Gobo and Boober were at the Fraggle Pond waiting for Jessa to come out of the Terrible Tunnel. Gobo wasn't too concerned, but Boober kept obsessively glancing at the cave entrance.
"Gobo, do you think Jessa is still alive after going back in there?"
"Boober, she's fine. Jessa's tough. She saved me from getting eaten yesterday. And she saved you from falling."
Boober blushed at the memory of her heroism and smiled.
"You know, you've been acting weird since we met her." Gobo pointed out, causing Boober to flinch.
"Am I, Gobo?" Boober asked defensively.
"Yeah. Your tail's been wagging, your face turns red and you get all quiet when she's in the room."
"Maybe I'm sick."
Before Gobo could debunk this any further, Jessa showed up.
"Hey, I'm not late to the party, am I?" She greeted them.
"Nope. You're right on time." Gobo replied.
Boober stared at her, flustered once again.
"I'm going to embarrass myself in front of her," he thought.
"Let's go. I bet there's a postcard from my Uncle."
"Coming, Gobo," Boober replied in hesitation before following him.
"Off to Fairytale Land," Jessa added before following the boys.
The first part of the trip was quiet, none of them saying a word to each other. Jessa had no idea why she agreed to this, seeing as she didn't believe outer space to be real. Boober watched her walk in silence, the only noise coming from her was the soles of her combat boots hitting the ground with each step. It wasn't very loud, but still audible. Her sword was tucked into her holster, which was strapped around her waist. Despite the length of the blade, the sword didn't drag on the ground. It dangled just above Jessa's ankles. Boober then wondered how heavy it was. And if it weighed a ton, how in the world could Jessa wield it with such ease? Did she have superhuman strength? Boober's thoughts were then interrupted by Jessa breaking the silence.
"How many times have you been up here?" She asked him.
"A few times, but this place is scary," Boober said before whimpering in fear.
"Scarier than the Terrible Tunnel? Or about the same?"
Boober was about to respond when one of the cave-dwelling creatures hissed, causing him to yelp and catch up to Jessa, who flinched when Boober held her arm.
"What is it?" She asked as he pointed at the creature who hissed at him.
Jessa looked in the direction of the creature and glared menacingly, causing it to stop and cower away slowly.
"Scat!" She growled, and the creature took off crawling away.
Boober blushed at her bravery and felt his tail wagging again.
"Good thing you came with us, Jessa." He said to her. "Because I forgot my lucky walking stick."
"Your what?" She asked in confusion.
"My lucky walking stick. It protects me from all kinds of horrible things. Monsters, volcanos, and other terrible things that exist."
"Strong stick."
Up ahead, Gobo climbed up a rock wall using the vines that hung off the edge. Jessa climbed it with slightly more ease than Gobo while Boober watched. Given his lack of upper body strength, climbing the rock wall was nearly impossible. Jessa parkoured over the ledge as soon as she reached it, leaving Boober by himself at the bottom. Still, he tried. But he struggled to get any kind of traction under his feet due to how smooth the rock was.
"Jessa." Boober pleaded when he slipped temporarily.
She looked down to see Boober hopelessly hanging on for dear life on the vine he was climbing on. Without saying another word, she pulled the vine he was on up until he was high enough to grab onto the ledge, Jessa grabbing his other hand to help him. After pulling Boober up to the same level as her and Gobo, Jessa tossed the now vacant vine back down as Boober stared at her, flustered as he was holding her hand.
"This is why I wear shoes." She said while pointing to her combat boots.
"Come on, you two!" Gobo shouted from a distance. "We're almost there."
Jessa stood up and continued on her way, but Boober took a moment to sigh lovingly and grin to himself. His tail wagged furiously and his heart raced. Why did Jessa have to be so… hot? After regaining his composure, Boober caught up with Jessa and Gobo. By this point, they entered the territory where all the steaming pipes were. Boober stayed close to Jessa while she nonchalantly strolled through.
"Okay, this just got interesting," Jessa said to Gobo.
"Just wait until we get there," Gobo replied.
"Interestingly frightening," Boober commented.
"Boober, nothing in here is going to hurt you," Jessa said to him.
"Tell that to the Fearsome Beast in outer space."
Gobo reached the hole to Doc's workshop before Boober and Jessa did, but they weren't far behind.
"Alright, here we are," Gobo said to them.
"Are they both out there?" Boober asked him nervously.
"Does outer space really exist?" Jessa asked afterward.
"Both of your answers lie beyond this hole," Gobo responded as they both peeked through the hole.
Boober saw both Doc and Sprocket and let out a nervous groan. Jessa, on the other hand, looked on in amazement.
"Woah." She managed to say.
"That's right. Outer space is real." Gobo said to her.
"Which one is the Fearsome Beast?"
"The big slobbery hairy one," Boober answered her.
Jessa looked at Sprocket, who was panting over the female dog models in the catalog he received.
"Hairy and slobbery is the best way to describe that thing." Jessa said to Boober.
"You two stay here while I go get my postcard," Gobo said before going through the hole.
Jessa and Boober watched him sneak past Doc and Sprocket, trying his best to not draw attention to himself.
"I'll give him this, he's good at sneaking," Jessa commented.
While Gobo made his way to the waste basket, Doc was having a conversation with Sprocket.
"And get this, Sprocket. Mr. Shimmlefinney wants me to do a tennis match with him. Ha! The nerve!" Doc said to his dog.
At the mention of his name, Sprocket made a gagging sound along with a funny face, making Jessa chuckle.
"That furry drool machine is funny." She said while Boober hid behind her.
His face was buried into her luscious ponytail, which was a lot softer than he imagined. Not only that but it smelled good. Almost like coconuts. Boober could feel his face heat up and turn red as he became flustered. To keep himself from giving in to his desires, Boober let go of Jessa and clutched his elbows. But the smell of her hair was now ingrained in his memory.
