In the Jungle: Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Good work, gang,” said Adventure Bear, as if he were a gangster. He handed them each a medal. “How was your experience with the Zamanon Jungle?”

Zoe, Bo and Tommy stared at each other. “It was cool,” said Bo, “but I’d still like to keep in touch with those cheetah brothers. And Johnny Boy. And Chitter, and the other animals.”

“Yeah,” Zoe and Tommy agreed.

“Oh! In that case, you guys can come to my house whenever you want to be teleported back there,” said AB. “But here are their emails.” He wrote the animals’ emails down on a piece of paper and handed it to Bo. “Thanks,” said Bo. “We’ll see you some other time. Bye, AB!”

“Bye, AB!” Zoe and Tommy echoed. With that, they left AB’s blue house and walked around the block to Bo’s house. The sun was low on the horizon, and the shadows were long. Tommy was dropped off first, since his house was closest. Then Zoe ran into her house. Bo was last. His thoughts were on the Zamanon Jungle. As he neared his house, his thoughts faded away when he heard his brother shout. “Bo! You’re back! YAAAY!” Bob cheered. “C’mon, let’s go finish that puzzle.” He dragged Bo into the house.

“Wait, bro!” Bo said. “I have to do something important first.” He ran up the stairs and to his room. He grabbed his Bananabook laptop and quickly added all of the jungle animals to his contact list in his email. Then he sent Mahasyaf an email.

---

Bo bobann12@zabmail.com

to Mahasyaf Hateehc

Hi Mahasyaf! This is Bo. Adventure Bear gave me your email. How’re ya doin’?

I just got home. My brother wants me to do a puzzle with him, so I guess I gotta go. Bye! ttyl.

~Bo~

---

He sent the email names to Zoe and Tommy too.

Business settled, he closed his computer and walked down the hall to Bob’s room. “Good! You’re here!” said Bob. “C’mon. I did, like, half of it while you were gone.”

“Really? That’s impossible, bro,” said Bo. “Hold on. I’m gonna go get a snack.” He trudged down the stairs into the kitchen and made himself some nachos. Then he carried the steaming bowl of hot cheese and chips up to Bob’s room. The two brothers continued to figure out the rest of the puzzle until it was dinnertime.

After dinner, Bo went up to his room. He grabbed his Bananabook and checked his email. Mahasyaf had replied to his email. Bo read it.

---

Mahasyaf Hateehc

to me

Hi Bo! What’s up?

You know, Faysaham was bawling his head off after you guys left. He is sooo crazy. I thought he didn’t even like you guys. Haha.

Well, I gotta go. Maybe we can chat some other time. Talk to you later!

~Mahasyaf :)~

---

Bo grinned. He clicked ‘Reply’ and began to type a message back. But just then, he heard a knock at the door. He opened it. Crech, Retro and Turey stood there, bandages all over their bodies and revenge in their bruised eyes.

~The End~

In the Jungle: Chapter 16

Chapter 16
“Awesome!” exclaimed Zoe.
“Cool!” cried Bo.
“Amazing!” Tommy marveled.
The three of them scampered up to the jewel. They narrowed their eyes at each other, all wanting to get ahold of the jewel first. Their grimy paws slowly reached for it --
“STOP!” yelled Faysaham. Everyone stared at him in surprise.
Faysaham frantically pointed at a sign and jumped up and down. Everybody (except our three heroes) walked over to him and peered at the sign. Mahasyaf read it aloud.
This jewel cannot be touched if you do not crack the code on the side of the platform it is sitting on. After you --
“Wait!” He was cut off by Zoe who ran back to the jewel stand, bent down and checked all the sides to find the code. She found it. It was one of those rolly things that you roll the numbers to crack codes with.
Mahasyaf continued.
After you crack the code, you will be allowed to take the jewel - but use it in the right way. Here is --
“But what’s the code?” Bo wailed.
Mahasyaf ignored him and kept reading.
Here is a hint for the first two spaces of the code: 90 divided by 3 equals?
“That’s easy,” said Zoe, top in math class. “It equals up to...” She quickly did the mental math in her head. “The answer is 30!” she exclaimed.
Tommy quickly did the problem in his head to make sure Zoe was right, and to his relief, she was. Zoe ran over to the stand and rolled in a 3 and a 0. There were six spaces left to be filled. Zoe came running back and Mahasyaf continued reading.
This guide will help you figure out the rest of the code. The code is a mixup of numbers and letters.
a = 1 b = 2 c = 3 d = 4 e = 5 f = 6 g = 7 h = 8 i = 9 j = 10 k = 11 l = 12 m = 13 n = 14 o = 15 p = 16 q = 17 r = 18 s = 19 t = 20 u = 21 v = 22 w = 23 x = 24 y = 25 z = 26
You can find clues for the rest of the spaces if you look on the wall.
Bo ran in excitement over to the wall and squinted at it. “I can’t see anything!” he moaned in utter disappointment.
“We need a light,” said Zoe.
Tommy sprang into action. He morphed his arms into torches and turned himself into fire. The torches lighted up the whole cave. “Now you can see,” he said.
“Oh, look! I found it! ‘For the rest of the code, use the guide to figure this out. The remaining characters are: 5 1 14 4 2 15.’ Gee whiz, that’s as easy as math!” said Zoe, her face lit with excitement.
“C’mon, let’s look at the guide,” said Bo excitedly.
Bo took his place at the guide, Tommy stayed at the wall, and Zoe ran over to the code rolly thingy and waited. “First, there’s a 5,” said Tommy.
“Okay, 5 equals E,” Bo said.
Zoe rolled in an E.
“The next number is 1,” said Tommy.
“1 equals A,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in an A.
“Next is 14,” said Tommy.
“14 equals N,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in an N.
“Next is 4,” said Tommy.
“4 equals D,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in a D.
“Next is 2!” said Tommy.
“2 is B,” Bo proudly announced his initial.
Zoe rolled in a B. She also rolled her eyes as she did so.
“Lastly, put in a 15,” said Tommy.
“15 equals O!” said Bo. “Yay! It’s done!”
Zoe called them over. “Look!” she said, and pointed at the code rolly thingy. It said:

