"If only. I knew. How to fix it all I would. If only. One heart. All alone did any good. But I feel so small… what can I do? at all… when the world has turned upside down…" oh! Sorry! I was singing "when the world turns upside down." It's in the movie, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's return. Another reason I haven't been updating much is because I'm in my school's musical. Anyway,not too much action in this chapter it's going to be mostly a conversation but something interesting happens near the end of this chapter! So sit back, relax and enjoy the story! Read and review! ;)
"Uhhh… Stella?"
"Yes, Poppy?"
"Our guest… Calypso was it?"
"Yeah?"
"She's kinda scaring me."
"How? All she's doing is staring at the ocean." it's been ten minutes since the Stella flock had gotten back to their tree. And their guest Calypso hasn't said a word after she told them her name. In fact she even refused take down her hood. This at first struck the group as a bit odd, but then Willow reminded them that she wears her hat 95% of the time. But Stella was a bit curious on who this bird was and where Crystal island was. But more importantly, Stella wanted, no needed to know more about that ring. She had to make sure that It wasn't like the golden egg!
"Look I don't mean to be a judging bird, Stella. But she said that the demon guy pulled her into the ring with him! And she also claimed she was from an island we never heard of before! How do we know she's not a threat?" Poppy was really fun to have around. But right now she was really starting to get on Stella's nerves.
"Well, Poppy that girl just saved our lives! Therefore we should show our utmost gratitude and respect. After all it's the polite thing to do." Stella smiled. Apparently Willow decided to say something. She's also someone who loves to help people.
"Willow's right! Besides with that demon on the loose we could use all the knowledge we can get! But I know for a fact that he has the power to bring the world to it's knees." Dahlia added.
"We don't have knees." Poppy stated
"It's a figure of speech Poppy!" Dahlia groaned
"I'm going to go talk to her." Stella finally said.
"really? I mean she's been silent ever since we got here!" Dahlia explained.
"And she's been looking at the ocean like she's in a trance…" Willow pointed out "Trust me. I tried talking to her earlier and she didn't say a word. How are you going to get her attention?"
"Well, I was thinking of going up to her asking if she's alright, then telling her about our island and about myself. Then-" Just then Luca walked up to Calypso and tugged on her cape. Walked next to her and chriped
"You're pretty!" Calypso then looked down at him surprised.
"Why… thank you." She said. Luca wasn't just saying that to be nice. Calypso really was beautiful!
"Can… we talk to you? I wanna talk!" luca asked innocently.
"Oh! Sorry if I seemed distant. I was just thinking again… of course I would like to talk. I have a few questions of my own."
"okay!" luca sang. Stella and the others just stared at them. Shocked.
"…Or, that might work." Stella finished.
At Gale's castle
Hansome pig was standing on Gale's balcony looking through the telescope.
"Hmmm… that's strange. I could have sworn it was going to rain…" then he heard muttering. He turned around and saw Gale. Who did not look happy.
"So, uh… Gale" hansome pig said nervously.
"how was your shower?" apparently Gale was dirty after that fight with Stella and her friends and had decided to go wash up.
"Augh! Never mind that! Wasn't it supposed to rain?! Maybe the rain would have spoiled their picnic."
"Uh… well no… the storm clouds were only in the sky for a few minutes… then drifted away. But I took the liberty of looking through your telescope and spying on Stella and the others for you. And a saw a pile of junk lying in the middle of the clearing they were at!"
"Hang on! Let me see!" gale said as she shoved handsome pig out of the way. And sure enough a pile of junk was lying in the clearing.
"Well something had to have happened, because I think that pile of junk is all of their stuff destroyed." Their was a hint of worry in her vocie that was not missed by handsome pig. Gale then quickly turned the telescope in the direction of the big tree. She let out a small 'whew' when she saw Stella and her friends there. But then noticed someone else there with them and zoomed in on Calypso.
"Huh? Who's that girl their with?" she asked
"Huh? Let me see!" handsome pig then looked into telescope. Then three minon pigs came walking by talking then saw Gale and hansome pig on the balcony and stopped.
"Nope, never saw her before."
"Never saw who before?" one of the three pigs asked. Gale and handsome pig quickly turned around after hearing the voice.
