Adventures on GamersHood Planet

[Lilliputt]

As sir Theme was about to give Becky the shot Lilliputt couldn’t help but react on instinct. Throwing herself in front of Becky she accidentally shoves sir Theme just a little bit. He loses his balance for an instance and gives the shot to Lilliputt by mistake. “Oooouuuch!” shrieks Lilliputt as the shot goes into her arm. Sir Theme stands staring at Lilliputt and tries to calculate potential dangers as he realises that he may have shaken the syringe. The whole gang freezes as this happen and watch Lilliputt as she falls to the floor. “But she is no wolf”, Beanman finally said. “What are we going to do?”, miss Holland said in fear and surprise. “What the hell did she do that for?”, Doglover exclaimed from the desk where OneBun nearly fell off from out of shock. “There is only one thing we can do”, Becky said slowly as she leaned over Lilliputts body and held her fainted face in her hands. “If we fly near the moon I can change to wolf form and…..bite her.” So they did, and with a howl that sounded very sad Becky bit her friend and sister in arms.
Lilliputt started to shake and tossing herself from left to right she woke up with something that really sounded pitiful if meant as a howl:” WHAAAAAAAAAAPPAAAADIIIIDLEEEEEDOOOOOONGDEEEEEDWHOO OOOOOOOOO”. Lilliputt had transformed but not to a form that could be called a grown wolf, she seemed to resemble a white wolfcub with big ears and big dark eyes. She actually looked cute. Lili rushed forward, but before she could reach Lilliputt Dazed appeared and stopped her. “She is still a werewolf, she may not know you”. Lilliputt seemed to growl but it sounded more like a little squeak, then she turned and took a good look at all the members of the gang. She growled again, but it sounded so funny that the gang could not help but giggle a little. Lilliputt then realised there was a scent that was close and somehow familiar. Behind her stood Becky and so Lilliputt greeted the wolf in a puppy like manner. They seemed to start to play together and so the whole group of GamersHood Planet residents went “AWWWW!”. Suddenly Lilliputt started to act strange and jumped and rolled on the floor and then rushes off into a hallway in the ship. Becky sets off after her and moments later she carries the little cub gently in her neck but there is something wrong. “Look!”, Lili exclaims and they all watch carefully to where she is pointing. One of Lilliputts claws is missing, “the claw!” Freakshow, Slimy Jim and Beanman shout at the same time, “Lilliputts evil pinky!”.
“….c l aaaaa w….Liiii…lliii…puuutts….uhm what was that?”, said Doglover still occupied with taking notes, “oh…uhm…eeeeeev…iiiiil…..piiiin…kyyyy.” When she realised what she just wrote she exclaimed “WHAT THE H..”, but was cut off by Mistery. “It is very likely that the virus has occupied the claw. We have to run some tests on Lilliputt.” After testing Lilliputt the result showed she was not more infected by the virus than the rest of the GamersHood Planet residents. The binary code was however not in her and so Mistery and sir Theme came to the same conclusion. It was in the evil claw. Sir Theme suggested that since it was only a cubs blood maybe there should be a bigger dose of wolf blood and so the binary code was simply drawn to the evil pinky. “But why?” Dazed wanted to know. “Because the claw might be able to spread the virus quicker”, sir Theme said no longer in loop mode. “….viiii….rrrrruuuuussss….quiiiii….ckeeeeeeerrrrrr ”, Doglover repeated. Lilliputt the cub had also changed, no longer so suspicious she started to wiggle her tail and sniff about the members, all the while her tongue was hanging out just a bit. She seemed sort of blissful in a cub sort of way. Even though it seemed harmless enough that Lilliputt had become a wolf, Lili insisted that she wanted Lilliputt the islander back in her normal physical form, so an antidote was prepared and then it was decided that when the claw was back where it belonged, Lilliputt would be cured.
While this was going on no one had noticed that OneBun had used the beaming device to get herself back to earth. It was Doglover who realised it first because she had fallen asleep on her notes and then woke up with a start, shook her head and noticed that OneBun was not there checking the notes.
Darknight was already at the most likely place for the claw to be: JFK airport. Disguised as an ordinary traveller he began his search for the illusive little claw. Just then his cell phone gadget vibrated and Freakshows voice asked in the earplug, “Where are you?”. “JFK airport”, Darknight replied without any hesitation. “We will be right there. Lets split up, you take the north end, I’ll take the south and Slimy Jim can start in the centre.” The search began. Darknight had never seen so many people suddenly burst into laughter before, he was sure the claw had to be close but when he told Freakshow, it seemed as it was no different on his end of the airport. Finally Darknight caught a glimpse of the illusive claw, it was about to crawl inside the back of a jacket of an older gentleman. Halfway it stopped and seemed to tickle his neck. Suddenly the man burst into laughter and shook so the claw was tossed high in the air. Reacting on impulse Darknight jumped and caught the claw in mid air. As he fell to the floor, people stared and so he tried to act as if stung by a wasp. “Nasty things, wasps you know?”, and tried to smile, then walked quickly from the scene. He reunited with the others and handed the claw to Freakshow who put it in a tight locked security box.
Back on the ship Mistery was happy to see the three law keepers of Gamers Hood and while taking care of the claw she asked them if they would like something to drink. The claw still had the binary code so Mistery made sure it was removed, isolated and put in the freezer. As the law keepers had their drink Lilliputt was reunited with the claw given the serum and returned to her normal carefree self. “Uhhm, ok, sooo what happened?”. She was told by a smiling sir Theme that people around the world are acting very weird. Outburst of laughter have become normal, coffee spilling is noted everywhere, but most importantly newspapers are printing stories of people claiming to have seen a pink bunny taking notes. The mental institutions have never been so full of patients and the queue is growing. Lilliputt didn’t really understand much of it so all she could think of to say was, “maybe they should try and eat some more carrots”.

OneBun had invited all the residents of GamersHood Planet to a celebration for her being cured from the wretched graphophobia. The virus was spreading like weed and OneBun had to leave the party now and then to appear as the symptom she was. Everyone had a wonderful time, drinking carrot rum, eating carrots and corn and laughing and telling stories about all the adventures.
The End


---------> There will be a surprise, so don't forget to check back before the next story starts

[OneBun]

Basement date October 20, 2006
File number: GHLB-10000

Final Notebook Entry for Virus testing,


It must be noted that my experiment had both some great success as well as some side effects that were not expected. Here are the conclusions that were made from my testing:
Over centuries viruses have been thought to be a bad thing. However, the development of the Energizer Bunnyitious Magentae Virus is meant to infect the world with laughter. The key was to develop it in such a way to make the Loonies of the GamersHood Planet laugh & ROFL, but not too much.

Overview:

The Great turtle of the GamersHood seemed quite perfect, but there seemed to be just one thing missing ROFL. So it was decided that something had to be done. Research had shown that those who do not ROFL in a games place quickly use words like “I’m bored.” Therefore, some research had to be done.

Analysis:
1. The real Maniac, the real Freakshow, 1337boi, the real Wirodeu, Zox with an obsession with socks (or is it sox?), & especially dazedandcrazed one, as well as the Dunce were verrrry easy Gamers from the Hood to infect.
2. The delicate blossoms were an interesting study. The one lili was a very intelligent clay pot, but was best infected through cross pollination, using pottery dust. The other Lilli was infected through an occasional carrot shot. It only had one minor side effect of when ever she greeted a friend, she had the sudden urge to toss them a home grown carrot to eat. It was very interesting indeed to see two blossoms ROFL.
3. The super heroes could not be injected with a needle through their steal hard skin. The bun broke 4 needles with trying. They had to be infested through their tear ducts by rubbing it on the inside of their masks. Once infested, The stickman warrior, Bobin & Darknight were great supporters in the spread of the virus, helping to protect the pink bun at any cost. At times the others did not understand that this Looney behavior was important.
4. Vault was infested just shaking it into his soda, but not too much or they might explode.
5. The Beanman was a bit difficult to catch in order to give him a shot as he was always speeding around on his Bike. He finally received a flat tire & was given the shot as Darknight & Bobin held him down for the bun.
6. The animals, animal lovers, & butterfly seemed to ROFL easily. All it took was some carrot rum to infest them with the virus. Unfortunately it was difficult to keep up with them, as animals have immune systems & were able to fight off the virus & had to be re-injected with stronger dosages. Each had their own side effects as well… The wolf began to suck helium & howl in a high pitched voice. The hyper fox began to enjoy the heat of a pot in an attempt to avoid the tickle o laughter. When forced to be released from the pot, would jump on the head of Becky out of the reach of the bun. The cat, Murph the Bengal Tiger, the doglover, the horse loving girl from Holland, Bige the dolphin rider, & the butterfly partied it up too much with the carrot rum, causing the serum to constantly run out….they even took it from the Bun’s basement. This caused some unexpected delays in experimentation. At times they drank waaaaaaayyyy too much making them ROFL until their sides hurt. There was much concern about this.
7. The Mistery of them all was the alien. They had to be injected with humor. They, like the group mentioned in (6). Had to be re-injected several times. They tried to get rid of the virus because it was foreign to them, & feed it to be harmful.
8. The robot was easy to infect. The virus was uploaded through some software the bun sent in the mail. The robot never suspected it to not be from their creator. They were able to ROFL very easily. They even denied the virus & did not notice it right away.
9. The MegaCorney Bread… well…how difficult is it to infect that? pffttt
10. The virus took so much from this bun that it had a side effect on her too. It led to graphophobia. This bun would have been lost without the beaming device discoveries & the help form the dear doglover.

Conclusion:

With the effects of the virus it must be concluded that the virus has caused everyone to join & belong in the GamersHood Looney Bin! Last conclusion, I must pace myself so I will not get graphaphobia again.

Signed,

OneBun
The Bunerator

Ps. Thanks for checking my writing Doglover to make sure it was okay. It appears that the virus has passed as nothing was changed. What a relief!

