The ladder leading up to Otherworld was long. Omori stood at the base of the ladder, still as a rock. “Come on Omori, it ain’t going to be that bad!” Kel tried to convince the boy to climb.
Omori seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in and grabbed the ladder handles, slowly beginning to move upwards. Everyone else hopped on and began climbing as well, slowly but surely they were making their way up.
Kel felt like something fell out of his pocket but he didn’t know what. Aubrey on the other hand did, “OW! WHAT WAS THAT A ROCK?”
“Oh, I think that is what fell out of my pocket. Oh well…” Kel sighed, though he did find it funny that it whacked her head.
"Watch over your stuff better! Gee..." Aubrey grumbled.
Hero let out a sigh as he quickly dodged the rock as it fell. Was it just him or did it have a face? Eh, probably doesn't matter.
Omori started to climb a bit faster and everyone else sped up as well, finally making it to Otherworld. “Oh, this place seems pretty.” Hero admired the area.
“I hope by pretty you mean pretty stinky, this place smells!” Aubrey complained, covering her nose.
Omori didn’t speak, he only walked forward as the rest followed behind. Otherworld was pretty despite the awful smell. Mari was somehow already setting up a second picnic before noticing the others, “Oh hey guys! Welcome to Otherworld! An unofficial pitstop for space travelers and a popular camping ground!”
“Who would wanna camp here! It smells!” Aubrey complained.
“Yeah, that might be the nearby junkyard, despite it, people like it here!” Mari grinned, “If you learn how to block out the smell you could instead pick up on the campfire people have going.”
“So space travelers are here? Oooh, do you mean like space pirates?” Kel couldn’t help but ask. If he could become a space pirate in his dream then that might just make his night.
“Kel, did you manage to forget about Basil?” Hero sighed, “We need to find him, remember?”
“Oh yeah, hehe….” Kel nervously rubbed the back of his head. Whoops, he completely forgot. Maybe he could hang out with Basil in the morning to make up for it.
“Gee Kel, come on, let’s look around.” Aubrey sighed.
Omori began to walk around the area, taking a quick stop in front of a floating mirror again. This time, instead of simply smiling behind him they did stupid poses to see if they could make Omori’s face change. It didn’t work as Omori simply walked away from them.
They ran to catch up with him to see a weird man(???) that almost looked like a planet behind a tree. Omori took a few steps near it before the planet man noticed him.
The planet turned around with an intimidating face and a battle began. Omori whipped out his knife and swung at the planet.
“That was pathetic!” The planet yelled before throwing a right chop into Omori’s face. Aubrey ran up next and slammed the planet with her doll but it barely seemed to phase him, “You are weak as well!” He chopped her away as well.
Hero was next in line as he aimed for the legs with his spatula. “Clever, however, you will not knock me down!” The planet punted Hero right into Omori.
Finally, Kel was last, he threw his ball though the planet dodged out of the way last minute, “Hm, a long-range attack? You got a pretty good throw, it is a shame that-”
THWACK
The ball bounced off the wall behind the planet and came back at full force. “Damn it! That might have made a new crater!” he groaned, seemingly angry at the group now.
“Guys, maybe if we attack at the same time we could do more damage!” Hero suddenly suggested it to the group. Omori and the others nodded in agreement before charging at the planet.
Kel got to attack first, his ball bouncing around and hitting the enemy from all sides. Aubrey went next, swinging her doll rapidly emitting sounds of pain from the enemy. Kel silently wondered what was in that doll. Hero went for the legs again, knocking the planet off his feet. Finally, Omori sliced both arms off the enemy with only a slight struggle.
“Holy shit…” He heard Aubrey mutter but if anyone else heard they didn’t show it.
“Mmm, impressive young ones. I must go.” The planet regrew its arms and jumped away.
“...Well there he goes.” Kel was honestly shocked about how weird that experience was.
“Remind me to never get on Omori’s bad side.” Hero whispered to Kel causing him to chuckle a bit.
The group made their way upwards finding a house on top that looked like a crescent moon. In front of the house sat a green bird person wearing an eye-patch
“Halt, children!” The bird suddenly spotted them, “You are now entering the vicinity of the captain of the space pirates!”
Kel’s eyes widened as the bird continued, “He is the master of the solar system! The prince of the universe, the one-and-only Capt. Space- I mean, err, you are entering the home of Space Boyfriend…”
Kel was immediately disappointed by the stupid name.
“So the captain lives here? Do you think he can help us?” Hero asked.
“Pff no.” The bird laughed, “The captain has us do all of his chores while he lays in bed. Honestly, it is so annoying.”
“Oh, maybe we can talk to him?” Hero asked again.
“You can try but I doubt you will get him to listen. Here, I will get out of your way.” The bird moved away so the others could walk upwards more. They entered the house with Omori taking the lead.
The place was surprisingly huge, with a few space pirates moving boxes left and right.
The group moved forward to what appeared to be Space Boyfriend lying on his bed. Eyes shut and coughing. Kel silently hoped that dreams can’t give you colds.
“Capt. Space Boyfriend doesn’t look good at all…” Hero muttered.
“Pff, don’t worry, I got this!” Kel jumped onto Space Boyfriends’ bed and continued jumping, “HEY, SPACE BOYFRIEND!! WAKE UP!!”
“Kel! Get down!” Hero yelled at his brother.
Kel hopped down immediately and sighed, “Darn, it didn’t work…”
Space Boyfriend coughed some more and whispered something Kel couldn’t hear.
“He sounds upset. Good going Kel.” Aubrey faked clapping for the boy.
“Oh, shut up!” Kel rolled his eyes.
Just then another space pirate showed up, “Oh boy, not again...he is feeling the heavy blues.”
“Heavy blues?” Aubrey asked.
“Yeah. Hold on, this should cheer him up.” The pirate walked over to the boombox in the corner and pressed play. However, no sound came out from it, causing the space pirate to worry.
“...Oh no.” The pirate mumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Hero asked.
“The boombox is empty! He ain’t gonna wake up now! Either that or he is going to wake up angry.” The pirate complained, “Where did he leave his Special Mixtape? Ugh, this is so stupid…” The pirate whispered out the last part.
“Why does it need to be a certain mixtape? Can’t you just play a song or something?” Kel questioned.
“You see, whenever Space Boyfriend is not with Sweetheart he gets upset like he is now. The only way to make him happy is by playing his Special Mixtape that has their favorite songs on it.” The pirate explained.
“...Okay.” Everyone minus Omori still didn’t understand why he needed to play a mixtape to wake up but chalked it up to the dream being weird.
“Ugh, if Space Boyfriend stays like this we may as well no longer be pirates! Everything will be for nothing.” The pirate sighed dramatically.
“Sounds like a personal problem.” Kel shrugged and began to walk away.
That was before Hero grabbed him from behind and forced him to stay put. Kel tried to squirm out but Hero was just too strong.
“Is there any way we can help?” Hero politely asked as Kel continued to try and escape.
“Yeah, here ya go.” The pirate threw a key at Omori.
You got Junkyard key!
“That key unlocks the junkyard! The mixtape should be in there, sometimes it gets mixed with the trash…” The pirate rubbed the back of his head before opening a secret door in the wall near Space Boyfriend.
The pirate walked away as the others stood near the door.
“Well, let’s get this over with.” Hero sighed.
With that, the group walked in.