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“Pink and Blue for me and you. With you here, I can’t be lost too.” Romie begins to make rhymes in his head as he explores the mysterious island in search for Rosie. “I don’t know who that was, but she is hot! I can’t wait to show her all this good Romie.”

Romie walks through a dense forest and finds a large treehouse connected to the trees above. “Whooooaaaa!! Sooo cool!” Romie says aloud. He walks over to several trees in search for a way up. No way could be found.

“Hmm…how do I get up there? Hello?! Is anybody up there? I’m lost!”

A large green snake comes outside and wraps itself around one of the trees. “Who dareth call for me?”

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Romie’s face flushes at the unexpected guest. “Hi! That would be me! Have you seen anybody that looks like me? But, girlier? With pink and orange hair?” Romie says aloud “Gahh! I mean blue! Or was it orange and blue?” he says softer to himself.

“The only ‘looks like you but with sherbet ice cream hair’ I know is Rosie. But she’s not here now. What makes you come here?”

“I do not know. There was a crash, water flooded everywhere, and the only person who can help me get home is somewhere on this island!”

“Sounds like a lot of humanoid problems. You’d better get out of here. My senses are alerting to a threat.”

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“What could threaten a large tree snake?” Romie says facetiously. 

“Not me, you,” the snake responds.

Ortafa comes running in scaring off the wildlife. Ortafa knocks Romie off his feet and takes off running. Romie lands on Ortafa’s back. “No time to explain. Hang tight and it’ll all be over soon.”

“All be over? What are you talking about? Who are you?” Romie says.

“You can call me Chief of Dudes. I run everything that doesn’t make sense around here.”

“Dude, what?” Romie says.

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“You, my friend, have been handpicked by the finest of vassals. Take a good look, pretty soon, this will all be yours.”

Romie looks around to see the beauty of Quer Island. The serenity that springs from the waterfalls. The joy that stems from the frolicking animals. The pink-tip volcano really added a nice touch to the calming atmosphere. All in the distance were mountains, fields, communities.

“What’s that over there? Looks like homes! Take me there!”

“Oh you don’t wanna go yonder. Out there lives the depos.”

“The depos?” Romie asks.

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“Them is the dudes that opted for a more formal, structured life. In other words, they think they’re too good to live out in the wild. They need something they call ‘privacy.’ Beats me why you would want to see a privy. We got plenty of space here outside.” Ortafa responds to Romie.

“You mean a bathroom?”

“No, kiddo, the bats have their own space near the volcano.”

“And that’s what I get for talking to an animal.” Romie says to himself. “Look, can you get me to the humans or not?”

“Humans?!” Ortafa makes a sudden stop. “Those aren’t humans! They specie just like me. Oh, no, we don’t allow your kind here. Too much need for vassalage.”

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“Wait! No! I saw a girl!” Romie says.

“Ooooh you’ve met the marvelous Rosie? Vassalager at its finest. I mean you’ve gotta give the girl credit. No dude has ever made it out of here alive,” Ortafa says, ending his response with a chuckle.

Romie’s face flushes at Ortafa’s finishing remark. Before Romie could make another statement, Ortafa takes off running again. “New plan! We’re going to Rosie!” Ortafa says.

Romie’s face lights up a big smile as it settles that he is about to meet his crush. The two scurry through the island and end up in a muddy riverbank. Ortafa stops running. “Okay, get off me kid,” he says aloud.

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Romie steps down and takes a look at the landscape. Mud, trees, water, mud. “Ummm, Mr. Chief of Warthogs-”

“Chief of Dudes!” Ortafa interjects to correct Romie.

“Yes, that! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s no Roses here!” Romie says, raising his voice towards the end.

Ortafa smiles. “Oh, she’ll be here!”

”When?! All I see is mud, dirt, trees, and -,” Romie begins to lose balance in the mud. He falls over face first. When he tries to get back up, Romie feels himself sinking in the mud.

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“Chief, help me!” Romie yells.

“Alright I will! Hang tight!” Ortafa takes off running, leaving Romie stuck in the mud.

Two eyes pop up on the riverbank. The water begins to ripple. The animal swims closer and closer to Romie. Romie is able to get his upper body out of the mud and can stand up straight. The mud has traveled up to Romie’s ankles leaving him stuck.

“Stupid warthog!!!” Romie yells to the skies. He turns over to notice the mysterious animal swimming his way. “Uhh ohh! This is bad. This is very bad!”

The eyes get close to shore and then disappear underwater. The ripples disappear also. “Phew, that was a close call!” Romie says to himself trying to calm down.

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Bubbles begin to rise in the mud. Pop! Pop! Pop! They rise one by one. Ripples begin to appear in the mud. As Romie looks closer, a hole is beginning to form. Romie tries wiggling his feet but cannot move.

The bubbles continue to pop. The ripples getting stronger like ocean waves in a hurricane. The hole forming larger and larger like that of a sinkhole. A few short moments later, the dirt falls and a strange black hole appears. The calm before the storm.

Romie locks eyes on the hole, safely monitoring. The bubbles stop. No more ripples. Environmental silence. Romie thinks to himself, “if I can just inch closer I can free myself in that water.”

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Romie uses his hands to dig himself out of the sinkhole. He tries anything. Romie begins to dig a hole around his feet by throwing the mud in the water hole.

After Romie’s third toss of mud, Petri shoots out of the hole. Romie screams at the large cylinder-shaped reptile hurdling out of the hole. Petri lands next to Romie and places him in a constrictor lock. Romie is too frightened to open his eyes and realize the snake is his old pal from the boat.

“Please don’t eat me! Please don’t eat me!” Romie says quietly to himself. 

Invisible to Romie, Ortafa is in the distance preparing to launch. Ortafa takes off running at full-speed and runs head first into a tree, knocking the tree down across the mud.

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Petri wraps their tail around the tree and plucks Romie out like they were at a cherry picking contest. The momentum from Petri’s pull was too strong as this launched Romie into the river.

“Petri!! Imma get you!” can be heard faintly in the distance. “Petri! Go on and change your name to rat snake, you rat! And boy oh boy do I have some cheese for you! Smile, rat!” Rosie yells. Rosie can be seen coming over the horizon on the riverbank. She is floating on a makeshift raft.

“First, that stupid snake goes out for a swim. Then, that stupid snake goes missing, Third, that stupid snake gets lost. Now, that stupid snake gets tossed! Rosie style!” Rosie says to herself floating closer and closer.

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”And that right Rosie is my cue! We all remember what happened last time I got in between you two!” Ortafa says.

“Ortafa stop! Now, you brought the boy here. If you leave, I’m telling Rosie it was your wretched hooves that ruined the Plant Ministry.”

*Gasp!* “Oh you wouldn’t dare! You knew I thought that was Chiron’s place!” Ortafa responds.

“Test me, ‘dude.’”

As Rosie gets closer, she is able to see Romie stuck in the river. She squints her eyes to look closer at Romie. “Gotcha!” she says to herself.