CHAPTER 10 - THE GOO ZOO
The room at the inn had a giant window overlooking the river. Michaelah thought nothing of it when they first went to bed the night before, but now, laying in her bed with her eyes closed, she was overly aware of the fact that there were no curtains or blinds for the window. She could feel the sunlight hitting her eyelids. It was warm. It felt kind of nice. And soon it would not matter because she would be woken up anyway by Koji.
“Its time for the Goo Zoo! Goo Zoo! Goo Zoo! Goo Zoo!” he chanted as he got ready.
“Wow, Koji. You’re really excited about something you know almost nothing about.”
“I assume its going to be a zoo full of all different kinds of goo creatures.”
“How do you even know what a zoo is? Where I come from they keep pandas in zoos.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Koji.
“Because our pandas do not talk. None of our animals, or plants, or bugs, or food do.”
“That’s odd.”
Michaelah laughed. Then she started remembering her small little hometown. It was a place called Middletown. They didn’t have their own zoo, but she’d been to one with her dad. Her dad… That’s when Michaelah remembered it was her birthday, or it was yesterday. Oh no! Did she miss her party? They still had such a far way to go and that was just to get to Koji’s home at the Bamboo Palace. Michaelah was basically lost still. This deeply worried her. What troubled her even further was the question of why she kept forgetting.
Michaelah ran downstairs but before she could reach the exit she was stopped by Guini and Gem.
“Won’t you join us for breakfast?” Gem asked.
“Can’t, sorry. We're in a rush. I promised Koji we would go to the Goo Zoo and we really need to get on our way.”
“Okay, okay, strange girl. Take this then.”
Guini went behind the counter next to the kitchen and handed a bag to Gem. Gem, in turn tried to hand it to Michaelah but she rushed right by.
Koji took it instead and chased Michaelah out the door before saying, “Thank you for everything!”
Once outside, Koji caught up with Michaelah while opening the bag. “Michaelah that was very rude of you. Especially towards people who just gave us free food!”
Koji opened the bag and pawed at the orbs.
“I don’t want any of that food.” Michaelah said, still in a rush.
Koji started taking out orbs and eating them. “Are you sure? They’re so good!”
“I’m not hungry. I just want to get go-”
“This one’s spicy!” Koji exclaimed.
Before they reached the gates of the Goo Zoo he had eaten them all and threw the bag out in the garbage. The gates had a turnstile, (a turnstile is the metal bar that gets pushed every time someone enters a venue. It can count the number of people attending the event.) but luckily for them it was free admission because they still didn’t have any money or currents.
“Where do we even begin?” asked Michaelah, a little worried by all the different paths to take. It was morning and perhaps a little early for there to be a crowd. They saw a janitor walk by. At first they thought he was holding a huge mop, then they realized he was the mop. Michaelah giggled. She was starting to get used to this strange world.
“This way!” Koji said, taking her by the hand and leading her down the path to the left side of the park.
“Remember,” Michaelah reminded Koji, “We are here to look for a way across the river.”
“Right, right,” said Koji with his nose in the air.
“Where are you taking us?” she asked.
Koji led them to a snack vendor. “Two, please.”
“Aren’t you full from the orbs?” asked Michaelah.
“I’m a bear!”
Still, Michaelah thought to herself, all these different kinds of food can’t be good for a panda who eats mostly plants.
The snack vendor handed them bowls of sparkling goop. Michaelah took a small taste with the tiny spoon. It tasted like cotton candy to her. She had a couple more spoonfuls and then threw the rest out. Koji had already finished his bowl and was licking it. Michaelah walked forward towards the first exhibit and heard rustling behind her. She turned back to see Koji with half his body in the garbage. He had fished out her bowl of sparkling goop and ate the rest, from the trash!
“Don’t be a trash panda, Koji! You’ve had enough already.”
Koji laughed at her. They walked up the exhibit. At first they saw nothing. It was just an empty room with glass windows. Then the floor moved. It jumped right at them and kind of scared them. They watched as a thin layer of gray covering the floor all pooled into a pile in the center of the room.
