CHAPTER 22 – THE BAMBOO PALACE
After hitting the boardwalk one last time and going on the Ferris Wheel, even Alabaster joined them for that, they said good-bye to the Land of Always Summer. Michaelah would always hold it near to her heart and think about it as an adult when times got tough, and she needed to calm down. It became her happy place.
Alabaster the wizard used portal magic and brought Michaelah and Koji to the Bamboo Palace. It was as easy as that. He opened up what looked like a circular doorway, and they stepped through. On the other side waiting for them was a bamboo thicket, a place in the forest where bamboo trees grew very close together. The thicket cleared and there before them was the magnificent fortress of the Bamboo Palace, made out of giant bamboo shafts. Before Alabaster left he gave them one of his potions.
"What is this?" Michaelah asked.
"Remember that fruit you gave me? I made a potion out of it. So, when you want to, you can drink it and grow really big. But it will not last long! And you will not need to eat a fruit to return to normal size. The effects of the potion will wear off and it will be like you never drank it," explained Alabaster, "Understand?"
Koji glimpsed at the fruits he kept but neither of them noticed. It was all he managed to hang on to throughout their adventures.
"I think so," said Michaelah.
And so, Alabaster the wizard, said good-bye to Koji and Michaelah. He left through another portal and the two of them walked into the Bamboo Palace. When they first got inside, no one was around.
"This looks familiar," said Koji.
They walked to the center of town. Michaelah saw a huge clock tower. When she looked at it, her locket began to tremble. Michaelah grabbed the locket, and it stopped shaking. Then the clock tower began to ring. And all of the citizens of the Bamboo Palace came out to the center of town. They were all talking pandas.
"This is it! This is my home!" yelled out Koji. He ran around and rubbed his furry head up against all of his friends and family members. Koji was finally home. And Michaelah was happy for him.
There was a big celebration for Koji's return. Everyone came out for the party. Michaelah, once again, found herself without a seat. And just like in the garden, at the Umpteenth Annual Garden Variety Contest, everyone was staring at her, and waiting for her to do something. Michaelah quickly became nervous. She did not know what to do. Gymnastics would not work here. She was not in a contest. Then Michaelah remembered the Canopy Symphony and all the birds singing that beautiful song.
All of a sudden, she could hear the Symphony's song from a distance. As if they were still playing far up in the sky. Michaelah closed her eyes, and the song was even louder. She could not help but begin to dance. Everyone watched her as she danced by herself in silence. Even though there was no music, she still moved in cool and interesting ways to the pandas. Her dance moves went from choppy to smooth, all in rhythm. Koji watched Michaelah as she gained the respect of every panda in Pandamonium.
When she finished, all the pandas stood up and clapped for Michaelah. She bowed and when she stood back up from the bow, she heard a monkey's laughter. Michaelah turned around and saw Manchester the Monkey sitting on the Bamboo walls.
‘What you can do when you feel the music in your heart, eh Michaelah?”
“Manchester!”
The monkey started playing his coconut drums. From every corner of the sky all the birds from the Canopy Symphony came flying down, even King Albee the Albatross, and together, they all began to sing. Bursting in from the doors, the garden creatures from the Umpteenth Annual Garden Variety Contest, including Mr. Sunflower, Slam the Spider, the Stampede Parade Racers, including Razzmatazz the Cheetah, even Jonesy and his cat family from Kitty City were there. Chaz waved at Michaelah.
Everyone came rushing into the Bamboo Palace. The pandas welcomed all the different creatures in joy. Alabaster smiled as he walked through the last portal in a long line of portals which all faded away after the left. He was the one who sent everyone to Michaelah, all the friends she had made along the way, even the stubborn owners of the Cuisine Inn, Mr. and Mrs. Macaroni, who refused to come unless they could cater the whole party with their weird orb food. It's a good thing all the pandas found it just as delicious as Koji did.
The pandas jumped out of their seats, mixed with all the other creatures and animals, and everyone began to dance. Koji grabbed Michaelah and they danced with each other in the middle of the party. It was the best moment Michaelah had experienced throughout her entire journey. ‘For a moment, she was allowed to feel the ecstasy of a trip ending party with good friends saying goodbye the only way they know how. But all the joy and happiness blew away instantly by the return of the Evil Angry Dragon.
It swooped down and blew its fire on the Bamboo Palace, which was mostly made of wood. The Symphony of birds flew away, the garden creatures screamed in horror, the Stampede Parade along with the Macaronis and Jonesy’s cat family scattered all over. The pandas ran for cover.
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"What are we going to do, Michaelah?" asked Koji.
