AH-HA! I knew I had a new chapter lurking around in my head somewhere, and I found it!

Heloise, Beezy, Chuck, and the infamous bus have been traveling for a while. WILL THEY EVER REACH THEIR DESTINATION?

Yes. Why? Because they have to. Why? Because I said so. Why? Shut up and stop asking questions.

Please leave a review! If you don't, I'll procrastinate and never write again. Peer pressure is what always gets me going! :D (Or even if you're not my peer, if you yelled at me that'd still be cool.)

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Chapter 4

It had been about six or seven minutes since Beezy had spotted the sign. Heloise had busied herself during this time by reviewing her questions for the therapist in her head, although she was finding this task to be increasingly difficult, as Chuck had still not stopped singing his bus song.

"THE MONKEY ON THE BUS GOES OOH-OOH-AHH, OOH-OOH-AHH, OOH-OOH-AHH! THE MONKEY ON THE BUS GOES OOH-OOH-AHH, ALL THROUGH THE TOWN!"

At this point, even Beezy had grown tired of his song.

"Chuck, be quiet," the teen moaned, "I'm begging you. They don't even have monkeys on buses! There is no monkey bus! Shut up!"

Upon hearing this, the driver suddenly stopped the bus and turned around and looked at his two miserable passengers. He stared at them for a moment without saying anything. After a few seconds of waiting, he finally spoke.

"…THE PIGGIES ON THE BUS GO OINK, OINK –"

"I see the town!" Heloise jumped out of her seat and pointed.

Beezy shrieked with joy. "Really? Oh, sweet, merciful mother of misery! Thank you!"

Before Chuck had time to say anything, the kids were off the bus and running to the city borders as fast as they could.

Then they stopped.

Beezy scratched his head. "What the..?"

A large, blue toll booth stood at the entrance of the city, surrounded by tall chain gates. A tall man stood in the booth, a blank expression on his face. Heloise and Beezy approached him cautiously. Behind them, Chuck got off the bus (patting it goodbye as he did) and ran to catch up with them.

Not noticing the hesitant expression on his companions' faces, Chuck continued to run past them and up to the booth. He waved at the toll taker. "Hello, there! I'm Chuck! Do you like buses?"

"Hello, my name is not there." The curly-haired man looked down at Chuck from his post.

Chuck chuckled nervously at this, suddenly feeling slightly awkward. "Oh. Well, what is your name?"

"Morello."

"Ah!" Chuck smiled. "And how do you feel about buses?"

Morello shifted uncomfortably. "I don't understand."

"Do you like them?"

The man quirked a brow. "Do I… Do I like them? What do you mean? Am I similar to a bus?"

"Huh?" Chuck mirrored Morello's puzzled expression.

Morello smiled simply. "I think you meant to ask, 'am I like a bus'."

"What?"

The man sighed. "You asked, 'do you like them.' You meant to say, 'are you like them'."

Chuck put his hands to his hips. "I didn't mean to say that! I asked you if you like buses!" He was beginning to become annoyed with the man.

Morello shook his head. "No, I am not similar to a bus."

"What are you talking about?" Chuck demanded, losing his patience.

"What are YOU talking about?"

Chuck whipped his head around to the source of the voice, slightly surprised as Beezy and Heloise came up behind him.

"What the… I thought you guys were already here…"

"I thought you were going to stop talking about buses already!" Heloise gave him an aggravated look and turned her head to the once again expressionless Morello. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Myself, Morello. Who else would I be?"

Heloise stared at the man uncomfortably. "Uh… Yeah." She looked the toll booth up and down, and then glanced at the chain gate, noting the small town behind it. "What's all this?"

Morello blinked and paused, staring at her. "Well, this is a toll booth," he said, quickly gesturing around himself. "That is the town," he pointed behind himself. "That is the gate," he leaned over the counter and pointed at the barbed wire.

Heloise scoffed. "Yeah, thanks for that. I mean, why do you have it? We don't have anything like this in-"

"Oh no, Miss, you are mistaken," Morello interrupted, "I do not own this booth, the city, or the gate." He smiled.

Heloise shuddered a little. There was something about his smile that seemed kid of... Empty. She sighed. "So, do you work this thing?"

