The Third Chapter: Chapter 3

Ah, 1:00am on a Tuesday! Or, as it's more commonly known as: Story Time! That's right, it's time for another installment! Awesome. You're all so excited! I'm so excited! This one might be the best one yet. It's a Noah heavy entry, so you're all happy. Might be some twists, might now. Might be LOTS though. Also might now have any. That's how I roll. If you haven't figured it out, go back and re-read the last 7 entries. Anyways, what happened last time?

Noah and Emily and The G Bomb had just ended up at Donnies Discount Tablery. Now, I realize that previously in the story, I had called it Donny's Discount Tablery, but I've changed that. I like the new way better. Ok, back to whatever. They had just got there, and the dogs were getting ready to do something about a basin or something, I don't remember. Anyways, here goes! The third, and FINAL installment of: The Red Basin II: The Third Chapter: Chapter 3: Hello My Name Is... Guurnt..?


The doors slid open smoothly and quickly away from the trio as they approached, making barely a sound. As they moved into the breezeway, a long, dimly lit hallway, they snapped shut behind. They walked down the hall toward a second set of automatic doors. As they approached, the faint sound of gentle music could be heard comming from the other side, and through the tinted glass, hints of bright coloured lights filtered through. "Remember" reminded Emily "Donnie is a business man, so make sure you're on your best behavior. We want this to go smoothly." They stopped before the pressure mat that would open the last portal. "I know you've never been here, so stay close. It's not exactly what you're expecting."
"How does she know what I'm expecting?" Noah asked no one, as she moved toward the doors. As they stepped onto the mat, the high doors wooshed open, and the sight was in fast, nothing at all what Noah had expected. The place was massive! Resembling what was more like a massive bazar than a table shop, dozens of kiosks and other small shops sprawled out in front of them, some multiple storeys, all with blazing neon signs advertising their wears. Mountains of merchandise streatched toward the distant ceiling. If the outside world was abandoned, this was surely the reason why. masses of people moved about, trading, selling, laughing, yelling. A pair of men were looking to start a fight off near a shop that apparentally sold lavish carpets, the shopkeep trying in vain to calm them. "Jeez.' Breathed Noah. "This is exactly what I had expected." Emily gave him a berating look and started off down one of the "alleyways". As they continued on, passing under a brigge between two of the larger shops, they passed what looked like a resturaunt, crowded with people and selling what looked like grilled shrimp, right off of a giant grill in the middle. "Mmm, that smells great!" Noah sighed, straining to get a closer look past the throng of people. "Can we get some fish things, or something? I'm famished." Emily turned on him, and scolded "Noah, we're already late for this meeting with Donnie, and you want to get some shrimp snacks?" The G Bomb continued down the alley without them. "Do you even like shrimp?"
"I like the idea of shrimp." Noah reasoned. "And besided, we're already late, what's a few more minutes?" Emily growled and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back in the right direction. Noah resisted, reaching out with his free arm toward the shrimp grill, and finally gave up falling back into step behind Emily, grumbling. "I love shrimp, I bet." They walked a ways further, past more interesting shops, none of which sold shrimp, and finally came to an opening, something that looked like a small square or park, with white benches ringing it's full circumfrence. More heaps of merchandise bordered the square, giving it artifical walls. In the middle, stood a man dressed in a pristine white suit, chatting loudly with a small group of what appeared to be merchants. He had slick black and a short curling moustache. He carried a white walking stick capped with a golden goose head, and wore shiny black shoes. When the pair (Neither noticed The G Bombs disappearance as of yet) came into his view, the mans ever opened wide and a great big grin came over his face, he quickly ended his conversatoin with the merchants, and arms out wide approached Emily and Noah.
"Friends!" He greeted, his teeth were gold. "You 'ave made it!" He crushed them in an embrace. Noah, taken by surprise, started to protest, but was quickly silenced, due to lack of air. The man broke off the hug, and backed up a step, his smile never fading. "I thought that you might not show!" Big ol' smile still.
