Animus, Book 2: Pokey, Chapter 2: A Second Scourge
Animus, Book 2: Pokey, Chapter 2: A Second Scourge


SimonBob woke up and jumped back into the driver's seat. "Thanks a lot, Dan. I needed a quick nap." He wondered why Mike was yelling at him to pull up, and why everything was on a forty-five degree tilt outside the jetcar.
SimonBob looked down at the quickly-approaching water, suddenly noticing it for the first time. "Nonononono!" he shouted. "I'm not losing this car, I only have two payments left!" He closed his eyes and hollered, "Cerberus Punchline!"
The jetcar came to a screeching halt, inches about the water. Though the engine completely dead, they were hovering exactly in place. SimonBob tapped the dashboard. "What do you know? Ran out of gas." An ethereal drumroll and light cymbal hit was heard.
"So, uh... what do we do now?" asked Mike.
The Mach Pizza deliveryman came running across the water. "Here's your pie, right on time!" Poo sat bolt upright, hungrily grabbed the pizza box, and tore into the largest slice.
"I take it he's broke?" asked SimonBob, nodding at Poo. Mike nodded back. SimonBob turned to the deliveryman and said, "Just put it on my green card."
"No problemo, Mr. Bob!" The deliveryman ran back across the water and out of sight.
Luna tapped SimonBob's shoulder. "How did he know you?"
"Everyone knows me, I'm SimonBob!"
"I think she's looking for a more detailed explanation," said Skulryk.
"Okay, okay. A long time ago, I was the guardian of something called the Temple of Bob, in another universe. That universe was crushed by Pokey, who I think exists in this universe, as well as a few others. Luckily, after the crush, a bunch of us got together and fixed it. The only problem was that when we recreated the universe, an extra one - this one - was created as well. I'm part of this extra universe, as my very own personality was split in two, but my memory as it was at the split was left intact. I know this, even though the other me doesn't. I took it as an opportunity to try something different; I started learning a skill called 'Rallets,' since my own technological abilities were reaching limits. 'Cerberus Punchline' is just one of the moves I can perform now. It's very handy.
"As for the involvement with a pile of people, I had a little adventure while I was teaching myself about Rallets. The Mach Pizza Man is one of those who knew Rallets before me; I learned a lot from him. I met the Sphinx while I was looking for the Rallets Gem, which would augument my power to lofty heights. After I found the gem, though, I went to Deep Darkness, where Master Barf swiped it from me during a fight. After that, I had to take my flannel to the cleaners. Deep Darkness is kinda muddy, after all."
"I think you also have a connection to Apple Kid, don't you?"
"Yeah, he and I used to be regular members of Twoson's Second-Oldest Twice Re-Established Floating Poker Game. He owed me some money from when I called his bluff and he only had a pair of sixes."
"So, you're trying to get the Rallets Gem back from Belch?" asked Luna. SimonBob responded in the positive. "Then why didn't you just say so?"
SimonBob looked puzzled. "You asked why everyone knew me, not what I was doing here..."
Luna would have sweatdropped if she hadn't begun ignoring SimonBob and eating pizza. SimonBob shrugged and helped himself to a slice.

"Um..." Skulryk said. "I hate to be the voice of reason here, but since we're out of gas... just what should we do?"
They were out right in the middle of the ocean. From the looks of it, they were right in between the Deep Darkness and Scaraba.
"No way I'm swimming!" Poo said. "I can't even swim!"
Luna sighed. "It would be way too far to swim anyways, even if we were in the olympics... we'll need gas."
"That's it!" said Simonbob. "I'll just call Escargo Express to bring us some gas! Here we go!" Simonbob suddenly remembered that the phone ran on the gas, and the gas was currently... gone. "Whoops... That might be a problem."
Mike slapped his head. "Well, I'm sure we'll figure out something..."
"Hey..." Skulryk said. "I just thought... I mentioned my theory about the fifth pyramid in Scaraba... I didn't get a chance to check it out, and I know we're headed for the Deep Darkness, but I really want to see something about it... We could go after we find Belch, I suppose."
"Well..." Poo said. "We might be able to find something in Scaraba. Mike, I wanna buy a piggy nose!" Poo whined.
"Oh brother..." Simonbob said. "Before we go ANYWHERE, we need to get gas... any ideas?"

