By F4LO, Creative Coder, LotsaPizza, Regulus (Corvus), and Rawrbear
Author’s Disclaimer:
These characters do not correspond to how we actually think of them. Our villains are really nice in real life.
Also, this might get a bit...creepy. There's…death and stuff. Don't read this if you dislike that. Sorry for being Captain Obvious, but that’s because I don’t want you crying about it being “scary” to us.
We also abbreviate usernames...I’m CC, LotsaPizza’s LP, etc.
But, knowing these things, read on if you wish!
~Creative Coder and the Hopscotchified team
(P.S. We’re not perfect. Seriously.)
• Prologue •
It was just another regular day. Finished with school, I had just enough time to code. I pressed the amazing app on my iPad, Hopscotch. Its usual colors greeted me as I prepared to look at my activity feed, as I had published a new game. But just as it opened, it rewarded me with a crash.
“What the…” I thought, confused. Hopscotch had recently fixed a crash bug, why was this happening?
I didn't really care about it that much, as it was just one crash. I opened the app again. But this time, the usual aquatic circle complementing the lightning bolt was replaced with a fiery red circle.
“It's probably just a little glitch,” I thought, tapping it. I was thinking that you probably shouldn't touch a flaming red circle that's not usually like that. But again, I just thought it was a glitch.
I thought everything would be normal. But the results were far worse than that.
• Chapter 1 •
I don't really remember what happened, but the last thing I noticed was a glitch on the project I was unveiling. Then I blacked out. If the glitch caused this, I would have to go to a hospital to see if I was going crazy. Then, I started to dream.
The dream I had was blurry, but I could make out that I was in the past, present AND future. Stuff was hard to explain, like I saw a three dimensional shade of...blue? It looked as if I entered a portal, but I'm not sure, again, because everything was blurry. It felt like I was falling, but the way I looked changed where I was going. If I looked to the left, I felt like I was falling to the right. My head was hurting, and I tried to concentrate on relaxing.
Just as I started to relax, I woke up in a bed, and saw two boys staring at me. One of them spoke up and announced, “Hi, I'm Valgo—” It was that, as I blacked out again.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
The same boy—Valgo—was frowning at me. “Are you okay?” he asked, in a soft, comforting voice. I tried to say, “No way,” but it came out in a gurgle.
“Grag gruhbruh,” I decided to whisper instead. It still didn't help.
Valgo got up and called a name. “MagmaPOP! She’s awake!” The other boy showed up from behind a bus. He was tall, slender and looked friendly. He greeted me cheerfully, his grey eyes glistening in the light that shown over me, and offered a drink.
“I’ll pass,” I croaked, smiling. My voice was back.
“So, by the looks of it, you're a Hopscotcher?” He asked quietly. Still puzzled by all of the previous events, I slowly nodded. The two exchanged a glance, and one said something (I couldn't make out) to the other.
After a long beat of silence, the boy that went by MagmaPOP sighed and said, “Come on.”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
We walked along the quiet area. Climbing up a large, purple Leave a Trail block, MagmaPOP said “We just landed here two days ago, by the looks of it. We’re settling up ahead. It's in a section called The Editor.”
“It's kind of...” he paused, “weird in here. So far we've only found Valgo here and one other girl. She hasn't opened up to tell us who she is yet.”
“So,” Valgo started, turning toward me, “Who are you, then?”
I attempted to speak, but my voice failed once again, and it turned into a hoarse grunt.
“We'll give you some time,” MagmaPOP responded, “We're nearly there.”
• Chapter 2 •
As we stepped over a Grow By block, everything turned a tan color, gridded by gray lines. I managed a subtle “Woah,” as I gazed at the soft “tree” branches. It looked like something I would never see in my small apartment building. I've never felt so connecting to one thing before, as everything is faced paced
“Our camp is just over there,” MagmaPOP explained as we hiked along the editor. My eyes could not stop staring at the sky. I was unaware that I was stumbling into everything. MagmaPOP turned back and gave me a small nudge. “Here we are,” he said, “Home sweet home.”
A girl with long black hair tied into a braid sat in a corner, reading a book. Her eyes were pitch black, a perfect acquaintance to her hair. Her clothes were ripped, battered, and horrid.
“That’s...her,” Valgo whispered. “She never told us who she was. Never spoke-”
“Can you be QUIET for once?!” Her voice was loud and clear. She lifted her menacing black eyes. “I ain't a bloody idiot, Valgo. I ain't! Why can’t you understand that?”
We were horrified by her. She seemed so mischievious. Valgo stared at her. His pupils were small in his green eyes. “How do you know my name?” he softly stuttered. The girl looked at him.
“I’m not deaf,” she spat.
Her eyes moved to MagmaPOP. I felt anger rage through me. There was no way that this girl could hurt MagmaPOP. She was too nice for it. Yet her eyes were cold as stone, staring right at him.
• Chapter 3 •
Don’t hurt him, I thought. Just don’t. The girl’s eyes suddenly softened, as if the last hint of sanity left in her arose.
“I’m LotsaPizza,” she whispered. I noticed that her eyes morphed into a dark reddish color.
“MagmaPOP,” the boy replied coldly. LotsaPizza stared at MagmaPOP.
