Starr Park: A Brawl Stars Story

SPUDE

Although they had walked away and distanced the Snowtel, they were still running as fast as they could in fear of being chased down by someone from the hotel.
    "We've been running for at least one hour!", exclaimed Sandy, "Where are we?" It was obvious that he was scared; after all, he had nowhere to go. No family, no house, nothing.
    "We're near the forest of the park." Replied Jessie who had memorized a map she had seen in the hotel.
    "This is where Nita and I stop. We have to find our father. He must be here." Said Leon and looked at his sister.
    "Thank you for everything.", said Nita to all the kids, "I'm sure we'll meet again." They all gathered and hugged. Jessie's heart melted. She was sad because Leon and Nita were going to leave, but she was excited about feeling sad. She was excited about feeling things for people that are not her mother. She was excited to have gained these wonderful friends. Leon and Nita got in the forest and the rest of the kids continued walking. Spike was the next to leave the group. He decided to stay in the desert with his family; although he was now different from them, due to the experiments.
    "Sandy, what about you?", asked Penny, "I mean, where are you going now?", she wanted to talk to him as carefully as possible, since she knew what had happened to his parents, "You can come with me to my ship, if you want."
    "I appreciate it a lot, Penny, but I need to return to my home. Lately, I've been listening to my mother's voice in my head. I think she might... want to tell me something..." Replied Sandy. He had always been a realist and never wanted to pretend that his parents were still alive, but this time, he could vividly feel her presence. That's why Penny didn't want to ask for more information about the voice in his head, because she believed Sandy. Jessie and Penny continued walking. Penny would stop at her ship in the river and Jessie would go to the town to find her mother.
    "So, you're a pirate?" Asked Jessie.
    "Not exactly." She would always give those short and abrupt answers. One could think she's rude, but that wasn't the case. She just knew what to say and didn't want to waste more words than necessary. They finally arrived at the river. Jessie had never seen a ship again. It was a huge old wooden ship with a pirate flag on its top. Penny's face was one of the three on the flag.
    "Are you sure you're not a pirate?"
    "Let's get inside! We'll eat something and you then you'll go to the town.", They walked inside the ship and walked along a smelly corridor. The floor was wet and there were some seaweed stuck on the walls. They got in the main room. Penny seemed to be confused. Inside the room there were seven strange people: a cowgirl, a man who looked like Elvis Presley, a vampire, a crow, a blonde-haired Mary Poppins, a Santa Claus and an ice-cream machine, "Who are you? Where are Darryl and Tick?" Exclaimed Penny confused, but too tired to look for her crew herself. It looked like a weird sitcom and those people seemed peaceful, so she assumed they were friends of her fellow robots. There was just a weird atmosphere in the place. As if they mourned someone. It made sense to Penny; after all, she was missing for quite a long time.

Colt stood up to introduced himself and the others.
    "You are Penny, right?", Asked Colt. She nodded, "Darryl and Tick are on the deck. We're friends.", he said and then looked at Jessie, "And you are...?"
    "I'm Jessie...", replied the girl hesitantly, "I won't stay here... I'm looking for my mother." Colt pointed at a door.
    "Pam is right there." Jessie was confused, but didn't reply. She immediately rushed to the door. She got in a small room full of buckets and mops. Jessie saw her mother. She was sitting on a chair alone. Jessie noticed that her eyes were filled with tears.
    "Mom?" Pam looked at her daughter and stood still for a couple of seconds. Jessie approached her quickly and hugged her. Pam held her tight and eventually began to cry. Jessie smiled and started crying too. They were standing there hugging each other and crying for a while. They didn't say anything. They didn't need to, after all.

Penny went to the deck. She had missed her crew and her ship. Darryl and Tick were her family; she couldn't imagine her life without them. She quietly went closer to them to surprise them.
    "Hey guys!" She shouted happily. Darryl and Tick turned around and looked at her.
    "Captain Penny!", exclaimed Tick, "How are you, Penny?"
    "We missed you, captain! We worried about you." Said Darryl. He immediately felt sorry to had locked Colt and his friends in a room before. Those insane madpeople brought his captain back!
    "I missed you too guys!"

    "Where's Nani?", Jessie asked her mother, "She hasn't come yet?" Pam stood up and shut the door. She, then, went back to her daughter. She wasn't as good at breaking bad news as she would like to be. She looked at Jessie's eyes and tried not to tear up, but couldn't help it. She moved some hair away from her daughter's face and kissed her forehead.
    "Jessie... Nani didn't make it." That was it, actually. It was as simple as it sounded. Nani just didn't make it. Jennie started rubbing her tearful eyes and wiping her teardrops away. She gave a regretful look at her mother. Her eyes had got red and swollen. They escaped, but at what cost? She lost her sister. She got out of room and went to sit on a wooden bench at the deck of the ship. Was it exhaustion or sadness that slowed down her moves?

"We need to do something about Paananen!" Insisted Colt. He's always been a coward, it was a nice change to see himself being confident about something important.
"You don't know what that little penguin is capable of, that's why you think yourself of a hero!" Mortis didn't omit giving a more cynical perspective on the matter. "We managed to save a couple of teenagers. He's got an army!" Colt stood up, but immediately sat down again, after noticing the disappointment in his friends' faces.
"Paananen is going to fight back. We have his computer. We have the element of surprise!" He's always wanted to use that phrase in an unironic context.
"Maybe there's something we can do to fight back from here!" Darryl walked in the room with an old dusty radio. "Paananen needs costumers for his army. We should prevent them from visiting the hotel" The rest seemed to have got his idea. A radio broadcast would easily boycott the Snowtel.
"Who would believe a bunch of people claiming that mind experiments take place right under their nose?"
"We don't necessarily need to persuade them. Who would risk their lives to go there, even with tiny possibility of becoming a pawn in a superhuman army?" Replied Shelly. She obviously hasn't visited the outside world. People would kill to visit such an attraction.
"I can synch the broadcast in a frequency Paananen won't be able to find easily." Added 8-bit.
"I'll be the host... I've got to make up for all these people I sent there..." Offered Gale. Everyone agreed.