Costumes, Frights, and Bites!

Halloween is already here! Can you believe it?!

First thing that comes in mind when I hear Halloween, I think of "costumes." Halloween is a lot about frights and trick-or-treating. To me, I just like wearing costumes and dressing up. I'm not very creative though (I would cosplay as one of my favorite anime characters for Halloween but hardly any people would know who I'm dressed as.) This year, I'm planning to dress up in my previous costume (a pirate again) or maybe a zombie mummy. But, I just love to see all the creative costumes people come up with each and every year! That's the best part of Halloween for me.

As you all know, I'm 14 years and apparently, I'm getting a little too old for trick-or-treating. ^^; Honestly, I don't think there is an age limit to trick-or-treating but it has been getting old... So instead, I'll just stick to Halloween parties/dances. I'll still eat some candy though.

Angel Beats characters dressed up for Halloween


The worse part of Halloween is the spooky stuff. I hate spooky/scary/gory stuff. (I've watched 2 horror genre Animes and play Slenderman Game once... but, I barely survived those.) Point is, I don't do well with scary. It just doesn't work out for me! Scary stories, I love to read but anything visual or involves my life, I freakin' hate! So, don't ever expect me to go through a haunted anything. >.<

I would never dare to go through Nightmare on 13th

When I was younger, the best part of Halloween was THE CANDY! For almost every kid, Halloween is the only time you could get a lot of candy and eat it. Even with my abundance supply of candy, as a kid, I never ate all of my candy at once. I was always the type to save my candy until it runs out. I'd probably eat a few a day instead of stuffing myself up with a tummy ache (and a toothache.) Still, I love candy but, since it isn't healthy, I probably won't eat that much of it. (Kit Kats are irresistable though!)

Anyways, Happy Halloween everyone!
Be safe, have a good scare, and... DON'T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS!
♥Petpet

Credits for Angel Beats picture go to Konachan.com and uploader artist
Nightmare on 13th picture from hauntedhouseassociation.org
Picture of candy goes to rightful owner.

October 14: A Day of Mach 1s

Daring the daring, defying everyone, and destroying maneuverability, a demon was said to live near 750mph, or Mach 1, and everyone who had tried to tame it, perished. What was this monster? Find out here (note, pause the blog's iPod app while watching; WARNING: there's some nasty language further in after the missing man flyover and later, but otherwise it's good):

That was from The Right Stuff, which starts out telling the story of the test pilots and their deadly mission. No one could tame the demon, no one…that is, until, on October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager (now he’s a Brigadier General) took his turn to defy death in a newly redesigned X-1 and punched through the wall to find clear sailing and a world of technological opportunities on the other side. From that point forward, the demon became nothing more than a past memory as records began to be broken in speed and technological advancement on an unprecedented scale, at least for the U.S. anyway—the success was kept top secret for as long as possible until the other nations figured out how to break the sound barrier themselves. After the sound barrier was first broken, it became possible to consider rocket science, which Russia took the first step in. The Space Race that followed could never have been accomplished without the great Chuck Yeager who rode and conquered the demon.
As the new age of space exploration, there always loomed a question: “If something were to go wrong while in space and an astronaut had to bail out, could the astronaut do it? Although safety precautions, measures, and preparations were taken, that was on of the dangers of space travel. Once in space, it was hard to return to earth without the capsule. there didn’t seem like there was really a way to bail out. On August 16, 1960, Captain Joe Kittenger took the first step—or leap—toward researching such a possibility by being the first man to free fall from space. More recently, another man has been combining free fall, the sound barrier, and testing into one record setting leap. On October 14, Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound without any mechanical aid by free falling from 128,000+ feet in altitude, the highest free fall jump ever attempted, testing a new type of space suit to boot. As a result of his jump, better safety procedures may be made, a more versatile space suit may be had, and it is now known what happens when man accelerates to and surpasses the speed of sound without what in modern times is the shielding protection of a metal aircraft. (I say “modern” because the jet afforded no protection to the early test pilots.) We have certainly come quite a ways from trying to find the secret to supersonic flight and I love the fact that the two biggest breakthroughs concerning the sound barrier happened the same day (though obviously not the same year) I was born! There’s actually quite a lot of things that have happened on the October 14ths through history. Do you know what major event(s) happened on your birthday? October 14 is filled with Mach 1s; maybe your birthday is too!


Thanks for the birthday wishes!  Now that my PSAT is out of the way, the next post: Tips and Tricks for Poptropolis Games!

From the Hideout,
Cpt. Busy Seagull!

I'm Back from the Islands!

Aloha everyone!

From The IM@S 2 Game
(Credits go to owner)

As most of you know, I've been in Hawaii for Fall Break and now, I'm back! Now, you are probably wondering about my trip and how it went. In short, it was fun and I miss Hawaii weather (it's so much better than cold autumn weather. Brrh.) It was also nice to take a break from school for a week. The only problem was that I still had homework over break. >.<

I just love to climb on coconut trees! ^^

Either way, I bet most of you are in for the details. First, I need to tell the good and bad news.