“So that’s gray goo?” asked Michaelah.
“No, that’s gunk, my dear,” said a voice behind them.
They turned around to see a rhinoceros standing on two legs, fully clothes and wearing glasses.
“I am Dr. Rhino and this is my favorite place in the world.”
“Hello, I am Michaelah, and this is my friend Koji the panda, we are new to this place.”
“Oh, you must let me take you on the tour! I know all the best exhibits.”
“Okay, that would be nice.”
“You have no idea, my dear. Most of the exhibits are just different color goo. That is how they get everyone to spend the whole day at the zoo, but I know where to go for the most fascinating sort.”
“Please, Dr. Rhino, lead the way.”
“The best thing to do is go to the most popular exhibit first, before the crowds arrive and lines start to form. Whereas the green slime is the best is up for debate, personally I disagree and will save my favorite for last, but a lot of people think-”
Koji’s stomach growled so loud it interrupted Dr. Rhino mid sentence. They both looked at the panda.
“Are you okay, son?” asked Dr. Rhino.
“I’m fine,” Koji said.
“I told you not to eat all that.” said Michaelah.
“I said, I’m fine. Can we keep going?” Koji persisted.
They walked down the path and all of a sudden the decor on the walls changed from gray to green. They went up a ramp and onto a stage where there was a line of two people. A giant button with short stubby arms and a walking tie, like the one adults wear at the office. Koji and Michaelah giggled at the sight of them.
After a couple minutes wait, it was their turn to enter the green slime exhibit. Michaelah had so many questions, but she found it best not to bother their tour guide, since he was being so nice, leading them around the park.
“Do not be alarmed,” he said in a serious yet calm manner.
They watched inside the green room. It was the same setup as the other exhibit, with a circular glass wall all around it. The slime sat in the middle of the room. Then it activated. It started to vibrate and all of a sudden it was floating in the air.
“This is my favorite part,” Dr. Rhino said.
The green slime shot towards them, and it didn’t stop at the wall. No, it phased right through it. Michaelah screamed and Koji jumped out of the way. The green slime barreled towards them. It passed through Dr. Rhino and Michaelah in a zig zag, sending them both backwards.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Koji helped Michaelah up. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” she said. “Ew!” She wiped slime off her face.
Dr. Rhino laughed at her while he also wiped slime off his face.
“It’s like you’re covered in snot!” Koji said, trying not to laugh.
"It's actually quite good if you want to taste it."
"No thank you," said Michaelah. She was not enjoying herself. She took one step and then felt something wet wipe her cheek. She turned her head and caught Koji's tongue slurping the slime into his mouth. He smiled.
"Sorry."
"You're a pig."
"I'm a bear!"
"Well at least one side of your face is clean now," Dr. Rhino laughed as he wiped his own face with a handkerchief.
“Can we get out of here?” asked Michaelah.
The three of them walked out of the exhibit.
“I can’t believe that is the most popular one.”
“People just love getting slimed,” said Dr. Rhino.
Dr. Rhino brought them to the next exhibit. On their way they saw the paint on the walls and fences, and the lines on the paths change from green to brown. He brought them to an outside area with no glass walls and simple short fences. Michaelah immediately felt more comfortable because it looked almost exactly like the zoos back home. Except inside the exhibit wasn’t little brown monkeys crawling around but little brown balls of goo.
“They’re mud muk,” explained Dr. Rhino.
Koji and Michaelah watched the balls of muddy muk roll around the dirt, mixing and bouncing off each other. It was cute and entertaining. This was much more Michaelah's speed.
As they walked behind Dr. Rhino to the next exhibit, Michaelah couldn’t help but catch Koji looking around for something.
“Is everything okay, Koji?” asked Michaelah.
“Everything is fine, Michaelah, just excited to see what’s next!”
Michaelah didn’t believe Koji but decided not to pry.
Next they came upon an exhibit with a title above the cage. Michaelah read it aloud, “The Dance of the Opposites.” Dr. Rhino looked back at them with a giddy smile after she spoke.
