Trash Boy II: Corrupt World
Trash Boy looked out the window. It was filthy, covered in dust. Past the dust, he could see the endless cosmos. The heroes had been in their magical spaceship for days returning to their home, Earth II. Trash Boy wondered about whatever happened to Earth I, then he recalled the Hero mentioning something about the Evil Toad King and a giant rat named “Ratatouille.”
The Hero called everyone into the spaceship’s cafeteria. It was a mess, just like the window. Empty soda cans and chip bags were piling up. Trash Boy didn’t mind; coming from Trash World, he was used to messes and they even made him feel at home. “We will be arriving shortly!” announced the Hero. Billy Bob Don, the cowboy scientist, seemed excited about their return to Earth II. David, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care, or maybe Trash Boy just couldn’t tell what he cared about. David was quiet; the only form of communication he attempted was the occasional grunting or spazzing out. Trash Boy liked David; they had a lot in common, being quiet and not displaying their faces. They found each other sticking together most of the time.
Soon, the Heroes arrived on Earth II. Arrow was eager to turn on the television. The Heroes had been away from their home for longer than Trash Boy had known them, so they had a lot of news to catch up on. The Hero turned on their television and tuned into the news channel. The news was all about the upcoming election; “President Noon Pop is looking great on the polls with a ninety percent approval rating!” they heard from the television. “Ninety percent?” Billy Bob Don was baffled. “This don’t make any diggity darn sense! How the hee hee Noon Popper man get ninety percent?” Billy Bob Don was a weird speaker; Trash Boy could barely understand what he was saying half of the time.
“I agree, Don, this Noon Pop character is suspicious;” the Hero pulled out his phone. “...and the more I search about him, the less I find out. I can’t find any information about his political views, family, history, or even what he looks like.” Arrow thought for a moment; “Could he have some sort of magical ability? It would explain many of the mysteries behind him, ya know?” “Yeah,” the Hero answered; “I think we should investigate him tomorrow.”
That night, the Hero had many strange dreams. He dreamt of a deep cave which called out to him. The cave spoke his name and knew exactly what he wanted. The dream was so realistic, the Hero believed it to be real. Upon waking up, he was determined to find the cave. The Hero located his old friend, Andrew, who had lived on Earth II for some time, to help him locate the cave. Andrew had an amazing sense of direction and the Hero knew he would be able to help find the cave. The Hero explained the dreams to Andrew and they began the search.
“Does this look familiar?” Andrew asked, pointing to a cliffside. The cliffside was exactly as the Hero saw it in his dreams; he knew following it would lead to the cave. They soon found it. A rush of cold air blew out of the cave over Andrew and the Hero; they stepped inside. “The Hero…” they heard from within the cave; “Come closer.” Andrew stayed just within the entrance of the cave while the Hero continued forward. He soon saw it, a massive hulk of wires, machinery, and metal with a huge screen within the center. The screen lit up and spoke to the Hero; “What do you desire?” “What are you?” the Hero asked. He was confused but somehow felt drawn to the voice. “I am the World Computer, created by the gods to document all of history and prehistory. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the universe and everything within it. And you, you are the Hero, lost your homeworld to the Toad and, along with your friends, saved Trash World and the universe from the Toad’s wrath.” The Hero stepped back; he had experienced bizarre things within the universe, but he had never heard of anything possessing infinite knowledge, like the World Computer, that is, if it is being truthful. Before the Hero could say anything, the World Computer spoke again; “You desire knowledge? About your purpose in the universe, about people. I will grant you your desire. Sham al la!”
Before the Hero could understand what the World Computer was saying, he was distracted by a disturbing crunching and ripping noise. The noise awakened a primal sense of fear within the Hero he had never experienced. It was the sound of death. The Hero turned towards the direction of the noise to see Andrew with his heart busting out of his chest towards him. What was left was an almost unrecognizable mass of bone, organ, and blood pouring out of the basketball-sized hole in Andrew’s chest. Standing across from Andrew at the caves entrance was a terrifying man. The Hero could not make out his face, but he didn’t need to; the Hero could sense that the man was pure evil; the Hero felt millions of vengeful souls surrounding the man. An overwhelming sense of dread overcame the Hero; if he didn’t escape the cave that instant, he would die.