Good news, I'll be giving the details! By popular vote on the polls, I'll be doing the main highlights of each day BUT there will be some days where I go in more detail because there's a lot that goes on. (Especially my visit to the Polynesian Culture Center!)

The bad news... I won't be posting it until next weekend! Due to my preparations for tests, projects, homework, and piano, I don't have the time to post everything until next week... So you'll just have to wait. Sorry.

Until then...

♥Petpet

~Speedy Wing~

Happy Birthday Captain!

Yesterday, October 14th, was one of our writer's birthday...

So, a big birthday shoutout to Captain Busy Seagull! Thanks so much for everything I've done for me and the Hideout!!

♪Happy Late Birthday to You
Happy Late Birthday to You
Happy Late Birthday dear Captain Busy Seagull!!
Happy Late Birthday toooo YOU! ♪

I hope you had a great birthday, Busy!
~Speedy Wing~
♥Petpet

P.S. So sorry for the lateness. Time zone really threw me off. >.<

Hawaii or Bust!

If you follow the "Speedy Wing's Hideout" portion of my blog, then you might have noticed that I changed my Poptropican outfit a bit... Yup. I'm in a Hawaiian shirt.

Which means,
I'M GOING TO HAWAII! No joke.

We've been planning this trip for about... a year now? I know that's not very long but that's because with the economy and school, it's hard to find the perfect time to go. All this summer, we've been deciding if we should go or not. To be honest, we didn't even book everything until last minute (first Saturday of October) and fall break is next week. That's less than 2 weeks we had to prepare! Talk about crazy.

I'll be leaving on Saturday, the 13th and come back on Friday/Saturday the 19th or 20th.

During my trip, I promise to take lots of pictures! Until then, I want to have an idea on how you'd like the recap of my trip. I can write it day-by-day, a week recap, or just the main highlights of the whole trip. Tell me by voting on the poll on the side!

Aloha!
♥Petpet

The Piano Guys

Fact: Petpet plays the piano and loves it...

But I am nothing compared to The Piano Guys. After listening and watching them play, I found a bigger inspiration in music. These guys are PROS at what they do. Some even call them the 21st Century Mozart.

They currently have 36 videos on their YouTube channel and released an album on Oct. 2nd. They take classical/instrumental music to a whole new level! (Note: They are considered the genre of Pop.) Anyways, shall I show you a video first?

Wasn't is beautiful? In case you didn't know, it was Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years." ♪I could love your for a thousand years...♫ Let me tell you a bit about them. There are 5 guys and they live in St. George, Utah: a piano store owner/videographer (Paul Anderson), a music producer (Al van der Beek), a videographer/editor (Tel Stewart), a pianist (Jon Schmidt), and a cellist (Steven Sharp Nelson). They all want to inspire the world with their talents, which they do.

Anyways. Enough of my talk. Why don't I show you a few more videos?

This, was super cool. It's One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" and they create everything with just one piano and 5 guys! I thought it was super cool how they used the entire piano... Although I would never dare to do that with my grand piano. This next song totally reminded me of a few special friends...

Hilarious music video but great music. I truly love Pachelbel's Canon in D but Steve totally mixed it up! I can't choose one version though... For this next song, let's just say, watch out Star Wars Fans!

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan but the music + video, was really awesome. There's so much creativity going on, I love it! Darth Vader... can play a mean accordion! This next (and last one) brings back so many childhood memories!

I love Charlie Brown and so do the elders. Gotta say that these guys know how to rock it out!

After 5 videos, I hope you all are liking The Piano Guys. If not... I can't really do anything about it. Of course, you can always listen to The Piano Guys more on Youtube and check out their other amazing videos with hilarious stories, beautiful scenic, and glorious music!

I will keep practicing piano so someday, I can be some-what as good as them... or at least until I can play that skillfully.

Well, keep rocking on, everyone!
♥Petpet

P.S. Please support them by subscribing on YouTube, following on Facebook & Twitter, buying their products, and buying their new album on iTunes! (I just need one more dollar!...)

Eh, Macarena!

I have such wonderful friends. Period.

This time, I'm talking about my friends at school (although all my internet buddies are wonderful too. ^^) So... story time!

As you probably know, during lunch break, I like to bump the volleyball around with a big group of friends. Well, since my finger is completely brusied and black (I'll tell you more later,) I haven't been able to play volleyball. Rather, I just stood there and looked pretty. Well, so were a whole bunch of my other friends! (They can play but usually don't.) So, our brilliantly quite friend, Mer, thought that we should do the Macarena in the middle of the school field! (I wasn't there at that time, FYI.) So, 5-ish people started doing the Macarena and soon, more people join. Once it got up to about 15 people, my friend and I that were at the volleyball group started joining them! We did this until we had to go inside. During the whole time though, 20+ of us danced while about 5 people gave us looks... and kinda became a papparazi...