30EANDBO

“Now that,” declared Bo, “is too awesome.”
“We’re famous!” Zoe added, and she and Bo did a high-five. Tommy watched them sadly. “Well?” he said irritatedly. “What about the jewel?”
“Oh yeah!” Zoe and Bo exclaimed, and ran to the jewel. Zoe allowed Bo to take it, and Bo held it up high. “I wonder if this can help us in any way,” he said.
“It can!” Faysaham said suddenly. “I should know. I’ve lived in this jungle and explored it long enough to know what happens around here. Once I got stuck in a cave like this. There was an exact same code rolly thingy, and a sapphire was on the jewel stand. I figured out the code and - and -- I forget -- oh yeah! I put the jewel in this chute in the wall, and then, the gate opened and I was able to escape. We should try and find the jewel right now!”
Everybody was silent - silent from hearing this long speech, and silent because this clever speech was unexpected from somebody as clueless as Faysaham.
“I heard that!”
I KNOW you can hear what I say, mortal. Now be quiet.
Mahasyaf flared at this injustice toward his little brother.
“You flare too much, Mahasyaf. You will now have to be called the Flaring Bro of Faysaham,” said Bo kindly. “Okay, Narry?”
Well, I’d like to do that, Bo, but according to the Head, that is unkind and not allowed.
“Aww,” Bo moaned, and started looking for a chute in the wall. Mahasyaf grinned smugly and high-fived the Head. Well, at least he tried to. Everyone rolled their eyes at him.
“I found it! I found the CHUTE!” yelled Faysaham. He looked at the others and pointed frantically at the wall.
“Great job, Fayster!” said Bo. He ran over to Faysaham, who sulked at the hideous new nickname Bo had given him. Bo slid the diamond into the chute.
Suddenly, things happened.
The ground rumbled. The wall cracked open. A small shaft of light flooded the cave. Through the opening, the creatures could see a flat, dirt ground and trees with vines hanging from them. The sun shone down, making everything appear to have a little glow.
“Wow!” said Faysaham.
“Wow!” said Bo.
“Wow!” said everybody. They scampered out and gazed at everything. Zoe and Bo clambered up the trees and swung on the vines. Now that every Hakrin water victim had grown back to their original size, they were extra-happy.
“Wow, this is fun!” exclaimed Bo. “Back to my old monkey days!”
Zoe grasped the vine she was swinging on with one hand and slapped her forehead with the other. Tommy cackled.
“Did this happen to you too, Faysaham?” asked Bo. “Did this weird place open for you?”
“No,” Faysaham answered. “The wall opened and I was free! Simple as that.”
Bo’s eyes widened. “Then something must’ve gone wrong!” he cried in horror.
And just at that moment, something tragic happened. All of the trees and the vines disappeared. Everything went black. Everybody, sprawled on the ground, gasped in horror. A huge cackle sounded from nowhere. “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Suddenly, everybody was sucked down into a big hole that opened up from under them. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” they screamed.
Faysaham sobbed at the thought of losing his brother again. “Nohoho! NO! NOOO!” he wailed, flailing his arms desperately. But nothing could be done. The creatures were caught, and that, was that. Zoe tried to find her friends in the darkness, but the endless black hole went on forever, and Zoe didn’t see how she could possibly move her body sideways. No, not when she was falling down.
THUD! Every creature’s chin banged, HARD, on their chests as they fell down on a hard, smooth surface. The long hole turned out to be a tube, which the creatures slid down the rest of the way. Suddenly, SMACK! Everybody’s face whammed into a big netting. They squirmed and writhed in anger. A big cackle sounded in front of them. “Bwahahahaha!” Crech cackled. “You mortals didn’t stand a chance!” Crech was standing before them, hands on hips, in a lab. Test tubes bubbled. Machines clanked and beeped.
