Welcome to Gaia! ::

Um, I don't know if it's alright to put my story in here, since it may be to long, well, at school everybody calls it long, pfft!

But here! It's what I wrote for the competition at my school.

Also, I do this thing where I put myself in stories. I just love it. One, I don't have to anwser questions like what should they look like? Two, it's really fun.
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Chapter 1 the Schizo Toothpick

I stared out into the huge, green lake while leaning against a pole. The wood underneath my feet squeaked when the wind blew.

You might be wondering what this is all about. The title is called The Schizo Toothpick and when first eyed people are probably thinking "What in the world, a toothpick that has schizophrenia?" Yeah...A toothpick that has schizophrenia. Weird, I know, but that's how all crazy stories go...They have crazy people in them.

“Hey, you lil' snot, get me out of your mouth!”

I looked down and could see a purple cork that was on the tip of a toothpick. I took him out of my mouth and sighed, wishing that Pablo hadn't left me with this jerk.

“Sorry, Carlos; didn’t know that Pablo left.” I wiped him clean and placed him onto my shoulder, his hat bouncing as he jumped on.
“You know squat! That's what you know!”

“I wouldn't be talking to someone like that if they were 4 ft and 10 inches taller than me.” I turned my head and glared at him.

“Peh! I could shove myself through your eye from this spot right here, kid. Don't mess with me that clear?”

I kept silent, knowing he wouldn’t hesitate if he decided to, and looked back at the lake, wondering when the boat was gonna come to pick us up.

It was weird...I didn't expect anything like this to happen to me when I had awoken yesterday morning. Life...it was like a huge book of craziness waiting to be opened.

But, hey! Crazy things happen to crazy people. And well, I guess, no I know, I’m crazy too.

Chapter 2 A Small, Brown Package

It had started out, during my spring break, as a normal day. I woke up, surprisingly around 10:30 am. I got dressed into jean pants, a
blue short sleeved shirt, and of course my glasses. Everything was normal. Normal scrambled eggs, normal chores like sweep and wash the dishes, normal plants which I watered normally, and normal go on the computer to Gaiaonline.com. But I guess the thing that was maybe just a little out of place was when I checked the mail.

We usually get our mail around 3:30 pm but I decided to check it around 12:30 considering the fact that I hadn’t checked it a couple of days before and my brother, Cristian, had bugged me for not doing so.

I grabbed the keys to our mailbox and walked out the door.

It was a cloudy, gray day with only a few openings here and there. I headed towards the mailboxes quickly.

“Hm…Better be careful…” I said to myself seeing a puddle of water where I normally stood. I unlocked our mailbox, believing that everything inside would fall out and plop into the water. But nothing was inside except a small, brown package. Nothing else, not even junk mail.

I know, I know! It’s just mail but that’s what started it all! A small, brown…package.

I grabbed it and saw it was addressed to: Kristine Morinico, me! I locked the mailbox and stared at my delivery, my heart racing. The things I love to receive are letters! I just absolutely love getting mail, whether it is from the school telling me my test scores, my sister Zoila, or Jake’s (her husband) parents or sister.

But it didn’t say who sent it or where it came from. As I walked back home I started tearing the duct tape off and opened the package. I tilted the opening towards my hands and out came sliding a wooden box. Inside was a blue, soft, fluffy blanket that would be the perfect size for the doll Barbie’s pet dog or cat. There was no little toy cat or toy dog sleeping on that blanket though and no, not Sleeping Beauty.

It was a toothpick with a purple cork on the tip with red upside down triangles painted onto it. It also wore a brown hat.

I reached the entrance to my townhouse and walked inside while still gazing at the toothpick.

Weird…I thought to myself as I carried the box upstairs, after taking my shoes off, to my mom’s and my bedroom. I laid down on my bed and still stared at the toothpick.

“Well…You look like a guy to me. What should I call you?” I gently took him out but dropped him when his eyes opened up and glared at me. “Are you… alive?”

His reply, “Grab a sweater and start packing!”

I poked his hat off and he growled at me. I poked his head. He then bit my fingertip. I squeaked. “Ow!”

“Grab a sweater and start packing!” he said again, but this time louder.

Concluding that what was going on was a dream, I paid no mind to the fact that my family would panic if I disappeared and that there was a talking toothpick bossing me around. I grabbed my backpack and put in some of my clothes, hairbrush, toothpaste, toothbrush, condi- you get the idea! I also packed some of my money and my pocket watch. I grabbed my worn-out sweater and zipped it up after I had gotten it on.

“Wow…You’re making it so much easier for us! Thanks, Kristine!” I turned around and saw the same toothpick on my bed still waiting for me, but his voice sounded different, it was softer, his hat was on the center of his, and his expression was calm and happy. I blinked a few times and stared at him.

“No problem…uh…What’s your name?” I asked.

“Pablo!” he smiled.

I went back to packing, shoving all I could inside my backpack.

“All done?” Pablo asked.

“Um…” I looked around feeling that there was something I needed. “Yup!” I grabbed my yellow duck, Yippe (Yippee but with one E) and got him into my backpack, which was a miracle. “Just let me get my shoes on.” I walked into my closet, grabbed my old, white and blue shoes, and got them on. “Okay, Pablo! I’m ready.”

Chapter 3 Understanding; Our Journey

To tell you the truth, after I said that I haven’t a clue what happened. There was a white flash and when I awoke my head was throbbing.

“Get up! Get up! I said ‘GET UP’!!!” it was that same voice that had yelled at me earlier.

