House of Baloo 2, 3

24.

Sorry for the inactivity. Happy holidays!

"I sought a prince, but nay! What I found were ancient men of hairy cheek...." I was a horror, yea, and one that left by breath stricken in my throat." Heavenly kept up this refrain as she traveled with our heroes. She seemed less than happy. Still, she DID have a lot of energy... "Hasten thy chubby legs! Time waits not for those who slack!" Patty, on the other hand, was elated that she and X were finally reunited. But Zephyr and Neon were still nowhere to be found... Were they safe?...So thought our heroes as they made their way slowly to the Underworld Road.

Underworld Road

"At long last, we find it... Herein lies the way out of The Underworld. This is Underworld Road." Heavenly said.

"So, if we proceed ever upward, we'll eventually reach The Heavens?" Tippi asked.

"Yea, verily! One would think that to be obvious... Ugh... My heart weepeth to return to The Heavens without meeting mine one true love. Pray, speakest to me, Tippi... Believest thou in the idea of a soul mate?"

"Hm? Well, you know, I... I don't really..."

"Hmm... I shall mark that as one vote for "undecided". Or perhaps I should say "unrequited", in thy case... Ha HA!"

"What do you... Ridiculous! I mean, I'm not..."

"Hee hee. Sweet Tippi! How simple it is to tweak thy chain! So... Now I must forge onward. Catchest me if thou canst!"

Heavenly leaves.

"That girl is a walking mood swing... I mean, she's entirely unstable, isn't she?"

They follow Heavenly through the next room. At the very top of the room, they find a sealed door, and X uses Tippi's abilities to examine it.

"This door... It's no ordinary door. Huh, what?"

"Halt! What's this, then? Travelers have come?"

A face appears on the door.

"Now! Queen Emerald demands I guard this door, people! I'm Door One. Lotsa monsters around, folks. Lotsa monsters. So I've gotta do routine checks, OK? Sorry for the trouble, folks, but I need to make sure you're trustworthy. Just a couple questions. Answer them all correctly, and we're done here! Then you can head on through." 

"Here's the first one! I'm warning you, though, these are pretty tough questions, so use those noggins."

"Man A goes to the store and buys an equal number of tomatoes and eggplants. Eggplants cost 7 coins apiece and goes into the store pie with 50 coins. He comes out with 5 coins."

"Those are the facts. Now! Who is the most powerful person in The Underworld?"

"Queen Emerald." Tippi said.

"DING-O! Correct!"

"Next question! Soul B buys 667 pens for 13 coins each and buys 108 notebooks for 42 coins each. He needs more money, so he takes out 3,756 coins from the bank and spends it all."

"Those are the facts. Now! What is my name?"

"Door One."

"DING-O! Correct!"

"Now for the last question. Panda A and Bear B go to Apple Mountain for a day of apple picking, right? There are 120 apple trees on the mountain, and each has a 20-apple yield. A takes 10 seconds to pick each apple, while B takes 20 seconds to pick each apple."

"Those are the facts. Now! How many times did I just say the word "apple"?"

"6 times." Patty said.

"DING-O! Correct!"

"You folks seem good to me. Head on through."

They go through the door.

"Huh? What do you want? We're on a crunch time busy schedule, can't you see?" The man asked.

"We simply must reach The Heavens.. But we don't know which way it is..." Tippi said.

"The Heavens huh... See that door on your left? It'll head you up there. But we can't open it right now. We've gotta guard this door. We hear some roaring through the door inside. Problem is, until someone finds out who it is, we can't use the door to The Heavens... So...if YOU can  identify it we can open that door for you. Wanna give it a shot?"

"Erm.. sure."

"Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I was just messing with you. Seriously, no one would ever be dumb enough to... Wait... Did you just say "yes"? You're SERIOUS?! You actually think you can find out what it is? Well, hey, yeah, great idea. Sounds like a smart plan... Tell you what... You just.. yeah just head on in!"

"Ok, look, my prediction? Your game's about to end. If not, we'll help you on your way. Give it a shot, champ!"

The man unlocks the door and X goes inside while everyone else stays behind.

X hears rumbling, and see a person in the corner.

"..."

"Huh?"

"Hey! What's going on here?"

"Oh! Neon!"

"Oh! It's just you! I heard a rumbling sound, but I think it is just the ceiling but I am not sure."

"Anyway, let's get outta here!"

X and Neon returns to the door and sees everyone again.

"Hey! We were looking for you." Patty said.

"Hey, it's you! And your game isn't over... Did you run away or something?" The man asked.

"No, it was just a ceiling but I did find a human."

"WHAT?! Really?"

X nods.

"I feel dumb. Okay. I can't believe it... Wow, uh... Thanks! You're a prime go-getter, pal! This key'll open the door that connects to The Heavens!

Не gives X a door key.

"Cool, cool, problem solved. Way to think outside the box there, people. I'll just stay on watch here."