Zoe glared up angrily at Crech.”Let us go!” she cried.
“You don’t think I’d listen to you, do you?” he snarled. “Well, we’ve had enough of you silly kids bothering us and trying to save the four animals we’ve cleverly hidden. You guys just had to meddle with us!” He growled and picked up an odd-looking contraption. “And now you’ll wish you hadn’t!”
“I’m not a kid!” Mahasyaf howled. “I’m 16!”
“I’m 14!” howled Holly.
“I’m 13!” howled Johnny Boy.
“Me too!” howled Chimpi.
“I’m 12!” howled Bo.
“I’m 11!” howled Zoe.
“I’m 10!” howled Tommy.
“And I’m 60! Just kidding! I’m 6!” howled Faysaham.
“Silence!” growled Crech. “I don’t care ONE smidgen about how old you all are, you old men. Just stop meddling with me and my assistants!”
A howl came from another room. “Assistant?! I’m the BOSS here!” The howler turned out to be Retro, who suddenly came barging in from another room. “You’re the second-in-hand here, remember that! And I’m the BOSS!” His forehead wrinkled up in anger and his fists were tightly clenched. His face was twisted into a scowl.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” said Crech. “Where’s Turey? We need him.”
Retro gave Crech a box on the ear just as Turey came slithering in from the same room as Retro. “Here I am,” he said meekly. “What’s the problem?” He turned and saw all of the eight creatures squirming in the net. “You caught them, Crech?” he exclaimed. “Great! I knew the trees and vines were the perfect attraction for them!”
Johnny Boy scowled at Turey. Turey scowled back at him. The two snakes hissed at each other, tongues swirling. Suddenly, HSSSS!!! Johnny Boy tore through the net and lashed out at Turey. Turey advanced on Johnny Boy. Johnny Boy slid closer and closer to Turey, and closer still, until...
“AAARRGGHH!” Johnny Boy yelled, and striked. He twirled his body around Turey and choked him. “I can kill you with my python skills right now,” he growled. “Any lassst words?”
“Skills? Aghh...NO!! DON’T KILL ME!” Turey howled. He writhed desperately.
The rest of the creatures who were watching, still in the net, looked at each other in fright. “C’mon, c’mon, we just gotta save him!” Faysaham squealed. He pointed at the hole Johnny had made. Tommy nodded curtly and made it bigger. Retro and Crech saw what they were doing. “Get ‘em, Crech!” Retro yelled. Crech aimed a gun at them. He chuckled nastily.
“NOOOO!” Faysaham howled, and clutched at his brother. Holly’s eyes were wide. Chimpi and Bo were shaking in fright. Zoe just sat there, frozen, unable to speak. Tommy, as usual, was not afraid, and tried to calm everybody down. He calmly shot a ray at Crech’s gun. Crech dropped the gun in surprise. It burnt into crisps. Smoke billowed out, as tears did from Crech’s eyes.
“Why you little -” he began.
“CHAAARGE!” Tommy bellowed, and everybody snapped into action. They all poured out of the hole in the net and started to fight. Bo and Chimpi tussled with Retro. Mahasyaf and Holly and Faysaham wrestled with Crech on the cold stone floor, losing lamely. Zoe helped Johnny with Turey, even though he didn’t need help, because he had ‘skills’. Tommy frantically looked around the place for the last missing animal - the orangutan. He peered into every room with his X-Ray vision. While he was doing so, his friends were still fighting.
Zoe gave Turey a long scratch down his green, warty face. He groaned.
“HI-YAAAAAAAHHH!” Bo screamed, kicking Retro in the stomach. Retro made a sick face and collapsed on the ground.
Mahasyaf charged as fast as a cheetah could - right at Crech. His head whammed into Crech’s stomach. Crech growled in anger and grabbed Faysaham. “NO NO NO!” Faysaham screamed, and poked Crech’s eyes with his fingers, while his feet were at work in kicking Crech’s mouth. That’s a Radkids move. Crech eventually dropped Faysaham. Mahasyaf and Holly gasped as Faysaham started to fall down to the ground. Just as he was inches from the ground, Holly slid and cushioned his fall.