I sat up and looked around. I started to panic. “Pablo! W-Wha?” My head it kind of -Ow geeze-hurts…Am I really awake? NO! It can’t be!

I stood up and realized there wasn’t that dreamy presence or that feeling of...well…no feeling.

“The name’s Carlos and don’t you forget it,” he growled.

“Uh…I thought your name was…Pablo?” I looked at him resting on my backpack. He seemed….different...again.

I learned two things when Carlos…or Pablo…or the toothpick…when HE! When he explained what was going on.

One, Pablo and Carlos are cursed. They were morphed into a toothpick…thing… and into one person. I think he mentioned something about them being twin brothers…?

Two, Carlos is mean…really mean…And for some weird reason he reminds me of those mafia gangs.

Apparently they want me to take them home and then they’ll take me home.

“Uh…Sure…er…I guess I’ll help you out but…” I hesitated.

“But? Just spit it out!” Carlos glared at me. I swear I saw steam come out of his ears (or… holes…?)

“…Um….W-why me?” that was the question to get me yelled at or to get answered.

“What type of question is that!? You know what? Why is it you? Why couldn’t it be someone who only said ‘Yes, sir.’ or ‘No, sir.’!?” Lucky me, I’m getting yelled at by a toothpick, I thought to myself.

“And what if I don’t wanna help you out?” I was getting really ticked off by this guy.

“Then you won’t get home either!”…1…

“Oh, I’ll find a way home!”…2…

“Yeah right! You’re pathetic!”…3…

“Grr…”…4…

“What are you!? A dog!?”….5…

“That’s it! I’m gonna go get a flamethrower and set you on fire and then I’m gonna stomp all over you and then! Then…I’m gonna laugh! L-A-U-G-H! Laugh! HA!” I panted. That is what I call Explosion…of Anger…

“…” He…squeaked. He squeaked again…And then, all of a sudden, he started to…cry…I looked down at Carlos…There was one problem about that though….It was Pablo…

“Waaaaah! WAAAAAAH!” He started wailing.

“Oh…” I said to myself as I bent down to gently pick him up
and cradle him. “Don’t cry…I’m sorry…It’s going to be okay….I’ll…I’ll go with you guys, ok? Please…Don’t cry…”

“R-really?” He looked up at me with big teary eyes.

“Oh, kawaii!” I squealed and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

“W-What’s that....?” he sniffled.

“It means cute in Japanese and that’s what you are! So, how’s about you stop crying and tell me where your home is?”

Chapter 4 Onward! To here and there!

I could smell the greatest scent in the air. Nothing. And when I say nothing I mean no polluted air. Only fresh air and the smell of grass, dirt, and leaves. Apart of me wanted to live in this world forever. No cars, no evil global warming, and no sad disturbing scenes of the land or animals dying because of it.

But by the looks of it, there’d be no computer and no video games. Besides that though, I wouldn’t mind living here one bit! It was beautiful!

I looked back at the map which I held in my hands. “Wait…There’s a castle around here?”

“Well, it’s not really a castle, more like a…border line! We need to go through it.” Pablo hopped down my arm and jumped into one of my pockets.

“Oh, ok.” I stopped for a second, feeling the wind run past me. “Ah, so nice!” I continued onward through the woods we were in. “Ooh! A hill! Can I run up it!?”

“Of course you can!”

“Yay!” I started running as fast as I could, up the hill and when I made it to the top I fell down to roll. “Wheeee! Ha-ha!” When I stopped rolling I felt sick but seeing that bright, blue sky made me smile. I rolled over onto my stomach and I stared at the “borderline”. It was big and I could see lots of security. “Oh…my…god…” I slowly got up, folding the map up and giving it to Pablo who was dizzy.

“……Big, huh?” He said.

“A BUNNY!” I started running again but this time to the “borderline” because of the brown furred rabbit that had stopped, watching me come forward. I also stopped. Oh, Kristine! Just get down on one knee and call the cutie over here…Please…Don’t run away… “Hey there…I swear…I’m not gonna hurt you.” It inched closer. “Oh…Kawaii! So cute!” It bounced over to me. “What’s your name?” It took another hop. “Oh, you are so fluffy!” I picked it up and petted its head as I walked towards a security guard. It was a bunny, though’! Wearing a camouflage hat and this one was black with brown around the eyes, with brown paw and ear tips, and it had a brown spot in its puff ball of a tail. “Oh! Another BunBun!” I squealed.

“Bugs, I hope you’re on your lunch break!” The black rabbit said, wriggling his nose.

“A talking BunBun!” I said aloud. I looked down at Bugs and he nodded his head. “Oop…Sorry…Your cuteness just forced me to hold you.” I gave him a kiss on the forehead. He cuddled with me. “Moy!” I squeaked with joy.

“So, what can I do for you miss?” asked the black rabbit. “Did you want to get through?”

“Yes, please.”

“You may, but first, we got to check your background information. You aren’t from around here, are you?” he asked.

“No, I’m from Sacramento.” I wondered if I would be able to get through.

“Sac…Ra…Mento..? Hm...Never heard of it…Oh! Earth! That’s where you’re from… Well, then welcome. By the way, since it’s a bit dangerous on the way to the cliff, I’m sure Bugs will be happy to escort you there. Oh, and sorry for not introducing myself, my name’s Henry, yours?”

“Kristine. It’s nice to meet you, Henry.”

“Same goes to you, Kristine. Follow me, please.” Henry said, hopping down a red lit hallway. I followed. “You’ll have to excuse Bugs. He was born mute.”

“Oh…Well….His eyes are telling me ‘I’d love to come.’ ’” and they really were.

