As Hank, Dorothy, and Mr. Honeybun traveled across the paper streets of Manuscript City. Hank was suddenly bothered by a question that popped into his head as he marveled at all the various illustrations from Children’s literature to young adult fiction.
“Uhh….Hey Dorothy, why haven’t we seen any other Illustrations outside this Bookstore?” He pondered as an Illustration dragon soared over them followed by an illustration biplane that flew right behind it chasing after the said dragon.
Mr. Honeybun’s ears perk up at the question. “Yeah…why is that? I always look through the cameras and never see them leave.”
Dorothy looked downtrodden at the question. She looked at Inkwell’s Bookstore’s entrance and pondered how the shudders were recently opened up.
Dorothy sighed and stated “Fear. Plain and simple. Ever since the Arcadians started this war over Wonder with the Mall decades ago, they’ve been slowly wearing every wonder-full being inside the mall. But after a while…all the societies inside the mall just….stopped communicating. With all the Arcadians patrolling the districts, it’s a miracle we haven’t been attacked yet. Manuscript City is one of the more strict ways of keeping the Arcadians out. From Brickabrack I hear that his home store of Bricksenblocks is under some serious martial law.”
“Oh my….friends just not talking with each other….that’s just so sad….” Mr. Honeybun uttered as he began to sulk along with Dorothy.
Hank interjected this sad scene by adding one simple yet powerful fact.
“But! We are collecting the Seven Sparks of Wonder to stop the Arcadians once and for all. We already have the Chroma Sphere, and now we just need the other six. It might sound like a lot. But I for one to see the rest of this big world we call a Mall.”
The Handyman’s words took a few moments to register with the Doll and Teddybear….but they both perked up after a few moments.
“Yeah! I only saw the mall through the grey camera feeds…. It's so cool seeing them through color AND on different sides!” Mr. Honeybun declared as he did a playful spin, only to get dizzy and fall on his rear.
Dorothy gave a small chortle as she saw the silly bear fall and concluded. “Yeah. Greenbolt always talked about how disappointed he was when all the stores stopped being unified, maybe that can finally change!”
This new wave of positivity surrounding the Trio of Toys re-energized the three as they continued to make their way to the Caffine Corner. As they passed beyond the borders of Manuscript City, the scent of coffee and muffins began to pepper all three of their noses. An aromatic fragrance that Hank and Dorothy couldn’t get enough of, but Mr. Honeybun was long since used to considering all the security guards constantly drinking the stuff every morning.
The Caffeine Corner was right past the next aisle of bookshelves. The very bookshelf they were passing was labeled ‘New Releases’. On the shelves were small posters of book covers of upcoming books. The three looked at the impending releases in the next few weeks, but one exact poster caught Hank’s attention, a poster of a steampunk heroine wielding a complicated-looking blade standing on top of the wreckage of a building with a burning logo flag in the background.
‘Clockwork Dominion: The Ironclad Revolution! The Epic Conclusion launching in 4 Days!’
“Ooh! One of the other guards talked about this book! She’s excited for this one and hopes whatsherface chooses whatshisname over the other guy!” Mr. Honeybun says with giddy excitement.
Dorothy rolls her eyes while shaking her head, Ever since the Afterglow series in the mid-2000s. Authors have been trying their damndest to take advantage of its popularity with love triangles that overshadow the story.
But Dorothy’s critiquing thoughts of that type of plotline were cut short as shadows began to soar directly above them all….blocky and strangely shaped! The three couldn’t get a proper look at these strange flying blocky objects soaring over them due to the store’s fluorescent lighting. But soon they stopped as they began to loom directly above Manuscript City!....and they all began to drop individually! It was at this point, Dorothy realized what these flying shadows were!
“Oh…CRAP! PENTOMINOS!” She shouted pulling Hank out of the way of a falling P-Block! As it fell, multiple other blocks fell creating a straight line across from one shelf to another! A small, upbeat jingle played from seemingly nowhere, the perfectly aligned pentominoes flashed in and out of existence before vanishing completely….and so did a small portion of the bookshelf!
One of the soldier illustrations saw this and shouted “WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! SOUND THE ALARM!”
An illustration of a bear put down their marmalade sandwich and quickly flipped a switch, alerting all the Illustrations across Manuscript City and Inkewll’s Bookstore for the upcoming attack, some stayed and hid between the pages of their books, while others stood their ground and prepared to fight!
The pentominoes fell at rapid speeds, some even spinning to land perfectly flat on the floor, creating walls to block off the Trio of Toys from reaching the Caffeine Corner! A small group of Pentominoes began to assemble once again, this time creating a series of words to make one simple yet threatening message!
image [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GW5PNbBW8AAI6jO?format=png&name=medium]
The Pentominoes began to take shape once again…and this time formed a blocky, pixelated fist! There they began to separate and fly all around the trio! Each trying to individually place themselves next to each other!