"Ha, well, sorry about that, we got caught up in traffic." Emily lied. "But, we are here, and we're ready to work!" She pointed over to Noah. "This is Noah, he's a friend, and a teriffic worker! He's going to be my partner on this job, if that's ok with you. Noah, this is Donnie, of Donnies Discount Tablery. He's a great man." Donnie looked at Emily, his grin growing.
"You flatter me, Emeel." He cooed, feigning embarassment. "No-ha, pleasure to meet you." He reached a hand out to Noah, who hesitantly took it in his, and recieved a vigorous shake. The gold rings on Donnies hands dug into his knuckles, the handshake was that firm! Upon release, Donnie sniffed the air, and asked "Is that Kenyan Dark that I smell? Wonderful!" Noah shot Emily a smirk. "Ah, what a day, but we have work to do!" He turned and started off to the door at the oposite end of the square. "Does he know that your name is actually Emily, and not Emeel?" Noah asked.
"I have no idea why he doesn't get anyones names right." Emily said "But he always has some weird version."
"Weird." Noah added. "He was pretty close with mine though, you have to admit! Maybe he knows that I have huge potential." Emily shot another berating look at him, and picked up her pace. Noah, smirk in tow began after her. Before they got to the door though, it opened, and a short man with an amazingly large, but flat, head walked out. He was nearly a sphere, and his flat head helped accentuate this fact. He wore an army green vest, and a red truckers hat, that was overly round, apparentally to disguise the flatness of his head. "Oh! My friend! You two, you must meet my wonderful friend!" Donnie bent low and hugged the little man, who appeared to hate it as much as Noah, if not more. "This is.. Um.. This is, my friend!" Donnie clearly had forgotten the mans name. "Introduce yourself, my friend! This is Noo-ka and Emeel! They have come to give us a hand today!" The man cleared his throat, and, his head and wide mouth very animated, said.
"Hello."
"What up?" Noah greeted casualy.
"Hi, I'm Emily." Emily added.
"Nice to meetcha." The little man vigorously replied.
"Um, what's your name?" Emily awkwardly asked, after a few moments silence.
"Oh, right. Uh, my name is." He paused, seeming surprised. "Uh.. I'm... My name is.. G-g..El... Ern..er.. guurnt..?" he stumbled, apprering to have made the entire thing up, very unconvincingly. Emily scrunched up her face shooting him a confused look.
"Nice to meet you Guurnt." Noah said, appearing to have not noticed the bumbling whatsoever. Emily turned her scrunched up face to Noah.
"Um, right, nice to meetcha." The little man bobbed, looking nervous. "Hey, look what I bought!" He seemed desperate to change the conversation. "Was only twenty bucks from some drunk down near the pond!" He reached and began to open the door he had come through the rest of the way.
"There's a pond?" Noah asked no one. The door swung open, and standing there, smug as a bug, was a little robot, no higher than your weist, with a pot of fresh coffee sitting in its open chest cabinet. If The G Bomb was capable of smiling, he would have put even Donnie to shame right then.


I love that entry. What a cool building! I bet not what you expected at all, nevermind Noah! And what's all this about The G Bomb getting bought? Has he finally excaped Noah? Will he finally be able to exact the revenge on him he so sorely craves? We'll have to wait and find out! I give myself... 4.5 out of 5 stars for that one. Shrimp grills.

The Third Chapter: Chapter 2

Looks like you're hooked. I love it! Pretty soon, I'll be getting hundreds of emails asking me to host advertisments on my story, and they'll pay trillions! All thanks to you, thanks to me. We're quite a team, me and you, although I do all the hard stuff, and you just get to look at the hard stuff. That reminds me of a story! This one time, I made this wonderful short story, about a thing, and everyone from far and wide came to read it. It was terrific. Anyways, on with the show(rt story)! Wait! Should I continue on with the amazing Princess storyline, or keep you all amused with the comic japes of Noah and his silly The G Bomb? Tell you what, this is how it's going to work: It'll be a cool time fun old CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE! That's right, it's here! The very first, new and improved, once-in-a-lifetime Choose Your Own Adventure! Here' goes!