Chapter 5 the Cliff

I’ve only gone rock climbing once and it was really fun. Of course I had adult supervision, a harness, and a helmet. It looked like I would go rock climbing again, but with none of the importance.

“Thank you, Bugs. Take care.” I turned away and started forward, getting closer to the cliff as Bugs hopped into the cave we just came out of.

“Few…Gonna take a while, kid. Hurry up!” Carlos’s voice echoed in my ear and hearing him made me jump.

“Oh, I almost forgot about you…” I looked back up at the cliff. “Ok!” I took a few steps back and ran to the cliff, leaping up and grabbing the edge of a rock that stuck out. I looked around and grabbed the nearest rock, putting the side of my foot on another and I pulled myself up. As I got father up it become difficult to not think of the fall below.

“Almost there!” I said to myself when I was about three feet away.

“Fina-!”

“Eek!” One of the rocks I held onto crumbled and my grip on the other loosened. “WAAH! ...Huh…?” If felt like someone was holding onto my wrist. I looked up and somebody was.

“Hang on!” and I was hoisted up.

Chapter 6 Kuyo

The person who had just saved our lives handed me a canteen. He had long blond hair but the tips were maroon and his eyes were a sky blue. He wore the coolest outfit! It was made of a blood-red trench coat, black boots that stopped at his knees, a black dog collar, and black faded out jeans, a black t-shirt, and his sword was his height, six feet tall and it was one foot wide.

His name? Kuyo.

I thanked Kuyo for saving us several times. His response was “Hey, don’t worry about it!” and he offered me a sandwich.

“Thank you.” I said again. I ripped a piece of the sandwich off and handed it to Carlos, who for some reason was hiding in my pocket. “Carlos, come out and say ‘hi’.” He shook his head, gave me an angry look (like that’s a difference!), and munched on his meal.

“No problem…By the way, what do you got in there?” Kuyo asked, also munching on his own meal.

“Oh, a friend of mine.” I took another bite.

“…uh…huh…So, what’s you name?”

“Oh, so sorry. Kristine.”

“No need to apologize. Where you headed to?”

“I’m headed to...” I took out the map and showed him.

“Heh, I’m headed there too. Mind if I tag along?”

“Go ahead! By the way, how long do you think it’ll take?”

“Sweet! Hm…Why do you ask?” he handed me a napkin.

“I’m on vacation and I’d like to get home as soon as possible.”

“Oh. I see. Well…It’ll take one day to reach the lake and from there we take a boat ride which is about half a day, one final day to reach our destination, and we ought to rest. So 3 or 4 days?”

“Oh, ok. Today’s Monday, right?” I took a sip from the
canteen. “It’ll be Thursday when I get back, hopefully…” I sighed, thinking of my family, of my friends…and…of home…

Chapter 7 General Hype

It was nice being able to talk to Kuyo, since Carlos was acting strange and wouldn’t even insult me. I learned quite a bit about Kuyo as we walked to our next destination, Cavern Green Lake.

I’d ask him questions like “favorite food?” his reply had been “dumplings!”

After a while though, our conversation had went to “So…” to…nothing… But all of a sudden-

“Watch out!” Kuyo shoved me out of the way before a tranquilizer got me. “Who’s out there!?” he looked up at the cliffs.

‘Well, well…Kuyo! Didn’t expect you here!” A voice rang out from behind us. I turned around and there was our enemy.

“Grr…What are you doing here! I thought they sent you to the gallows!” Kuyo drew his sword out.

“What can I say? People have the tendency to trust me. Not my fault they’re all fools. Now, surrender peacefully, the three of you!”

“Um…I think you mean…four…” I said aloud thinking of Pablo.

“Whatever! It doesn’t matter!” The boy got on one knee and took out his…*gulp*…bazooka “There’s no escape.” His light brown hair shinned in the sun light.

“Hm, you and what army?” Kuyo stood in front of me.

“General Hype’s.” and he fired his bazooka right at us.

“Ah!” My first reaction was to fall to the floor and cover my head with my hands or to run. Strange, after I see people do that in movies or TV shows I tell myself to take a left, right or just plain zigzag away. But luckily, Kuyo grabbed me and jumped out of the way.

“Oh man…He has to be lying…” Kuyo mumbled.

“…W…wah’s that...?” I pointed to a mob of yellow and black
falling off the edges of the cliffs along with a few cannons.

There, on a ledge, which stuck out stood General Hype, a yellow capped highlighter with an angry face that seemed to have been drawn on. “Good job!
Now, bag ‘em and gag ‘em!” he yelled out to his army of highlighters.

“Kristine! Run!” Kuyo slashed away at the mob. I wouldn’t leave. It was just a bunch of highlighters!

Leave…They are killers. I heard someone speak to me. It was Carlos…But I didn’t listen to him.

“No! I’m not gonna leave y-!”

The last thing I remember was seeing the shock on Kuyo’s face but then he got a drowsy expression and fell to the floor like I had.

After that I could feel myself being dragged away from where I had gotten tranquilized and into some horrible nightmare that awaited us.

Chapter 8 the Prison


Drip…Drip…Drip…

“Kid…Kid…Come on, brat! Wake up!”

“Whoa…Wait a second…You’re the reason we were captured!
You’re the one they want!”

“Shut up! They’re after you, too, aren’t they!?”

“You shut up!”

Drip…Drip…Drip…

“Wake up!”

I opened my eyes and found myself in a blue, gloomy cave.
There was water leaking in and all of the openings had bars to keep us
locked up. I rubbed my eyes and heard a rattling.