“Charmed,” she smiled, now with striking blue eyes. MagmaPOP broke into a grin, smiling warmly at her. Valgo elbowed me and whispered, “MP is just too nice, you know?”
I smirked. “Yeah, I know.”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
LotsaPizza wouldn't talk for a while. MagmaPOP led the 4-person team up the Repeat by block.
These bushes are huge, I thought. Rustle, rustle. I flicked my head to see the peculiarly huge bush in the corner.
“RAGUHHHHHH!!” A voice called—a boy’s voice. LotsaPizza, MagmaPOP and Valgo all turned to look with me.
“What in the name of code was that?” MagmaPOP asked. Valgo bit his lip. A boy fell out of the bush, covered in scratches, with tears wet on his face. I turned to LotsaPizza, and her mysterious eyes—now gray—were bloodshot. She said one word.
“Who...”
Once Valgo got a good look at the boy’s face, he screamed with a manly scream, “RUN!”
MagmaPOP immediately took the lead, holding mine and Valgo’s shoulders tightly. “What about—”
“NO ONE CARES!” Valgo screamed. I looked back to see LotsaPizza sprinting, now far ahead.
“Of those who are fast,” I said, “she’s fast.”
“Well, duh,” MagmaPOP said, “Thanks for stating the obvious.”
I laughed, but before Valgo could ask me who I was again. “Oh. Call me CC.”
“Okay, CC!” Valgo joked. We ran on, MagmaPOP still clutching us, LotsaPizza still up front.
“Those who run don’t come back… The activity… Beware, Hopscotchers.” The harsh voice broke through my thoughts and emotions. I stopped running. Beware, Hopscotchers.
“How do I get that voice out of my head?” I asked Valgo.
“You don’t,” replied LotsaPizza, “You just don’t.”
• Chapter 4 •
MagmaPOP turned to stare at LotsaPizza. The boy inched closer and closer as each drop of sweat fell down my face. MagmaPOP frantically asked LP if she had any idea of who the boy was.
“Insane,” LotsaPizza replied.
“Well, duh. We have so many geniuses here!” MagmaPOP said, clearly annoyed. His gray eyes closed for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally opened them, he simply stared at the boy. The boy’s eyes were…hazel? He was clearly beaten up. At that point Valgo went running straight at him.
“What are you doing?!”
“Dude, are you nuts?!”
“NO! I’m smart. Unlike some here,” Valgo said. LotsaPizza looked hurt. She took steps back, a couple of tears forming in her now-gray eyes. She turned and ran.
“VALGO!” I screeched, “STOP RUNNING AND GET OVER HERE!” Valgo stopped and stared at me. He stared at LP, running off into the distance.
Then he ran back and hugged me. “I’m sorry… I—I don't know what got into me,” he said.
He looked back at LP and called her name. Her eyes were still gray. Her face was flushed.
“Why do you guys hate me so much?” she asked.
The rugged boy got up and said, “They don’t.” He looked at MagmaPOP, Valgo, and finally, me. “I’m A Happy Coder. Call me AHC, please,” he said.
He stared at LotsaPizza. “Is she… Okay?” he asked. I shared a fake smile and ran off to her.
“Hey,” I said.
She didn't reply. So I tried again.
“Are you… Okay? Something up?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks much,” she spat. Her eyes lifted to stare at me. “What about you? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. We sat on the blue floor, waiting for anyone to find us. I avoided eye contact.
“Hey! Get over here,” AHC said. I stood up and walked over to the group, but LotsaPizza just stayed, staring at the sunset. It was gorgeous. My heart melted as the golden sun morphed with the blue Repeat By blocks, creating a gorgeous array of colors.
“It’s…” I started, awestruck.
“Beautiful,” LotsaPizza mumbled, equally amazed.
“No! I mean, that's great and all, but…” AHC looked over at MagmaPOP and Valgo.
“There's other people here.”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
“Over in the coding sector of the editor! Let's go!” MagmaPOP called.
“Are you crazy?!” LotsaPizza snapped.
I took a step back. “What?”
“They could be...bears! Yeah, you know the character Bear! It could be over there and dangerous!”
“It can also be other Hopscotchers!” Valgo replied. “Bears,” I heard him mutter under his breath sarcastically.
• Chapter 5 •
We began to venture over to the Commanding Sector, or coding area, of the editor. As usual, LotsaPizza was sprinting up in front of the group.
“WAIT!” she yelled, coming to an abrupt stop. We walked awkwardly to her.
“What?” I asked.
She closed her eyes, then opened them again. “It’s an adorable little baby BEAR!”
A baby polar bear waddled forward, a bit of drool dripping from its mouth. It plopped down in front of LotsaPizza, curled up, and took a nap.
“That’s your ‘terribly frightening bear that can be dangerous’?” I asked, glaring at the tiny animal.
“No, goodness. It’s adorable! Aww, hello little beary!” LotsaPizza said. It was the first time I ever saw her happy. She sat down and started petting the bear.
“Mishka? Mishka! Get over here!” a voice called from behind a Set Size block. We all turned toward the sound. A preteen boy ran toward the sleeping polar bear. He pulled out a piece of a translucent material like glass and sat next to the animal. The substance turned into a slimy fish and he put it next to the bear.
