"Oooooh, this must be Soda Pop Lake!" Minty cried.
"It's incredible, it's enormous, bigger than Lake Superior, even!" Snag exclaimed.
"I wonder what the soda pop down there tastes like," Huck wondered. Then he pulled the cord and the balloon started to lower a bit. Huck then grabbed a long swirly straw and dipped it into the lake. He then began to sip some of the soda pop and a big smile spread across his face.
"Mmm! This is yummy!" he cried. "It's just like the lemon lime soda that Mr. Antonio puts in his lime sherbet surprise!"
"I want a taste!" Hokey cried.
"Me too!" Snag added.
Then the lion and wolf took out some long swirly straws of their own and started sipping down some soda pop too.
"Hey, Huck's right!" Hokey cried. "This soda is superb!"
"Indeed it is!" Snag agreed. "Oooh, and it's fizzy too...tickles my nose, even!"
Everyone began to laugh, but the fun was interrupted when a wicked cackle began to sound from nearby.
"Oh dear! Larissa's back!" Bubbles yelled.
"Not again!" Minty shouted.
"She won't give up," Cinnamon grumbled.
"And she better not pop this balloon!" Huck bellowed.
Snag and Hokey gasped and clamped their paws over Huck's mouth.
"Shh!" Coco hissed. "I wouldn't give her any ideas!"
"I heard that!" Larissa screeched. "I hate to burst your bubble, but I gotta burst your bubble! You're not going to cry to King Jolly about me!"
"Quick!" Bubbles cried. "Full steam ahead! We've got to get away from her!"
Joy and Poppy both fluttered up and tugged on the cords to try and make the balloon float higher and faster, but they were so tiny, they could hardly pull the cords. Huck saw that they were having a hard time and jumped in to help.
"Faster, ladies!" he yelled. "She's gainin' on us!"
But before they could go any faster, Larissa started chanting another spell as she waved her wand in the air.
"Leaping leeches, dirty mop top...give them the point and make them go pop!" she yelled.
As a beam shot from her wand, everyone ducked for safety, when all of a sudden, the balloon burst with an ear-splitting POP! Everyone gulped as they realized what had just happened, and they all began screaming in fright as they went plummeting down toward the lake! With a big splash, they found themselves submerged in fizzy lemon lime soda that ran at least forty feet deep! They were struggling to stay afloat as their heads all broke through the surface.
Snag waved his arms helplessly. "Heavens to Murgatroyd! Now I know what an ice cube in my drinking glass feels like!"
"What'll we do?" Huck yelled.
"We better think of something!" Minty cried. "I can't swim!"
"And my sister and I will melt if we stay in here too long!" Cinnamon added.
"Gingerbread folk weren't meant to go swimming!" Coco cried. "Hokey, I think this is the time to open your knapsack!"
"What?" Hokey exclaimed. "Now?"
"Yes! I think you'll find something in there that will be very helpful!"
"Well, okay," Hokey sighed. Then he opened his knapsack and pulled out a large rubber object. "What in the world is this?"
YOU ARE READING
A Huckleberry Valentine
FantasyHuckleberry Hound wanted to get his darling Clementine some gifts for Valentine's Day, but after they suddenly get washed away in the river, he has to find a way to get some replacements. But when he gets an invitation to the Land of Sugary Sweets...