“Oh…Oh...OH! No?! What in the world?!” I stared at my wrist. “…
oh…” My arms had been chained to the wall.

“Are you always like this?” Carlos asked me. “Forget it! Look
what you got us into! It’s your entire fault!”

I stared down at the ground. Tears came to my eyes. He was
right! It had been my fault!

“Stop it! That’s not true!” I looked at Kuyo; his arms had been
chained also. “Don’t worry. T’is okay.”

“I’m so stupid! I squeaked.

“No, you’re not! Never say that about yourself…” Kuyo’s chain
wasn’t long enough but for a second he had tried to place a hand on my
shoulder.

“….” I stared at him. Ever call yourself stupid but in reality you
don’t mean it and people never seem to understand that? Even though
they are showing that they care, it gets annoying. “Never mind…” I
sighed…“If only…If only…”

“Stop complai-!” Carlos’s expression turned blank and it looked
like he had dozed off but then his head started to spin around.

“Holy!” Kuyo stared.

“Oh my god! Is he having a seizure!?” Before Carlos had fallen
to the floor I grabbed him off my shoulder and held him in the palm of my
hand.

His head had stopped spinning, his hat was on the center of his
head, and he opened up his eyes. “Hi! Ooh, who’s this?” Pablo hopped up
onto my shoulder. “What happened?”

“Uh, this is Kuyo and we…got captured…” I turned my head to
the shocked Pablo.

“By who!?” He asked.

“General Hype…” Kuyo said grimly, glaring at the ground.

“No! Don’t tell me they found out we were with you!” Pablo had
such a serious look on face.

Kuyo looked up at us and spoke “That doesn’t matter right
now. What matters though, is getting out of here, alive.”

Chapter 9 Crescent Survivor

We had gotten out of the chains and out of the jail cell thanks to Pablo, who worked like a skeleton key.

I stood behind Kuyo; he had gotten his sword back after
knocking out the sentries and now held it in his hand. He was holding onto my wrist with the other that way if I had wandered off or got taken away,
he would know. I carried Pablo in my free hand and held him close to me.

I noticed the design on the back of Kuyo’s coat. The design had
two black mini angel wings and in between them was a picture of a
crescent moon and where the points met was a star. He also had it on his
sword, now that I noticed it.

“A Crescent Survivor…” Pablo whispered to me.

“A wah?” We both talked in hushed voices.

“A Crescent Survivor. They use to live on our world’s moon.
There’s a story that says a shinning stair case made of the moonlight took
you to their domain. But there are not much of them anymore. There
home was destroyed and they came down to find a new home. Don’t know
if that’s really true but…who knows...”

“Cool…I mean…Well, that’s sad, but it’s cool how he’s one of them…That’s good, right?”

“Yes, if he’s on our side.” And Kuyo was on our side…

Chapter 10 the Escape

We walked up the slippery wet steps trying to find our way out. But Kuyo stopped and I could feel his heartbeat and Pablo’s going faster.

“Uh-oh…” Pablo gulped.

“Get in front of me now!” I did what I was told. “If I tell you to
run, you better run this time…Promise me.”

I wouldn’t dare keep a promise like that…I took another step
but fell down. “Oof!”

“You okay?” Kuyo got down on one knee and gave me a very
serious look. “I need to fight them off. It’ll give the two of you time to
runaway.” He helped me up. Kuyo placed his sword in a diagonal position
that blocked the way down in the tunnel.

“But, if they’re up ahead…?” Pablo asked in a small voice.

“We’ll then, we need to make sure. General Hype probably
thought we wouldn’t get this far but my guess is that something happened
to the guards up front…You two sure know how to stall, must be all that
practice on your parents….” Kuyo sighed a little. “It needs work though….”

I smiled a bit. It was the truth. I thought about all the times I’d
stall when I had to go take a shower… Oh, I’ll never forget you! Wish me
good luck, my darlings! WHY! Why, cruel world…? Oh! I just remembered
something! Or… Just five more minutes! Let me finish typing out this
sentence…or paragraph…Wait…another one! Just one other minute! I
swear…5 more minutes!

Pablo was also smiling.

Kuyo stared at us… “Run…They’re coming...” And he was right.

From where we had just came from, there were blue, weird
looking monsters that were charging forward.

They wore rags and had big pointy ears that stood up. They had a little bit
of hair sticking up from their heads. For some weird reason these blue
creatures remind me of Chihuahuas, except with blue scaly skin…and
instead of standing on four feet they stood only on two.

“Run!” Kuyo kicked one of the monsters down. The ones that
tried to crawl under his sword were welcomed by a kick in the face. “I
said ‘run’!” He looked back at us. “Now!”

“But…We’re not gonna leave you!” I picked up a rock and threw
it at the mob of monsters.

“Yeah!” Pablo said.

“Sorry, but you’re gonna, whether you like it or not.” Standing
behind us was a girl with blond hair that had been tied up to pigtails. She
wore a black, tight outfit which had a cat tail sewed on to it, matching
boots that went past her knees, a hat that was made to look like it had cat
ears, and black gloves that stopped before her elbow. She had a hand on
one hip.

“Delila! Take her and get them out of here!” Kuyo yelled over the ruckus as two mahogany colored Cyclops came.

“No!” I yelled back at Kuyo and Delila when she grabbed my arm and started to pull me away. “Please…Kuyo! What about you!?” Pablo also pleaded with me.

“Hey…Don’t worry about it…” and he smiled…like nothing was wrong…

Delila picked me up flung me, over her shoulder, and as she carried me away, I could see Kuyo shrinking and shrinking until we were out of General Hype’s prison.

