Fanatics 11

The Labyrinth

“Alright, let’s buy what we need and get the hell out of here,” Johnny growls as he walks through the automatic doors.
“Whatever you say, Nny,” Squee says as he follows close behind.
Usually, Squee does all the shopping at a convenience store a few blocks from their house. But whenever they need something heavy, like milk or other things that Squee would have trouble carrying, then Johnny drives them to the South Superstore and they do the shopping together. Johnny kinda hates it, but as long as he’s with Squee than it’s tolerable.
They wander around the grocery section. Squee throws milk, cereal, juice, and other food stuffs into the cart. Just the usual stuff they always have in the house. But once they reach the produce, he draws to a stop and stares at the fruit.
“We should get some fruit,” he says, “we don’t eat enough healthy things. Especially you. Would you eat it for breakfast if I got some?”
“Maybe,” Johnny shrugs.
Squee glares at him.
“What? Oh, come on. Fruit’s not even that fun to eat,” he whines.
“Fruit can be totally fun,” Squee argues and picks up an odd red, spiky looking thing. “Look at this. It’s a dragon fruit. A dragon fruit, Nny! How is that not awesome?”
“It’s pretty awesome,” he nods.
“Right? I’ll get us two,” he says as he puts two in a plastic bag. “And some oranges also.”
Once they’re done with the fruit, they start to head to the frozen goods, but stop when they hear someone shout, “Squee!”
They turn around to a teenage girl, about Squee’s age, with brown pigtails and green eyes. Squee smiles when he recognizes her. “Carmen. Hey.”
She smiles back, “it’s good to see you.”
“Johnny, you remember Carmen, right?” Squee asks, “she was one of the kids that escaped the Underground Classrooms with me. Remember?”
Johnny rubs his head as he thinks really hard. “I remember the classrooms. I don’t remember her.”
Carmen cocks her head and Squee sighs. “Don’t mind him. So what are you doing here?”
“I moved here. Er, I mean not to the store,” she says quickly, “I moved to the South End with my dad. He was pretty tight on money when I found him and when he took me back in we couldn’t afford to stay in the North End. I don’t mind though. It’s like a whole new start, you know?”
“That is why most people move to the South End,” Squee nods.
“I was going to call you but I’ve been so busy with the move and going back to school. It’s been so exhausting,” she groans.
“How long have you been here?” he asks.
“About a week,” she replies, “our apartment is finally set up. We were just getting some shopping done.”
“Well, I’ve lived here my whole life- er, the South End, not the store,” Squee says, “so if you need any help, just let me know.”
“Actually, I don’t really know my way around that well,” she sighs, “I barely know how to get to my school. So could you maybe show me around a bit?”
“Yeah,” he smiles, “um do you mind if I bring some others along?”
“Not at all. I really need to make some new friends.”
“Then Pepito can come too. Oh, and Colton.”
“Colton?” she questions.
“He’s a new friend of mine. He’s really cool,” he beams.
“That’s debatable,” Shmee comments, “by the way, Johnny’s gone.”
“What?” Squee exclaims and spins around. The cart is still here, but Johnny is nowhere to be seen.
“What’s wrong?” Carmen asks.
“Johnny’s gone,” he replies, “unbelievable. I need to get him like a leash or something.”
“This happens a lot?”
“You have no idea,” he smiles wearily, “um, but we can hang out later today if you want.”
“Yeah. How about you guys meet me at my place at like noon?” she suggests.
“Sure. Here, write down your address,” he says as he hands her a pen and piece of paper.
“Okay.” She quickly scribbles it down and hands it back to him.
“Thanks. Alright, see you later,” he waves before quickly walking away.
“See you,” she calls back.
Squee quickly hurries through the store with the cart and looks around for Johnny. He finally finds him on the other side of the store in the electronics. He appears to be looking at a pair of expensive walkie-talkies.
“Johnny,” Squee growls.
“Oh, hey, Squee,” Johnny says.
“What have I told you about wandering off like that?” he snaps.
Johnny considers the question. “Not to?”
“Yes, for crying out loud,” Squee groans.
“Are we done shopping now?” he asks.
“Yeah,” he sighs.
“Good. Let’s go,” he demands as he takes the cart and walks off. “I’m buying these walkie-talkies.”
