 
SinEaster

Lotus Rose

Published by Lotus Rose at Smashwords

Copyright © 2010 by Lotus Rose

Cover art copyright © 2010 by Emma Björk~http://Honeykitten.deviantart.com

SinEaster logo by Lotus Rose

Discover other titles by Lotus Rose at loteyrose.com

Also by Lotus Rose: The Corruption of Innocence, MachoPoni: A Prance with Death, The Redemption of Reckoning, Faerie Brace-Face (forthcoming)

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter20

Epilogue

**PROLOGUE**

Charlee, a seventeen-year-and-364-day-old hot blond girl, had hated Easter ever since she was seven years old. A lot of unpleasant things had happened to her on that holiday.

For example, there was the Easter morning when she was 15, when she had gone outside to find her house spray-painted with a red swastika and the words, "KKK HATES YOU!" She had no idea why the KKK would hate her. She had a peaches-and-cream complexion.

Then there was the Easter when she was 14, when she and her family had come down with a bad case of food poisoning after dinner. They'd spent the night in the emergency room.

And then there was the time when Charlee had a _very_ bad Easter.

Seven-year-old Charlee had been so excited the night before Easter that she'd gone to sleep with her white bunny ears on.

Her father had handcuffed her ankles and wrists while she was sleeping, then tied a handkerchief over her mouth. He carried her to the living room and set her on the couch—she still had her droopy bunny ears on. Then he shook her awake.

She opened her eyes, then watched him. She remembered the crazy look in her father's eyes as he stood and calmly held the sawed-off shotgun across his chest. He called out for Mama.

Mama called back from the bedroom, "I'm coming! Hold on..."

A few moments later, Mama entered the living room. She was still in her pajamas—she was smiling, and squinting—she looked half asleep.

Father rushed forward, grabbed Mama behind her shoulder and threw her to the floor. Mama fell to the carpet on her hands and knees. Then Mama looked over at Charlee, and Mama's eyes went wide. Tears streamed down Charlee's face as she sobbed and stared back.

Mama looked up at Father, who leveled the gun at her. Mama's voice quivered as she said, "Wh-what are you doing?"

A strange expression came over Father's face—a mixture of amusement with vacant eyes. He said, "Well, maybe I'm killing you. It all depends on whether you can find the egg."

"What are you talking about? Quit joking around! This isn't funny!"

"Well, it's a little funny, but the joke is on me. Let me ask you a question. Do you remember an Easter eight years ago? It was before Charlee was born. About nine months before she was born..."

Mama was trembling. "What do you mean? I don't remember, exactly. I remember we lived in the old house..."

"Yes, that's right," Father said. "See I've been trying to remember. I went to sleep with you and when I woke up, you were beside me, but who knows where you were the whole time I was asleep? Do you remember? Did you do anything that night?"

"I don't know what you mean. I was asleep the whole night."

"Ah, so now you remember?" he asked.

"Well, maybe I went to the bathroom during the night or something! How am I supposed to remember? What are you talking about? Put the gun down."

Father shook his head. "Move and I'll kill you. Now...try to remember that night. Do you remember ever getting out of bed and maybe...fucking somebody else!"

Mama looked up at him and swallowed hard. "Watch your language in front of Charlee. And I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well," Father sneered. "Maybe you just forgot. Let me refresh your memory. Do you remember...being with a guy who was dressed in an Easter Bunny costume? In the garage? You were doing it doggy style? Remember now?" He seemed amused, in a sad, crazy kind of way.

Mama was choked up. All she could do was whimper, "No."

"Now, before you deny it, I think you should know that I've seen the video. I got the DVD this morning, in my Easter basket." He pointed to the end table, where a DVD was sitting next to a chocolate bunny and the lamp. He continued, "Someone wrote, 'Unhappy Easter' on the DVD. And I watched it. You were a lot prettier back then. There was a date stamp on the video, and I believe it—because of your hairstyle and the newspaper the guy in the bunny suit conveniently held in front of the camera before you came into the room. And I could see your shaved girly part. I kept telling you how much I hated that, because, like I've said, it's _pride,_ which is sinful—in fact, it's the deadliest of the seven sins! And by a weird coincidence, you started letting it grow the day after Easter! Was it coincidence, or was it _maybe_ out of guilt? It's all pretty hard to deny. And don't try to say it was really _me_ fu—hugging you, because my rabbit suit back then didn't look anything at all like the one in the video."

"Oh god, please, baby! Let's talk about it. I'm sorry, but it's not what you think! He tricked me!"

"Somehow I doubt that. What are you going to say next? That you were raped? You seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a bit in the video. We both know about your...fetish."

"Okay, I messed up! It was so long ago, though. I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I'm sorry!"

"Who was that guy in the bunny suit? One of your exes? Wait, forget that, I'm not even sure if I want to know. You're right, it was a long time ago, but now, you see, I'm wondering..." He shook his head. "Is Charlee even mine? How would I know?"

They both looked over at Charlee. Charlee with her bunny ears. Charlee who had gone to sleep only wanting to search for eggs and eat candy the next day.

Mama said, "Let's not do this in front of Charlee, okay?"

Father shook his head. "No, I want her to know how you ruined Easter. She has to be here to see what happens. To see what a whore her mother is!"

"Watch your language!"

Father suddenly seemed ashamed. He nodded.

He lowered his head sadly, then turned to look at Charlee. "I love you, Charlee. I don't know how I'd feel if I found out you weren't mine. I guess I'd love you just as much, it's just—" He shook his head. "Your _mother_ has ruined Easter. It's not your fault."

He went to the end table and picked up the chocolate bunny that Charlee had been nibbling on the night before—she had eaten the eyes first, then one of the ears. Father smiled sadly, then said, "I'm like this bunny. I was too blind to see that your mother would hug and kiss anybody willing to put on a bunny suit."

Mama screamed, "That's not true! I made a horrible mistake, but I've always loved you! We can work on this! We can go to counseling!"

The vacant look in Father's eyes terrified Charlee. He didn't even look at Mama as he said, "We can go to counseling maybe...if you find the egg."

"What are you talking about? What egg?"

"Well, since you have the habit of taking your wedding ring off while you sleep, I took it off the dresser this morning and I put it inside a plastic egg. I hid the egg somewhere in this room, along with seven other eggs..."

"You're talking crazy," Mama whimpered.

Father continued, "If you look on the shelf above the fireplace, you will see the egg timer. Push it and you will have exactly three minutes to find the ring and put it on your finger. If you do that, then we can try to fix things and stay together. If you don't, then I figure it means God wants our marriage to be over, and I will blow your head off."

"No! You're sick! You need to stop and think!"

He pointed the gun at Mama's head. "If you don't play along, I will just kill you, because that, to me, means you're not willing to put forth the effort to make this marriage work."

"Please, honey!"

Father bit the ear off the chocolate bunny, then with his mouth full, said, "Can't hear you. Press the timer now. Hurry or I'll kill you."

Mama seemed frozen in indecision for a moment. She looked at Father's face, trying to read the expression...then she stood and walked to the fireplace. The egg timer was a device used to time the boiling of eggs. It was in the shape of an egg with a smiling face on it and it had arms and legs. When someone pressed the top of the egg, it swayed from side to side for three minutes, then it buzzed and shook when the time was up. Mama tapped down on the egg timer with her palm.

She then began frantically searching the room for the egg. Father stood calmly watching while he nibbled on the chocolate bunny head.

Mama found a yellow egg behind the television. With trembling hands, she opened it. A few jelly beans fell to the floor.

Father chuckled then said, "You might soon be a has-bean."

Underneath the couch, Mama found a green egg. She opened it and looked inside, then flung it to the ground, spilling foil-wrapped chocolate Smooches to the floor.

Father said, "Smooch your life goodbye."

Underneath a pillow on the couch, she found a pink egg. She opened it and almost began to sob as she let it fall, and on the carpet, a marshmallow chicken sat inside the plastic egg half.

Father said, "Feeling scared? A little chicken?"

The three minutes were almost up and Mama had begun sobbing hysterically. While on her hands and knees, she found another egg behind one of the legs of the couch. She picked it up just as the buzzer from the egg timer went off.

"Please!" she sobbed.

Father finished swallowing the bite of chocolate he'd just taken. He'd eaten the head off the chocolate bunny during the three minutes. "Have you learned your lesson? Stand up and face me."

Mama stood and turned toward him. She still hadn't opened the egg she'd just found. She looked into Father's eyes, waiting.

He said, "The ring's in that egg... So maybe you should put it on..." He gestured with his chin, then Mama opened the egg, and let the plastic egg fall. She put the ring on her finger, then her hands dropped to her side.

Father smiled. Slowly, he raised the headless chocolate bunny up and showed it to Mama, then he said, "But your time was up." He leveled the shotgun at her and blew her head off.

Red splattered back and the headless body flew against the wall, knocking a painting of a flowery branch from the wall, then the body flopped onto the carpet.

And as Charlee thrashed in terror and screamed silently into her gag, Father set the headless bunny on the end table, then picked up the DVD. He turned to face Charlee. He raised the DVD and held it in front of his face. Then he turned the shotgun around and pointed it at his face. "Sorry, sweety," he said to Charlee. Then he pulled the trigger and destroyed both the DVD and his head in a booming shotgun blast.

The police came shortly afterwards to find two headless bodies and a little girl handcuffed on the couch.

The event was very traumatic for Charlee and resulted in many psychological problems that lasted even into her teenage years. For example, soon after the incident, she began wearing bunny ears every single day—all attempts to make her stop resulted in great distress for her. She also began wearing a symbol known as the corruptagram on a necklace. And when she entered into puberty, she was unable to shave her pubic hair, because, "Daddy hated it." And she began to refer to her last name as "Frown."

And every year, a few days before every Easter, she would send Easter cards to herself through the mail. On each card, she would always write the same thing:

Unhappy Easter, Charlee Frown.

**CHAPTER 1**

Three Months Before Easter

Charlee, a seventeen-year-and-364-day-old hot blond girl, was getting ready for school. She had already put on her jeans, tube top shirt, and sneakers. She was also wearing her white bunny ears and her four-inch-in-diameter corruptagram pendant (with the horns and heart in red to represent her bloody backstory), just like every day. The corruptagram symbol, which is a broken heart inside a circle with two horns on top, is actually banned in most schools and was banned in Charlee's as well—however, an exception was allowed in her case due to her psychological problems.

She walked to the couch in the living room, then set her backpack and jacket on it. She was about to go to the fridge for a grape soda when a sparkle of white light appeared in the air between her and the kitchen. At first, she thought it was some kind of glowing bug and was intrigued, but then it started growing until it was a little bit bigger than her. Before she could scream, she was sucked into the light.

Then she suddenly found herself in an entirely different place—she closed her mouth without screaming. She stumbled a little on the grass before finding her footing again.

Standing in front of her was an extremely thin, blond girl who looked to be around sixteen-years-old, in a long black dress with a tiara on her head, wearing heavy eyeliner. The black-clad girl said, "Welcome to Easter Land"—she said it in a bored-sounding voice, without smiling.

Then Charlee shrieked, because behind the blond girl stood what looked like someone in a white bunny outfit, next to a large, four-foot-tall toad, next to a human-sized, red plasticy egg with arms, legs, eyes and a mouth—the egg looked male. Behind those three strange creatures stretched miles of green grass-covered hills and plains. A catapult rested on the grass to her left, and a trampoline was a short distance behind it. Behind her was a gray wall that looked like a castle wall. She refocused on the blond girl, then finally noticed the large Easter basket sitting on the ground next to the girl, which, compared to the other things, didn't seem that unusual.

"Where am I?" Charlee shouted, as she looked around.

The black-clad girl rolled her eyelined eyes then repeated, "Easter Land. Outside of the _creatively_ -named Easter Castle."

Charlee shouted, "Why do you keep saying 'Easter'? I hate Easter!"

"Now calm down," said the black-clad girl. "I've used a summoning spell to bring you from the world you know to our world, where everything is about Easter."

Charlee panicked. It took several minutes for the black-clad girl to calm Charlee down and convince her that she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. Charlee almost ran away, but she had no idea where she would run _to,_ and she thought that running might be perceived as rude, so she decided to calm down.

Then Charlee said, "I really hate Easter. It's my least favorite holiday. Would it be possible for me to go back home? Could you cast another spell?"

The black-clad girl said, "I'm sorry that you don't like Easter, but it's really not possible for you to go home right now. See, you're one of the Chosen Ones and the fate of Easter rests in your hands. But before we go any further, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Princess Megan."

"I'm Charlee."

"Nice to meet you, Charlee. I was gonna call you 'bunny-girl' but I think Charlee will be easy to remember." Princess Megan gestured with her head. "That's the Easter Bunny, that's the Easter Toad, and that's Gumpty Dumpty." Each of the three strange creatures said hello to Charlee and she awkwardly said hello back.

Charlee opened her mouth to begin asking questions, but Princess Megan cut her off by saying, "Now before I explain further, I'd like to summon the two other half-breeds, then I can explain everything to you all at once."

Then Princess Megan raised her arms and recited these words:

Oh, by the power of fertility,

Bring the next one of the three.

Half human and half of Easter's own,

Potential inheritor of the throne!

Charlee took a step backward as a small sparkle of white light appeared between her and Princess Megan. The sparkle of light quickly expanded, then a teenage African American boy in a wheel chair rolled out from it. He was wearing jeans and a navy blue jacket. As soon as he came out of the circle of light, he cringed and looked around frantically.

"Where am I?" the boy shouted in terror.

Princess Megan sounded bored as she told him, "Easter Land."

It took a few minutes for the boy to accept the reality of his situation, just like with Charlee. The boy said his name was Deon, but the Princess said, "I'll call you toad-boy from now on, because it's easier to remember."

Again, Princess Megan declined to explain things further until she had summoned up the third and final Chosen One.

She recited the spell. Once again, a sparkle of white light appeared then enlarged, then out stumbled a teenage Latina who seemed to be made out of reddish semi-clear plastic—even her hair was plastic. She was wearing regular clothes, though—a skirt and zipped-up leather jacket.

It took a few minutes for the Princess to convince the girl that she was in Easter Land. The girl's name was Silvia, but the Princess said she preferred to call her gummi-girl.

Charlee was wondering why Silvia aka the gummi-girl was so freakish. She also couldn't help but notice that Silvia had huge boobs, though they were sort of hidden by her jacket. Charlee was trying to be polite and not stare, then she noticed that Deon and Silvia were trying not to stare at her bunny ears. Charlee was used to it though, so she ignored them.

Princess Megan finally started explaining what was going on. "Well," she said, as she looked at the three newly-summoned teens, "I bet you're all wondering why I brought you here today."

"Yes," said Charlee angrily. "And when are you letting us go back?"

"Please," said Princess Megan, "hear me out. Where you are right now, is Easter Land, a magical realm outside of what you call 'reality.' It's where all things Easter comes from."

"I hate Easter," Charlee muttered.

Princess Megan said, "Well, yes, if I may continue, uninterrupted, please. Now, you all are familiar with the Easter Bunny." She pointed over her shoulder, and the Easter Bunny grinned and nodded at them all. She continued, "You all know the Easter Bunny, but you probably don't know about the Easter Toad and Gumpty Dumpty, the gummi egg." As she gestured with her hands, the toad nodded its head and the gummi egg waved behind her. She continued, "You see, one thousand years ago, there was supposed to be a competition between the toad, the gummi egg and the bunny, to see who would be the deliverer of the eggs from Easter Land."

"Wait!" said Charlee. "Is Gumpty Dumpty made out of gummi? Like the plasticy candy stuff they make little bears out of?"

"Why yes!" said the smiling red egg. "I'm made out of gummi! And so is Silvia!"

Silvia shrieked while staring at her red, plasticy fingers. "How did this happen?"

Princess Megan gave Silvia a stern look, then said, "Please calm down. We'll get to all of that stuff later. I have a lot of information to give you, so please just be patient and listen."

Charlee opened her mouth, about to say something, but the Princess shot her a stern look, so Charlee's jaw closed again. The guy in the wheelchair was sitting with a bewildered expression on his face.

"Okay, where was I?" Princess Megan said. "Oh yes, back in the days of yore, there was supposed to be a contest to see who would be the egg deliverer. However, before the contest, the toad and gummi egg each took a nap for a thousand years, and so the contest has been postponed until now, and the Easter Bunny has been temporarily filling in. They say they didn't mean to fall asleep, but, whatever."

The gummi egg shouted, "But I _really_ didn't mean to fall asleep!" then the toad shouted, "Me neither!" in a toady, female voice.

The Princess rolled her eyes, then continued. "But eighteen years ago, they finally woke up, and this is where you three come in, Charlee, toad-boy, and gummi-girl. The three offspring of the Easter creatures and humans shall compete in a contest and the winner's parent will become the official egg deliverer. For example, if toad-boy wins, then the Easter Toad will deliver the eggs from now on. You three are the offspring and, because today you are all 17 and 364 days old, you have been brought here today to compete. You are...~*THE CHOSEN ONES*~"

Charlee angrily proclaimed, "What the hell!" Deon had covered his face with his hand, and Silvia was looking at everyone with a panicky expression on her gummi face.

Charlee asked angrily, "Are you trying to say we are each half rabbit, toad, and egg?"

The Princess nodded. "Yes. You each represent a bridge of sorts between the magical Easter realm and the world you know. And that's why when you crossed into Easter Land, your physical forms changed to show your...mixed heritage." She swept her arm toward Silvia before anyone could respond, then said, "Gummi-girl is the most obvious example. In your world, she probably looked normal, but here, we can see that she is now completely made of gummi."

Silvia looked around frantically, then whimpered. "Not true. My mom wouldn't be intimate with an egg."

Princess Megan replied, "Oh, it's very true," and she said it in a way that almost seemed vicious. To Charlee, she said, "Hush and listen," because Charlee was about to start demanding answers. The Princess continued, "Each of your mothers had a sexual fetish which they probably kept a secret from you. That is why they were chosen to mate with, on that special Easter Eve eighteen years ago." Princess Megan pointed at Deon in his wheelchair. She looked at him and crinkled her eyes. "Now, you are the product of the toad and your mother. It may seem strange to you, because they are both female, but magic can do strange things sometimes."

Deon shook his head with a look of denial on his face, then said, "No, my mother told me my father was a one night stand at a college party."

Princess Megan smirked. "Your mother lied. It's understandable. By the way, you can stand up now. You're in the magical realm now..."

Deon shot back angrily, "What are you talking about? I've been crippled all my life!"

"Yes," said the Princess. "That's because you probably inherited toad legs, though they would have looked like human legs in your world. Magic works in weird ways, and in your world, I guess it resulted in disability, but here in Easter Land, you should be okay. So, try to stand up."

The expression on Deon's face indicated that he thought he might be the victim of some sort of practical joke. But he rose up from his chair...and he stood. He was wearing jeans which covered his legs, but it was obvious that his legs didn't bend the way you'd expect a human's to bend. They bended like a toad's legs would, if you lifted it up and pretended it was walking upright, which is a cruel thing to do. I mean, leave the toad alone.

"Wow," Deon said. "This is so weird. I was so used to my wheelchair."

"Yes," said the Princess in a snide voice. "Now you'll have to stand like the rest of us and you can't just sit around all the time. You can probably hop pretty far too, but please don't do that now. Save it for later." She turned her head to look at Charlee.

Charlee said, "What?"

Princess Megan twerked her mouth. "You took up the habit of wearing bunny ears..."

"That's right," Charlee shot back. "Because I practice the freedom everyone claims to believe in."

"But here in Easter Land, your bunny ears have become real. In your own world, you were subconsciously mimicking your true nature. A part of you knew the truth..."

Charlee swallowed. She didn't know whether to believe the Princess or not, but there was one way to find out. With her hands trembling, she lifted them to feel her bunny ears.

They were warm and furry to her touch. Then, she realized that she could make them move at will. Her heartbeat quickened. She felt around her head and couldn't feel any human ears.

"What the hell!" she shouted.

The Princess laughed. "You have bunny ears! It's the real thing! Get used to it."

Charlee took a few moments to process what the Princess said. Then her mind flashed back to that horrible Easter morning when she was seven-years-old. She remembered the DVD her father had held that had been signed, "Unhappy Easter."

Charlee glared at the Easter Bunny, then shouted, "You were the reason my father murdered my mother!"

The Easter Bunny looked shocked and raised his hands defensively. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Everyone else looked shocked too.

Charlee shouted, "You impregnated my mother and recorded it, then you gave a DVD to my father! That's why he was so angry! He shot my mother and himself because of it!" Charlee was trembling with rage. Before today, she'd assumed that the DVD had been from one of her mother's lovers.

The Easter Bunny said, "I'm very sorry about your parents, but I would _never_ do anything like that. I didn't record my time with your mother. I really don't know what you're talking about."

Charlee started to feel a twinge of doubt, because the Easter Bunny seemed so sincere. "But there was a DVD."

The Easter Bunny asked, "What was on it?"

"Well...I'm not sure. I didn't get to watch it. It was destroyed."

"Well, I assure you, I never made a DVD and I never recorded the time with your mother. And I want to assure you it was completely voluntary on her part. She told me she was single, too. If she hadn't told me that, I never would have gone through with it."

Charlee felt horribly confused. The past few minutes had been so strange, she didn't know what to believe anymore.

"Well," said the Princess, "I hate to interrupt, but we really don't have a whole lot of time. We're gonna try to get all of this done in one day, because tomorrow you'll be legally adults and will be able to rule Easter Land." Then she smiled big and chipperly said, "Okay?"

Charlee shouted, "What? I don't want to do this! I want to go back home! I hate Easter!"

Princess Megan said, "Wait! I need to tell you more things. Now listen up. The winner of the contest will become the Queen or King of Easter Land and will have great power—I'm talking about things like magic, political power, immortality, the power to make Easter decisions... By the way, before you ask, I'm not a princess of Easter Land—I'm a princess of another land."

Charlee shouted, "What if we don't want to be Queen?"

Silvia shouted out, "Yeah!"

The Princess said, "Well, according to the contest rules and regulations, if you win, you can sign everything over to the creature you're representing. If you did do that, you could return to your normal life, stripped of all your powers and rights and you'd go back to being a boring common person. If you'd _want_ that."

Charlee asked, "What if we choose not to even play in the contest?"

"Well," said the Princess. "You'd forfeit. You could go back home. The choice is up to you. But you'd be blowing the opportunity for great power, and," she looked at Charlee, "if _you_ quit, Easter wouldn't be about the Easter Bunny anymore."

Charlee was feeling quite torn. On one hand, she really hated Easter and almost wanted it to be destroyed. But on the other hand, if she quit now, Easter wouldn't be destroyed—it would just be switched to a new mascot of a toad or a large gummi egg and she didn't know if she could live with herself for allowing some freak to take over Easter.

But, as the Princess had said, if Charlee won, she could sign away all her obligations and wipe her hands of the whole mess. That really seemed the best solution.

Princess Megan said, "Now, there are a series of challenges that have been set up. It's all based on a point system. Now, if we can start the first trial, let's do it. I'm the referee and judge, by the way. Is everyone ready?"

**CHAPTER 2**

SinEaster Awaits

A few minutes earlier, in another part of that magical land, a hideous man sat on a throne formed from black licorice, inside a room made of black licorice. A four-foot-high scorpion stood facing him.

The man stared down at the floor. His flesh looked as if he had survived a horrible full-body burn. His eyes were uneven, and there were several bald patches on his head.

He lifted his head, then his eyes shifted from side to side. He said, "They have arrived. I just sensed them. There are three, just like the prophesy of the Corruptanomicon says." The man smiled softly. "I suddenly feel less miserable. Do you remember how happy I was when the prophesy washed ashore?"

The scorpion responded, "I remember, Your Majesty. That was the night you started to hope."

The man nodded. "That was so many centuries ago, and my happiness faded, but now it's all coming true. Destiny has been set into motion, and soon, my future Queen will come to me, to alleviate my loneliness."

The scorpion bowed, then said, "It is a most glorious night, Your Majesty."

**CHAPTER 3**

The Classic Easter Song Competition

Silvia held up one gummi finger in the "hold on" gesture, then said "First, let me just take off my jacket. It's sort of warm out here."