Neither Pablo nor I wanted to believe it but he was a goner.

Chapter 11 Delila

I hadn’t quite realized it when I had woken up, but I had fallen asleep. It took me a while to process everything that happened. When I realized it, I jumped up wide eyed with my mouth hanging open. Tears stung my eyes.

“…Kuyo…” for a bit of time I laid in bed, wondering about this and that but after a while I threw off the covers and sat up. “If only…If only…” I sighed.

What I thought had been a dream wasn’t a dream at all. I still wasn’t back at home…

The carpet was a blood red. It looked so soft and comforting. I felt like I was in the world’s finest hotel.

I stood up and headed for the door. I opened it up and stuck my head out. “Hello…?” I called out.

“How are you doing?” I looked down to find Pablo.

“I’ve had better days than this….Where are we…?”

“Delila’s mansion.” Pablo hopped down the hall. “Follow me!”

We walked down a spiral staircase and into the marble floored
entrance. One of the rooms that were on my right was furnished in gorgeous cushioned chairs and a small glass topped table that sat in front of a fire place. In the other room, on my left, I could smell ham and eggs. I took a step closer to the kitchen and the aroma got stronger.

“Ah…That smells wonderful.” I said when I took a step inside.

Delila didn’t look up at me. “…”

“Good…Morning…? Um…Do you happen to know today’s
date…?” I felt… unwelcome.

“There’s a calendar in your room. You can check it later after
you have a shower-`Cuz, you know what, you really need one- and
breakfast. You ought to take a shower first.”

“Uh…Ok…”

“Pablo, show her where.” She turned around to get to the sink.

I think I saw a tear run down her cheek.

Chapter 12 Breakfast

If felt good to be bright as a new penny and to be in clean clothes (except my sweater) after being covered in dirt.

While I had showered I thought of that tear running down Delila’s cheek.

I drew a conclusion that Delila and Kuyo had a history
together. I found out that I was sort of correct when we talked during breakfast, but I went a little bit to over board.

“Sorry for being so rude earlier.” She said to me as she cooked sausages. My nose was really, really happy, taking in all of the glorious smells.

“Don’t worry about it…” I said paying no attention to anything but the sausage. I drooled when she started cooking…BACON. “Ooh!” I squeaked with joy.

She stared at me.

“Um…uh…” I felt slightly guilty now, it seemed like I didn’t’
care…but it all just felt like a dream, when he…when…he… “You…loved him, huh?” I asked staring at her.

“Yeah, he was always there for me.” She smiled, thinking of the good times.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. It’s his! He’s the one that had to
be a hero, pfft! Show off.”

“There’s…more fishy-fish in the sea…”

“What? You do know he’s my brother, right?”

“Oh! So when you said you loved him….you met…as a…
brother… Oh! Oh, ok. Oh…Alright, I understand now…”

“Ha-ha. Well, here’s your breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage,
and bacon.” She handed me my plate.

Chapter 13 Cavern Green Lake

Today was a Tuesday; I had checked the calendar before we
left. Luckily our surprise visit, well, capture, from General Hyper didn’t mess up the schedule, but it did mess up life, a lot.

Of course death is a part of life but when people die, not because of sickness or of old age, but because of you…it hurts…so much more…What ifs popped up in to my head and whenever I answered one of them a new one came.

But I realized something, when a person dies, they’ll never have died because of you-unless you poisoned them- they would have died for you and it was just their time.

Delila had walked us halfway; I said she needn’t walk all the way with us since Pablo/Carlos would be with me and I’d be with them. When Pablo and I arrived to the cave, I was surprised.

I hadn’t expected an actually cavern. I also hadn’t expected the lake to be inside of the cavern. It was green and brown with a light tinge of blue. More like a swamp in my opinion, but still. When we entered the cave I walked up a slope along side the wall and over to the area of land where the boat would meet us.

And this is where I’m at now. Cavern Green Lake.

The gloomy air made my depression worse.

I sighed and then I remembered what Kuyo had said to Carlos.

“Whoa…Wait a second, you’re the reason we were captured! You’re the one they want!”

I stared at the creaking floor boards and asked, “Who are you….?”

Carlos sad nothing for a long time but at some point he
spoke. “We were framed.”

The boat came up to the dock. It was a small, white motor boat
with a red stripe.

“Please…Tell me exactly what you were framed for…I have the
right to know!” Carlos was getting me aggravated but I tried to speak as
calmly as I could. I got inside the boat and took a seat; luckily this was a
free ride. Someone else got in after us.

“…Murder.”

Chapter 14 the Trial: A Dream of the Past.

Pleading. Carlos and Pablo were pleading. Yet, no matter how much they did no one believed them, except their friends and me.

“We wouldn’t dare do that! She was are very own blood!”
Carlos bickered and yelled.

“Then, tell me why is it when we found the weapon it had your
finger prints all over it!” The judge yelled back.

“Wa-ah…!” Pablo sobbed as he sat at a table while he waited
for his twin brother to stop.

They weren’t one person or a toothpick. They were like me.
They had skin clothing, hair, an actual body.

Both of them wore the same outfit. A pale brown tux with a
darker brown hat (the one they still wear today) with their blond, messy hair sticking out from underneath. They also had the red upside down triangles under their yellow eyes.

“Do you have proof?” The judge continued. “Did you not, the day before, get in an argument and I’ve heard you have threatened many people over frustration, is this true?”

“So what! Just because we weren’t around when she was killed,
doesn’t mean anything!”

“Do you have proof that you did or did not kill your sister!?”

