Any survivors on board, please press your emergency call button!" he said. Fierce Fox and I approached him.
"You need to get off this ship!" Fierce Fox exclaimed.
"Don't you know the captain always goes down with the ship?" Captain Boomer (that's his name) asked, again acting like we'd been talking for ages. "Most of my passengers escaped, but some are still on board. Go and rescue them! I have turned on the emergency door controls." He pulled a dial. "There we go. They should be open."
"Thanks," I said. "Let's go and rescue them."
"So, what's the deal with this place?" Fierce Fox asked, walking past various rooms in the ship.
"Alright, basically, Captain Boomer- that's the guy we just spoke to- was chasing his 'mortal enemy'- the white whale, who's a legitimate white whale, and not a Poptropican enemy with a weird alias. Anyway, while he was doing that, he smashed the ship into an iceberg, and it started sinking." I explained. "However, he says that the whale sunk the ship by slamming into it, which it really didn't. He only said that 'cause the whale 'bested' him."
"Oh, okay," Fierce Fox replied. "And our job is to rescue everyone, right?"
"Precisely." I confirmed. We stopped in front of Room 6, which was the only room we could enter. We headed inside, and heard a cry.
"Help me whale! Help!" a boy wearing an 'I heart whales' hat cried. His name's Ishmael. He was trapped in a bunch of boxes, making him immobilized. Fierce Fox and I shoved the boxes off him, which saved him. He smiled, "Thanks for saving me! My leg was stuck under all that junk."
"What're you doing?" Fierce Fox asked Ishmael.
"I'm calling that friendly white whale to come save us." Ishmael answered.
"And you're right to do that," I said, with a smile. "But the whale won't come until later, Ishmael."
"How… how do you know my name?" Ishmael asked, his baggy eyes widening.
"Um… I just know things," I replied. "Anyway, we're getting out of here."
"Wait!" Ishmael cried. "I need to get my whale caller first!" He walked over to the back of the room, where there was a whale caller. He picked it up, and faced us. "And… how do you know the whale's coming? I'm not saying that's bad thing- it's the best thing ever- but how do you know? Are you psychic?"
"Like I said, I know things." I explained. Ishmael gasped.
"Wait… you're that hero or something, right?" he asked. Fierce Fox groaned, and I felt tempted to groan with her.
"Yeah, that's me," I replied grimly. "The hero, blah blah."
"Wow, so you've come to save us, and use your awesome… uh, hero powers to summon the white whale!" Ishmael cried. "Don't you have powers or something? I mean, rumors are going around that you bet some… what was it, a villain that wanted to take over Poptropica. Awesome!"
Ishmael was still talking when we got to the other survivors. Fierce Fox didn't look too happy.
"And I've heard you've bet tons of villains!" Ishmael squealed. "Like, the Chupacabra! Or was it called Cerberus? Anyway, there was this evil robot that was trying to take over humanity, and you bet him, too!"
"Um… yeah, great." I said. I wasn't trying to be modest- deep down, a little part of me was enjoying the praise. It just felt a little awkward. "Look, I had friends helping me out, like Fierce Fox. She's awesome."
"But she's not the prophesied hero." Ishmael said, which made Fierce Fox express a sour face.
"But she's still a hero," I sighed, feeling like Mom. "And as heroes, we need to save more people."
"Cool," Ishmael replied. "Just tell me when the whale comes!"
"All right." I said.
Unfortunately, the ship had taken on water, which was so wonderful for Fierce Fox and me (not). We re-entered the ship and headed to this room called the Ballroom, which was probably once a beautiful room, with glimmering chandeliers and glass windows. But it wasn't so fancy anymore. There was a lady named Starbuck (yes, like the cafe) stuck on a chandelier.
"Help! I can't swim!" she cried.
"This way," I ordered. Fierce Fox and I jumped down some wooden stairs, and slipped into some cool, blue water. I found a bottle of alcohol, and shook it so the pressure built up inside. I aimed it at the window (I was starting to get better at aiming again, I think), and let the cork fly off. It smashed the window; the glass broke and water rushed in. Starbuck leaped onto a floating raft, and with my instruction, Fierce Fox pushed her to the wall. I launched another cork with my bottle; more water filled the room.