“Don’t let them form a straight line between you! If they do you’ll vanish along with them!” Dorothy ordered Hank and Mr. Honeybun as she drop-kicked an X-Block from forming a solid line!
Hank quickly pulled out his sledgehammer and began smashing the various oddly shaped letter blocks into pixelated pieces! A Yellow F-Block fades in from the right, but he quickly backflips and counters with an overhead sledgehammer smash, A Green V-Block tries to crush him from overhead but he quickly sidestepped and full-body swings his sledgehammer. It Knocked the V-Block into both a W and P-Block that were about to sneak up behind Mr. Honeybun.
As the fight raged on, Hank took notice that Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun were barely fighting at all. Dorothy was dodging all the Pentomino's maneuvers while Mr, Honeybun was hardly fighting back at all….before he could ask why, Hank immediately remembered something that Nurse Ruby had mentioned the night before.
‘Wonder Power is fickle thing, some days you have it, some days you don’t…’
Hank remembered that they all lost so much Wonder power over the years that they couldn’t even touch the Arcadians anymore. He wanted to help them both, but he had to still cover his rear!
But then, in that split-second moment of thought…..Hank’s pupils began to glow cyan once more…and realized…he could help them out!
Hank raised his hand and in a split second….raised his Sledgehammer and slammed it down HARD on the carpeted ground, sending a shockwave of Wonder in all directions! Causing some of the surrounding pentominoes to fall, undoing the wall surrounding the trio of toys.
Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun stumbled at the massive expulsion of Wonder coming from Hank…but then a new wonder construct appeared at the top of their heads….Hard hats bearing resemblance to Hank’s hard hat! They both look at Hank for some kind of explanation. Hank was breathing heavily as he was still gripping his sledgehammer tightly. He looks up towards the confused Doll and teddy bear and simply explains to both of them.
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“Welcome to my Building crew! I don’t know how long it’s gonna last!”
Dorothy and MR. Honeybun looked at each other with confusion, but Mr. Honeybun quickly saw in the corner of his beady eye, that a Purple U-Block tried to fly right up at Dorothy from behind to scoop her up. Mr. Honeybun reacted quickly and created his Fighty Claws to slash at the U-Block!
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When he slashed at the U-Block…it made contact! His claws were now sunk into the U-Block deep! He slammed the U-Block down, shattering it to pieces!
Dorothy had to do a double-take as to what she had just witnessed. She needed to see for herself!
She grabbed her precision knife and slashed downwards at two upcoming T-Blocks trying to hammer her down….they got sliced in two!
Once Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun were both sure they could harm them now, Dorothy turned to Hank and said “We’ve got this! Find the source!”
Hank quickly nodded and ran through one of the holes in the Pentomino wall before they began to seal back up. He looks up and quickly deduces where they are all originating from and sees they are all flying from the Caffeine Corner. As the determined Handyman ran towards the coffee stand, he continued to slam and drill clean through more and more Pentominoes. But they were never-ending.
As soon as Hank reaches the Caffeine Corner, the rich, nutty, and earthy aroma begins to waft in his nose. But his eyes saw an unearthly glow on top of one of the barista’s tables behind the counter. He ran up to the metal table and used the magnet in his back to crabwalk upwards toward the top. Lo and behold, he saw the source of the Pentominoes. They were constantly emerging from a small handheld console labeled the ‘Redtendo Joyboy’
He pulled out his wrench and got ready to smash it…this should be easy enough for him. But before he could even strike the handheld console…he was sucker-punched by a glitched-out fist! Sending him across the barista table and crashing into one of the jars of coffee beans.
“DAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!” Laughed the glitchy figure as he cracked his knuckles.
Hank took a few moments to get out of the daze he had just knocked into…and when he emerged from the pile of coffee beans, he spat out one of the beans and got a good look at the glitchy stranger. He stood a clear few inches taller than he was and was also way more bulky as well….But he couldn’t tell exactly what this being was right in front of him! But, that thought can wait, whoever this was was in the way of him and the next Spark of Wonder!
The Glitchy Figure began to jump high in the air with an audible sound cue and tried their damndest to stomp on Hank. Leaving visible dents in the table. Hank quickly rolled to the side avoiding the Glitchy Figure’s massive boots. Hank drew his wrench to attack the Glitchy figure right to where his face should be…he couldn’t tell, all the dark glitchiness was covering his face.
After a few solid Wonder-charged hits to the glitchy figure’s face and body. He stopped to see if there was any reaction.
“..........” The glitchy figure wasn’t amused. “You will get crushed now!”
The Glitchy Figure grabbed Hank’s arm wielding his wrench..and bent it backward, placing stress on his elbow and shoulder points of articulation. Hank let out a scream of pain as he struggled to get him to let go. But the Glitchy one had an ironclad grip on his arm!
The Glitchy Figure threw Hank towards the wall and punched him so hard it cracked the tiles behind Hank! Hank was badly damaged at that point…he tried to grip his wrench again…But he couldn’t.