“…No…I guess…we haven’t…” Defeat showed in Carlos’s eyes.
Pablo sobbed harder and his sobs echoed through out the court.

Chapter 15. “We’re almost there.”

“Hey, Kiddo. Ya got to get of my boat…Wake up…” I was being shaken.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, my eye sight was all blurry. I rubbed my eyes and my vision cleared. “Oh, sorry.”

I stood up; made sure I had all of my belongings, and got off the boat and onto the old squeaking boards of a small bridge that stopped above the water.

“Scuze me, sir. But it’s time to hop off.” I heard the man say to the other passenger.

“Just up this hill, Kristine. We’re almost there.” Pablo said.

I walked forward, underneath an old wooden sign that was put in between the cliffs. It reminded me of where we met Kuyo. It looked somewhat like the place, the desert, but everything here had a grayish tinge to it and there were old, dead, black trees with crows on their branches cawing.

“Almost there…” I told myself this for about 20 minutes. Was I really almost there?

About 10 minutes later we came to a fork in the road.

“Which way? Do you still have the map?” I asked. Pablo got the map out and I took a left. After a half hour I stopped and sat down on a nearby rock. “A…Almost…there…”

“Didn’t Delila give us some water?” Pablo got inside my backpack. “Found ‘em!” I helped him get a water bottle out and poured some into the cap for him. “Do you think we’ll have enough for the rest of the day?”

“Dunno…” I got up and put away our water.

I took a few steps forward but stopped when an arrow hit the ground, only a foot away from me. “What in the world!?” I looked up and there on the cliff was our doom.

General Hype and his light brown haired partner smirked down at us while their army of highlighters came charging forward.

Chapter 16 the Return

They say right before you die your life flashes before your eyes. Why? How can people be saying that if they’ve died? Also, that happens right before you die so we can’t possibly ever know.

But what I think that means is ‘right before you think you’re gonna die; you want to remember everything from your life just to make sure you have no burdens afterwards.’

The boy with light brown hair (or the one with the bazooka) shot out another arrow. “Hope you have a good time in the after life, brat, because that’s where you’re going!”

Run, Kristine! Run! That’s what my legs were telling me to do, but I couldn’t. I shut my eyes closed and kept my hands balled up unto fists.

“Hold it right there! She’s going nowhere, except with me!’

That voice!

I let out a small gasp. I opened up my eyes and there, standing in front of me with his hand stretched out clasping onto the arrow and with his sword in the other was no one other than, Kuyo.

Chapter 17 “We meet again and, hopefully, it’ll be the last time we ever do.”

“Kuyo!” Pablo and I had started to burst into tears.

“Uh...D-don’t cry!” Kuyo dropped the arrow and faced
us. ‘What’s wrong?” he placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Y-you’re alive!” I hugged him. “Oh! You’re alive!”

“…uh…Am I not suppose to be?” Kuyo hugged me back.

“Y-you are s-suppose t-to be alive and that’s a g-good thing! W-
we just thought you were dead!!!” Pablo sobbed.

“I’m not dead…It’s alright … uh… You can let go of me now…”
Even though Pablo and I were still clinging to him, Kuyo turned around and
held his hand out right when the light brown haired boy had fired off his bazooka at us. Before we exploded into little junks though, Kuyo’s hand started glowing and it made a shield around us, it took the impact of the bazooka and we were perfectly fine. “We meet again and, hopefully, it’ll be the last time we ever do.” Kuyo stopped embracing us. Taking that as a sign Pablo and I stopped clinging to him.

“Hopefully.” The boy said. “General Hype, let me take care of the foolish hero and I’m sure the girl and cry baby will die easily by the…er…caps…of your highlighters!”

“I agree. Men, kill the human and the pathetic toothpick! Charge!” General Hype’s army came tumbling towards us. The boy also jumped down from the cliff and stood before Kuyo, his sword in his hand.

I couldn’t help it, so, I started laughing. “Highlighters!? Oh, god! I’m so afraid!” I said sarcastically. “Ow! Man, what was…” I looked down and saw that my pants had been cut and torn and that blood was dripping downwards. The highlighters were around me. “Ok! Ok! I believe you, now! ”

‘Kristine, Pablo!” Kuyo was in a tight position. He was fighting the brown haired boy, but it seemed we would cause him a problem if we couldn’t take care of ourselves. “Hold on!” he kicked the boy down and put a shield around Pablo and me.

“Thank…” Pablo and I stared at Kuyo.

“What-is-it?” Kuyo looked back at us since he had felt our
stares while he fought the boy.

We continued staring a Kuyo and his yellow-golden cat ears that were where his normal ears should have been. “Y…you have kitty ears…” I said. Pablo nodded.

“I-know…!” Kuyo dodged one of the boy’s kicks.

“Stop talking and fight!” The boy got out a dagger after he
threw his sword at the wall in anger.

“Hey, don’t you see we’re having a conversation here? Man, you’re rude.” Kuyo put his hand over the boy’s face when he had charged at him. “They did some experiments on me and changed me into a cat. This is the best I could fix myself, but the thing about these cat ears is that my hearing’s better so, maybe it was worth it?”

The boy started yelling but it was all muffled.

“Ow, did you just bite me?” Kuyo took his hand off and raised his eyebrows at the boy.

“Yes!” he stabbed Kuyo in the arm. After he took out his dagger he tripped him.

When Kuyo fell to the ground the shield was no more. I started stepping on the highlighters and Pablo flew off my shoulder and chewed on their caps.

“Are you-Ow, man-okay!? They-Ow- turned you- Ow -into-er- a cat?” I asked.