Meanwhile, Tommy was walking around what seemed to be an underground laboratory. He peeked in every room where he thought would be a good place to hide an orangutan. He was just about to give up until...Tommy stopped at a yellow, glittering door. What was this? Tommy opened it. A cold gust of wind blew out at him. Tommy shivered. He walked into the cold yellow room. It was lit with bright yellow lights all around. Boxes were piled up neatly in every corner, stacked on top of each other. Shelves were piled high with odd-looking trinkets. Tommy turned on his X-Ray vision again and scanned everything in the room. He stopped at one cardboard box with holes poked in the top. Another box was next to it, also with holes poked in the top. Tommy scanned them -- and found an orangutan inside the first box, and in the second box, who else could it be but -- Chitter, the chattering monkey!
Tommy smiled. He opened up the boxes and let the monkeys out. Chitter chittered with delight when he saw Tommy.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” said the orangutan. She was a tall, orange ape with a pale face and kinky hair. She was about as tall as Chimpi. “My name’s Lily. What’s yours?”
“My name,” said Tommy, “is Tommy.” He silently went through the names of all his friends and figured out that these were the only names that were real: Tommy, Zoe, Bo, Holly, Johnny, and Lily.
“Okay, cool. Thanks for helping us, Tommy,” said Lily. “Let’s get out of here!” She walked toward the open yellow door.
As Tommy, Lily, and Chitter walked down the hall to where the rest were fighting, Tommy told her the story of the mission, the three bad guys, the diamond, the vines and the trees, and the aftermath. When they reached the battle scene, they found Crech, Turey, and Retro all on the ground, with scratches on their faces, and blood trickling out of their mouths. Zoe, Bo, Mahasyaf, Faysaham, Johnny Boy, Chimpi, and Holly were all leaning against a wall, breathing heavily and heftily. When they all saw Tommy with Chitter and the last trapped animal, they cheered.
“Yay!”
“You found the last one!”
“You’re a genius!”
“WOOT!”
“You abandoned us. Woop!”
Tommy smiled modestly. Then after all the cheering was over, he said, “Well! Let’s get out of here!” He went into the supply room and grabbed three big nets made out of wire. He put the three bad creatures in them and then threw them in the supply room. He closed the door and locked it with his alien skills. With that, he made a hole in the ceiling and shot through it. “C’mon, guys!” he called down.
The creatures all looked at each other. “Oops,” said Tommy. “Haha. I forgot.” He then morphed his arm into a long rope. Then he morphed his other arm into a big weight and made it heavy so he could balance. “Okay, guys, climb the rope!” he said. All of the creatures, one by one, climbed up Tommy’s arm rope. Bo was the last to come up. When it was his turn to go up the rope, he found a SELF-DESTRUCT button on the wall. He pressed it, then shimmied up the rope as quickly as possible. Then the creatures all ran away from the underground lab as fast as they could before it exploded. They ran past the cave and the weird fruit tree, the Weird Puzzle Rocks zone, the Hakrin stream, the dungeon, and the tree with barbed wire. They ran until they came to where they started. Tommy’s black clothes and stilts were still where they were, kicked carelessly into a bush. Tommy was about to say something, but suddenly, a big blue hole appeared out of nowhere. A big, booming voice came out of it, saying:
“YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR MISSION, AND JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME, TOO! CONGRATULATIONS. YOU MAY NOW GO HOME. PLEASE JUMP INTO THE PORTAL.”
“Well!” said Bo happily. “Our mission is over!” He, Tommy, and Zoe did a high-five.
“You mean...you...you mean you have to...LEAVE?” Faysaham asked, almost in a whisper. His lip wobbled. He began to tremble. He whimpered sadly. Then suddenly, he BAWLED.
“WAAAAHHAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he wailed.
Zoe, Tommy, and Bo felt awkward. “Uh...yeah, we do have to leave,” Bo said.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Bye guys!” Zoe said, waving at all the animals.
“Bye!” they called (except Chitter), waving back.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Oh, be quiet, Faysaham.”
Zoe jumped into the portal. Bo and Tommy jumped in there too, and the last they saw of the Zamanon Jungle was in a blur before their eyes as they teleported back to Otnemarcas, Ainrofilac.

In the Jungle: Chapter 13

This one may be a little weird. Just read it anyway.

Chapter 13

“AAAAHHHRRRGHHH!!!” screeched Crech, throwing down his AK47 lightning bolt blaster. “They’ve escaped - again! We have been going on too easy on them. We’ve got to - “ Suddenly Crech whirled around. No one was around. He was talking to himself. “What ‘we’ am I blabbering about?” he grumbled. “I’m gonna go get Retro and Turey. It will be unanimous! Those dummies will be outnumbered! Three against - ”
He paused to count how many creatures he was going after. When he found out there were eight, he stomped his foot. “Never mind,” he grumbled. “It’s three against eight. Forget it, Crech.”
Crech, are you talking to yourself, or me?
Crech glared at the Narrator. “Why, to myself, of course! Your name isn’t Crech, is it?” he growled.
Then, as Crech walked back into the blue room to get Retro and Turey, a thought popped into his head.
Well...it might be three against eight, but remember, quality vs. quantity! There may be a lot of them, but us three are very powerful. Much more powerful than all those useless victims. An evil smile spread slowly over Crech’s face as he quickened his pace to get into the blue room.