“How did you—” Valgo started.
“UM! How about who are you?” MagmaPOP interjected.
“Your bear is so cute!” squealed LotsaPizza.
“Uh…well, you can call me Rawrbear, and this is a Text block. It's not hard! You seem to be from around here, haven't you ever used one? Oh and yeah, Mishka is cute…!”
“Well we—” Valgo attempted to speak again.
“So you're a Hopscotcher?” MagmaPOP cut in again.
“Well, yes, actually. I've got a group just this way…”
Walking up to the command center, I elbowed Rawrbear. “Mishka?”
He patted the bear on the head. “Yes.”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
“Here we are,” Rawrbear declared as we walked inside an emoji house.
“Wow, it's bigger on the inside,” AHC sighed.
“Don’t get me started,” said Rawrbear. As we continued walking, I took notice of the gorgeous architecture of the house.
“Woah,” I heard LotsaPizza mumble, “The stability is unreal… For an emoji house—”
“Welcome! Come in, come! Oh, Rawrbear, you brought...friends?” A cheery voice cut LotsaPizza off. She lowered her eyes. “Guess no one cares…”
“Oh, what am I doing just squealing to you like this? I’m PopTart!” PopTart grinned. I smiled nervously and tried to escape from PopTart. I don’t know why, but I felt like she would… Let us go. LotsaPizza obviously knew what I was thinking.
“Me too, just… Don't tell Valgo or MagmaPOP,” she said under her breath. I nodded in reply and allowed PopTart to lead us through the house. I never noticed that Rawrbear left us.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
<In a metallic voice>
“For all who see and all who code
Is this your very small abode?
I will crush ye code
To nothing but old
Prepare for the apocalypse.”
We entered a room made entirely out of laughing emojis. The same boy sat in the corner, crying. I turned to see LP’s face white as snow.
“Rawrbear…?”
She ran like the wind and crouched down next to him. “Why are you crying…” She gasped. His face was cut, and he tried to burst out the words.
“Intruders, LP… Please be careful,” he said in almost a whisper. LotsaPizza mumbled something to him that I couldn’t quite make out.
“We need to fight,” she said, and ran out of the room. I stared at her and moved my gaze towards PopTart. She nodded and shouted, “Get out of the room! Grab Rawrbear and let’s go.” I ran over to Rawrbear and grabbed his legs, which I flung over my shoulders. I started to run, pulling the teen at high speeds.
“Run! RUN! LET’S GO!” screamed Valgo. LP patted him on the back, calming him down. We were separated into two groups.
The figure was just behind us now. It was an outline of a boy. I couldn't see his facial features, but I could tell that his eyes were glowing red.
Walking at an abnormally fast pace, LotsaPizza, Valgo and Rawrbear were forced to slam the emoji door and hastily exit the room. But the boy walked through the door like it was made out of feathers, and ambled toward them. He had a Repeat Forever block in his hand, along with an emoji sword. Rawrbear searched around in his pockets, and he found a Set Position block. MagmaPOP, PopTart, and I were at the other end of the corridor. AHC was nowhere to be seen.
The creature had disappeared.
“I've only got a couple Set Position blocks…” Rawrbear said slowly, “Who's going to go? CC? LP? Valgo…? MagmaPOP…? PopTart? Anyone?! Come on!” Rawrbear looked desperately to anyone in the crowd to see the volunteer to get to safety.
PopTart pushed through the crowd.
“Come on, guys, cooperate,” she pulled out a clipboard decorated with little nyan cat sticker.
Rawrbear smiled. “Okay, PopTart. You’re up—”
“NO! No, I wanted to get in order! NOT go! Hold up!” MagmaPOP, for the first time, shoved his way to the front.
“Are you going or not?” he growled.
“I—I—I’m not,” PopTart stammered. At that point, I felt someone grab my wrist. LP. She was running, and clutching Valgo’s forearm.
“We jump on three!” she shouted to us. “We get on the Set Position blocks! Grab Rawrbear and PopTart and AHC! One!” I moved for PopTart. MagmaPOP grabbed Rawrbear and I. “Two!” LotsaPizza continued. Valgo reached for AHC.
“Three!”
• Chapter 6 •
We were swallowed into a pit of darkness.
“Everyone okay?” Valgo asked. He looked around, making sure that everyone was there. “Okay!” He continued, “We’re all good, right?” There was a chorus of murmurs, all saying yes. Valgo smiled and continued. “Good that. Now, we should be in the Set Pos! Rawrbear, where did you set us to be?”
“X- 500. Y- 500. Around the middle of the grid.” Rawrbear’s hands were shaking.
“Nice. Now, quick attendance call! MagmaPOP?”
“Hola!”
“Good. Rawrbear?”
“Haiiiii.”
“PopTart?”
“Here!”
“CC?”
“Yeah,” I called.
“LP?”
No reply.
“LP?” Valgo repeated.
“AHC?”
No reply. Valgo called several more times. Still, no replies.
“We need them. Come on,” MagmaPOP said. They spread out, searching, until Valgo found a pool of water with LP’s face in it.
