Oh, great. It was happening all over again. And this time I probably wouldn't survive, considering that I was very low on HP. I just closed my eyes, not wanting to see the ground come up and knock the life out of me.
Only thing was, the ground wasn't coming. I just kept falling and falling. What kind of predicament did you get yourself into now, Doopliss?
I open one eye cautiously. I soon see that we are not falling, but rather floating!
"Oof, you're a bit heavy!" Starlow complained. Then I realized.
"Slick?! You can float?!"
"Yeah, I can float. But I'm going to have to land now, 'cause you're getting kinda heavy."
We soon landed safely on the ground, only to be almost knocked out by the sheer loudness of Fawful's shouts.
"WHAT? WHERE IS IT?! HOW COULD IT BE MISSING?! IT'S A LETTER FOR GOODNESS SAKE! GIVE ME THAT, YOU SWINE!"
"What do you think is going on up there?" Starlow asked me.
I soon realized, and started laughing. "I stole the letter "p"!" I told her.
"The letter "p"? How could you steal a letter?" she asked.
I rub the back of my head. "Depends on whether you mean "How could you?" as in "how could you do something so evil?" or as in "how could that even be possible?", you see, Slick?"
"I mean it both ways, I guess. But-"
She was suddenly silent. I looked into her dark eyes to try and figure out what she was thinking of, but I just got blown away by her voice when she started to shout.
"WHAT?! E-e-evil? You never said anything about being evil! And to think that I almost let you walk off with me! You...you FREAK would probably just use me like Fawful did, maybe even worse! Oh, how could I have been so stupid?!"
She ranted on and on. I took my hat off in mock shame and fiddled with it, hanging my head, actually taking the time to look for an escape route. That's when I noticed. Gravestones. A fence. We were on the other side of the fence! The side with the gravestones!
Oh boy, Doopliss. You're in real big trouble now! I had to get that star sprite to shut up, but how?
I did the only thing I could do. I grabbed her with one hand and covered her mouth with the other. She started fidgeting, but I held tight.
"Listen, Slick. Slick, listen!" I hiss. "Do you know where we are? We're in a Duplighost Graveyard. When you floated, you ended up flying us over the fence."
Starlow struggled from between my hands, pushing herself out.
"So what? Hello, YELLO! Why do we need to be quiet?"
"I don't think you realize what kind of trouble we're in, Slick! When Duplighosts die, they don't really die! They just kind of fall into an internal slumber."
"Cool!" she exclaimed loudly. I shushed her.
"No, not cool!" I whispered loudly. "Bad! Very bad! If you keep shouting, they will wake up. And once they wake up they will hunt you down and kill you!"
Starlow paled. "Y-you're lying, Doopliss. Tell me you're lying."
Ok, Doopliss, now we need to get out. But how? I don't know where the exit is!
I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my neck. Brushing my hand over it, I feel a cold, metal thing. I pull it out and look at it.
A dart? Where did it come from? Was it a tranquilizer dart? Does this mean I'm going to be knocked out soon?!
We suddenly hear warbled laughing from behind the fence. Fawful.
"I HAVE CHORTLES!" He laughed loudly. "I have put the strawberry in the sauce, the strawberry that goes on top of his slice of the shortcake of love! The first that the sauce sees will become the icing on the shortcake, and the only way to break the spell is to create a half-cake! Only then shall you be able to decide whether or not to go after the full cake!"
"Cake, sauce, strawberries, whatever! Just shush!" I hiss. "You're gonna get us in a lot of trouble, Slick!"
"Hi-ya! Mr. L to the rescue! I'll save you Starlow!"
We all turned to see a tall man with black overalls, a green scarf, black mask, big moustache and a black cap with a backwards "L" on it swinging from a vine into the graveyard.
"Aha! It is the green capsicum!" Cried Fawful, louder than I would've liked. "He has come in the place of the red capsicum; a great feat for somebody so cowardly!"
The green man seemed slightly shaken by the bean's words, and accidentally lost his grip on the vine, flying straight on top of me.
"Oof! Ouch…"
I could feel my HP being drained out of me. By the feel of it, I had only 5 HP left, 7 tops.
"Uh, Mr. L to the rescue?" The man said sheepishly. I glare at him. He pales.
"G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g…" He stutters.
I smile evilly, hoping to scare the green man. "Ghost?"
"GHOST!" He shouts. He jumps off of me and starts running towards the exit, only to trip and fall after taking a few steps.
The ground suddenly started rumbling. I could feel myself going white as a sheet or, considering that I was already a sheet, as white as bleached snow. Why? Because I knew what was happening.
I quickly jump to my feet and pull the green man towards me, causing him to fall over backwards as he had just gotten up. I then grab Starlow, hugging her close to my chest as I curl up in a ball, closing my eyes tightly. She protests for a bit, but is soon silenced by the sound of creepy laughter.
I crack open one eye cautiously just in time to see all hell break loose.
The floor around us suddenly burst open, and hundreds, no, thousands of Duplighosts came shooting up, their warbling laughter sounding like a whole bunch of crickets. The green man rushed to my side, joining me in the huddle, scared out of his wits.
Then, everything went black.