Anna touched the block of ice, which melted in an instant, releasing the Manly Fish, who was running around screaming, as the others tried to get ahold of the slippery amphiban. The Manly Fish swung his fists around and gave Cyan a claw mark across the face, as Rusty and Anthadd grabbed the Manly Fish around the waist.
Paula and Tracy found some vines and then tied up the struggling prisoner, ready for intreggration. As this was done, Mika showed the tentacle on her spear to Anthadd, to see what he could make out of it. Anthadd was dumbfounded and couldn't make it out. It didn't seem to have any element of Belch's residence.
"We'll get some answers from this Manly Fish..." Anthadd sighed, as he stroked his chins.

"It doesn't seem very likely we can get any. Anyone want to get out and push?" said SulamiTea. This was met with a mixture of puzzled and angry looks, along with a rolling of eyes from SimonBob.
"That'd work if someone else could actually fly," remarked Skulryk. Then, he realized what he had said, and looked at SimonBob.
SimonBob took a second to decipher Skulryk's gaze, then shook his head firmly. "No! I don't drudge with this car. Either we get gas or we're stranded."
Everyone else groaned. SulamiTea tried with all of his energy to push the car forward, but it came to nothing, and he was also beginning to slip under the car in his efforts.
"But we're in the middle of the ocean!" said Dan. "How are we supposed to get gas out here if we can't call for it?"
He paused to think for a moment, but was interrupted by Luna. "Doesn't this car have ANY alternative form of power?"
SimonBob clawed at the air. "No!" he spat. "Honestly, I don't own a money tree. This car cost enough as it is."
"Oo shoulcurry extra gas in casev an emergency," Poo spoke through a mouthful of pizza. Almost everyone glared at him. He just smiled and turned away.
The assembly sat around inside the car (with one floating outside of it), trying to think of a solution. Then, it came to Dan. "Oh, obviously.... someone should fly away and get us some more gas!" He glanced at SimonBob and Sulami cautiously and added, "If they can fly that far."
SimonBob shrugged. "I could try, but what if I couldn't find my way back? Besides, do I want to leave him unrestrained in my car?" The second half was spoken while pointing to the ravenous Poo, stuffing pizza in his mouth.
SulamiTea decided to snatch a piece before all of it was gone, and started to take a bite. Then he noticed everyone else staring at him. "Ah.... well. I - I could fly, but I might get tired and fall into the ocean and drown." The people in the car all radiated horror. "But, well - I could try teleporting to Scaraba!"
Skulryk took an interest in this revelation. "What, you can teleport, too?" This opened up a further thought to him, which made him become suspicious. "If you can teleport, why couldn't you just have taken us to where we wanted to go?"
SulamiTea was beginning to turn red again, and shifted uncomfortably. "Because of a few things. One, I don't know how many people I can teleport. More people means less chance of it working. Two, if I'm not familiar with the area, there's a much smaller chance of it working. These were my first times in Scaraba." Skulryk's head drooped. "WHAT? I don't visit this universe all the time, and even if I did, travel still isn't that easy! Especially if you don't have much money."
"Wait, you're from another universe, too?" SimonBob interrupted. "Just how did you get here?"
The left hand of Sulami waved back and forth. "Hold on! I'll explain later... I owed Skulryk an explanation of things. Anyways, three -" The caped kid closed his eyes, saying nothing. "Oh. Wait, no three." Mike nearly thrust his face into his hand. "Well, even if I did teleport to somewhere to get gas, what if I couldn't get back here? I can't easily teleport back here into this direct spot in the middle of the ocean. Unless.... well, a Tricks teleport might do it."
"So, there's a possibility," said Luna. "Can't you try?"
SulamiTea shrugged. "I guess I could... if you all think it's a good idea." Leaving the next remark to someone else, he began eating his pizza slice.
The group in the car turned to face each other. "Why is he with us anyway? Why do we trust him all of a sudden?" asked Dan, feeling left out on the story of how Sulami came to be with them.
"We don't....." said Skulryk slowly. "But he knew my name, and I wanted to ask him how that was, and what he knew about what's going on. Also, he got caught up in that panic with the General."
Poo, taking a break from pizza, decided to add his part of the story. "He knew my name too, and pratically attacked me while telling me about the statue."
"We don't even know if he'll come back for us, though," said Luna, getting back on topic. She smiled sweetly at SimonBob. "SimonBob, if we promise to guard Poo CAREFULLY, couldn't you go?"
SimonBob twitched, figuring that this situation wasn't really improving much.

