The Tale Of Playing In The Dark.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Pleasure Land, of Planet Corneria was a great amusement park.  A place you could get sick or scared on fun rides, load up on junk food, ditch your parents, teachers, rules...and just tear ass and cut loose for a day.  Pleasure Land had everything for everyone and anyone.  But for one fellow, it might have had a little too much....

"You were scared on that ride, admit it!" said Todd to his cousin Fox, as the two of them, along with the Star Fox Team, had fun at Pleasure Land.  "Was not!" said Fox.  "Oh, please, you looked like you were gonna puke!" said Akasha, to Fox.  "Maybe I should puke on you!  Blehh!" Fox teased little Akasha jokingly.  They all laughed.  All of them were together, Fox, Krystal, Falco, Slippy, and Katt. Todd was there too, along with Lola, Misty, Madame Vulpine, Conrad, Edge, Babs, Pal, Akasha, and Silas.

Fara, Fay, Miyu, Tigress, and Kylie were also there, all of them were getting off of a roller coaster.  It was a dark, warm summer night, Pleasure Land was in full swing.  Calliope Music could be heard playing all over the park, along with the screaming and laughter of park patrons, the sound of carnival rides rushing, the ringing of bells, and the sound of buzzers from the games that were being played. 

As the Star Fox Team headed through the park, they stopped outside a spooky funhouse at the edge of the park.  There was mad laughter emanating from it.  The funhouse had dark, fake stone walls, and resembled a spooky castle.  There were big plywood faces on the front of it, a zombie (an anthro pig), a Frankenstein monster (an anthro bear), a vampire (an anthro bat), and a sinister, cigar smoking clown (an anthro fox), all of the faces were surrounded by a plywood, giant fire breathing dragon, as if advertising a freak show...the clown face had a brown pipe poking out of it, with smoke coming from the pipe.  The "pipe" was meant to look like a cigar.

"PLAYING IN THE DARK" the red and white sign proclaimed.

"You guys been in there?" Todd asked the others.  "No hon, none of us have." said Lola.  "Let's go in!" said Todd.  "NO!  I heard that funhouse is really haunted..." said Akasha.  "WHAAAT!?" the others turned to Akasha.  All of them except for Misty, who spoke in Akasha's defense.  "Yeah, I heard that, too.  Something bad happened in there, once...it had something to do with a clown.  Park patrons who have gone in there, they said they heard and saw really weird, spooky stuff." said Misty.

"They're called special effects, Misty." Lola joked.  "I'm not going in!" said Akasha.  "Ha!  Chicken!" Falco teased.  "I am not!" said Akasha.  "Are to!" said Todd.  "If you're so brave, then you go in, Todd!" said Tigress, cocking an eyebrow.  "Fine!" said Todd, heading towards the fun house.  He turned around to look at the spookhouse, and nearly bumped into an old fox carny.  "S'cuse me, m' lad!" said the old fox carny.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." said Todd.  In fact, none of the Star Fox Team had seen that old carny there before.  He seemed to come from nowhere.  "Don't believe in ol' Zimbo the Clown, eh?" asked the old Carney.  "Who are you?" Edge asked the Carny.  "I run this place, I do! It's the most fun in the park, when you're PLAYING IN THE DARK!" the Carny proudly declared.  He took off his flat straw boater hat, and gestured with it towards the funhouse, towards Zimbo the Clown's face on the front..."Pick the right door, and you'll go free!  Pick the wrong door, and there he'll be!  Haha!  You wanna give it a go, my brave lad?" the carny asked Todd.

"Sure!" said Todd, as he headed towards the front doors of the funhouse, slowly, an announcement over the PA declared "Attention Pleasure Land Park Patrons!  We are now closed!  Please head towards the exits now!  Thank you for coming, and have a safe ride home.  We hope to see you again!"

Todd, and everyone else, including the carny groaned. "Ah, well, maybe next time, son!  I'll be here!  I'm always here!" said the carny, as he let out a strange chuckle.  Todd nodded, and turned to his friends, who stared at him in a puzzled way.  "What!?" Todd asked them.  the carny stepped into the shadows of the funhouse, and seemingly disappeared.  "Saved by the bell, Todd?" asked Krystal. "I woulda gone in there!" said Todd.  "Sure you would." teased Silas, as they all left the park.

***

*more to come*

[Velocity]

wowthe ending is...descriptive

good so far

don't dissapoint us ok?(i'm saying it in a FRIENDLY tone)

[Guest Julius Quasar]

The next day, Todd and the others were in the rec room at McCloud Ranch.  As they hung out, Slippy entered the room.  "Lookit what I found!" he held up a copy of a very old newspaper article.  Everyone gathered around to read it.