***

Meanwhile, all eight creatures were...well...still walking up the stairs.
“I’m tired,” Faysaham finally said.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” retorted Mahasyaf.
“You’re tired? What about me? I’ve never slithered this much!” cried Johnny Boy. “It’s not as easy as it looks, you know.”
“You guys...are so...WEAK,” panted Chimpi. “I’ve walked, like way more than this! Right, Chitter?” He turned to look at the chimp.
Chitter chittered something, then shrugged. Chimpi glared at him.
While all of those guys were arguing, Zoe, Bo, and Tommy were jogging up the stairs.
“C’mon guys...we’re used to this...we run a lot...we’re almost there...” panted Zoe.
“Really?” panted Bo.
“Well, I...don’t know. I just...said that...to make you...feel better,” panted Zoe.
“Let me check to see where we’re going,” Tommy said (not panted). He turned on his X-Ray Vision and aimed it up. He could see more stairs and...(drumroll)...the wired hole! “We’re almost there, guys!” he exclaimed. “Hurry up!”
“Hey! I was right!” said Zoe, speeding up a little.
Finally, they reached the wired hole.
“Well?” said Zoe. “Are we just supposed to grab it and push it up and get out, or what?”
“Hold on!” said Tommy. “No touching. It might be radioactive or something.”
“Or something,” said Zoe, trying to copy Judy and Stink.
“What a genius,” said Bo. Then he and Zoe laughed and slapped each other on the back.
Tommy ignored them. He turned on his detector and aimed it at the wire. His detector said...

Detecting...detecting...Please wait in order for us to continue detecting...

...

Element detected. Radioactivity found.

Tommy gasped.
Tommy gasped.
Tommy gasped.
Tommy...screamed!
“Think fast!” he yelled to the others. “This is radioactive!!!”
Everyone stared at him strangely.
“Why would we have to act fast? Just don’t mess with it...” said Bo, top in science class.
Tommy stared dumbly. “Oh...” he said embarrassedly.
Suddenly Faysaham and Mahasyaf burst through Zoe and Bo and Tommy, thinking there were more steps, and they ran right into the wire gate. Mahasyaf froze as radiation blasted at him. Faysaham screamed long and loud, monotonously. Tommy, Zoe, and Bo gaped, and so did Johnny Boy, who had arrived just in time to see Faysaham and Mahasyaf’s dumbness occur. Chimpi and Chitter almost ran into the gate too.
“CHIMPEH, CHITTAH, MEWWWVVVVVV!!” someone bellowed. But it was not any of them. It was Retro.
“RETRO!!” Chimpi and Chitter screamed, “MAH BUDDEH!! HUGGA!!”
They rushed over to him, hairy arms wide. As they came closer to him, his wide grin and stretched arms slowly contracted. He opened his mouth instead and howled in their faces. And they ran into it, screaming and yelling with joy. Then they hugged the hanging thing and patted the tonsils, leaving dirty footprints all over Retro’s tongue. Then they bit it. The Hanging thing. And they renamed it the Hanging Thing.
Retro let out a nose piercing howl. Everyone got rings! For their pierced noses! Bo got a Bum, Zoe got a Zircon, Johnny Boy got a jewel, Tommy got a turd shaped gemstone from Mars...but alas - Chimpi, Chitter, Mahasyaf, and Faysaham were not allowed to have gems. Because they were not living. And they were not dead. They were zombies!

AHEM - said the Turd a.k.a. The Head

Head: HOW RUDE. You are FIRED. FoREVuH. New narrator will be inserted...

DEN DEN DEnnnnnnnNNN -

NATURDO!!!! (his eyes gleamed)

彼 らは毛深い腕が広い、彼に駆け寄る。彼らは彼に近づいてくるように、彼の広いにやにや笑いとストレッチ腕が徐々に縮小した。彼は代わりに彼の口を開けて、 彼らの顔に遠ぼえ。そして、彼らは叫び、喜びで叫んで、それに走った。その後、彼らは絞首刑のことを抱きしめ、扁桃腺を叩いて、すべてのレトロの舌の上汚 い足跡を残す。その後、彼らはそれを噛んだ。ハンギング事。そして、彼らはそれをハンギング·シングの名前を変更しました。
レ トロでは、鼻ピアスの遠吠えをしましょう。誰もがリングを持って！そのピアス鼻のために！ Boが範を得たゾーイは、ジルコンを持って、ジョニー·ボーイ宝石を持って、トミーは火星から、糞の形の宝石を持って...しかし、悲しいかな - Chimpi、さえずる、Mahasyaf、とFaysahamは、宝石を持つことができませんでした。彼らが住んでいなかったため。そして、彼らは死ん でいなかった。彼らはゾンビだった！

Head: YOU are FIRED ALSO!!

Naturdo: しませんでした

Head: GO AWAY.

Naturdo: しませんでした I SHALL TAKE OVER THE WULD.

Head: YOU CAN SPEAK ENGLISH? Ok, you can still narrate.

Naturdo: しませんでした

Head: ಠ_ಠ
Naturdo: ಠ_ಠ ಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠ Bye.

Head: Bai. I shouldn’ta hired you in the first place. Smella. Go make your tupa’ movies or whatever.