"Well Sprocket," Doc began once again. "I guess I better go to the sporting goods store and buy a nice racket. I'll be back."
Sprocket barked in response, waiting until his owner was gone so he could sniff around for the Fraggles. Gobo grabbed his postcard and headed back to the hole when Sprocket spotted him and bit on his shirt, trying to grab him.
"Not again!" Gobo shouted.
"Oh no," Boober said, once again grabbing onto Jessa's arm. "The beast spotted him."
Jessa didn't say anything before stepping away from Boober and running out of the hole towards Gobo and Sprocket.
"Jessa, what are you doing?" He asked.
"Distracting the beast!" She answered Boober before stopping directly in front of Gobo and jumping over him and Sprocket.
Boober watched Jessa leap over them in astonishment, Gobo too looking surprised by her athletic abilities. Jessa landed behind Sprocket on her feet, causing him to let go of Gobo and turn around. Now free of his grip, Gobo retreated to the hole where Boober was.
"Gobo, are you alright?"
"Yeah. Jessa bought me some time to get away." He replied while panting.
Boober turned his attention back towards her and Sprocket, who were now facing each other in a battle stance. Well, she was. Sprocket was in a playful one. After glaring at him, Jessa's expression changed into an arrogant smirk.
"Come and get me." She teased before hauling ass.
Sprocket pursued the chase as Jessa continued to dodge random obstacles in the workshop, even using some of them to her advantage. Even though Sprocket was twice her size, Jessa was a fast runner. While all this was going on, Boober and Gobo watched the whole thing go down.
"Am I hallucinating, Gobo? All I can see is Jessa getting chased by the beast?" Boober asked him.
"No, this is real."
Sprocket reached out to grab Jessa but missed and caught her hair tie instead. She felt it snap and loosen as her hair spilled downwards. But she was too busy running to think about her only hair tie getting destroyed. Instead, Jessa ran to the other side of the room and under a bookshelf. At least now that she was hidden, she could find a way to sneak back into the hole. Luckily, Sprocket was distracted by her hair ribbon getting stuck on one of his claws, so this provided an easy out from her current spot. Jessa then snuck over to the workbench where Doc usually tinkered, encountering a tape measure along the way. After playing around with it for a bit, she used the tape measure to lift her onto the top of the workbench. And just in time for Sprocket to get her hair tie off his claw and turn around to see her. He barked and tried to bite her, but Jessa was too fast and he missed, falling on the floor. She landed on top of the furniture, the tape measure landing next to her a second later. Boober gasped, his tail wagging profusely, his face almost the same shade of red as his hair and his jaw dropped.
"Wow," Gobo said.
Sprocket was a little dazed from the fall, but came back to his senses and tried to go after her again. Jessa stood up and moved her long straight black hair out of her face so she could see. Now above Sprocket, she pulled out her sword and prepared to morph it into an appropriate weapon. She focused her energy on it and it emitted the same pale purple light and began transforming into a bat. Sprocket had yet to see her as he was sniffing around for her scent.
"The beast doesn't know she's up there," Gobo whispered to Boober, who was still turned on by Jessa evading everything in outer space.
While Sprocket was sniffing around, she snuck closer to the edge, bat behind her head, and prepared to whack him with it. But before Jessa could execute her attack, she saw Doc coming back and retreated behind a tabletop utensil holder. Sprocket hadn't expected his owner to be back so soon and when Doc walked in, Sprocket greeted him with a cheerful bark and forgot about Jessa.
"I'm back, Sprocket!"
Sprocket barked and ran over to greet Doc.
"Well, what do you think, Sprocket?" Doc asked holding up his new tennis racket.
Sprocket studied it for a moment before barking in approval.
"I know. The lady at the store said this was their best brand."
While Doc was talking to Sprocket, Jessa saw her chance and snuck off the countertop, landing in a box of the dog's squeaky toys. Even though the toys were dry, they still wreaked of dog breath, making her gag a little.
"I'll tell you what, Sprocket. Why don't we go outside and test this. And maybe we can play a game of fetch while we're at it."
Sprocket barked happily in response and went to grab something from his toy box. Jessa panicked and scrambled into a corner, but Sprocket didn't notice her this time. He picked a toy that could get a lot of air time with Doc's new racket and ran outside when he opened the door. As soon as they were gone, Jessa climbed out of the stinky dog toy box, her sword morphing back into its original form. She then ran back around the workbench and towards the hole back to Boober and Gobo. When she got close enough, Jessa jumped and slid into the hole, reuniting with Gobo and Boober.
"Made it!" She said to them.
"Glad you're okay, Jessa," Gobo said to her.
"Okay in the sense that would make anyone say, 'what the fuck.' Irregardless, I managed pretty well."
Boober couldn't bring himself to speak to her as he was still shell-shocked at all that happened. This girl in front of him just faced the Fearsome Beast. Evaded it and made it back alive. Boober felt his heart race like crazy. Jessa then got up to her feet and moved her hair behind her.
"Now I stink of beast breath. I need a shower."
Jessa walked off back to Fraggle Rock before Gobo and Boober caught up with her.
"But you didn't get eaten." Gobo pointed out.
"No, but I hid in a box with a bunch of things that had the beast's breath on them. And the smell was awful!"
"Ew."
Boober was starting to get over his astonishment and listened to their conversation.
"I lost my hair tie in the process, so there's that."
"We'll get you a new one, Jessa."
Boober blushed at the sight of her hair, which went all the way down to her waist. Even after contracting the foul smell of dog breath, she looked gorgeous with her hair down. Still, he couldn't help but cringe at the stench. Oh well, at least while Jessa was washing off, he could wash her clothes for her.