“What? Why?” Squee asks.
“Because,” Johnny replies.
Squee just sighs and follows him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Gaz is a girl with a mission. She marches down the street, a piece of paper held tightly in her fist.
The day before, she participated in the Battle Battle Footy Kick 2 tournament and lost to a player called Ivory Shutin. Instead of getting angry, like she usually would, she felt determined to meet this person. So she got Dib to trace her IP address. It’s quite coincidental and serendipitous that she happens to live in the city, only a few minutes away.
What is she going to do when she meets this person? She’s not sure. She’s not even sure of what to expect. But the way they fought was so… unique. She just has to see them.
It doesn’t take her long to reach the house. It’s a small but nice place with a decorated front yard. It’s clearly a family home.
Gaz double checks the address written on the paper before walking up to the front door.
She rings the doorbell. A few seconds later a middle aged woman answers. She looks at Gaz curiously.
“Uh, hello,” Gaz says, “I’m looking for someone. Um, their gamer tag is Ivory Shutin…?”
“Who are you?” the woman asks.
“My name is Gaz,” she replies, “I participated in a gamer tournament and Ivory Shutin beat me. I wanted to meet them in person.”
The woman stares at her for a second before turning away. “Wait here,” she orders as she walks into the house.
She comes back a few minutes later, accompanied by a girl not much older than Gaz. She has long, messy black hair that hangs over her face. Her glasses are just barely visible behind her thick bangs. She’s very pale and is wearing plain pants and a thick sweater. She looks at Gaz curiously.
“Are you Ivory Shutin?” Gaz asks. The girl nods. “My name is Gaz. Oh, but you know me as Piggy Claw. You beat me in the tournament yesterday. I just wanted to meet you in person.”
“How did you find my daughter?” the woman asks accusingly.
“Mom, it’s fine,” the girl says, “she can come in.”
“Alright, but let me know if something goes wrong,” the woman demands before walking away.
“Gaz, right?” the girl questions. Gaz nods. Her voice is quiet and meek. “I’m Madeleine. What did you want to see me about?”
“I’m not really sure,” Gaz replies.
Madeleine stares at her for a second before nodding. “Come in. We can talk in my room.”
“Thank you,” Gaz says quickly before following her into the house.
Meanwhile, Squee, Colton, and Pepito are walking through the streets, looking around for Carmen’s address. It’s been over a week since Colton and Squee became ‘bros’. Squee introduced him to Pepito not long ago. They get along well enough to hang out.
“So this Carmen… is she hot?” Colton asks.
“I don’t know. What qualifies a person as hot?” Squee asks.
“The way their face looks, their hair, boob size,” he replies, “Pepito, what do you think?”
“I think she’s cute,” he says, “so she probably won’t go for you.”
“What? You don’t know that,” Colton growls, “she might.”
They make it to Carmen’s apartment building. She’s sitting on the front steps. She smiles and stands up when she spots the boys.
“Squee, Pepito,” she chimes.
“Hey, Carmen,” Pepito smiles, “you look good.”
“Thanks, you too. I like your beanie,” she smiles back then looks at Colton. “You’re Colton, right?”
“Uh, yeah,” he smiles, “it’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
“So where should we go?” Squee asks.
“We should go downtown,” Pepito suggests, “nothing better to show to a newcomer than downtown South End.”
“But there are always a lot of people around there,” Squee groans.
“Aw, you’ll be fine as long as you’re with us, right?” Pepito smiles.
“You two are so cute,” Carmen coos.
“I know, right?” Pepito smirks.
Downtown South End is full of different shops, clubs, and bars. There’s always something going on, whether it’s fun and legal or… not. It’s always glowing with colourful lights and loud from the chatter of civilians, most of whom aren’t sober.
Pepito likes it here. He loves watching all the people and listening to the pounding music from the clubs. Colton likes it too. There are all kinds of cool shops. Squee doesn’t like it. He would rather stay as far away from here as possible.
“Let’s go to the Orc’s Nest,” Colton exclaims excitedly.
“No, don’t make Carmen go in there,” Pepito groans.
“Why, what is it?” she asks.
“Freaking nerd heaven,” he replies, “we should go to Lemon Yellow.”