"oh it's you three…" Gale said with disgust. "What have I told you about sneaking up like that?!"
"Sorry Gale. We just saw you and handsome pig talking. Does Stella have a new friend?"
"Hey! This is none of your business!" Handsome pig quickly said. "Gale always does what she does and will not-HEY!" he was cut of when one of the pigs snuck by him and was looking through the telescope.
"wow! That bird that's with them is really pretty!" then he heard a growl and turned around to see Gale with an angry look on her face.
"I-I-I mean when I'm not looking at you!" he stuttered then looked back into the telescope.
"Which I'm not because she's really pretty and has a ruby ring!" he said very quickly. Gale was about to have a meltdown when she stopped herself.
"Wait she has a what?" the quickly ran over and shoved the pig into handsome pig and looked into the telescope. Gale zoomed in closer on Calypso and she was holding a beautiful silver ring with a flawless ruby on it. Gale then made a toothy grin. Gale had a love of treasure but she hasn't been as obsessive of gold ever since she was turned into it. But that ring isn't gold Gale thought. A gorgeous ruby ring, image me wearing it on my crown or cape! It's shine! It's glow it's beauty! Gale then fantasized herself with it admiring it's beauty in the light.
"uh…. Gale?" handsome pig asked. Gale was looking up in the sky fluttering her eyes and maybe drooling. When Handsome pig addressed her she instantly came out of her fantasy.
"Oh! Sorry about that!" she said embarrassed. "you four are coming with me!" Gale ordered as she left the balcony. The pigs shared confused glances then followed her.
"Where are we going?" another one of the minion pigs asked.
"Why, to steal that ring of course!" Gale smirked. "But instead of a full on attack This time were going to be using stealth" the three minion pigs looked confused. Then handsome pig rolled his eyes.
"She means being really quiet and not being seen by the birds or their little critter friends!" he explained
"Ohhhhhhh." The pigs said and brightened up in understanding.
At the big tree
"So I see, this feud between birds and pigs has been happening for years. Because the pigs stole the eggs of the birds that would one day hatch. planning to eat them." Calypso had asked Stella and her friends about the fighting with the pigs. And Stella had explained the reason to her. Stella had also told Calypso about herself and her friends and also told her about the things had happened on the island.
"But here the pigs have been stealing our stuff." Dahlia explained "most of that is because Gale told them to."
"And Gale is the name of the friend that left you I presume?" Calypso asked.
"Wow, you're a really good listener!" Stella complimented "yeah, she left us over a crown she found. Well she's not as cruel as she used to be. After I turned back from a golden statue. But she still loves treasure and all that. And she kinda likes causing trouble for us sometimes. Okay a LOT of times."
"And this golden egg nearly turned the island to stone? and you said it had manipulation powers? My, that all sounds dreadful."
"Well, now that you know all about us, would you like to share some things about you? we would like to know. Please?" Willow asked politely
"You have very good manners." Calypso smiled at her. Then that smile flattened "well, I suppose I'll tell you." Then took a deep breath. I'd better bring this to them slowly
"like I said before I'm from Crystal island. Crystal island was one of the largest islands in the world."
"How big are we talking?" Poppy asked
"As big as this island or piggy island?" Stella asked
" much much bigger than this island. In fact when you saw it you could barely tell it was even an island! It looked more like the size of a small state or even a very small continent." calypso explained
"If it's that big why do you call it an island?" Dahlia asked
"Well… that still remains a mystery to me." Calypso answered causing everyone to anime fall.
"anyway, It was a beautiful place. It was made up of eight regions. And we were more ahead than other places."
"ahead?" Dahlia asked.
"we had books, brick buildings, paved roads, bakeries, libraries, a theater, lanterns, candles, even a park." Everyone just looked at her confused.
"Ummm… not to be rude but we already have all that. I'm still Not so sure what you mean by ahead." Dahlia remarked.
"You know I noticed something." Willow spoke up "every time you would bring up something about your island you would say: 'was'. Past tense. Why? Did something happen?" She spoke softly
"Yeah, And I looked at you and your not dressed like anyone else I've met. Plus when we told you it was 2016 you looked like you were going to faint. Even the way you speak is a bit different." Stella began
"And if Crystal island was that big, we would have known about it. But we don't." then stella's eyes widened "Are you trying to tell us something? You seem very hesitant about talking to us."