"Perhaps now," Anthadd said, "we can find out what is going on."
Siris frowned. "I'm not so sure," he sighed. "I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if this guy has the intelligence of dirt."
"We'll let him decide that," Ness whispered as Anna melted the ice.
When the Manly Fish was free of his frigid prison, his immediate reaction was to attempt to jab Ness with a spear. As the Fish approached Ness, Siris held up his arms and chanted, "Bind my foes with unbreakable chains... Ray of Paralysis!" The Manly Fish stopped dead in his tracks, and the group closed in.
"Now then," Cyan spoke. "Why are you trying to attack us?"
The Manly Fish responded with astoundingly accurate English. "I have an Animus against those who trespass here."
"Animus," muttered several members of the group, in surprise.
"What do you know of this Animus?" Anthadd inquired.
"I know little," the Fish replied, surprisingly calm now. "I heard a voice speaking to me, saying that I had an Animus against you all."
Siris spoke softly. "You don't sound too bad anymore. Are you sure you hate us?"
"I no longer feel this Animus," it replied, "now that I have been defeated. If you free me, I will leave you in peace."
Siris looked around at the others. "Ought I?" he asked. The others in the group looked skeptical, but most nodded. Siris made a swift motion with his hands, and the Manly Fish sank away into the swamp.

"Curses!" Pokey shouted, pounding a greasy fist onto a keyboard. "They know too much already, and that fool tells them more?! Well, that plan seemed to be a failure. I'll have to see where they are heading to now..."

"Okay, I'll go get the stupid gas. Listen, does anyone know what a dead-man's switch is?"
"Umm, I think I know, but you might wanna explain it for these folks." Poo nodded and winked at SimonBob, who rolled his eyes.
"It just means that if I die, the jetcar explodes very forcibly. Pretty nifty, eh? Well, time's a-wastin'!" With that, SimonBob jumped off the edge of the car and skimmed across the water, flying for Scaraba.
"Explodes?! Lemme out!" Poo would have dived into the water, had Dan not hit him with the pipe again.
As SimonBob flew, he considered all the things that had happened. He needed to get back the Rallets Gem, that was for certain. And it might help to try to get some answers from Sulami; dimension-hopping sounded interesting. But he could develop plans later. For now, he needed gas.
He landed in Scaraba next to a pair of crooked gas dealers. "I need to buy some gas."
"Really? Let's see some identification."
SimonBob waved a hand in the air. "He doesn't need any identification."
The dealers stared at him. "What do you think this is," one said in his thick Scaraban accent, "a movie or something?"
"Perhaps he thinks he is at his little computer, typing a story!" chuckled the other.
"Ha ha, yes! Perhaps he thinks he writes fiction, with the help of other novelists just like him, over the Internet!" The two dealers laughed until they cried.
"Okay, mister!" one of the dealers finally said. "No identification, we'll sell you the gas, huh?" He looked around. SimonBob was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?"
The other dealer turned around in time to see SimonBob fly off with a tank of gas. "Hey! Bring that back!" The dealers sent curses after SimonBob, but to no avail.
Back in the car, Poo was just waking up. He looked out over the jetcar's door, and was surprised to see someone walking across the water. "Woah, am I dreaming?"
"I hope not," said SimonBob, filling the tank with gas, "because I'm nobody's dream... well, maybe a lady's." He winked at Luna, who rolled her eyes at him. "The only person who needs to dream on is you, Simon."
SimonBob hopped back into the driver's seat. "Thanks for the self-esteem boost, I need rejection like I need a hole in my head." He revved the engine and flew for Deep Darkness.

"Whoo, back on course. This is very good. Very good indeed." Mike chuckled to himself. He then looked forward and noticed that there was a glove compartment, just sitting there. "Hey Bob, whatcha got in your glove compartment?"
"A man's glove compartment is a sacred area. You should never, ever ask what's in there..." Bob blinked, then grinned. "I'm just messin'. I really don't know what's in there. Take a look if you want." He continued to pilot the highwayman towards deep darkness.
Mike decided to look into the glove compartment. He moved some assorted pieces of paper and found the manual to the car. "Heh, awesome." He continued to look around and found a cell phone. He looked at SimonBob. "Hey Bob, check it out. A cell phone. It's fully charged, too. Ya know, we coulda used this to phone an auto club to hook us up with gas... We coulda avoided that whole fiasco with the flying and whatnot."
"Yeah, well, I figured that this trip needed some entertainment. Heh heh... Anyways, I forgot about the phone. What else is in there?"
SimonBob was rather curious. He hadn't had a reason to check the glove compartment for a long time. He figured that maybe there'd be some information that could help out.
Rooting through all the papers, SimonBob eventually found something of interest. "Yeeeah, a phone number. Phone call time."
He dialed the number.
"Hello?"
"Yo, this is Bob. Sup?"
"Wazzup?!" The speaker on the other line had obviously been watching too much television...
"... Right. This is Belch, correct?"
"Whoa, Belch has a phone? Awesome." Mike chuckled to himself.
"*Ahem* Gwaaaaaarg. Yes, this is Belch. Bob? Umm-" Belch was interrupted.
"I'm comin' after you. Get me my stuff or you'll get it. Seriously."
"Only if you find me. Gwahahaha. *click*" The link was disconnected. SimonBob laughed to himself.
"Well, looks like we're goin' to have a little fun."
"Aww yee."