“Too many went. I—I think AHC and I are back at camp. You guys continue—we were never helpful anyway,” LotsaPizza frowned. You could see the tears, streaming down her face. Valgo looked similar.
“We’ll… Never see you guys agai-”
“VALGO! Don't be crazy!” MagmaPOP directed his attention to LP and AHC. “We’ll get you. We’re at 500, 500. Base is 500, 300. If we can find a wild Jeepers we could get to you. But even if we can't, we won't leave you. No matter what.”
A tear streamed down my face as I heard MagmaPOP say the words. He was getting teary, too. He stepped up from the pool. “We’ll get you,” he said softly as AHC’s and LP’s faces faded away. MagmaPOP crouched down, head down, towards the moon. “Amen,” he said.
“Amen.”
• Chapter 7 •
Rawrbear and PopTart were in one group, and they were told to increase our territory of our house. After that, they joined up with us. MagmaPOP, Valgo, the others and I were sent to find AHC and LP.
“I can't believe so much has happened in only a day.” PopTart sighed as she fed Mishka his food. Mishka happily ate its food and jumped with joy. Rawrbear was using emojis to build another house. I finished my part of the job, so I wandered off into the uncharted territory. Since my IQ was in the 100’s, I remembered to bring a Set Position block and some Set Text blocks.
I started my journey by going into the wilderness. Banyan trees swayed silently to the lush, forestry atmosphere. At the corner of my eye, I spotted several creatures. Wait, is that a space alie- Oh wait, that's a GOAT! I climbed up a Banyan as it came closer. It had a derp face, and my, it looked crazy! I decided to name it ‘crazygoat’, to save time.
The little goat began to sprint wildly toward something. “CRAZYGOAT!” I yelled. I ran after it, and apparently to my group as well.
“Wha.. CC, where did you go?! And why is there a goat?!” Valgo asked, unknowingly petting the little goat.
“That doesn’t matter…now, where were we?”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
PopTart emerged from the hedges.
“Why are you here, PopTart? Aren't you with Rawrbear?” I asked.
PopTart put on a huge smile. “Oh, he said he'll be fine, and I'm joining you guys!” she said in a singsongy voice. We eyed her strangely, but continued.
We slithered through the field with our emoji flashlights. We were looking for AHC and LP, who had mysteriously vanished during the threat attempts by, let's say, “The Unidentified Creature”.
“Where could he be?” I questioned.
“The last time I remember was when we were running away from the creature.” Valgo tried to explain. “I don't think anyone was paying attention, we were all scampering away.” Suddenly, they stop to what looked like footprints. A 3-toed footprint was printed in the grass bed. They all shone their flashlights onto it. “Does that look like a—”
“Space Pod!” Valgo interrupted.
“So it must be SUPERSWAGGY88…” MagmaPOP pondered.
“And… why do you figure that?” Valgo hesitated.
“Have you even seen the dude? Has to be an alien..” MagmaPOP replied sarcastically. I laughed. My worries slowly started to melt away…
“JEEPERS!” screamed Valgo.
“Jeez, Valgo, you’re very surprised, we get the point,” I said.
“No, a Jeepers! Look! Come on, before SUPERSWAGGY88 gets us!” Valgo replied.
“SUPERSWAGGY88,” I tried to make a pun, “Yo, Swaggy! Get it? Swag? No? I’ll shut up now,” I whispered. Valgo gave me a dirty look. MagmaPOP was cleaning out his ears from the blood.
• Chapter 8 •
We climbed into the Jeepers. MagmaPOP sat behind the wheel. “You know how to DRIVE?” I asked. I was scared for safety, since none of us were 18 yet.
“No, but my dad used to let me drive around the golf course with that little car-thing that I can’t remember to name of.”
“A cart. I think.”
“Okay.”
We thought it was a pretty good answer, so we took off. The footprints were now almost impossible to see. The wind had blown it away in the soft terrain.
Suddenly, I heard a thud. Everyone turned around. Instead of LotsaPizza, the place was taken by a boy with a mask on.
“WHAT IS THAT?” Valgo asked.
“We are anonymous.” it spoke in a rusty, metallic voice. “We have captured your ‘Happy Coder’ and ‘LotsaPizza’. Prepare yourselves.” The figure disintegrated into thin air, probably with the possession of a Set Invisibility block. MagmaPOP looked like he was very upset. “First AHC, now LP!?” Uneasy murmuring erupted as MagmaPOP drove into an area called “Illuminati tester 5 by hansonnoah”.
“We can identify if the group that took LP and AHC is part of the illuminati or not.”
“Boorring!” Valgo called. He ran up and put his hand on so-called “Illuminati Tester”:
150%, Illuminati CONFIRMED!!!!
“Hey, what?!” Valgo said, annoyed. I smirked as I pulled out the flag that indicated the tester was rigged.
“Come on, be serious about this,” MagmaPOP scolded, pressing the restart arrow.
3 days have gone
2 people are lost
“Happy” and “Lotsa” also both have 5 letters.
This means, that the “group” has taken your friends
Are THEY part of the illuminati?
“Wait a second,” PopTart asked, “Didn't F4LO prove that LP wasn't in the illuminati? But wait! He did in fact make a project indicating: A Happy Coder is Illuminati.”
We stared intently as we slowly realized what she is said was right.