“Wait til you see this sludge!” he said leading them to the observation deck.
This was the biggest goo creature so far. It was pure black and white. It was hard to see which color it had more of, because even though the black and white inside of it did not mix together to create gray, the two colors were constantly moving. The goo creature slid around on the floor and every movement seemed to affect what was going on inside it.
The black goo moved like the waves on an ocean, it parted for the white bubbles until the white bubbles popped and pushed the black goo around the edges and into their own bubbles. It kept repeating this process but with no real pattern. The sludge monster was pure chaos wrapped up on a ton of goo.
It was now starting to get crowded at the Goo Zoo, all different types of people were walking between exhibits. Dr. Rhino kept them at a feverish pace, making sure they got to see everything, but Koji kept lingering behind them. After a while, Michaelah had a hunch about what was wrong with him.
“Koji…”
“Yes, Michaelah?”
“You’re walking funny. Do you need to use the bathroom?” she asked.
“Yes!” he blurted out, “Yes, yes I do! You were right. I ate too much, and I’ve had to go ever since the green slime, but I can’t find any bathrooms.” Koji sounded like he was about to cry.
“Oh, there are no bathrooms at the Goo Zoo,” said Dr. Rhino as if it was no big deal.
Koji and Michaelah both turned towards him, speechless.
“Why is that?” they asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked back.
“Not to us. Everything is strange here.” said Michaelah.
“I suppose that makes sense, for strangers such as yourselves.”
Michaelah looked around at all the different varieties of creatures and people eating and drinking treats. If they gave out food but had no bathrooms, then where did the zookeepers expect people to use the toilet? She started to get worried. They had no idea what was normal around here. What could be normal for these people could be scary for them. Almost the opposite of the lesson they learned from Slam the Spider. Things started clicking in Michaelah’s head. Then she thought of a question she should’ve asked a while ago.
“What are you a doctor of, anyway?” she asked Dr. Rhino.
“I’m a goo doctor, of course. Would you like to see my laboratory? I work right here in the zoo.”
“You work here?” Koji asked.
“Every day!”
Dr. Rhino started leading them to the back of the zoo, where there were no exhibits.
Michaelah fell back to whisper to Koji who was waddling like he didn’t want to drop something. “I don’t like this,” she said.
“What?” Koji asked.
“Something is off about this place. I think we should go.”
“That would be rude, Michaelah, like this morning with the Macaronis. Plus, we still haven’t found a way across the river. Perhaps Dr. Rhino can help us with that." Another loud growl from Koji’s belly caused them all to stop walking.
“You okay?” Dr. Rhino asked.
“I really need to use the bathroom,” Koji squirmed.
“Right this way. Its just a little further.
“See!” Koji said to Michaelah, “He’s taking us to his lab. He probably has a bathroom there for me to use.”
Michaelah still wasn’t convinced, but she followed them anyway. She would protect Koji no matter what.
“You see this whole zoo is owned by the Soap and Suds Gang. They get the goo and keep the place clean for the visitors.”
“How do they get the goo?” Michaelah asked.
“That’s my job. Here we are.” Dr. Rhino led them into an office building. After they walked through a couple of very heavy doors, they entered a room that was huge with all sorts of different machines inside.
“This is my laboratory.”
“What kind of experiments do you do?” asked Koji.
“All sorts, but mainly I try to find different kinds of goo for the zoo.”
“How do you do that?” asked Michaelah.
“I can show you, but first would you like to relieve yourself Koji?”
“Please, yes!”
“Come with me.”
Koji was too distracted by all the machinery to notice Dr. Rhino stopped walking. The panda walked right by the doctor and into a contraption that locked behind him. There in the middle of the contraption was a metal hole that was slightly raised off the ground. Was it a toilet? With everything being so weird around here, Koji just assumed that it was. So, he went to use it. When he was about to plop down on it he heard banging on the door and muffled yelling. That was weird. But it was hard for him to concentrate when he had to go so badly.