She unzipped her jacket and slipped it off. Underneath her T-shirt, her boobs were huge.

Many eyes opened wide.

Charlee thought that Silvia's boobs were probably fake, because they looked unnaturally buoyant.

Deon took his jacket off, too. He was wearing a form-fitting black T-shirt and his pecs and arms were extremely muscular. Charlee found herself wondering if he had scrawny legs.

Princess Megan clapped, then said, "Okay! Let's get started then. Now, the ability to compose songs is highly valued in Easter Land, and any future ruler must hone that skill. So, the first contest is a song-writing contest. You each will be given thirty minutes to write a classic Easter song based on whichever creature you represent. There are a couple of requirements. First, the song has to mention the creatures you represent. So, Charlee must mention the Easter Bunny, and exceptra."

Silvia said, "Etcetera."

"Huh?" said the Princess.

"You meant 'etcetera' not 'exceptra.' There is no 'exceptra.'"

The Princess narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I think that there is, and since I'm the Princess, I'm right."

Silvia didn't respond, and tightened her mouth.

The Princess continued. "Second, each song must make mention of the coming of Spring. Finally, each song must mention Easter eggs. Other than that, it's up to you. You will also have to sing your song, and your performance also counts. The winner will get two points. Second place gets one point. Are there any questions?"

"Yes," said Charlee. "What are you judging the song on? Catchiness? Sappiness? The ability of the lyrics to be easily memorized by children?"

The Princess replied, "I'm judging based on which one I think should win. It could be any reason. Any other stupid questions?"

Deon raised his hand.

The Princess said, "Lower your hand. This isn't a classroom. Besides, I'm done with questions. Let's begin the contest." She kneeled and rummaged in the Easter basket on the ground.

She handed a notepad and pen to Charlee, Deon, and Silvia, then told them, "You have thirty minutes."

**CHAPTER 4**

Silvia's Song

Princess Megan announced, "Time's up! Who wants to go first?"

Silvia, the gummi-girl, answered, "I will. I just want to get this over with."

Everyone moved to get a good view of her, then she started dancing. She did a lot of hopping and jiggling as music mysteriously played. Her voice was off-key and her dancing lacked enthusiasm as she sang these words:

Bouncing up and down,

Bouncing all around.

Watch the bouncing gummi egg's display.

Yummy, gummi and round,

Bouncing all around,

Hiding Easter eggs for you today.

Hidden all around,

Soon they will be found,

Putting all the eggs on full display!

And heeere comes the springtime,

To bring us lovely weather.

And theeere goes the coldtime,

So just take off your sweater!

And find all the eggs,

And grab them up quick!

Oh, grab them up, grab them up, grab them up quick!

Ohhhh...

Bouncing up and down,

Bouncing all around!

Watch the bouncing gummi egg's display!

Hidden all around,

But now they have been found,

Putting all the eggs on full display.

The music ended and everyone except Charlee and the toad clapped.

Silvia hooted and hopped around while raising her hands in the air, then she stood, fidgeting nervously.

Charlee rolled her eyes, then said, "Was that an Easter song, or a strip club song?"

Silvia scowled at Charlee, then turned her head toward the Princess and asked, "So what did you think?"

"Well," said the Princess. "It fulfilled all the requirements. It made good use of bouncing, which is a key component of gummi."

Gumpty Dumpty chimed in, "I agree. It would make a wonderful classic Easter song! I can just picture all the boys and girls singing it."

Silvia grinned.

The Princess shouted out, "Who's next?"

Deon and Charlee looked at each other, then shrugged, so the Princess told Deon to go next.

**CHAPTER 5**

Deon's Song

The music began to play and Deon began to sing. He didn't dance, but stood still, while staring down at his notepad.

He sang:

Springtime comes—are you wishing?

Tadpoles sprout—are they swishing?

A wonderful day, the Toad hops today.

Hopping on an Easter lily pad.

Oh, I'm dreaming of a green toad Easter,

With every boiled egg I see.

With tadpoles wriggling,

And children giggling,

And Toad hopping round so gleefully.

Now tadpoles have disability,

And cannot walk so adequately,

And cannot bounce so hoppily,

But then they growww.

And Winter turns to Spring's warm breeze,

And tadpoles grow both legs and knees,

And hop around just as they please,

And then you knowww.

That Easter hops down on your face.

The toads smash down to your disgrace,

And springtime wins the seasons' race.

And now behooold...

It's Easter time, with knees so grand!

It's Easter time, all you can stand!

It's Easter!

Deon stopped singing and shyly stared down at his notepad.

Everyone clapped, except for the toad, who was unable to, and Charlee, who sarcastically said, "An Easter song about disability? How politically correct."

Deon didn't lift his head.

Silvia just stood with her arms folded and a neutral expression on her face.

The toad said, "I liked your use of the tadpole motif. It's symbolic."

Deon raised his head, then meekly replied, "Yes, it's like me. Before, I couldn't walk, but now I can."

Charlee snarled. "But tadpoles can _swim._ What makes you think they _want_ to walk? Do all fishes want to walk too?"

Silvia said, "Fish."

Charlee turned to face her. "What?"

Silvia said, "The plural of 'fish' is 'fish.'"

Charlee replied, "Well that's just stupid. They're the same word." She turned her head. "What do you think, Princess?"

"I agree," the Princess said. "If 'fish' is the same word used, then the singular and plural of them are the same, which they most definitely are not, in most cases."

Charlee smirked at Silvia. "See, I was right."

"Whatever," said Silvia.

The Princess looked at Deon, then said, "Thank you for your performance." She turned to Charlee. "You're next."

**CHAPTER 6**

Charlee's Song

Charlee's ears curled slightly, tremblingly, from stage fright.

But as the music began to play, she began to relax, as she swayed seductively and sang these words:

Here comes Easter Bunny day,

No matter how much you may pray.

Bangety Bang Bang,

Mommy now must pay!

Springtime melts the snow, so white.

Mom and Dad, they have a fight.

Now the season turns to red and gray.

" **Winter should come back to me,**

Bringing its pre-shotgun glee."

That's what you will start to sadly say.

You'll wake up on Easter morning,

And you'll dread that he was there,

When you find those cruel reminders

Of murder and despair.

Ohh! Running in fear and starting to beg,

Jumpin' when you see an egg!

Bangety Bang Bang,

Mommy had to pay!

Charlee stopped singing and stood, while readjusting her clothing.

The Easter Bunny looked like he was about to throw a fit, as he said, "What the hell was that?"

Silvia smirked, then said, "Was that an Easter song or a Halloween song? I mean, wow."

Charlee shrugged then said, "Hey, well that's what Easter means to me. At least it's not sappy...or bouncy...or tadpoley. Or suck-upy."

"Yeah," said Silvia. "It's just sucky."

Charlee replied, "Oh, go take off your sweater. Oh wait, _don't._ Nobody wants to see those fake, plastic things."

Silvia huffed, then said to the Princess, "Are you going to judge now?"

The Princess pressed her hand to the side of her face and appeared to contemplate for a few moments.

She closed her eyes while everyone watched her.

She opened her eyes, then said, "I have decided the winner..."

**CHAPTER 7**

Winner Declared

"And the winner," said Princess Megan, "is toad-boy."

Deon smiled shyly while everyone looked at him. He softly said, "Thank you."

"Yes," continued the Princess. "I thought it was very inspiring. It would be a good message for the children."

Charlee huffed. "Tadpoles are gross."

"Oh, please," the Princess shot back. "Is it any grosser than your 'red and gray' stuff?" She looked at Deon. "Now you could have danced or maybe looked up every once in a while, but I thought the song was great. It really inspired me."

"To do what?" Charlee said. "To hop? To praise your knees?"

"Maybe," snarled the Princess. "But anyway, Deon wins first place. He now has two points. And the second place winner, is Charlee."

Charlee hooted, then made a face at Silvia.

Silvia said, "How could that horror movie beat my song?"

"Well," said the Princess, "I'll tell you why." She looked at Charlee. "Because you've got guts."

"Oh," Silvia said, "Isn't that song just _all_ about guts?"

Charlee made a face at her, then snarled, "No, it was about brains." She gave a vicious smile.

The Princess turned to face Silvia, then said, "Charlee had the courage to write a song that was personal and that took risks. She could have written something that was bouncy and happy, or inspirational, but she chose to do the opposite. She made a song that makes you stop and think, and that's why she now has one point. And the third place winner, is you, gummi-girl."

Silvia clapped enthusiastically in a purposefully inappropriate way.

The Princess said, "I thought it was a very happy, catchy song."

"Yeah," said Charlee, in an irritated voice, "just like all the other happy, catchy songs!"

The Princess snapped back, "Yeah, I didn't mean it as a good thing. I meant that's the reason why the song's such crap. I mean, toad-boy's song was happy, but at least he tackled some pretty deep issues."

Silvia folded her arms and scowled.

**CHAPTER 8**

The Easter Bunny's Riddle

"And now," said Princess Megan, "let's keep this thing moving and go on to the next challenge. The Easter Bunny has prepared a riddle. Now, before he recites it, I would advise you all not to shout out the answer, because everyone who gets the right answer will get two points. And incorrect answers subtract two points. You can write the answer down, when the time comes, but you'll have plenty of time to think about it, because I'm gonna wait until after your quests before I start taking your answers. Now, Easter Bunny, are you ready?"

He replied, "Yep, I sure am." He walked, then stood beside the Princess in front of Charlee, Deon, and Silvia.

The Easter Bunny looked like a six-foot-tall man inside a bunny costume, except he wasn't. And his face moved around like the real, living creature he was, rather than staying frozen in a grin. In fact, the Easter Bunny wasn't smiling at all. He almost seemed to be scowling.

"Here is my riddle," he said.

Then he recited these words:

I'm a statue flattery,

Whose taste is sweet.

Becoming hollow mockery,

My light, you eat.

My sound, you eat as well.

I wish you straight to hell,

But just a frozen, Easter smile, you greet!

What am I?

"And that was my riddle," he said.

"Thank you," said Princess Megan.

The Princess addressed Charlee, Deon, and Silvia: "Now it's time to move onto the next challenge. You have each been provided a quest, and if you return, you will then have the chance to answer the riddle."

At this point, both Deon and Silvia blurted out the same words, which were: " _If?_ What do you mean _if?"_

"Well," said the Princess. "The quests are a little dangerous, but you are each perfectly suited for your particular quest, because you are the Chosen Ones, and your specific abilities will help you. In fact, you are the _only_ ones who can complete the quests. You each must go, alone, on a hunt for an ancient relic, and you must also find out the answer to one of Easter Land's mysteries of history. You will receive two points for each of your two goals, for a possible total of four points. And after you return, I will ask you for your answers to the Easter Bunny's riddle. And after _that,_ the winner will be decided. Your quests begin on various parts of Easter Land. We will wait here for your return. But first, I'd like you to read a short, informative paper I put together, just so we can all be on the same page. There are three things in the paper: a brief history of Easter Land, a copy of the prophesy poem, and a summary of the contest. The prophesy poem was originally discovered on a page torn from the Corruptanomicon, which was discovered by the Easter Bunny. The page was later lost in SinEaster River on a warship during the Great War. Pages from the Corruptanomicon tend to disappear a lot. Oh, and I'm the one who wrote the history of Easter Land. I tried to keep it simple for you. And the contest summary can help you keep score. Anyway..."

Princess Megan collected the notepads, then reached into her Easter basket, then handed out some sheets of paper to the three Chosen Ones. They took a few minutes to read them.

**CHAPTER 9**

The History of Easter Land & the Prophesy Poem

_966_ — **The beginning.** In ancient times, there were no holidays, but then it was decided to create them. One of those holidays was assigned to the Holiday Continent's east side. The area and holiday was called Easter as a working title, but the name stuck.

Easter was originally meant to be the opposite of Halloween, because candy would be brought to children's houses rather than the children going to the houses of others. The Easter project was approved and went forward.

The area that was to become Easter Land was already ruled by humans. However, the humans of Easter Land were different from other humans due to an ancient curse. Centuries before, one of their kings had come to be considered a coward. Since he was considered a "chicken," in order to mock him and his subjects, all the female humans in his kingdom were made to lay colorful eggs to reproduce. Also, as a further form of ridicule, the monarchy was assigned a royal guard of anthropomorphic eggs. However, in the beginning, the holiday of Easter had to do with delivering candy, and not eggs.

After approval, the new holiday entered a stage of development and preparation, but there were still many years ahead, before it could begin to be celebrated.

Many creatures tried out for the role of candy deliverer. Three finalists were chosen to compete: the Easter Bunny, the Easter Toad, and Humpty Dumpty.

*note—The Easter Bunny was originally four-legged. And Humpty Dumpty (not _Gumpty_ Dumpty) was the original anthropomorphic egg contestant.

_973_ —Due to a revolutionary uprising in Easter Land, the contest was delayed. **The Great War began,** between those who wanted a democracy and those defending the monarchy.

_975_ — **First appearance of the SinEaster Area,** which is an evil part of Easter Land. It started out small, but grew larger each year, until, six years later, a small magic wall had to be conjured to contain it. The Grene Myhnt Wall was designed to grow taller and stronger as SinEaster did. However, the wall was unable to block the river that leads into SinEaster. Several dams were attempted to be built, but they all met with mysterious accidents, and to this day, nothing blocks the path of the river into SinEaster. No one knows what horrible, horrible evil lurks behind the wall.

_981_ —The Easter Bunny used corruptamagic to become bipedal. The use of corruptamagic is illegal, and the Easter Bunny was severely punished with public flogging. Ha ha.

_982_ —Disappearance of Humpty Dumpty. Humpty Dumpty basically disappeared one day. Gumpty Dumpty was allowed to take his place according to the contest rules, because he was the son of Humpty Dumpty and a gummi worm. To this day, no one knows what happened to Humpty Dumpty. This is one of the great mysteries of Easter Land history.

_982_ — **Boiling of the Witch.** The Prince of Easter Land, who was married to Princess Cinnamon, had been having an affair with a witch. After the Prince broke up with the witch, she used corruptamagic to turn the Prince into a toad. He had been alone in the Dark Forest at the time, so he was unable to be located. As punishment, the witch was boiled alive. It was later discovered that she had been pregnant at the time with the Prince's child. The boiled egg was cut from the witch's body and given to Princess Cinnamon.

**The Princess's Flight** —There was a prophesy that Princess Cinnamon had a gift to "bestow a single, magical, transformative kiss upon a man who in his life would be King." She loved her husband, despite the affair. She wanted to search for the Prince in the Dark Forest, to kiss him, to transform him back. She thought she was destined to find him. It was judged to be too dangerous, because of all the hostile revolutionaries that were around. So, she chose three loyal servants and snuck out of the castle, carrying the boiled egg. At one point, she was interrogated by enemy soldiers, who were searching groups of peasants, looking for anyone carrying a boiled egg, because they had learned of the Princess's journey. She had to quickly hide the egg, then later go back and find it again. She was separated from two of her servants at that time. A day later, she was separated from the last servant during another close call with soldiers. A message was received at the castle, stating that she intended to continue to the Dark Forest. She never returned from her journey. What happened to her is one of the great mysteries of history. Another mystery is, what happened to the boiled egg she carried? His name was to be Antiboli, and as the only heir of his father, he is often referred to as the once future King of Easter Land.

People searched for Princess Cinnamon and Antiboli. But they couldn't find them. In the Princess's honor, it was decided that the Easter custom would be to hide boiled eggs, painted different colors, so they'd look human. Chicken eggs are substituted for human eggs.

_986_ —All the royalty were killed. Easter Land fell into chaos, ravaged by battle between those who wanted democracy and those who wanted monarchy.

_990_ —The Easter Toad and Gumpty Dumpty went into a long nap, right before they were supposed to mate with humans to produce the Chosen Ones. The Easter Bunny was assigned to temporarily fill in as egg deliverer, until the contest could be resumed, and despite the turmoil, the Easter Holiday was begun.

_1046_ —The last humans in Easter Land were killed in the Great War.

_1990_ —The Easter Toad and Gumpty Dumpty finally woke their lazy selves up. They and the Easter Bunny mated with humans in the non-magical realm, to create the Chosen Ones, who will be able to rule when they turn 18.

_The Present_ —I, Princess Megan, have been called in to oversee this contest. Don't mess with me.

_The Future_ —Easter Land has not had any rulers or even any humans living in it for over 900 years, but it is time for Easter Land to be repopulated with humans! The Chosen Ones will help it happen, unless they don't.

The Prophesy Poem

The three compete to see who hides the eggs,

At seventeen, three-hundred-sixty-four.

One blond, one red, one with fantastic legs;

Each has a special gift, for what's in store.

They each will try to find a candy hid:

The icing eyes, sdiu, and jelly bean.

And for three questions history begs to ask,

They'll seek three answers—one answer per kid.

Then the snake will bust the wall before eighteen,

Allowing entrance to complete their task.

Out of the four, the future Queen will come,

From four jailbaits, who of their sorrows, sing.

She'll come, before they add the final sum,

To cure the loneliness that plagues the King.

So strong SinEaster grows from hatred's cost,

It can destroy Easter, the eighteenth day.

The three should give the Princess candy sin.

### Contest Summary

Song Competition

1st Place 2 points

2nd Place 1 point

3rd Place 0 points

Quests

Finding Object(s) 2 points

Finding an Answer 2 points

No points subtracted for not achieving objectives.

The Easter Bunny's Riddle

Correct Answer 2 points

No Answer 0 points

Incorrect Answer 2 points subtracted

The person(s) with the highest total score will be declared the winner(s).

Silvia was the first to say, "Hey! How come the last three lines of the prophesy poem don't rhyme?"

Deciding to play around with the gummi-girl, Charlee said, "Of course it rhymes! What are you, dyslexic?"

Silvia huffed, then replied, "Do I _look_ dyslexic? Yes, I'm pleasantly plump, if that's what you're trying to incinerate with your sarcasm."

Charlee suddenly found that _she_ was the one who'd ended up confused. "Er, I meant, the lines don't rhyme, you're right. I was just messing with you."

Silvia nodded. "Thank you. And there's nothing wrong with a girl having a few curves."

Deon said, "I can agree with _that._ You're very attractive." He seemed to be taking long glances at Silvia's chest.

Silvia giggled. "Well, thank you!" Then she and Deon stared at each other for a little too long.

Charlee rolled her eyes, then said to Princess Megan, "So how come the last lines don't rhyme?"

The Princess replied, "Well, the Easter Bunny was the one who found the poem, written on a page torn from an ancient book called the Corruptanomicon. He says the bottom part of the page was torn away."

They all turned to look at the Easter Bunny, who shrugged, then said, "I found the page in a coconut shell on the ground. It was already torn. We'll probably never know the last part of the poem."

Charlee said, "And there are no other copies of this Corruptanomicon?"

Princess Megan said, "Nope. There was only one copy, and it has been lost. Every once in a while, pages torn from the Corruptanomicon are discovered, but it would _freak_ you out how those pages seem to get lost, then mysteriously travel and get found again. I'd be afraid if I ever found one of those pages, myself. They're tainted with dark magic."

Silvia said, "Hey—"

The Princess clapped interruptingly, then said, "Yes, so we don't know the last part of the prophesy poem! It's a mystery and we may never know! Okay, let's get this show on the road! We will wait in the castle for you to return."

During the next few minutes, each of the three contestants was given a waterproof fanny pack, inside of which there was a foam-lined plastic egg for the transportation of small, delicate objects. They each folded their informative sheets of paper, then slipped them and their pens inside their fanny packs. Two personal escorts were called from inside the castle gates to transport two of the Chosen Ones to the destinations where their quests were to take place.

**fanny pack** a small zippered pouch held by a strap around the waist. It's _not_ a purse!

**CHAPTER 10**

Charlee's Adventure Begins

Charlee's escort was an ostrich who pulled her along in a chariot. There was a mountain range in the distance that the ostrich ran toward. It took them about forty-five minutes to get there.

They slowed as they approached the base of one of the mountains. Charlee could see a narrow pass that was maybe fifteen feet wide. About sixty feet inside the pass, two knights in dull armor were holding axes-on-sticks, standing in front of a solid iron gate. Their helmets each had pink, furry bunny ears sticking out the top. A pink bunny stood at the feet of each knight.

The ostrich stopped when they were next to the pass, out of sight of the bunnies and knights, then asked Charlee to get out of the chariot.

After Charlee stepped onto the ground, she gazed up at the steep walls of the mountain. "Very pretty," she said.

The ostrich, who was female, turned to face Charlee, then said, "Yes, the Bunny Mountains are very beautiful, but they are also a barrier that keeps all outsiders out. The mountains form a circle all the way around the Valley of the Pink Bunnies. There is only one way in or out, and the bunnies will only allow other bunnies to come or go."

Charlee bit her lip worriedly. "You mean you're not coming with me?"

"No, I'm not. I'm only supposed to take you here and give you all the information you need to fulfill your quest. Then I will wait here if— _for_ you to return."

"Don't you mean _if_ I return?"

The ostrich shook her head. "I'm sure you will return. After all, you are one of the ~*ChoSeN oneS*~ and this is a matter of destiny."

Charlee scowled. "I don't mean to offend you, but I think you might be sticking your head in the sand. I'm not your great epic hero who's come to your land to save Easter. As a matter of fact, I hate Easter! I've had bad experiences with it. I'm not even sure if I want Easter to continue, to be honest. I'm not so sure about how great the Easter Bunny is, either... If the toad or egg want to take over, why should I care?"

The ostrich said, "Listen, I know the Easter Bunny very well, and he's a really great guy, and he really should be running Easter, so you just _have_ to win."

"But I _hate_ Easter! I don't want anything to do with it!"

The ostrich thought for a moment, then she said, "Well, you could always sign over your responsibilities...if you win."

"Yeah, tell me more about that."

"There is a clause in the contest rules. If you win, you can sign a document to give up all the responsibilities. They would all go to the Easter Bunny. You could go home and not have to worry about anything. No strings attached."

Charlee's ears perked up. "Maybe I should do that."

The ostrich nodded. "The Easter Bunny told me he thinks you should really do that too, so you could go on with your regular life and not have to worry about Easter ever again. It would go on the same as always. No one would know the difference."

Charlee was mulling it over. "Yeah..."

"And all the children wouldn't have to be disappointed. Lots of people love Easter, even though you may hate it."

Charlee felt ashamed and lowered her head. "Yeah, I used to love Easter too. It wouldn't be the same with a toad or gummi egg, I guess."

"Yes, the Easter Bunny has to keep delivering the eggs."

Charlee suddenly thought of something. "Okay, I have a question. I remember Princess Megan saying that the Chosen One who wins will get certain abilities. If they sign the paper, what happens to those?"

The ostrich hesitated a moment, then said, "Well, if you signed, they would go over to the Easter Bunny."

"What about the, um, political powers?"

"They would go to him too, but don't worry, the Easter Bunny's a good guy. He wouldn't abuse the powers. And besides, you definitely wouldn't want them going to the toad or Gumpty Dumpty. They're really not as nice as they seem to be."

Charlee nodded softly. She suddenly felt uncertain about the whole situation.

The ostrich said, "Now, about the Valley of the Pink Bunnies. They only let bunnies in and out and they've kept it secret about what goes on in there. The Easter Bunny used to go there all the time, but he doesn't anymore. But he doesn't reveal their secrets either, so I really can't tell you what's in the valley. I do know a few things, like that, due to magic, all pink bunnies are incapable of telling a lie, and I know that the boiled eggs for Easter come from one mountain in the valley."

Charlee arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

"They call it Egg Mountain. Every year, before Easter, eggs roll down from it."

"What do you mean? How can they roll down a whole mountain and not break?"

"Oh! I'll explain it to you! See, there is a long chute that comes out of the mountain. The chute is exactly the right size for one egg, and it is tilted down ever-so-slightly. And one by one, eggs roll down the chute, and the chute goes round and round in spirals, and finally, the boiled eggs roll out of the bottom, outside the valley."

Charlee suddenly understood. "Like a slide," she said in amazement.

"Yes, but a lot more gradual."

"And that's where boiled Easter eggs come from?"