Poo continued to gorge himself on pizza. He took too big of a bite and started to choke. Skulryk hit him on the back and the food went down properly. Luna started to laugh hysterically, with Dan doing the same. Poo shrugged and downed another slice of pizza.
"What if thew's mo' zombief in Deep Darkneff, Mike?" Poo asked with a lot of pizza in his mouth.
"Hmm... good question. Well, we'll just have to... deal with them, I suppose. I don't see why there'd be zombies there, but whatever. Gotta be prepared for anything."

Pokey pounded a fist onto the keyboard.
A small dollop of drool dripped onto the V key.
"Pokey, Pokey, Pokey," a new voice softly snapped. "You're too incompetent for this job. I'm taking over."
"What?" Pokey was dumbfounded. "B... but... but... you can't take over from me! I engineered this entire plan!"
"Don't stutter. It makes you look stupid."
"Go back to your baking!" Pokey shot back. "I think your Magic Cake is burning!"
Lucille, the Magic Cake lady swept a lock of hair back.
"Fine. I'll let you screw up further. It'll look all that much better on my resumé when I apply for future jobs involving ruining the world," she replied glibly.
She turned away, and began to walk away from Pokey, her body disappearing into the shadow of the door.

"Poo, you've been eating that pizza for hours, and you're still not finished?" Luna asked.
"I like to fully experience my food," replied Poo with a smirk. Just as he said that, the jetcar landed on a land strip in Deep Darkness.
"Wow, it's dark here," Poo commented as he climbed out of the jetcar. Mike rolled his eyes and climbed out as well. One by one, the rest of the group climbed out. But just as they did, a monkey ran up to them. "Eee ee!" it screamed.
"Does anyone speak Monkey?" Skulryk asked. Dan and SimonBob looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Maybe the monkey is scared," Luna suggested.
"Maybe we need to beat information out of him!" Poo exclaimed as he pulled out the metal pipe.
"Poo, put that down!" Mike yelled as he took the pipe away. "We don't want to alarm it."
"Eee ee!" the monkey screamed again as it pulled some leaves down to reveal a hotel made entirely out of plants.
"Wow..." SimonBob said in awe. The group was mesmerized, as they followed the monkey into the hotel.

Lucille plopped down into a chair in her own control room.
"Why can't I get my way?" she whined.
A small tear dripped from her eyes and landed on her dress.
"Curse you, Pokey," she hissed as far from blithely as she could have been. "Curse you all!"
She quickly questioned why she had cursed everyone, but dismissed the thought. Her thoughts now turned to ways of foiling Pokey's plans.
Her eyes sparkled suddenly, and she knew what she was going to do.
Lucille turned to one of her monitors. It showed a Manly Fish sinking into Deep Darkness.
An evil looking smile appeared on her lips.
"Manly Fish!" she cried, beads of sweat beginning to drop from her hair. She was worried Pokey might come across her.
The Manly Fish stirred slightly on the monitor.
"Manly Fish!" Lucille repeated. "Now, I command you to be reborne of Animus!"
The Manly Fish stirred again, more noticeably this time.
"Manly Fish!" she repeated for a second time. "I order you to be reborne of Animus! Animus towards Master Belch!"

The Manly Fish opened his eyes. He stretched his limbs, and began to surface again.

"What's that?" Tracy cried, leaping into Ness' arms.
Ness blushed slightly as the others stifled giggles, and politely asked Tracy to get down.
"Wait!" Mika warned. "I hear it too."
"What?" Siris demanded. "What do you hear?"
"Turn around, Siris," Anna replied. "Look where the Manly Fish sank."
Everyone turned around.
They stood in awe as the Manly Fish they thought had died arose once more. Alive. Covered in seaweed.
"I must theek out... mathter Belch," it slurred. "I mutht find him. And then dethtroy him..."