“Lemon Yellow? That place is full of pretentious, wannabe hipsters,” Colton scoffs.
“What are these names?” Carmen questions.
“Orc’s Nest is a comic book store and Lemon Yellow is a clothing store,” Squee replies, “you should decide where we go based on first impressions. You’re the one who wants to see the sights or whatever.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Pepito nods.
“Okay,” Carmen smiles and looks around. “What’s that place?” She points at a large building with bright lights streaming through the windows.
“A club,” Squee replies, “minors aren’t allowed in there.”
“Hm,” she muses, “what about that?”
“That’s a café. We can go in there.”
“Yeah, but why would we want to,” Colton scoffs, “nothing but self-important snobs in there.”
“Okay, we can’t just shoot a place down because of the regulars that go there,” Squee says, “we’re supposed to show Carmen around, not tell her about all the terrible people that live here.”
“Right, right,” Pepito nods, “how about we pick a random place and just go in?”
“That sounds good,” Carmen smiles.
Pepito stands in front of the group, closes his eyes, and spins around with his finger out. He stops and points at a random business.
“Always Teen?” Carmen questions.
“A clothing store,” Colton says.
“Let’s go in,” Squee shrugs.
The group walks through the door and looks around. It’s full of designer, over-priced clothes aimed towards teenagers. The customers are all people about their age. They’re all dressed the same and have near the same hairstyle.
“I think this is where clones are created,” Squee comments.
“I can practically feel my individuality being drained,” Pepito says.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” Colton begs, “I go to school with some of these people.”
“Aw, come on, guys,” Carmen smiles, “we promised we’d go into a random store. Let’s at least look at some of the clothes.”
“Fine,” the boys groan and follow her deeper into the store.
They examine the racks with no real interest. The clothes aren’t their style plus they are way too expensive. Even for a South End store.
“Is this really considered fashionable?” Squee asks, “why would someone buy jeans with holes in them? I could put holes in my jeans for free.”
“It’s supposed to give a rebellious look,” Carmen replies, “lots of people are into that thing.”
“Lame,” Pepito groans, “let’s go get food.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Colton says and quickly leaves. The others follow close behind.
They walk around for a bit before deciding on a café that’s mostly empty. They sit down at a small table and order drinks and sandwiches. Carmen laughs when Squee and Colton both stutter while ordering.
“It’s not funny,” Colton pouts.
“Sorry, sorry,” she says, “I didn’t mean to laugh. It just slipped out.”
They both glare at her. She just keeps laughing.
After they eat they continue to wander around. They don’t go into any of the stores. They just walk along the street, talking and enjoying each other’s company. Eventually they stop paying attention to where they’re going.
“We’ve kind of wandered away from Main Street,” Squee says as he looks around.
“Eh, it was boring there anyway,” Pepito shrugs.
“Hey, look at that empty lot,” Colton says. They stop and stare at the little empty space between two apartment buildings. It looks so out of place and random. They cock their heads and sigh.
“Isn’t it weird how things can just disappear in this city?” Carmen asks, “even buildings go away without a trace.”
“I don’t even remember what used to be here,” Squee says, “it must’ve been an apartment building, right?”
“Why do you think it was taken down?” Colton asks.
“Safety reasons maybe,” Pepito replies as he walks onto the lot.
“It’s so eerie,” Squee comments as they follow him aimlessly.
“I like it,” Carmen smiles, “it’s kind of calming.”
They all wince at a loud cracking sound.
“The feelings gone,” she mutters.
“What was that?” Colton asks.
They start to step back to the road when they hear it again. They freeze and everything seems to stand still for a second.
Then the ground collapses beneath their feet.
They scream as they plummet through a deep, dark hole. They land hard on dirt and groan in pain.
“Ugh, what the hell just happened?” Pepito asks.
“The ground gave out beneath us,” Squee replies, “they should’ve put up a sign or something for that.”
“Where are we?” Carmen asks.
They stand up, rubbing their sore bruises, and looks around. They’re in some kind of large, dark tunnel. The only lighting is coming from the huge hole high above them.
“Didn’t we already do a trapped underground bit?” Pepito asks.
“We’re not exactly trapped,” Carmen argues, “the way out is right above us. We just gotta, you know, fly.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Squee shrugs.