"…" Calypso didn't answer.
"*sigh* okay if you don't feel comfortable about this right now, we won't force you to tell us."
"It's my fault…" Calypso muttered loud enough for them to hear.
"Huh?" Poppy asked
"the reason you never heard of Crystal island… it's all my fault." She said sadly.
"What do you mean? What did you do?" Stella asked
"The reason is that…. Crystal island… sunk into the ocean…" she looked down then back at the group and began speaking again.
"I didn't mean for that to happen! All I tried to do was stop Mertaclede! You see this ruby ring I have isn't just some piece of fancy jewelry. It's an artifact that holds unbelievable power! From my knowledge It's main purpose is to be used for good intentions! Mertaclede planned to abuse it's power to gain his ultimate form to take complete control of not only Crystal island but our neighboring islands as well. The form that you all saw him take was just one of many forms. that wasn't his true form! But I can tell you right now that the only things that remain the same are his red eyes, his fangs, his claws, his cape, and sometimes his crystal like horns. Mertaclede stole the ring and fled to our tallest mountain. I didn't want his goal to be reached, and I was so desperate to stop him… I didn't think carefully. So instead of getting help, I ran off to stop him." Then looked down at her wooden neckalce. Stella could see A spark of sadness in her eyes.
"…Alone…"
With Gale and the four green idiots!
"HEY! Who are you calling an idiot?!" handsome pig demanded
"Who are you talking to?" Gale asked annoyed
"Well, I was yelling at the- doh nevermind…" Gale and the pigs were making their way through the forest To get to the big tree and this time she was paying extra attention to the minion pigs to make sure none of them would run off and bump into the mother critter again. Gale looked ahead and saw the tree getting close. She stopped the pigs.
"Okay were here!" Gale sang! Then pulled them all into a near by bush.
"Uhhhhh… gale? What are we doing?" on of the pigs asked. Then Gale shushed him.
"SHHHHHHHH! Be a little more quiet!" she whispered " we're going to be moving closer to the tree every few seconds or so waiting for the new bird to set down the ring and walk away ! And when she does, we'll sneak up, steal it, and run away. All without being seen!"
"whatever you say…" handsome pig said while smiling and bouncing his eyebrows.
"Shut up!" gale snapped silently.
In the big tree,
"I also had a teacher… he taught me many spells that work against Mertaclede. And can reverse his doings. Well the basic ones at least…"
" wait a second…" Poppy interupted "your saying that the spells Mertaclede used to kick our butts were only BASIC!?" Calypso nodded
"Yes. I might not have been there for most of the battle, but I know for a fact that he wasn't using his full power. He might have even just been toying with you."
"Okay, I really don't like that guy…" Poppy claimed
"Anyway as I was saying. My teacher taught me many spells. But I learned two that were very powerful. When I confronted Mertaclede I used my most powerful spell the light cleanse. Mertaclede had the ring nearly fully corrupted, what the light cleanser does is removed the darkness from the ring. Like cleaning it! It also weakens Mertaclede greatlybut that spell has a toll on me as well. I become greatly weakened as well. However when Mertaclede was in his weakened state he still had the power to send crystal island to the bottom of the sea… and I couldn't do anything to stop him. Even if I wasn't weakened I still couldn't of stopped the island from sinking! But I could stop Mertaclede from hurting anyone else so used my last resort, the ruby imprisonment spell and then…"
" when you used it Mertaclede pulled you in with him…" Dahlia finished
"When I first learned it I thought it would last forever… apparently not…"
"Wait a second…" Stella spoke. "Just how long were you inside the ring for?"
"When I was first freed it felt like a few days maybe a week… then when you told me the year… the 20th century is it?"
" 21st." Stella corrected
"Apologies. I now know how long I was imprisoned for. You may not believe me but…" she took one deep breath…
"I believe I was inside for about… three-thousand years!"
"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted at the same time. Even the critters were looking at her shocked.
"I know it's far-fetched but it's the only possible explanation."