[Lilliputt]

The making of a Labyrithian

There was a disaster on Carrot Island, the hut was burnt to the ground and soon after, a storm blew Lilliputt out to sea. She was lost. No home, no friends, no solid ground under her feet. She was drowning and sunk deeper and deeper until suddenly a bright light appeared and sucked her into the center. It was a gateway and Lilliputt entered barely conscious into a whole new world. Someone was all ready there and came to greet her with a big smile, but Lillputt strength was all gone and soon fainted. She thought the person very beautiful and her last thought before hitting the ground was that she just met an angel.
There was a light humming close by as Lilliputt started to wake up. She was in a strange room filled with shining objects and sparkling things. A soft light was filling the room from a very big window with elegant thin white curtains. Lilliputt realized she was in a strange bed that felt almost like a cloud as it was fluffy and filled with pillows in different sizes. It was a canopied bed with some sort of red embroided cloth, maybe satin, draped over and to the side of the bed. Of course Lilliputt thought she had ended up in heaven because living in a hut on a little island was all she knew and had never experienced the feel of a bed that was so comfortable and beautiful. She scratched her head and thought of how and why she had ended up in this strange place. As she thought of this a door silently opened and a lady walked in, smiling and looking very friendly. Lilliputt tried to smile but all she managed was a clumsy grin as she was shocked to see the one she thought an angel standing in front of her. She tried to say something clever but ended up with “brlbdup” and blushed. The lady laughed and said “Hello honeybunny, feeling any better?”. Of course this was not how Lilliputt pictured a conversation with an angel so she had no other response then staring foolishly at the lady. “…uh… “, she tried, “…I is.. duh… uhm fine”, she finally finished and nodded many times over as if to insure that she really meant what she said. “I am Brimful-Asha, and I sensed you were in trouble Lilliputt”, the lady said gently motioned for Lilliputt to sit in the bed. “Huh?”, said Lilliputt dumbly not taking her eyes off the lady and having problems shutting her mouth. “Have a seat” Brimful-Asha explained patiently. “Oh”, Lilliputt replied and made herself comfortable in the bed, “uhm… where am I?” “I have been sensing troubles on Carrot Island for some time and almost lost you when the storm struck but I managed to open a portal for you and let you in to the other realm beyond you planet. This is the Labyrith of Ancient Paths and I am hoping you will accept my invitation to stay”. It took a while for Lilliputt to realize that she was not in heaven and Brimful-Asha was not an angel and also she was asked to stay in this beautiful place. “But what about Carrot Island and my hut… and and….” Brimful-Asha put her arm around the little person that once used to be an islander and said. “Carrot Island is no more for you, hun. The portal is closed. Maybe one day you might return, but right now this is the only place I have to offer.” Lilliputt felt sad but the gentle touch of the arm around her shoulders was a true comfort. “Why did you save me?”, she wondered after staring at her own feet for a while because she didn’t want to blush in front of the beautiful lady. “I have come to realize that you have strong psychic powers, Lilliputt, and I think it is high time for you to know how to use them”. At this point Lilliputt was no longer sure if she was with an angel, a person or a raving lunatic. “I see”, said Lilliputt but she had no idea what the lady was talking about. To change the subject she asked if there were any dragons and snakes around, and Brimful-Asha confirmed that outside the Labyrinth you could find such creatures. She thought for a while longer. “But what about my family and friends?”, she said and felt a slight panic at the thought of not ever seeing them again. “Oh you can still see them but not on Carrot Island”. It was a relief to hear and Lilliputt felt better knowing she would still see her daughters. “Well, I would like to have a look around first”, she said although she realized her choices where slim. “Of course”, said Brimful-Asha and they walked out of the bedroom to have a look at the world on the out side.

[Lilliputt]

CHAPTER 2

Lilliputt soon discovered that she was, in what felt like, a labyrinth of corridors and hallways, all bright and beautifully hand painted with symbols and signs that somehow felt familiar. Brimful-Asha moved fast but graciously and Lilliputt tried as best she could to keep up though she was only a tiny little figure beside her new found friend. The stony floor was not always even and so Lilliputt kept stumbling and fumbling while trying too seem as if she was unaffected and failed miserably. Suddenly they reached a large open space with green marble pillars, beautiful wooden furnishings and the floor was covered with an elaborate patterned mosaic. Lilliputt was at loss for words. On a table close to where they were standing was a big glass bowl of fresh fruits and on an elegant porcelain plate some sweets. Brimful-Asha looked at the bowl then seemed very thoughtful and suddenly an orange rose from the plate and travelled in thin air to the hand of Brimful-Asha. “Would you like one?”, she said as if she had done the most natural thing in the world. Lilliputt stared at the fruit then at Brimful-Asha and back at the orange with her mouth wide open. “Gaaah…”, she tried but her mouth was not functioning properly. “The others are going to join us shortly”, Brimful-Asha explained and put the orange firmly in Lilliputts hand. “Gaaah”, Lilliputt replied since it was the only sound she could manage at the moment. She kept staring at the orange as if it was going to open up and talk to her.
There was a muffled noise close to one of the doorways leading into one of the many hallways that were connected to the grand hall they were in, and there was some smoke. At the same time Brimful-Asha took a seat on a divan with beautiful wooden carved legs and cushions in bright colors, and started to wave her hands in the air. A figure stepped out of the smoke and Lilliput realized it was Jenni, one of the GH twins. She dropped her jaws. “Uh… butaaa…what are you doing here?” Dressed in blue jeans and a cotton fitted ladies tee, Jenni looked like any teenager but sorta out of place in these surroundings. “Hello Lilliputt”, she said without any hint of being surprised to see her friend in the company of Brimful-Asha, “glad you made it in here”. “Here is a thought”, Lilliputt said while still toying the orange, “why don’t you explains to me what “here” is and how you came in here”. “Ahh, Jenni, good that you came. I was afraid you didn’t get the message”, Brimful-Asha said tilting her head towards her friend. Rapped in her beautiful green sari like garment, arm rings and other jewelry Brimful-Asha certainly was a great contrast to Jenni, not to mention Lilliputts blue overalls and short sleeved checkered shirt. “I thought you explained about this place all ready, Asha”, Jenni said in confusion. “Well, I thought I’d let her get over her fascination of that orange”, Brimful-Asha. At that Lillputt clumsily dropped the orange and stared at it as it rolled across the floor. Jenni laughed and said “welcome to the heart of The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths”. “Oh”, said Lilliputt not taking her eyes off the orange, “thank you”, she mumbled.
There were more muffled noises and smoke and then a Monkey and Bizarrochick stepped out of the smoke. “Hi all”, they said in chorus with a big smile on their faces as if they just did the most normal thing in the world. “Hello”, said Lilliputt though still feeling very confused. “Is there any psychoc left”, Monkey said giving Lilliputt little notice. “Hi Lilliputt”, said Bizarro, “would you like some Third Eye Absinthe? I am going to get some for all”, she said and smiled and suddenly a tray of drinks was hovering in thin air serving the assembled group. “Oh”, Lilliputt said again, “thank you” and tried the drink. It didn’t taste like anything she had tried before but it was a magnificent drink and making Lilliputt feel a lot better about the whole situation. She was also offered psychoc that turned out to be pink chocolate, and surprisingly tasty too. While Brimful-Asha lid some incence and filled the room with a sweet herbal scent, Bizzaro got a orb shaped crystal and suddenly it lid up. She motioned for Lilliputt to move forward and when the shadows inside the orb cleared she could see Lili, Becky, Dazed, Escape and Doglover together in something she could not clearly make out. “What are they doing?”, she screamed in surprise. “Saving you, I’d wager”, Monkey said and had some more psychoc. “Don’t worry,” Brimful-Asha said, “we will keep an eye on them”. It’s time for you to get acquainted with this realm”. Jenni took Lilliputt by the hand and led her into one of the hallways while the others followed. Another tour through winding corridors and hallways until they reached the main gate of the structure they were in. Again Lilliputt was at loss for words for it seemed the building was at the hearts of an elaborate labyrinth. All around them were a jungle of natural vegetation but it all seemed to form intricate patterns, just like the ones the painted walls inside the building showed, with tiny paths running within them. Here and there stone like platforms hovered in different levels and seemed to block the paths leading to the building. It seemed that it was a whole world of carefully planned pathways that hid the building. Just in front of them was a small garden of roses neatly planted in rows, so Lilliputt took a few steps back to look at the building she was in. It was an enormous structure of white alabaster like material that seemed to glow from the inside here and there in different colors. There were towers and moldings, curved walls and golden yellow roofs in different shapes and sizes depending on what was being covered. It was not possible to take in the whole building as it was to large in size, but somehow Lilliputt FELT the size and shape of it and it made her slightly dizzy. Above the main entrance was a giant symbol that looked like a never ending spiral. The windows were like elegantly framed mirrors adding to the impressive beauty of the building. Lilliputt gaped while Brimful-Asha said, well as you can see, we are surrounded by The Labyrith of Ancient Paths, and beyond are the Riddler Woods and Anagram Mountains”, she said and seemed amused at Lilliputts astonished expression. “There is also the Sea of Hints and the mystic underground HTM River that reaches our little modest shelter”. Lilliputt could not belive that this gigantic palace that looked like nothing she had ever seen before and was a billion larger then her old hut was thought of as “a shelter”. “Ahh, yes”, she gaped foolishly, “….shelter” she mumbled.
“Those platforms that you see floating around have enigmatic locks and can only let people in if they have the right answers. Oh, look there is Vivi”, she continued and smiled as she waved at the figure just above and to the right of them, “hey, Vivi, over here!”, she screamed and Vivi, who seemed very preoccupied with one of the platforms, peeked down, smiled and waved a purple carrot back at the crowd below her. “Well”, Brimful-Asha concluded, “welcome to our realm Lilliputt”. “Brlbdup” said Lilliputt and blushed.

[Lilliputt]

Chapter 3
Miss Holland stood shocked and speechless by the ashes of what used to be the hut of her mother. That is how her sisters found her when they got word that a disaster struck on Carrot Island. “She is gone”, Miss Holland said with tears in her eyes and looked at Doglover and Escape, “I can’t believe it but she is gone”. “Pffft… she can’t be”, said Doglover stubbornly, “she is just…uh… MISSING and I will find her”. “Yes”, Escape said, “she just can’t be gone. We have to find her.” “Mistery and sir Theme all ready examined the ashes”, Miss Holland said, “and after some arguments about amorphous carbon and pyrolysis they finally concluded that there are no remains of our mom in there. But I have searched the whole island with my horses and not found a single trace of her. I can’t leave though. I have to take care of Twinkle and Amor”. Miss Holland couldn’t take her eyes off the ashes but gazed unhappily at the remains and shivered. Escape put her arms around her and tried to give her some comfort, “don’t worry, we’ll find her. My husbun is on a mission to save the world again but I think we can manage anyway”, she said. “Manage what?”, a rough voice said behind her. It was Eternal Becky who had turned up for her regular visits only to find the hut had burned to the ground and Lilliputts daughters were gathered nearby it. “Becky!”, Doglover exclaimed and rushed to hug the wolf from the Forbidden Forest. “I’d like to know that too”, said Dazed and stepped out of the shadows of some nearby trees. All joined in a great group hug and the decision was made to save Lilliputt.