He tried to get up and fight again, but the Glitchy figure grabbed him by his overalls and dragged him toward one of the barista machines. Specifically, the Electric coffee grinder.
The Glitchy Figure turned the coffee grinder’s dial to its highest setting…and began to dangle Hank over the grinder. One coffee bean that was stuck inside his overalls fell out and into the coffee grinder…shredding it to grounds! The fear immediately strikes Hank down to his core. He slowly begins to lower Hank into the grinder!
“WAIT! WAIT! DON’T!” Shouted Hank as he struggled in vain.
But before he could get shredded, a precision blade gets thrown inside the grinder. Jamming up the machine and breaking it in the process!
“No Toy will EVER die on my watch again!” Dorothy exclaimed as she readied a sharpened colored pencil to throw.
“LET MR. HANDYMAN GO!” Mr. Honeybun yelled with rage, a grizzly growl undertone in his voice. His Fighty Claws are fully out and sharper than ever.
The Glitchy figure stood there for a second to weigh his options…and tossed Hank towards them both. He was barely conscious.
“Too weak….not worth it.” The glitchy figure stated as he turned…and jumped back through the vents…and squeezed through.
As Dorothy switched to her Nurse Wonder Power to help Hank, Mr. Honeybun began to work on shutting the Redtendo Joyboy down….and quickly ripped the Pentominos cartridge out of the handheld console.
Back outside the Caffine Corner and into Inkwell’s Bookstore…..all the Pentominoes glitched out like crazy and vanished in less than a second. All the illustrations that stayed to fight looked around…and realized they won…and all began triumphantly cheer in victory.
As the cheering happened….hank lost consciousness….the last thing he saw was Dorothy beginning to use her Nursing wonder power to fix him, and Mr. Honeybun finding something under the Joyboy.
……………………………………………………………………..
Hank was sitting on a girder….enjoying a typical lunch on his lunch break. He was enjoying a meatball sub with some Purple Cola. But he saw three others sitting beside him too…..their faces and bodies were foggy….but he could see key shapes.
One was wearing a mechanical gauntlet with a jackhammer attached to it.
Another wore a belt with various jars of paints clipped to it.
The third wore a welder mask and was using a blowtorch to heat some unseen food.
The four of them sat on the girder of this unfinished building, eating their lunch while staring at the sunset.
Hank….was happy being beside these unseen figures….but their lunchbreak was interrupted when they felt something shake….They all looked down as they saw something shaking the very foundation of the unfinished building.
‘DAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!’
…………………………………………………………………………………
Hank immediately snapped awake as he looked around seeing he was back in Manuscript City.....and realized he was lying on something soft and fluffy.
Mr. Honeybun grabs Hank from his back and gives him yet another tight and crushing hug.
“Mr. Hank! You’re awake! I was so worried! Dorothy was too!”
Dorothy blushed as she immediately corrected Mr. Honeybun.
“I wasn’t worried! I knew he was gonna pull through!” She said as she took another look at Hank.
Mr. Honeybun puts Hank down….his joints are still aching, but he can still move in a sense.
“What happened?” Hank asked still woozy from his beating.
“After you fell asleep. I found Miss Queenie’s voice. We’re on our way to give it back! We should be back any moment now!” Mr. Honeybun happily exclaimed.
But before they entered the Kids Section, Dorothy needed to ask. “What happened back there?”
“I-....I don’t know….he overpowered me….something about that glitchy mess felt…familliar…”
Dorothy and Mr. Honeybun looked at each other in worry….but they soon set those thoughts aside as they began to face Queen Granny Lamby and Rainbow Bunny once more.
“Have you returned with the queen’s voice?” Rainbow Bunny asked. The trio could tell he was in no mood for games. Dorothy held up the cassette tape….the entire court gasped in excitement. Granny Lamby herself happily took it and turned around. She lifted her dress skirt to input it.
Hank and Mr. Honeybun looked confused…and Dorothy dope-slapped them both to mind their P’s and Q’s to look away. When granny lamby turned around…and spoke.
“Thank you all so much. Manuscript City is in your debt…” She spoke in a loving, motherly voice, and all through the filter of an old speaker. She turns around once again and walks to the back of the stage, each step you can hear the animatronic humm of her inner mechanics. She pulls out a small tile of the stage floor…and reveals the next spark of Wonder…was under their noses the whole time. It was a very thick pop-up book titled ‘1001 Tales from Across the Globe!’.
As she walked towards the trio…she sat down on the stage’s edge once again….and said
“I’m afraid I cannot let you just leave with My kingdom’s sacred treasure…..You must earn it.” She opened up the book to a specific page.
The three looked at one another for reassurance and agreement…noticing Granny Lamby’s voice shifted from loving….to sinisterly threatening. Queen Granny Lamby’s eyes went from half-lidded….to fully open.
“Please follow along, As I read the story aloud…”