Ends up, we had a ton of fun and got some attention. Now, this is in the middle of a school field full of middle schoolers. I wonder what would happen if we did this in the mall or something... Anyways, it was super cool being able to dance and be wild.

So, time to do the macarena! (Ignore the welcome part please...)

(Please remember. This song is from 1996... So it's odd.)

It's quite a simple dance really and, you don't have to have the music to do it! You just need the rhythm. Well, that's my great story of the week. (I have more but, they aren't as great.)

Now, one question, if you saw this happening anywhere (school, park, mall, on the street...) would you join?
♥Petpet
CREDIT FOR PICTURE: secondgryphon from Photobucket
Video belongs to owner.

P.S. About my finger... I "jammed" it during flag footbal and I had a hard time moving it around for a whole week. It's better now but, it sucked. I'm just thankful it was my jammed on my left hand, not my right. (Writing would be so difficult.)

Greetings from Fort Ridley

Hi there, I'm back!  Well, not quite.  Err, that is, sort of.
...
Okay, let me explain:
Just before school started, I got a chance to go onto Poptropica and visit some of the new islands.  Once school started, I've managed my time well enough to pop on once in a while (though for much shorter time periods).  I checked out the Poptropica Friends page, added the Pop. creators to my friends list, played Poptropolis Games, Wimpy Boardwalk, the then-demo for Lunar Colony, discovered that Legendary Swords had been released for all to complete, and found out that the Hideout moved over here.  Then after reading a post on the Poptropica creator's blog that hypothesized whether anyone would succeed in placing first in each Poptropolis event, I determined to set the record.  After lots of practice and some frustration, I finally did it!  (Okay, the first half of that sentence was an understatement.)  The score I showed for the previous trilogy of posts was doctored up for the story, so here's my real score:

Well, I asked Petpet if I could write a trilogy post describing my experience, and a post on tips and tricks for winning each event on Poptropolis Games.  When she said yes, I got set up over here and started working a little bit on the trilogy whenever I could.  That was all before school started up, and now I just have enough time to work on a post a little bit at a time when I have something to say.  That's why I said that I'm only "sort of" back.  ...So...that's that.
...
...
...
Why are you staring at me like that?

No.  You wouldn't be interested.

No, I'm sure you really wouldn't be.

You are?

Well, if you insist.  Okay, so I started off on a theme with outer space because Lunar Colony was the newest island at the time I started writing the "trilogy."  (Yes it's taken me that long to get it done.)  To keep the titles interesting and on theme, I referenced Star Wars movies IV, V, and VI with the titles "A New Hope," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "The Return of the Jedi."

Yeah, if you thought those sounded familiar then you were right.  Now stop interrupting me.  I also wanted to pull in Legendary Swords, because when I logged in I discovered that if was no longer "Free+" but "Free," thus it was still rather new to me.  (You know what I mean by Free and Free+ right?  Good.)  Now, on a slightly different note (I'll tie it in in a sec.), when I tried to get first in each event for Poptropolis, it took me a ton of practice tries.  Finally I was at a point were I got quite a bit accomplished, but I got just a tad bit too careless trying to get it done by the end of that day (remember this was before school started), and messed it all up.  So I had to start all over again.  It was at that point when I really started to fail and I couldn't get many successes.  Frustrated, I finally gave up and called it quits for the day.  Then, the next day, I did great!  Within a few hours I had finished it all with a perfect score!  Okay, back to the story.  At first, I wanted to work into the story how Seagull slowly started to fail and do worse and worse until he found out the problem was that the forces of E. Vile were against him, and once he defeated E. Vile's army, he suddenly did much better.  Well, I decided that would take far too long to describe, so I shortened it to what you read.  ...Not to mention that I wasn't sure how to write the original version without using phrases like "refreshing the webpage" and "restarting the island."