“I haven’t been trapped underground before,” Colton says.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Squee nods.
“Well, then welcome to the club,” Pepito smirks, “we’re old pros at this kind of thing.”
“We should probably get somebody to come help us,” Carmen suggests.
“Yeah, alright,” he nods and takes out his phone. “I’ll call Zim.”
“I don’t know if he’ll pick up,” Squee says, “Dib mentioned something about today being their ‘date night’.”
“Oh, you know what that means,” Colton sings, “interspecies make-out session.”
“You know, Zim’s tongue is kind of serpentine,” Pepito comments, “I wonder how that feels.”
“Serpentine? What, like a snake tongue?” Carmen asks.
“More like a tentacle,” Squee says.
“Ew, isn’t that like borderline tentacle rape?”
“It’s not really rape if it’s consensual,” Colton points out.
“Okay, we are getting way off topic,” Squee says quickly, “call Zim. I’m gonna try calling Johnny.”
They hit the speed dials on their phones and hold them up to their ears. As expected, Zim doesn’t answer. He’s too busy having an interspecies make-out session with Dib. Unfortunately, Johnny doesn’t answer either.
“He must be downstairs,” Squee sighs.
“Now what?” Colton asks.
“I’m gonna try Gaz,” Pepito says, “she could at least get Zim.”
He calls her and she picks up. But before he can even get a word in she says, “can’t talk. Doing something important,” then hangs up.
“I think we need some new friends,” Pepito groans.
“Squee, can’t you call Devi or Tenna?” Colton asks.
“Mmm,” Squee groans uncertainly, “they’re both working. I don’t wanna bother them unless we’re in some actual, life threatening danger.”
“Being trapped underground isn’t life threatening danger?” Pepito asks.
“Like you said, we’re old pros at this,” Squee smiles, “these kinds of tunnels are all over underneath the city. It’s like a whole labyrinth. And there are entrances everywhere. There’s even one in my house.”
“Are you suggesting we look for one?” Carmen asks.
“What if we get even more lost?” Colton warns, “we could end up trapped down we forever.”
“That won’t happen,” Pepito scoffs, “I think Squee’s right. Looking for a way out would be better than just sitting around doing nothing.”
“Alright,” Carmen shrugs, “so which way should we go?”
“This way,” Squee says immediately as he points to the right.
“Why that way?” Colton asks.
“I have a good feeling about it.”
The kids shrug and they walk into the dark tunnel, having no idea where they’re going.
Back on the North End, Gaz follows Madeleine into her bedroom. It’s pretty dark because the shades are closed. Madeleine turns on the light. Her room is actually pretty full. It’s got a messy bed, a beanbag chair, an electronic keyboard piano, and a large TV hooked up to an Amusement Station and a Z-Hexahedron. Next to it are three DVD stands full of video games.
“Cool,” Gaz breathes.
“Sit wherever you like,” Madeleine says as she sits on the bed. Gaz takes her place on the beanbag.
There’s an awkward silence in the air before Gaz clears her throat.
“So, Ivory Shutin; Madeleine,” she says, “you’re really good. You must play a lot.”
“Yeah,” she nods.
“You’re pretty feared during the tournament. I heard about you beforehand from this guy I know, Iggins.”
“Iggins?”
“His gamer tag is Vampire Hunter.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember him. I battled him a couple times. He was pretty good.”
“I beat him,” Gaz says proudly.
“Yes. You’re a good player too.”
“Not good enough to beat you.”
Madeleine doesn’t reply.
“How did you get to be so good?”
“I play a lot.”
“So do I. I even trained my avatar for the sole purpose of beating that tournament. And I still lost,” Gaz points out.
“I don’t understand. Are you here for pointers?” Madeleine asks.
“I’m not really sure. Maybe? It’s just… your fighting style was so unique. I’ve never fought someone like you before. It was affecting me on a psychological level. I just felt like I needed to meet you.”
Gaz stares at her for a few seconds. Her hair is covering so much of her face she can’t tell where she’s looking. Is she staring at the floor, or at Gaz?
Her cell phone suddenly starts ringing. She checks the caller ID. It’s Pepito. She answers and says, “can’t talk. Doing something important,” then hangs up.