“That’s what he said! Now, shut up!” the boy glared at me.

“Halt!”

“Stop it right there!”

“Ruff, ruff!”

“In the name of justice we command you to stop!”

“Hold it!”

“Freeze!”

“Hold-!”

“-On!”

“…Surrender.”

Out jumped living clothing, living backpacks, and other items.
The ones that caught my attention the most were two toy plushies, a pen,
a pencil, and fruit: cherries and a strawberry. Then leaves and flower
petals started floating down, all of them yelling out, “We shall fight!”

Pablo stopped biting one of the highlighters and he
smiled. “More fighters!”

“They’re on our side, right?” I asked, still kicking highlighters
away.

“Yes, very!”

“Finally, help!” Kuyo had been back on his feet. He had cuts
over him but the boy had more.

“No! This wasn’t suppose to happen!” muttered the boy
angrily. “General, what do we do!?”

“Fight till we die!” I headed towards General Hyper, watching
out for our allies.

“Gotcha!” I said as I held General Hyper high above the air.

“What!? Let me go!” he struggled.

“Wish I could do that…” said a cherry that was connected by
the stem to another cherry.

“Ha!” I looked at the highlighters that had stopped fighting. It
was like someone had pushed the pause button on life. “Uh-oh.” They
charged forward. “I’ll-I’ll eat him if you come any close, okay maybe I
won’t but I’ll do something!” They stopped and glanced at each other
with looks that said ‘Eat….him?’

“You let him go!” the light brown haired boy got his sword and
charged at me.

I took of General Hype’s cap and used him along side the wall.
He started cracking up, “Oh! Stop-ha-ha, NOW!” The boy listened to him
and stopped.

“Let him go…” he said through gritted teeth.

“Um…no…?” I stopped tickling General Hype and got his cap
back on.

“Hey! Pass him over here!” Kuyo put his hands up and I threw
General Hype over to him. “Hey, Hype. See you later, Hype.” He passed
Hype back to me. “Heh, wish you had grabbed him sooner!”

“Let-me-down-NOW!”

Kuyo had him again. “Let me think about it…Hm…Okay…How
about in…never…?”

“Men-help-me- right this moment!” he was thrown back to me.

“Sorry, sir. But my job with you is over. It appears I have no
service with you.” The light brown haired boy smirked.

“WHAT!? TOYAMAHA, YOU WILL NOT LEAVE ME!”

“Peace out, losers.” He saluted us goodbye.

“No! Stop him!” Kuyo plunged for the boy, Toyamaha, but it
was too late. He had disappeared in a blink of the eye. “Darn it!”

“I’m sorry, Kuyo…” I walked up to Kuyo who was sitting on the
floor, sighing.

“Well, I guess, at least we have this idiotic highlighter and I’m
sure you won’t die from blood loss.” He said.

“Ha, hopefully.” I stared at my ankles. “Er…But I doubt that…”

“Let me go!” General Hype squeezed himself out of me hand
and started to hop away.

“We’re not done with through with you yet, Hype!” I girl about 7
inches tall got in front of Hype. She was sort of like a stick figure except made out of cherries. And then another person like her stood by her side but this on was a boy. The two plushies, the connected cherries, the pen and pencil and the strawberry, surrounded him in a circle. A cloud of dust appeared as they started to punch, kick, torture and whatever else they could do to him that made him plead for dear life.

Chapter 18 Camp Fire

“Nice to meet you, Kuyo and Kristine. The name’s Mary and this is my friend, Julio.” Mary had a cherry for a head and cherries for the rest of her body. She was the one who looked like a stick figure. Her friend was like that also.

“Nice to meet the two of you…Sorry that everyone else had to
go, never know what could happen back home.” Julio said in a quiet voice.

“This is my brother-.” There was another cherry, she wore a
bow but she was just made up of one cherry who was connected to her
twin brother.

“Fabeo. And this is my sister-.” He wore a red tie and had a
mustache.

“Bonita.” His sister said.

“I’m Dorothy and this is Rover, my dog.” The Gothic Lolita
dressed plushy said with her brown furred, green buttoned eyed plushy
dog by her side. “It’s a pleasure to be meeting you, Kuyo, and you too,
Kristine.”

“Ruff! Ruff!” Rover got on two legs. He got down back on four
and came over to Kuyo and me, sniffing our scent.

“I’m Shiloh.” Spoke the pencil.

“Larry the sixth’s the name, but just call me Larry!” the pen
jumped up in joy. He wore a black crayon wrapper around him.

“I’m Strawberria!” the strawberry smiled. She had cute eyes
which made her seem sweet. She was a strawberry, so, I guess she had
to look sweet.

“And, I’m Delila” from the cliff’s shadows came Delila. “Kuyo!”

“Delila!” Kuyo stood up and jumped over our campfire to his
sibling. “Big sister!” He tackled her with a hug.

“Little brother, I got your letter, I should have known you’d
survive. Ooh and look at these cute cat ears you have!” she scratched him
behind the ears.

“This is so awes-!” Pablo’s face turned blank and his head
started spinning.

Everybody’s expression looked as though they were witnessing
the most disturbing, and most terrifying scene in the whole world.

“EEE-ah!”

“Come on now. I’m not that scary…” Carlos said glaring at us.

“S-sorry.” Strawberria looked the other way, embarrassed at
the fact that she had screamed.

I started to laugh and so did everyone else. Even Carlos.