The Red Basin 2: The Third Chapter: Chapter 2: The Tough Choices We Make!

To begin...

It's been a while since we last saw Noah and Emily in their rusty car, on their way to Donnies Discount Tablery. Now, this Tablery is probably one of the finest in their whole part of the city, having tables of both the 1 and 4 legged variety. They also range in colour from White-with-a-hint-of-blue to Black-with-a-hint-of-red. You might not know it, but that's a very wide range of colours. Not shades. As soon as it's "black with a hint of whatever", or "white with a something of something", it's not white or black anymore, so don't give me this stupid shade argument. It won't fly, because we both know you're wrong. Anyways, Lots of colours and tables. Awesome. Now, our Hero (Noah is the hero, I guess) had just been involved in an unpleasant encounter with The G Bomb, from which he had taken a clout to the jaw. That aside, all was going well. That aside, it wasn't. Emily is sad, Princess has apparentally exploded mustard or something, and the street is dusty. Sounds like a riot. Ok though, we're getting to the adventure part! Proceed!

Page 42:
The gross little car pulled into an empty parking space outside of what was apparentally Donnies Discount Tablery. "This is it, apparentally." Emily said, looking at the building. It was a large building, maybe 4 or 5 stories tall, and taking up about a fifth of a city block length wise. The sign, which was their biggest hint, was a massive neon marquee, green like lime sno-cones and flashing slowly and randomly. It read: "Donn es D sco nt Tabl ry" and was itself nearly 4 stories in height. It bathed the street in front of it with a strange glow, sort of like a hospital after 8:00pm. It was unsettling, but you always felt like you were being looked after at Donnies. That's one of their selling points, after all! "We're always lookin' after you!" Donnie himself said that on a public television add 2 years back, when they had just finished the sign. It was a huge success. However comforting the sign was though, the street remained vacant, the old rusty car Noah and Emily were in was the only parked car for a few blocks, and pedestrian traffic was fairly low here. "Well, let's get to work!" Emily announced, full of what we can only assume is confidence.
"Alright." Grumbled Noah, unfastening his seatbelt. "But to be honest, I have no idea what kind of job this is, you sort of just told me that I had a new job, and to meet you in that weird empty room earlier today."
"What do you mean you don't know what the job is? I left you a message going over the whole thing on your answering machine!" Noah sighed and looked back over his shoulder at The G Bomb, humming happily to himself as he burnt little holes in the back of the seat with his rocket feet.
"Sometimes my machine... doesn't save messages properly." As if on cue, The G Bomb whirred into action, opening up his chest cabinet to reveal a small speaker, out of which came "Hey Noah, it's me, Emily. Uh, just calling to let you know that you have a new job!" in a raspy mechanical tone. "Now, that's just not fair, The G Bomb!" Noah snapped at the robot. He wasn't terribly upset, though, because he often used the excuse "my machine doesn't save messages properly" in the past to avoid other jobs and apointments. This time, he was busted though, as Emily sighed.
"Ok, fine, I know, you hate to work, but we need to. That's kind of how things work, dope. Now, do you want to hear the message, or do you want to just skip it and head inside?"


STOP!!!


If you want Noah to play the message, go to Page 81.

If you want Noah to skip the message, go to Page 117.


Ok, go again.

Page 81.
"You know, I probably should hear it, just in case it's something important." Noah resigned, letting Emily be right. Good call Noah, she's meanier than I remember.
"Ok, The G Bomb, can you play back the rest of the message for Noah?" Emily asked in her nicest, most patient voice.
"Negative, the file has been erased." The G Bomb replied in his metal voice. There was the sound of an old cassette tape being rewound with the "play" button still down, followed by a tinny female's voice "You have... zero... new messages." Emily sighed, and looked helplessly at Noah, who just shrugged. "For more options, please die." The G Bomb quipped, thinking himself very funny for his latest attack on Noah.
"I'm starting to see why you like keeping an exploded dog as a pet, Em." Noah sighed.