Narry (scaredly): Well, um, Head, can I come back? Am I hired or still fired?

Head (sighs): You’re hired, I suppose. Please begin.

Narry: Yes, Head.

A-hem...well, continuing the story, let’s see...where did we stop? Let us rewind a bit.


Okay. We were here.

...hanging thing and patted the tonsils, leaving dirty footprints all over Retro’s tongue. Then they bit it. The Hanging thing. And they renamed it....err...

Okay, never mind that actually. Rewind! That really messed up the story.
Okay...THIS is where we were...
... Suddenly Faysaham and Mahasyaf burst through Zoe, Bo and Tommy, thinking there were more steps, and they ran right into the wire gate. Mahasyaf froze as radiation blasted at him. Faysaham screamed long and loud, monotonously. Tommy, Zoe, and Bo gaped, and so did Johnny Boy, who had arrived just in time to see Faysaham and Mahasyaf’s dumbness occur. Chimpi and Chitter almost ran into the gate too.
“WHOAAAA!!” Chimpi screamed as he was held back by his fellow monkey, Bo. Chitter crashed into Chimpi’s back and started to roll down the stairs! He screeched as he rolled down each step with a bump.
“CATCH HIM!” Tommy shouted, and Zoe took off. She grabbed Chitter’s tail and hoisted him up. He was heavy despite his scrawniness. Zoe pulled with all her non-existent might, and finally got Chitter up.
“Well...that was close,” said Tommy. He turned to stare at the radiated Mahasyaf and nearby, the sobbing Faysaham. Bo crossed his arms, shook his head, and sighed. Johnny Boy stared down at the ground with an ashamed look on his face as if he had caused everything. Chimpi stood daftly, scratching his head. Zoe and Chitter leaned against the stair railing, breathing heavily.
“Well...what do we do now? Mahasyaf is radiated, and Faysaham is being a baby, and the bad guys might come in any minute, and...” Tommy was cut off by an offended Faysaham.
“Did you j-j-just call me...a-a-a...a BABY?!”
“Well, no,” Tommy said quickly, “I said you were being a baby.”
“Same thing,” said Faysaham with a sulky face, and then continued sobbing.
“Well,” said Zoe in answer to Tommy before Faysaham interrupted, “you should know what to do, Tommy...I mean, you being the powerful one and all...”
“Well this time count me out. Use your brains this time, guys!” Tommy said, suddenly feeling angry after experiencing getting shrunk, morphed, tortured by the danger, getting interrupted, and now asked to do everything. He was very pressured. He turned away.
Zoe glanced ashamedly and nervously at Bo. “Well what do you think we should do, Bo?”
Bo, being the second smartest from the group, scratched his head. “Well, let me think. First of all, Mahasyaf is radiated. Second of all, Faysaham won’t stop sobbing. Third of all, Tommy is angry at all of us. Fourthly, the bad guys might come in any second, so we better run. Fifthly, we have to finish this mission before 5 pm, and right now it looks like about maybe 1 pm or 2. And sixthly, we still have to find the orangutan and panther.” Bo scratched his head again. “We have gotta do something,” he said and sighed. “Count me out too.”
Zoe bit her lip and glanced around. Her eyes landed on Chimpi. “Aha! Chimpi, what should we do?”
“Urmmm...we should un-radiate the cheetah and cheer up the lil guy, then we’ll be all good!” said Chimpi. “How’s that, Shorty?” He grinned.
“Never mind,” said Zoe, who thought that this little bit of advice was not the least bit helpful.
“How ‘bout you, Chitter?” she asked him. Chitter thought for a minute, and then his eyes grew big. He chattered something that would have been maybe a mile long if it could be translated and written down. Zoe turned to Johnny Boy.
“I really don’t know, but I do know one thing,” said Johnny. “According to my calculations, in order to put an end to radiation, you need lead...”
“Where are we gonna get lead?” asked Zoe.
“Don’t ask me,” said Johnny.
“Hmm...” said Zoe. She scratched her head until suddenly, a light bulb popped out of her head! Literally. “Aha! I know exactly what to do! Listen up, guys!” Tommy turned around, Bo glanced, Chimpi perked up, it took awhile for Chitter to understand what was going on, Johnny stared, and Faysaham raised a shiny tear-stained face. Mahasyaf could do nothing. He was radiated, and that was--
“Get to the point, Narry,” said Zoe rudely.
Okay. Fine.
So Zoe started telling everyone her plan, but just at that moment, the bad guys burst in. The door broke off its hinges and fell to the floor.
“Hurry guys!” a voice growled. “They’re probably already gone!”
Since the staircase was a curved one, the bad guys didn’t spot the eight immediately. But thanks to Turey’s genius idea, they met the eight in seconds, on a hovercraft.
“Ha! We got you! You thought you could escape us, huh?” Turey hissed. “Well, we had a discussion, and I got a great idea. So now, we have you in our hands forever!!!”
“Uhh...I’m scared?” Bo asked sarcastically. Then he screamed. “TOMMY! HELP!”
Tommy thought fast and burnt a hole in the wall and jumped out, taking Mahasyaf with his powers. Everybody else fatly piled out, while the creature trio watched in anger and horror. “GET THEM!” Crech yelled. Chimpi had a hard time getting through the hole. When he finally got out, Chitter began to get in. But just as he set foot on the rim of the hole, Retro grabbed him. “Ha! You can’t get away, you little betrayer! You used to be on our side, and then you ditched us!” Chitter chittered something in protest, and Retro growled. “It’s because I slapped you?!” he raged. “Well you’re coming back with us and we’re gonna make sure you don’t ditch us again!” Turey and Crech blubbered in agreement and left the place on their hovercraft, grumbling.

