The Third Chapter: Chapter 2

The Third Chapter: Chapter 2

Looks like you're hooked. I love it! Pretty soon, I'll be getting hundreds of emails asking me to host advertisements on my story, and they'll pay trillions! All thanks to you, thanks to me. We're quite a team, me and you, although I do all the hard stuff, and you just get to look at the hard stuff. That reminds me of a story! This one time, I made this wonderful short story, about a thing, and everyone from far and wide came to read it. It was terrific. Anyways, on with the show(rt story)! Wait! Should I continue on with the amazing Princess storyline, or keep you all amused with the comic japes of Noah and his silly The G Bomb? Tell you what, this is how it's going to work: It'll be a cool time fun old CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE! That's right, it's here! The very first, new and improved, once-in-a-lifetime Choose Your Own Adventure! Here' goes!

The Red Basin 2: The Third Chapter: Chapter 2: The Tough Choices We Make!

To begin...

It's been a while since we last saw Noah and Emily in their rusty car, on their way to Donnies Discount Tablery. Now, this Tablery is probably one of the finest in their whole part of the city, having tables of both the 1 and 4 legged variety. They also range in colour from White-with-a-hint-of-blue to Black-with-a-hint-of-red. You might not know it, but that's a very wide range of colours. Not shades. As soon as it's "black with a hint of whatever", or "white with a something of something", it's not white or black anymore, so don't give me this stupid shade argument. It won't fly, because we both know you're wrong. Anyways, Lots of colours and tables. Awesome. Now, our Hero (Noah is the hero, I guess) had just been involved in an unpleasant encounter with The G Bomb, from which he had taken a clout to the jaw. That aside, all was going well. That aside, it wasn't. Emily is sad, Princess has apparently exploded mustard or something, and the street is dusty. Sounds like a riot. Ok though, we're getting to the adventure part! Proceed!

Page 42:
The gross little car pulled into an empty parking space outside of what was apparently Donnies Discount Tablery. "This is it, apparently." Emily said, looking at the building. It was a large building, maybe 4 or 5 stories tall, and taking up about a fifth of a city block length wise. The sign, which was their biggest hint, was a massive neon marquee, green like lime sno-cones and flashing slowly and randomly. It read: "Donn es D sco nt Tabl ry" and was itself nearly 4 stories in height. It bathed the street in front of it with a strange glow, sort of like a hospital after 8:00pm. It was unsettling, but you always felt like you were being looked after at Donnies. That's one of their selling points, after all! "We're always lookin' after you!" Donnie himself said that on a public television add 2 years back, when they had just finished the sign. It was a huge success. However comforting the sign was though, the street remained vacant, the old rusty car Noah and Emily were in was the only parked car for a few blocks, and pedestrian traffic was fairly low here. "Well, let's get to work!" Emily announced, full of what we can only assume is confidence.
"Alright." Grumbled Noah, unfastening his seat belt. "But to be honest, I have no idea what kind of job this is, you sort of just told me that I had a new job, and to meet you in that weird empty room earlier today."
"What do you mean you don't know what the job is? I left you a message going over the whole thing on your answering machine!" Noah sighed and looked back over his shoulder at The G Bomb, humming happily to himself as he burnt little holes in the back of the seat with his rocket feet.
"Sometimes my machine... doesn't save messages properly." As if on cue, The G Bomb whirred into action, opening up his chest cabinet to reveal a small speaker, out of which came "Hey Noah, it's me, Emily. Uh, just calling to let you know that you have a new job!" in a raspy mechanical tone. "Now, that's just not fair, The G Bomb!" Noah snapped at the robot. He wasn't terribly upset, though, because he often used the excuse "my machine doesn't save messages properly" in the past to avoid other jobs and appointments. This time, he was busted though, as Emily sighed.
"Ok, fine, I know, you hate to work, but we need to. That's kind of how things work, dope. Now, do you want to hear the message, or do you want to just skip it and head inside?"


STOP!!!


If you want Noah to play the message, go to Page 81.

If you want Noah to skip the message, go to Page 117.


Ok, go again.

Page 81.
"You know, I probably should hear it, just in case it's something important." Noah resigned, letting Emily be right. Good call Noah, she's meaner than I remember.
"Ok, The G Bomb, can you play back the rest of the message for Noah?" Emily asked in her nicest, most patient voice.
"Negative, the file has been erased." The G Bomb replied in his metal voice. There was the sound of an old cassette tape being rewound with the "play" button still down, followed by a tinny female's voice "You have... zero... new messages." Emily sighed, and looked helplessly at Noah, who just shrugged. "For more options, please die." The G Bomb quipped, thinking himself very funny for his latest attack on Noah.
"I'm starting to see why you like keeping an exploded dog as a pet, Em." Noah sighed.

Proceed to Page 117.