Lili had a bad dream and woke up feeling worried about her partner in bloom, Lilliputt. She had work to do but since it was impossible to keep her mind off the dream, she replaced herself with a clone and sneaked out of work to go to the harbour where she still had her boot boat. The little ceramic figurine jumped into her boat, set sail and started off her trip to Carrot Island. But she was not alone, Foon the Weather God caught up with her and blew her all the way to the GH planet island. “Ty”, said Lili thankfully when realizing her trip got shorter than usual. There was a surprise for her on the beach though because there was the assembled old group of friends looking very unhappy. No sooner had she reached the shore when she was spotted, greeted warmly by the others and got the whole story what happened to Lilliputts hut. “And we were on our way to build a boat to see if she got lost at sea but now we might not have to”, Escape said and glanced at the boot boat. “Whadda ya mean?!”, said Doglover and made her famous pffft face, “we can’t fit into that thing. We are too many!”. Lili calmed Doglover down and told her that Charmed1 cast a spell on it once so that it would fit more people if need be. “Why don’t you try the Big Toe?”, she said encouragingly, “and your sister can sit next to you”. “I’ll go for the heel”, said Dazed, “heels are not a problem for me”. Becky and Lili shared the top and off they went on the Sea of Knowledge. The waves of the ocean were glittering in the sun light but there was no sign of life in any direction save some seagulls and whatever fish was underneath them. “This won’t get us anywhere”, said Escape, “sis, can get out of the toe and have a smell? Maybe you can get moms scent.” Doglover crawled out of the toe and put her nose in the air. “No, I only smell seawater but no carrots”, she said unhappily, “glad to be out of the toe though. It’s not that comfortable”. “Well, a heel is not exactly a bed of roses either”, Dazed mumbled grudgingly. “I think we all know how Lilliputt would have solved this problem”, Becky said and everybody nodded. “Here, I drew all the directions that we can go”, she continued and showed the others her drawing, “ok, all together now…” and in chorus they all went “…eenie meenie miny mo, catch the tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go, eenie meenie miny MO.” They all stared at the drawing and sure enough Becky had pointed out a direction. “That way”, she said triumphantly and pointed towards a part of the sea that pretty much looked like any other part of the sea.
After more hours of searching the trip became more and more a struggle with no Lilliputt in sight and feel of hopelessness spread amongst the friends. Hours passed, day became night and then day again but no Lilliputt where showing anywhere, just a lot of water. Suddenly something appeared in the horizon and since Lilis little boot boat started to leak they decided to take a look. The closer they got the more it looked like a raft with sails, but the rest of the brownish material seemed alien somehow. “Let’s use that instead”, Lili said and they abandoned the boot boat for the new vessel. Once they had all settled in the new ship it rushed forward with amazing speed but there didn’t seem to be any steering wheel to change course or to make it slow down. “What is happening?!”, Doglover screamed. “I dunno, sis, just hang on to me, ok?”, Escape answered while Lili, Becky and Dazed tried frantically to turn the raft around by showing their hands in the water. Since it didn’t change anything, they stopped and they all looked on as they headed into the sunlight in the horizon. It was a shock to them all when they finally reached the end of GamersHood planet, the much feared Edge of Ban. A voice that seemed to come out of nowhere broke the crushing noise of the furious waves hitting the spear like stony edge and the screams of the helpless group in the doomed raft. “I WILL HELP YOU!”, it said and they were suddenly surrounded by a different, sort of gloving light. A star had descended from the clear sky and twinkled as if to give a sense of reassurance and it seemed as though there was some music, very gentle and soft that filled the air. The star was glowing, there seemed to be patterns on it, beautiful little symbols that blinked now and then. The boat started to shake and just before it was about to crash into the Edge of Ban it lifted and hovered into nothingness beyond the edge of the planet. A part of the sky twirled and a whole broke open with a great big bang. The floated right in with the company of the shining star and as they entered the new dimension Becky asked “where are we going”. “TO THE REALM OF MYSTICAL PSYCHIC POWERS”, was the answer and Dazed thought quietly “Well, uh.. that went well” as they reached the unknown.

[Lilliputt]

Chapter 4
The alien raft swung over the new unknown territory and they all realized that the raft might crash as they fell from the sky towards the rocky landscape. Something had caught Escapes attention though, some buttons flashed just under the board that covered the front of the raft. She let go of her fear and crawled over curiously and pushed the flashiest one. All the others were screaming and telling each other how much fun they had together and how sad it is to meet the end like this. The shining star seemed to find it peculiar how they all acted and floated gently alongside the falling raft. When Escape pushed the button though, the raft started to spin. “What are you doing Escape?”, Dazed screamed while trying to hold on tightly. Another button flashed brightly in front of Escape and since she thought they didn’t have much hope left, she might as well try another. She pushed the button and the raft stopped spinning but flung over a sand colored rock full of sharp edges that they were about to hit. Swinging to the left and right, the raft crisscrossed through the stony and deserted landscape. All soon realized that they were not about to crash and so they had a look at the surroundings as the raft settled in a more peaceful pace. The scenery was not like anything they had seen before. There were cliffs and rocks of various shapes, mostly in rusty red colors with a pinch of green here and there. What plants were brave enough to grow in such unwelcoming conditions was a mystery. The sky was changing in purple as the sun was about to set behind some mountains that grew in size as the raft approached. There was a little narrow river on top of a mountain chain and the raft settled gently on it. The friends felt relief when they realized they were back on water and not falling from the sky anymore. “Ok, so where are we going?”, Lili wanted to know. “You are heading towards The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths. I believe this friend of yours is all ready there”, the shining star answered and twinkled as if to give comfort.”Oh!” said Becky because she had no other answer. “Ah-ha”, said Dazed for the same reason. “Oh good!”, said Doglover because she was not in the mood for more surprises and changed the subject by asking her sister how she knew what buttons to push. “Well, you don’t want me to go all computer gibberish on you, right sis?”, Escape said and blushed because she had no idea how she managed to push the right buttons. “Pffft”, said Doglover who knew her sister too well, “of course not”.

Lilliputt had managed to find her room after losing her way a few times. The directions she got was to follow her mind but since her mind was all a blur it didn’t exactly help. By chance she met up with Monkey who was kind enough to point to a door and go: “well, that’s your room, dear”. She had smiled and petted the confused little Lilliputt gently on her shoulder. Lilliputt didn’t fully realize why monkey was called “monkey”. She looked more like an elf and had a lot of things in common with Bizarrochick. Monkey just happened to have unusually long arms. Lilliputt had gotten to know them slightly better and felt more at ease with them but still had troubles understanding how they could make things float in mid air, how Biz had wings and was able to fly. It was good to know that Jenni was there. She had arranged for Jenni to meet up outside so they could explore the surroundings together. She had a change of clothes, packed some essentials and some fruit and off she went only to get lost again in the corridors and hallways. “Well, you really have to make better use of your mind”, a voice said behind her and there was Jenni standing cross armed and looking a little too pleased. “Well, I am just making sure my mind has not been blown away by all this and I am still not sure if that is the case!”, Lilliputt said ironically. Jenni laughed and they left the building together.
Several hours later they had both managed to get lost in the surrounding mountains. “Oh great! I thought you knew your way around here, being a psych…uhm…. whatever”, Lilliputt exclaimed. “We must find our true selves first”, Jenni explained, “I have had a bad case of Robert lately so my powers can suddenly change into poetics. It doesn’t help when I am trying to find my way but I can find a lot of new words and phrases to use while I am trying to go right. Nothing wee rang, so aye, I may have a problem with my inner compass”, Jenni said and blushed. Of course Lilliputt had not enough patience to listen to the explanation so she only responded with a “oh” and “aha” whenever it seemed to fit. As they made their way along the rocky road she was pretty sure they were heading uphill and what little logic she had reluctantly learned, it didn’t seem to make sense. It was a lovely day for a walk though, there was a cool breeze that made the efforts to finish their expedition more tolerable. Suddenly there was a flash and before they knew it they were on one of those platforms she had seen earlier on. “What happened?!”, Lilliputt asked in confusion. “We just walked into a portal”, Jenni said, “we are now in the site that gives this place it’s name: the Labyrinth of Ancient Paths. Each platform has a question in the form of a riddle. First we have to find it, then figure out the answer and put the answer on top of the lap on that statue”she said and pointed at an ugly stone statue with a tongue sticking out of its mouth as if to mock the visitor. It looked humanoid, though short and had a pawn instead of hand on it’s belly. That seemed odd to Lilliputt but since she was in a place were few things made sense she let it go.

“Where are they?”, asked Sumitra. “I don’t know”, Monkey replied ”they should have been back by now” she continued. “Is anyone missing?” a dark voice asked and out of the shadows stepped a handsome tall dark man “maybe I can help”. “Oh, hello Teeodd”, said Bizarro and smiled “glad you are here. You can help us, actually, but I had something else in mind. Do you know anything about Carrot Island?”. Teeodd contemplated on Bizarro's words for a moment and studied the assembled group of ladies that had gathered around the table with the glowing orb on top. Sumitra rested elegantly on the divan and by the foot sat Monkey in her elegant blue garment with complicated embroided patterns concentrating on the orb while Bizarro was toying with another apple. Bizarro had her wings hidden under her cape and would at times hover slightly over the floor and not seem to realize it. If she sneezed, fire would flow out of her pretty little nose and she’d irritably wipe the smoke off with the back of her hand. Suddenly a splashing noise broke the tensed atmosphere and a cascade of water poured into the Great Hall from one of the hallways. Teeodd rested his hand uneasily on the Sword of Truth but when a soar of laughter followed he relaxed. He recognized the voice and Hunter entered at that very moment. With his contagious smile Hunter walked right up to Bizarro, put the water gun away and grabbed the ill prepared flying woman and kissed her. “Hello, Bizarro!” he said in his usual outgoing carefree manner, “what a pleasure to see you again”. “Likewise”, Bizarro mumbled a bit surprised by his kiss. Hunter moved ahead to Monkey and just as easily gave her a kiss but Monkey was only pleased and greeted Hunter with a smile. Teeodd took Hunters entrance well but when the carefree man leaned over Sumitra for a kiss, he almost lost his balance. “I think there was something about Carrot Island I was supposed to know about”, he tried and cleared his voice loudly when Sumitra got a kiss from Hunter.

[Lilliputt]

Well, I am going to make a little break here from the ongoing story since my favourite alien asked me to post a new story. It is so short I thought it silly to create a whole new thread for it so I am posting it here instead I hope you will enjoy!