Fierce Fox helped Starbuck out of the ship, me following. Starbuck complained about not winning her tour director's gold award or something, but thanked us anyway. We rushed off before she dragged on about me being the prophesied hero. To our absolute delight, the ship had turned on an angle, and was now nose-diving into the sea. However wonderful.
We returned to the ship, except this time, we had to climb up the mainframe. Lots of fun, let me tell you. I fell off a good few times. Even though this is Poptropica and I wouldn't die or anything, the adrenaline rush was still enough to give me a fright. Fear is wonderful. Even though I was way better at jumping than originally, the fear never completely left me. I mean, it couldn't. It's built for my world, where everything's much more dangerous. Bleh.
Anyway, we managed to enter the ship. We had to do a little more jumping (great), and reach an open vent. It led into the ballroom, which was turned on its side, covered in water. Jellyfish were bobbing around, electricity sparking around them. Bubbles swirled around my body as I swam upwards, passing a fallen whale statue. Fierce Fox was way ahead, already next to the chandelier.
We did some more climbing, blah blah, and reached this wall of pipes. Y'know the drill when you see puzzles in Poptropica- solve 'em! We got to the next room after that, which was also full of pipes. Except they were much larger and filled the entire room, instead of just being on the wall. They created platforms, which meant more jumping and climbing. Lucky me.
Eventually, we arrived at a wall of steam. A lady called Stubb was behind it. She was trying to fix the ship, although that was quite impossible. But she lived up to her name- she was stubborn (bad pun, I know). We needed to rescue her from the steam. She explained that she was going to turn a valve, which was going to unleash pressure in a pipe. We needed to get to the other valve before the pressure builds. The valves were situated in the room; Stubb had the green one.
I told Fierce Fox how to handle the green valve, while I explored the room and found the blue valve. I turned it, and saw water in the pipe. Immediately, adrenaline and fear took over. I had to get to that other valve. So I raced over pipes, water, and various walls, searching for the blue valve. I found it quickly, though I felt mentally exhausted afterwards. I told Fierce Fox to do the same thing with the yellow valve.
Soon, we were finished with the valves, and returned to Stubb. I was sick and tired of jumping already, but we had more coming up. Wonderful.
"Thank you so much!" Stubb exclaimed. "The steam's gone now, so I can fix the ship."
"Oh, uh, the Captain told me to come down here and tell you to leave." Fierce Fox replied, as if she'd rehearsed it.
"Well, if Captain Boomer says so…" Stubb said, the trick luring her in. "Let's get out of here!"
We returned to the survivor camp. Fierce Fox confessed her lie. Stubb wasn't too happy, but then realized we saved her life. So in thanks, she gave us her wrench. Meanwhile, surprise surprise, the ship sunk deeper into the sea, conveniently after we spoke to Stubb. Poptropican physics, everyone.
We got back to the ship by swimming through icy water. Then we jumped onto- you know what? I'm just going to fast-forward the jumping scenes to the point where we met our next passenger. Sorry not sorry, that stuff's boring to write about. Anyway, Fierce Fox and I swam through the ballroom again, which was not looking any better than before. Oh, and to get to the ballroom, we had to push a bunch of engines around, blah blah.
The point is, we arrived in the freezer room. And in the freezer room was our next passenger- the cook, aka Flask. There was just one minor issue- he was trapped in an ice cube. Fierce Fox and I had to push him out of the freezer area and take him to this place where there was a furnace. That ship had everything.
I raced ahead, while Fierce Fox shoved the Chefsicle across the platforms. I used various objects such as boxes to create a clear path for Fierce Fox and Flask, straight to the furnace.
"Mmphh!" Flask cried, his voice muffled.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine!" I called, in a strangely optimistic tone. It made me feel oddly sick.
"How much further?" Fierce Fox replied. "My arms are getting tired."