"Yes," the ostrich replied.

"And who paints the eggs and stuff?"

"As far as I know, they come out already painted."

Charlee nodded.

The ostrich nodded back. "So now I've told you all I really know. I'm going to tell you your missions now. You are supposed the find the jelly bean that the prophesy mentions, and bring it back. And you are supposed to find out what happened to the ancient boiled egg of Antiboli."

"The egg that Princess Cinnamon was taking to the Dark Forest?"

"Yes. And each of your goals is worth two points."

Charlee shook her head. "How am I supposed to do these things? Where do I begin? Do you have any hints or advice?"

The ostrich frowned. "I really wish I could help you, but that's all I know. But you were chosen by destiny for your missions and I'm sure you'll figure out what to do. As for where to begin, I suggest you start at the iron gate..."

Charlee felt a twinge of panic. "Will you walk with me to the gate?"

"No, I'm sorry. I don't think that's a good idea, because I'm not a bunny."

"Neither am I..."

"You're part bunny."

Charlee looked worried.

In a reassuring voice, the ostrich said, "Just trust your instincts to guide you. You are one of the Chosen Ones and are specially suited for your quest. I'll be waiting for you."

Charlee nodded, then said, "Goodbye for now."

The ostrich said "Goodbye" back, then Charlee rounded the corner. About sixty feet in front of her, the pink bunnies at the feet of the knights perked up. The knights stood perfectly still.

Charlee raised her arm, then waved and shouted, "Hellooooo!" Her voice echoed off the steep stone walls to each side of her.

She put on a warm smile as she began walking toward the bunnies. The gravel made crunchy noises beneath her feet.

The rabbits rushed behind the legs of the knights, then disappeared from her sight. The knights still hadn't seemed to have moved at all. Then she suddenly remembered that all the humans in Easter Land were supposed to have killed each other off. Charlee wondered if there were even any people inside the suits of armor. Were they just scarecrows, meant to scare intruders off?

As she got closer, the knights started to vibrate and she could hear noises coming from them that sounded like running motors. Large plumes of black smoke began to rise up behind each knight.

She began to tremble, but she continued walking forward. After all, she was on a date with destiny.

The knights started moving around jerkily. Mostly they were raising and lowering their arms, and shifting their feet a little. And there was something else weird about each twitching and vibrating knight (in addition to their bunny ears): they were damaged. The one on Charlee's left had a large dent in the top of the helmet. The one on the right had a hole punched in the heart area. Behind the hole, metallic parts seemed to shift with the knight's movements.

The closer she got, the more details she could see. She could now see that each knight had a potbelly! She'd never seen such a thing before. She'd never thought about knights being so fat that their armor had to be built to fit their poochy bellies, but then she figured it wasn't so far-fetched. Obesity is an epidemic.

And there was something else odd about each knight's tummy: each knight had two belly buttons—they were holes in the armor, and each knight had a left hole and a right hole.

Charlee stopped in front of the knights. She crinkled her nose at the smoke. She could also feel warm air flowing over her from the knights.

A muted voice shouted out, "Halt! Who goes there?" The male bunny voice seemed to be coming from the potbelly of the knight to her left.

Charlee looked down at the tummy. She could now see eyeballs peering up at her from the two holes! She bent down and peered inside. She smiled real big and in a sweet voice said, "Hi! My name is Charlee. Um, I'm one of the ~~ChoSen OnEs. Will you let me into the valley?" It looked to her like one of the pink bunnies was sitting inside that knight's tummy.

The bunny's eyes went wide, then it stared at the corruptagram hanging from Charlee's neck.

The bunny exclaimed, "The Glaive!" then the suit of armor took a step back—Charlee jerked back in surprise as the suit of armor lifted its weapon threateningly.

The bunny in the other suit shouted, "The Glaive?" but the other suit of armor didn't move—it just vibrated. Charlee looked over and could see that there was a metal box attached to the suit of armor's back, with a smoke-spewing pipe coming out the top.

"Whoa, wait!" Charlee shouted. She bent over, then grabbed her pendant between her thumb and finger. "You mean this?" She looked into the bunny's eyes inside the knight in front of her. She lowered her voice. "This is just my corruptagram pendant. It's not the Glaive."

The bunny replied, "So it's not a massively powerful weapon that you throw?"

Charlee stood back up. "No. It's just a necklace. I bought it in the mall."

"Oh, it's just a corruptagram? Well, why are you wearing a corruptagram? That's the symbol for corruptamagic. Are you a witch?"

Charlee laughed and hoped her nervousness didn't show. "No, I'm not a witch. I'm one of the Chosen Ones, and destiny brought me here. I'm supposed to enter the Valley of the Pink Bunnies and save Easter or something."

The bunny replied in an irritated voice, "It's not called the Valley of the Pink Bunnies. It's called Pink Bunny Valley." Then sarcastically, the bunny said, "If it was called the Valley of Bunnies, the mountains would be made out of bunnies, wouldn't they?"

Charlee rolled her eyes and had to keep herself from snapping back at the bunny. "So, I'd like to have permission to enter the Pink Bunny Valley so I can fulfill my mission."

"Well, nobody calls it Pink Bunny Valley either."

"Oh?" she replied, trying to hide her irritation. She thought the bunny might just be toying with her—the bunny's voice seemed to have a _drunk with authority_ tone to it. She figured it was bound to happen when you give little furry animals the power to control a human-sized suit of armor.

The bunny explained, "We call it Pink Valley for short. It's too tongue-twisting to always use the long version."

Charlee sneered a little. "I noticed. So why don't you call it Bunny Valley then?"

In an angry voice, the bunny replied, "Because we're not just plain bunnies! We're _pink_ bunnies, you moron."

"Okayyyy." Charlee figured she should play nice if she wanted to be let in, so in a meek voice she said, "I'm sorry. Will you please let me into the Pink Valley?"

"Well, are you a bunny?"

Charlee wiggled her ears. "I'm part bunny..."

"Hmmm. What's the other part?"

"Human. And my father is the Easter Bunny, if that helps."

"It doesn't," the bunny replied angrily. "And I thought humans were supposed to be extinct, because of the Great War."  
"Well, my father...mated with a human from another realm." She felt sickened by the idea.

"Oh wait, are you one of the special three mentioned in the prophesy poem?" The bunny seemed to fidget inside the suit of armor, though it was hard to tell.

"Why yes. You know the poem?"

"I'm asking the questions here."

Charlee waited quietly, trying to look compliant.

The bunny said in an authoritarian voice, "And you say you're a witch?"

"I didn't say that."

"Ah, so you didn't say it, even though you are?"

"No, I'm not a witch."

The bunny seemed to think a moment, then asked, "Are you warlike?"

Charlee shook her head, then said, "Nope." Her curiosity finally won out, so she asked, "Hey, is that where these suits of armor came from? From the Great War?"

"I'm asking the questions here, and, yes, they were taken from a battlefield and modified so they can be controlled from the cockpit. The wizard created them. They're steam-magic hybrids."

Charlee decided not to ask about the wizard. "Ah, I see. And what kind of engines you got in these babies?"

"Steam engines. They run on coal."

"Nice. They seem very powerful." She figured it might help to stroke the bunny's power trip.

The bunny seemed spurred by the compliment to make his voice sound more powerful. "That's right. You don't want to butt heads with me, even though you say you're a witch."

"Not a witch." She was trying to keep her composure, but was feeling irritated.

She waited again for the bunny to speak.

"Okay," said the bunny. "I'm not sure what our policy is on half-bunnies, so what I'm gonna need for you to do right now, is wait here while I discuss your particular situation with my partner. I'm gonna need you right now, to wait right here. Do _not_ attempt to run or flee."

Charlee almost rolled her eyes, but decided to nod meekly instead.

The suit of armor turned—the bunny inside shouted to his partner, "Hey, can I ask you something?"—then it noisily and jerkily began to walk toward the other suit of armor.

They walked away from Charlee, moved so that the suit of armors' tummies faced each other, then spoke quietly between themselves. Charlee couldn't make out any of their conversation.

A few moments later, the two suits of armor walked toward Charlee, then stood side by side in front of her.

From inside the armor, the bunny on her right, who hadn't spoken to her yet, said, "It is our policy that you must be at least fifty percent bunny to enter Pink Valley."

"Well, I'm fifty percent bunny."

The bunny replied, "Only fifty percent? No more?"  
"No more," Charlee replied sheepishly.

"Hmmm, well I would like it better if you were more than fifty percent bunny, but I will allow it this time."

"Oh, thank you! So can I go in now?"

"Not yet. We only allow decent, law-abiding bunnies to enter. Do you intend to commit rape?"

Charlee was taken aback. "No! Why do you ask?"

"Because you're bipedal. Bipedalism leads to rape. That's why the Easter Bunny was banned from Pink Valley."

Charlee gasped. "What? What happened?"

"Never mind that. I still haven't determined if you're wholesome enough to enter. Do you practice corruptamagic?"

"No."

"And are you a good girl or a bad girl?"

"A good girl," Charlee replied confidently, even though she wasn't quite sure she was.

"But why should we believe you? Wait here. Don't run."

The knights again went off and talked to each other between tummies, then they came back and stood in front of Charlee again.

The bunny on her right said, "Show us your panties."

"Excuse me?!" Charlee exclaimed, as she rested her hand on her hip.

The bunny explained, "It's been a long time since there have been humans in Easter Land, and there is a lot we don't know about them. But there are many legends and stories that have been passed down, and we remembered one thing that we heard about them: you could tell the good girls from the bad girls by the panties they wore. Good girls wear good-girl-panties and bad girls wear bad-girl-panties. So what kind do you have on?" From their peepholes, both bunnies stared out at the crotch of her jeans.

Charlee bit her lip, then said, "Good-girl-panties, of course." But she honestly couldn't remember which panties she had put on that morning.

The bunny on her left, with a forceful voice said, "Then show us your panties! If you pass our test, we'll let you by. If you don't, we will turn you away."

Briefly, Charlee thought it might be illegal to show them, due to her age, but then she realized she wouldn't be displaying any nudity. She thought for a moment, trying to decide whether to comply. Then she moved her hands to the button of her jeans, then unbuttoned...unzipped...

She pulls her jeans, while filled with doubt.

She glances down, and now she's saved!

A cartoon kitty gazes out,

On panties white, and not depraved!

(The cat's not shaved!)

And so the bunnies think, "How nice!"

(They wouldn't if she turned around.)

They see the virtue, not the vice:

Her thong-clad ass, so plump and round.

(With white-hugged mound.)

And so the guards pound on the gate,

And now we see it open wide.

The Pink Valley shows itself as great,

And she seeks the jelly bean inside.

(Despite her pride.)

O, if that valley, we could own!

How can we help but gaze and wish?

She lifts her jeans, and so we groan.

She walks ahead with girlish swish.

(Her rump, a dish.)

Charlee walked past the two swung-open iron doors of the gate. Behind each door was a pink bunny stepping on a button on the ground. Oddly, an old-fashioned car was parked in the grass to her left. Motors hooked up to chains were holding the gate's doors open.

As the two doors closed behind her, Charlee gazed upon the magnificent sight before her.

Green rolling hills spread out for a couple of miles. A ring of tall mountains walled the valley in. And all over the place, cute pink bunnies hopped and frolicked. And far away was a large multi-colored lake. It didn't look like it was made of water. She couldn't quite understand it.

But she somehow sensed that she had to go there.

Also far away, and to the right of the lake, stood a tall black mountain. Smoke billowed from the top of it, so it looked like a volcano.

The two bunnies who had opened the doors were now circling her feet and hopping, and chirpily exclaimed, "Heya!" and "How ya doin'?" Then they both exclaimed, "Welcome to Pink Valley!" One of the bunnies was male, and the other was female.

"Hello," Charlee said, then while still looking into the distance, she asked, "Is that a volcano?"

"It sure is!" said the female bunny. "A volcano is a special kind of mountain that makes smoke!"

Charlee looked down at the bunny that was looking up at her, then asked, "Does it ever erupt?"

The bunny cocked her head. "You mean get mad? No, I don't think so."

Charlee asked, "And that lake next to it. What's it made out of?"

The female bunny replied, "It's full of jelly beans."

Now the male bunny put his front legs on the female bunny's rear end, then he lifted himself up and looked up at Charlee. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "Did you know you're bipedal?"

Charlee laughed in surprise. "Why yes I am! Is that a problem?"

The male replied, "Oh not at all!" Both the bunnies shook their heads simultaneously in opposite directions.

The female bunny chirpily exclaimed, "Bipeds just make us really horny! Let's fornicate!" The male bunny eagerly nodded his agreement.

Charlee felt alarmed. She thought that maybe bestiality wasn't frowned upon in Easter Land. But she was still underage. She tried not to sound too panicky though, as she said, "Well, we won't be having sex, because we're not married. But hey, why are you so hot for bipeds, exactly?"

The two bunnies looked up at her with blank expressions for a moment, then the female said, "You aren't a pink bunny, I take it. Your ears are white!"

Charlee shook her head. "Nope, not a pink bunny."

"Well," said the female bunny, "Pink bunnies were created through sorcery, and the wizard who made us, made us to glorify the bipedal, because he is a human."

Charlee asked, "And did he also make it so you couldn't lie?"

"That's right. He thought we would be better servants that way. By the way, you're hot, with your upright standing."

"Thank you," Charlee replied. The thought suddenly popped into her head that the Easter Bunny was bipedal. "So I heard the Easter Bunny got banned from Pink Valley. How come?"

The male bunny, in an alarmed voice, shouted, "Rape!"

The female bunny nodded. "Yeah, two counts of rape!"

Charlee tried to remain calm. She had to get to the bottom of all of this. "Could you please fill me in? What happened?"

The bunnies, who were standing next to each other now, exchanged glances. The male bunny looked back up at Charlee, then said, "Well, this was way before our time. We only have the stories that have been passed on..."

Charlee nodded. "Okay. What do the stories say?"

"Well," said the female bunny, "he wasn't a pink bunny, so none of the pink bunnies used to like him. Well, he fell in love with Princess Cinny, then one day, he decided to use corruptamagic to woo her. So he made himself bipedal, because he thought that _then_ she would like him."

The male bunny interrupted, "But things didn't work out. Princess Cinny died or something, so the Easter Bunny came to Pink Valley. They say he just wanted to forget things and fornicate. And since he was bipedal, the pink bunnies found him attractive."

Charlee was confused. "So, if that was true, why would he commit rape?"

"Well," said the female bunny, "according to the Easter Bunny, the first girl-bunny lied about her age. She said she was 6 months old."

Charlee gasped, but then she remembered that bunnies had a different life-cycle than humans—at least they did back in the non-magical world, so she asked, "And what's the age of consent?"

The female bunny answered, "6 months. But the girl bunny was only 5 months and 30 days old."

Charlee felt relieved. It didn't seem so horrible. She didn't want to ever find out that the Easter Bunny, who she was representing, was a horrible creep. "So it was just statutory rape."

The two bunnies faces became angry, then they both shouted out in unison, "Rape is rape!"

"Oh, okay." Charlee said. "But wait, you said that the Easter Bunny committed _two_ acts of rape?"

The male bunny nodded, then said, "The second time, a few days later, he humped a bunny who was asleep."

Charlee exclaimed, "Oh my god! That's terrible! Didn't she wake up? Was she drugged?"

The male bunny looked confused. "No, he didn't drag her anywhere that I know of." He asked the female bunny, "Do you remember anything about that?"

"Nope," said the female bunny.

The male bunny looked back up at Charlee, then tilted his head to the side. "Why do you say it's terrible?"

"Because...she was asleep. The Easter Bunny took advantage, right?"

The female bunny shook her head, then said, "We hump each other while we're sleeping all the time. Don't you?"

"Um, no, not really. Besides, I'm not 18, so it's illegal for me to be humped at _all._ So you mean it's okay in Pink Valley?"

The female bunny replied, "Well, of course! A girl-bunny would be insulted if she wasn't humped several times while she was asleep."

Charlee shook her head in confusion. "So it wasn't rape?"  
The male bunny said, "Oh, it was rape. According to court records, it was determined that the Easter Bunny had penetrated the girl bunny about ten minutes before she was 6 months old."

"Ah, so, statutory rape again."

"Rape is rape!" both bunnies shouted.

Just to be agreeable, Charlee nodded her head and said, "It most certainly is!"

The male bunny said, "And the Easter Bunny has been banned from entering Pink Valley ever since."

"Ah, well thank you for filling me in."

The bunnies grinned, then said, "You're so welcome!"

Charlee said, "It's weird though, because for humans, the age of consent is 18... _years."_

"Well that's weird," said the female bunny. "Us bunnies don't even live that long—the wizard gave us short life spans to prevent revolt. But we will respect your laws."

"Thank you," Charlee said. "I'm honored that you want to hump me. Truly I am."

The bunnies, at the same time, said, "You're welcome." and "No problem."

Charlee smiled sweetly. "Now I have another question. Do you know what happened to the boiled egg of the once future King of Easter?"

The bunny shook his head. "No idea what you're talking about." The female bunny shook her head too.

Charlee thought that providing more details might aid the bunnies' memories. "Back in the old days, I think his name was Antiboil or something. Princess Cinnamon was carrying his egg before she disappeared..."

The female bunny said, "Oh, Princess Cinny? Well, we don't know much about humans. We mostly stay in the Pink Valley. But the Blind Bunny might know. I heard he used to have a crush on Princess Cinny. He even left the Pink Valley to pursue her. He came back after she disappeared."

"He was around back then? And he's still alive?"

"As far as I know. They say he lives on top of the volcano with the wizard. He got turned into chocolate a long time ago, which is probably why he's lived so long. He never comes down or anything. He might know the answer to your question. There is a cable car that goes right to the top of the volcano, too."

Charlee looked to the top of the smoking mountain. She suddenly sensed that she had to go there and speak to the Blind Bunny. Perhaps, she thought, she had acquired some strange extrasensory abilities, because she was a Chosen One. She asked the bunnies, "Would you like to come with me to the volcano to speak with the Blind Bunny?"

The male bunny shook his head. "Sorry, we can't. It's another thing the wizard did when he created the pink bunnies... The altitude causes us to fall asleep. He lives on top of the volcano, so he wants to protect himself from being attacked there. He never comes down anymore, either, probably because we have displeased him in some way."

Charlee arched her brow. "It seems like the wizard is pretty paranoid. Are you pink bunnies really that dangerous? And if he's human, doesn't that mean that humans aren't totally extinct in Easter Land?"

He shrugged in a pink bunny way. "I don't _feel_ like I'm very dangerous. And humans are still extinct, as far as we know, in _Easter Land._ But this is Pink Valley. Our wizard will never go extinct. We send him food regularly through the cable car. I worry about him. I wonder if he's lonely. It is said that he used to have a girlfriend who lived with him, but she came down from the volcano one day, she left, and hasn't been seen since. Maybe you could be his girlfriend..."

Charlee nodded. "Maybe... I do have another reason for being here though. I need to find the jelly bean of prophesy..."

"You mean the one in the prophesy poem?" He exchanged glances with the female bunny.

"That's right. And somehow I sense that it might be in that giant lake of jelly beans." She pointed. "Can you take me there?"

The female bunny said, "Why, yes we can. We'd be glad to."

A few minutes later, she was racing across the landscape in a noisy steam-magic car driven by the male rabbit. The female bunny sat in Charlee's lap.

They didn't speak a whole lot during the ride, and the things they said were boring, except for one thing:

Charlee at one point remarked, "It's weird how the prophesy poem doesn't rhyme in the last three lines, huh."

The female bunny looked shocked. "What do you mean? Of course it rhymes! They say the Easter Bunny would always recite the last three lines of the poem to try to impress girl-bunnies. He said it proved that he would be the future egg deliverer. The poem's been passed down to each generation."

Well, it turned out that, according to the female bunny, there were three extra lines that weren't on Charlee's pieces of paper. Charlee asked the bunny to recite them as she wrote them down, and now, on her sheet of paper, the prophesy, plus the three extra handwritten lines, was as follows:

The three compete to see who hides the eggs,

At seventeen, three-hundred-sixty-four.

One blond, one red, one with fantastic legs;

Each has a special gift, for what's in store.

They each will try to find a candy hid:

The icing eyes, sdiu, and jelly bean.

And for three questions history begs to ask,

They'll seek three answers—one answer per kid.

Then the snake will bust the wall before eighteen,

Allowing entrance to complete their task.

Out of the four, the future Queen will come,

From four jailbaits, who of their sorrows, sing.

She'll come, before they add the final sum,

To cure the loneliness that plagues the King.

So strong SinEaster grows from hatred's cost,

It can destroy Easter, the eighteenth day.

The three should give the Princess candy sin,

Then once the three find out who's won or lost,

The long-eared one will throw power away,

Because of hatred of Easter within.

**CHAPTER 11**

Deon's Adventure Begins

Deon was carried in a chariot being pulled along by a large racing snail. After about an hour, they came upon the edge of a forest.

The snail stopped, then the snail (who was male) said, "That's the Dark Forest and that's where your search will take place. I will wait for you to return."

Deon said, "I take it you aren't coming with me?"

"Well, the Dark Forest is dangerous! No one ever goes in there! Plus, there's a lot of swamps in there, and, unlike you, I can't swim."  
"Ah, so you can't swim, because you're a snail."

The snail nodded. "Well, it's actually because I'm a _racing_ snail."

"So, you can't swim, but you can run real fast?"

"Well, yes," said the snail with a sneer. "I'm a _racing_ snail."

"Okay, so what's my mission?"

"You have two missions. The first is to find the sdiu candy—"

"Wait. Sdiu? What are sdiu?"

"Nobody knows. We just know that's what the prophesy says. So if you find the sdiu, give it to Princess Megan, and you'll get two points."

"Okay, if I find the sdiu and happen to realize it's sdiu, I'll be sure to grab it."

The snail nodded. "Don't worry. You're one of the *x.Chosen Ones.x*. You have a special...sense. Let your sense guide you."

"Okay," Deon said doubtfully.

The snail smiled reassuringly. "Your second mission is to find out what happened to Princess Cinny."

Deon's eyes shifted as he thought for a moment. "You mean Princess Cinnamon? She's the princess who was looking for the prince who had been turned into a toad, right?"

"Right. And she was carrying the boiled egg of the once future King of Easter Land. That egg was the Prince's son. The Princess's last message she sent to Easter Castle said she would enter the forest around this area. No one knows what happened. She was never seen again."

Deon said, "Well, if it happened so long ago—if she died, then the body would be...unrecognizable. I mean, am I supposed to search for a body, or just try to find someone who knows what happened?"

The snail seemed apologetic. "I'm afraid I can't answer that. The prophesy doesn't really specify. Princess Megan is the judge, and she's the one who will decide whether you accomplished that part of your mission."

Deon said sarcastically, "Okay, thanks."

"Sorry I couldn't be more help. But you're one of the Chosen Ones, and destiny has its hand upon you."

"Okay, can I ask a question?"

"Sure," said the snail.

"What happened to the Prince-who-turned-into-a-toad? Did they ever find him?"

"Oh, yes. The humans later went into the forest and found him. Their sorcerers weren't powerful enough to transform him back, though. So they took him back to Easter Castle as a toad. When his father was killed in the Great War, he became the King. But he missed the swamps, because he was a toad, and he would always try to escape from the castle and hop back to the Dark Forest. One day, he was killed in the castle by an assassin pretending to be a prostitute. The monarchy collapsed with his death. He had no heirs other than Antiboli, the boiled egg who disappeared along with the Princess. After many years of anarchy, the whole human population of Easter Land wiped itself out. There was actually a dramatic battle where the last two humans simultaneously impaled each other on spears."

"Can I ask another question?"

"Sure."

"Where did the Easter Toad come from? Can you tell me more about her?"

"You mean your mother?"

Deon shuddered a little. "Yes, I've been wondering how she can be my mother. How could she impregnate my human mother? In my world, two females can't make a baby."

"Well, to answer your first question, the Easter Toad was chosen by the toads of her swamp because she was the biggest toad at the time."

"She really _is_ a big toad," Deon said.

"She's also very good at multitasking and has a lot of enthusiasm."