“Could it be, that AHC is trying to fool us into an illuminati trap?”
I stared dismally. “Is this the end?”
“We’ll have to find out.” a voice in the back said, and everyone turned around.
• Chapter 9 •
“Who…” MagmaPOP whispered, more of an aloud thought rather than a question. We were all thinking the same.
“You’ve met me before, Hopscotchers,” the same metallic voice growled, “Very recently, I suppo—”
“Well, then tell us who you are, then!” PopTart interrupted bravely, “If we know you, then tell us!” She sounded like she was fighting back tears.
“Oh? What’s this?” the voice said, seemingly coming closer to us, “PopTart, I assume?” She hesitated for a moment, then nodded fearfully, yet strong. “Ah, so I was right, then.”
“Why are you doing this?” she said unevenly, gasping breaths in between words. The others were obviously shocked by her bravery, but did not dare to speak.
“Why am I doing this? You think I’ve done this to you? I’m sorry, but, NO. I am stuck here as well, as upset as you are. You…shanks put me here!” It practically screamed the last word.
“That's not wha—(T^T)” Poptart struggled to find the words.
“YOU DID IT! Why DID YOU DO IT! YOU LITTLE KNOW-IT-ALLS! I HATE—”
“Shut up,” was simply what PopTart spat.
The figure stared at PopTart, long and hard. All of a sudden, it went into 100% rage mode. “I suppose you should figure it out yourself, then,” It said in a soft, metallic voice.
“You put me here.”
It took a Set Text block, and turned into a fireball. It hopped around, then finally lit the forest behind them on fire.
“You can’t be—”
Valgo stopped in his tracks, realizing it was no use. He hopped back into the Jeepers and they continued.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
I sighed. Just about ready to give up when—
“That’s LP’s cries,” said MagmaPOP, “She’s crying.” Valgo bit his lip. He pulled out a “Start Sound” block and a “Check If” block. Finally, he made a new value, “cry”.
Check once if Cry = 2:
Start sound “Gah”
________________
MagmaPOP nodded in approval. “Every time we hear LP’s cry, ‘Gah’ will grow louder,” Valgo explained, “When ‘Gah’ sounds at power of 10, we’ll be super close to—”
“GAH! GAH! GAH!”
I looked at Valgo, hungry for an explanation. He just looked straight and frowned. I turned my head to look. And what I saw will haunt me for eternity.
“Betrayer…” LP gasped, “You betrayers…” MagmaPOP squinted.
“I’m hallucinating,” he said.
“PopTart… And AH...C… Tried to-”
She coughed. MagmaPOP’s gray eyes filled with horror.
She fell to the floor, face-first, screaming with pain. I ran to her, took out a set text block, and set text to prosthetics and medicines. I took care to her, healing her wounds. Her gasps slowly faded, until she was left with a prosthetic arm and half of her body on anesthetics. “I’m good,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
“No problem. It’ll be alright,” I grinned. LotsaPizza shared a soft smile with me. She motioned for everyone to come close.
“Hey, has anyone seen PopTart? I haven't seen her since—” I started. LP had an answer.
“PopTart left a note. Here,” She pushed her hand into her shirt pocket, and pulled out a small, beat-up note. There were some splotches of blood on it.
“Read what it says,” I said gently.
“I never liked you, Rawrbear. Ever.”
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
I stared at the small paper quietly. “Where do you think Rawrbear is?” I asked everyone in particular.
“Probably making better progress than us,” Valgo replied darkly, “All we've done is found a goat and almost died.”
“We met some creepy dude,” I piped up, trying to make the best out of our situation.
“And what did that do to help exactly…?”
Silence.
“That's what I thought,” Valgo said, chuckling.
MagmaPOP looked up at the sky where the tiniest amount of real life was filtering through. Stars glinted in the midnight sky, yet the editor stayed it's bright tan and the projects stayed colorful. “It's probably midnight in the real world. Maybe we should take a bet and sleep.”
Nobody objected. Valgo and I made some makeshift emoji beds while the others were getting some protection to survive the night sleeping.
We found a dark project and set up the beds. Valgo used superhuman effort to build an emoji shelter. Most of the group slept nearly instantaneously, but I sat there. Staring. Watching. Eventually, after what felt like hours, I fell into the tranquillity of sleep.
• Chapter 10 •
What I dreamed about was quite odd. The crazygoat from before, well, he was in my dream. He was eating a partially rotten envelope (powered by Quizlet flashcards) that was travelling through a lunchbox. It was saying “I am sweg, lel #YOLO”. I didn't know, but I was pretty sure this was an omen or something.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
I was awoken with a start. Well, more of a shake.
“CC, COME ON!!” someone screamed in my ear. My eyes shot open, fully awake after that.
“Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up,” I called, “Was it that serious you had to blow my eardrums out?!”
Valgo and MagmaPOP erupted in snickers. “Yes, actually,” Valgo said with the same volume, “I think we found base!”
I jumped up, “Really?”
MagmaPOP shuffled around nervously, “Well…kind of.”
“Kind of?! What do you mean ‘kind of’?! It's a yes or no question, MagmaPOP!”