"How old are you?" Willow asked "I mean you just told us your 30 centuries old. But I mean you don't look that old!"
"well that's because when I was imprisoned I was fourteen and I still am. My age was apparently frozen inside the ring."
"uh… yeah… um… me, Stella, and everyone else need to have a little meeting." Poppy began akwardly.
"Will you excuse us?" Calypso nodded and picked up her staff (which was lying near by) and walked back over to where she was viewing the ocean. As soon as she was out of ear shot Poppy instantly said.
"I don't trust her."
"are you serious Poppy!?" Stella scolded "why not!?"
"she said she's 3000 years old! She's ancient!"
"So?"
"So how do we know she's not the bad guy?"
"poppy were you even paying ANY attention to what happened back in the clearing!? Mertaclede almost KILLED us! Calypso was the one who saved us!"
"okay, okay… so she's not the bad guy. But I still don't trust her…"
"just because she's ancient?" Dahlia asked
"Yup."
"That's cold Poppy. I can't believe your still clinging on to your history on ancient things." Willow glared
"yeah! and you're not even going to give her a chance!?" Stella growled
"uh huh. And I'm not taking any either!" Stella was about to snap at Poppy but she calmed herself down not wanting to startle the critters or alert Calypso.
"Poppy, look… I know you have a rocky history with ancient things we all do! But with that demon running free the whole world could be in danger! Calypso is our only source of knowledge and that ring and staff are our only weapons against him. You don't have to trust her… right now… but, maybe you might warm up to her! Given time. But you can't just judge someone like that! Please Poppy… just at least give her chance to prove herself trustworthy ." There was a dead silence not even luca and the critters made a peep. Poppy then sighed and said…
"All right… I give her a chance."
"Thank you!" Stella said with relief
"okay! You can come back now!" Stella called. Calypso then came back to the group and laid down her staff.
"Was my information too much for you?" she asked concerned
"Oh, no! It was shocking but not to much!" Dahlia insisted "is their anything else you would like to tell us?"
"Well I'm in despair that my friends most likely perished on the island when it sunk." She began slowly and sadly
"They were always their for me… they brought me joy, they taught me a few things too.. one of them was very close to me…" then held her neckalce.
"He meant so much to me… we were rarely even apart… and I had a mother she loved me and I loved her back… but N-n-now there all gone… never to return…" she was on the verge of crying.
"Whoa! Okay! If this is too much for you to handle don't tell us everything right now." Stella said gently
. Calypso nodded hot tears streaming down her cheeks .
"so… your that upset about what happened…" Dahlia started. "I'm really sorry to hear that…but could you at least tell us how long Mertaclede sent crystal island underwater for?"
"he said in his chant: ''till no living soul remembers Thee' but I don't know if it'll rise up… and.. and"
"Hey…" Willow whispered gently "It's okay, don't beat yourself up about what happened. Look, you helped us and we should help you!"
"Please… you… can't… you shouldn't get involved…" Calypso began to protest but Stella stopped her
"now, hold on…" she said "you don't know much about our time period so you basically need us! Besides, even though you may have lost your friends… trust me I've been though that myself, well sort of…When gale jumped into that volcano we thought she was gone. I was really upset and I was missing her. my friends… not really as much. Then I helped a pig, snuck him into my place, more pigs came, I was having trouble hiding them, then it was pretty much chaos. And turns out that gale survived And I am going off topic… the point is still they will be with you in spirit. They, and your mother… you don't want to let them down, now do you?" Calypso looked away…
"But… I… abandoned…"
"Stop blaming yourself!" Dahlia scolded " if your friends and mother cared about you as much as you said then they would know that what happened wasn't your fault!"
"So… please…" Stella whispered "…let your memories of them keep you happy…and let us help you… and we can be friends too." Calypso looked at Stella and everyone else.
"You… really mean that?" she asked. Stella nodded. Calypso began crying again, only these were tears of joy.
"Thank you…" she sniffed.