"Well, those are good qualities."

"Absolutely. Now to answer your second question of how the Easter Toad impregnated your human mother. Well you see, when the Easter Toad fornicated with your human mother," (Deon winced) "it was a very special, magical moment, the purpose of which was to create one of the Chosen Ones. The normal rules of reproduction were briefly suspended. As your two mothers fornicated, a tadpole was magically created, and that tadpole wriggled into your human mother. That tadpole...was you."

Deon shouted out, "What?!"

"Well, you started out as a tadpole, but by the time you came back out, you looked human. But you were still part toad, which explains why your legs didn't work very well back in your world."

Deon shook his head. "I can't believe I was once a tadpole! It's a little disturbing."

"I can understand."

"Thanks. I guess I just have a lot of things to get used to. Like I'm not used to being able to walk. This has been the weirdest day of my life."

The snail nodded and smiled.

"Well," Deon said, "I should get started on my adventure. So what's in that forest? Do you have a map or anything?"

"Well, there are swamps. And there is a lagoon close by here that is connected to SinEaster River, which is the river that leads into SinEaster, which is pretty close to here. That's all I know. Don't worry though, you won't need a map. You're—"

"I know," interrupted Deon. "One of the Chosen Ones."

"Yes, you'll find your way."

There was an awkward silence.

"Well," said Deon, "I'll see you when I get back."

"Good luck."

"Thanks," Deon said, then he entered the forest.

Tall trees surrounded him, and covered him in shade. Somehow, he sensed where to walk. He was grateful to be walking on solid ground, because off to his left the forest turned into swamp area.

About twenty minutes later, he started to hear singing—but he heard it inside his head, not through his ears—it was a small group of females who sang a song of pure sorrow without using words—a song of outrage at the cruelty of love, of gentle, sad beauty, and sweet sweet death. And somehow he could sense that the non-verbal voices were amphibian.

The song was so enchanting, that he felt drawn to meet the alluring creatures singing it. He walked toward them.

Up ahead was a small lagoon. Sunlight softly filtered through the trees down onto the water. He couldn't see any creatures. The song seemed to be coming from under the water. On the far end of the lagoon, a small channel connected the lagoon to a river. The water in the lagoon churned slowly.

To Deon, it seemed like a hidden paradise, where someone could forget all their troubles—his steps quickened as he approached the water. In fact, he suddenly realized that if he would just drown himself, he wouldn't have to worry about _anything_ ever again. He wouldn't have to feel so alone anymore. At the edge of the water, he slipped his shoes and jeans off. No longer would he have his heart broken by girls, he thought. He was a breast man with a long history of being shot down by numerous top-heavy girls, just because he was in a wheelchair. Women could be so shallow. He looked down and his legs were skinny, brownish-greenish and spotted, and didn't bend the way he was used to. As the song filled his head, he stripped down to just his boxer briefs and fanny pack. His toes were webbed and looked like a strange mix of human and amphibian. He stepped into the cool water. He briefly admired the reflection of his upper body in the water.

He regularly worked out his upper body and also took steroids and human growth hormone (as well as anti-estrogens to prevent him from growing "bitch tits" again—he'd already had them surgically corrected once, but he still had the puffy nipples). He wanted his muscles to be as large as possible. Of course, he couldn't work out his legs, because they were paralyzed back in the regular world, but that only gave him more time to develop his pecs.

_Well, time to drown myself,_ he thought. He started walking toward the deeper part of the lagoon.

The singing really made him want to give himself up to the oblivion of death.

But then a part of him resisted. Maybe life wasn't so horrible, he thought. He decided to mull it over for a little bit.

Meanwhile, his amphibian nature took over automatically, and he was swimming in the deeper part of the lagoon. He ducked his head underneath the water and looked around, but still couldn't see any creatures. He could still hear the song, even under water. He suddenly wondered why he had been so determined to kill himself—perhaps it was a side effect of all the drugs he took to make his upper body bigger, like his shrunken testicles.

The singing became louder inside his head. He shook his head in a vain attempt to be rid of it.

He glided through the water, trying to ignore the song, but it was making him feel depressed, and that was annoying him. He was in the middle of the lagoon. He stopped and treaded upright in the water, then shouted out, "Shut up!" even though he didn't know who he was yelling at. Then something small bumped against his foot. It startled him. Because of that touch, inside his head were the words, _die die die!_ But they were someone else's words!

Then he felt three other bumps against his legs. The words _just kill yourself_ entered his head.

Then somehow—he didn't know how—somehow his mind was connecting with amphibious creatures—

There were four of them...

The song in his head cut off.

It was eerily quiet. Deon treaded the water and looked around.

Then there was a voice he heard, inside his head, not through his ears. It was a female voice, and it telepathed, ~>Hi, I'm Brooke. Wow, this is weird!<~

To Deon, the voice felt like a teenaged girl.

Deon answered back without using his mouth—he didn't know how he did it. He telepathed, ~>Hello. I'm Deon.<~

~>I'm Brooke. I feel like I just woke up! Glad to meet you.<~

Deon was treading water. He watched as a little tadpole poked her head out of the surface and nodded at him. He could sense that it was Brooke.

Another tadpole poked its head out, then telepathed, ~>I'm Phoebe! I'm sorry about trying to kill you.<~ Her "voice" felt sultry and young.

Another tadpole poked out, telepathed, ~>I'm Milla. I'm sorry about the song. I wasn't able to stop singing it!<~

Another tadpole poked out. ~>I'm Princess Cinnamon. You can call me Princess Cinny. Please forgive our behavior.<~

Deon replied, ~>Are you _the_ Princess Cinny? I'm on a mission to find out what happened to...you? I thought you were human...<~

Princess Cinny telepathed, ~>Yes, we used to be human, but our souls now inhabit these tadpole bodies and, until a few moments ago, the lagoon was controlling us. But now you've broken the spell!<~

Deon was taken aback for a moment, then telepathed, ~>Ohhhh. Well, I hope that we can now be friends. There's no need to fight. I'm one of the Chosen Ones...<~

Princess Cinny replied, ~>I don't know what a Chosen One is, but you must be special, because you've been able to awaken our souls.<~

The little tadpoles treaded upright in front of him and stared at him with their glassy, black eyes. All the tadpoles had telepathed to him with attractive, teenagey female voices. Deon wondered if it was morally wrong for him to start feeling attracted to them. He wasn't attracted to their bodies, because they were tadpoles, and after all, they didn't even have large breasts. He thought it would be weird for tadpoles to have breasts anyway, because they haven't even reached puberty yet. But he felt a strange kind of soul connection with them, and he found their souls attractive. Then he panickly wondered if they could hear his thoughts.

Then the tadpoles started circling him.

~>You are part amphibious, like us!<~ telepathed Phoebe.

It didn't seem like they could hear his private thoughts.

Brooke, who seemed kind of shy, went, ~>You can understand me. Why is that? We can't even understand _each other._ Are you telepathing with the other tadpoles too?<~

~>Yes I am,<~ Deon replied.

Brooke telepathed, ~>The only way we've been able to communicate with anyone is with our luring song.<~

The tadpoles started leaping and arcing in the water in front of him. They were cute, in a tadpoley way.

One of them leapt out toward his face, then gave him a peck on the cheek, then plopped, giggling, into the water. That was Princess Cinny.

Another one of them leapt at his face, then playfully slapped his cheek with her tail. That was Milla. She telepathically laughed at him and Deon laughed too.

After the tadpoles' touches, he felt a stronger connection with them. Was he psychic? He'd never been psychic before, but maybe he had psychic powers in Easter Land, he thought.

He telepathed, ~>You girls are part human, part amphibian, like me. Maybe that's how come we can communicate.<~

Princess Cinny's head popped out of the water, then she nodded as the others did flips.

Princess Cinny went, ~>Yes, we all used to be human girls. But when we each got our hearts broken, we were drawn into this lagoon and we all drowned here. Our souls left our bodies and we became these tadpoles. But the lagoon is enchanted and made us sing to lure others here to drown, and made us use it as bait.<~

~>Use what as bait?<~ Deon asked.

~>Our song! It's the only form of communication we've been able to use for centuries! We've gotten so good at luring creatures here! The lagoon imprisons their souls in its waters. But it takes all the pretty girls, and transforms them into tadpoles to lure others! Our song is like the bait used to convince the heartbroken to bite onto despair! But you resisted it. I guess our singing was _not_ -so-great bait after all.<~ She almost seemed pouty, as if she had failed in not getting the song to work.

Deon tried to console her. ~>Oh no no, your bait was almost impossible to resist. You're _not_ not-so-great baiters. You're _great_ baiters. Very good, very skilled, expert baiters!<~

She laughed telepathically. ~>Expert baiters, huh. So we've got it down?<~

~>You're masters.<~

Princess Cinny telepathed, ~>I wish we didn't have to bait you, but we were forced to by the lagoon. If the song had worked, the lagoon would have become your soul's eternal prison. Sorry about that.<~

Deon replied, ~>Well I ain't ready to go to jail quite yet! I don't care _how_ good your baiting is! So what happened to your human bodies? I'm on a mission to find out what happened to _yours,_ Princess.<~

Princess Cinny shook her little head. ~>I don't know. Maybe they're still in the lagoon. When we were turned into tadpoles, we lost most of our self-awareness. I only vaguely remember singing the song. It doesn't really even feel like it was me doing it. It's only because you're here that our souls have been awakened. There's something special about you. So I don't know what happened to my human body. Sorry. But can I ask you, what happened to my husband, the Prince?<~

~>Oh, I'm sorry, but he died a long time ago. It's been over a thousand years...<~

Princess Cinny went, ~>Oh, that's awful! Well, at least I finally have free will. So, you say you're a Chosen One. Are you here to rescue us?<~

Deon nodded. He had a vague sense that he should touch the tadpoles in a special way to fulfill destiny. He somehow sensed he should expose his naked body to them to absorb their energy or something. He couldn't really understand it—it was just a feeling he had. He telepathed, ~>As a Chosen One, I have a special sense. And here's what I sense...I want to get naked with you all, but you're underage, aren't you?<~

The tadpoles reacted with outrage. They didn't appreciate being referred to as underage. Phoebe stated that, technically, they were _centuries_ old.

~>Oops, sorry!<~ Deon telepathed. ~>I meant—I mean, I _know_ you've been around for centuries, but your _souls_ are all young. You all stayed at the same age when your human bodies died. You're all under 18, so it's illegal for you to witness nudity, but I'm under 18 too, so maybe what I want to do might not be illegal. How old are you all, anyway?"

They all treaded upright in front of him while they answered.

~>16<~

~>17<~

~>14<~

~>17<~

Deon telepathed in surprise, ~>Princess, how can you be 17? Weren't you married? What about the age of consent?<~

She replied, ~>It's 18. Yes, well it's legal to get _married_ at my age in Easter Land with parental approval, but we never consummated, because I wasn't yet legal and my husband was 22. I mean, Easter Land is a civilized place.<~ (She said that sarcastically.) ~>This _isn't_ England after all.<~

Deon asked, ~>What do you mean?<~

~>This isn't England where the age of consent is 16! Mmmm, by the way, I love a guy with a British accent. That's so sexy. I want one!<~

Deon telepathically sighed. ~>I think I'm still within the bounds of the law for what I sense I should do. The laws are so confusing! But I think it's okay, since I'm not more than two years greater than your age, and I'm under 18, so I'm still a minor, unless I'm tried as an adult, in which case, it wouldn't matter that I'm under 18. And you are all at least 16—except for you, Brooke, I have to count you out. And I need you to close your eyes while this goes down.<~

Brooke sadly shook her tadpole head. ~>I understand.<~

Deon nodded half-determinedly. ~>So, I'm one of the Chosen Ones, and I'm supposed to use my special sense to guide me. I hope it works.<~

~>Me too!<~ went Princess Cinny.

~>Me too!<~ that was Brooke.

~>I hope so too!<~ went Phoebe.

~>I know you can do it!<~ went Milla.

Deon asked to be given a moment to think. He closed his eyes, and looked within.

His eyes popped open as he realized what he had to do. He didn't know how he knew, but he was certain.

So he telepathed, ~>We must do a magical water dance. You must rub against me. And I must be naked.<~

~>What the hell!<~ That was Brooke. ~>I'm glad I don't have to participate in that ickiness!<~

~>Yeah, baby!<~ went Phoebe.

~>Cool,<~ went Milla.

~>I'm frightened by male nudity,<~ telepathed Princess Cinny.

Deon tried to be reassuring. ~>If you're fine with it, cool. If not, just trust me. I don't know why. I just know it's what we should do. I'm one of the Chosen Ones. Trust me?<~

There was a short pause, then the tadpoles all nodded.

Milla went, ~>I trust you, but what choice do I really have? But you should know, if you try anything, I will personally kick your ass.<~

Deon replied, ~>Okay.<~ He told Brooke to close her eyes. He slipped off his boxer briefs and fanny pack. Princess Cinny gasped. Phoebe and Milla chuckled. He threw the boxer briefs and fanny pack onto the far side of the lagoon (on the opposite side of his other clothes). He assumed the tadpoles had never seen a man naked and wouldn't think his shrunken testicles were abnormal.

He went underwater, then they began their magical water dance.

Swimming to and fro, slicing through the water. Spinning like a kaleidoscope.

He held his breath, felt the cool water slide against his skin.

Then as he glided through the water, he felt the girls wriggling their bodies up against him—their little tails thwapped against him. They were exploring his body by pressing their appendageless bodies against his.

And as they touched him, he felt a strange transfer of energy, as the tadpole slime oozed off their young, squishy bodies and clung to him. They touched all over his body until he was covered in a light layer of their slime. He sensed that it was magical tadpole slime, but he couldn't sense what its purpose was. He felt tingly all over.

And then his head broke the surface of the water and he took a deep breath. He telepathed, ~>Thank you for the magical tadpole slime.<~

~>You're welcome!<~ went three of the tadpoles.

They swam alongside him to the shore, then Deon stepped onto the ground.

He felt embarrassed and shy as he stood with the three tadpoles staring at his backside. (Brooke still had her eyes closed.) He realized he had to avoid turning around to face them.

He felt strange from what had just happened—it was hard to get a grasp of his condition. It was like he was halfway between different states—he felt semiconscious, a little afraid.

But there was also a part of him that felt filled with a virility/macho force, as if a manly part of him had been awakened and firmed up in anticipation of what he was about to get into. He felt semi-afraid, yet at the same time, semi-proud. It was like he was a cocked semi-automatic gun aching to fire...but he was pointed at the ground. He felt uncertain what he was supposed to be aiming at, what _exactly_ his mission was—he only felt _semi_ -certain.

But he felt like singing a song, so as music began to play, he sang this one, with his bottom still facing the tadpoles, who listened:

~*I've Got a Semi-Funny Feeling*~

I've got a semi-funny feeling,

That's halfway fear and halfway rage!

I'm like a semi-professional wrestler,

In a semi-final cage!

Cuz I don't know if I'm ready,

For what's about to come.

It's like I'm caught in semi-darkness,

And I'm grabbing for my gun!

I've got a semi-funny feeling,

And I have to get a grip!

But my feelings are semi-public,

And I think I'm losing it!

**I** _had_ **a semi-funny feeling,**

But now it's gone away.

So now I'm semi-relieved,

And starting to feel okay!

Oh, semi semi semi go away!

I say, semi semi semi go awayyyy!!!

He looked down, then turned around.

The four tadpoles hooted and clapped telepathically (they couldn't clap in actuality).

Deon bowed.

He then picked up his boxer briefs and fanny pack and put them on. He was glistening with magical tadpole slime. Every once in a while, he would twitch as a jolt of tickly feeling shot through his body. He told Brooke she could open her eyes, which she did. She seemed sulky.

He walked forward into the forest, because he somehow knew that was what he was supposed to do.

After a couple minutes of walking, he was gazing upon a small pond of mud. No, it wasn't mud—it was chocolate, because the smell hit his nose—that delicious cocoa smell. A chocolate "waterfall" made of not-very-thick chocolate syrup fed the pond. Well, it was more like a "chocolatefall" wasn't it? He wondered where the chocolate river that fed it came from. Oddly, the pond seemed a lot smaller than anyone would expect from such a large chocolatefall.

Deon sensed that the chocolatefall was where he had to go.

So, he went.

**CHAPTER 12**

SinEaster Minions

A few minutes earlier, in SinEaster, the ugly man stood on the shore of SinEaster River, a short distance from where it entered through an opening in the Grene Myhnt Wall. Darkness surrounded him, and the stars and moon hung in the sky directly above. However, on the other side of the wall, everything was lit up like it was afternoon—it was as if there was a line in the sky. A bonfire crackled to the man's right and the four-foot-high scorpion stood on his left. The man was smoking a clove cigarette while staring dourly into the water.

Suddenly, he perked his head up, then peered to his left, through the opening in the wall. He said to the scorpion, "I sense the soul of my love has suddenly...come into being. Now I sense...she is somewhere... Oh, this is frustrating! I can't tell where she is exactly—I can only sense that she now exists, and she is close." He looked with sad eyes at the scorpion.

The scorpion bowed on its front legs then said, "It is my hope that this is the night of prophesy and she will be in your presence soon, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "Yes, I must trust she will be." He thought for a moment, then approached the edge of the river. He kneeled, then dipped his finger into the water. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. He said, "I can sense she is somewhere in the water, though I still can not tell exactly where." He called out, "My minions, I have a mission for you!"

A large group of black creatures broke the river's surface, then treaded upright in front of him. They looked like four-foot-long plasticy black licorice sticks that moved like snakes, with no apparent eyes or heads.

He called to them, "I want you to go into Easter Land and seek out information about my future Queen! If you find her, try to persuade her to come into SinEaster, but do not harm or force her! Return within two hours." He pointed up the river toward Easter Land. With a splashing of water, the group of black licorice snakes departed.

**CHAPTER 13**

Silvia's Adventure Begins

"Catapult," said Princess Megan with kind of a smirk.

"What?" Silvia replied.

Princess Megan smiled on one side of her mouth. "Your mission requires you to travel deep into the heart of Gummi Sector. The easiest way to do that is by catapult. Don't worry, you're made out of gummi, so you won't be hurt. You're very resilient."

Silvia watched Princess Megan's face for any sign of doubt or deceit, but Silvia could see none.

Princess Megan told her, "Now, your missions are to find the icing eyes and to find out what happened to Humpty Dumpty. And don't ask me questions, because that's all you need to know. You're one of the Chosen Ones—you're supposed to sense what you're supposed to do."

Silvia meekly asked, "But how will I get back?"

"Don't worry," said Princess Megan. "They have plenty of catapults in the Gummi Sector. They used to lob rocks at the humans. And they immediately kill anyone who tries to enter their area who isn't made of gummi. I think they're just jealous because they want to be considered a real candy, rather than a candy perversity. No offense. Me, personally, I don't care much, but then, I'm not from Easter Land. Personally, I don't really like gummi—I'd rather have chocolate any day. I don't like to eat plastic. Ha, that's funny! That reminds me of guys. They don't like to eat plastic either. Not that I'm implying you've had plastic surgery..." She glanced toward Silvia's chest to make her point more clearly clear. And then it seemed to Silvia that Princess Megan sneered—but in a way that was not clearly a sneer, but a kinda-sneer, that vanished quickly. Of course, Silvia knew perfectly well if she had breast implants or not—it was, after all, her chest, but she didn't think it was anybody's business.

_What a bitch,_ Silvia thought.

A few minutes later, Silvia was sitting in the scoopy part of the catapult. She felt like she was going to be a violently-flung scoop of ice cream or sherbert.

The only advice that Princess Megan would give is for Silvia to use her judgment to guide her, since she was one of the CHOSEN ONES.

Princess Megan said, "Just look within! When it feels right for you, I'll release the catapult."

Silvia closed her eyes. "A little more to the left!" she shouted.

Princess Megan made a grunting noise as she pushed—the catapult rolled a little to the left.

Silvia looked within. She was surprised when she actually felt a strange feeling—a psychic sort of feeling. "A little more forward!" she shouted.

Princess Megan moaned a little then grunted and pushed the catapult forward.

"Stop!" Silvia shouted. It felt right. "I'm ready to be catapulted."

Princess Megan replied, "Okay," then moments later Silvia was whipped forward, was soaring through the air. The wind blew against her as she looked down at the ground. Then she passed into the clouds and lost sight of the ground. After a while she descended from the clouds. She watched as she sailed closer to a green wall that stretched to her left and right, then curved upward on both sides, and went as far back as the horizon. A river flowed through an opening in the wall. Beyond the wall, on the other side, the land looked enshrouded in darkness, as if it were nighttime. The sky above the wall was sharply divided between daytime and night. She was getting closer to crashing—she would land close to that wall, she realized. The ground was green, but it didn't quite look like grass. She was hurling toward a pond about thirty feet in front of the wall. She could see squiggly bits of color moving around on the ground amongst catapults scattered here and there. Then she watched the pond quickly coming into clearer focus and she realized she was going to land in it. She tucked her legs under her arms—it was going to be like a long range cannonball dive, she thought.

She closed her eyes and grimaced, because she expected it to be painful, then she slammed into the water with a huge splash. To her surprise, it didn't really hurt much—it felt like a lot of pressure on her body, then a little bit of pain, and that was all. She was disoriented for a few seconds underwater, then she swam up and popped her head out of the water.

She looked around.

The small pond was surrounded by green ground that looked like plastic—it looked like the ground was made of gummi! And writhing all over the ground were little gummi worms of various colors. She turned her head to the right and saw the mint-brick wall that looked to be about thirty feet tall. About sixty feet in front of her, the river flowed past the wall. The river and the pond she was in weren't connected.

Then she rotated to her left in the water and she was taken aback as she saw a large, green gummi snake staring at her.

Silvia didn't really know what to do, so she waved and smiled at the snake.

The snake shouted, "Welcome!"

Silvia tried to sound cheery. "I'm on a mission!" She started swimming toward the shore. The snake started swimming toward the shore too. Silvia had always thought it was creepy that snakes can swim.

When Silvia got to the shore, the gummi snake was waiting for her. It looked like a huge boa constrictor made of green gummi candy—it must have been three feet thick, and at least ten feet long.

She stood up and began walking—the water dripped off her body and her wet T-shirt clung to her, revealing the pink bra underneath. She shivered, partly from fear and partly from being cold.

"Welcome!" said the snake. "I am King Sinuous, ruler of Gummi Sector. So nice of you to drop in. I've been expecting you."

Silvia stood on the gummi ground and she was dripping wet, holding her hands out a few inches from her hips. She felt relieved that the snake seemed friendly. "My name is Silvia."

Then Silvia gasped as the other end of the snake swung around, to reveal another head where a tail would normally be! The snake head she had been talking to said, "It's a pleasure to meet you," then the other head said, "It's a double pleasure."

To the other head, she said, "Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Silvia, one of the Chosen Ones."

"I'm still King Sinuous. I just happen to have two heads, that's all."

"Are both of those yours?"

The first head answered, "Why yes, two heads are better than one."

The snake smiled in a friendly manner—even though, since he was a snake, it looked kind of creepy. He seemed to switch between talking from his left and right heads. "I sensed your presence ever since you first came to Easter Land—you and the two others. I knew that the day of prophesy had come, and I knew that you would visit me."

Silvia grinned. She began to shiver harder, though she tried not to, and she felt her nipples involuntarily growing hard. The snake noticed—it almost seemed like he leered. It was typical—guys were always staring at her large boobs. Silvia almost felt like cupping her breasts with her hands to cover the erect points, but that would have been even more conspicuous.

She tried to sound casual as she said, "Perhaps you can help me. I was sent here with two missions. One was to find some kind of special candy called icing eyes, whatever _those_ are. The other was to find out what happened to Humpty Dumpty. Can you help me?"

One of the snake's heads flicked his tongue out the side of his mouth, then said, "I can help you. I have all the answers you seek."

"Wow, really? I'd be so grateful if you could help me! I'm in a contest, and if I win, I will get a lot of, you know, authority. And I'll be sure to reward you..."

"Well," said King Sinuous, "that would be wonderful. However, I do have a condition..."