Back on the other side of the door Michaelah had come to a startling realization. She was pounding on the door to try and get her friend out of there while she screamed, “THE GOO IS POO! THE GOO IS POO!”
Oddly enough, Dr. Rhino was not trying to stop her. No, instead he was over at a control console, smiling as he twisted and turned switches, and pressed buttons. Right before he flipped a giant switch he said, “Well… you're half right, my dear.” Electricity ran across the ceiling to the center of the room like a lightning storm. Inside the contraption Koji felt something weird as he sat on the metal toilet. Then he heard the same growl from his belly coming from beneath the toilet.
“Stop it right now!” Michaelah yelled at Dr. Rhino.
“What are you going to do? He will be better off as goo, and you are just a little girl.”
Michaelah pulled out the TV remote the wizard had given her and started pressing buttons. Suddenly, the entire laboratory flashed, and everything turned into feathers.
“Koji!”
“Michaelah!”
They ran towards each other. Dr. Rhino screamed in frustration, got down on all fours and started charging forth, with his giant horn pointing right at them. Michaelah clicked the same button on the TV remote trying to turn Dr. Rhino into feathers but it didn’t work. Then she pulled out the yo-yo. She spun it out and immediately lost control.
The string spooled out everywhere like a nest. There was no way she could roll it back up, but it did cause a distraction as the charging rhino got caught in all the string and tripped over. Koji grabbed a part of the string closest to the yo-yo and bit it with his sharpest teeth, severing the line. They ran away, back towards the front part of the zoo with all the exhibits.
“This way!” Michaelah led them to an exhibit they had not been to yet. Its walls turned to pink as they climbed some stairs. Once inside they tried to act normal, like they were just another pair of visitors. After only a couple of minutes two bars of soap walked into the exhibit and started looking around. Michaelah had no doubt the soap guys were looking for them. She found a door and opened it, slipping into the next room. They were alone, or so they thought.
“Um, Michaelah…” Koji tapped her on the back and then pointed at the pink goo pulsating on the ceiling. She hadn't realized in the heat of the moment and led them right into the goo cage.
They were both breathing heavily, trying not to panic but too scared to think of what to do next.
“Hello.”It spoke.
“Hi?" Said Michaelah, awkwardly.
“I’m Amoeba Mike.”
“Nice to meet you, Amoeba Mike. Did these awful people turn you into goo?” asked Michaelah.
“Yes, but it's not all bad. I can do this!” He fell to the floor and pushed into a chair, then rolled over and the chair stuck to him.
“That’s cool,” said Koji.
“I know, right? I can also release it whenever I want. That took a while to learn.”
“Can you get us out of here? We don’t want to be goo.”
“Sure, I’m starting to feel a little cooped up anyway. Hang on!”
And just like that Amoeba Mike rolled over them and they got caught up in his goo. It was hard to see inside the pinkness. Michaelah tried not to feel overwhelmed while Koji laughed in excitement. She took a deep breath and had the oddest thought.
I'm in a giant wad of gum.
They heard shattering and felt tremors. Michaelah could only guess that Amoeba Mike was breaking through walls and fences. When they finally were spat out of the pinkness they found themselves right by the river. Amoeba Mike was huge! He looked like he had eaten several buildings.
Michaelah looked behind them, back towards the zoo. There was a clear path of destruction leading right back to the Goo Zoo. If she didn’t think of something fast they would be caught by Dr. Rhino and the Soap and Suds Gang.
“We could go back to the Cuisine Inn,” suggested Koji.
“No, I wouldn’t want to put them in danger. Plus, we have to cross this river one way or another…”
“Well why didn’t you say so!” said Amoeba Mike as he scooped them back up. This time they did not get put inside the pinkness but stood ontop of him on a platform as he twisted and stretched his body. Up and out, he formed using all the rubble he gathered from his sticky destruction of the zoo to make a bridge from one side of the river to the other.
The river was so large Amoeba Mike kept having to grow up just to grow further out, so much so that they were getting very high. Soon they would touch the clouds. Michaelah worried if there was enough pink goo to get them across to the other side. That’s when something unexpected happened.