However due to the moment nobody noticed that the ring began to glow… only in eight different colors…
…
…
At the bottom of the sea somewhere…
A very large island was sitting on the ocean floor. Then a green glow emitted from a part of it. Then a Yellow, then a cyan, then a purple, then a blue, then an orange, then a white, and finally a red. Then they all glowed brighter and brighter until you could barely look at it. It scared away all the nearby water wildlife. The lights dimmed
And so did the light in the ruby ring but then…
The lights lit up again only brighter and And then there was a loud rumble that sounded like a roar.
….
The ring then lit up so brightly it startled everyone in the big tree. Calypso grabbed it and looked at it.
"What…. What's happening?" Poppy asked
"I don't-" but before Calypso could finish Then there was a loud rumble that shook the entire island. Everyone did their best to keep their balance. Gale and the pigs were startled by the sudden rumbling too, only they lost their balance and fell out of their bush and into a thorn one… the rumbling didn't just effect golden island, piggy island felt it and even the main land in fact many places felt it. Calypso gripped on to her staff as a support, then the ring began to pull away from her like it was caught in a giant magnet. It flew out of her grasp and landed on the beach, just two yards away from the thorn bush Gale and her pigs landed in.
"No the ring!" Calypso shouted. Then ran over to the edge of the platform they were on.
"Hey where are you-" Stella began to ask but Calypso did the unexpected… she jumped off the edge of the platform. Stella and the others (including the critters) over to the edge and looked down and saw Calypso go the whole way down without landing on any of fungus. When she got three inches from the ground she some how slowed down her descent and landed unharmed and sprinted towards the ring. Stella and the others looked down shocked.
"How did she do that!?" Dahlia asked
"don't know, but right now less blabbing more jumping" Poppy said and head down quickly as everyone followed. Gale and the pigs peeked out of the thorn bush they landed in and saw the ring wasn't too far away… one of the pigs tried to go after it but Gale looked to the left, gasped, quickly grabbed him and pulled him back into the bush before the birds saw them. Calypso got to the ring but shielded her eyes with her cape. The ring had gotten so bright it was blinding. Stella and the others reached her but then looked away as well. Then the ring dimmed down. But the rumbling continued. Calypso Stella, Poppy, Dahlia, Willow, luca, and the critters the circled around the ring and looked at it. Then the ring began to float into the air, started to spark and a light red beam shot down into the ground and up into the sky.
"Calypso… what's happening?" Dahlia asked shocked.
"I…don't know. I've never seen it do this before." She answered
"Have you seen a ring do that before Gale?" one of the minion pigs whispered.
"No… no I have not." She answered shocked as well.
"Hey! Your crystal is flashing!" Stella said.
"Huh?" Calypso looked confused then looked at her staff and gasped. The egg shaped crystal on her staff was flashing from blue to white.
Could this possibly mean? She thought. Then some ancient looking symbols apeared on the ground in a circle fashion and began spinning. Then suddenly stopped like they locked into place. Calypso looked at the ring and saw serval small red colored orbs appear. But before anyone could even react. One of the orbs came zooming down and the second it touched Calypso she vanished. And the orb that touched her reappeared a few feet above the ring.
"AUGH!" everyone shouted. Then all the other orbs came zooming down.
"AHHHHH!" Everyone screamed and tried to run. Gale and the pigs ducked back into the bush.
"Stella! Hellllppp!" luca cried before one of the orbs caught him and he vanished too! And the orb above the ring got a bit bigger.
"WAHHHHHHHHH!" Dahlia yelled as she tried to teleport but before she could an orb caught her and she vanished. Emily tried to fly away like she attempted during the golden egg crisis but a orb hit her too! When Peter, Gus, and Autumn saw that, the tried to run into the forest but three orbs caught them!
"Those things are kidnapping critters too!?" Poppy asked while running. Willow was horrified about what just happened and was trying to run back to the big tree but the rumbling got more louder and more violent. In fact Willow lost her balance and fell down. And an orb was able to catch her too!
"Eep! Ste-" was all Willow could say before she vanished too.
"Oh, no!" Stella whimpered. Three of her best friends had vanished. And the orb above the ring looked to be about the size of her now.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!" Poppy chanted as she ran as fast as she could but sadly another orb caught her. Stella stood there in horror. Then she looked up and sure enough an orb was headed her way.