FIELD TRIP OF THE LOONIES

The crowd of GH loony members had gathered around Misterys spaceship. They were invited to join the alien family’s field trip to a chocolate factory provided they could all masquerade as the aliens children. No one thought that it might look strange if an alien came for a visit with a few hundred "children", all were busy trying to look like small innocent alien kids. OneBun however had the hardest time trying to calm down from her excitement. She kept muttering about small sized alien feet and how is a bunny supposed to fit in a costume like that. Adventure had other problems. She needed a costume for two that looked like she was only one person. It sure turned out not to be an easy problem to solve. “I can help you”, said Elni and toyed with some dynamite. “Perhaps not the best of ideas,” said Hitman and tried to hide his amusement although his costume was not exactly his normal size. Rannei had troubles understanding why she couldn’t bring her ninja swords and SimplyCrazy was trying as best she could to make the squirrel tail fit in the space meant for the alien rump. Crimson had a hard time leaving her elephant at home but realized the problem of having an animal of that size in her… uh… back seat. Farmwife tried to look inconspicuous in her costume and wondered if there was going to be any dancing and if she needed to practice some steps. The constantly spinning “child” was of course Jack, and the one that STILL looked slightly clayish was Lili. Suzy had to be convinced that alien children seldom go on field trips as pirates, and the mole had to accept that he could not travel to the factory underground. Escape jumped around happily in her alien costume and thought it a great idea to be going on a field trip while her grumpy mother kept saying she is too old for this children’s nonsense. Mistery solved the problem by graciously giving her friend permission to go as an old Carrot Islander and that made Lilliputt very happy of course. For the occasion Lilliputt tried on her GREEN wig and felt very fashionable. In content she made herself comfortable on a recliner and watched the scene before her. Maybe her favorite alien originally DID think there would only turn up a few loonies but EVERY SINGLE one of her friends was there. Some struggling to fit in a child sized alien costume others having no problems and just hanging about helping others out. The space ship glittered in the sun and the surrounding field was full of loonies in green, gray and purple costumes. The green ones where too few so they had to make do with what was available. Sandbox helped as best she could with making new ones and helped loonies who had problems fitting into the costumes. Not all where comfortable trying on costumes on the field though. Mistery found Skellisin in her closet because he was too shy to try on the costume out in the open and blushed as he realized he made a very good alien child with his slim bony body. Meanwhile, Iva moved gracefully around the loonies though she could not possibly have been all that comfortable in her own. She would flirt innocently with Teeodd and Hunter and get disapproving looks from Jenni, Brimful-Asha and Bizarrochick. The odd vampire child was Heartofthedark who tried hard to stay in the shadows away from the sun.

Finally, the loonies where in the costumes and were taken to the Chocolate Factory with the space ship. Humans however always seemed to react very oddly to spaceships and so Mistery and her very much loved husband decided to simply hover invisibly a bit away from the factory. The alien family beamed themselves down with all the other loonies while the clones took care of the ship. There they all were, in what seemed to be an endless line, parading to the factory with heads held high. Misterys husband laughed all the way and kept asking how they would explain the possibility that they actually had more than a hundred kids! Mistery kept trying to convince him that it would be alright because they were after all over 200 years old and that should count for something. When they all finally reached the gates to the factory Mistery simply stated that she was here with her kids to see the Chocolate Factory. No one had thought it an idea to make sure the surveillance camera covered the whole road down the mountainside so when the gates opened the endless line of alien children kept coming, shocking the amazed security guards. They stared at the Mistery and her husband who held their heads high in great pride as one loony after another got inside the gates. “Wait, this one isn’t yours right?”, said a guard roughly and held Lilliputt harshly with a broad hand on her shoulder. “No”, said Mistery, “she is the nanny”. Lilliputt tried to refrain herself from protesting out loud. “NANNY?!”, she thought, “how RUDE!”. The guard could of course not protest against the explanation since the crowd of kids kept growing and growing. So, when the tourguide came to greet the family, the loonies stood in lines and kept almost quiet, though it was hard for many. With a megaphone the tourguide explained some rules and general information but made the mistake of assuming that there had been a mishap and that the factory must have gotten double booked or something. They had not thought they would have so many visitors that day. OneBun kept muttering to get on with it and when they finally moved into the factory she could not contain herself. Happily she rushed in and jumped into the first container of chocolate she could find. Of course most loonies where not late in following her example and though Mistery had asked them not to make any scenes this was too tempting for any loony. The security was called in only to get themselves dragged into the chocolate baths and it turned into a circus of loonies chased by guards who were getting ROFL attacks by the bunny who was making sure to stuff herself with chocolate. Mistery gave up her atempts to take control over the situation, her husband only kept laughing at the whole thing and made sure to have some chocolate too while it was possible. Both soon joined the baths with their real kids and had a great time teasing and throwing chocolate around.
When the alien parade finally left the chocolate factory there was a new rule nailed to the wall in the office of the C E O. “Aliens and their kids are NEVER allowed to visit again”.

[Lilliputt]

Chapter 5
Jenni started to search for the riddle on the statue but with little luck. Lilliputt took a step back and thought that a blunt instrument would have been handy in this situation. To make time pass, Lilliputt began to draw a circle around the statue with her foot in the dirty ground. When she completed the circle the statue began to glow and seemed highlighted from within. Words began to form and Jenni read out loud “After one comes …”. Lilliputt stared at the glowing statue in surprise but Jenni only smiled and asked how she did that. “Did WHAT?” Lilliputt wanted to know. “Well, highlight the riddle”, Jenni said as if it was obvious. “Oh, that!” Lilliputt said as if she understood what Jenni meant, “well, it is complicated but I sorta completed my circle of thoughts” she went on and tried to look very clever. “And you sure did complete your circle on foot too”, teased Jenni and smiled. “Well, I did that now you do da next part”, Lilliputt said in a grumpy manner, “or do I have to do that too?”. “You know the answer?” asked Jenni. “Yes”, said Lilliputt, “it must be TEA”. Jenni raised an eyebrow in doubt “…tea?”, she said. “Well, yes”, said the little 85 year old and straightened her wig, “cuz that is when it is time for da TEA, yes. And there is aaaaalways a party ta go with it”. As always Jenni had difficulties following her aunts reasoning and thought it better to write what she herself thought was the answer. Sure enough the statue moved and a new portal appeared. “See?”, Lilliputt said triumphantly, “I was right”. Jenni only smiled and followed her aunt through the portal.
After some hours and more solved questions, Lilliputt realized that the only thing that happened once a riddle was solved was that they ended up on a new platform with a new question to be answered. The platforms had different sizes and not all were stony. Some had futuristic features, a steel surface and robot like statues, others seemed very earthy and might even have a bush or tree. They had run into other riddlers now and again which turned out to be very helpful. It was truly a maze but it seemed that they had now reached higher levels with more difficult questions. This time they ended up on a platform with mosaics in intricate patterns and symbols. They tried and tried but no matter how they turned, drew or poked nothing happened. Suddenly a figure appeared, a lady that looked like a farmer’s wife with bags. She seemed in a hurry and kept mumbling “Do the CONGA……1 2 3 4 5 and KICK”. Jenni and Lilliputt exchanged surprised looks before asking the lady for help. “Oh, that level, yes”, she said and started to search in her bags, “I am sure I have that somewhere in my notes…..ahh… yes, here we are. You have to go to hell”. Normally, this would have made most people mad at the impolite remark but both Jenni and Lilliputt were so confused by the answer they didn’t react. “How do we go to hell”, Lilliputt finally asked foolishly. “You surf, of course”, the lady said absent-minded and continued through the portal leaving Jenni and Lilliputt sheepishly staring at the point where the lady had disappeared. “Surf?”, said Lilliputt, “Don’t we need some water for that?” she added and tried to search for a way to surf on the mosaics. “Well, dear cousin, why don’t you try a use a web for that?” a voice said and there was Liliputts cousin MsInterpret who just arrived to the platform, “I am about to go there now”. From a hidden corner behind a pillar, the dark and elegant lady in white clothing snatched a web and threw it on to the floor of the platform. She then poured some oil on the sole of her shoes and motioned for Jenni and Lilliputt to do the same. The web had begun to grow, soon it started to tremble and by doing so it created waves. All three jumped up on the web and Lilliput soon realized that balance was essential for surfing the web, only it was not her greatest forte either. “Hide behind the fire wall if you get too close to any adware or malware”, MsInterpret screamed while leading the group towards the center of the web. “Of course”, Jenni managed to reply between the “AAAAAAH!’s” and “WOOOOOOW’s”. Lilliputt had all the trouble in the world in the world staying focused so she reached out and realized there was something to hold on to though invisible. At the bottom of whatever it was, something was glowing, like some magic fire. It seemed solid and endless, almost like a wall. Suddenly a small and flat craft charged right at Lilliputt in high speed so Lilliputt ducked and the craft smashed right into the invisible wall. It seemed like a malicious product, ready to glue itself on its victim and then spy on every single move the victim made. Lilliputt shivered at the thought as she reached the center of the web and went with a poof into smokes.
Jenni was standing next to MsInterpret in front of Lilliputt, all coughed and tried to get a grip on where they were. It seemed as though they were in a cave but there was a glow about it, a purple glow. “Welcome to Purple Hell”, said MsInterpret, “now all we gotta do is find the right tools”.

“I hope you will found your friend soon”, said the shining star, “but I will have to leave you now. I need my space where I have my cyber”. “Ah”, said Becky without thinking too much about what it meant to need the cyber, “I am glad to have met you. I hope we will see you again, dear shining star”, she added and bowed elegantly. They all agreed and so the star shot herself into heaven. In the meantime the raft had come to a stop close to land, and no matter how they tried it would not budge. So they decided to try their luck on foot.


*THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT FIT IN ONE POST AND SO IT CONTINUES IN THE NEXT POST*

[Lilliputt]