Silvia bit her lip nervously. "What is it?"

The gummi snake cocked its two heads to the side, then said, "I want you to ride me..."

Silvia arched her brow. "I don't know about that. I hardly even know you."

The two snake heads pouted, then the one on Silvia's right said, "Awww, come on, baby. It would be fun. And I think there's something special about you—there's a connection between us. Don't you feel it?"

Silvia scowled playfully at him, then giggled. "I bet you say that to all the girls." She giggled nervously, because she realized that she really _did_ feel a sort of connection with the gummi snake.

The gummi snake shook his heads. "You have to be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And you're the only girl I've ever seen made out of gummi, which makes you even _more_ special."

"Awww, thanks." She looked down shyly. She didn't understand why she was feeling so shy.

The snake said, "But I'm serious about the connection between us. I don't know how to explain it. I feel that in order to fulfill destiny, you must do something." Then, it seemed to Silvia that King Sinuous glanced at her breasts, then looked away so as not to stare.

"What do you mean?"

"I can just sense it somehow. And somehow I sense...that you should take your top off."

**CHAPTER 14**

Toward that Giant Lake of Jelly Beans

The pink bunny stopped the steam car in front of the lake of jelly beans. The cable car was resting on the grass a short distance to the right. Charlee intended to ride the cable car to the volcano's top after finding the special jelly bean—assuming she succeeded.

She hopped off the steam car to the ground.

All around, little pink bunnies had stopped their frolicking and were staring at her with tilted heads.

Charlee gazed out at the vast lake of jelly beans. It seemed to extend out for a mile.

The two pink bunnies in the car hopped out. Since the male one was the closest, Charlee said to him, "It looks like a giant ballpit. Like in a pizza place. Where do all the beans come from?"

The male pink bunny walked, then stood next to Charlee's left foot, then said, "The lake is always replenishing. There are always more than enough jelly beans for Easter. They say that the lake is linked to the non-magical realm of the humans. It draws the fertility energy to fill the lake."

Charlee nodded slowly as she gazed, because suddenly she understood, as if she had known all her life. The jelly bean lake was like a sexuality lake of all the girls from her world.

And it was her mission to find that one "special" bean of prophesy.

All the nearby pink bunnies were now surrounding her.

She watched other bunnies, who were farther away, running toward her, then she was suddenly certain of what she should do.

She had to absorb their power/energy. She didn't know exactly what that power was, but if she had to use words, the closest words would be "fertility energy." She was now aware that Easter Land was filled with this "fertility energy"...and it drove everything.

So she gave herself into it—she spread her arms.

The pink bunnies formed a circle around her. It was like she was chum and they were sharks...

She tilted her head back, she lifted her chin up.

She was a Chosen One, and this was her destiny. She let her instinct guide her.

She closed her eyes. As the mass of over a hundred pink bunnies surrounded her, she shouted out, "Cuddle me, but do not rape me, for I am underage!"

The bunny at her feet sang out, "For she is underage!" like he was in some kind of musical, or something.

Charlee sensed, in a way she couldn't understand, that she had to absorb the fertility energy of the pink bunnies by initiating a gang cuddle. She knew that while she was filled with their energy, she would then be able to find the magical jelly bean...

The horde of pink bunnies had not yet pounced on her—they were blinking at her, tilting their heads, breathing and waiting.

She lowered her head, made fists beside each of her hips, then began slowly singing the following power ballad as the music began to play.

~*Charlee's Pink Bunny Power Ballad*~

[Charlee's lines are in **bold.** The pink bunnies' lines are in _italics.]_

[The song began with slow piano.]

When I was a young girl,

I had an Easter that caused me pain.

It hurt me so bad down inside,

I didn't want to have Easter again.

So I pushed all the people away,

And I wouldn't let people come near.

Cuz I didn't want people to know,

About my terrible fear.

[Slow guitar began to play.]

But nowwww

Now I seeee

I want that feeling

of warm fuzzyyyy.

And nowwww

Now I know

how to make

that feeling grow.

Sooooo...

[Charlee dropped to her knees, and the music started to play faster. One pink bunny hopped onto her, followed by another.]

Gimme gimme warm fuzzy!

shooby dooby shooby dooby

Make me feel all buzzy!

shooby dooby shooby dooby

Cover me, and be cuddly!

shooby dooby shooby dooby

And gimme gimme warm fuzzy!

warm fuzzy warm fuzzy

[Charlee's head now stuck out from a pink pile of gang-cuddling bunnies.]

Ohhhhhh...

Give 'er give 'er warm fuzzy!

It's like a tingling, tickling full body heat!

Give 'er give 'er warm fuzzy!

It's like a peach rub from my head to my feet!

Rub against her and be nuzzly!

And cuddle me with your warm bunny fur!

And give 'er give 'er warm fuzzy!

This is the feeling that I'm yearning for!

[The guitar became more dramatic as Charlee raised her fist in the air—it stuck out from the cuddle pile. And she began forcefully singing.]

And nowwww

Now you can seeee

the glowing body blush

rising up on meeee!

And wheeeen

I close my eyes to feel

it's something deep inside of me,

that none of you can steeeal!

[She lowered her arm. Now the music got really intense.]

Cuz it's for meeEee, it's all for meeEeeee

WARM FUZZYYYY!!

Feels right, so right!

I'm piled up on,

In Pink ValleeEeee

WARM FUZZYYYYYYY!!!

[The bunnies overwhelmed her and she was completely covered in the bunny. The guitars stopped, and soft piano played as she hummed along softly, then the song ended.]

She was lying on her stomach in complete darkness. She could feel the soft warm bodies writhing against her and the warm fuzzy feeling filled her—like an energy that strengthened her.

Then after a few more minutes of this orgy of cuddles, she could feel the mound of bunnies begin to lighten on her back. A few moments later, she was squinting as light came back into her eyes, and the last bunnies got off of her.

She looked to her left and her right. The bunnies were all standing still, quietly watching her.

She felt little spasms go through her body ever few seconds. They felt good.

She kinda wished she could just lie there. _Hey but wait,_ she thought. She suddenly noticed that she was lying on something fuzzy under her tummy, inside her shirt. She gulped, because it felt like it was the size of a bunny. And it didn't seem to be moving.

_Oh crap!_ she thought. Her heart began to race.

She really did _not_ want to cause a dramatic scene, so she pressed the object to her stomach, then rose up from the ground, onto her knees.

She hoped none of the bunnies would notice.

She grabbed the top of her shirt, pulled it out, then peered down.

Her bra was missing. She didn't know what had happened to it, but she was more concerned about the limp, pink bunny against her stomach.

It didn't seem to be breathing. She shook it a little. _Damn,_ she thought.

Trying to be as casual as possible, she unzipped her fanny pack, then slipped the bunny inside.

The fanny pack wouldn't zip all the way closed—the bunny's head was poking out. The zipper stuck about 3/4 of the way through, but that was good enough.

She let out a long, relieved breath. Now she could focus on feeling good. She put on a big smile and looked around at all the bunnies. They smiled at her.

Charlee was twitching and felt crackling energy filling her like she was a sheet of fabric softener.

Then in a surge of impulsive giddiness, she leaned her head back and shouted at the top of her lungs:

" **I HAVE A WARM FUZZY!!!"**

And her voice echoed throughout the valley and all the pink bunnies around her cheered (except for the one in the fanny pack).

Charlee knew exactly what she had to do next. While she was filled with the warm fuzzy energy, she had to jump into the jelly bean lake and find the jelly bean of prophesy.

With a howl, she ran, then jumped in feet first.

Her body sifted in with the clinking sound of shifting candy.

As she treaded on the surface, the lake began to slowly ripple like an ocean.

The sound of all the beans bumping into each other grew into a roar as the lake began to sway and whirl in numerous directions at once.

Charlee remained in relatively the same place, though. Her jaw dropped in amazement as all the madness took place around her.

Then she watched as a bunch of jelly beans rose up from the surface to form the shape of two huge horns.

Charlee closed her eyes while she leaned back. Jelly beans covered her. She slipped beneath the surface of the jelly bean lake—she reached her hand out into the beans and opened it. She willed herself to find the special bean...then she felt it slip into her palm.

She closed her hand around it, then sifted back to the surface. She opened her eyes.

She watched the jelly bean horns for a few moments before the jelly bean lake went still and the horns collapsed with a loud clattering.

She climbed out of the jelly bean lake, then rose and stood on the ground. She opened her palm and looked down. It was an ordinary looking pink jelly bean. She noticed her warm fuzzy feeling was gone and she no longer felt certain she'd found the right bean.

But she felt she had to try something. She closed her eyes, then concentrated really hard...then she felt the bean in her hand start to vibrate.

She grinned. She willed the bean to do little somersaults in her palm, which it did.

This must be her special gift that the prophesy talked about!

For about three minutes, she tried to move other things around using only her mind, but the only thing she could move was the jelly bean.

She looked around at all the pink bunnies staring at her, then said, "Well, I'll be going to the top of the volcano now. I'll probably see you all later."

The bunnies said goodbye, then went back to their frolicking. She put the jelly bean in her pocket.

She walked over to the rusty iron cable car, stepped inside, then shut the door. She stepped on a button that was on the floor—the cable car started moving.

The cable car came to a rest at a plateau near the top of the volcano.

She opened the door, stepped out onto black rock, then looked around.

The air was ashy and warm. She coughed a couple of times as she got used to it. To her left, a very slow moving stream of red molten lava flowed down the mountain.

To her right was a modest-looking house formed out of the volcanic rock beneath it.

She looked upward at another building that looked like a shack made of black rock—and part of the shack seemed to be dangerously dangling over the edge of the volcano. Charlee didn't understand why a building would do that. Wouldn't it be hot?

And coming out of the side of that building was a very narrow chute that gradually sloped down, then disappeared behind a nearby mountain.

Charlee walked toward the house. The ashy ground crunched beneath her feet.

She gasped as she realized that there was a skeleton lying on the ground. The skeleton was wearing tattered robes. Maybe it was the wizard, she thought. She could see a crusty circular object sticking out of its chest. She really didn't want to look any more, so she walked up to the house.

She stood in front of the open door.

There was no doorbell or anything, so she shouted out, "Hello? Mister Blind Bunny? I've come to visit you!"

From somewhere down the hallway, she heard a male voice shout back, "Visit me? Well come in!"

So Charlee stepped into the hallway and followed the voice. Everything inside the building was made of black volcanic rock. She stepped into a room to see a brown rabbit facing her. The rabbit seemed to be made out of chocolate! And it didn't have the sort of icing eyes she was used to seeing on chocolate bunnies. Looking closer, she saw that where the eyes should be, everything was smooth on him. The room was filled with books in bookcases formed of black rock. The books were the only things in the room not made of rock.

The brown bunny lifted its head as Charlee entered, then said, "Are you there?"

Charlee squatted down, then said, "Yes. Hello. I'm Charlee."

"I'm the Blind Bunny. My original name was Mick, but never mind that. It's not important. What kind of creature are you? A pink bunny?"

Charlee suddenly decided it might be better to pretend to be one, so she said, "Yes."

"Well how come you're awake?"

Charlee thought for a moment. "Um, magic."

"Corruptamagic?"

"Yep."

"Why? Just to come up here? Don't you know there's always a price to pay for using corruptamagic?"

"Yes, well, I did it because I had something really important to ask you. It has to do with the boiled egg of the once future King. Do you know what happened to it?"

The Blind Bunny looked upset. "Well, I watched Princess Cinny while she was carrying it. Why do you want to know? Are you sure you're a pink bunny? I'm not sure you are. Prove it to me."

"How can I— Wait. If I let you feel my ears, then will you believe me?"

A crooked grin formed on the Blind Bunny's face. "Yeah...let me feel."

"Okay." Charlee crawled on her hands and knees and approached the Blind Bunny. She tried to hold her ears at the same level they'd be on a pink bunny. "Just feel my _ears._ I don't want you taking advantage."

The Blind Bunny nodded. "I understand. I used to be a pink bunny, but now none of the pink bunnies like me anymore, because I'm chocolate. I wouldn't like me either if I were them...just let me feel your ears, baby."

Charlee moved in close to the Blind Bunny's face. "Okay."

The Blind Bunny leaned forward and their ears touched. She moved her ears and he moved his ears against hers and it actually felt pretty good. She'd always had bunny ears ever since she was a little girl, but they'd always, frustratingly, never actually been a part of her body.

The Blind Bunny moaned, which freaked Charlee out. She drew back.

"Okay," she said. "Now you know I'm a pink bunny. So can you please answer my question? It's very important to me."

The Blind Bunny frowned a little, then said, "Well what's in it for me? I think you're kind of rude, barging in on my place and expecting me to answer your questions."

Charlee swished her mouth from side to side. She had to sweet talk him, she thought. Maybe she could trick him somehow. She asked, "You live here all by yourself?"

"Well, it's just me and the chickens. They don't make very good company."

"What chickens?"

"The chickens in the shack. They were reanimated by the wizard. They're undead chickens. They make the Easter eggs. But the wizard's dead. Perhaps you saw him lying outside..."

"Yes, I did. But how does that work, though, the whole Easter egg thing?"

"Is that really important for you to know?"

Charlee answered honestly, "Nope."

"Okay, then I will answer you. Every year, a few weeks before Easter, the undead chickens begin laying eggs. They roll down these chutes that go to a boiler that's perched over the edge of the volcano. The boiler is filled with rain water. After each egg is boiled, they roll, one by one, down a longggg chute. They roll down and down to the outside of Pink Valley, where they're collected. Many from the outside think the eggs come from an ordinary mountain, but that's only because the volcano is _behind_ the surrounding mountains."

Charlee felt overwhelmed by all the new knowledge. "Whoa," she said.

"Yes," said the Blind Bunny, "it's pretty impressive, but it was all the wizard's creation. I just keep it running. All by myself. But it pretty much runs itself, and it was even running when I came here, after the wizard's death." He sounded sad.

Charlee suddenly felt sorry for the Blind Bunny. "But why do you do it?"

The Blind Bunny lowered his head. "Because someone has to. And since I'm made of chocolate, I don't fall asleep at this altitude. Plus, the loneliness is what I deserve for failing my Princess."

"What do you mean? How did you fail her?"

He shook his head. "I think you're trying to trick me into telling you about the egg."

It was true. Charlee blushed. She felt self-conscious for a moment, but then she realized the Blind Bunny couldn't see her. She asked, "What happened to the wizard?"

"I don't know exactly. But maybe the price of using corruptamagic eventually caught up with him. There's always a price to pay."

She took a chance as she said, "Like the Easter Bunny..."

"Yes, exactly. It stole his soul, didn't it? But I don't really know much about him. I'm isolated up here. I just get food and occasional messages through the cable car." Charlee was silent, so the Blind Bunny asked, "Does that disappoint you?"

"Yes, a little. I want to know more about the Easter Bunny."

In a non-helpful voice, he said, "Well, I wish I could help..."

"Okay," said Charlee. "So, about the boiled egg of the once future King..."

He smirked. "Ah yes, that's what you _really_ want to know, isn't it? But what's in it for me?"

"Um, I dunno. Maybe you could tell me just because you're a nice bunny?"

"Well I _am_ nice, but I'm also lonely..."

Charlee felt uneasy about where the conversation seemed to be going. "Awww, that's too bad."

"Yes, I stay up here because I'm ashamed. None of you pink bunnies will ever hump with me because I'm chocolate. Do you know how hard it is to be surrounded by sweet sweet pink bunny and not be able to bang it? They even banned me from humping girl-bunnies in their sleep! It's just prejudice because I'm chocolate. So, rather than stay where I'm not wanted, I stay up here."

Charlee pouted. "That's horrible!"

The Blind Bunny nodded. "So you see, it's been a long time since I humped."

"And you want to hump me?" She was starting to panic.

"Yes."

Charlee thought for a moment about how to get out of this situation, then she suddenly remembered the pink bunny in her fanny pack. "So you'll tell me what I want to know if I let you hump me?"

"Yes, that's what I want, and it's the _only_ thing I want. Take it or leave it."

"Just once, right?"

"Of course. Is it a deal?"

Charlee remembered that pink bunnies couldn't lie, and she hoped that was still true with the Blind Bunny, since he had originally been a pink bunny. So, she said, "It's a deal."

He grinned. "So let's get busy."

"Can't you just tell me first?"

"Nope."

Charlee sighed. She thought she was supposed to be having epic, heroic adventures, not doing stuff like this.

"Hold on," she said.

She turned away from the Blind Bunny, then lifted the pink bunny out of her fanny pack.

She turned back around, walked up to the bunny, then got down on her knees. She held the pink bunny under its belly, then positioned it so its rump was toward the Blind Bunny.

She said, "Okay. I'm ready."

The Blind Bunny felt around a little while with his front paws, then mounted the pink bunny.

Charlee began to feel grossed out. She briefly thought it might be illegal to witness it, but then realized that it wasn't, since it was animals. She just didn't _want_ to see it. She closed her eyes as the Blind Bunny started getting busy. The pink bunny began jostling in her hand.

The Blind Bunny said, "Yeah! How do you like that, baby!"

She tried to sound enthusiastic as she replied, "Feels so good!"

"Oh yeah!" shouted the Blind Bunny.

"Oh yeah!" shouted Charlee. "Give it to me! That's right! Like that!"

Then the Blind Bunny started making orgasm noises, then the jostling stopped. Charlee kept her eyes closed, and said, "So is it over?"

"Yes, thank you so much!"

Charlee opened her eyes. The Blind Bunny was calmly sitting there. She put the pink bunny back in her fanny pack.

"So," she said, "about the boiled egg..."

"Ah, yes. I'll tell you my story. I've never told anyone what happened before. It's difficult for me. A long time ago—many centuries ago, I left Pink Valley to seek out adventure. Well, I had many adventures, but I eventually came to fall in love with a human female. Her name was Princess Cinny and she was the most beautiful biped I have ever seen. Well, she didn't even know I was alive, but I used to follow her everywhere. Well, one day I saw her sneaking out of the castle. She was crying for some reason, and she was carrying a basket in her hand. So I followed her, because I pretty much stalked her back then. Then, while she stopped to rest, I saw her take an egg out of the basket. The basket was filled with green shreds of plastic to keep the egg safe. I later learned that the egg was Antiboli, the once future King of Easter Land."

Charlee's eyes went wide. "Oh, go on."

"Well, she got separated from her servants. But she kept walking to her destination. I should have tried to stop her, but I was too shy. She entered the Dark Forest, and she started calling out for her husband. She said she had his son."

Charlee asked, "Did she find him?"

"No." The Blind Bunny looked overwhelmed with emotion. "I watched her... She looked so sad... I was scared to enter the forest, so I hesitated. But then I went in. There was a lagoon. I only lost sight of her for a few minutes! That was the last time I saw her!" He began to sob.

"That's terrible! What happened to her?"

"I believe she drowned. But I couldn't find her body. I looked and looked. I was hoping she was still alive somehow. But the boiled egg, it was still in the basket. I watched it float away, I watched it float out of the lagoon and into the river connected to it, the river that goes into the SinEaster Area. I couldn't do anything. I can't swim. I watched it go down the river, then I could no longer see it behind the wall of the SinEaster Area."

Charlee asked, "What's the SinEaster Area?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Nope. Well, I read a little, but I don't remember."

"SinEaster is a dark area on the edge of Easter Land. It is a perversion of the fertility of Easter—it represents fornication without reproduction. It's been growing and feeding off dark desires. It was formed when the humans first started using corruptamagic and it has become its own holiday that threatens one day to take over Easter!"

Charlee felt confused. "So SinEaster is both an area _and_ a holiday?"

"Yes, that's how things work here, though SinEaster isn't celebrated in your land."

"And SinEaster is trying to destroy the regular Easter?"

"Well, so far, I don't think so. It stays behind a high mint wall. Each time corruptamagic is used, SinEaster grows stronger, but no one has used corruptamagic for centuries. That's all I really know. Everyone is afraid to go into SinEaster. No one knows what lurks there..."

Charlee said, "So you saw the boiled egg float into this SinEaster place and that's all you know?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Well, that's awful that you never found the Princess. What happened after you saw the basket float away?"

"Well, I searched all over for her. I stumbled across this pond made of chocolate syrup. It was fed by a chocolate waterfall—except it wasn't water. When I approached the chocolate waterfall, I could see that there was a well-worn trail in the grass and I figured that some creature was living _behind_ the chocolatefall. I thought that maybe Princess Cinny was back there. I thought, maybe the creature took her back there. I wasn't thinking very straight. I had stumbled on a batch of lotus flowers and had eaten some of their petals. I was pretty messed up, but I was trying to ease my pain." The Blind Bunny took a moment to compose himself. "Even though I was terrified, I ran through the chocolatefall—I wasn't even sure there was a cave, but there was. I didn't realize it at the time, but that's when I was transformed. The chocolatefall is magical. It transforms anything it covers into chocolate."

"Oh!" said Charlee. "What was in the cave?"

"Well, there were many creatures in the cave, made of chocolate. They all looked dead—snakes, toads, alligators. But I didn't see the Princess. The inside of that cave was the last place I ever saw, because, well, the lotus petals caught up with me, and I passed out inside that cave. I don't know how much later it was, but I felt a horrible pain and when I tried to open my eyes, I was blind! My eyes were gone, and it was _the creature_ that took them!" He shook his head sadly. "I should have looked closer at those chocolate creatures. I realize now that none of them had eyes! I should have thought that was suspicious. I should have gotten out of there..."

With a trembling voice, Charlee asked, "What happened then?"

"I heard the horrible voice of _the creature._ It was high-pitched—it sounded female. But it slurred its words—it sounded like a horrible creature mimicking human speech, as if it couldn't master it. Before I ran away, I heard it say four things, and even now, centuries later, I don't really understand them."

Charlee was hugging herself. "What did she say?"

"Well," said the Blind Bunny, "Right after I woke up, she said, 'Yummy, I sing.' Then she said, 'Baby, eat your eyes.' I think it was mocking me. Then it said, 'Now, I get the chocolate Mick.' I have no idea how it knew my name, but at that point, I panicked. I actually started running away from the voice, even though I couldn't see. I heard it call out at me, 'No! Go away!' I don't know why, but the creature must have wanted me to leave for some reason. I felt the chocolatefall go over me, then I was in the pond. As I've said, I can't swim, so I was lucky to survive. But I made it onto shore. I struggled a long time after, and I wandered many years. But, long story short, I eventually made my way here, on top of this volcano. The wizard was already dead. I just took over."

**CHAPTER 15**

Deon at the Chocolatefall

Soon, Deon was standing beside the roaring chocolatefall as cool speckles of chocolate dabbled onto him. The chocolatefall reminded him of the chocolate syrup he used to put on ice cream—but it didn't seem as thick. He somehow sensed that he had to go behind the chocolatefall, even though he couldn't see what was there. There was no way to slip past the pouring chocolate without becoming drenched, so he lowered his head, then ran through—the weight of the chocolatefall slammed into him from above—then he stumbled past the chocolatefall onto the other side.

He was covered in chocolate, crouched with his knuckle on the ground to steady him.

He looked around. He was inside a medium-sized cave formed of chocolate.

To his right, about twenty feet away, a brown-skinned baby troll was crawling and stacking a bunch of wooden blocks into a high, leaning tower.

Deon felt the chocolate syrup sliding completely off him—and he immediately realized that it was the magical tadpole slime causing the chocolate to not stick to him. But his boxer briefs and fanny pack were drenched in syrup—they almost looked like they were _made_ out of the brown confectionary!

A mysterious light source from the back of the cave allowed him to see clearly. Deon looked around. The baby troll wasn't the only thing in the cave. It was filled with a bunch of dead-looking chocolate creatures, like fishes and toads and lizards and an alligator and others—and there were four topless, teenage chocolate girls, too—they were lying side by side on their backs a few feet away—each with a torn-open chocolate corset. They were wearing poofy, old-fashioned skirts, also made of chocolate, but the undersides of their skirts were oriented toward the left, so he couldn't see up them. Each girl had the kind of corset with zig-zagging strings down the front, but something had torn them apart, and left them open. For a brief moment, Deon thought it might be illegal to look at their underage breasts—but then his eyes widened in horror as he realized that they had no nipples!—they were bitten off with jagged bite marks—and since he couldn't see their nipples, it wasn't illegal to look. He couldn't help but notice that none of them had large breasts. They didn't move. They had no eyes. Were they real girls? Dead girls? _Maybe they aren't dead,_ he hoped. _Maybe they're just unconscious._

He stared at them too long, terrified by what he was looking at.