Meanwhile, the remaining seven creatures were huffing and puffing from the run.
“We lost them,” Bo huffed.
“But they caught Chitter!” said Zoe.
“Yes, we’ll try and get him later,” said Tommy. “Right now, we should find a hideout place in case they come to get us again. And we still have to find the two remaining animals for our mission.” He un-radiated Mahasyaf, and then watched Faysaham go over to him in glee.
“Right. Now where do you think they’d be?” said Bo. “Wait, what are they again?”
Tommy wondered why a top science student would have such a bad memory. “According to my wonderful remembrance, they are an orangutan and a panther.”
“Oh yeah!” said Bo, slamming a fist into his hand. “I knew that.”
Sometimes Bo could just make Tommy want to explode.
“Well, let’s start searching!” said Zoe, who had been quiet all the while.
“Hey, guys, wait!” said Mahasyaf. “What’s the deal here?”
Zoe, Bo, and Tommy looked at each other, then said, in a most grave tone, “We plan, to save the world.”
Faysaham raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“We are on a mission. We have to find four lost animals here in this jungle. We already found two of them. They are Mahasyaf and Chimpi,” the three said darkly.
“Ohh...okay...” said Mahasyaf. “In that case, let’s begin.”
He and Tommy gravely shook hands, and nodded curtly.

In the Jungle: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“You were pretty deep down there,” Faysaham said to his beautiful brother.
“I know! I mean, like, if I planned to live down there, I’d probably eat bugs and dirt!” Mahasyaf replied to his ugliful brother.
Head Narrator: Narrator, remember what I said --
Narrator: YES, Head.
“The Narrator is sure annoying,” said Zoe. “He messed up the whole story!”
“Only the first few chapters,” said Bo. “But you’re sure right; he practically messes up everything!”
Remember what I said about all fame being lost?
“Yeah, yeah.”
Anyways, as they were walking in the depths of the jungle, a dark shadow fell over them, and the only  sound heard in the jungle was the screaming of five creatures.
Head Narrator: Narrator, that’s too casual! Make it exciting!
Narrator: YES, Head.
Suddenly, a dark shadow fell over the five creatures.
“AAAHH!” yelled Tommy.
“Help!” screamed Zoe.
“What happened?” bellowed Bo.
“No, no, no! I don’t WANNA lose my pitiful brother again!” Faysaham cried, struggling to find his brother in the dark shadows.
“I’m not pitiful!”
“I said beautiful, not pitiful! The narrator must have heard wrong!”
“Ohh, not trapped again!” Mahasyaf groaned loudly, changing the subject.
Gags were placed on the five creatures’ mouths as they were dragged away mercilessly.

***

Nothing was heard in the room except muffled voices.
Outside the room, three creatures were speaking together, sitting at a round table.
“That was pretty easy,” said Creature #1. “They didn’t even take one look at our beautiful faces!” He tore off his face mask and stroked his nasty, bumpy, warty, pimply face.
Creature #2 made a disgusted face and turned away. To Creature #3 he said, “What are you planning to do with them?”
Creature #3 rubbed his hairy, stubbly chin. “Huh. I don’t really know.”

