Buff Orange Origins Ch. 4
Chapter 4
“Man, I really wish Little Man could see this place!!” said Bizzle so excited and wide-eyed as they entered the gates of this new kingdom. It had the eerie sense of feeling like home to all the buffs, but everything just seemed a little off. Not to mention the derps here looked very different from those in Derpetonia.
The derp that called himself Toybot had a very long face, with a forced smile full of multi-colored teeth, slim-looking glasses, and a blunt in his ear. And the greatest thing was his crown. The only other crown they had ever seen was worn by their King Dave. Was this the leader of the kingdom Buff Orange thought?
“It’s his birthday today!! Oh man wait until I tell him there is a WHOLE other kingdom just like Derpetonia with strange looking derps!” Bizzle exclaimed a little too loud and Toybot turned to him and said sternly, “We call ourselves Drapes. We weren’t always like this though, we once looked like you. But it has been at least a hundred years since that time. We started changing once the Others arrived.”
“Who are the Others?” asked Buff Orange as they continued to walk through the streets of the kingdom.
“They appeared out of no where one night, came from the sky, with no warning or sound. We were totally unprepared. Their ships moved so fast and begin to take our beloved citizens one by one. We tried to defend ourselves, but their ships were gone in a matter of seconds!”
“You said this started a hundred years ago? We saw these ships enter the atmosphere only a few weeks back! Could these be the same ships? There’s no way, right?” questioned Buff Orange.
“We believe they are the same ships,” said Toybot “because the next morning, we could see some sort of energy field surrounding the kingdom, we later started calling The Bubble. We could not go beyond The Bubble, but noticed while looking out that things moved much slower. Our weather expert, KamKraft, first discovered this time difference while tracking the wind patterns inside the kingdom vs outside The Bubble. The wind blowing through the trees moved at a much faster pace here. So KamKraft measured the distance and time it took for one leaf to move from one point to another on both sides and compared the two. We quickly found out that every 24 hours here equaled 1 minute outside. Which if you do the math…”
“100 years here is 25 days outside..” Fly said shocked in disbelief.
“Yes, precisely. We call this the ‘Windy Effect’ Toybot said softly.
All the buffs just stood still at the weight of this new realization, that they may never see home again. Or when they do they would be much older than when they left. All these thoughts begin to race through their heads.
“Let’s get you guys settled,” said Toybot “We have a place where you can all stay, its not the most ideal place. But it will do. It’s on the other side of the kingdom, hop on these. It will be much quicker” he pointed to a hovering vehicle that resembled a sleek bike.
They rode across the kingdom and finally stopped at this colorful building with a bunch of lights, and some shady looking drapes positioned outside it.
“Welcome welcome welcome! I hope you enjoyed the jav’s ride. They are so much fun! My name is Lord Flocko and I will be hosting you all this evening. Let’s hurry before night falls and the Others make their rounds.” a purple furred buff drape with half closed eyes and a shiny horn sticking out the top of his head waved them all inside quickly.
“This is my place. Lord Flocko’s Big Den. The patrons like to call it the “Big D” Flocko chuckled to himself and halfway snorted. “I know I know this isn’t the kinda place you’d bring your kids, but its the biggest place to fit you all for the night until we can work out better accommodations”
Flocko’s Big D was absolutely huge. It was full of colorful carpets and beads hanging from the ceilings. Lights strewn throughout and a hazy glow hovered in the air. It smelled absolutely awful, but the buffs were finally glad to have a roof over their heads.
“You said that the Others make their rounds at night?” asked Daan, one of the commanders of the buff squad.
“Yes yes yes. Those pesky buggers wiz in and out in a flash every night. We learned that if we hunker down inside, there is less of a chance they capture you.” Flocko screeched.
“Capture? What happens if you get captured?” asked Bizzle a little frightened
“Well well well. You see this beautiful beast?” Flocko begin to stroke his golden horn seductively, “I wasn’t born with this. No one can remember when they get captured. It happens in a flash, but every single time you do, you come back a little bit different.” He smiled creepily.
The buffs all settled down for the night after listening to different stories from Flocko about what happened to the kingdom over the last several years. Buff Orange really began to miss home and wondered if he would ever be able to see it again. ‘Man I could really use a drink’, he thought.