Proceed to Page 117.


Page 117.
The car doors slammed shut nearly in unison. Noah shook the last bit of broken glass off of his cloths, as Emily joined him. They began to head inside, but were stopped by a tapping sound behind them. Curious, they both turned to see The G Bomb sitting, eye-plate pressed up against the glass of the back passengers window. "Should we bring him with us?" Asked Emily.
"Nah, he'll only be trouble." Noah reasoned, starting to turn around. Again, a gentle tapping. They turned back to see The G Bomb staring back at them, a small tear running down the sied of what I guess was his face.
"Aw." Emily cooed "we can't leave him in there, it's hot, and he's sad!" She moved toward the car.
"Now I know that that's not a real tear, and that it's just a faulty hydrolic inside him that he's figured out how to use to his advantage, but it still gets me every time." Noah smiled, looking at the cute little robot. "I'll go let him out." He headed back to the car, and opened up the passenger door, allowing The G Bomb to topple head first onto the sidewalk. "Ha! Not as quick as you think you are!" Noah cried in victory, stepping back. There was a short moment of silence, before The G Bomb began to emit what sounded like a tiny metalic sob, followed by more of the same (like crying I guess). Noah's face dropped, and he hurried back over to scoop up The G Bomb. Lifting the robot was no easy task, but Noah had done it enough times to know that the proper way to lift a heavy object off of the ground is with lots of fast, jerking motions, using mainly the muscles in the back. Twisting grossly, Noah managed to get the robot back onto his tracks. The G Bomb then hummed back to life, no sign of ever being upset in any way at all, and rolled over to join Emily at the door to Donnies. "Why do I keep that thing?" Noah grumbled to himself as he loudly popped his joints back into place and corrected his posture. He stretched to make sure all the kinks were out, and then followed his friend and his robot under the green glow, and through the doors of Donnies Discount Tablery.


Meeeeeeeeeeanwhile!


Princess paced the anteroom to The Great Hall of Wonderment, nervous as a queen can be. She had recieved news from Darian, her trusted friend, and general to her armies, that she was less than eager to share with her people. A few more paces around the room, a few more looks in the ornate mirrior to make sure her collar and crown were straight. The door opened, and the old corgie, General Stein trodded in, his face grim. "Your people await you, milady." The old dog growled, his head dipping into a low bow (I still haven't figured out how these dogs are bowing, I just keep typing it assuming you can make something up that works for you." and stepping back out the door. Princess took a deep breath, sucked in her brisket, and walked through the doors. The sound that hit her was deafening, hundreds of thousands of dogs had gathered to hear the dire news their queen had to tell. Dogs of every breed and size stood nervously barking at eachother, passing off rumors and speculation as to what this news could be. It had been kept very secret, and everyone was on edge. As soon as she was noticed waling toward the podium, her place of honor between Darian, The General, and a host of other important members of The Royal Concil, the din began to soften, until you could hear a... a... well, whatever. Pin? Yea. Pin drop. The silence maintained, until Princess had reached her place. Clearing her throat, she began, "My people!" her voice echoed through the giant hall. "There is news I must spread to you. News that may sohck you. It may terrify you. If you are one of the older members of our city, you will know well what I speak of. For my younger subjects, this may seem like nothing at all, but know this!" She let the last word hang, uncetrain if she should continue. Thousands of pairs of eyes looked at her. Half that number of tails stood motionless, not daring to wag. She sighed. "I come before you this day, to warn our people, that The Red Basin has been found." A shudder went through the chamber. Speachless, the only noise was the collective gasp of her audience. "But fear not!" She began again, only to be cut off.
"This is the end! It has come!" A dog somewhere shouted. Immediatly hundreds joined in, yelling their fears and prayers to everyone and no one all at once. The noise was deafening. Like being at like, a pet store or something, or the Humane Society kennels, and having all those animals barking and howling, only imagine way way more, all at once. Intense.
"BUT FEAR NOT!" Came a new voice, cutting through the cacophony. There was again silence, everyone startled by the harsh edge to the new voice. From the anteroom, stalked a lean black wolf, hit coat shiny and his muscles sleek and sinewy. He wore no collar, and he had a look in his eye that inspired fear. "Your queen has spoken, do you not trust that she has this matter in her control?" The wolf teased the chamber, his every word being absorbed by the curious audience. Princess lowered her eyes, ashamed of what she must do.
"He speaks truth." She anounced, her voice filled with more confidence than she felt. "We, the inhabitants of The Four Legged City, under the guidance of our Royal Counsil, and the infinite wisdom of the Founding 6, have found a way to beat this threat."
"By siding with him?" asked an anonymous voice. The room began to stir again.
"NO!" Shouted Princess, the force of her voice stopping the beginning of another uproar. "He, has come to us for aid." There was silence. "The Tribe of The Wolf has long been our enemy, but I, your queen, have heard the reports, and I have spoken with the witnesses, and it is no farce. The Red Basin hath returned." more silence. "We as a people must unite against this. We, all of Caninekind must join together and fight this evil! We must unite for the sake of everyone! For every sire, bitch and pup! For every litter! For every pack! We must unite!" The room began to hum with what was no longer fear, but approval. "We must fight, for every Four Legged creature! We must unite!" The room errupted in in cheers, as the dogs seemed to gain confidence from their matriarch's inspiring words. Princess let a smile find her face, as she looked out at her subjects. It remained for only a moment, for just then, a low, sinister voice asked,

