The Day the Epoch Ran Out of Gas Part 2
By The Storyteller
"Dahmn eet! Steeupid chiahld!"
Glenn scampered out from under Magus's bed. He shook his hair away from his eyes and hopped over to one of the shards of red that made it to the floor.
"Ahful hayer thaht guhl hahs..."
Glenn looked at the small red piece of plastic and examined it. It didn't seem like anything he had ever seen before... not because it was plastic (because plastic wasn't quite invented in their world), but because its shine was... odd... almost as if it magnified any light the bounced off of it. It almost spoke to him, the view so breathtaking... but Glenn dropped the piece of red in favor of something he could use to see his reflection. He slithered over to a small shard of the glass that made up the windows of the toy car, and looked into it. Thanks to his watching of the Discovery Channel, he realized exactly what the girl had made him into.
"She tuhned meh intew a newt!!!"
Glenn dropped the glass and made his way out of the room. He had to tell someone what happened to him, or that girl could very well turn them all into newts...
He ran into the hallway and down the staircase, hoping to find someone who would notice him...
* * *
"Where's Glenn?"
"Glenn? Meesa dunno. Meesa confused..."
"He came inside a while ago. He's probably watching the Media Crystal in
one of my rooms."
"I'm still confused about that crystal, Magus. I've watched it endlessly
and yet I'm still unsure of it. How does it work?"
"The T switch means television. Those are the shows you watch, half hour
and hour-long shows. The F switch is films. You can watch whatever films
are playing. The M switch is music, so you can listen to songs or watch music
videos. The O switch is other, for things that go between, like TV movies,
musicals, short films, commercials, infomercials, news, or MST3K."
"Interesting... I think I'll go watch that Crystal now, see what is going
on inside of it."
Marle stood and hopped over the shards of the teapot that still sat on the floor. She made her way past Crono and into the hall. She then felt a small squishy substance under her foot.
"Jesus! Magus, wash your floor once in a while!"
"It's not my floor, it's the gay me's floor."
"YOU'RE NOT GAY!"
"Thank you!"
Marle sighed and left. On the floor was a tiny green mess...
"Cuhre! Cuhre!"
Glenn had cast the spell of Cure. A few tiny sparkles of blue light surrounded Glenn's flattened figure and pumped themselves inside him. Glenn then stood, his form back to that of a healthy newt.
"She juhst trahmples meh..."
Glenn hopped near the side of the wall, noticing a small slime trail that had belonged to Spekkio, when he held the form of an underling.
"Anothah ahmphibiouhs creahture hahs ahlready been heah?"
A sudden yelp came from Marle's location.
"MAGUS! THERE ARE IMPS ON THE MEDIA CRYSTAL!"
"Imps? Oh... she must be watching cartoons..."
Glenn pushed himself against the wall to avoid getting crushed by Magus's footsteps.
"Are you watching Pinky and The Brain?"
"I... I don't know..."
"Yes, you are..." said Magus, as he looked into the crystal.
"Why does that thing look like an imp?"
"There's a reason for that I won't get into. Quit worrying, this show is
just a cartoon!"
"What's a cartoon?"
"Nevermind... I'm going to sleep. I'm bushed. Break the crystal and I'll
break your face, got it?"
"Eiww! You are so mean!"
"It's my friggin job!"
"Fag..."
"I AM NOT GAY!"
Magus stomped out of the room, unwittingly almost smashing into Glenn. Glenn followed him quickly up the stairs into his room. His jumping was furious, and his undersides hurt from climbing up the stairs. He followed Magus into his room, where Magus proceeded to take off his clothes, leaving him in boxers, and jumped into his bed. He curled under the covers and fell immediately to sleep. Glenn had no choice but to wait until he awoke...
* * *
"What? What? Are you okay, Marle?"
"Yeah? Why do you ask?"
"I heard you scream all the way from outside."
"Oh, no, I'm fine, Lucca. I was just watching this cartoon with this mouse
that looks like an imp. It was pretty funny, they were trying to take over
the world..."
"Are you sure that the shows on this thing have nothing to do with real life?"
"They shouldn't.... are you implying that imps might take over the world?"
"Maybe. What are you watching now?"
"These guys, called the Beatles. They're singing something about how all
you need is love..."
"Hmm... what a crock."
"Ohh... be nice. I kind of feel bad for Magus... he seems so lonely..."
"Well he can shove it."
"Ouch..."
"Ouch this. He's a pig."
"He just needs a hug. Bloopy says that hugs cure unhappiness!"
"So hug the bastard."
"Lucca, can't you have any compassion for the poor man?"
"No."
"You like him don't you."
"No, I don't."
"We'll see about that. He's in bed now. Come with me."
Marle grabbed Lucca's hand and dragged her up to Magus's room. She opened his door slowly, so that the hinges wouldn't squeak. There, Marle and Lucca watched the lonely figure of Magus, curled up under his covers, sleeping quietly.
"Awww... he's sleeping like a baby..."
"He's an idiot. Look at him! Sleeping in the middle of the day... he'll throw
his whole body out of whack."
"Since when do you care?"
"I don't. I'm just saying..."
"You like him."
"No I don't. That's like saying that he's gay! It's a simple untruth."
"Whatever, man... " Marle said, as she rested her hand on her stomach. "I'm
hungry..."
"Go eat lunch."
"Come with me!" Marle said, as she strolled toward the stairs.
"I'll be there in a sec."
"Why are you still watching him?"
"I may hate him, but he sure is good looking when he doesn't have any clothes
on..."