Page 117.
The car doors slammed shut nearly in unison. Noah shook the last bit of broken glass off of his cloths, as Emily joined him. They began to head inside, but were stopped by a tapping sound behind them. Curious, they both turned to see The G Bomb sitting, eye-plate pressed up against the glass of the back passengers window. "Should we bring him with us?" Asked Emily.
"Nah, he'll only be trouble." Noah reasoned, starting to turn around. Again, a gentle tapping. They turned back to see The G Bomb staring back at them, a small tear running down the sied of what I guess was his face.
"Aw." Emily cooed "we can't leave him in there, it's hot, and he's sad!" She moved toward the car.
"Now I know that that's not a real tear, and that it's just a faulty hydrolic inside him that he's figured out how to use to his advantage, but it still gets me every time." Noah smiled, looking at the cute little robot. "I'll go let him out." He headed back to the car, and opened up the passenger door, allowing The G Bomb to topple head first onto the sidewalk. "Ha! Not as quick as you think you are!" Noah cried in victory, stepping back. There was a short moment of silence, before The G Bomb began to emit what sounded like a tiny metallic sob, followed by more of the same (like crying I guess). Noah's face dropped, and he hurried back over to scoop up The G Bomb. Lifting the robot was no easy task, but Noah had done it enough times to know that the proper way to lift a heavy object off of the ground is with lots of fast, jerking motions, using mainly the muscles in the back. Twisting grossly, Noah managed to get the robot back onto his tracks. The G Bomb then hummed back to life, no sign of ever being upset in any way at all, and rolled over to join Emily at the door to Donnies. "Why do I keep that thing?" Noah grumbled to himself as he loudly popped his joints back into place and corrected his posture. He stretched to make sure all the kinks were out, and then followed his friend and his robot under the green glow, and through the doors of Donnies Discount Tablery.


Meeeeeeeeeeanwhile!


Princess paced the anteroom to The Great Hall of Wonderment, nervous as a queen can be. She had received news from Darian, her trusted friend, and general to her armies, that she was less than eager to share with her people. A few more paces around the room, a few more looks in the ornate mirror to make sure her collar and crown were straight. The door opened, and the old corgi, General Stein trotted in, his face grim. "Your people await you, milady." The old dog growled, his head dipping into a low bow (I still haven't figured out how these dogs are bowing, I just keep typing it assuming you can make something up that works for you." and stepping back out the door. Princess took a deep breath, sucked in her brisket, and walked through the doors. The sound that hit her was deafening, hundreds of thousands of dogs had gathered to hear the dire news their queen had to tell. Dogs of every breed and size stood nervously barking at each other, passing off rumors and speculation as to what this news could be. It had been kept very secret, and everyone was on edge. As soon as she was noticed waling toward the podium, her place of honor between Darian, The General, and a host of other important members of The Royal Council, the din began to soften, until you could hear a... a... well, whatever. Pin? Yea. Pin drop. The silence maintained, until Princess had reached her place. Clearing her throat, she began, "My people!" her voice echoed through the giant hall. "There is news I must spread to you. News that may shock you. It may terrify you. If you are one of the older members of our city, you will know well what I speak of. For my younger subjects, this may seem like nothing at all, but know this!" She let the last word hang, uncertain if she should continue. Thousands of pairs of eyes looked at her. Half that number of tails stood motionless, not daring to wag. She sighed. "I come before you this day, to warn our people, that The Red Basin has been found." A shudder went through the chamber. Speechless, the only noise was the collective gasp of her audience. "But fear not!" She began again, only to be cut off.
"This is the end! It has come!" A dog somewhere shouted. Immediately hundreds joined in, yelling their fears and prayers to everyone and no one all at once. The noise was deafening. Like being at like, a pet store or something, or the Humane Society kennels, and having all those animals barking and howling, only imagine way way more, all at once. Intense.
"BUT FEAR NOT!" Came a new voice, cutting through the cacophony. There was again silence, everyone startled by the harsh edge to the new voice. From the anteroom, stalked a lean black wolf, hit coat shiny and his muscles sleek and sinewy. He wore no collar, and he had a look in his eye that inspired fear. "Your queen has spoken, do you not trust that she has this matter in her control?" The wolf teased the chamber, his every word being absorbed by the curious audience. Princess lowered her eyes, ashamed of what she must do.
"He speaks truth." She announced, her voice filled with more confidence than she felt. "We, the inhabitants of The Four Legged City, under the guidance of our Royal Council, and the infinite wisdom of the Founding 6, have found a way to beat this threat."
"By siding with him?" asked an anonymous voice. The room began to stir again.
"NO!" Shouted Princess, the force of her voice stopping the beginning of another uproar. "He, has come to us for aid." There was silence. "The Tribe of The Wolf has long been our enemy, but I, your queen, have heard the reports, and I have spoken with the witnesses, and it is no farce. The Red Basin hath returned." more silence. "We as a people must unite against this. We, all of Caninekind must join together and fight this evil! We must unite for the sake of everyone! For every sire, bitch and pup! For every litter! For every pack! We must unite!" The room began to hum with what was no longer fear, but approval. "We must fight, for every Four Legged creature! We must unite!" The room erupted in in cheers, as the dogs seemed to gain confidence from their matriarch's inspiring words. Princess let a smile find her face, as she looked out at her subjects. It remained for only a moment, for just then, a low, sinister voice asked,

"So what's your plan, your Highness?"


Whew! That was a big one. Very inspiring! And I must say, turning out fairly well, for an on-the-fly short story! We have some interesting developments! You have some interesting life, spending it sitting here reading this story. Pretty shocking that The Red Basin is actually going to be a part of the story, huh? I honestly don't know how I fit that in there. It was sort of just a name I picked randomly, and assigned a story to. I have all kinds of cool stuff like that. Like a board game called "Upside Door", a song I wrote called "The Wondering Wondering", and my all time favorite, another short story called "Minty Toothpickaxes" Now, go do your homework.