It was in a way a bit of a disappointment for Doglover to start off on top of a cliff instead of being at the foot and climb up, on the other hand the others did not seem to mind that at all. From the mountain they had a good view of the surrounding valley. The scenery had changed from rusty red to a beautiful forest green landscape with birds happily flying about and busy insects everywhere. Towards the horizon things where glittering inside of what looked like a heap green bundle. They all agreed that it seemed the obvious place for Lilliputt to be since she was always very good at getting lost in the most bizarre places. They found a little path that seemed to head in the right direction and so the friends started to follow it. The path however led to a dead end. Astonished, they realized what would have happened if they had continued with the raft because the river roared over the edge of the mountain side, becoming an enormous waterfall. It created a massive mist that reflected in the sunlight that built a rainbow reaching into the depths of the valley. They all stood there taking it all in, the forests in shifting green, some hidden in misty clouds of the waterfall, the rainbow. The clear blue sky and that odd globe like thing in the far that was their goal to reach. Slowly the friends tore themselves from the site and moved along another path leading downhill. It was a slow and difficult climb at times but Doglover and Escapes skills as climbers made the journey much easier. As they finally reached the lower levels of the mountain something caught Escapes eye. A thread… a red… or maybe even CRIMSON like thread. It was impossible for the cat to resist the temptation and so of course she jumped towards it. Becky and Dazed had a’ ready disappeared to scout the area, Doglover was happy discovering new ways of climbing so Escape thought that a little break might not be so bad. The thread had an annoying way of moving and so Escapes play turned into a hunt. Whenever Escape tried to catch it, the thread moved, and whenever Escape tried to ignore it just squirmed very irritably tempting for a cat. She tried, and tried until she knocked her head on something that had not been there seconds ago. She looked at the thing in irritation and realized it looked like a great big gray leg, ”…an ELEPHANT LEG?!!” she thought about it for a moment and then screamed loudly like only cats can do. Quickly she climbed the nearest tree that sadly wasn’t tall enough to make an impression on the huge elephant. Nothing happened. The elephant just stood there until Escape noticed the thread to the right side of the elephant. She followed the thread and discovered that there was a ball of yarn on top of the elephant, barely visible from where she was. It was thrilling ad so without thinking she jumped on top of the elephants head and slided down to the back to play with it, only to get more confused when the yarn ball greeted her with “Hello Escape, nice to see you”. It was very seldom that Escapes toys actually had conversations with her so she simply sat down and looked at the odd red ball of yarn. “I am about to deliver a very special and very BIG present to your boss, dear. I think my elephant might feel very generous once we reach him”. “I see”, said Escape in confusion. “You see what, sis?”, said Doglover behind the elephant. She had rushed to her sisters’ aid and got Becky and Dazed to follow her lead. “A yarn”, said Escape, “uh, Crimson” she added. “That’s my name”, said Crimson, “elephants, ya know, are kinda like a stray cats... feed 'em once, they stick around forever!”. Escape couldn’t help but laugh at that and didn’t notice that Doglover had come a little too close to the elephant. “Mind your step!”, Crimson cried. “Too late!”, said Doglover and with a disgusted grin tried to wipe her feet off, “what is that?”. “Well, Horton the elephant seems to have been a little generous with his “presents” here too”. “Oh”, said Doglover “I am glad he doesn’t shower me with them”. “If you are not careful he just MIGHT!”, said Crimson and laughed. Becky and Dazed had in the meantime circled the elephant and advanced very carefully. “Greetings Horton the elephant and Crimson the.. uh.. thread”, Becky said politely, “may we ask for your help in our quest?”. “Huh?”, said Crimson. “What my sis in arms means is that we need a ride to that big globe thingy in that direction” Dazed said and pointed out where they were heading. “Oh, The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths!”, Crimson exclaimed, “well, it’s a bit out of my way but sure, hop on.” And so the four friends got themselves an elephant ride with Crimson through the Riddler Woods and headed to the Labyrinth.

Teeodd was exploring the beach of an island he had never seen before. Carrot Island seemed so harmless and peaceful. It was hard to imagine that a storm had caused such disaster. The ladies of The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths had joined forces and created a mental bridge linking his and Hunters mind to Carrot Island and then his body and Hunters got transferred to the island. Hunter was busy filling his water gun so Teeodd decided to check out the island on his own. He found a path leading to a clearing where field of carrots where growing. Suddenly a loud bang caught his attention and he ran towards the direction of the sound. It didn’t take him very long to find Lilliputts burnt down hut and the loony members that had joined up at the site.
“….but I told you NOT to try it with dynamite”, said a very fluffy panda. “Oh, you don’t understand how gentle I am with dynamite”, a chicken answered, “it only has an explosive effect if you let it”. “Well, gee, who knew!”, sum1 else said ironically. “Lets all just calm down and we will get it sorted out”, a seal said and flapped its flippers in a calming manner. At that time a young ninja girl stepped out of her hiding and said “…but daaaad, we are just trying to build a Jacuzzi”. Then, a squirrel jumped up on the ninjas shoulder and said, “you ought to know better than to play with dynamite, young lady”. “Sorry, mom”, the ninja replied, scraped her feet for a bit on the ground and blushed. It seemed odd that the black dressed warrior would actually apologize to a squirrel but then the assembled group where not that usual either. A clicking sound interrupted the groups ideas and a man made a point in the ground before them. “What is your Pointclickman?”, the panda asked teasingly. “I think he just made it” said a fox cunningly and smiled. Teeodd thought it a good time to make his presence known. “Greetings, I am Teeoodd”, he said as he approached the assembled group. This is how Teoodd met Hitman the Panda, Elni the chicken, Neener the seal, Sum1, Rannei the ninja lady, SimplyCrazy the squirrel, Pointclickman and Yorick the cunning fox. “We are trying to rebuild Lilliputts hut”, said Hitman “but well, we are not actually sure if we are doing it right or if we should find another way to do it.” My sons are out in the woods to try and find some material and the rest of us are busy arguing what to do with the remains of the old hut.” “We are not arguing”, Crazy pointed out, ”just not agreeing”.
“Well, are you not going to ask what has happened to your friend Lilliputt?”, a voice said from behind, “hello everyone, call me Hunter”, he added and gave all the ladies a charming smile. “Oh, have you heard from her”, Rannei wanted to know. “Is she ok?”, said Elni. “Where is she?”, asked Yorick. “Yes”, said Teeodd a little irritated by Hunters shameless flirting, “we have seen her and she is all right. I believe she is lost at the moment in The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths. When she solves the riddles she will return to her quarters in the other realm.” “I see”, said Crazy, “so why are you here?”. “We were sent here by the ladies of Mystical Psychic Powers to try and restore the portal between the realms”, said Teood, “but it seems this island has an uninvited guest, a monster of sorts, so we were asked to make a mind map of this island.” A WHAT map?”, the panda asked in confusion. “It’s like storing thoughts and then send em’ back”, said Hunter cheerfully, “it’s really nothing” he added and smiled. “What about the monster?!”, said Neener and flapped her flippers to get some attention. “We don’t know what it is and may need your help to find out what it is and where it is”, Teoodd said. “Agreed”, said the panda, “we will help you.”

[Lilliputt]

CHAPTER 6

Jenni and Lilliputt circled around in the cave of Purple Hell, it was warm and full of people trying to find miraculous tools that were spread out in sorted compartments. All a visitor needed to do was to load the tools down to a personal storage or try them on the spot. With astonished faces the two ladies explored the cave forgetting the reason for being there in the first place. Lilliputt recognized Aya-m the riddler standing close to the Anagram Generator with a doubtful look. Brainisdead seemed to try and revive his brain for the hundred time while concentrating on how a code could be broken with Caesar Box Cipher, and Sheera was trying to convert a binary number by stomping the conversion tool. “WORK!”, the riddlers would cry out every so often when the tools would not seem to work the way they were hoping. In a corner was a turtle shaped sandbox that seemed flooded with what looked like messages marked “PM”. What is PM?”, Jenni wanted to know. “I dunno”, Lilliputt answered just as surprised, “Post Malfunction maybe?” she suggested and scratched her pink wig.”Would you really need that many messages to know THAT?!”, Jenni said in doubt. “Maybe it is a very persistent Postal Service”, Lilliputt said in deep thought. “Anyway, lets see if we can find what we are looking for”, Jenni resumed and both friends searched for the tool that they needed. Finally they found a chart with the symbols listed, dangling from a web. “Webdings”, Jenni read out loud. “Well, thaz real funny”, Lilliputt said grumpingly because she had had enough of webs in all shapes and forms. They made a copy of the chart and headed back. “Uhm...is it possible to get back without surfing?” Lilliputt asked sheepishly. “Lets ask”, Jenni said and they agreed to find some help. There were many gamers to ask so they headed towards the main cave with the largest crowd. Suddenly clouds of smoke gathered blocking their way and a female figure stepped out of the fumes. She was tall with only one eye on her right side and multicolored hair, dressed in garment patterned with animal shapes in red. “Are those donkeys?” Lilliputt thought to herself. Neither Lilliputt nor Jenni had ever seen anything like her before but she seemed kind and smiled gently at them. “Perhaps I can help”, she said and motioned for the two friends to follow her. “Who are you?”, Jenni wanted to know. “Are you a goddess?”, Lilliputt said bluntly. “I am Iva”, the lady said while she graciously passed through the cave, nodding greetings at riddlers on her way, “no, I am not a goddess, just very good at appearing with smoke around me. Tell me what troubles you”. Iva moved graciously but Lilliputt noticed how the ground turned cold and frosty with every step she took. She glanced at the two friends and for a moment Lilliputt thought she saw the face of a ghoul. It was too unreal. Lilliputt wiped her eyes and when she saw Iva again, the beautiful figure was smiling at her like before. “How strange!”, Lilliputt thought to herself, “must be the influence of those stupid ware that are male…uh… MAL!“. “We are just not very fond of surfing and were hoping there is another way out of here”, Jenni explained, “Is there any other way? A portal maybe?”. “No, I'm sorry, there are no portals but you could try a tabbed web and then jump between the tabs.” “Huh?”, said Jenni. “Come again?” said Lilliputt. So Iva showed Jenni and Lilliputt how to browse a web using tabbed interfaces. “Oh, cool”, Jenni said and poked the web gently. “Just go ahead and jump”, said Iva encouragingly and that is of course what the adventurous Jenni did. “Now you try it Lilliputt”, Iva said and so Lilliputt made a doubtful face but just as she jumped the web, it stiffened and she bounced right off. “OUFF!”, said Lilliputt, “what happened?”. “You bounced off the web”, said Iva, “it happens but not so often. You might as well stay with me for a while until we get it fixed”. “Oh...”, said Lilliputt, “I don't mind staying. Do you have any carrots?”. Curiously, Lilliputt felt very cold and Iva was not smiling.

The group of friends got to know Crimson very well during the journey. When they finally reached the beginning of the maze with hovering platforms, it turned out that there had been a dog hiding under all the crimson threads. “Ruff”, said Crimson, “I believe we have reached our destination. All you have to do now is find a path and play along the ways of the maze. Good luck! Horton and I have a boss to see”. “Thank you for the help”, Escape said and gave the dog a kitten kiss, “we would probably have been wandering the woods for days without you”. “Oh, my pleasure”, said Crimson and made Thorton kneel so that her new found friends could jump off more easily, ”I hope to see you soon again”. The group watched as Crimson and and Horton vanished and continued towards the mysterious flying objects. Doglover was very eager to find her mother and so rushed ahead but suddenly bounced right off something invisible. “WHAT is that?”, she said angrily and checked her head to see if she got a bump. “I’m afraid we just ran into a barrier”, Dazed. “Well, can’t we just go around it?”, Escape said. “We don’t know how big it is. It might take days to find an opening”, Becky said in thought. “Look at those symbols down there”, Dazed said and pointed at something glowing in golden colors close to the ground almost covered with weed, “I think we just ran into a language barrier. Those are the worst kind I know”. “Don’t worry”, Lili said in confidence, “I think I have opened many such barriers. Most of them are made in Japanese you see.” She leaned towards the symbols and realized for once her translator powers would fail her here. “Then again, I might have spoken too soon”, she said and blushed. “There is a way though”, said Becky, “we need to go fishing. If we can find a Babelfish we might be able to use it as a key”. “Huh?”, said Doglover in great doubt. “Say what?”, said Escape in confusion. “Come again”, said Lili because she thought she must have misunderstood something. “Becky is just saying that if we can get a Babelfish we can use it as a key here”, Dazed explained and pointed at a gray zone to the right of the symbols. “Hopefully the symbols will then change into something we can read.” It sounded like a good idea so they headed for a pond nearby to fish. I took some time to make the fishing pole but when they finally managed to make one, Becky caught the fish with her first attempt. Happily they strolled back and put the fish as a key in the small gray area only to get a translation that seemed to make no sense “Fold hنdan mountains and tune me pass, roared the trembling balance against snip anticipating barren stone.” Escape couldn’t keep herself from laughing out loud and her sister soon joined her while Dazed, Becky and Lili stood absolutely baffled by the strange words before them. “Are we gonna go fishing again?” Doglover said teasingly as she laughed.

*THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT FIT IN ONE POST AND SO IT CONTINUES IN THE NEXT POST*

[Lilliputt]

The group of friends had gathered at the narrow dark alley on Myranda Island where the monster had last been seen. Teeodd had proposed that they should divide into smaller groups and so he found himself together with Hitman, Rannei and Elni. There was a cool breeze and the moon could hardly reach the alley with its beams. Teeodd thought of something to say but words seemed hard to find in a place like this so he held his sword tighter. Suddenly something seemed to walk right out of the darkness, a vampire with shiny teeth glared at the little group with grim eyes. But just before Teeodd reacted a cat walked right by him and simply said “hello, brother”. It was Jcatzl the cat greeting her brother Heartofthedark the vampire of GH. She jumped up on his shoulder and looked with her kind eyes at the familiar people. “Hello,” she said,”how are you?”. Her presence made the situation less tensed and the vampire seemed somehow not so bad after all. “You are not the monster we are looking for”, Teeodd finally managed. “I am not?” Heartofthedark replied mockingly, “perhaps you would not mind if I study your blood for a while?” he added and flashed his sharp teeth. “Oh, come on”, Hitman said without fear, “don’t be like that. We need some information. Do you know of anything that might cause a portal to malfunction?”. “I might but the information is buried in my brain and I doubt anything can get it out of me”, Heartofthedark said and growled slightly as he grinned. “I see”, said Elni. “Oh”, said Rannei who kept a defensive stance. “All right then,” said Hitman and whistled innocently. “Then prepare for a trip”, Teeodd said and the vampire then realized he was getting beamed up to the space ship of the GH alien.
“WHY did you do this, Mistery?”, the vampire shouted as the alien approached. “I am Mistery no 5, her clone”, the green alien replied while waving some strange instrument in front of the raging vampire, “Mistery is asleep this time of night, you see.” No matter how the vampire growled or showed his teeth or tried to look as scary as possible, it did not make much of an impression. The alien seemed only more curious and kept asking him questions that made no sense. “Is this a common behavior of humans?”, she said and tried to make the same growling noise, “if it is then I “salute” you too…?”. “I am not mortal”, the vampire answered condescendingly. ”No?”, said the clone surprised, “but as far as the database can tell all humans are a time limited living species. The data does not comply”. “Your database needs some dusting, I guess”, the vampire answered and grinned, ”I am a vampire and an undead creature. I live on blood I suck out of human throats.” “Oh”, said the clone, “I see. How curious. So humans provide you with a source of nourishment. How very noble of them”. Heartofthedark could not help but smile at the confusion. “I am not so sure they are so willing to give their blood to me” he said and tried again to look dangerous but it still had no effect on the alien clone. “Oh,” she said simply, “this is very valuable data, indeed”. The alien turned her back and motioned for a something that looked like a very advanced computer panel. Heartofthedark immediately tried to jump on the alien from behind but was caught in some sort of energy field and bounced right back. “You are very strong for such a little creature”, the alien said absentmindedly as she pushed buttons and pulled a couple of levelers. “Please sit while a verify a few parameters and adjust some figures. Soon I will have the answer that you say is buried in your head.” She completely lost interest in the wild raging vampire who tried everything to look vicious and scary. “So many odd rituals they have on that peculiar planet”, she kept mumbling as she concentrated on the sophisticated flashing machine. “AH!” she said finally, “so we are looking for a creature that goes by the name MERCATOR.” With those words she sent the vampire back to the alley while informing Teeodd and Hunter of her discovery.

[Lilliputt]

CHAPTER 7

“No, Lilliputt, I have no carrots to offer you”, Iva said but her face was stiff as if drained of any emotional expression. Lilliputt sat down and observed Iva curiously. Again the ghoul face flashed by, making her seem evil. “How interesting” Lilliputt thought while searching her pockets for something edible. She wondered if Iva also had something similar to the Lilliputtish evil pinky, a feature that had become famous on Carrot Island. “Why are you staring at me like that?”, Iva spat out irritably, “I don’t think I am THAT interesting”. As she stared back, Lilliputt found the cold somewhat uncomfortable. “Well, I was just thinking that those eyes of yours might have something in common with my evil pinky.” Iva hesitated to answer, she gazed silently at Lilliputt. Finally she said with a hoarse voice “I have a curse, it was given by my inner net provider.” Lilliputt had never heard of such a thing but since Iva seemed to be very serious about it, she let the let the icy lady continue and simply nodded at the curious explanation. “Time and again my surfing will freeze, shift my very appearance on the net or sometimes even threaten to disconnect me from this virtual reality. I am bound by this curse and may well disappear without further notice.” Lilliputt didn’t really believe a beautiful lady could actually go missing without it being noticed but she didn’t think it proper to share this view. “I will help you”, she said simply and with the help of the tools provided in the purple hell she made a balloon that she filled with plenty of gibberish that everyone knew could float around in the air of ignorance. The only problem was to find a place in hell where there was actually a crater or an opening leading up and out of the caverns. The Main Page Hall seemed to offer the perfect spot and so the work began. Surprisingly it was only a matter of a few hours labor as plenty of riddlers showed an interest in helping out with the project. It gave Lilliputt an opportunity to use a part of the firewall to break Iva’s spell and also made sure the connection to the virtual reality would at least at some point melt if ever it froze. With the help of Lilliputtish reasoning as to how and if the balloon idea would work, Iva could soon climb into the little carrier at the end of the balloon. With a radiant smile she thanked the little old lady with a kiss on her forehead and a small bundle of forget-me-nots. Lilliputt stood blushing thoughtfully as the balloon lifted and disappeared into clouds that glistered like diamonds. She hoped Iva would find her journey a pleasant one.

“Perhaps it is telling us to fold a “hنdan” so that it will balance off the stone”, Escape suggested. “What stone?” Dazed wondered, “all we got is a rubbish sentence and an invisible wall. “Having problems?” a familiar voice said behind them and as if out of nowhere Jenni stepped forward with a big smile on her face. “Hello everyone”, she said cheerfully. “JENNI!!” exclaimed all her friends happily in chorus, “how… when… but… what” they fumbled on tripling over each other’s questions to get a word in. “Oh”, said Jenni, “I’ve just been to Hell and back. Not that special” she continued modestly. “But how did you get here”, Lili wondered curiously. “I used a pop up but it seems I got it wrong somehow so instead of going where I was supposed to I ended up here… thankfully. Is Lilliputt here too?”, she asked but was only met with shocked surprise. “What do you mean ‘is Lilliputt here too’”, said Doglover, ”have you seen my mum?”. “Oh sure, she was at the palace”, Jenni said lightly. “What palace?!”, Escape said in confusion. “The heart of The Labyrith of Ancient Paths of course”, said Jenni as a matter of fact. “Are you going to see the three ladies? I bet Brimful-Asha is watching us now” Jenni said with a bit of a chuckle, “here let me help you with that” she offered and with a twist of a gadget she had gotten from Purple Hell she unlocked the invisible barrier. “Pity there is no walkthrough but I think we can use a few eggs to make a short cut” Jenni said in thought and motioned for the others to follow her. On their journey to the heart of The Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths she had a lot of explaining to do. She began her story from where she had met Lilliputt and how they agreed to explore the Labyrinth together, how they ended up in Purple hell and met all the other riddlers. “LOST her?! Whadda ya mean you LOST HER?!!”, Doglover demanded and stared at Jenni with wide open puppy eyes. “Well”, said Jenni and blushed “Lilliputt was supposed to use the tab interface but it looks like she got held up. I am not sure where she is but I know Brim will find her. That is why I think we should hurry to the castle. Brim will sort it out.” “She better”, Doglover muttered and kicked a pebble in frustration.
After several hours of wandering around the Labyrinth though, it occurred to Becky that Jennis concept of a short cut might not be so short cut after all. Every “oops” of hers seemed to mean that their journey just got a little longer. She was not prepared for the floating platforms or that the scenery surrounding them changed every so often. Also, Becky could sense that time was passing but it was impossible to say what time it was since every platform seemed to exist in its own time. Sometimes there was a light that felt like dawn while on other platforms it was just in the middle of the night or regular daytime. The most extraordinary ones were simply floating in mid air and had a spectacular view of the rest of the labyrinth with the floating platforms, the forest below them and the enchanting castle that grew more splendid the nearer they got. “Checkpoints” Jenni called them and Becky could imagine why. From the checkpoints she had at least some idea of what time it was and thought that it was possible they would not make it to the castle with all the “ooops” until nightfall. She was worried about that silly little lady with pink hair and false teeth but at the moment there was nothing Becky could do for her.