"CAGEY CLOWN CAUGHT IN CALAMITY!"

The newspaper article's title proclaimed.

"Wow, this happened even before General Pepper was a Sergeant!" joked Lola.

"It happened before General Pepper was even born, Lola." said Krystal.

The others laughed.  "Right on both of those, Lola and Krystal!" said Katt.

Slippy read on, and said "It says here that, over 70 years ago, the circus came to town, and set up near Pleasure Land, and a Clown by the name Zimbo, stole the entire circus payroll of over $4,000 credits, that was a lot of money back then, and he fled into Pleasure Land with it.  The circus workers and the cops chased Zimbo into Pleasure Land, he hid out in the 'Playing In The Dark' Spookhouse.  Zimbo loved to smoke cigars, and everyone had figured that it was a cigar that Zimbo had carelessly tossed away had started the fire that engulfed the funhouse, with Zimbo still trapped inside."

Slippy handed the copy of the article to Fay, who read aloud "The fire spread too rapidly, and all attempts to rescue Zimbo the clown were futile.  His body was never recovered among the ashes." she said.  "Well, they say smoking is bad for your health...right, Todd?!" said Miyu, referring to Todd's former cigar smoking problem he had once developed when he had once tried to stop drinking.

"Yeah..." Todd replied meekly.  "There's more!  A few years after that incident with Zimbo the Clown happened, a new funhouse was built where the original one had once stood, and they built a spooky dummy at the end of the ride to scare the patrons who went in there!" said Babs, reading on.  "So that 'Playing In The Dark' funhouse isn't the original!" said Slippy.  Pal looked at the article, and said "It also says that local legend has it..." Madame Vulpine interrupted with "...Local legend has it, that his spirit still lingers there!  Either because he's trapped, or chooses to stay there!".

"Wow..." everyone said.  "I told you guys it was haunted, and so did Misty!" Akasha bragged.  "I think he chooses to be there, Zimbo, and you know why?" Todd asked Akasha.  "Why?" she asked.  "It's so he can capture park patrons in there, trap them, and TICKLE THEM! Tickle, tickle, tickle!"  Todd shouted, as he grabbed Akasha, and began tickling her.  Akasha screamed, and fought Todd's grip, as he giggled. Todd tickled Akasha, and she wriggled out of his bear hug he had in in from behind her, and she ran from Todd.  Todd chased Akasha, yelling "I'm gonna get you, Akasha! And when I do, I'm gonna tickle you!  Tickle, tickle, tickle, Akasha!" in a scary voice.

Akasha ran outside, with Todd on her heels.  She ran towards the hangar, into the mechanics' area, and picked up a small satellite dish, without it's central protrusion in the middle of it, and she held it up like a shield, for Todd to run into.  *BANG!*  Todd ran into the dish, and fell on his butt. "OOF!"  The rest of the team ran up to Todd and Akasha. "Serves you right!" Kylie said to Todd as he got up.  "Don't mess with me, or I'll do that again!" shouted Akasha.

"You're just a crybaby, and a coward!" Todd snapped at her.  "I am not!" said Akasha.  "Who's to say you're not just as cowardly, if anything more so, Todd?" asked Tigress.  "I'm braver than any of you!" said Todd.  "Prove it!" said Falco.  "Fine, I will!" said Todd.  "Tonight, we'll all go back to Pleasure Land, at dark, when the ticket prices are lower, and you can go into that 'Playing In The Dark' funhouse!" said Fox.  Todd agreed to it.

Later that day, at dark, they went into the park, and were in front of the funhouse.  "I'm gonna make any of you who think I'm too cowardly to go through that ride, eat a slice of humble pie!" sneered Todd.

*to be continued later*

[Velocity]

still developing.

continue!please continue!

[Guest Julius Quasar]

still developing.

continue!please continue!

thanks, but I'm tired. I'm gonna work on this later.

[Caat01]

another fanfic, great !!!, i love the plot, and he he poor Todd.

keep it going Julius I'll wait the next part

[evilwaffles]

Lol, nice start to the story. I'll try to check this a bit more regularly then I did in Back in Action.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

another fanfic, great !!!, i love the plot, and he he poor Todd.

keep it going Julius I'll wait the next part

Lol, nice start to the story. I'll try to check this a bit more regularly then I did in Back in Action.

Thanks, guys!

[Guest Julius Quasar]

"Wait a minute!  How can we be sure Todd goes all the way though there!?" asked Akasha.  "She's right! Todd could just hang out inside the door, and come out later, claiming he went through it." said Kylie.  "Krystal could read Todd's mind." said Slippy.  "Todd could cheat, and imagine fake images of a funhouse.  Since Krystal's never been in there, she wouldn't know if the images in Todd's head are real or not.  He tried to pull this once before with us." said Madame Vulpine.