“Follow me.” MagmaPOP walked out of the dark project and stood next to another project not too far away. It was titled “TO HOPSCOTCHERS HERE”. I raised an eyebrow.
“This isn’t base,” I remarked.
He tapped the play button.
An all too familiar metallic voice bellowed from the project, “So. You're here. MagmaPOP, Valgo, Creative Coder, LotsaPizza, and, eh, a goat? Anyways, I've got some good and some bad news. Good first, as always! Your friend—Roar-bear? Rawr-bear? Whatever—is alive. Bad news…well…he's with me. Is that bad? I don't know. Oh, some more good news! There's more of you…you Hopscotchers out there. Ooh, dear, it seems they're here with me too.” A loud screech of metal-on-metal filled the air.
Silence once more.
“Rawrbear is—” I started.
“Wait,” MagmaPOP whispered.
“Come and find us. I think you'd have a bit of fun. Oh, we're having fun watching you guys have fun.” I was sickened by this overly sweet message. The voice was different from the first voice. I felt nauseous as I figured out who the voice belonged to.
It was our “friend”, PopTart.
My eyes hurt. This woman, oh this woman… I couldn’t believe how evil people could be. I pushed myself away from the recording, and walked into the coded hut. This is base today? I thought, We must have some good stalkers.
The place where we once sat down to talk with tea was horrid. The one window was shattered. The table where we sat and spoke had a bronze liquid smeared all over it. The corner where LotsaPizza sat was gone. I could feel the color rushing to my face, the waterworks starting up. I didn't understand why- I never liked the place. But knowing that this is where it all started made me want to hurt those who did it. Hurt them back.
But that meant hurting AHC and PopTart.
I brushed the hair out of my face. A long, brown strand of hair refused to stay away. Just like my soul—I wished it would just leave sometimes. I just want to go back.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
I was so confused by everything that happened. Seemingly kind Hopscotchers turned into enemies in mere days. Who was next? LotsaPizza? MagmaPOP? It was too overwhelming. We sat in awkward silence for a strikingly long time, before MagmaPOP said “Let’s go.”
The anger inside me made me feel like I was about to explode. “GO?! Where are we supposed to go, MagmaPOP?! We failed; can’t you see that?! We’re trapped in a coding app, our friends might die! How, when, or why should we GO?!”
Silence again. “Valgo and… Mr. Goat, stay here and guard yourselves.” MagmaPOP announced. “CC and LotsaPizza, come with me. We are going to find Rawrbear.”
“(-｡-;), but you said the same thing earlier, that we were gonna find AHC. We ended up losing PopTart! Do ya really want to risk it?” I was self-conscious, and didn't want betrayal to happen again.
“Well, we better go, I ain’t sticking around this creepy place,” LotsaPizza exclaimed. “Let's go.”
If only Rawrbear was here, I thought. We continued the trek through the forest of code. I felt uneasy whenever Valgo came to speak with me—I didn’t feel as comfortable as usual, seeing how he could be. At that point I realized that I had no sense of time. I looked up, only to see MagmaPOP looking down at me. His eyes were dark, but through them, you could see the slightest hint of a smile, but very soft. That was when the snowfall started, easing my worries. for once, Valgo’s smile curled upwards, spreading to his soft, forest-green eyes.
“We all have a bright side,” I heard myself say. LotsaPizza shrugged, but humor was embedded in her eyes, now morphing into the lightest of blues. She didn’t smile, though. Her mouth remained neutral, whereas her eyes showed it all. I thought about the girl we had met—Dark, isolated, indifferent. And how she was now—Not much difference, but smiles here and there.
“We are a team,” she said, “And forever we will be.”
• Chapter 11 •
The group continued the walk, and I felt more secure with Mishka at my side, even though she made me think of Rawrbear. LotsaPizza crouched down to pet her. “Hello, cutie! You hungry?” She asked. Mishka nodded yes, and LP fed her some celery from a Set Text block. I laughed.
“Girls,” said MagmaPOP, rolling his eyes.
LotsaPizza reacted with a simple, “Boys,” and an eye roll. We both exploded into giggles.
"Might be the only time we ever see LP this happy,” I whispered to MagmaPOP. “Don’t spoil it.” MagmaPOP nodded as a reply, and continued walking. Halfway through, I stopped. And so did LP.
“What if Valgo and crazygoat are captured?” I asked. MagmaPOP was clearly annoyed.
“They AREN’T!” He hissed, spit flying. “They wouldn't be or else I would…I would…” He slumped, and I thought he was going to break into sobs. I turned to LP, and her expression was soft.
“You need some time alone,” she said. MagmaPOP nodded again. She turned to me, pointing her chin towards the left. We went ahead and built a shelter for the night out of more Set Text blocks. When MagmaPOP came back, he was happy.
“Thanks,” he smiled.
I turned to look at him, and a smile creeped up my lips. LP was outside, playing with Miksha. I walked over to the small table that we made using an oval, and grabbed and orange, which I offered to MagmaPOP. He gladly took it. Shwip! MagmaPOP broke the cold orange into fourths, handing half to me.
You could hear LotsaPizza’s soft laughs as she walked, no, slided, into the house. She has a special way of walking-her feet barely leave the ground, like she’s skating. It’s easy to recognize her that way. She grabbed an apple, which she munched on. Miksha followed shortly after her, drool spilling from his mouth.