Teeodd had returned with Hunter to the ladies in the heart of The Labyrith of Ancient Paths. As he stepped into one of the main halls he realized that there was an unusual light filling the back parts of the castle. A star had settled just below the highest towers and filled the inner courtyard, the main halls, galleries, loggias and terraces with a gentle warm light. The shining star was engaged in a conversation with Brimful-Asha. He admired for a moment the lady in her green garment who seemed so occupied with her crystal ball and the conversation with her unusual guest. Hunter suddenly appeared behind her and kissed her neck as a greeting which surprised her and made her laugh heartily. She chased off the ill mannered scoundrel by sending an orange with her psychic abilities against him. Teeodd frowned but said nothing. As he started to approach the lady in green he could hear her resume her chat with the shining star. “….so you are sure they have entered our realm, Shining?”, she asked thoughtfully without a hint of a blush at what had just happened. “I am sure Brim”, bellowed the star earnestly, “there were five of them and they were asking about Lilliputt.” “I see. Well, I suppose we can expect a visit from them at any moment then”, Brim said thoughtfully, “so, Teeodd, what did you find out for us on your trip to GamersHood planet?”, she added abruptly and motioned for the stumped swordsman to step forward. “It is as we feared”, Teeodd answered grimly, “the web crawler is back, spreading slurp spiders all over the planet. There is no doubt they were responsible for the disaster of Carrot Island and I expect we will need to face this danger or the link between our worlds will be lost.” “There is little time then”, Brim said and frowned, “unfortunate indeed.” Mindlessly she focused on the hallway leading to the front gates and said casually “they have arrived. I’d better open the door”. As a result, the great doors of the palace opened slowly though no one was anywhere near them and in the shadow a gasping group of newly arrived dwellers of Gamershood planet stood carefully inspecting the dark hallway. Becky was the first to step into the alabaster like building, followed by Dazed, Escape, Doglover and Lili. Jenni was the only one who had not reacted to the self opening doors but found it more interesting to look for riddlers on the hovering platforms in front of the palace. When the doors started to close she hurried inside so that she would not risk leaving her group of friends. Well inside, the group was greeted by a little glowing orb that seemed to float in mid air. The light of the orb filled the hall with a warm yellowish color that made the symbolic carvings and extravagant moldings on the walls fairly visible. “Well, come on”, said Jenni impatiently,” you are not going to stand here and grow roots are you?”. She followed the little orb as it moved further into a hallway and her friends choose to let her lead the way while they curiously inspected the unfamiliar surroundings in silent amazement. The great tapestries, the colorful carpets, the masterfully carved pillars and the vast dimensions of the rooms made their heads spin in the attempt to try and take it all in. Suddenly they heard a sweet welcoming warm voice that made them stumble on one another when trying to halt. “Welcome”, Brimful-Asha announced, “to The Labyrith of Ancient Paths. I am Brimful-Asha and I have news of your missing friend Lilliputt. You must come with me and I shall explain the situation. A great danger has fallen upon your world and I wish to help you.” The group of friends was not prepared for the meeting of the beautiful lady and the only one who managed to make anything resembling a sound was Doglover. “Brlbdup!” she said.

[Lilliputt]

CHAPTER 8

Lilliputt soon realized she was stuck in hell but never thought hell would feel so purple. Without Iva and Jenni she was not sure if she could find her way back to the Labyrinth since she did not have any sense of direction. North for example, in her mind, could be just about anywhere. She aimlessly wandered around the caverns looking for some help, choosing her way with her “eeny meeny miny mo –method”. Soon she ended up in a grayish ash grand hall, with shelves of books and scrolls, behind a worn old wooden desk that read “helpdesk”. On the desk was a sign that said “Administration out for lunch, please consult General Faq for information”. “Administration out for lunch, please consult General Faq for information”. “What an odd name!” Lilliputt thought and tried to find riddlers to ask for the whereabouts of “general Faq” but there was no one to be found around the helpdesk area. She thought that maybe the general had his office close by and started to explore the great hall. There was a hallway to the right of the desk that connected to several minor offices with signs that announced the title of the person inside. The hallway was neat and tidy, lit with glowing cold bluish stones in the ceiling and all the doors were white with steel handles. Lilliputt thought it rather similar to a hallway of a hospital but still browsed through the signs until she found the generals office. She politely knocked on the door but there was no answer so she carefully tried the handle and found it unlocked. She peered inside and realized the office was conference room with a big board hanging on the opposite wall of the door. She let herself in and skimmed through all the information that was flashing on the big black board. The room had a long square table with many comfortable chairs on all sides and there were pencils and office materials placed neatly in the middle. The room had white walls, hardly any decorations and the same cool light as in the hallway. It seemed uninviting but Lilliputt had no plans to stay for long anyway. The information she needed suddenly caught her eye. She was told that if she got caught in Hell she just needed to push the green back button. Puzzled, she searched the room and found a green arrow button on the end of the table where a slightly bigger chair had been placed. But when she pushed the button, a part of the floor underneath her opened and she fell right though with a surprised shriek. She landed with a thump on the floor at Purple Hell where she first started off exploring the caves with Jenni. “OH!”, she thought sarcastically, “THAT sure helped!” She murmured something while trying to make the web work so that she might at least be able to surf back to the Labyrinth. But something green on the cave wall caught her eye, another green arrow button. She hesitated but she thought that out of two evils in Hell, one may want to try the less bad choice. Lilliputt moved every step she took cautiously, examining the cave floor as if it was all just a big trap and as she pushed the button she closed her eyes and held her breath.

“Brim!”, screamed Monkey rushing through the palace with excitement, “I FOUND HER! I FOUND LILLIPUTT!!”. Bizarrochick had joined the company of the others in the great hall and looked just as surprised as the rest at the news. “Did we lose her?”, she asked in confusion at which Jenni blushed and tried to hide her reaction by examining carefully the floor of the hall. “Where is she?!” Escape, Doglover and Becky exclaimed at the same time. “She is HERE, Brim”, Monkey went on hardly noticing the reactions of the newly arrived guests, “on one of the platforms.” Brimful-Asha flew on her feet and caught the hovering globe above her. She frowned as the glow from the globe grew stronger and projected a light in which a figure appeared in mid air. Like a hologram, the little character moved around a little platform they all recognized. “But…. It’s MUM!”, Doglover squeaked in surprise. “It’s the platform we were at before going to Purple Hell”, said Jenni just as surprised, “why is she still there?”. “There is no time for questions”, Brimful-Asha said with her eyes closed as if in deep thought or concentration, “we will need her here now. Jenni, Monkey, Bizarrochick and I will fix our powers on her and bring her here with us.” “Uh…. your powers?”, said Dazed in disbelief, “you mean your mumbo-jumbo. Don’t you have any dragons to call and fetch her? I just think it would be better if you use a method that doesn’t seem so risky.” “The dragons cannot enter the Labyrinth of the ancient paths”, Bizarrochick explained, “this is by far the fastest way to get her here.” “Hush!”, said Brim with her eyes still closed. Without a word all the ladies of the Labyrinth put their right hand above the hovering crystal ball and closed their eyes. Hunter and Teoodd were still in the hall but simply witnessed the goings without interfering, the rest of the group formed a circle around the Labyrinth ladies and waited with expressions from grim weary suspicion to baffled silence. Minutes felt like hours, the light from the shining star outside still filled the Great Hall but there was not a sound but a buzzing noise from the hovering globe. Suddenly a portal appeared at one of the entrances to the Great Hall and Lilliputt came tumbling through it with her pink wig hair in a mess, almost dropping her fake teeth to the floor. “If you veally veed me tho bad….. could you think of a better way to do it than catapulting me into a portal? I am not a tennith ball, you know!” she complained as she straightened her teeth and brushed off her clothes irritably. No eyes were dry when her friends and family rushed to her side to greet her, all hollering cheers and laughing as they joined in a very big group hug. The little lady was almost knocked down on the floor again but her daughters caught and held her firmly close as they laughed at her bewildered surprise and confused expression. “What are you doing here?”, she demanded when she finally had a chance to come to grips with this new situation, “why are you not at work, kitten? And I thought you had school, young pup!”. “Well”, said Becky with a broad grin, “we thought you were in trouble and came to rescue you”. “Troubble?! What rubbish!”, the little lady answered dismissively, ”What on GH gave you that idea? I am perfectly fine, though I believe this place has a sad shortage of carrots” she grumbled stubbornly. Brimful-Asha cut in with a frown “I am glad to see you back safe and sound, Lilliputt, but we have a serious problem on our hands. The webcrawler Mercator has entered the world of GamersHood and threatens to unleash his slurps spiders onto every island with their infiltrating threads. We will need to set a trap for him.””How will this trap work?” asked Lili feeling worried for her friends back on GamersHood planet. “This trap causes the web crawler to enter something like an infinite loop, which wastes the slurp spider's resources. When he is caught the slurp spiders will lose their powers,” Monkey explained, “it is a nasty business but we will have to hurry to get it set in time”. “May I ask why you need me then?”, said Lilliputt. Bizzarochick looked at her in surprise, “well, we will obviously need some bait….”.

Hitman, Rannei, Heartofthedark, Elni and SimplyCrazy had caught up with some other GH residents when returning to Miranda Island and the GH hotel. Among many were Dia, RBS and Crimsonthread. Hundreds had met up in the famous hotel, all with strange stories of slurp spiders that had been caught lurking around threads. Panic was spreading among the community and no one knew whom to turn to. An improvised meeting was held in the major dining room where Hitman and Rannei told everyone about their adventures on Carrot Island and their meeting with Teeodd and Hunter. From Mistery no 5 they had learned about the coming threat on GamerHood planet, the arrival of Mercantor the WebCrawler. When they got to the part about the Labyrinth of the Ancient Paths, their story got somewhat confusing, because neither Hitman nor Rannei had much understanding about it. When they finally tried to calm the crowd down by maintaining that help was on the way, a thunderbolt flashed outside the great French dining room windows followed by loud dark crackling sound. Suddenly the wind increased and the wooden parts of the building started to squeak, the rattle of a heavy rain hit the roofs and the flashes and sounds of thunder kept striking down on the outside. The feel of doom crept up on the residents and a low murmur spread among them as they sought to find comfort in each other’s company. The sunlight had been curtained with a dark carpet of clouds that filled the sky above the hotel. Suddenly, there was another noise that seemed to increase as the storm raged on. Almost like the march of an army. A few worried residents gathered their courage and peeked out the windows. The woods were far off but the surrounding meadows were whipped by the storm and looked unwelcoming in gloomy light. What was more alarming
though, was the line of creatures emerging out of the woods by the thousands: an army of big creepy nasty looking slurp spiders. The hotel was surrounded and the storm kept raging as if nature itself protested against the attack.