"You'll be alright," I assured her. More alright than me. "Just a little more." I heard Fierce Fox sigh, but she continued with her duty. Soon, Flask was next to the furnace, and the ice flowed off him like a river. He sighed in relief.
"Thank you!" he cried. "Now, let's get out of here!"
Y'know the drill; we returned to the iceberg, the sink sunk deeper into the water- or basically did a one-eighty and its bottom was facing upwards- Captain Boomer was in danger, blah blah. We headed back to the ship, staring at its flat, navy-blue underside. At least we didn't have to do anymore climbing. We simply had to go through a hole.
Inside, there was a maze of pipes, bubbles and machinery, all underwater. Fierce Fox and I swam gracefully- just kidding- frantically through the sea of discarded ship parts, me occasionally (correction: frequently) banging into something. Fierce Fox was ahead of me, though she had no idea where she was going. Since we couldn't speak underwater, I gestured with my hands at her to stay behind me.
We approached some deadly-looking fish ahead: slender bodies and sharp teeth. We swam through a tunnel of pipes (I got my leg tangled a few times, which did not give me good vibes), before we reached a clearer area. A fish aimed straight for me, and chomped me in the side. Poptropican physics did their work; I felt sharp pain, but unlike Earth pain, it vanished as quickly as it came. Typically, Fierce Fox avoided the snapping fish, while I crashed into more pipes. Sometimes I wondered why I was chosen to be the prophesied hero.
After getting bitten a gazillion times (well, mainly me), we made it to our favourite place- the ballroom. Our old friends the jellyfish were there, and they were more painful than ever. I almost drowned a few times, and Fierce Fox had to carry me, like the old times.
The really bad old times.
The next area (via the place where the emergency rooms were) was a winding, dark tunnel, full of octopi wearing metal hats, which conveniently had painful things on them like knives and forks. Don't ask.
Fierce Fox and I had to swim through that torture, and if I had a dime for every time I got stung, not only would I be at that private school; I'd be at the top of every class because I had the money to pay the teachers to put me there. However, in all seriousness, being hit by an octopus with a hat full of knives and forks is not pleasant.
The last area, naturally, wasn't any better than the others. This time, there were giant crabs, who absolutely loved to snap at poor Alice Manchester, but weren't able to catch the nimble Fierce Fox. We managed to get past those, and drop through a little section, which led us to Captain Boomer.
"There's no one left on board," Fierce Fox cried. "Come on!"
"I'm afraid we're too deep now," Captain Boomer replied sorrowfully. "We'd never make it to the surface."
"I wouldn't say that," I said, somehow suddenly able to hold my breath without breathing. "You see, your 'mortal enemy' is going to rescue us, with this." I held out the whale song gadget, and immediately thought of Ishmael. Whoops, forgot to tell him. Oh well. Maybe he'll be watching.
Captain Boomer started, "Maybe… but it wasn't his fault the ship sunk-"
"You sunk it," I finished. "When you were chasing after him, you hit an iceberg."
"How'd you know that?" Captain Boomer asked, raising his eyebrow. I shrugged.
"Let's just get out of here," I said, pulling out the wrench. Then, suddenly, I felt a spark of electricity at my arm. A wire! It stung my arm, causing me to drop the song gadget. Before I could stop it, it floated down, and landed with the fish. "No! Gah… why do I have to be so…" Clumsy, stupid. Why do you have to be so clumsy?
"Great," Fierce Fox groaned. "What now?"
"Wait a sec!" I cried, remembering my necklace. "I don't think I've actually used this properly before… but this seems like an emergency to me. We need help."
"What are you talking about?" Captain Boomer asked. I bit my lip.
"Long story." I touched my necklace, and screamed out telepathically, Uh, help, we're kinda dying here! I didn't hear a reply. How in the heck do I contact the gods?!
Then, suddenly, the white whale burst through the side, and opened his mouth. We all fell in, and for a moment, there was darkness. Then, I felt myself being launched out; my butt hit solid ice. The whale disappeared beneath the waves. I shook my head in awe.
"Wow, that was awesome!" Ishmael cried. "The whale did come after all!"
"Yeah," I mumbled, staring at my necklace. "It really did."