After LP finished her apple, we set off again. Up a hill, this time. Using a Set Text, Set Color, Leave a Trail, Set and Increase Value, and a Check Once if block, MagmaPOP made an awesome sign, marking camp 3. “Let’s make it an ability,” he said, “so we won’t waste time on it.” I nodded and pulled out a ‘New Ability’ option from our bags. I named it ‘Marking.’ Grinning, we continued.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
After returning to Valgo and crazygoat, we continued up a hill. “So let’s look at the facts,” I said as we walked up the hill, “A Happy Coder and PopTart seemed to have betrayed us and went with SUPERSWAGGY. They also kidnapped Rawrbear, and we have no idea where they are.”
“Can’t we just look for clues? We have PopTart’s note,” Valgo tried to reason.
“Yeah, and values are the easiest thing ever, Valgo…” MagmaPOP replied sarcastically.
“Coming from you…” I heard LotsaPizza mutter under her breath.
“Come on, guys, it’s possible. Look! It’s those same footprint things!” Valgo said, pointing at an indentation in the ground.
“That’s going right through the HHC15 projects. We’ll die in there,” I mumbled.
“Let’s go through yours, then, CC.”
“What!?” LotsaPizza and I said in unison.
“You do want us to die, Valgo…”
“Why don’t we go through yours, hmm? Making a costume for a character seems more fun than Zombear killing us…” I said, pointing at the less-deadly project.
“You don’t understand.”
“I completely understand. You. Want. Us. All. Dead.”
“That’s not—”
“I’m going back to camp.”
“CC…”
As I walked away from the group, I overheard bits of hushed conversation.
“What are we going to do now?!” That was MagmaPOP.
“I don’t know, go get her! Tell her we’ll go through mine—It was only a drawing!” LotsaPizza.
“No. Way.” Valgo.
“What did you even need to—” That’s all I heard.
I sat in one of the stiff chairs at the base camp. In the back of my mind I was wondering how much arguing was taking place.
Time passed. I ate an apple, I petted Mishka. I was bored. It hit twilight and I finally decided to lurk out. I expected a snarky “oh look who’s out,” from Valgo.
But they were gone.
All except one.
LP stared at me, curled up in a ball. “Came… Took… Left… Gone….” Scars were fresh on her face, along with tears. I walked over to comfort her.
“LP, what happened?” I ask her, softly.
“They… You,” she stopped and pointed at a figure. “You took my friends.”
“They were both sarcastic boys,” the figure replies.
“I DON’T CARE!” she shouted. “PopTart,” she added. The figure stopped in the mist. I suddenly felt charged, like adrenaline was rushing through my veins instead of blood. It was as if your idol, your friend, suddenly hated your guts. Well, that was a bad analogy considering that was exactly what was going on. I didn't care; I just felt like every ounce of compassion inside of me was burned into fiery hatred.
“What is WRONG with you?!” I spat angrily.
PopTart sighed. “You still don't see it, huh. Don't you see why I went to his side? He opened my eyes. You're literally in a world where you can build your own destiny. Why do you want to leave?”
“It's like before! It's amazing, but we don't want to be in it. Your own words, PopTart!” LotsaPizza yelled.
“Oh dear…” PopTart said, as she seemed to float towards us, “Guess I have to do it the hard way…”
Darkness.
⚬ ⚬ ⚬
I realized that I really, really hate the dark.
I also realized that I hate PopTart.
“I hate that woman,” I muttered.
“Thanks for saying that, Captain Obvious,” came a familiar, yet...different voice. I felt like I knew them, but they changed.
LotsaPizza? No…the voice wasn't feminine enough.
MagmaPOP? Not...really.
Valgo? It just didn't work. I knew the voice, but I couldn't recall who it belonged to.
“You’re not too subtle when thinking, huh?” the same voice teased, “You've watched me a lot when you were just an itty-bitty, naive, beginner Hopscotcher.”
Light filled the room. I don't know where I was, but it was not The Editor. I didn't even know if it was Hopscotch. Huddled in the opposite corner were the beat-up, yet still recognizable members of The Hopscotch Team.
“We…we tried to figure out the red-dot bug, but then—”
“Shut up, Liza! I run the place around here,” was the menacing, twisted voice that came from Alish. I was horrified as I realized that Alish’s voice was slowly warping into the awful, metallic grinding sound that I knew all too well. “What. Ya scared, kid?”
I woke up to more blackness. Still, I'd rather take blissful darkness over horrid sights in the light.
Yet the strobe-like light shone again. I found myself in an isolation room made of white marble. LotsaPizza, Valgo, MagmaPOP, A Happy Coder, and Rawrbear were slouched in the same corner The Hopscotch Team was in. It looked like they were dead.
“What darling?” the sickening voice of PopTart said behind me, “Scared?” I whirled around to face the voice, but the voice was heard to my left after I turned. “Oh, how pathetic. She wants to keep her friends safe! How desperate.” A metal-on-metal scraping could have represented laughing.
I turned again, but was forcibly pushed into a wall. I saw PopTart hovering there, but I couldn't move, as if bound by invisible ropes (probably with the use of a Set Invisibility block).