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, definitely, that wouldn't have worked at all.  ANYWAYS, if you'll let me continue, I'll wrap up real quick and let you get back to...um...whatever that object is that you were tinkering with over there.  The escape of the captain and his surprise at reaching Poptroica at the start of "A New Hope" represented me being surprised I had time to go on after this long.  The games semi-represented my working at winning Poptropolis Island, and the "crystalline wall" represents where you picked up Legendary Swords after it was opened to the public, that is, if you had previously completed as much as possible while LS was still Free+.  Also, the launch sequence for the rocket at the end of "The Return of the Jedi" is actually a reference to our space shuttle program.  I felt the launch sequence I used would work because the Poptropica space program is rather different from the real space program, and since the PASE rocket was not representing the original Apollo missions, but rather a time dominated by the Space Shuttle era in the real world, I figured the development in launch sequencing for PASE would be more directly related to NASA's Space Shuttle launch sequence than their Apollo launch sequence.
Okay, now to break a couple of would-be myths: when I wrote about the oxygen tank explosion, I had no idea that it could be a reference to the damage to the fuel tank of the rocket for Lunar Colony, because the island had not been released for non-members when I wrote that, nor did I realize that my reference to the asteroid belt could be foreshadowing the island's plot line as well.  Additionally, who's Little Clam???  Well, he's not really a character I know, and he's just what writers like to call a "stock character," that is, someone who does not change in the story.  Finally, what in the world is a "Luxceler?"  Well, simply put, I made it up.  To go into more detail, however, "lux" is Latin for "light," and "celer" is Latin for "speed," thus together you get a "scientific" term for "lightspeed."  You may have heard of a derivative or two for "lux": lucid, translucent, luminous.  I'm certain you've heard of acceleration and deceleration.  Those are derivatives of "celer."
Well, that's a small look into what some of the things in the "trilogy" mean and where some of them came from, and I hope you enjoyed the story!

Huh?  Say what?

Oh, I'm sorry, thanks for reminding me.  I did ask Petpet if I could write a post about tips and tricks for Poptropolis Games Island, and I still plan on writing it.  However, I'm going to be taking the PSAT on the 17th, and I don't want to go "brain dead" working on the computer.  So, with this I'm going to sign off on writing until after I take the PSAT.  See ya then!

(P.S.  For those of you who know me from the Poptropica Secrets Forum...er, I guess most of you do...I'm sorry, but I won't be coming back there, because of time.  There is just so much to do on the forum, and so much that I'd get wrapped up into by my own accord.  I wouldn't have time to say much more than hi, so it wouldn't really be worth it.  Besides, any role-plays I joined now would go really slowly if I were to be able to keep up with them. :p  Something you should also know is that when I was on the forum, I really didn't have as much time as I spent there, and I don't want that to happen again.  I'm really not supposed to go on anymore anyway.  Still, I'll be here though!)

The Return of the Jedi

...CONTINUING FROM: "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK"

Turning around, Speedy Wing set out running to find the captain.
"What's the rush?" the official called out.
"Excuse me, I've got to go see someone," she told the official.
Setting down the cage, the official replied unconcernedly, "Oh, um, okay."
As she began to set off again, she over heard the official remark cluelessly, "I wonder why it was carrying a packet of arsenic?"  Speedy checked her step, but then continued.  She knew that she had to tell Cpt. Seagull, yet she didn't know if it would do any good.  What if he wasn't well enough to go?  What if he would never be well enough to go?  What if whatever was afflicting him was fatal?
Fortunately, when she arrived at the doctor's tent, she found her "what-ifs" to be unfounded, for the doctor allowed her in and she found Busy Seagull sitting upright on the edge of a cot, drinking some water.  Explaining, the doctor told her that Busy had suffered from a case of food poisoning, but ipecac had eventually restored his health.  In turn, Speedy Wing informed Seagull about the captured robot.  He mulled the information over through his head.
"You said you thought you saw the thing fly past you from the direction of my bench?" Busy asked.
"Yes."
"Hmmm."
"Why 'hmmm?'"
"Well, I was thinking.  The robot probably put poisoning in my food before lunch, and that's why I began to feel poorly when I walked out to the field.  Then it probably put poisoning into my bottle before I went over to drink from it and then hid itself to wait for a better opportunity to make its escape.  E. Vile probably sent it to track me down, poison me, and do him a dual favor: get rid of his enemy and escaped prisoner, and get rid of a major obstacle to his domination of Poptropica.  Where's my sword?"
"Its in your locker, where you left it," Speedy Wing answered.
"Okay, thanks.  Hey,  watch what you eat and drink.  You don't know if there are more of those messenger robots around.  Keep a sharp lookout for any."
"I will."
"Hey!  Where do you think you're going?" cried the doctor.
"I'm going to fight.  I'll be okay; I've recovered sufficiently."  Ducking outside the tent, Captain Seagull disappeared.
.....................................................................
"Is my spaceship finished?"
"Yes, it is," answered the officer.  "Where are you going?"
"I have...unfinished business to take care of."
"Don't take too long.  Remember, you have to be back at PASE in thirty-eight hours, when we will have lift-off."
"I know."

.....................................................................