"Well…" she muttered "looks like I'm done…" then the orb hit her and she vanished. Then the large orb and the ring began to float up higher. Gale, handsome pig and the three minon pigs were shocked at what had happened.
"Uh… should we try to leave now?" handsome pig asked
"Yeah… while we still can." Gale answered. But when the five of them turned around to run away they screamed. Five more orbs were flying right towards them and caught them. And in their place was a medium sized orb. The ruby ring stopped firing the beam and then both the ring and the large orb began sparking and took of nearly at the speed of sound with the medium orb following way behind.
In the center of the ocean
"this large tremor… is this why I'm here? Is it truly happening?" Mertaclede was floating way above the ocean in a different form he had his cape wrapped around himself and his red eyes were still flashing but apart from that he just looked like some black mist in a cape. The rumbling was very loud here. Mertaclede looked down and saw a large figure appear under water that was getting bigger. The water was splashing wildly. Mertaclede quickly teleported to a safer distance and wait for about three minutes then it hit the surface. But it wasn't quite what Mertaclede expected to see…
He saw a huge chunk of Crystal burst from the water. Then demon was confused at first but as it rose higher he saw that it was the tallest mountain encased in crystal.
"What in the…?" and the island then kept on rising and the entire island was encased in crystal (more like a thick layer of crystal but the people and animals were frozen in chunks of Crystal )! Then the entire island finished rising. The rumbling stopped and the ocean then calmed down.
"I don't understand…" Mertaclede said to himself "crystal island wasn't like this when it sunk." He began to ponder on how this could have happened " hmmm… let's see the island is In fact largest in the world but there's no way it could have encased it'self In crystal, And since that little brat was too weak to do anything so she couldn't have done this." He was stumped a bit then a realization hit him…
"PENELOPE!" he shouted angrily "There's no doubt it was her… and I have a suspicion on how she did this but I have to make sure…" then Mertaclede completely turned to mist and zipped on to the island and out of sight…
Five minutes later…
"AUGHHHHHH!" Stella, Poppy, Luca, Willow, Dahlia, the critters, and Calypso Were in the orb. it wasn't crowded. They saw the world around them moving by fast. Probably at the speed of sound… in front of them the ring was shining brightly and acting like a guide where it moved the orb would too. It felt like they were flying, but this was a completely different feeling than getting shot out of a slingshot. Calypso was the only one out of everyone who wasn't screaming. Then they slowed down and the world stopped moving by. Everyone was a bit confused but then the ring slowly moving down and the orb did as well. And what Stella and her friends saw made them scream again! They were at LEAST 5,000 feet above the ocean and they saw a small piece of land below them. Then the ring started moving down in a quick and circular motion. It felt like a roller coaster. The Stella flock began screaming AGAIN! As they got closer to the piece of land. It was wasn't small… it was HUGE! Calypso instantly recognized it.
"That's… that's Crystal island!" she exclaimed
"THAT LOOKS MUCH BIGGER THAN A FLIPPING ISLAND!" Dahlia shouted. As they moved closer Calypso gasped. The entire island was frozen in crystal! How… how did this happen? She thought. She looked forward and saw they were headed towards a small sandy shore. Very fast. Everyone braced for impact but when they were five feet off the ground the orb stopped. The ring stopped glowing and landed on the shore. Then the orb vanished and everyone fell flat in the sand except for Calypso who landed on her feet.
"Ugh… my head is spinning…" Stella groaned.
"ohhh… my body feels like jelly…" Willow whispered weakly as she looked up slightly with her face covered with sand.
"Muuuh… I think those chips and lemonade are coming up…" Poppy groaned as she got up. Then her faced turned a pale green. Then she ran behind a nearby rock. Stella then got up and looked at Calypso who was staring at the sand. Calypso picked some sand up and let it fall.
"It's… real... I'm not dreaming…" she said quietly fascinated.
"Calypso… is this?" Stella began to ask, then Calypso turned around smiled and nodded.
"yes, this is crystal island… my home."
The end… of this chapter. Wow I know I said there wouldn't be much action in this chapter but there was more action in here than I anticipated! Anyway what adventures await Stella and her friends on this island? How did the island get incased in crystal? And Who is this "Penelope"? We will see you next time, on Angry Birds Stella: The ruby ring