He looked back to the baby troll. Then the baby troll turned its head to look at him. It squeaked out, with a high baby-troll voice, "Hewwo! Yay! More chocklett Mommy!"

Deon didn't really know what to say to that. He stared at the giant baby—it was as large as a full-grown man.

The baby troll looked back, blinked for a few seconds, then pointed a pudgy chocolate finger at Deon's face, then said, "Where the icing eyes?"

In instinct, Deon covered his eyes with his hands—then he released them, and shouted, "Peek-a-boo!"

The baby troll giggled.

Deon decided to clap, and the baby troll clapped happily along with him.

But then Deon felt a sudden strange, intuitional feeling, so he lifted his head, and looked ahead.

At the back of the cave, the ground dropped off sharply into a deep cavern, but about twenty feet away from the edge, there was a column with a relatively flat top—the top of the column was at about the same level as the cave's floor. The column was about fifteen feet in diameter. A person or creature would have to be confident of their leaping abilities to land on top of that column. And somehow Deon sensed that he could do it—and he _should_ —because he was a Chosen One specially suited to do so.

He shouted at the baby troll, "I'll be back!" He pointed, then with an encouraging voice, added, "Play with your blocks!"

As he turned, Deon saw the beginning of the baby's pout. Deon ran, then at the edge, he leapt, in a way that he, as a half-amphibian Chosen One was specially suited to leap, and he arced through the air, toward where no one else could go, unless they leapt like he leapt.

He landed on the small column top. He turned around, prepared to wave, but the baby had already gone back to playing. Deon looked around.

He was standing on a bumpy, round column of hard chocolate. He began to look at the ground, but his eyes locked onto his crotch, as he suddenly realized that his boxer briefs and fanny pack were now made of chocolate, but they still moved like cloth, though they were a little stiffer now. He also noticed his skin was still glistening with the tadpole slime and it still felt tingly against his skin. He could still feel the energy of the tadpoles running through and on him.

He stared down at the ground. It looked like there were a bunch of chocolate chips resting on the ground, with their flat-sides down. Actually, they were bigger than chips—they looked to be the size of the candies known as chocolate Smooches.

He lifted his foot to see that he had crushed a few when he had landed.

Back in _his_ world, every chocolate Smooch had the word "SMooch" engraved in its base.

He was curious, so he squatted down and tweaked one of the chocolates up—well, he tried to—it seemed stuck to the ground, but he twisted it a little and he was able to pick it up between his thumb and finger. He held the candy upside down in front of his face.

He gasped, because there, engraved on the base of the candy, he could see the word:

sdIu

One of his missions was to find the sdiu! A big, goofy grin stretched across his face. It seemed his instincts had been guiding him after all, just like the racing snail had said they would.

But how would he know which sdiu was/were the right sdiu? And was "sdiu" plural or singular, or was it both, like "fish" and "fish"?

He popped the candy into his mouth. It was yummy. He could sense it wasn't the special candy of prophesy, though. He stood back up.

He looked up. The ceiling of the cave was about twenty feet above, and it seemed to be covered in upside-down chocolate Smooch-like candies!

Maybe, he thought, the Smooches were like those things in caves that formed from dripping liquid or something. _What are they called?_ he thought. _Stagtits or stacktights or something._ Maybe the Smooches were formed from chocolate syrup leaking from the chocolate river above! Had they, over the eons, built up to form this column? _Easter Land sure is pretty weird,_ he thought.

Well, he had to find the sdiu now and he would trust his instinct.

He closed his eyes and looked within. He turned a little, walked forward about five feet. Some candies mushed under his bare, webbed feet. He started to get a sense that he knew where to walk to get the sdiu.

He turned slightly. It felt right. He squatted, then, with his eyes still closed, he leapt up to the ceiling. He held his hand up, then at the highest point of his jump, he snapped his thumb and pointing finger closed, then made a twisty motion.

He started falling back down, with what felt like a chocolate Smooch in his fingertip. He never opened his eyes. As he landed, he slipped the candy into the (now chocolatized) egg in his fanny pack.

He squatted again, then leapt again, then twisted off another piece of candy from the top of the cave. He landed. He put the other chocolate sdiu inside his egg.

Finally, he opened his eyes.

This part of his mission was done.

He turned back around to face the front of the cave. The chocolate baby troll was still playing. Deon stared at the topless chocolate girls lying on the ground. There were four of them. And there had been four tadpoles... Suddenly he realized that the letters of "tadpoles" could be rearranged to spell, "da toples." And he didn't see how it was possible for it to be merely coincidence.

Those four girls, he thought, were the human bodies of the tadpoles. Had the baby troll carried them into the cave after they had died? To Deon, it made sense. If he was right, then one of those bodies must be Princess Cinny...

Deon backed up, then ran and leapt.

The baby troll didn't seem to notice. So Deon said, "Hey, I'm back!"

The baby troll looked at Deon, then clapped. Then the troll pointed at Deon's chest and shouted, "Boobies!"

Deon felt pretty embarrassed. He tended to work his pecs pretty hard, and they had grown very plump and large, but he considered them to be very manly. Only a stupid baby would mistake his massive pecs for boobs, he thought.

Deon calmly said, "No... _pecs."_ He even pointed.

And when he pointed, the baby troll perked up and clapped and exclaimed, "Now I get the chocolate milk!" Then the baby troll started crawling toward Deon!

Deon started to feel panicky, so he shouted out in a panicky voice, "No boobies!" Then, he didn't know why, but he was shouting, "No bra!" He tapped his pecs. "No panties!" He tapped his chocolate boxer briefs. Then he added, "I'm manly! No milk! Do you understand? No milk!"

"No milk?" The baby troll pouted.

"I'm a daddy! Not a mommy! Do you understand?"

The baby troll didn't seem to understand. He stopped crawling, pointed again and said, "Boobies." He started crawling again.

The baby troll was getting closer to Deon, who was starting to feel desperate. He shouted, "No! They're MAN-boobs. No milk! Got it? No milk! No bra! No panties!"

Finally, the baby troll seemed to understand. He stopped crawling, then nodded, then said, "Not a mommy."

Deon nodded and walked toward the baby troll. He felt safer—he no longer felt that the baby troll was going to pounce on him and start suckling.

They stopped in front of each other. Deon and the baby troll were about the same size. Deon wondered how big adult trolls got. They must be huge!

The baby troll pointed at Deon again, then said, "Chocolate!"

Deon shook his head. "Yes, I'm like hot cocoa with hot chocolate skin, I'm mocha masculine, but I'm not _really_ chocolate. Do you understand?"

Baby Troll shook his head, then reached his hand out to touch Deon, then touched Deon's arm.

And as the baby touched him, Deon felt a sudden connection between them, just like what happened with the tadpoles.

The baby troll withdrew his hand, nodded, then telepathed, ~*I understand now that you are not chocolate.*~ He was a lot more grown-up sounding in telepathic form.

Deon telepathed, ~*Where are your parents?*~

~*They were killed by the humans during the Great War. I'm the only one left!*~

Deon was confused. ~*The Great War? Wasn't that hundreds of years ago? How come you're still a baby?*~

~*Well, to make a long story short, my mother tricked a brownie elf into granting her three wishes. Well, she used the first two wishes, but they ended up causing more harm than good. So she decided to never use the last wish. But one day, she was playing with me, and she looked at me and said, 'I wish you could stay a baby forever.' That's why I haven't grown up. The troll village was raided shortly thereafter by the humans. They killed all the trolls, but they didn't see me. I crawled into the forest, I was turned into chocolate by the chocolatefall, and I've been here ever since.*~

~*That's terrible what happened. I want you to know I'm not going to hurt you.*~

Baby Troll looked at him innocently. ~*I know. I trust you.*~

Deon was feeling too sad over the baby's story. He didn't want to start crying. So he looked over at the pile of chocolate girls. ~*Where did you get those?*~

Baby Troll looked over at the pile, then telepathed, ~*I found them in the lagoon. They remind me of Mommy. They were dead. Did some humans kill them?*~

Deon tried to blink his tears away. He replied, ~*No, they drowned in the lagoon. Didn't you hear a song whenever you went to the lagoon?*~

~*Oh, yes, but the girls were singing about grown-up stuff that I didn't understand.*~

~*Oh, I see. One of those girls was a princess of the human kingdom, and I was sent here to find her.*~

~*Ohhhhh.*~

~*What happened to the girls' eyes?*~

~*I eat those first. They're yummy. How come you don't have icing eyes?*~

~*What are icing eyes?*~ Deon asked.

~*Whenever I carry a dead thing through the chocolatefall, it turns the bodies into chocolate and turns their eyes into icing. I always eat those first. They're yummy!*~

Deon nodded. ~*Children do the same thing where I come from. And the reason I don't have icing eyes is because I wasn't turned into chocolate.*~

~*Ohhhh...*~

~*And how come all the girls are topless and have no nipples?*~

The baby troll's eyes opened wide. ~*I was looking for chocolate milk...*~

A sickly feeling came over Deon. ~*So, their nipples?*~

~*I bit them off...accidentally. I didn't mean to. I don't have a whole lot of impulse control, because I'm a baby. But I sucked and sucked, but no milk would come. I'm sorry.*~

Deon tried to hide how horrified he felt. ~*It's okay. You didn't mean to.*~

~*I really didn't. I'm just a baby troll.*~

~*I understand. I want to tell you something. I'm one of the Chosen Ones. If I succeed in my missions, I will be very powerful and I will do all I can to help you. But in order to do that, I have to take away Princess Cinny's body. But I'll come back for you. Is that okay?*~ Deon didn't know if everything he'd said was the truth, but he fully intended to do his best to help this poor baby troll, and he knew it was important to bring back the body of Princess Cinny.

~*No go away!*~ Baby Troll telepathically shouted. "I mean, please don't depart."

~*I have to. But I'll be back. Do you trust me?*~

Baby Troll nodded. ~*I trust you.*~

Deon walked over to the Princess's body, then looked down at it. He didn't really consider her attractive because her breasts were small, and he was a breast man. It was weird that her body was rigid chocolate, while her clothing was flexible chocolate. Maybe it had something to do with rigor mortis, he thought. He lifted the chocolatized body of Princess Cinny over his shoulder. Her body wasn't really very heavy—in fact, he thought she felt hollow.

Baby Troll waved, and said out loud, "Bye bye" and Deon said bye bye back.

He was drenched again, leaving the cave, but the tadpole slime still protected him. Outside, though, he noticed that his tingly feeling was gone, so maybe the tadpole slime's power had worn off. He carried the chocolate body the short distance to the lagoon. He thought it would be easier to float the chocolate princess across, rather than carry it all the way around. Well, he wasn't exactly sure if it would be easier or not, but he had the strange sense that he should put the Princess's body in the water in order to fulfill destiny.

He stepped into the water, then the four tadpoles all touched him, then he found he could communicate with them again.

They chipperly greeted him.

As he slipped further into the water, he telepathed, ~>Hello again, everyone! Princess Cinny, I found your body. It was transformed into chocolate! I'm gonna take it back and see what can be done. Maybe they can use magic or something.<~

Deon was swimming across the lagoon, while guiding the floating chocolate Princess body with his arm, the skirt caused the body to float upright.

The tadpole Princess Cinny was upset about seeing her lifeless human form, but Deon did his best to comfort her by saying he would do all he could. He also told the other tadpoles that he had found their bodies and would try to help them too.

When he was in the middle of the lagoon, the tadpole Brooke exclaimed, ~>Oh no! There are licorice snakes here! They're under the water!<~

Deon's heartbeat quickened. He let go of the chocolate Princess, then slipped his head underneath the water and looked around. Then he saw what looked like snakes swimming in a group! They looked like pieces of black licorice that were swimming and moving by themselves!

The mass of licorice was speeding toward him. Underwater, Deon waved at them, hoping that they were friendly. They slammed into him, knocking some of the air from his lungs. Then they were pushing his body through the water as he tried to regain control. Deon could get no psychic readings from the licorice—he wondered if they were even alive—they didn't even seem to have heads or eyes.

He watched part of the gang of licorice split off and swim for the surface. Deon was still being pushed through the water—there were so many licorice snakes that he couldn't resist them. They pushed Deon up through the water's surface, then he took a breath of air. He started treading water. The licorice snakes stopped pushing him. He watched as the other group of licorice snakes pushed the chocolate Princess body! They were taking her!

Deon made a few attempts to rescue the Princess's body, but each time, he was pushed back by the group of licorice swimming in front of him.

Deon telepathed to the tadpoles, ~>Is there anything you can do?<~

They all telepathed that they couldn't do anything.

Phoebe went, ~>We're too small!<~

And when Deon asked them if they could summon help, they replied that they didn't know anyone.

So Deon could only watch helplessly as they took Princess Cinny's body and pushed it through the small channel into the river outside the lagoon.

Princess Cinny went, ~>They're taking my body to SinEaster!<~

Deon asked, ~>What's SinEaster?<~

She replied, ~>It's a part of Easter Land that has become corrupted and perverted. It is a horrible holiday wanna-be that wants to destroy Easter! The river goes into it, very close to here, and it is guarded by the licorice snakes.<~

Deon asked, ~>Why would they want your human body?<~

Princess Cinny seemed distraught. ~>I don't know!... What if they ravage my body?!<~

The group of licorice snakes that had pushed him stayed in front of him and wouldn't let him move. It didn't seem like they wanted to hurt anyone. They had only wanted to get the chocolate Princess, it seemed.

The licorice snakes didn't stop Deon as he swam to the shore.

The tadpole girls said they thought they would be safe, so, reluctantly, Deon got out of the lagoon. His boxer briefs seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. He picked his other clothes off the ground, got dressed again, then started walking back to where the racing snail was supposed to be waiting.

**CHAPTER 16**

Considering Silvia's Chest

Silvia replied, "What? Take my top off? That has to be the lamest line I've ever heard!"

The snake replied, "No, it's not like that. It's just a feeling I have..."

"Yeah, that feeling is called, being a perv!" But, despite herself, she actually _did_ kind of feel like taking her top off. She didn't know why. "You just want to see my boobs!" she shouted. Then she giggled, which surprised her.

The snake's head on her right said, "Well I have to admit it would be nice to see them, but, really I'm just trying to help you, because I know that you're one of the Chosen Ones, and the prophesy poem says that each of the [[Chosen Ones]] will have one special gift somehow. I sense that your gift is under your shirt."

"Are you referring to the prophesy poem from the Corruptanomicon? You know it too?"

"Well, yes, a few centuries ago, a page from the Corruptanomicon washed ashore. I read it, but I dropped it back in the river because I'm clumsy and have no arms. I remember all the words. It says you three each have a special gift, and I can just sense that your gift will be revealed by you taking your shirt off..."

Silvia rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm _not_ taking my top off. And please stop staring at my chest. My eyes are up _here._ " She pointed.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He raised his heads a little.

"Can you tell me more about this gift the prophesy talks about?"

"I told you all I know. And I told you the strange sense I have that you should take your top off to fulfill destiny. Can I ask you—are your boobs real?"

She gasped. "What a rude question!"

"I don't mean to be rude. I'm just trying to figure things out."

She didn't know why, but she answered, "Well, yes, they're implants, but there's nothing wrong with that—my mommy paid for them fair and square!"

The snake smiled. "I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I just find it interesting. I think that, subconsciously, you may have wanted to get implants, because you were subconsciously trying to connect with gummi—you were, in a sense, trying to _fill_ yourself with gummi."

Something about the snake's words made sense to her, but she still shook her head. "But breast implants aren't made of gummi."

"But they're plastic, and that was the closest thing you could find. If I'm right, I think you would feel a strange yearning for plastic and gummi. It would have been with you all your life—even as a child—and you may not have understood why. Tell me, did you want to get breast implants at a young age?"

"Oh my god, yes! Ever since I learned about them, I wanted to get them! I was 9."

"And when did you end up getting them?"

"When I was 15."

"Well, they're very pretty. I sure wish I could see them."

"Ha!" She flirted, "You _wish_ you could see them. It's funny though, because I've never let anyone feel them, or even shown them to anybody, even though I got them three years ago—because up to now, it's always been illegal to show them to anyone." Then with a mock-chastising look, she said, "And, I might add, it was illegal for anyone to even _ask_ me to show them. At least, in my world."

"And now?" King Sinuous moved his eye in a way that would have been arching his brow, if he had a brow.

"Well now," she said in a cute voice, "I'll be 18 tomorrow. I'll be legal, and will be able to show them to anyone who is also over 18! But I'm still not gonna show you my boobs." Why was she teasing and flirting? Was she actually _attracted_ to this large, two-headed gummi snake? But he was kind of sexy, she had to admit to herself.

The gummi snake looked down. "Well, I sure wish I could see. I'd be so honored..."

"But I think you're full of it. Maybe the reason I wanted to get implants wasn't just to fill myself with gummi. Maybe I just wanted big boobs. What do you think of that?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, there would have been other signs as well—things you would have done even as a child. For example, do you like to eat a lot of gummi candy?"

"Yes!" Silvia shouted in surprise. "I'm always eating gummi candy—ever since I was a little girl! Gummi worms are my favorite!"

The gummi snake nodded. "See, you were trying to fill yourself with gummi. Tell me, as a little girl, did you like to play with gummi-like toys?"

"Yes, oh yes! I was always playing with gummiish toys! I would always beg my mommy to buy them for me!"

"You see? And let me ask you something—have you ever drank alcohol?"

"Yes, but—"

"Let me guess—you only do jello shots."

"Yes! Oh yes! How did you know?"

"Because all your life you've been trying to fill yourself with gummi. _Now_ do you believe me?"

She nodded. "What you say makes a lot of sense. I never realized it before. But I want you to know—all those times I drank jello shots, I was breaking the law, and I feel _really really_ bad about that."

"Of course."

"I feel like you almost know me better than I know myself. So what's your advice? What should I do next? And don't be a perv."

"Well," said the gummi snake, sounding wise, "I think you should trust your feelings and look within. Also, I would suggest a gummi rub."

"What's a gummi rub?"

"That's where my worm minions rub against your body. It will fill you with fertility energy that comes from your world. It will probably activate things inside you—help you figure out what to do."

Silvia nodded, because somehow she sensed that it was true. She looked around at all the differently-colored gummi worms writhing on the ground. "Do they speak?"

"No, they can't. They don't have mouths."

"Well, I'm always eating gummi worms. But in my world, they're not alive. I hope they won't be offended?"

"Don't worry. They just want to rub you. We all understand how messed up and crazy your world is..."

Silvia chuckled. "Yeah. I think I'll participate in the gummi rub, but I must say, I don't think you've been completely honest with me." A bunch of worms had surrounded her.

The gummi snake shrugged in a way that snakes shrug. "I wouldn't lie to you, baby. I just want you to take your top off and ride me, that's all. Then I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Yeah right. I've heard that before. But anyway, let's get on with it—let's initiate the gummi rub! Gummi me!"

She held her arms out. A few moments later, a horde of gummi worms swelled onto her, pulling her down, covering her—she was taken off her feet and covered in the squirming gummi bodies of all the worms—it felt like plastic writhing against her gummi flesh—and it felt wonderful!

But, after a few minutes, the time came for the gummi worms to stop rubbing on her.

They withdrew, and she laid on her back for a few moments, then stood up.

"I feel tingly allll over," Silvia said playfully. "So what should I do now?"

"Look within."

Silvia nodded. She closed her eyes. And she felt overwhelmed with a strange almost-psychic sense she had never felt before. She grasped the bottom of her shirt. "I must take my top off." She said it matter-of-factly, because she was completely certain.

"Please do," said the two heads of the snake.

Silvia lifted her shirt up over her head, then let it drop on the ground. The gummi snake seemed very appreciative. She could sense that what she was about to do was not only _right,_ but _not illegal_ as well—because laws against public exposure don't apply to exposure to snakes.

She took her bra off, then dropped it to the ground. She looked at the snake's two heads, trying to read his expression—he looked like he was lusting for her. Then she looked down at herself and gasped, because her organs were visible! Her body had become see-through when it had become gummified. She didn't seem to have a ribcage or any other bones, which was odd. She looked down at her beating gummi heart, underneath her gummi breast—and she had gummi organs...and even her breast implants looked gummified...she looked closer at them—there were two small things that shouldn't have been there, one floating inside each breast implant—they each looked like a small yellow orb with a blue circle attached. She lowered her chin, then stared intently into her right boob.

Then she exclaimed, "The icing eyes! They're inside my breast implants!"

"Really? Wow. What you were looking for was inside of you all along!"

"Yes, it's very strange! I mean, how did they get there?"

"Well, I think I know what might have happened..."

"Yes?"

"Well, you said guys have always stared at your chest. It's like they treated you like your eyes were in your chest..."

It dawned on Silvia what he was getting at. "Oh my god!"

The snake continued, "They treated you that way for so long, that eventually it _became_ true. You grew eyes in your breasts."

"Oh my god!" Silvia said. She lifted a trembling hand to her mouth. "Is that my power, then? I grow icing eyes?"

The snake shook his heads. "I don't think so. I think that's just the power of gummi. And fertility power. But I could be wrong."

Silvia nodded. "Okay, but if it's not my gift, then I'm confuzzled as to what _is."_ The snake was politely not looking at her chest. She said to him, "Do you know how I can get the icing eyes out?"

The snake nodded. "I have magical powers—I have magical mouths—I am gifted with magical sucking power. I can suck the eyes out of your breasts..."

She scowled. "That sounds suspicious to me. Are you sure you aren't lying?"

"No. I said before, that I felt a connection between us. Now I know what it is. We're both gummi and we both have four eyes, and you just _happen_ to have eyes in your breasts and I just _happen_ have a magical sucking gift. It is as if destiny planned it all along!"

Maybe it was destiny, Silvia thought. Or maybe the gummi snake was feeding her a line. She looked within, figuratively, trying to sense what to do. Then she suddenly _knew,_ so she said to the snake, "Stare at my chest."

He must have thought she was being sarcastic, because he stammered, "I'm sorry. I've been trying not to look too long."

"No, I'm serious. Come closer. Look into my icing eyes, baby." She said that playfully.

"Okay." The snake fixed all four of his eyes on her chest. He stared. The snake moved a little closer and squinted as he peered into her implants. Meanwhile, Silvia focused her thoughts on making her power work. Instinctively, she started to think pure thoughts. The snake looked enchanted and grinned big. Then he seemed to focus his eyes on her left boob.

Silvia asked, "Do you see them?"

"I'm amazed. I think it's so beautiful."

"Well, there are two, you know, but thank you." She felt herself blushing.

"You're welcome. It's so pure...so wholesome."

"Wholesome? I never would have thought about describing it that way, but I guess it is."

"Oh! You thought I was talking about your— No, I was talking about your heart. It's—I dunno. I feel enchanted by it—I think it might be your power...and I suddenly feel I should confess to something. I have no idea how to get the icing eyes out of your implants. I don't have any magical mouths. I'm sorry. Wait, no, I'm not sorry. Err! Why did I just say those things?"

Silvia suddenly sensed the answer. "Because you looked into my heart, and the magical purity of it makes you incapable of telling a lie. That is my power. No one can lie to me when they look into my heart."

"Well that sucks for me," the snake said while still staring at her chest. "Can I stop looking now, please? I can't seem to turn my eyes away."

"No, you are enchanted by my purity. So now, I'm going to learn the truth."

"Uh oh."

"Yes, uh oh." She grinned. "So tell me, do you know what happened to Humpty Dumpty?"

"Absolutely not."

"But you said you did."

"I was just trying to get you to ride me. I'm sorry. Actually, no I'm not. Gah! I _hate_ telling the truth."

Silvia chuckled a little. This snake wanted her to ride him so much, that it was actually kind of cute. "Well, if you don't know about Humpty Dumpty, that's too bad, because I won't get those two points. But do you know anything about Gumpty Dumpty? He says he's Humpty Dumpty's son..."