Chapter 19 Two of Them

It was a foggy morning and I could hear footsteps. I could smell the moist in the air and Kuyo’s scent. I felt each footstep Kuyo took and his arms holding me, I was getting a free piggy back ride, but that was because, even though Bonita, Mary, Strawberria, Larry, and Dorothy had healed all the cuts from the highlighters, my ankles still hurt. It felt like I had bruises and somebody was pounding on them, but it felt better then last night. I could also hear Kuyo’s voice and everybody’s footsteps.

“Man, can’t believe he escaped. Never knew that ink was like acid…”

“I know. It’s a disappointment but at least he left…but he might come back…” Julio said, getting along well with Kuyo.

“Well, as long of us we don’t have serious injuries we can fight him back. We don’t know how to heal and the one’s that do know can’t heal that well if it’s too deep.” Fabeo joined in the conversation.

“Guys, try to keep your voices down, it’ll wake up Kristine…” Bonita interrupted.

“Heh, I doubt it, she passed out last night and a nuclear explosion probably can’t wake her up.” I felt Kuyo’s hair as he turned his head to look at me.

“But still, keep your voices down.”

I smiled a little bit. How in the world could Kuyo carry me!?

I dozed off back to sleep.

When I opened my eyes everything was blurry and I was seeing double. A Carlos and a Pablo. I blinked a few times and everything cleared but I was still seeing both Carlos and Pablo.

I sat up and found myself on a hay stack. “What in the world?”

“Part of our curse is over; we’re almost done with our
punishment.” Pablo squealed with delight.

“Guess something came up to prove part of our innocence.”
Carlos smirked.

“Yay! I grabbed them both and gave each a kiss.

“Hey, don’t get too mushy on us.” Carlos said.

“Haha.” I smiled. “Whatever you say, boss!”

Chapter 20 Home Is Where the Heart Is

Kuyo would stay and live here, in a farmland with green, fresh grass, a nice crystal blue waterfall which flowed into a river and with talking everything! He’d be able to relax and he’d found the home he had sought for all along.

Delila would stay for a day or two but then she’d go back to her mansion.

Only a few of the people who had fought against General Hype had died but they died with honor and respect.

Had life flashed before their eyes?

For me, I’d be going back home. I loved it here but I loved being with my friends and family back at home even more.

“Goodbye…” I held my new friends one by one to me as they
gave me a hug. I hugged Delila goodbye and when I let her go she
handed me a brown package. “What’s this?”

“Open it.” Inside there was a necklace. It was a crescent moon
made of diamond with a black star at the points and with a mini, black
angel wing on one side and the other on the right side.

“Wow…Pretty…Is it real?” She nodded. “How’d you afford it…?”

“She didn’t…she stole it….” Kuyo glared at his sister.

“So I’m a thief, you don’t always have to blame me.”

“Uh…” I stared at Delila and then at the necklace.

“Oh, just keep it!” Kuyo handed me something also. “If you
don’t y…you won’t be able to open this…” It was a small box. It was the
night sky with a few grew clouds. “If you place the moon in the indent and
turn it, it’ll play music ...I know in your world you probably don’t have stuff
like this nowadays but…”

“Thank you.” I hugged Kuyo.

“No problem…” He hugged me back. “Take good care of it, ok?”

“I will, how’d you get it?” I looked at it.

“I stole it for him.” Delila said sarcastically. “No…it used to be
our mother’s… We…we wanna trust you with it…”

“W-what…? I can’t keep this!”

“We want you to, though. People here will try to steal it…” Kuyo
said.

“Why not play it?” Delila asked.

“Uh…” I nodded. “Alright…” I started to turn the necklace and a
melody started to play.

“Take care, brat.” Carlos said with a smile.

“You too.”

“Bye, bye…” The mopey Pablo said but then he smiled.

It hurt…My heart…When would I see them again…?

“I’ll see you all some time later…right…?” Pablo and Carlos
nodded I looked up at Kuyo and Delila.


“Of course!”


Drip, drip, drip.


Raindrops were pouring from the sky and onto the ground. I

opened up my eyes and sat up in the watery, squishy mud.

Drip, drip, drip.

I wiped off the water on my face but it was useless. I sneezed
when I had gotten up.

My clothing was soaking wet. How long had I lain in the rain?
Where was the music box? I checked my backpack. I still had it. I looked
around and saw that I was in the apartments that I lived in. I slowly
walked to our front door and turned the door knob.

I took a step inside. “I’m home!”

Chapter 21 But in the End.

People probably found me crazier than usual when I told them where I had been and never believed me. But like I tell myself every once in a while, ‘You can think and say what you feel but as long as I know what’s real I’ll know the truth.’ Well…something like that…

Everyone that I met on my journey knows what awaits us, even I do. Toyamaha will be back and General Hype also, that’s a fact.

But in the end we’ll have to wait for our new beginning and adventures.

Like I said in the beginning of this story… Life…it’s like a huge book of craziness waiting to be opened…

WOoT! ADD ro- Ooh! A birdy!

Haha. Same here...

What was I talking about...?...Hey....WHere am I!? WHO ARE YOU!?

hehehe
This was a really cute story mrgreen
and Zahmen is correct btw.
but still it's a cute story heart

OOh, Ok...Man...I wish I could change it now...But it's too late, I printed it out and got it in the cover already...I'm not gonna trust my brother's dictionary anymore...*goes out to find a VERY big dictionary with all the information in the world* Thank you, now if only I had a time machine...

To tell you the truth I wanted Kuyo to be based off of my Gaia Friend, but it didn't work out. But Kuyo is what I call my friend and they both like dumplings.

Dazed and Confused is a great movie.

I didn't know Cloud talked. I thought he was like Link, strong and silent.

But then there goes MY brain again.