Reaching the place where the crystalline wall had been, Captain Seagull encountered a fierce robot that threw boulders around.  Ducking often, he finally managed to hack it in two with his sword.  A messenger robot simultaneously exited it---it must have been controlling the larger robot from an internal cockpit.  As it flew away, a new sword appeared out of nowhere.  Taking it cautiously, Seagull turned it over in his hands.  It practically shivered with energy.  Sheathing his cutlass, he next cut the air several times with the mysterious sword and then tried to slice off a somewhat-large branch that grew nearby.  It was a clean cut.  "This ought to do the trick!" the sea captain exclaimed to himself.  "Forward, to victory!"  Forward he did indeed go, and victory was indeed his, even when the messenger robot warned a laser-eyed fiend.  At last he came to the end of the vast arena in which the robot army lived and stumbled across a gargantuan robot which for some reason was not powered on.  Then the messenger robot which had left the boulder-throwing pile of metal and warned the laser-eyed monster entered the gargantuan mass and turned it on.  As might be expected from such a titan, the force with which the thing attacked was literally quite stunning, yet the wily sea captain leapt out of the way.  Consequently, the ensuing battle was long and drawn-out with each side having difficulty getting at the other.  Finally, a glancing blow from Seagull's new sword struck the power box on the robot's belt, destroying the robot's power system.  Looking up, Busy Seagull watched a space ship similar to a flying saucer descend from the sky.  It opened up and showed a hologram of E. Vile.
"Well, well!  It looks like Poptropica has a new protector."
"Yeah...new."
"You're starting to become a real thorn in my side.  Give up while you still can!"

"Never!  Give up?  You've got to be kidding.  Not now!  Not after you've made me prisoner, not after you've tried to invade Poptropica, my homeland, not after I've come this far!  Now come and face me yourself!" Busy Seagull retaliated.
"You may have delayed my plans, but the invasion of Poptropica will still come to pass!"
"Not if I can help it!  Turn about fair play is all I have to say to you. You hate me because I ruined your plans.  Well, I'll tell you this: I'll ruin them again if that's what it takes to save Poptropica from your clutches!  When I find you, I'll stop you and your entire robot army!"
"Is that a threat?" the hologram quietly queried.
"No.  That is a promise."
"Brave words, hero, but you'll live to regret them.  You haven't heard the last of me!" E. Vile responded, lingering tauntingly on the word "hero."
"I'm sure I haven't," Seagull muttered as the hologram took off.  "I'll find you E. Vile."
.....................................................................
Back on Poptropolis Island, with 23 hours left before lift-off:

Crowding around the blimp that had brought Busy Seagull back to Poptropolis after he had landed his private spacecraft, the crowds who had come to watch the games now wanted Seagull to relate his story about defeating E. Vile's army, for word had leaked out to the public.  Forced to speak, the victorious captain merely replied to their questions, "E. Vile wanted to invade Poptropica with an army of robots.  Now that threat is eliminated.  My friends made it possible, not I.  Let us now continue with the games in celebration of victory!"  After six more hours of practice, the events officially started off, and two hours later, not one, but two clear winners had emerged.  For the first time ever in the history of Poptropica, two contestants had tied for first place after competing in nine separate--and grueling--events!  The victors: Cpt. Busy Seagull of the Pathfinders and Speedy Wing of the Seraphim.  The entire island was buzzing with the news.

For the first time ever in the history of Poptropica, two contestants had tied for first place after competing in nine separate, grueling events.




"Cpt. Busy Seagull, how did you and Speedy Wing manage to tie, not only overall, but also in each event?" the reporter from Skullduggery Island, Petpet, asked.
"Well, I think it was because we've known each other for some time now, and when we practiced, we practiced together.  No one else I know did that.  That's all I can explain."
"Speedy Wing, what about you?  Why do you think you two tied?"
"I honestly don't know. We've always been fierce competitors and we knew that this competition would be close. Either way, I'm glad that we both tied."
After Speedy Wing finished, Busy Seagull addressed the reporter, "Excuse me, although I would love to stay and chat, I have an appointment with PASE, and I must take my leave."
"Oh, okay, Busy Seagull.  Thanks for your time."
.....................................................................
Back at PASE, after preparing for launch:

"...43...42...41...," boomed on the loudspeakers as the rocket prepared for lift-off. 
Meanwhile, inside the control center, the technicians finished their checklist:
"...GO FOR AUTO SEQUENCE"
"CHECK."
"ARM CUT OFF.  INITIATE RSL5.  ORB VENT DOOR SE9 START."
"CHECK."
"...13...12...11...10..."
"10 SECONDS."
"FREE HYDROGEN BURN OFF SYSTEM IGNITION.  GO FOR MAIN ENGINE START."
"CHECK."
"9...8...7..."
"MAIN ENGINE 3 START COMMAND.
MAIN ENGINE 2 START COMMAND.
MAIN ENGINE 1 START COMMAND."
Increasingly, the fiery booster rockets expelled more and more power.  At five seconds the rocket shivered with energy.
"...4...3...2...1..."
"IGNITION"
"And we have lift-off!!!"

 The arms that held the rocket upright peeled back one by one as the rocket slowly pushed itself off from the earth's surface.  Quickly now it gained speed, and in a few minutes it was out of view.  Free as a bird, the rocket rushed upward, upward, ever upward as it ascended into space.  Although Captain Seagull and other private space venturers would certainly continue their more simple explorations and private missions, this was PASE's last mission.  While, there was much to learn before success could be realized, the clean lift-off seemed like a good omen for ultimate success.