Lucille kicked back.
"Wonderful," she mouthed.
She sniffed the air.
"Oh no! My Magic Cake is burning!"

Pokey placed his face flat against the monitor.
"What in the world?" he demanded angrily. Lucille? he thought.

The party filed into the mossy Deep Darkness inn, wondering what it was that they were supposed to see in there. The monkey bounced ahead of them and lead them to a room full of beds. He chittered expressively, waving towards them.
Luna listened to the chittering carefully. "You're saying you want us to rest here?" The monkey hopped up and down in reply. "I think that's a yes - what say, everyone?"
Poo ran and leaped onto a bed. "I think we should, I'm HORRIBLY tired, and we don't even have to pay!" He settled down as if he would fall asleep in a half minute.
The rest of the group considered. Dan agreed with the suggestion. "It has been awhile since we've gotten any rest, right? I mean, we did stay at that ridiculously expensive hotel, but since then we've found Anna's shack, traveled to Scaraba, and dealt with a huge statue." He glanced at Poo, then back at the others with embarrassment. "And, I hate to admit it, but Poo's right... it's free!"
"We might as well," mumbled Mike. "We could use some rest." Everyone gave a positive reply, and headed to a bed. The monkey chittered excitedly, and scrabbled out of the room. The others failed to see the glossy green bumps covering its back and feet.
A discolored blob waited outside of the inn, oozing behind some large plants. Now was the time. When they all fell asleep, they would become slaves. How fitting that they were the ones who had come to destroy him!
Of course, Master Belch didn't know that someone else was also coming to try and kill him. But even if he had, what would it have mattered? He'd make that person meet the same fate as these people were about to!

"Hm....Good thing it went the opposite direction. I thought it was going to attack us again," said Ness relieved.
Mathter... Paula thought aloud.
"Heh...Reminds me a Buster Melts!" chuckled Rusty.
Anthadd, Cyan, Siris, Anna, and the ghosts stared at Rusty uncertain of what to think.
"I guess his master would be Master Belch. That's what makes the most sense," reasoned Ness.
"Let's follow the Manly Fish then!" suggested Saffron in a cheery mood.
"You're still alive?" pondered Cyan rather surprised that the quiet ghosts said something.
"Quiet you!" yelled Scarlet.
"Yeah! Leave us alone, Joe!" exclaimed Chartreuse.
"His name is Cyan, you moron. Let's quit bickering and follow that fish before we can't see him anymore," Indigo spoke up.
So, the people with pants rolled them up, the people with armor put on their rust protectors, and the people who could fly prepared to fly behind the group. Everyone except Tracy stepped into the water.
"I don't wanna get my feet wet!" complained Tracy.
"Dontcha worry, Li'l Missy!" Rusty picked Tracy up and put her on his shoulder. "Let's go."

The group proceeded to follow the possessed Manly Fish. Whether it was walking, flying, or sitting, they were at least getting throught the murky Deep Darkness waters. Hopefully, the Manly Fish would lead them to wherever Master Belch was.

As Siris began to rise into the air to float over the murky swamp, he suddenly felt a handful of familiar auras...
"The others!" Siris exclaimed. "They're here!"
"Pardon?" Anthadd raised an eyebrow in Siris's direction.
"The other group, the people we met on Anna's island," Siris explained. "They're close by."
"They're in Deep Darkness?" Anna asked.
"Yeah," Siris confirmed. "They're somewhere... in that direction." Siris pointed to the northeast. He was excited, mainly because he wanted to see that girl, Luna, again. There was something about her that intrigued him, and he wanted to find out what it was.
"But we need to follow this Manly Fish," Ness pointed out.
"He's right," Anthadd said. "We do need to keep track of this Manly Fish."
"But..." Siris sighed.
"Reuniting with the others," Cyan said, "is not our highest priority, I'm afraid."
"Oh well," Siris hung his head. "I guess we'll meet with them later..."

The group followed the Manly Fish for some time. After awhile they reached the shore where Deep Darkness ended and the sea began; the Manly Fish kept right on swimming.
"What do we do now?" asked Paula.
"Do ya think s'possible t' swim all th' way 'cross this big ol' sea?" wondered Rusty.
"Those of us that can fly could follow him," suggested Siris, "but what about the others?"
Anthadd had a solution. "I can transform into Anthdragn and I could give them a ride."
"I wonder where he's going?" pondered Cyan.
"Maybe he doesn't know where Belch is and is just heading for Belch's old base in Grapefruit Falls," replied Ness.
"Should we follow the Manly Fish or should we go find the others, though?" asked Siris.