Morello sucked in his lips and hesitated for a moment. "…I am the toll booth operator, yes. I work this thing."

Heloise studied the man with interest. He was like no monster she had ever seen before. Very tall, very pale, black eyes, curly black hair mopped atop his head… One might have mistaken him for a vampire, or a human at the very least, if it wasn't for one other key characteristic.

His head was shaped like a lemon.

Heloise continued to stare at the man. It wasn't a very big deal, his head being lemon-shaped, nor was it a very an unusual quality. It was just weird because, when thrown together with everything else, she didn't know what species he was. Probably a mutt of some sort. She shrugged the thought off, thinking that it wasn't really important enough to ask.

"So, what's the price?" She asked.

"For a bus and three passengers? One adult and two minors?" He pulled out a little book and flipped through it. "… 25 for the bus… 10 for the adult… and 15 for each minor." He looked up. "That brings your total to $80 dollars.

"What? That's only 65! Do ya think I don't know how to count? And why are minors more than adults?" Heloise growled.

Morello didn't seem to notice the little girl's glare. "The lives of minors are more valuable. City officials don't want to be forced to face any problems that might arise if you were to become damaged while within city borders, especially if you are getting in here without parental consent. The extra five dollars are placed to serve as an inconvenience towards minors with the possibility that they might see it as a reason not to come in."

Heloise continued to growl. "Only five dollars? That's lame! And what about the extra 15 that you randomly decided to throw in?"

Morello shook his head. "No, there is a reason behind it. Tax."

Beezy snorted. "Man, you guys are a bunch of rip-offs."

"Those are simply the rules and regulations."

"Whatever." Beezy pulled out a small wallet and retrieved a few dollars. He placed the money on the counter. "Will this do?"

Morello looked at the money closely. After a few moments he looked up at Beezy and shook his head. "I am not familiar with this currency."

Beezy scowled. "What? You mean to tell me that you don't know about the infamous 'Beezy Bucks'?"

"What?" Heloise blinked and took a dollar off the counter. She blinked again. "This is just a piece of paper with a picture of you scribbled on it. There isn't even any indication of how much it's worth!"

Beezy stuck up his nose proudly. "Beezy Bucks have no definite value! Beezy Bucks are worthless! You can use just one Beezy Buck for just about anything. Why? Because Beezy is awesome!"

Heloise was about to start arguing, but stopped when she saw Morello's confused look.

"B-… Buh, uh, yeah!" She nodded, grinning. "Erm, Beezy Bucks are the most expensive form of money in the world! I'm sure just ONE would be enough to get all of us in!"

Morello scratched his head. "I don't know about this… I think I'm going to get my boss…"

Before any of the three could protest, Morello reached under the counter and pressed the button under the counter. A small, cream colored speaker popped out of the wooden roof of the booth.

"How may I be of assistance to you, operator?"

Morello stared at the waiting 'customers' as if they had been the ones speaking. "I have three passengers here who claim to have a form of currency that is…" He eyed Beezy, "… Priceless. They call it Beezy Bucks."

"I am not familiar with such a currency."

"Neither am I. That is why I called you," Morello explained, still staring at them.

The voice on the other side sighed wearily. "Do you have these passengers' names?"

Morello nodded at them. "Names? Speak loudly enough so that my manager can hear you."

Heloise cleared her throat, "Heloise, Chuck, and Beezy."

Morello nodded and looked to the speaker. "Would you like a description of the money?"

There was a long pause, followed by the sound of flipping paper. Finally the manager spoke. "There will be no need. I have two of those names on the immediate passage list. Does the 'Beezy' traveling with them have a last name?"

"Uh, yeah," Beezy spoke, "its Heinous."

The voice grunted. "Yes, yes, that is the name. Let Mr. Beezy J. Heinous and Miss Heloise pass."

Once again, Morello reached under the counter and pressed a button. At that moment a part of the gate started to open, revealing a small road leading deep into the city.

Morello waved Beezy and Heloise through, and the two ran quickly into the city before Chuck could do a thing about it. As soon as they had gone, the gate slammed back shut, leaving poor Chuck alone, hugging his bus in sadness.

"I can't believe the just left me here!"

Morello looked down at him. "There is nothing left for you here. Unless you have money, you may leave now."

Chuck whimpered.