The Empire Strikes Back

...CONTINUING FROM: "A NEW HOPE"

"You're late."

"You're late," the coordinator announced as Seagull disembarked the blimp.
"I came as soon as I could.  I almost didn't even get to come this early."
"Hmph.  Well, let's hurry up and get started.  You'll probably want to spend a lot of time practicing anyway, so let's not waste any more time," the coordinator replied stonily.  Turning to the masses, the coordinator began to announce the start of the Poptropolis Games.
"Don't mind him," a small voice behind Busy Seagull spoke up.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the representative of the Nanobot tribe, my name is Little Clam.  Don't mind the coordinator, he'll forget all about it soon."
"Okay, thanks.  My name is-"
Little Clam cut him off with a smile, "Your name is Busy Seagull, you captain a ship on the high seas, and you are one of the great heroes of Poptropica.  I know.  Here."
"What's this?"
"It's a program with the names, occupations, and tribe designations of all the contestants."
"Oh...so that's how you know about me."
Grinning, Little Clam replied, "Uh huh.  I've got to go practice now, see ya 'round, okay?"
"Okay." As Seagull glanced down at the program, one name suddenly jumped out at him: Speedy Wing.  He couldn't believe his eyes! Apparently, she was the representative for Seraphim.
"Looking for someone?"
Busy Seagull, engrossed in his thoughts, was startled and swiftly swiveled around on his heel to see who had surprised him. "Wha-? Oh, hi, Speedy Wing."
"Jeesh, don't do that!  Hi, Busy Seagull."
"Sorry.  What brings you here?"
"Same thing that brings you here, silly," Speedy replied.  "Com'on, we've better start practicing.  Which event are you going to start with?"
"Um, I guess I'll start with the hurdles."
.....................................................................
Four hours later, twelve minutes after lunch break:

Determinedly, Busy Seagull prepared for the jump.  This was his first long jump after having lunch, so he was rested and he thought that he would do rather well.  Four hours of practice had helped immensely to bring back the old skills that his father had taught him when Busy was a young boy.  (Every Poptropican was required to train in the art of Poptropolissian athletics for some amount of time.)  As he walked up to the beginning of the track, however, he felt rather strange.  Feeling lightheaded, he assumed the heat of the island was getting to him, so he walked back to his bench to take a swig of water from his sports bottle.  Taking his place again, he started down the track on a strong sprint, yet before he neared the foul line, Busy Seagull felt his legs give way as he unexpectedly fell headlong on the track.  As she was next to practice, Speedy Wing noticed what happened and grabbed an official.
"Are you alright?" Speedy Wing asked as the two ran up.
"I don't feel good.  I feel strangely lightheaded, and my legs won't support me."
"We'll take care of this," the official replied.  Calling over another official, the two officials helped Seagull up and took him over to the doctor's tent.
"Well, what caused that?" Speedy Wing wondered.  Unfortunately, there was little she could do, so she made ready for her own jump.  As she got ready to start, Speedy noticed something out of the corner of her eye that looked like a silver bird, but when she looked, it was gone.  "How odd.  Something fishy is going on around here."
.....................................................................
Meanwhile, Little Clam was trying to polish his skills at javelin.  A tiny flying robot flew past him and hid itself under the shield of a nearby statue.

A tiny flying robot flew past him and hid itself under the shield of a nearby statue.

Curious, Little Clam went over to look at it.  As soon as he tried to get a glimpse, however, the little piece of metal flew off.  It moved quickly but Little Clam was a fast runner.  Chasing it down, Little Clam captured it in his hands and examined it. "I should probably show this to an official," he reasoned.
"What do you have there?"  One of the officials in fact had been watching and wanted to know what was going on.
"Oh, I was just about to get you.  It looks like some sort of robot...  Ouch!  It's feisty too!"
.....................................................................
Spreading like wildfire, the news that a flying robot had been captured caused quite a hubbub.  No one knew what to make of it.  Certainly, they found this news more interesting than that about the athlete who had fallen ill during training.  By now, Speedy Wing had gotten wind of it, and things were starting to come together for her.  Still, she had to see the thing before making a final conclusion.
Walking up to the crowd, she asked, "Where is it?  May I see it?"
"Why, of course," the official in charge replied.
Although it had been put in a cage and was trying desperately to escape, there was no mistaking it for one of the messenger drones of E. Vile's invasion force.  Years ago, Speedy Wing, Captain Busy Seagull, and several other Poptropicans had chanced upon a planet that showed signs of violent activity.  Checking it out, they found wild animals fleeing for their lives and an army of robots training for an invasion of Poptropica.  Drawing their swords, the adventurers had wrecked havoc among the robot army and obliterated them...until they ran across a mysterious transparent "wall" of sorts which kept them from pressing farther.  Fortunately, it also prevented the robot army behind it from attacking Poptropica.  Since then, they had found out that the army of robots belonged to one "E. Vile," who, after learning about the destruction of a great deal of his army, made every effort to destroy the mysterious crystalline wall and free the rest of his army.  No one knew how the wall had gotten there.  However, the appearance of the messenger robot could only mean one thing: the wall was down and Poptropica was once more in danger.  Someone had to go and fight the invasion army before it left its planet.  Only one of those original adventurers still carried a sword, and that was Captain Busy Seagull.  Sure, Speedy Wing still had her sword, but she hadn't needed it, and so through lack of practice had lost some of her skill.  On the other hand, Busy Seagull always carried his sword, because his life on Skullduggery Island depended on it.  Thus, the sea captain had to be the one to fight such a dangerous mission.  Yet he was ill, and there was no telling what might happen to him.

