"The Adventure of a Lifetime", part one: Poptropica fanfiction

I wrote this story last year. It's based on the game Poptropica, which is basically an online role-playing game for kids that I've been a fan of since I was about eight years old. I don't normally write fan-fiction, I prefer to create my own characters, but I read a few Poptropica fanfictions and I was inspired to write my own.

If you've never played Poptropica before then this might sound a bit weird to you, especially the names and stuff. You can check the game out here if you want to! It's aimed at kids, but anyone can enjoy playing it, no matter what age you are (I'm 15 and I still like it, heh). I've written a bunch of other posts about this game that might give you a clearer idea about what the game is like, find them here.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the story. I'm posting it in two parts, 'cause it's quite long. Enjoy!

                                                                                                 

The crowd of people gathered around me wave as the blimp starts to slowly rise into the air. I wave back, smiling, until I’m so high in the sky that I can’t see them anymore. Then I sit back and pull out my map. I steer the blimp so I’m headed towards my next destination – the next island I’ll visit.

I smile again, and shake my head. What an adventure, eh! I got framed for a crime I didn’t commit and got thrown into prison – but with some help from the friends I made, I escaped. I even managed to do some good – I helped the people who had been at Pelican Rock for ages, and I helped the police catch the real criminal who had framed me. But now my work there is done, and it’s time for me to move on to a new adventure.

I sigh. It’s at times like these, when I’m alone, travelling in my blimp, that I think about my past. My life used to be so normal. I lived in a tiny village on a tiny island with my family, and all I ever wanted was to explore the rest of the world. I read tons of books about people who had adventures, who explored faraway lands, and it was my dream to be like them.

So when my school organised a trip to an island near to the island I lived on, I was the first to sign up. Finally, I was going to make my dream come true!

My friends and I climbed aboard the boat, and I’ll be honest, I felt slightly nervous. I’d wanted to leave the island for so long that now that it was actually happening I couldn’t quite believe this was real.

The first part of the trip was amazing. I leaned out over the side of the ship, gazing at the islands we were passing, fascinated at seeing so many new things.

Then everything went wrong.

Apparently there was some storm that the forecast hadn’t predicted. I remember our teachers looking worried as they told us to go below deck, and that the sky turned grey, then black, as the storm clouds gathered. Thunder rumbled and flashes of lightning cut down from the sky. It was scary – and it was awesome. I’d always loved thunderstorms; we didn’t get many where I lived, and whenever there was one I was always glued to my window.

I was reluctant to go below deck, and I was the last in the line going down. I was captivated by the sight of the lightning flashing around us.

The line was moving slowly, and I figured, what was the harm of going towards the edge of the ship to see the storm a bit better? So I slipped away from the rest of the kids and moved towards the side of the boat. It was raining heavily by then, but I didn’t care – I’d never minded getting wet.

That was when a bolt of lightning landed right near me. I shrieked, and jumped, my feet slipping on the wet floor. Another bolt flashed down, and my arms and legs windmilled around as I tried to find my balance. I was dangerously near the edge of the ship, and in that moment before I went overboard the only thought in my mind was, why didn’t I just stay with the others?
Then I hit the icy water, and I don’t remember anything else.

When I came to I was lying on a beach, with a bunch of unfamiliar faces looking down at me. I was scared at first, but some friendly people told me that I was somewhere called Early Poptropica, and that I had just appeared here overnight. They made me feel welcome, giving me a place to stay and showing me around. I didn’t understand exactly what had happened to me – how I’d gotten here – the only thing I knew was that by some miracle I’d survived, and that I was very, very far away from my home.

It was at some point in my first day in Early Poptropica that I found the piece of paper in my back pocket. I always carried around paper and a pencil in case I suddenly had an idea for a story and I wanted to write it down. Only the piece of paper wasn’t just a piece of paper anymore. There must have been something magic about that storm – it transported me to somewhere far away, and it turned the paper into a map. What had once been a blank scrap of paper now had a few different islands drawn on it. There was a blimp symbol over the island marked Early Poptropica – the map knew that that was where I was. The other islands were unmarked – I’d have to visit them to find out what they were called.

I spent a few weeks on Early Poptropica Island, helping people as much as I could. At first I’d felt quite lonely and scared, but after a while I made friends and started having a lot of fun. But after I’d been there a few weeks I started getting bored. I kept gazing at my map, at the other islands, and I wanted to visit them.

Someone who lived on the island had an old blimp that he didn’t use anymore, and he gave it to me. So that evening I climbed aboard my blimp for the very first time, and flew up into the sky, ready to explore new worlds.

I went from island to island, and on every island I had to help people in a different way, I had a new quest to complete. Some of the quests were funny, others were extremely exciting, and some were quite scary, but I always had a lot of fun solving them. Once I’d finish the mission I’d stay at the island for a while, waiting for a new island to appear on my map. I realised that every now and again new islands would appear on the magic map – a new adventure would be waiting for me. So when that happened, I would jump back on my blimp and fly to the unknown island, ready for a new adventure.

It was brilliant, for a while. But then something happened that I never thought would happen to me.

I got homesick.

I started missing my family, my friends, my home. I’d met so many new people, but really I was completely alone, and I felt so lonely at times. I decided that the next thing I should do would be to go back home. The only drawback was, I had no idea where my home was.

And that takes us to today. It’s been three years since I ended up in Early Poptropica, and I still haven’t found my home. Every time a new island pops up onto my map, I fly there as quick as I can, hoping against hope that this new island would be my island. But it never is. I meet new people, I complete the quest, I help people out, then those people go back to their lives, and I leave. I’m starting to lose faith that I’ll ever find my home.

It’s ironic, isn’t it: when I was little all I wanted was to go on an adventure, and now that I’m having the adventure of a lifetime all I truly want is to return home.

I miss my family: my parents, my older brother, my little sister. My sister must be so big by now. And I’ve changed so much as well: the hyperactive little girl with the two bunches who ran aboard that ship is gone. I’ve turned into a quiet, slightly grumpy teenager who has gone through incredible experiences. Would my parents even recognise me if they saw me? Would I recognise them? It worries me, but I’m starting to forget their faces.

I stand up inside the blimp, letting the wind pull my long dark hair back. The sea stretches out below me, and above the clouds race past. I forget my troubles for a moment – this is so beautiful. I’ll never get bored of this.

Suddenly a few clouds below me clear away, and I get a glimpse of an island directly below me. I already got to my destination, and I almost didn’t realise – I was so caught up in my thoughts. I steer the blimp down, down, down towards the island.

It’s as I’m descending that I notice the words. Right at the edge of the island someone had arranged flowerbeds to form huge letters that anyone flying above the island couldn’t miss: Welcome to HOME ISLAND.

My heart skips a beat: a place called Home Island? Could it possibly be my home? I’m hopeful for a moment, but then I feel stupid. Of course this isn’t my home. It’s just some place that happens to be called Home Island.

I keep descending down towards the island, and as I land, I get the feeling that this island is going to be special. That I’m going to find something that will help me find my home. It’s probably dumb, but I have a good feeling about this place.

I jump down from the blimp, eager to start exploring. I don’t know what it is I’ll find, but maybe it’ll take me one step closer to the place where I belong.

                                                                                             

Well, hope you enjoyed this! Part two coming soon. Comment your thoughts!

-Indigo