Meanwhile,

Behind city walls…

Heloise and Beezy looked around at their new surroundings. The town was surprisingly… simple. Nothing too bad, it's just that after seeing a chain gate around the city, they had expected to see a little more. Miseryville didn't even have anything like that protecting it.

There were many houses lined up on either side of the streets, all of them looking almost exactly the same. Every single one followed the same scheme: A small white building with two round windows and a little baby blue door in the front all topped off with a blue roof. But that was it. No fence, no yard, no trees or grass, nothing. Everything around them was so strange and concrete.

There were a few people walking around, some similar to the monsters one would find in Miseryville, but most were like the man from the gate. Pale, black eyes, curly raven hair, and lemon shaped heads. Their heights varied, with some being as tall as Morello, others being as short as Heloise, and sometimes even smaller. All shared the same ambiguous expression.

Beezy shivered. "Dude, where are we?"

Heloise smiled slyly. "Not in Kansas anymore." She muffled her giggle.

The red devil looked down at her in confusion. "What? Kansas? Where's that?"

Heloise sighed. "Never mind, it was a joke. Just… Never mind. We're in Lendsville. Where else would we be?"

Beezy shrugged. "I just thought-"

"Guess what, Beezy?"

"What?"

"No one cares about what you think."

Beezy frowned. "No, you are!"

Heloise ignored his overly-used comeback and took another look around. "Okay," she turned to the teen, "do you have any idea where to go?"

He shrugged. "We could go over there." He pointed at a lamp post.

"Why would we go over there?"

Another shrug. "You asked where we should go. If you want, we can go over there. Or we could stay here. Wherever. I don't know why you're asking me anyway."

"I thought your dad might have told you."

Beezy sighed and scratched his stomach. "He might have said something, I dunno."

Heloise bared her teeth. "Don't tell me that you weren't listening…"

"Did you really expect me to?" He sat down.

Heloise smacked her head and growled. "You… Weren't… Listening? BEEZY!"

Beezy looked back at her in fear. "Well, he's boring, and he woke me up in the middle of lunch!"

She stared at him. "In the middle of lunch?"

"I pride myself with sleep eating."

The little girl groaned. "Well, I hope you're proud now, because we're lost."

"I am."

Grumbling, Heloise walked away from the now curled up and sleeping Beezy. She scanned the neighborhood in search of someone to talk to. She didn't feel like getting into another conversation with one of the lemon head things, and instead sought out a different species.

She spotted a small, fuzzy, purple blob thing looking at them. She stared back, hoping that it would eventually get scared and run away. She waited for about five minutes before cracking.

"WHAT? WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

The creature jumped back a little. "What? I was just wondering why you were looking at me."

Heloise sighed and turned away. Sitting down next to Beezy she decided that there was no one here she wanted to talk to. Everyone around her was weird.

At that point, she concluded that at a time like this the best thing for her to do would be to stay where she was. After all, that's what the older monsters would always tell younger monsters to do if they ever got lost.

She looked up at the sky and saw that the rays of the two suns were already beginning to reach down and grab at the horizon, ducking down out of sight to make room for the glorious moon.

(Note: Yes, I only put in two suns, not three. Lucius had the other one blown up, remember?)

Nighttime was approaching, and knowing how impatient Lucius could be, Heloise was sure that the tyrant would eventually send someone out to look for them. As for nocturnal midnight creepers, Heloise wasn't worried. She was able to beat off the ones in Miseryville easily enough, and as far as threats go, Lendsville didn't seem to have any. If there was anyone waiting for the cover of night to strike, there was a fair chance that they wouldn't be much to get all worked up about.

Heloise curled up next to Beezy and closed her eyes. At the expense of looking like an even bigger freak than the citizens themselves, she chose to sleep there for the night. She had nothing better to do; walking around would only get them even more mixed up and would lessen the chances of their being found. This would have to do.

For now.

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To be continued.

NOTE: I haven't really read through this yet (When it comes to my own stories, I rarely ever do) so just tell me if anything is seriously wrong here…

... Also, I've been thinking about adding titles to my chapters from now on. But I'm lazy. So, I wanna know if 'yall think I should. If so, what should I call them? OH YEAH! LET THE READERS DECIDE!

YAY! REVIEW!