The whole time they were talking, Tommy was watching them. He saw them through the door with his X-ray vision.
“They’re pretty dumb,” he whispered to the other four creatures.
“Like you,” said Bo.
“Shadrach.”
“Whateva, bro. What’s shadrach anyway?”
“Envy Em.”
“What’s that?”
“Never mind.”
“Oh, come on, tell me!”
“I did. Envy Em are the letters N, V, and M and they sound like Envy Em. And NVM is short for never mind. So thr! Ever heard of chat language?”
Bo groaned.
Tommy swirled his head around and laser-cut the ropes that tied his beautiful blue hands tightly. After his hands were free, he ripped off his gag. Then he untied everybody else’s ropes and pulled of their gags.
“Be quiet! You don’t want those dummies to hear us!” Tommy whispered.
“I didn’t even say any--” Zoe began.
“Silence, mortal!” Tommy bellowed.
Zoe rolled her eyes.
Tommy tiptoed over to the door and pressed his intangible alien ear to it. He listened very closely.
“Did he now?” Bo whispered to me.
I do not approve of--
Head: Narrator, please. Remember what I said about--
Narrator: I did not you were still here, Head!
Head: I’m just observing your non-existent narrating skills. Is there a problem with that?
Narrator: Yes, I think I do--
Head: Anyway, as I was saying, remember what I said about disapproving of anything characters do or say. That’s Narrating Rule #9, by the way.
Narrator: You didn’t tell me that before!
Head: Was waiting for the right time to tell you. Bye, I’m leaving now.
Narrator: Good riddance.
Bo rolled his eyes.
“I think I’ll go check on them mortals now,” said a voice from the room. Tommy’s big black eyes grew as big as grapefruits and he quickly motioned for everybody to run! He laser-cut a hole in the wall and everybody ran through. Tommy zoomed through it and quickly fixed the wall. Just in time, too.
The doorknob rattled. The door swung open.
“WHAT IN THE ATINTHA?” Creature #2 bellowed.
Creature #2 made his way over to--
“I would like it if you just called me Retro instead of Creature #2,” said Retro (a.k.a. Creature #2).
“Yeah!’ said Creature #3 from the room. “Call me Crech and call him Turey.”
Retro looked defiantly at me.
Fine, I’ll call you all your real names.
“Thanks!” the creatures all cheered, pumping their nasty fists in the air.
“Now, please define us,” said Turey.
Turey is a small, pimply green snake who sheds his skin whenever he gets extremely angry. Crech is a huge brown elephant with two big bumps on top of his head. And Retro is a crazy howler monkey who always howls and bellows and hollers at everything. Like now, he was bellowing at his five lost prisoners.
Retro glared in anger at the gags and cut ropes on the dungeon ground. It wasn’t much of a dungeon, really. It was a small, dimly lit room made of dirt. And everywhere, bugs made homes. Especially cockroaches. In fact, just at that moment, a cockroach came out of Retro’s nostril and he screamed. The cockroach crawled into his open mouth and slipped down his throat. Retro gagged dramatically.
“Help me,” he gagged. “I’m choking!” He coughed even more dramatically.
Turey and Crech glanced at each other and snapped into action. They grabbed another gag from their collection and gagged Retro. Retro howled to show how much of a howler monkey he was.

Meanwhile, the five creatures, three of which are our heroes, were scurrying away into someplace safe.
“That was too easy,” said Mahasyaf.
“Isn’t that good?” asked Zoe.
“I daresay,” he answered.
“Well, let’s move on, then,” Bo said. He puffed out his chest proudly and marched away into a bush.
Faysaham glanced at Tommy, who stared at Mahasyaf, who looked at Zoe. Then they all gaped at Bo, who staggered out of the bush. A stream of blood trickled beneath Bo’s mouth and tickled him. Leaves were stuck in his hair. One leaf extruded out of Bo’s nostril. And his whole face now consisted more of scratches than skin.
“Oooh, yucky in my tucky,” said Faysaham, gagging. When he could not bear it a single second more, he bolted over to a tree, hastily dug a hole, and puked.
“Look what you did you my bro!” Mahasyaf yelled angrily at Bo, who grinned evilly and sheepishly. He was very ugly, with his scratched and dusty face, bloody nose, and leafy head. He felt very nasty, but he could see no near place to wash up, so--
“Liar!” Zoe exclaimed to me. “There’s a stream right there!” She pointed.
Oh yes. As I always knew, there was a stream east of the five creatures. It was silver-brown in color, and there was cushy, squishy mud at the bottom.
Zoe rolled her eyes at me, the  narrator. “‘As you always knew’?” she said rudely. “I knew it was there first!”
Silence!
“I wonder why I always get killed,” Bo complained. “The Narrator hates me the most, I think. And I’m the funniest guy in the book!”
That’s where you are wrong, Bo. That’s just how the story goes.
“Hmmph.”
Bo shuffled to the stream, and was just about to jump in when suddenly...

“AAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Bo screamed in horror as a green, muddy hand popped out of the stream with a loud and upsetting SPLORPP.
The hand slithered out of the water and wrapped itself around Bo’s neck. Bo was too wimpy to keep himself on shore, so he was pulled into the muddy water.
“Hey, Narrator!” Zoe yelled up. “I thought you said there was cushy, squishy mud at the bottom! Doesn’t that mean you can see through the water?”
Well, yes, Zoe. What’s your point?
“If you can see through the water, that means you can see what the hand is attached to!”
Ohh, right! I didn’t think of that.
Zoe made a face.
After hearing Zoe’s point, Tommy, Mahasyaf, and Faysaham (who had just come back from puking) ran up and stared in the water.
“I can’t see no nothin’,” said Mahasyaf.
“I don’t see no nothin’ either,” said Faysaham.
Zoe looked at everybody in horror. Then, with the most determined expression, she leaped into the water.
Tommy, Faysaham and Mahasyaf waited for her to come back up.

Guess what?
She never did.