[Lilliputt]

CHAPTER 9

All reacted at the same time at Bizarrochicks proposition. “What in da…?!”, doglover cried. “You must be joking”, Lili said in disbelief. “Well, that is SO not gonna happen!”, Escape added warily. “Oh, and the mumbo-jumbo just keeps getting better”, mocked Dazed with a smirk while Becky pushed Lilliputt behind her and started to snarl, showing her sharp white wolf fangs. No one was however as shocked as Lilliputt. “Oh, yay! That is right, sacrifice the old lady, why don’t you?!”, she said sarcastically, “please let me know when you have found your sane minds again, you must have dropped them somewhere!”. “It won’t be that bad”, Jenni tried to mediate. “The plan has been carefully thought out,” Brimful-Asha said smoothly. “OH! It has, has it?!”, Lilliput shouted, “and here I thought there seems to be a small FLAW in your plan! Let me see… WHAT can it BE? Oh yes…. inviting a webcrawler for dinner. Main course: ME!!”. Lilliputt crossed her arms and held her nose high in stubborn outraged composure, but her pink wig and small height only made her look slightly silly. Brim gave her a warm sympathetic smile and continued, “please let us explain. It is not as simple as letting just anyone act as bait or I would have acted as one myself.” Bizarrochick nodded and Jenni sat down with a frown. Monkey started to toy with an orange while nodding in agreement to what was being said. “We believe with good reason that this webcrawler is responsible for the disaster on Carrot Island. It seems his target was Lilliputt and we believe it is due to her unusual gifts as a dragon singer and reptile charmer. It is possible Lilliputt is in possession of unique psychic powers but we have not had time to verify the claim. However, the webcrawler may have found a way to appraise Lilliputts abilities and targeted her in order to drain her of those qualities.” At this Lilliputt gulped while the rest of the group listened with eyes wide open. “So,” Brim continued, “if we are to catch this character we will need a bait to lure him into the trap my friends and I will set. You must join us in a session where your astral body will appear in a sacred realm where we believe Mercator is hiding. It is called “The Hall of Rules” where rules of all realms are shaped and blown out to shield the virtual realities from mischief. But first we have to battle against the threat that has come upon the GamersHood Hotel. I ask Teeodd and Hunter to chase the evil slurp spiders together with Becky and Dazed. I ask the rest of you to organize and mobilize the dwellers at the hotel to stand an attack if it will be necessary. We will soon launch an attack from here and have the slurp spiders flee from the area. It will buy some time so that we can rid the webcrawler from GamersHood planet. Do you all agree?”, she demanded and then fell silent, expecting an answer. “I am in”, Dazed said, “I hate spiders but I’ll try my best to fend them off”. “I will join my friend Dazed in the battle but I will leave with a warning: my friend Lilliputt is not to be harmed or so help me I will tear this palace apart stone by stone!”, Becky said and showed her fangs at the last part. “Fair enough”, Monkey said, “I will take full responsibility of the safety of Lilliputt.” “Someone better!”, Doglover said crossing her paws and managed a “pffft” as well. It was agreed and Lilliputt was left at the palace while her friends and family from GamersHood planet went back through separate portals in groups.

Teoodd stepped out of the portal and into the raging rain that was accompanied by several bolts of thunder. He pulled his cape tighter and drew his Sword of Truth. It was not dark yet, just very gloomy. The meadow near the GH hotel would soon be flooded with dark slurp spiders, the size of a full grown man. He tried to evaluate the situation, knowing that Hunter was around scouting carefully the area just as Becky and Dazed had set off to do the same. In a few moments they would have to struggle against hopeless odds. It could be worse though… it could be impossible odds. He giggled at his own little joke until he heard a tiny little cracking sound that made him spin around with the sword held high and ready to strike. “Hello”, said the familiar and friendly panda with a big smile, “terrible weather we are having, huh?”. He emerged with the little squirrel on his shoulder and Rannei the ninja on his right side. “We thought you’d might need a hand”, the squirrel chirped cheerfully. “How very noble of you but…”, Teeodd tried but Hunter broke him off as he ran to his side screaming “HERE THEY COOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!”. The battle turned out to be more like a “catch me if you can” sort of game. Teeodd tried with all his might to strike the foe with his sword but all he managed to do with the Truth was divide the spiders in half… making more of them. “THAT is your plan?!”, Dazed screamed, “here is a thought: it’s NOT WORKING!!”. She jumped up on the head of a spider and held on tight while Becky chased another with fangs grinning wide. “Hey!” Crazy screamed, “over here!”. “No!”, said Rannei “look over here!”, challenging the spiders on. In their confusion the spiders ran after the ladies and kept knocking each other out in the attempt to catch the brave ninja and the fearless little squirrel. “Oooouf… that was a close one, Becky”, Dazed said wnd bent down to straighten her shoe, “they almost got to me you know”. “Hey Dazed! Who are you talking to?”, Becky screamed from another end of the field. “Huh? To you of course, standing right over… oooooh…. uh-oh!”, Dazed said realizing her friend was nowhere near her but only more spiders,”Ooops!”. The spiders had finally grown too big in numbers and where about to overpower the little group of friends who had tried so bravely to spread disorientation and confusion amongst the spiders. “So this is how it ends”, Becky thought grimly when she was caught by a spider thread and helplessly watched as it was about to sink its teeth onto her neck. Suddenly a great bang soared throughout the sky and a head the size of a planet appeared. It was a familiar wrinkled face with a pink wig and fake teeth. Lilliput’s head was glowing in the sky and she looked surprised at the scene beneath her. The light from her head reflected on Teeodd’s Sword of Truth and the beam cut through the line of the spiders like a laser blade, making spiders turn into great big puffs of black smoke. “Blubb, blubb, blubb”, said Lilliputt making ugly faces at the spiders because she didn’t know how to scare them and she didn’t really know what to say or do. “Prrrrrrrrt…. Na-na na-na NAAAA-NAAA”, she carried on showing her tongue and shaking her head slightly. The thunder went silent and the air cleared to let sunlight in and chase the powers of the dark off the meadows. “BOO!”, Lilliputt went on “Bjubb, bjubb, bjubb, bjubb!” still making faces of the most extraordinary silly kind. Dazed couldn’t keep herself from laughing and was soon joined by many others. Those few spiders that managed to stay clear of the sunlight and Teeodds sword beam rushed back into the forest in panic. The victory cries from the hotel could be heard all the way down to the meadows as the shadows of the storm lifted and a rainbow arose in the sky in beautiful bright colors. “Oh, that was close”, Crazy chirped. “It’s not over yet,” Hunter said with a grin, limping toward her with a damaged leg. “Hunter is right!”, said Teeodd, “the battle may be won but Mercator is still hiding in the other realm, waiting to strike again.” “Will you help us?!”, Becky shouted to the Lilliputt face but there was no answer, only a faint smile as the giant head faded off into a cloud.

*THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT FIT IN ONE POST AND SO IT CONTINUES IN THE NEXT POST*

[Lilliputt]

“Hurrah!”, shouted Lilliputt and tripped around the palace floor happily, arms stretched out high “ it worked!”. “Yes, that was close but we managed to get there in time”, Bizarrochick said and smiled. “It is high time we prepare for the trap that will seal Mercator’s doom”, Brimful-Asha said grimly. “Sisters, lets join together and weave a thread around Lilliputt before sending her off on a mission to defeat him.” Lilliputt stood by the ladies as they joined together again around the hovering orb. She felt very silly just standing with her arms crossed and doing nothing while everybody else worked hard to solve all problems. Jenni, Monkey, Bizarrochick and Brimful-Asha murmured words of a long forgotten language that sounded oh so similar to computer gibberish in Lilliputts ears. Such words usually had relaxing effect on Lilliputt to the point where she would actually fall asleep. The murmurs kept going, making her eyelids feel heavier and heavier. Halfway into heavy sleep she was brutally shook to a waking state. “HEY LILLIPUTT!”, Jenni said cheerfully, “no time for snores now. Gotta face the music, see?” Lilliputt blinked sleepily and tried to focus on what had been said. “I do NOT SNORE!”, she protested and crossed her arms, nose held high, “it’s just that I am not used to this climate.” “Of course not”, Jenni agreed teasingly. “Well, the thread is all knitted and done. All you have to do is step right in and stay put. We will take care of the rest”, Jenni said encouragingly. “What if it doesn’t work?”, Lilliputt wondered. “That would be a pity,” Brim agreed thoughtfully, “but at the moment there is no choice. It will HAVE to work!” That didn’t make Lilliputt feel any better and as she stepped into the knitted thread she thought that staying in the Labyrinth might be a better idea.
Stepping into the thread was like riding a roller-coaster and Lilliputt hated such things as she believed such contraptions weren’t suited for the elderly. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”, she screamed as she rushed up and down the thread, “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE ARE THE BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAKS?! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP THIS THIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!” But no one heard her and for what felt like an eternity she kept rolling around the thread, up and down she went, faster and faster it got. Suddenly she was thrown out of the thread and leaped into mid air until she landed on her famous ASS-et. “OUGH!”, she cried in discomfort. She had fallen right into an abandoned court… or perhaps what resembled like a courtyard. There was a old gray stone wall surrounding wild growing bushes and plant that had seemed to overtake the area. Lilliputt didn’t see any building but she was so hidden under leaves and flowers she couldn’t see much of anything beyond that. She thought the The Hall of Rules would look more like a court of law and not a court of wild flowers, or maybe a study or library with many books and signs about proper behavior. This place seemed so deserted. A terrible thought struck her. What if this was Mercator’s doing? What if the rules of virtual realities would be forgotten and left to grow in the wild? It would mean chaos and the downfall of many worlds and the influence of those who only seek power would be unstoppable. She realized what a great danger this webcrawler really was to her world, not to mention her dear and loved ones. All she had to do now was… well, nothing. What a strange way to invoke law enforcement, just sit on your ASSet and let someone else do the job for you. She thought that it could not harm to try and explore this new place but she only walked a few feet before walking straight into an invisible wall. “OUCH!”, she cried discontent. After a few more tries in different directions Lilliputt soon realized that she was inside a little bubble. “Served in a
cheese cover, huh? Pity I don’t smell like cheddar,” she said ironically out loud and the realized she had not had a bath in a while. Well, what would it matter if she smelled like an old pair of unwashed socks when meeting an enemy? In the scheme of things it seemed like a minor detail. It was a very passive situation and she wondered what Mercator needed to keep quiet. A pacifier? She giggled at the thought: “All hail the mighty Mercator, lord of fear and his holy pink PACIFIER!!”. It felt better to picture her enemy with a big pink pacifier plugged into his repulsive mouth. Tp make time pass she started to whistle the coconut song for a bit until she heard a crackling noise nearby. Suddenly he just stood there, all in black of course. Bad enemies tend to dress in dark colors for some reason. He wore a mask that look like a hideous demon skull with unnatural jaws. No armor or weapons, just a very big revolting grin. He walked slowly towards her, hissing and spitting with every step like a poisonous snake. It occurred to Lilliputt that this might have been the real reason why he had been so eager to get her out of the way. Of all creatures on all planets, snakes didn’t bother her at all. She started to mumble and half sing the way she would do when trying to have a conversation with a snake. Mercator responded, not in a dialect she had ever heard but she could still understand him. His words were filled with hate and malice that she thought the serpent inhabitants his former layer may well have kicked him out. Also, like most reptiles he was very snooty and superficial, demanding respect and obedience. A war of words broke out between them as he kept trying to aggravate her by hissing insults but Lilliput kept herself on guard as she had a very long experience with this sort of snakes. Suddenly he attacked by leaping head on but he was not used to his human form and stumbled on his own legs falling helplessly on the bubble that immediately wrapped around him like a blanket. He screamed and hissed and cursed but nothing helped. The more he struggled the more the invisible wall spun in a loop that would not stop. A portal opened and he vanished inside still screaming curses. It was over, the slurp spiders would stop spreading in the virtual worlds and her family and friends would be safe. She sighed in relief.