Michaelah's locket began to shake again. The clock tower's bell rang, and the locket snapped open. Inside the locket on one side was a watch that looked just like the clock tower. On the other side was a picture of a panda drinking from a pond.
The Evil Angry Dragon blew its fire down onto the Bamboo Palace. Michaelah and Koji had no place to go. The fire surrounded them. Koji looked up at the sky and saw something flying in. "Look!" he said. Michaelah looked up and could now see it.
"It’s the Haveldasher!" she screamed.
The Haveldasher, the great white horse with a golden horn and magnificent wings, flew down to Michaelah and Koji. He landed right next to them and covered them from the fire with his giant white wing.
"Climb on!" he told them.
Michaelah and Koji climbed onto his back. He brought them away from the dragon and its fire. Michaelah looked around as the Evil Angry Dragon destroyed Koji's home. Michaelah watched and thought of what Snafu, the dwarf and JollyLoggers said, or sang really.
"It is very important that you find your way,
Do something with life to seize the day.
As long as you find the right thing to do,
Everything you wish for will come to you.
And when all your world does come together,
Well, that makes life worth living.
To cast out the darkness away forever,
A way you shall find as long as you're willing."
Michaelah asked herself, 'What can I do?’ and quickly jumped into action. Michaelah took out the potion Alabaster gave her. She jumped off the Haveldasher without saying a word. Koji screamed out, "Michaelah, no!" As Michaelah fell through the sky, she drank the potion. And before she landed, she grew super big.
Now the Evil Angry Dragon looked just like a dragonfly. And just like the giant called the LollyGagger, she caught the dragon, and then flicked it away. Michaelah flicked the dragon so far away she could not even see it anymore. It was just in time too, for she was already beginning to shrink back down to normal size. Before she was no longer big enough, she blew cold air over the fires and saved the Bamboo Palace from burning down.
The pandas came back out from hiding. It was over. Michaelah returned to the center of town. And Koji, riding the Haveldasher, flew back with all the birds of the Canopy Symphony. The garden creatures also returned to the center of the Bamboo Palace. Everyone cheered for Michaelah for saving them. Michaelah's locket clicked, and the Bamboo Palace fell silent. The clock tower at the center of town gave one final bell toll and the face of the clock swung open.
Inside of it was a diamond tiara. Koji brought the crown down to Michaelah and placed it on her head. The Haveldasher yelled out, "All Hail Princess Michaelah!" And all the pandas, birds, garden creatures, animals, cat, and macaroni people, and even King Albee the Albatross bowed down to Michaelah.
Michaelah had saved the day and now she was a princess. The birds sang for Michaelah, and everyone danced once again. Michaelah wanted to live with her new friends forever. She never wanted to go home. She barely remembered home. She never thought, in a million billion years, that she could really be a hero or a princess. And now she was! It was the happiest day of her life. And yet, no one she loved was here to see it. Not her Mom, not her Dad, not even her sister Mickennah, would ever know how she became a princess.
And just like that all of her concerns of home were snatched away. For the Evil Angry Dragon had yet again returned! For the third time, it attacked Michaelah and her friends. But now there was no LollyGagger to save them, and Michaelah was all out of the Wizard's magical potion. She was out of tricks! This is not supposed to happen. The princess gets to live happily ever after in the fairy tales she read back home. But this was no fairy tale.
The Evil Angry Dragon came right after Michaelah and Koji, no longer concerned with burning down the Bamboo Palace. That evil thing was not going to let them escape for a third time. The Haveldasher quickly picked Michaelah back up.
They flew evasively through the air and Michaelah's tiara and locket fell off her. In all the commotion, she had never put the locket back around her neck.
"Wait! Go Back!" she screamed.
But it was too late.
Koji yelled into the Haveldasher’s ear and told him, "Whatever happens, get her home! Take her to the trains!"
Koji the panda took out the fruits he got when he wrestled the mean tree way back when and ate them all. Then Koji grew into the greatest panda ever known. He snatched up the Evil Angry Dragon in his fist and continued to grow. It was incredible. Soon the giant panda would grow so big he would endanger the world. So, with the pest still trapped in his paw, Koji took one last look at his home, his family, and his best friend Michaelah. He smiled. He wanted to do this and knew deep down it would not be the end. This was the only way. He would not stop growing large now. So, he jumped off the planet into space.
Michaelah watched and cried as she saw Koji float away. He was so big he looked like the moon. Soon he had drifted so far out he was the same size as the moon in the night sky, then he looked like a small little white star twinkling. And finally, he disappeared completely. Michaelah sobbed uncontrollably. She was safe. They were all safe. He was a hero, and they would never be able to tell him. Koji, the panda, and Michaelah's closest friend through all of her time in Pandamonium was gone.