* * *
The sky began to darken in the evening, as it usually does. What would night be without a dark sky? Anyway, Lucca and Marle were bushed. The only person who got any sleep (and was still getting sleep) was Magus, since he was smart enough to turn in that mid-morning.
"I'm so tired..."
"Stay awake, Lucca. Tonight, we're having a party!" said Marle, yawning.
"What party? What for? What's to celebrate? We have no way of getting home,
and we might not, ever..."
"Relax! You'll find away to put all those pieces of that little gold box
back together and then we'll see. Now come on! There's supposed to be some
kind of marathon of scary movies on the Media Crystal and I plan on seeing
all of them."
"You really like that Crystal, don't you..."
"Yeah. I just wish there were a way to flatten it so things look better..."
Marle said, as she grabbed the crystal.
She placed it on her lap and switched it on.
"OH! I think this one's called Carrie."
The Crystal started to show the film, but suddenly, it fizzled out.
"What the hell?"
"Yes! I can sleep now!"
"Shut up, Lucca! I think it's broken!"
Marle grabbed the crystal and shook it. It fizzled again, and a small spray of smoke flew out the back of it. She turned it over, and noticed a small, familiar cut on the back of the crystal.
"Lucca, take a look at this..."
"Oh my goodness..."
"Lucca I'm scared... who is after us?"
"I have no idea..."
"Lucca, where's Glenn?"
"Glenn? I haven't seen him since this morning..."
"You mean he's GONE?"
"You haven't seen him?"
"No... I haven't seen Spekkio either..."
"What's happening? Where's everyone going?"
Marle stood and was shaking in fear… someone had it in for them, and she didn't know who. Her heart was racing, and her breath quickened. Lucca stood and tried to comfort Marle, teeming with paranoia. A sudden sound from the kitchen made Marle jump and scream…
* * *
"Dahmned deeshehs!!!"
Glenn cursed under his breath as he struggled out of the kitchen sink. He had fallen in while trying to search for something to eat. The sides of the sink were slippery, and although newts could normally climb up most surfaces, the slippery surface of a sink was impossible to grasp. He made it out though, with the help of Marle and Lucca's dinner dishes. He made his way onto the floor with a careful jump, and scurried up the nearest leg of the kitchen table. As he arrived on the top, he managed to pull out an apple from a fruit bowl in the center of the table. Not surprisingly, he couldn't eat it… he had no teeth.
Instead, he managed to pull out a grape from the bowl. If he was lucky, he could just manage to swallow it whole…
As Glenn stuffed the miniature fruit into his mouth, Lucca pushed Marle into the kitchen to try and calm her down, with either with a drink or a sedative…
"LUCCA! THERE'S AN ALIEN ON THE TABLE!!!"
"What?" Lucca said as she rushed to Marle.
"LOOK!"
"Marle… its just a salamander!"
Glenn tried to speak. He had gotten someone's attention!!! But the grape was lodged in his throat, and nothing would come out…
"A salamander?"
"It's a lizard type thing. Just leave it alone, it will go away. Those things
are so gross…"
Glenn wanted to scream at her. "I'm a newt! I'm a newt! Its me!" But he could not… he barely had enough airflow going to his lungs, and talking was impossible.
"It's so slimy!"
"So?"
"I don't like slimy things…"
"You get used to slimy things. I had to get used to Frog…"
"Well Frog was different. But at least he's Glenn now… or he was…"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I don't know, Lucca…" Marle said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"He's not dead! He can't be!"
Glenn tried to bang his little newt hands on the table, but nobody heard him. He even tried to wiggle his green hair, but Marle didn't notice.
"I know…"
"Marle, don't say such things. If Glenn went anywhere, it was on his own
terms. He wasn't kidnapped, he wasn't killed, he wasn't hurt. I just know
it."
"How? How can you know it? Lucca, someone is after us!"
"Glenn can protect himself! He is stronger than he was now that he's a human
and not a frog."
"Well… I mean… what if Magus turned him into something else? What
if Magus did it?"
"You honestly think that Magus would turn Glenn into an animal again?"
"He might… I mean, you never know…"
"And I suppose you think Magus would sabotage his own concert and then destroy
his own Media Crystal. He wouldn't do that. Even I know that."
"I suppose…"
Glenn gave up trying to get attention. He was concentrating on getting the grape out of his throat…
"I'm still worried, though. I mean, people are disappearing one by one…
where is Crono?"
"Crono went to sleep a while ago."
"In what room?"
"Don't worry, I checked on him, he's fine."
"Lucca, I'm still worried."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Wake Magus up."
"Why?"
"Because he can protect us."
"You haven't been watching enough Oprah… you don't need a man to protect
you. All of us can protect ourselves. You can still heal, I can still burn
things to a crisp, Magus can still blow junk up, Crono can zap anything to
smithereens, Glenn can drown anything that moves, and Spekkio just plain
can't die."
"I need a man to protect me, okay? I'm a stinking weakling!"
"That's obvious…"
Glenn was practically choking. He banged his head on the table, trying to dislodge the large grape.
"Do you really want to go up to Magus's room?"
"Yes, Lucca. I think we should all stay together."
"Fine. I'll go..."
"Thanks, Lucca!"
Marle stood and took Lucca's hand to drag her out of the kitchen. Glenn gave his head another bang, and he was able to spit the grape right out of his mouth.
"They couldn't wait ahnother meeneute!" said Glenn, angrily. He jumped off the table and decided not to follow them… he had a better idea.
* * *
Things are growing much more uncomfortable within the confines of the Poyozo Palace… as time goes on and night passes over, much will make itself known…
.