She sits next to Madeleine on the bed. She looks at her with surprise.
“Where do you go to school?” Gaz asks.
“Uh the High Skool,” she replies.
“Really? Me too. How come I’ve never seen you there before?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“What grade are you in?”
“Ninth.”
“Same as my brother,” Gaz comments, “you play piano. How long have you done that?”
“A few years.”
“Are you good?”
“Uh I like to think so.”
“Would you play for me?”
“Um n-no…?”
“Why do you sound uncertain?”
“Wh-why are you asking me so many questions?” she asks nervously
“I wanna get to know you,” Gaz replies, “I want us to be friends.”
“Why?”
“Don’t know. Because I find you interesting maybe?”
“But we don’t even know each other,” Madeleine points out.
“That’s why I’m asking you so many questions,” Gaz says, “why don’t you ask me some.”
“Uh, o-okay,” she nods, “uh what’s your favourite game?”
“Vampire Piggy Hunter,” she replies, “what about you?”
“Land of Taria.”
“That’s a good game.”
“I-I really like the art and music,” she says, “um do you like music?”
“A little bit. I like rock.”
“Me-me too.”
“Can I call you Maddie?” Gaz asks.
“Wh-Why?” Madeleine asks.
“Madeleine seems kind of hard to say all the time. And it’s hard to type,” she replies.
“Type?”
“Never mind. Just can I?”
“Uh, um, okay,” Maddie nods.
“Cool,” Gaz smiles, “so at Skool, where do you usually eat? I’ve never seen you in the cafeteria.”
“Um, the boiler room,” she replies.
“Isn’t that where all the losers hang out?”
“Um…”
“Whatever,” Gaz grunts and stands up, “tomorrow you should come to the cafeteria and eat with my friends and me.”
“Your friends?” Maddie questions.
“Yeah. They’re a bunch of idiots but they’re not so bad,” she shrugs, “anyway, I think I’ve bothered you enough. I’ll leave you alone now. Thank you for meeting me. I can let myself out. See you tomorrow.”
“B-Bye,” Maddie waves as Gaz leaves.
A few minutes later, Maddie’s mom walks in.
“Who was that girl?” she asks, “was she rude to you?”
“No,” Maddie replies and she opens the drawer on her nightstand. “She was nice.”
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for this,” she says as she grabs her Game Slave 3 and Vampire Piggy Hunter game. “It’s been a long time since I played it.”
Her mom sighs and leaves. Maddie turns on the game and smiles.
Meanwhile, Squee, Pepito, Colton, and Carmen have spent a long time walking through the dark, seemingly endless tunnels. They’re not sure how long they’ve been down there. Minutes? Hours? Days maybe? Okay, probably not days, but it has been a long time.
Pepito is walking up front with a flashlight. Squee is right behind him, using a marker to mark the walls, so they can be sure they’re not going in circles.
Whenever they come to an intersection they always go by Squee’s instincts. He’s not really sure where they’re going, but they have nothing else to rely on.
They haven’t run into any other living creature. Not even rats. It’s completely lifeless down here.
“Guys,” Carmen mutters, “I don’t wanna be negative here, but what will we do if we can’t find our way out?”
“We will,” Squee states.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I don’t sense any danger.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how to explain it,” Squee says, “but I just feel like we’re safe right now. So we’ll probably find a way out eventually.”
“Probably? Eventually?” Carmen questions.
“Being negative will get us nowhere,” Colton points out, “Squee knows what he’s doing.”
“I know,” Carmen sighs, “I just don’t want another Underground Classrooms situation to happen to us.”
“It won’t. We’ll be fine,” Pepito says.
The tunnel starts curving right up ahead. They follow it and continue walking, when Squee suddenly stops and looks at the wall.
“Wait a minute. We’ve been here before!” he exclaims.
“What?” the others shout.
“Look, I made this marking,” he says as he points at the little line on the wall.
“So that means we’re going in circle,” Colton cries.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Pepito groans, “with the directions we took, we couldn’t have ended up in an old tunnel. Unless we’re just completely turned around.”
“What does your danger meter say now, Squee?” Carmen asks.
He looks around nervously, clutching Shmee to his chest. “I have a very bad feeling.”
“Alright, everybody calm down,” Pepito demands, “we’ll just go back.”