 TO BE CONTINUED...

A New Hope

"Descent from Luxceler 25 to Mach 16 in T-minus 48 seconds."  The computerized voice crackled over the command speaker as Cpt. Busy Seagull pushed a button to check his stats.  Several days ago E. Vile's drones had captured his spaceship as Seagull was trying to establish communications between Poptropica and a lost Galactic Fighter.  Now Seagull was being escorted to E. Vile's home planet.  For safety, the drones had removed his navigation system in order to deter him from escaping.  On the way to E. Vile's headquarters, Cpt. Seagull kept a vigilant eye out for a method of escape, but without his navigating system, he could not think of one.  "Descent in T-minus 15 seconds."  Grabbing his controller, he prepared to engage the Hyper Molecular Decelerator, which would slow him down from Luxceler 25 (or twenty-five times the speed of light) to Mach 16 (or sixteen times the speed of sound in dry air--the Mach unit had recently been standardized for inter-galactic use). Suddenly, a terrible explosion rocked the craft, causing an emergency warning light to begin flashing wildly!  O-Tank 2 (an oxygen tank) had been ripped apart, puncturing O-Tank 1 and destroying his rear rocket ignition system in the process!  Meanwhile, the blast caused the craft swerve from its course and head away from his destination.  Leaving his slow-witted drone guards wondering what happened, memories of stories he had heard about Apollo 13 ran through his head--miraculously, Apollo 13 had survived when one of their oxygen tanks exploded thanks to the work of the scientists at PASE, the unwavering minds of the crew, and the guiding hand of Providence--however, he only had three minutes of oxygen left, had no idea where he was headed, and was hurtling sideways through space at 25x the speed of light to who-knows-where.  At least he had achieved his wish of escaping the guards, but for what?  "Abort descent to Mach 16," Seagull told the computer.  Slowly turning the ship around from its sideways position, he slowed his breath, trying to conserve oxygen, and prayed. 

Upon opening his eyes, he noticed several specks in the distance rapidly growing larger.  Looking through his on-board telescope, he spotted several spinning planets, among which was Poptropica!  He still had a chance!  If he could just reach Poptropica before running out of oxygen, he could make it.  Using his telescope, he set his sights on his home planet as he prepared to descend from light speed.  Carefully, he made adjustments with the tiny side rockets that hadn't failed him...yet.  Hovering his finger over the button that auto-set the descent time by computing the distance to the destination, he heard a voice in his head saying, "Trust your instincts.  You only have one chance to hit it right before being sucked into the giant sun just lightminutes from your destination.  If the computer misses, it will take less than 10 seconds for you to reach that flaming fireball given your speed, and you can't change your direction.  Control the Hyper Molecular Decelerator yourself." 

"If the computer misses, it will take less than 10 seconds for you to reach that flaming fireball given your speed"

Swallowing hard, Seagull shifted the craft into manual mode and held his finger over the HMD button.  A familiar, tiny, icy blue planet whizzed passed his window.  Two more, much larger planets flew past.  A light, dusty yellow planet with tilted rings quickly grew in his window and then disappeared behind him.  Formidable looking, an immense red striped planet with a giant swirling spot towered over Busy Seagull before following the ringed planet.  Because of his super-light speed, he did not even noticed the asteroid belt.  Fortunately the asteroids had cooperated for once.  Then a small, dusty red planet approached, but it did not linger either.  Finally, his view of his destination was unobstructed.  During the last twenty-eight seconds, Cpt. Seagull had been making tiny adjustments to his direction.  In approximately T-minus five seconds, he would decelerate the voyager to sub-light speed and log his final few hundred thousand miles to safety.

As the beautiful blue marble-looking planet rapidly grew larger and larger, Seagull looked down at his oxygen tank reading.

As the beautiful blue marble-looking planet rapidly grew larger and larger, Seagull looked down at his oxygen tank reading.  It only had a little under a minute and a half's supply of oxygen left, and it was still leaking.  The timing had to be just right... 