"So what's your plan, your Highness?"


Whew! That was a big one. Very inspiring! And I must say, turning out fairly well, for an on-the-fly short story! We have some interesting developments! You have some interesting life, spending it sitting here reading this story. Pretty shocking that The Red Basin is actually going to be a part of the story, huh? I honestly don't know how I fit that in there. It was sort of just a name I picked randomly, and assigned a story to. I have all kinds of cool stuff like that. Like a board game called "Upside Door", a song I wrote called "The Wondering Wondering", and my all time favorite, another short story called "Minty Toothpickaxes" Now, go do your homework.

The Third Chapter: Chapter 1

I'm more than a little bit rusty, but I think that I know what I'm doing with this story. Did you check out that snappy new picture that I made? What a basin! Probably the reddest one you've ever seen! Anyways, don't get too excited. There's more wonders to behold up ahead. I give you, after a long long wait, the most anticipated online-blog-story-revival-third-chapter of all time!

The Red Basin II: The Third Chapter: Chapter 1: The Road to DDT.


The small rusty car ambled along the quiet city road, between the run-down old buildings and shops, none of which were up-to-date on the latest heath codes. A gently clinking sound followed the car, as tiny bits of saftey glass fell off and bounced to keep up with the old vehicle, before comming to a quiet stop on the street. Or I guess sometimes on the sidewalk. That's another health code violation, I'm sure. Bikes could break their tired on that glass!
"Bikes could break their tires on all this glass!" Noah pointed out as they scooted along, his matted hair trying so hard to wave in the breeze comming in through the broken passenger seat window. Emily, the driver, was all puffy looking and red, on account that her dog had apparentally just been exploded or something moments ago in the same seat Noah was now slumping in. Remember that part? She didn't really explode, it was a big weird fat guy that smashed his face through the window. Hilarious! Anyways, as they drove along, Noah kept pulling pieces of glass out of his backside and tossing them out the window-hole. "Do you think that I'm going to get sick or something if I get dog blood in me?" Noah asked his sulky friend. "I mean, I'm sure it would be no big deal, like a cold or something, but that might be enough for me to skip some work, right?" Emily turned a puffy eye to Noah, then shook her head and turned back to her driving. "Jeez, you'd think it was the first time you've had a pet explode or something, the way you're pouting." Emily turned back to Noah, this time there was a hint of anger in her puffs. "Hey, don't give me that look! I mean, I've had The G Bomb for like 5 years now, and he's exploded seriously like a hundred times, or more!" At the mention of his name, the little robot in the back lit up his eye-plate and began to kick the back of Noah's seat, slowly at first, but speeding up steadily. "It's no big deal, all you have to do is save some of this goop and take it to The Doctor (Ooo! New character mentioned there, make sure you put that in your "The Red Basin II: Companion Notebook!") and he'll just mix up a new Princess! Maybe even a better one! Maybe, but don't hold me to this, a Princess that can make coffee, or play music or somethi-."