They take a deep breath and follow Pepito through the last tunnel. They come to an intersection. They take a left and stop abruptly.
“No way,” Colton whimpers.
“It’s that same mark!” Carmen exclaims as she points at the wall.
“That can’t be right,” Squee squeaks, “how could we come back to this tunnel?”
“Okay, okay. Let’s just go down this tunnel then,” Pepito suggests. They nod and follow him.
They walk quietly, their nerves completely shot. What if they’re totally lost? What if they never make it out?
They stop when they see the tunnel starts angling downwards.
“It didn’t go down before, did it?” Carmen asks.
“Look at the wall,” Squee exclaims, “there are no markings anymore.”
“Something weird is going on,” Colton mutters.
“Let’s keep going,” Pepito grunts.
They go deeper into the tunnel, the darkness threatening to swallow them up if it wasn’t for their trusty flashlight.
Which suddenly turns off.
“Pepito!” Squee squeals.
“Shit. It must be out of batteries,” Pepito growls as he tries to flick it on and off.
“Oh no. We’re gonna die down here,” Carmen whimpers.
“We’re not going to die. Everybody just needs to stay calm and stay together,” Pepito demands.
“What do we do now?” Colton asks.
“We gotta keep moving.”
“But we’re going deeper underground,” Carmen points out.
“Pepito’s right,” Squee says, “we can’t just stand around.”
Carmen sighs and nods, “fine. Let’s go.”
They start to walk when they suddenly hear a loud cracking sound.
“What was that?” Colton asks.
“Oh no,” Squee sighs.
The ground collapses beneath their feet. They scream as they plummet into the deep, dark hole.
This fall lasts much longer than the previous one. To the point where it almost seems pointless to scream for so long. But they hit ground eventually.
They groan loudly in pain as they sit up.
“Anyone dead?” Pepito asks.
“No,” they reply.
“Any broken bones?”
“No.”
“Good,” he sighs, “now nobody move. Let me find you.”
Pepito crawls on his hands and knees and feels around for the others. His hand suddenly brushes against a crack in the floor. He stops and runs his finger along it. It’s thin, smooth, and circular like some kind of door.
“Hey, guys, I found something,” he announces, “come to me.”
Squee, Colton, and Carmen crawl along the floor, following the sound of Pepito’s voice until they meet up together.
“What did you find?” Squee asks.
“I think it’s a door,” Pepito replies, “help me open it.”
They all start pushing on it. It starts to slowly give away. One more big shove forces it open, unleashing an extremely bright light. They exclaim with surprise and cover their eyes.
When their eyes have adjusted, they look through the doorway. Wherever it leads, it’s bright and completely blue.
“What is it?” Carmen asks.
“I don’t know,” Colton replies.
“Let’s find out,” Pepito smirks.
They stand up and jump through the hole.
They exclaim with surprise when the fall doesn’t last nearly as long as they thought it would. The door closes behind them and they land right on it. Instead of falling down, they seem to have fallen up.
“What just happened?” Carmen asks. They look around and realize they’re in the middle of a street, surrounded by buildings. They’re back in the city.
“But-but how?” Colton stammers, “we-we fell down. We were deep underground. How-how could we have fallen up? How did we end up on the surface? And where’s the door?”
Pepito looks at the road they just fell through and sees nothing but pavement. No door.
Squee sighs and lies down on the road. “I give up.”
After they get over the shock, they stand up and walk each other home.
“Sorry this turned into a troublesome fiasco, Carmen,” Squee says.
“Aw that’s okay,” she smiles, “it was… exciting. And I learned a lot about our city. We should hang out again. But maybe at somebody’s house.”
“That sounds good,” Pepito sighs.
They drop off Carmen at her apartment and then Pepito at his house. It doesn’t take Squee and Colton long to make it back home after that. They wave goodnight to each other as they go through their front doors.
“I’m back,” Squee calls.
“Hey,” Johnny says, “how was it?”
Squee sighs and falls onto the couch, resting his head on Nny’s lap. “Exhausting. But I still had fun.”
“Did something interesting happen?” he asks.
“Does something interesting ever not happen?”
Johnny cocks his eyebrow and shrugs, “I’ll take that as a yes.”