The Hero ran the fastest he had ever run in his life. Soon he blacked out and awoke back in the magical spaceship surrounded by the other heroes. They had found him nearly dead from exhaustion a few hundred meters away. The Hero explained what had happened with the shadowy man and Andrew, completely forgetting about the World Computer. Trash Boy approached the Hero and gave him a small origami crane he had folded out of a Cheetos bag in an attempt to comfort the Hero. The Hero smiled; “Thanks…” Although the Hero was still shocked by what happened in the cave, he was glad to know he had friends that really cared about him. Silence was broken by Arrow; “Yo, why don’t we go out to eat somewhere? We can worry about all of this stuff tomorrow.” Everyone seemed to agree.
The heroes decided on a small sushi bar located in the city. Everyone was laughing and having a good time, but the Hero couldn’t help but notice a man sitting in the back corner of the bar. The man was wearing a fedora and a trench coat. Occasionally, the man would look up at the heroes revealing a lit cigar in his mouth. The Hero didn’t think much of him at first, but as the heroes got up to leave, so did the man.
As the heroes were walking back to the magical spaceship, the Hero felt the sudden urge to use the restroom. The sushi bar seemed fishy to the Hero and he was beginning to regret his decision to eat there. He left the other heroes to go to a public restroom area. The Hero rushed to the men’s side and as he approached the door, he heard a voice behind him; he turned around to see the man in the trenchcoat.
The man introduced himself to the Hero; “Hello. My name is Perry Peregrine.” The Hero wasn’t sure about the man; “Nice to meet-” Perry interrupted the Hero; “Do you know about platypuses? They are really interesting animals. They are like an amalgamation of a beaver and duck! Isn’t that funny? You know, they have some really interesting abilities too. Did you know they use echolocation to hunt for crawdads? Oh, and they have poisonous barbs on their heels that can paralyze their prey. Isn’t that neat?” The Hero was taken aback by the strangers seemingly random fascination with platypuses; “Yeah.. I guess that is neat…” Perry’s tone suddenly shifted to a more serious one; “Mr. the Hero… I will kill you with my ability, Paralyzer!”
Perry began to morph into the form of a platypus! He scuttled around on the ground before lunging at the Hero. He wasn’t ready for the attack and was stung by one of Perry’s poisonous barbs, knocking off the Hero’s television head. The Hero attempted to get up but found that his legs had stopped working and he was slowly being paralyzed. The Hero felt the urge to reach out and grab Perry. He found that he could stretch and pull him as if he was rubber. Perry suddenly produced a bright flash before disappearing.
The Hero was cautious; he did not know where Perry disappeared to. He stood up, finding that the poison had worn off. The Hero heard someone’s voice; “What did you do to me? Where am I?” It was Perry’s voice. The Hero looked all over trying to find the source of his voice. After hearing it a few more times, the Hero looked down at his television head. Perry was inside the television screen; the screen displayed a small room with a purple and black, checkered pattern. The Hero found that by pressing the pause, rewind, and forward buttons, he could change Perry’s time state within the television. The Hero jumped inside of the screen, appearing in the television room with Perry. “What did you do! Where am I?” Perry asked; “You are ‘In Your Room!’ This is my ability!” the Hero responded.
Perry was angry and lunged again at the Hero. Time began to rewind and Perry was back to the state before he lunged; “What? What are you doing?” “I re-winded your actions. As long as you are within my television screen, ‘In Your Room,’ you cannot attack me. I will just rewind or pause time.” By using the “menu” button, the Hero was able to pull up any and all information about Perry. The Hero paused Perry in place and began to search for information. He discovered that Perry was a spy sent by President Noon Pop to assassinate him. The Hero also discovered that the man guarding the World Computer was Noon Pop! This proved in the Hero’s mind that he and the other heroes should investigate and stop Noon Pop. He would soon reunite with the other heroes and tell them about his findings.
To be continued…
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