ART BY:
 aricub

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WUM-WUM-WUM-WUM

“What is that?” asked Lucky as he pointed toward the ornate stone pedestal that stood in the center of the projection room.
Wavy moved forward and put her hand on the object before replying, “This is a mystical projector.” She then took a few steps back and explained “That object spinning in the center is the rune we have come to replace.”

Cappy and Fritter moved closer to the mysterious device and awed at the way it hummed as it gently twirled the rune at its center.
Interested in what the rune was they were replacing, Lucky asked “What is that anyway?”
Wavy thought for a second before replying, “That is the runic symbol for sorrow.”
“Sore o?” wondered Fritter. “What’s that?”
The purple colored rune child returned her attention upon the device as she answered, “It means to feel sad.”
“So that rock is what is making everybody so sad?” asked Cappy.
“Likely,” she said while feeling around the pedestal. “It’s part of a grand spell that’s designed to make everyone in the world sad forever.”

Lucky, Cappy, and Fritter gasped at the thought. A world where everybody was always sad would be no fun at all. What would life be like if nobody could ever feel happy again?
“What can we do to stop it?” asked Lucky with determination.
Wavy finished inspecting the device before turning back toward the other children and saying, “You can help by giving me a boost.”
“Right!” the yellow Haposaur replied with a nod before moving towards the pedestal to help the rune child up.
“Almost there.” grunted Wavy as she pulled herself up onto the center platform where the rune of sorrow was slowly twirling about. Both below and above the twin teardrop shaped symbol was an intense, bright light that shined up through the symbol and reflected off of what appeared to be a mirrored surface before shining out the giant open window that was behind where they were all gathered.

Lucky watched while the purple rune child moved about the tiny platform before asking, “Now what?”
“Well,” she said in a thoughtful tone. “I think I’m going to need some help.”
“Okay,” replied Lucky. “What can we do?”

Wavy leaned over each side of the platform and discovered two buttons sticking out that could be pressed inward. However, when she pushed in one, nothing happened.
“Okay,” she said upon finishing her experiment. “I need Cappy and Fritter to come up here and help me with these buttons.”

The two youngsters looked at each other before facing up at Wavy.
“Us…?” worried Cappy.
Wavy nodded, “Yep! I need you two to push the release buttons into the projector so we can replace the sorrow rune.”
“And we have to come up there?” asked Fritter nervously.
The purple-colored striped rune child inspected the buttons on each side once more before replying, “I’m afraid so. None of us are tall enough to reach them from the ground.”

Fritter, hoping to not have to climb up on the scary device, scurried over to the button that Wavy was just at.
“Ungh,” he grunted as he attempted to get a solid hold on one of the buttons. He could touch it if he stood on the tips of his toes, but that didn’t give him enough leverage to push it inward enough before he lost his footing.

Curious if his additional height could help him reach it, Lucky went over and joined Fritter in his attempt to press the button.
“Ungh,” he groaned as he began to stand up on his toes. However, unlike his younger friend, he was able to get high enough to push and hold the button in.

CLICK

Woo-hoo!” cheered the yellow Haposaur as the button pressed inward. Now that it had gone into the side of the device, he no longer had anything to help keep him balanced as he held it in. This caused Lucky to fumble about before falling upon the stone floor.
“Oof,” he moaned after falling flat on his backside. “Owies like this make me miss wearing pockey-pants.”

KA-CLICK

Wavy looked down and observed as the button Lucky had pressed slipped back out to its original position. She then faced both Lucky and Fritter and stated, “Both buttons have to be pushed in at the same time in order to release the rune from the projector.”
“Got it,” Lucky replied while he stood himself back up and rubbed at his aching rump.
“So we got to go up?” asked Cappy with a worried look on his face.
Seeing his friend worried, Lucky went over to him and put his arm around his back before saying, “It’s okay Cappy. I’ll be right down here to catch you if you fall.”
“Promise?” the blue haposaur asked with hopeful eyes.
Lucky pulled his arm back, nodded, and said “I promise.”
“Okay,” said Cappy while he moved toward the front of the device. “C’mon Fritter. We can do this!”

The nervous red Haposaur nodded before approaching his friend. “Right.”
“Okay,” began Lucky as he pressed himself against the front of the projector. “Climb on up.”

Wavy, seeing that Cappy was coming up first, rushed to the front of the device and offered a helping hand in bringing the green-eyed Haposaur up to the platform of the projector.
“Great job Cappy!” cheered Lucky. “I knew you could do it!”
Cappy, excited for what he had done, kicked his legs and clapped his hands together merrily before proudly announcing, “I did it!”

Looking toward Fritter, Lucky said “It’s your turn now, Fritter.”
“You can do it Fritter!” cheered Cappy from atop the pedestal that he and Wavy were now sitting on. “I just know you can!”
The nervous red haposaur shook his head and moved back and forth.
“Come on Fritter!” cheered Wavy. “I know you can do it!”
“We won’t let anything bad happen,” added Lucky. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”
Fritter, despite having just seen his closest friend successfully make the climb, was still very scared about making his way up onto a scary device that was giving off strange noises and appeared unsafe to be on top of.
“Come on Fritter!” cheered Cappy with enthusiasm. “I know you can do it!”
Hoping to add more inspiration, Lucky quickly added, “Your mommy and daddy are counting on you Fritter. Be brave for them.”
The brown-eyed Haposaur froze in place upon hearing this remark. Then, with a deep breath and determined look on his face, Fritter rushed towards Lucky and quickly began climbing up to where Wavy and Cappy were awaiting him.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Lucky in surprise. He barely had time enough to turn and position himself against the projector before the dashing little one was upon him and scrambling to make his way up to where Wavy and his friend were prepared to greet him with outstretched arms.
“Almost there” strained Wavy as she took hold of Fritter’s outstretched arm. She then exclaimed “Gotcha!” giving a mighty tug that brought the scrambling red Haposaur up onto the projector platform.
“Did I make it?” asked Fritter as he flopped onto the platform.
“You sure did!” cheered Lucky. “Good job!”
“Now,” said Wavy. “Let’s take a little break before replacing this awful rune.”