The next morning, I woke up and it felt hotter than a sidewalk on a summer afternoon in Arizona. After fully opening my eyes, I saw nothing but rock and lava. I tried to move, but I was apparently all tied up. I looked behind me, and there was Dorothy tied back-to-back with me. I then glanced down, and noticed we were hanging over a volcano. "Oh shiatzu," I said, wondering how this day could get any worse. I soon heard chanting from a bunch of screechy, demonic, and nightmarish voices. I couldn't make it out, but it sounded like they wanted us dead.
Suddenly, a swarm of other puppets came flying onto the scene with spears and pitchforks in their hands. By our luck, the Greg, Murray, and Jeff puppets arrived to start what felt like some kind of execution ceremony. "It has come to our attention," said Puppet Greg, "that you two and a certain other person are trying to halt our plan to end humanity."
"We certainly are!" Dorothy shouted. "And we won't stop until we do."
"We'll just see about that," said Puppet Jeff. "As much as we wanna dip you into the volcano and watch you burn, we must first ask our king what to do with you."
"King?" I asked in confusion. "What king?"
Puppet Murray stepped up and said, "All hail the great, the powerful, the divine King Henry!"
"King Henry?" This can't be happening, I told myself. Maybe it's not. Maybe they're talking about a different Henry. Then, the puppets split into two sides, revealing none other than Henry the Octopus, sitting on a throne of volcanic rock, and wearing a crown of what I could only assume were the bones of their human victims. "Why are you killing us for trying to stop you, but not…"
"This goof who's a well-meaning friend, but is unfit to rule over anything or anyone?" Dorothy finished.
"I was gonna say, 'the third pillar.'" She definitely had an odd claim considering his famous Underwater Big Band.
"Whoever you think he is doesn't matter," Puppet Jeff said. "We made him our king because he was the one who freed us from that tiny prison cell. Now, Your Highness, should we continue with the volcano thing, or do you have something crueler in mind?"
"Let them go!" Henry protested.
"Absolutely not!" said Puppet Greg.
"But I'm your king," Henry argued. "You must do as I say. Now let them go or I have the power to…"
"Now wait just a minute," Puppet Murray interrupted. "Just because you're our king doesn't mean you have full control over us. You're merely a symbol of our power, and anything you say is nothing more than a suggestion."
"Then I suggest you let them live, 'cause I'll have you know I'm a master juggler, and can toss all of you into the volcano in seconds flat."
"But you're not supposed to dro… never mind," said Puppet Greg. "You're too stupid to be our king." The puppets removed his crown, took him from his throne, and attempted to throw him into the volcano. However, he managed to latch onto the bar that was holding us up. He then untied us, caught us as we were falling, and swung back onto solid ground with us in four of his arms. After that, he put us down, knocked out several of the puppets with his secret karate skills, and we ran out of there as fast as we could. While we were making our great escape, I stopped, took the Wiggly Puppets, and threw them all into the fire. We all cheered at first, but then I realized just how much I screwed up. We heard a rumbling, and the puppets rose out of the volcano, bigger and more powerful than before.
"You thought you could destroy us, mortals?" they all taunted in unison. "Think again!" They chased us off the island, flew to their next victim, whoever it was, and we just sat there, wondering what we would do now.
Author's Notes:
This was a fun one. It really allowed me to showcase more of the personalities I gave Dorothy and Henry, while still putting myself in a lot of the spotlight. While I was writing this chapter, for some reason I got "Super Sea Star Savior" vibes. (I'm also a SpongeBob fan.)
Stay tuned for Chapter 7: Non-Durable Dog Toys