"Well, I don't know if he is, but I do know something about Gumpty Dumpty. I know he was here at the _beginning._ "

"What do you mean?"

"When gummi first came into being in the Gummi Sector, he was here, but he turned his back on gummi."

Silvia said, "How did he do that?"

"Simple. He walked away and never came back. He doesn't want to face his own gumminess. He's a traitor. After all we've been through, he's done nothing to defend us."

"I don't understand."

"Of course not," the snake said sadly. "You are not from our world. But before we go on, I would really like you to put your shirt back on."

She smirked. "Nice try. But I'm not letting you off that easy. Keep staring at my chest, baby. Tell me more about Gumpty Dumpty."

The gummi snake sighed. "Well, all I know is secondhand information. I can communicate—in a way—with the gummi worms, even though they are blind and deaf. They told me that when they first gained consciousness, they helped put him together out of pieces of gummi. They say they just all of a sudden existed and they knew they were supposed to push the pieces of gummi together to make Gumpty Dumpty. But that doesn't make sense, because how can gummi just come out of nowhere? Something must have created gummi...and created Gumpty Dumpty. But I don't know what that thing was. All I know is that Gumpty Dumpty was long gone by the time I was created. And since the beginning, he's been too cowardly to stand up for us. He's even worse than the Easter Bunny."

"What did the Easter Bunny do?"

"Well, you may not know this, but gummi has been shunned by the rest of the Easter Land community ever since we were first created. The Easter Bunny promised to help us, a thousand or so years ago. I had managed to acquire a page torn from the Corruptanomicon. On that piece of paper was a spell for putting someone to sleep for a thousand years, using lotus petals. The Easter Bunny told me that he was about to win some kind of contest to become the egg deliverer for the holiday of Easter. He said if I gave him the spell, he would do everything in his power to help gummi."

"And he didn't?"

"Well, we're still forsaken. He didn't do anything. He betrayed us!"

"What do you mean, that you're forsaken?"

"Gummi has always been the forsaken candy. They said we were unnatural and plastic—they said real candy didn't jiggle, and that we would _never_ be a part of Easter. The humans attacked us with catapults and would melt us alive whenever they saw one of us! They called us the candy perversity! So, we stayed in our own area, and we've been here ever since. Maybe someday the humans will accept us."

Silvia grimaced. "Well, I'm pretty sure all the humans in Easter Land are dead. They all killed each other in some war or something."

The gummi snake thought about that for a moment. "Well, it figures. The humans were always a hateful, warlike bunch. No offense."

"None taken. So you said you weren't there at the beginning of gummi. So how were you created?"

"Well, the worms fed on the magic fertility energy from your world. All of Easter Land is fed by it. Anyway, after a few days of being charged up with the energy, a bunch of the worms combined together and formed me. I've been their King ever since."

"They didn't make a queen for you?"

The gummi snake looked a little sad. "Nope. Magic works in mysterious ways. Destiny works in mysterious ways too. Did you know I'm destined for greatness?"

"Nope...I just barely met you."

"Well, according to my interpretation of the prophesy poem, in the days of destiny, I will break through the Grene Myhnt Wall to allow SinEaster to escape. I guess you could say that _my_ gift is breaking through walls."

Silvia's fear showed plainly on her face. "Will SinEaster destroy Easter?"

"I think the prophesy says so, and maybe it's for the best, because maybe when we're under the rule of SinEaster, gummi will get some respect!"

Her brow furrowed. "Oh no! But the prophesy isn't definite for sure, right? Maybe Easter will destroy SinEaster, right?"

"Yeah, well the prophesy doesn't say, _exactly."_

"And is that the mint wall over there?"

"Yep, sure is."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't break through that wall. Just let SinEaster stay behind it..."

The snake said matter-of-factly, "But I want to. It was what I was destined for."

Silvia pouted a little. "Well, whatever happens, I want you to know, if I win the contest I'm in, I will do my best to make sure that gummi becomes unforsaken."

The snake grinned in a shy kind of way. It was cute. "Well, thank you. That would mean a lot."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Silvia asked timidly, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Very much so."

"Thank you," she said with a grin. "I think I should be going back soon. Is there anything else important you want to tell me?"

"I can't think of anything."

"When are you going to break through the wall?"

The snake replied, "I don't know. When the time is right."

She asked, "If I ride you, are you going to hurt me?"

"Of course not. I just want to make you feel good."

Silvia took a deep breath, then said, "Can I ride you now?"

"Of course, baby."

So she walked over to the snake and he lowered himself and she hopped on top and she straddled him and he started to pump up and down and move along the ground and Silvia rode the snake while giggling and shouting out "Wheeee!" and "Woooo!" And as her body jiggled and her hair thrashed in the air, it felt so good! And after five minutes, she was gasping for air—the snake stopped, because he was tired—and Silvia sat on him for a moment, trembling from the excitement.

Then she climbed off, said thank you, then kissed the cheek of one of his heads. The snake grinned.

When she went to get dressed again, she couldn't find her bra.

The snake said he didn't know where it went, and the worms didn't know either—but, he said, "Undergarments have a way of disappearing in Easter Land. It's part of fertility magic."

So Silvia just put her shirt back on.

A couple minutes later, she was catapulted back toward Easter Castle.

~*Silvia's Sonnet*~

O, see the angel flying through the sky!

This girl of purity who we disdain!

Cuz guys refuse to look her in the eye,

And treat her virgin chest as if profane!

But from her orbs, our gaze cannot refrain!

We seek her eyes, yet peer into her heart!

So pure it beats—we cannot cause it pain.

And so, in lies, we no more play our part.

Her orbs are pure, and not those of a tart!

Those youthful eyes—we gaze, but do not pounce!

She'll ride the snake whenever she can start.

The fallen angel now prepares to bounce!

So when you next gaze at a girl, so fair,

Stare not at boobs, but at the heart 'neath there!

**CHAPTER 17**

Charlee Heads Back

Charlee awkwardly said to the Blind Bunny, "Well, I really admire your strength in overcoming all your struggles."

The Blind Bunny sadly replied, "Thanks."

"Well, thank you very much for answering my questions. I must be going now. Would you like me to give a message to the pink bunnies?"

"No, that's okay. Goodbye." He waved his front paw.

"Goodbye," Charlee said back. She walked outside, back onto the crunchy, ashy ground of the volcano. She stood in front of the skeleton on the ground while peering down at it. She now noticed that the skeleton was gripping a piece of paper. She shifted her eyes and focused on the encrusted thing lodged in the ribcage. It was a corruptagram, she realized. She lifted her hand so that her palm faced it. It wobbled, then leapt into her hand. The encrusted grime around it cracked, then it all fell away to reveal the gleaming metallic corruptagram. Charlee couldn't help but grin as she beheld the beauty of it. _This must be the Glaive,_ she thought. She was surprised to find that the Glaive had a red heart and horns on it—in fact it looked remarkably similar to her own corruptagram, except the Glaive had razor sharp horns. So, Charlee slipped her necklace chain into the Glaive, then put the Glaive around her neck. She put her old corruptagram necklace into the skeleton's ribcage.

She looked at the piece of paper in the skeleton's hand. It seemed strange to her that it would still be intact if it had been there since the wizard's death. She focused on the piece of paper to see if her telekinesis would work on it. At first, the paper only fluttered a little. She had to reach down and crack open the skeletal hand—one of the fingers fell off. Then she concentrated, and the piece of paper drifted into her hand! Since her power only seemed to work on magical items, she figured the paper must be magical in some way.

She looked down at it—it looked like a page torn out of a book:
Corruptanomicon

The Glaive

This it was given me to know, that the Glaive shall be discovered within a river of stone atop a mountain that lays eggs. A powerful weapon it shall be, which must not be used lightly. Only at certain times, to fulfill destiny, should it be wielded, but when these times are, it was not given me to know.

To activate its powers, one must recite the words of the spell before throwing it.

The words of the spell are these:

I throw this deadly Glaive away,

Upon this midnight, 18th's day,

To seek that most corrupted heart,

Which caused my life to fall apart.

355

She slipped the page into her jeans, then walked back to the cable car and got inside.

She started the cable car up—moments later, it was sliding down the wire.

When the cable car was about 3/4 of the way down, Charlee lifted the bottom of her shirt and stared guiltily at the pink bunny's poor little head poking out from the fanny pack. The bunny opened one eye, which caused Charlee to yelp in surprise. She lifted the bunny out, then set it on the floor.

The bunny yawned, then stared at Charlee while tilting her head, then said, "Hello."

"Hello," Charlee said back. "I'm glad you're not dead."

"Me too. I went unconscious in the cuddle pile."

"Well, you weren't breathing..."

"Wow!" said the bunny. "I thought I just went to sleep!"

"You must have started breathing somewhere along the way, then fell asleep later. I took you to the top of the volcano...you pink bunnies fall asleep because of the altitude, right?"

The pink bunny nodded then said, "Right. Well, I woke up for a while after the cuddle pile, but it was dark so I thought it was nighttime, so I went to sleep."

Charlee nodded. "Ah, that explains it. Well, we're almost back to your home..."

The cable car came to a rest on the ground. Charlee opened the door and the bunny happily hopped out.

Charlee socialized with some bunnies for a while, then a few minutes later, she was riding back toward the gate of Pink Valley in the steam car, with the same two bunnies as before. The whole time, none of the bunnies seemed to notice she had the Glaive around her neck.

**CHAPTER 18**

The Contest Resumes

Silvia, the gummi-girl, was the first to return to the grassy area outside the Easter Castle wall. She waited impatiently for the return of Deon and Charlee. Princess Megan, the Easter Bunny, the Easter Toad, and Gumpty Dumpty were there too, but no one was allowed to speak, to discourage cheating.

Instead, they read books (there is a magical world inside of books), and waited.

Silvia had a rough landing after being catapulted—the trampoline had broken some of her fall, but then she had bounced off it, into the castle wall, but she was okay. Catapult is a quick and convenient mode of travel, if you can handle it. Her shirt had ripped a lot during the landing, but luckily her nipples were still covered, so it wasn't illegal. Her skirt was now tattered almost stylishly, with a jaggedy all-the-way-up slit in the back, which she didn't seem to notice. She was wearing pink cotton panties with the word "ANGEL" written on the back, but her skirt usually covered some of the letters, so that it looked like, "VGE".

Finally, Deon arrived, being pulled by the racing snail. He claimed that his fanny pack and everything inside it had been chocolatized, so Princess Megan went into the castle and came back with replacements. She also gave a marker to each of the Chosen Ones as they arrived—she said it was for writing down the answer to the Easter Bunny's riddle. Charlee appeared about 30 minutes after Deon, pulled by the ostrich, and finally the contest could resume. It was 1:12 in the afternoon.

"Okay," said Princess Megan as she stood facing Charlee, Deon, and Silvia. "You three **< ~**Chosen Ones **~ >** have gone on your separate adventures, and now it's time to see if you accomplished your missions. You were each supposed to find a candy item, and find an out an answer to a mystery. Now, each of those tasks is worth two points, for a possible four additional points. As a reminder, the scores so far are Deon 2, Charlee 1, and Silvia 0. The prophesy poem says that the candies must be given to me in order to fulfill destiny, so let's do that afterwards, because I have a feeling things will get wild after that. So, let's start with the fact-finding portion of your quests, then."

When Princess Megan asked Deon, he told her the story of how Princess Cinny had drowned and how her soul had been transformed into a tadpole, and her human body had been transformed into chocolate and kept in the cave of the baby troll. Then Deon explained how he had found the chocolate body of Princess Cinny, and he had tried to bring it back, but the chocolate princess body had been taken to SinEaster.

Princess Megan rewarded him two points. His score was now 4.

Charlee scored two points, because she had learned that the boiled egg of the once future King had floated down the river, inside its basket, into the area known as SinEaster. Her total score was now 3.

When Princess Megan turned to Silvia, in a panic, Silvia shouted over to Gumpty Dumpty, "Quick, do you know what happened to Humpty Dumpty? If you do, you need to tell me now, or I won't get these points!"

But Gumpty Dumpty only shook his large head.

Silvia squinted her eyes and made a mean face. "I think you're lying. The gummi snake told me you were there at the beginning of gummi and I suspect you know more than you're saying. I have a way of making you tell the truth. You're lucky that I'm still underage, for today at least..."

But Gumpty Dumpty only kept shaking his head.

"Fine!" Silvia said as she turned to look at Princess Megan. Then Silvia started babbling about the gummi snake and what she had learned about gumminess—as if by substituting other information, she could still make two points.

Princess Megan cut Silvia off after about a minute.

Since Silvia had not learned what happened to Humpty Dumpty, her score remained at 0.

"Now for the next portion of the contest!" Princess Megan proclaimed. She approached Deon. He handed the two chocolate sdiu over. Deon's score was now 6.

The Princess stepped over to Charlee, and Charlee handed over the magical pink jelly bean, making her score 5.

The Princess stepped over to Silvia. Silvia leaned over and whispered something into Princess Megan's ear.

Princess Megan drew back, then exclaimed, "In your boobs? How can the icing eyes be in your boobs?"

Silvia cringed, then shrugged and looked down.

The Princess said, "Well, I can't give you any points unless you give them to me."

Charlee watched, then arched her brow, then she said, "Excuse me, but I think I can help."

Silvia raised her head. "How? And why would you want to?"

Charlee replied, "Well, I found out that I have the power to make magical objects move, so I might be able to get them out. And why do I want to? Well, destiny has to be fulfilled right? Besides, I'm real sure I know the answer to the Easter Bunny's riddle, so you won't be able to beat my score, no matter what. And I think it's safest to do what the prophesy says, even though the poem is pretty hard to understand. Doesn't it say that the candies have to be given to the Princess or something? I've had a long day, and I want destiny to be fulfilled, already."

Silvia looked to the Princess, who nodded. Silvia asked, "So what do I have to do?"

Charlee glanced at Silvia's chest, then said, "You're not wearing a bra. Good. I need you to put your hands under your shirt and cup your boobs—but not too tight, okay?"

Silvia nodded, then put her hands up her shirt and cupped. She seemed embarrassed that everyone was watching her.

Charlee said, "Okay, now I'm going to concentrate and see if I can move the eyes." She closed her own eyes.

Silvia started giggling. "Hey! That tickles!" Then a few seconds later, she exclaimed, "Hey, I feel them!"

Charlee opened her eyes and grinned.

Silvia leaned forward a little, then brought her hands back out from under her shirt. She opened her hands and there, resting in each palm were the icing eyes—little yellow balls with blue icing irises.

Many gasps of awe and surprise, while Silvia beamed.

Silvia handed the eyes over to the Princess, who said, "Gummi-girl's score is now 2."

The Princess was holding all of the magical candies gently in her right fist, which she raised into the air—then she proclaimed, "Behold! All three magical candies have been given to me, the Princess! Now let destiny unfold!" She made a little nudgy punch, for emphasis.

But nothing happened.

"Weird," said Princess Megan. She lowered her arm. Her shoulders slumped as she muttered, "Bummer." She looked around. "Okay," she said sullenly, "what do you Chosen Ones think we should do?"

After some discussion, they said they all sensed they should go into SinEaster, though they couldn't explain exactly why.

Princess Megan said, "Well, you _are_ the Chosen Ones, and you're supposed to have a special sense for these things. So I guess we must go into SinEaster so that I can use the candies in order to fulfill destiny! Silvia talked about how the gummi snake felt he would break through the wall, right? Good! We'll go to him!"

The Easter Bunny said, "Hey, what about my riddle?"

Princess Megan exclaimed, "Forget your riddle! We have more important things to do. Let's go!"

Charlee asked, "All of us?"

"Sure," said Princess Megan. "How do I know who will be useful in our date with destiny?"

The Easter Bunny protested meekly, "But it will only take a few minutes." But the Princess glared at him like she was about to tear his ears off, which shut him up.

Charlee clapped in an overexcited, smart aleck way, then exclaimed, "So it's a group date, then?"

They catapulted Silvia ahead of them, to alert King Sinuous so the gummi worms wouldn't attack. Some escorts were summoned from inside Easter Castle, then everyone got into a chariot and were pulled by various creatures to Gummi Sector.

They slowed down as they approached the outer edge of Gummi Sector, where the green grass stopped and the green gummi ground began. They gazed at the writhing multi-colored masses of gummi worms that covered the ground amongst the catapults. The SinEaster River flowed on their left. In the distance, they could see Silvia riding a green two-headed gummi snake in front of the thirty-foot-high mint wall.

The worms moved aside to allow the chariots through.

Silvia waved at them, then continued riding the snake.

After a while, all the chariots stopped in front of Silvia and the snake.

Silvia had her eyes closed and was moaning while the snake undulated.

From her chariot, Princess Megan said, "Excuse me, Silvia?"

Silvia dreamily opened her eyes, then said, "Oh, hello Princess."

The gummi snake stopped undulating, then said, "Hello everyone."

Everyone said hello back.

The snake said, "Silvia told me what's going on. Are you ready for me to break through the Grene Myhnt Wall?"

The Princess replied, "Yes. Do you know how to do it?"

The snake shook his heads. "I thought I might get a feeling of what to do when the time came. Maybe I have to be energized by fertility power, like when Silvia got rubbed by the gummi worms."

Charlee exclaimed, "Hey! I was cuddled by bunnies and then I got energized with a warm fuzzy!"

Deon exclaimed in surprise, "And I was rubbed by tadpoles, which energized _me!_ "

Princess Megan said, "Hmmm. It seems that the fertility power was initiated by rubbing of some kind for all three of you ~*Chosen~Ones*~. Perhaps the same thing would work on the gummi snake. I know a little bit about fertility magic and I think that you three _@~_ Chosen Ones@~ should rub the gummi snake. That way, you might transfer your fertility energy to him. I think that might cause him to be able to break through the Grene Myhnt..."

Charlee said, "Ewww. Can I ask a question? Why don't we go down that river over there? Or, why don't we just go over the wall? It's kinda high, but not _too_ high."

Gumpty Dumpty said, "We can't. The wall is enchanted. Anyone who tries to climb it will fall off."

Silvia snarled, "And how do you know that?"

Gumpty Dumpty mumbled, "I just heard that somewhere. I don't remember where."

Silvia said, "Uh huh," as if she didn't believe him.

Charlee said, "So why don't we go down that river over there? It leads right into SinEaster, right?"

Princess Megan replied, "That part of the river is guarded by black licorice water-snakes. They wouldn't let us through. And besides, King Sinuous says it is prophesied that he will break through the wall. It's best not to toy around with destiny. Now let's get this show moving, okay? It's been a long day, and you want it over, right?"

Charlee sighed. "Right."

Everyone got out of their chariots, then Charlee, Deon, and Silvia stood and put their hands on the gummi snake.

"Good," said Princess Megan. "Now, rub him. Try to focus your thoughts on transferring your fertility energy. Maybe that will work."

Awkwardly, they started rubbing their hands on the gummi snake. Silvia started nuzzling her cheek on the snake, as well.

The three **\m/** Chosen Ones **\m/** focused their thoughts.

After about a minute of being rubbed, the snake exclaimed, "I feel something! I feel tingly—like your rubbing has energized me!"

Indeed, everyone looking could see that he seemed to throb, and his body began to glow, and his two heads glowed brighter than his body.

The snake shouted, "Stand back!"

The snake slid up to the wall, then lay lengthwise in front of it. Slowly he raised both of his heads up, like two cobras. He was twitching and trembling, filled with the energy coursing through him.

Both of his heads shouted out a battle cry: "Gummi power!" Then both his heads drew back, then simultaneously slammed into the high mint wall on two points right next to each other. There was a loud thud sound, and the wall shook but did not break.

The snake drew his heads back, then slammed them again into the wall, which still did not break. Then the snake began rhythmically drawing back and thrusting forward with both of his heads. _Bam Bam Bam Bam_ —over fourteen times he did it—it seemed the wall might withstand the brutality—then all of the sudden, the snake thrusted forward, and the wall broke—the snake lost his balance and fell forward—mint-bricks crashed to the ground, and dust filled the air.

**CHAPTER 19**

Entering into SinEaster

The snake wasn't hurt and recovered quickly as the minty dust settled.

There was now a six-foot-wide hole in the wall. The mint-bricks above it hadn't completely collapsed, but the hole was big enough for them to enter. Everyone gathered around to look through. On the other side of the wall, everything was enshrouded in darkness as if it was nighttime, but there was a full moon, which made things easier to see. The ground wasn't grassy—it was just plain dirt.

Princess Megan told the creatures who had pulled the chariots to stay put and wait, because she said it seemed "unlikely that such common creatures will play an important role in destiny." The gummi snake declined to go any further, because, "My work is done." Princess Megan told everyone else to walk through the gap and enter SinEaster. Despite their fear, they did so.

About sixty feet in front and slightly to the left of them, they could see a dark shape that looked like a castle. And to their left was SinEaster River. The river flowed on until it disappeared into darkness.

About forty feet away, what appeared to be a hunchbacked man stood on the shore of the river next to what appeared to be some sort of large insect. A bonfire and torches set in the ground lit them with flickering light.

The ugly man saw them. He lifted his hand in the air and waved at them. The scorpion turned and seemed to wave its tail.

There was some murmuring among the group of Chosen Ones and creatures. They thought it might be a trap, but the Chosen Ones sensed they should go to the man, so Princess Megan muttered something about destiny, and told every one to "Come on." Then she started walking. So the group followed her.

Soon, the group stood in front of the ugly man and the scorpion—they could now see a brown girl in a brown poofy skirt and white button-up shirt lying on the ground. The underside of her skirt was oriented toward the river, so no one could see up it.

The ugly man smiled and said, "Welcome to SinEaster Kingdom!" He looked like a leper, with bald patches on his head, grayish skin, and a bowed back. "I am the King of SinEaster. And this is my personal guard—his real name is unpronounceable by most creatures, but you may refer to him as Scorpion. He is a most highly skilled warrior."

Princess Megan bowed. "Glad to make your acquaintance. I'm Princess Megan. These are the three Chosen Ones, and the three creatures they represent."

"Glad to meet you," the ugly King said to them all. "I want to first of all say I'm sorry for accidentally taking this chocolate girl. I sent my black licori out on a scouting mission, and they took it upon themselves to seize her when the opportunity presented itself. They tell me she was already dead, and topless, when they came across a toad-legged boy transporting her."

Deon said, "That was me."

To Deon, the King said, "They misunderstood my instructions. I merely wanted them to find information about my future Queen. I hope you weren't hurt."

"I'm okay," Deon replied.

The King continued, "I cannot leave SinEaster myself, so I had to send my minions. I could sense the moment that you three first came to Easter Land. Somehow, I knew you would all end up here. I could somehow sense that you would be arriving tonight, and a page I found from the Corruptanomicon predicts it, so I've been waiting for your arrival. I assure you, I mean you no harm. What is her name?" He gestured with his chin at the chocolate body on the ground.

Princess Megan said, "Cinny."

"Well," said the King. "I think that Cinny was destined to be brought here for some reason. It seems I've been sensing a lot of things tonight. Like, tonight, I also sensed when the soul of my future Queen was awakened—it's weird, as if she suddenly came into consciousness. I've been so lonely here in SinEaster these hundreds of years. I am King here, but a king needs a queen, a suitable and worthy queen, to rule by his side. Do you happen to have any idea how I might find her?"

All of the sudden, the Easter Bunny started shouting at the King, "Exactly who are you anyway? By _whose_ authority are you King? And doesn't SinEaster want to _destroy_ Easter? Why should we help you?"

The King started laughing. "Who am I? I'm the child fed on your corruption. You see, when I was a baby, and I was still an egg, someone or something boiled me. I was born, I think, in Easter Land, but I somehow floated away inside a basket, and I ended up here, in SinEaster. I layed here on the shore, for many years. But the weird thing is, that those in Easter Land were using corruptamagic, and every time they used it, it made SinEaster stronger, and it made _me_ stronger, and eventually the magic caused me to become unboiled. I'm not perfect, but I'm alive. So who am I? I'm the only human in SinEaster, so I am the King, but I don't even know my name. I've never needed one."