"I don't want a new Princess!" Emily snapped, her puffs faded, and her normal face returned, only angrier than normal. So I guess her angry-normal face. "And besides, you dope, The G Bomb is a robot. I'm not going to get into the differences with robots and living creatures with you right now, because I don't have all day to explain it to your thick head." She looked pretty mad now. She's not as nice as I remember, to be honest.
"Oh well, you'll see, a new Princess will be better, weather you like it or not, it's going to be cool! Also, since we're on the topic of this goop I'm sitting on, do dogs have spicy mustard in them? Like, that's normal, right?"
"What? No, that's a stupid ques-." Emily turned and looked at Noah with a disgusted look. "Did you taste that stuff?"
"Uh, no, a piece fley into my mouth. Wind resistance or something. Maybe gravity. No, it just looks like mustard! Stop looking at me like that!"
"That's the most disgusting thing I think I've ever heard." Emily shuddered, and turned once again, back to the driving. She's not the best driver, she keeps looking over at Noah or goo or something. Eyes on the road, lady!
"So if dogs don't contain tasty spicy mustard, where did that come f-f-r-r-o-o-m-m? D-d-i-i-d-d y-y-o-o-u-u-." The G Bomb had reached an intense level of banging, and was beating the back of Noah's seat with a vengance. "C-c-u-u-t-t i-i-t-t- o-o-u-u-t-t!" Noah slammed the seat into the recline position, squishing The G Bomb into a prone position. "You little jerk!" Noah growled, as he turned around to scold the machine. When he looked, the robot began rattling, and a sound like grinding gears erupted from the little robot, followed by a hiss as gasses excaped. The G Bomb shuddered and his lights all went out, his movment slowed and stopped, and a small puff of smoke wafted up from his chest cabinet. "Oh no!" Noah, with a look of genuine concern, leaned back, unfastening his seat belt as he poked his face toward the quiet machine. As soon as he was turned all the way around though, The G Bomb's chest cabinet swung open, catching Noah in the jaw, and sending him reeling back to the front seat. "You little... toaster." Noah grumbled, rubbing his bumped jaw and re-fastening his seat belt.
"You are less than dirt." The G Bomb rasped in his clanky voice. Emily laughed openly, a smile finally returning to her face.
"You know that he wants to kill you, right?" She asked between chuckles.
"Yea, he always has, the stupid tin can." Noah said flicking a piece of glass out of the window. "Hey, where is this place we're supposed to go, anyways? Aren't we close?"
"How could you think we're close if you don't know where it is?" Emily asked.
"I was judging."
"Judging what, the sun?"
"Does that work?" Emily looked at Noah, and, with her best "I'm-not-lying-to-you" face, she replied.
"Of course it does, how do you think sailors know how to get across the ocean?"
"Har har, very funny." Noah retorted, looking smug. "Sailors don't use the sun, you liar, they use dolphins, everyone knows that."
"You didn't see the dolphins a couple blocks back? They were point this way."
"Wait, what?" Noah turned around and looked through the trail of dust following them back the way they had came. "I think I must have missed them."
"Yea, you must have." Emily smiled at her dopey friend. The G Bomb began kicking the back of his seat, slowly.