She stared me down like a hawk hunting its prey. Finally she spoke, “I can take out your code right now. Discard it to be never seen again.” As she walked toward me, she pulled out an ability block labeled simply ‘LIFE’.
“I have the power now. I can just pluck away this from your code as easily as a little toddler plucking petals from a flower. And then I'll delete this tiny ability forever. Replace the code, perhaps. You'd be a nice addition to the characters of Hopscotch. Or, even better I can do Repeat Forever-Set Position (500,400). That way you can weep in your own little pixel-by-pixel prison, trapped in the center of the editor. Forever. How does that sound, Creative Coder?”
“I hate you,” was all I could say through my clenched teeth.
“Au contraire. It's them who hate you,” she said, pointing at the lifeless bodies, “And nearly every Hopscotcher normally. You see, The Hopscotch Team posted a project. All it had was negativity against you. Oh, if only you could see your notifications now!
She brought up a floating image of my Hopscotch. Proceeding to tap my notifications, I could see her snickering. The entire feed was filled with remixes with hate directed at me.
One remix said “You're a terrible person. Go kill yourself.”
“Oh, don't worry, I got the killing down. -pt” is what she typed into a new text box on the remix.
She published it.
。。。
Screams.
Don’t you just hate them? I closed my eyes and tried to stop my screams. Failing. Oh, I was failing horribly.
Until I saw three figures help me up.
One was a girl, with long black hair and a pastel braid in it. Her eyes glimmered hazel. Another was a boy, with gray eyes and a soft smile. He pushed a strand of brown hair from his face. The final was another boy, with green eyes and soft brown hair.
Familiar. I stared at them, at their grins, at the tears. The girl spoke.
“CC. You’re alive.”
LotsaPizza.
LotsaPizza!
“Help her up.”
MagmaPOP!
“We got you now. Rest.”
Valgo!
The lights turned bright, and I could see LotsaPizza’s clothes splotched with blood. Her face wore a scar. Her arm—her good arm—was covered in scratches, still fresh. I collapsed on her, and she wrapped me in a hug.
“We won.”
“No, you didn’t, shank.”
I know that voice, that word. I know it.
“Little coders. Dumb. Oh, and an artist. Dumb-er,” sneered SuperSwaggy.
“Hey!” shouted LotsaPizza.
“You survived, for now. The Hopscotch Team is alive, for now. Alish is back to normal, for-”
“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s awesome for now,” Valgo spat.
“Spot-on! But we had to sacrifice some of ‘em. Sorry.” He grinned. “A Happy Coder.”
“We hate him!” screeched LotsaPizza.
“And Rawrbear.”
LotsaPizza put her head in her hands and sobbed.
“I hate you so much…” she mumbled, “Oh, how I hate you…”
Right on cue, two people came walking in through the door.
“I’m seawolfwerehorse,” the girl said.
“And I’m MobCraft,” the boy said, slightly confused.
“Have fun!” SuperSwaggy sang, exiting the room. The door slammed behind him, masking us in an eerie silence. We all stood around quietly, unsure what to do. After a couple minutes, MobCraft turned to me with the angriest look ever, full of rage.
“You…”
He leaped at me, looking with unforgiving eyes. I saw things flash behind him. Beat up Hopscotch Team. Injured friends. Betrayal. And burning hate, all forced upon me.
END OF BOOK 1…
Anonymous ⚝ is the co-author, editor, and writer of various chapters. He is a talented musician, and is currently disguised as anonymous on hopscotch and the forum. (He totally isn’t part of the illuminati) What do you know, you might appear on one of his projects, anytime soon! He has gotten on the top of trending about 2 times. One feature, but no Risings (yet) on this account, but who knows. :P
LotsaPizza is one of the main authors of this piece. She has been writing since 5 years of age. On Hopscotch, she is an artist, part of the artist besties. She also codes a bit now and then, to vary her channel. Her favorite books include Divergent and The Maze Runner, whereas her love for comics also kick in. Derp. She is planning on publishing her book, Just One Stripe. She has been featured 4 times, trending 100 times, and rising twice. She has earned a shoutout by F4LO, and StarGirl Studios. She loves her friends, music, soccer, and tech. She knows Java, Python, Common and Algol, and HTML coding languages.
Creative Coder is the other main author of the story, and she also started it. She has a variety of projects on Hopscotch, such as games, pixel art, simple scenes, etc. She also is on the forum (CreativeCoder), and Scratch (Creative_Coder). Since joining Hopscotch in June 2015, she’s learned other coding languages such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL.
Rawrbear is the main editor of this story. Without his Hopscotch account, he strives for the best by being a Hopscotch helper on the Hopscotch forum. He used to make many types of projects like art, games, etc! He is best at drawing objects. He is also on Scratch. PopTart0219 is an editor of the story. She is a hopscotch artist, and is working on many new games.
Corvus, formerly Regulus and Gysv, is an editor of this story. She does many different things on Hopscotch, and has been Hopscotchin’ since August 2015. She’s also an editor of other stories and is on Scratch as Konstellasie and on the Hopscotch Forum as GysvANDRegulus. She knows a few programming languages other than Hopscotch, like Swift and JavaScript.