The Easter Bunny started to speak, but Princess Megan shushed him. She said to the King, "Antiboli. That is your name."

"Oh!" the King exclaimed. "So you know my name! You must know something about where I came from, then!"

Princess Megan replied, "Yes, we've been looking for you. But I have an important question for you, Your Majesty. Do you want to destroy Easter?"

King Antiboli shrugged, then said, "Does Easter _deserve_ to be destroyed? Maybe SinEaster would make a better holiday to replace it. Really, I haven't thought much about it. Why would I want to conquer Easter Land when I can't even go there? You see, I can't leave SinEaster Kingdom, because the magic that keeps me alive wouldn't work in Easter Land, and I'd die. Although, now that I think about it, if I were to destroy Easter, I could just transform the entire Easter Land area into the SinEaster Kingdom, then I could go anywhere I wanted..."

In a sad voice, Princess Megan said, "The prophesy says that on the eighteenth day, SinEaster will become powerful enough to destroy Easter, but let me say that Easter is a good holiday and has helped a lot of people..."

King Antiboli shook his head. "From my perspective, Easter has become corrupted. The humans kept using corruptamagic, despite the fact that it always comes with a heavy price. And eventually they killed each other. Each time they used corruptamagic, SinEaster grew stronger, but I must admit that SinEaster hasn't grown strong enough to destroy Easter—it almost is, but not quite. And no one has used corruptamagic in centuries. So maybe the prophesy is wrong."

Princess Megan asked, "So you can sense how powerful SinEaster is?"

"Yes, and I can also sense how powerful Easter Land is, too. That's one of the perks of being King."

Princess Megan nodded. "Well, it isn't the eighteenth day. I believe the prophesy means that SinEaster will become powerful enough to destroy Easter on the Chosen Ones' birthday, and it's not yet midnight."

Silvia yelled, "Hey!" and everyone turned to look at her, then she said, "My watch says it's midnight!" She showed everyone her glow-in-the-dark watch and tapped it for emphasis, even though no one was close enough to be able to read it, except Deon.

King Antiboli said, "It's always midnight in SinEaster."

Deon blurted, "So doesn't that mean that we three are now 18!"

They looked at King Antiboli questioningly.

The King nodded. "If you were 17 and 364 days old before you entered SinEaster, then yes, you are now 18. However, if you leave SinEaster, you'll go back to regular time."

Everyone had grown so used to bizarro happenings, that no one seemed surprised.

Princess Megan said to the King, "Well I hope that you won't try to destroy Easter and that we can keep things friendly. But if you will excuse me, I'm afraid I am confused by the prophesy and I must consult with the Chosen Ones for what to do next."

"Wait," Charlee said, "I believe I know what to do." She unzipped her fanny pack, then quickly read over the prophesy. "The three should give the Princess candy sin. Those are the exact words of the prophesy. I sense that we should somehow give the three magical candies to Princess Cinny." The other two Chosen Ones nodded in agreement.

King Antiboli said, "Wait, _Princess_ Cinny? You didn't tell me she was a princess."

Charlee said, "But anyway, Princess Megan has the three magical candies in her fanny pack. I think she should give them back to us..."

Princess Megan shook her head. "I didn't realize you would find the actual body of Princess Cinnamon! So are you trying to tell me, _she_ is the princess that the prophesy mentions, and not me? But she's dead! At least _I'm_ alive! Princesses can't just stay around for centuries, preserved in chocolate form! It's not fair!"

In a mean way, Charlee said, " _Destiny_ isn't fair. We already gave the candies to you, and nothing happened, remember?"

Princess Megan replied, "Oh, shut up."

Charlee put on a sweet smile. "Please?"

Princess Megan sighed, then unzipped her fanny pack—she said, "Whatever. I don't even live here."—then she brought out the pink jelly bean, the two chocolate sdiu, and the icing eyes.

She handed them back to the three Chosen Ones, then stood looking annoyed, with her arms crossed.

Silvia walked over to the chocolate Princess body while everyone watched, then she looked down at Princess Cinny's face. Princess Cinny had no eyes. Silvia kneeled, then pressed one of the icing eyes to the smooth eye area of the chocolate Princess. The icing eye somehow stuck in place. Silvia attached the second icing eye.

As Silvia drew back, Deon stepped confidently up to the chocolate princess body. He squatted, then with his finger, briefly peered down her shirt. There were gasps.

But Deon proceeded calmly. He took one of the chocolate sdiu, slipped his hand under the shirt, then seemed to press it to one of Princess Cinny's breasts. Then Deon pressed the other sdiu to the other breast. He stood, then backed away. Princess Cinny's chest now looked cold.

Next, Charlee held the pink jelly bean between her thumb and finger. She knelt, lifted up the chocolate skirt slightly, then reached up Princess Cinny's skirt. She brought her hand back out a few moments later, and the pink jelly bean was gone.

Charlee stood, then said, "Her fertility power has been awakened." She took four steps back and watched.

Princess Cinny began to glow slightly.

Everyone watched in anticipation. She glowed for another twenty two seconds. Nothing else happened, though.

Charlee rubbed her chin. "Hmmm... I thought that putting the candies on her would revive her, but I guess not. Maybe, we have to do something else..."

Deon said, "Maybe—"

Charlee cut him off. "I know. Maybe this is where the magic of the Glaive comes in! I have this strange feeling that I should put it around Princess Cinny's neck—somehow I sense I should do it to fulfill destiny! Maybe it will revive her!" So Charlee took off her pendant—it was a corruptagram, which of course, is a broken heart inside a circle with horns on top. "I got this from the wizard in the Valley of the Pink Bunnies."

The Easter Bunny gasped, then pointed and said, "That's the Glaive?"

"That's right," Charlee answered. She kneeled, then slipped the necklace around Princess Cinny's neck.

Everyone watched. Princess Cinny kept glowing just like before, but nothing else happened.

Deon said, "I know what to do..."

Everyone looked at him. Charlee, with her hands on her hips, demanded, "What?"

Deon pointed to the river. "There are four tadpoles over there. Each of them holds the soul of a broken-hearted maiden. One of them holds the soul of Princess Cinny. They have signaled to me. I communicated with them before, telepathically, but I can't now, probably because I haven't let them touch me for a while. As a Chosen One, I sense that we must put Princess Cinny's body in the river and allow the souls of the tadpoles to enter her..."

In surprise, King Antiboli said, "You mean those tadpoles are special? I should've known. I thought they just came to visit, and we _never_ get visitors. I think everyone is scared of the black licorice snakes."

Princess Megan took charge again. "Let's do it!" she said. She, Gumpty Dumpty, Charlee, and Silvia started to lift the body up.

Deon said, "Wait, first take off her panties."

Charlee said, "She's not wearing any panties."

The four little tadpoles came to the surface of the river and treaded upright.

Nobody carrying the body wanted to get wet, so Deon took his shoes and socks off and waded in, then he pulled the body to a deeper part of the river. She started floating upright.

It only took ten seconds.

Then the floating chocolate body jolted! Then Princess Cinny shouted out, "Oh yeah!"

The body of Princess Cinny opened her eyes. She was still chocolate, but apparently alive. She started spasming and she arched her back and shouted, "Errrr...fuck!"

She looked around. Deon helped guide her, then she clumsily stood up in the shallow water. King Antiboli and Deon helped her onto the shore. She looked around—she was trembling and had trouble standing—as if she had just been jolted by electricity.

Princess Megan said, "Welcome back, Princess Cinny." Then she bowed.

"Thank you," Princess Cinny replied. "I believe I can stand on my own now. For many centuries, my soul was inside a tadpole, but I had no memory of who I was. I've learned now that my Prince, who I had sought to kiss to transform him from a toad to a human—I learned he has been dead a long time." She looked sad. She turned to look at King Antiboli. "But I've been watching, and now I know that his son lives on. That's you. I carried you in a basket when you were just a boiled egg."

King Antiboli seemed smitten by Princess Cinny. He replied, "It was _you_ who carried me? Well, corruption revived me and now I rule the Kingdom of SinEaster."

Princess Cinny nodded. "It seems destiny has brought us together. Before I died, I sought to kiss the Prince. I have a gift of a magical kiss. He is gone now...but part of him lives on in you. May I?" She took a step toward King Antiboli and puckered her lips.

King Antiboli nodded timidly, then looked down. Princess Cinny kissed him on his cheek. As she drew back, King Antiboli began to transform! Hair started to grow into his bald patches, his skin began to shift, his back straightened. Within a minute, he became a truly handsome, younger version of his former self. He looked to be in his late teens with long, flowing black hair.

Everyone was amazed at the transformation. King Antiboli was staring at his hands—they were no longer gnarled, and the skin was no longer a sickly color.

Princess Cinny smiled at him. "My kiss has transformed you! I see a lot of your father in your face. It makes me horny. Oh my! Why did I just say that?"

The King replied, "I think it's the magic candies filling you with fertility power. I can explain that to you later." He'd suddenly attained an English accent. "First, I'd like to ask you something. Will you stay with me and be my Queen and help me rule SinEaster?"

Princess Cinny nodded enthusiastically. "Hell yeah! You're hot! And we should fuck as soon as possible too! I'm tired of being a virgin. And we can raise a family, too! I'm pregnant with triplets."

Princess Megan shouted out, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Princess Cinny, why can't you go back to Easter and rule there? Easter needs you."

King Antiboli said to Princess Megan, "Well, she probably won't be able to survive in Easter, because coming back from the dead is sinful, and can only be allowed in SinEaster..."

Princess Megan thought for a moment. "Okay, never mind then."

The Easter Bunny angrily shouted out, "Okay, can we get on with the damn contest now?"

Princess Megan snarled, "Okay fine! Dude, I can't wait to get this day over with!"

The Easter Bunny turned to Charlee, then said, "Now, remember, when you win, you can sign all your responsibilities over to me. Because you hate Easter, right?"

Charlee answered, "Right. I just want to preserve Easter for all the children."

Princess Megan said to King Antiboli and Princess Cinny, "You'll have to excuse us for a moment. We have to conclude a contest." Antiboli and Cinny nodded, then stepped aside and started talking amongst themselves.

Princess Megan turned and stood facing the three Chosen Ones and the three potential egg deliverers and the scorpion. She said, "The scores so far are:

Deon 6

Charlee 5

Silvia 2

**CHAPTER 20**

The Easter Bunny's Riddle

Princess Megan continued, "The final part of the contest is about the Easter Bunny's riddle, which you all heard earlier. Each of you Chosen Ones have paper to write on. If you answer correctly, you will get two points. But if you answer incorrectly, you will lose two points. And if you choose not to answer at all, you will neither gain nor lose points. Are there any questions?"

Silvia raised her finger. "I have a _couple_ of questions."

Princess Megan said, "Yes?"

Silvia stepped forward, then turned around to face the Chosen Ones and potential egg deliverers and the scorpion. She made an announcement to them: "Now that I'm 18, I can do this..." She lifted her shirt and held it up. The light of the bonfire behind her shined through her body, filling her with a glow. "Look into my heart!" she shouted.

From Silvia's left, Princess Megan said, "What are you doing?"

Silvia replied, "Trust me..." Everyone facing her was staring at her heart. She looked at Gumpty Dumpty, then asked him, "Do you know what happened to Humpty Dumpty?"

Gumpty Dumpty replied, "Yes."

A few of them gasped. They continued staring at her heart.

Silvia said, "Well, what happened to Humpty Dumpty? The gummi snake told me you were there at the beginning of gummi. Does that have something to do with it?"

"Yes," answered Gumpty Dumpty. "I was there at the beginning of gummi, because I _created_ gummi. _I_ am Humpty Dumpy. Why am I telling you this?"

Silvia replied, "Because I have a gift that makes others tell the truth. Now tell me, how did you create gummi?"

He replied, "Well, many centuries ago, I was Humpty Dumpty. I felt very insecure, because I was an egg, even though I was a great warrior. I felt weak, like I would break at any moment. So, I turned to corruptamagic. I obtained a page torn out of the ancient Corruptanomicon. It was a special spell that made it so that if I was ever broken, I would immediately re-form in an even stronger version. I felt it would protect me if I ever had an accident or was cracked in battle. But I still had low self-esteem. I gave up on myself, and one day I decided I would run away and live in the SinEaster Kingdom. So I tried to climb the low mint wall. It wasn't as high back then, so I thought I could make it. But when I reached the top, I found out it was enchanted, and it caused me to slip off. I fell and broke on the ground, and died. And that's when I believe gummi was created. The ground around me transformed into green gummi and little gummi worms formed and began to grow. All my pieces transformed into gummi and the worms put me back together again. Then I regained consciousness. Well, I didn't want to stay around. So I left and went back to Easter Land. I told everyone I was Humpty Dumpty's son, because I didn't want to be punished for using corruptamagic like the Easter Bunny was, and also, I felt so ashamed! I've been living that lie ever since. I wanted to be stronger, but I never intended to end up like this! I've become a candy perversity!"

In a scolding voice, Silvia said, "So you were _so_ ashamed that you were willing to lose this contest rather than tell me."

Gumpty Dumpty nodded.

Silvia rolled her eyes. "How annoying." To Princess Megan, without turning, she said, "Do I get the two points now?"

"No, it's too late."

"Well, crap," Silvia responded. She looked at the Easter Bunny. "Now I think it's time for you to fess up to some things. I have a few questions for you..."

The Easter Bunny sounded murderous as he said, "I really don't want you to do that. It's not nice to force others to do things."

With a wicked grin, Silvia said, "Well I would like to shed light on a few issues having to do with whether you _deserve_ to win this contest. Because Charlee could somehow get the riddle wrong and lose two points, right Charlee?"

After a pause, Charlee answered, "Right," as if she had just realized that.

The Easter Bunny looked scared. Silvia asked him, "Did you use a magic spell to put the Easter Toad and Gumpty Dumpty to sleep?"

He answered, "Yes...dammit!"

"Why?" Silvia asked.

"So I would be able to deliver the eggs while they slept. What, are you stupid? But that was before I read the prophesy."

"How did the prophesy change things?"

"Because it says I'll win," the Easter Bunny replied.

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes it does! You just don't know the last three lines, because I tore them off the page! Dammit, I didn't want to say that!"

Silvia arched her brow, then asked, "And what are the last three lines?"

Without a pause he answered, "'Once the three find out who's won or lost, the long-eared one will throw power away, because of hatred of Easter within.'"

Silvia asked, "And what do you think that means?"

He replied, "That after Charlee wins, she'll throw her power away by signing her rights off to me, because she hates Easter."

"Ah well, why even go on with the contest then? We already know the results, right?"

The Easter Bunny nodded without taking his eyes off her chest. "Right. You and Deon can withdraw, or we can just declare the winner right now. It's destined."

Silvia laughed a little, then said, "Charlee do you have any questions you'd like to ask? As long as he stares at my heart, he'll tell the truth, or at least what he believes to be the truth."

Charlee replied, "Yes, I'd like to know if he left a DVD of him having sex with my mom, that my dad found."

Silvia arched her brow, then said to the Easter Bunny, "Well?"

He answered, "Yes, I did it."

"Why?" Silvia asked.

The Easter Bunny seemed to be trying to keep from speaking, but he said, "It was all part of my plan to make Charlee hate Easter. Because I knew she would eventually be in this contest and I wanted her to hate Easter so much, that she would sign over all her rights to me when she won. That way I would have complete power over Easter!"

Silvia asked, "And why do you want power over Easter?"

The Easter Bunny shouted, "To avenge the chocolate mockery! The children of your world have disrespected me for too long, and if I get complete power, I will use it to make them pay! But I really shouldn't say any more about that, because it involves the answer to my riddle. I suppose you could _make_ me tell, if you wanted to cheat..." He sounded sulky.

"No," Silvia said. "That's enough information." She lowered her shirt.

Princess Megan shouted out, "Okay, I really want to get back home, so I wanna wrap this up now, okay?"

The Easter Bunny said to Charlee, "She was making me say all those things. She was putting words in my mouth. None of it is true."

Charlee nodded a little and smiled. "Okay."

The Easter Bunny said to Princess Megan, "I think Silvia should be disqualified for cheating."

Princess Megan said, "Denied. Now come on, let's hurry up. Now, you will write your answer to the riddle on the papers in your fanny packs. You should each still have a marker. Any questions?"

Deon said, "Yes. What happens if there is a tie in the scores?"

Princess Megan answered, "Then those who tie will both stay in Easter Land and rule together."

Deon glanced over at Silvia. "So if I tied with Silvia I could stay in Easter Land with her?" His eyes glanced at her chest.

Princess Megan rolled her eyes. "Yessss."

Deon asked, "And if I, or Charlee were to write the wrong answer, we'd both lose two points, right?"

"Yes, just like it says on the paper I gave you. Okay, Easter Bunny, recite your riddle again."

Here was the riddle:

I'm a statue flattery,

Whose taste is sweet.

Becoming hollow mockery,

My light, you eat.

My sound, you eat as well.

I wish you straight to hell,

But just a frozen, Easter smile, you greet!

What am I?

The three Chosen Ones wrote down their answers, but did not reveal them.

Princess Megan said, "Deon, what was your answer?"

Deon showed his paper. It said:

Melons

There was some laughter.

Princess Megan said, "I'm sorry. That's not the correct answer. You lose two points, and your total score is now 4."

Deon smiled at Princess Megan, then nodded.

Princess Megan said, "Charlee, what was your answer?"

Charlee showed her paper. It said:

The Easter Bunny is a dumass

At this point, the Easter Bunny shook his fist and shouted, "You stupid bitch!"

Princess Megan shushed the Easter Bunny, then said, "That's not the correct answer. You lose two points, and your total score is 3. Now Silvia, what was your answer?"

Silvia showed her paper. It said:

Chocolate bunni

Princess Megan nodded. "That is the correct answer. You gain two points. Your final score is 4. You tie with Deon. You two will stay and rule Easter. Charlee, you will go back home."

The Easter Bunny was trembling with anger as he shouted, "I demand a recount!"

Princess Megan rolled her eyes. "Request denied. This contest is over. Besides, you didn't deserve to win, dumbass."

Charlee stuck her tongue out at the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny gave her the finger back.

Then with a sudden quickness, the Easter Bunny hippety hopped over to where Princess Cinny and King Antiboli were standing about ten feet away. In an instant, he had grabbed Princess Cinny from behind—she yelled "Help!"—the Easter Bunny had one arm across her throat, and was holding her other arm behind her—he was pulling her backward.

The Easter Bunny shouted to Charlee, "You ruined it! I was gonna take over! I should've won!"

Charlee shouted back, "Look, it's over! You lost and there's nothing you can do about it!"

The Easter Bunny shouted, "Oh, but I can make you pay! Because I know what the Glaive is, and the power it holds, because I know the wizard you got it from. The dead wizard. Cuz guess what! He made me so mad, I convinced his underage girlfriend to kill him! And guess what, I convinced that witch to use a corruptamagic spell to change Cinny's precious Prince into a toad! That's right! But you still didn't love me, did you Cinny? You wandered off into the forest to kiss a toad and got yourself killed. You stupid bitch!"

Princess Cinny was frozen with fear. The King, who was the closest to them, watched helplessly.

The Easter Bunny shouted to Charlee, "You ruined everything! And now, I will make you pay!" He ripped the corruptagram pendant from Princess Cinny's neck. The chain broke and fell away.

The Easter Bunny pushed Princess Cinny away and she fell to the ground. He stood holding the Glaive in his hand. He raised it in the air, then stared intently at Charlee as he said, "I know that the Glaive is a powerful magical weapon. And I'm going to use it on you, Charlee, because you've ruined everything for me, you bitch."

Charlee smirked, then yelled, "Yeah, right, bitch! You act like you know everything about the Glaive, but you don't know that it has to be activated by a magical spell!" From her pocket, she brought out the piece of paper, then held it in the air. "And without this spell, you can't do any—" She gasped, as suddenly, the piece of paper seemed to blow out of her hand with a gust of wind out of nowhere. It whirled in the air, then floated...right into the Easter Bunny's hand!

The Easter Bunny laughed. "How unlucky for you!" In the light of a nearby torch, he looked at the paper and recited the words of the spell:

I throw this deadly Glaive away,

Upon this midnight, 18th's day,

To seek that most corrupted heart,

Which caused my life to fall apart!

The Glaive began to glow. The Easter Bunny drew his arm back, then threw the Glaive hard at Charlee.

It twirled through the air straight towards Charlee's chest.

And it missed her—flung past her—as she dodged to the side. Luckily no one else was harmed, either.

And the Easter Bunny's face contorted with rage, as he threw the paper away, then shook his fist at Charlee and screamed, "You stupid bitch! I was gonna get my power and get my revenge! I was gonna make Easter be everyday and deliver my terror to all the children of the world! I was going to finally get my revenge on all those little brats! I was going to avenge the chocolate mockery!" He shook his fist even more viciously. "The chocolaaate mockeerryyyyy!!!"

Then a red and silver blur whirred through the air as the Glaive returned like a boomerang and thunked into his chest, and stuck there.

He stared down at the Glaive.

The bunny popped his eyes!

Then he shook!

What he saw was a shocking surprise!

So what had happened...?

Well...

in SinEaster they say

that the bunny's small heart

formed two pieces that day!

And the second his heart didn't feel quite so right,

He wheezed and fell over, and entered the night.

And sometimes a grinch really should just go away,

To allow a cool holiday like SinEaster Day.

The Easter Bunny was dead.

They checked his pulse and everything.

After they declared the Easter Bunny dead, King Antiboli meekly said, "You know, the prophesy was right after all. When the Easter Bunny used the corruptamagic Glaive spell, it finally caused SinEaster to become so powerful, that now, I could destroy Easter if I wanted to..."

There were many gasps.

But King Antiboli only gave a big friendly smile, "But I don't want to do that. I'm happy. I've found someone who I was destined to love. And I hope I've met a lot of new friends. I think we should compromise..."

**EPILOGUE**

~*fast forward to the present*~

Easter Sunday has come once again!

Throughout the world, gleeful children awaken to Easter baskets that the Easter Toad or Gumpty Dumpty left them.

The baskets are filled with candy and eggs!

There are the traditional, colored boiled eggs.

And there are also the plastic eggs, inside of which are the new Easter candy—the gummi tadpoles, that all the children love to wiggle while they giggle!

And there are the chocolate bunnies—the new kind, the kind that on their chest have the red icing hearts with the cracks down the middle. And the children have to decide what to nibble first.

And there is the special plastic egg, filled with the petals of the lotus. The parents take this egg and save it for later.

And the joyful children scamper and search for the hidden eggs.

The day passes, and it is time for the children to go to bed.

"It's time to eat the lotus petals now," parents tell all their children under the age of 16, and so the children chew.

And the special petals of the lotus flower cause the children to sleep exactly 24 hours more than usual—and it is a deep sleep from which not even loud noises can rouse them.

Because, yes, Easter is wonderful, and, yes, Easter is fun, but Easter Sunday is for the kids.

SinEaster Monday is for the adults.

~*~

The 16-and-above awaken on Monday, happy that they don't have to go to work or school.

And they are eager for SinEaster to begin.

They rush to the SinEaster baskets that the Chocolate Princess left them, and they look inside to see all the SinEaster candies: jello shots, brownies, pink jelly beans, black licorice sticks, chocolate dipped cherries, and double-headed gummi snakes.

And SinEaster is a merry, special day of the year, a day of parties! A day when the age of consent is temporarily lowered to 16—and the age of drinking is 16 too—and marijuana is legal—and public nudity is legal too!

It's the most wonderful day of the year!

Now let's enter one of these parties. We enter the house. We see a blond girl facing away from us. She is wearing assless chaps with nothing underneath, bikini strings go across her back—and on top of her head are bunny ears.

She turns to face us, and smiles drunkenly. She wears a corruptagram necklace around her neck. Her black bikini top has a flaming corruptagram symbol on each side. A jello shot is in her hand.

And now the cat's shaved.

Charlee says, "And that, boys and girls, is the story of how Easter was saved, and why, now, every Monday after Easter, we celebrate SinEaster."

She winks, raises the jello shot to her mouth, and slurps it back.