"Hold...hold...now!" Busy Seagull thought to himself.  The decelerator engaged immediately as he pushed the button, and suddenly the spacecraft slowed down to a careful crawl at Mach 32.  Quickly, Cpt. Seagull engaged the turbo heat shield for quick entry.  Flipping a switch, Seagull sealed off the damaged section from the cabin after pumping the remaining air into the cabin; that way when the damaged section was destroyed during reentry the rest of the ship would remain intact.  The globular mass was not growing so quickly now.  Silently, the ship sped towards the planet's atmosphere.  1.2 seconds later, the craft entered the atmosphere, travelling at Mach 32 with 58 seconds of oxygen left.

.....................................................................

Landing on the airfield, Busy Seagull took a deep breath of fresh air as he opened the vent ports.  The two fighter jets that had escorted him to that particular airport also landed, and an officer with an armed company of soldiers stood ready to recieve him.

"Welcome back, Captain!  We've been wondering what happened to you.  We will fix up your craft as fast as possible, but in the meantime..."
.....................................................................

"PASE" read the sign.

"PASE" read the sign.  Finally it had happened.  Poptropica Academy of Space Exploration had been slowly decaying over the years, because no one was really interested.  Lately they weren't even able to train their astronauts sufficiently, and the one currently in the cockpit waiting for lift-off had a bad case of butterflies.  He would need to be replaced...quickly...and the captain who sailed the seas, and occasionally the stars, was the only person they could find who could step in.
"But I've never flown such a sophisticated spacecraft before!" Seagull had protested.
"Join the crowd," was the unreassuring response. Well, it was against regulations--then again, ever since the government had stopped funding PASE, regulations had been ditched--but a somewhat-unprepared pilot was going to be launched on the PASE's final mission.  Suddenly, a voice on the loudspeakers announced that the mission was cancelled for one week, because there was a dangerous fuel leak that had to be fixed.  Regulations may have been tossed out, but the PASE scientists weren't about to let their last mission blow up.
"Cpt. Seagull, we are sorry for the inconvenience, but to make up for it, you may have 52 hours leave of absence.  You are dismissed, but be sure to return on time."
"Yes, sir!" Busy Seagull replied.  Wanting to return home to Skullduggery Island, the sailor knew he wouldn't have time, because he had heard upon his arrival about the discovery of a new island, Poptropolis Island, on which athletic events were being held.  He had received word that since he was descended from the ancient Poptropican tribe of Pathfinders, he was to represent them.  Without delay, Seagull left the property of PASE to catch a passenger blimp to Poptropolis since his ship, the Leviathan, was still docked at Fort Ridley, Skullduggery Archipelago.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Poptropica: New Books!

Last year, the Poptropica Team released a book for everyone, Poptropica: The Official Guide. This year, they are releasing not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 new books!

Now, these books aren't guides to finish an island or cheats. These are actual stories that you can read when you aren't on Poptropica (or this awesome blog. =P) Maybe if I quoted Captain Crawfish on it then you'd be more interested....

Last year, we were excited to bring you our first book, Poptropica: The Official Guide. But why stop there? This fall, we've got four new books coming your way.

Skullduggery Island: In this 160-page illustrated novel, a cruel pirate named Captain Crawfish has been raiding the small port of Fort Ridley. Our hero must embark on a journey to find a powerful ship and skilled crew to help him defeat Captain Crawfish and recover a map that will lead the islanders of Fort Ridley back to their treasure.

Astro-Knights Island: In this 160-page illustrated novel, the princess of the Kingdom of Arturus has been kidnapped by an evil inventor named Mordred who has taken her off into space. Our hero now must learn to build his own space craft and travel to the stars on an intergalactic quest to rescue the princess and save the kingdom of Arturus.

Pencil Warrior: Something sinister is erasing its way across Poptropica, and the only way to stop it is by re-drawing all the islands and re-creating the world before this new threat can erase every trace. This 64-page full-color doodle book is perfect for fans of Poptropica and anyone who loves to draw.

Poptropica Mad Libs: Poptropica Mad Libs features 21 hilarious and action-packed stories based on games and missions from the website. Fans of the site will love to bring the adventure to life by filling in the blanks of our brand new Mad Libs!

All of these books will be available on November 8.

Now, when your parents tell you it's time to stop playing Poptropica and do something more productive, you can tell them you'll just be reading instead!

Ain't that great!? I am honestly looking forward to the Mad Libs because I love them but the other stories sound amazing! (Although they are quite easy for my age level...) It also seems that our special "hero friend" is in... Pencil Warrior. Good luck to him!

Of course, you could always just stay here in the Hideout and read amazing stories written by Cpt. Busy Seagull and I, for free, but... buying the books are good too.

So, what do you think of these new book releases? Excited? Comment below and tell us what you think!
~Speedy Wing