Everyone paused.  "Tell you guys what...I'll go in there...and steal the nose of the 'Zimbo the Clown' dummy at the end of the ride!  How's that!  I win the bet, Fox has to wear the nose for a week, and go out in public once a day, minimum 4 hours, being seen with the nose on his face.  Then Akasha has to return the nose to the dummy!  Okay?" asked Todd.

"Deal!" Fox said, shaking Todd's hand.  "Deal!" said Akasha, shaking Todd's hand after Fox.  Todd headed towards the spookhouse, and the double doors, which resembled wooden dungeon or castle doors.  They suddenly sprung open, startling Todd and the rest of the team, and there stood the old fox carny in the entrance.  "Sorry!  Didn't mean to scare ya'!" he said to the team.  He turned to Todd.  "Comin' in, Mr. Brave Lad?" he asked Todd.  "You got it!" Todd said, passing the old Fox Carny, who said "It's the most fun in the park, when you're 'Playing In The Dark!'..." then he closed the doors behind Todd and himself.

***

Todd walked through the dark corridors of the spookhouse.  He entered what appeared to be a 'mad scientists lab", with rows of strange electronic equipment on the walls, rows of animal cages, terrariums, and aquariums, tables with bubbling test tubes and beakers filled with colored liquids.  A fog machine covered the floors of the whole spookhouse in mist.

"RAAAAHHHHHWWWRRRR!" lights flashed in a dark corner, as an anthro bear Frankenstein dummy growled, and its red eyes lit up and flashed, the spotlight on it flickered.  Todd wasn't scared by that.  He walked through the halls, and found another room, resembling a dark castle chamber, with lots of red curtains.  A red curtain on the wall to his left parted, revealing a coffin, where an anthro bat vampire emerged from the opening coffin.  It was just another dummy, with flashing red eyes, and a hidden spotlight flickering on it.

"SSSSSHHHHRRRRIIIIIEEEEEEKKKKK" the vampire screamed, then it dropped back into its coffin, where the lid slammed shut, and the curtains closed, concealing the coffin again.  "Lame..." Todd said, nonchalantly.  He walked into another room, this one resembling a catacombs mausoleum.  "WWWWWOOOOOOOO!" a dummy zombie anthro pig, holding its own decapitated head in its hands, came out from behind a large fake stone column, its red eyes flashing, as the spotlight shone on it.

Todd rolled his eyes, and pressed on.  He came into a room of distorting, funhouse mirrors.  He was really short in one reflection.  "Lookit me, I'm Akasha!" Todd said in a high voice, laughing at his joke.  Then he walked in front of a mirror that made him tall.  "Now I'm Tigress!" he said in a low voice, joking again.  He walked in front of another mirror.  It made him look big, broad shouldered. "Hand over the dough, Zimbo!  Whadd'ya' think I am, some kinda clown!?" Todd asked his reflection.

Suddenly, the reflection looked different.  Todd saw a red fox, in a clown costume and makeup, staring back at him, holding in one hand a bag with a Cornerian Credits symbol on it in, and in the other hand he held a cigar.  "HEH-HEH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!  WHADD'YA' THINK I AM, SOME KINDA CLOWN!?" he said in a high, funny voice.

The clown disappeared, leaving Todd to see his own shocked expression, and himself reflected in the mirror, distorted to make his shoulders look bigger.  Todd pressed on, shouting "Nice try, old carny!  You can't scare me!  I know it's you!".  He headed town a dark hall, and then a gigantic Dragon head poked out of a "hole" in the fake stone wall, and it breathed fire from its mouth and nostrils, its massive head poked out of the hole in the wall, and then back in, breathing out a cloud of fire.  It repeated this pattern twice.  Todd waited for the fire to stop before darting past it.

He came to a dead end.  He smelled something in the air.  "Cigar smoke!?" Todd said, recognizing the smell.  He turned to the dead end, where a row of arrows ran one way, and another row of arrows ran the other way.  He pushed against the wall, and it spun around, revealing a room beyond it.  Todd walked into the room, and the door behind him from which he entered slammed shut. 

The room was brightly painted, and there were doors all over, oddly shaped, on all the walls.  They were numbered 1 through 9, and the door Todd had come through was bright blue, with a number "0" painted on it in black paint.  All the numbers were in black paint.  All the doors were bright colored.  There was a big black "Z" in the middle of a white circle, surrounded by stripes of bright colors, coming from the center white "Z" like sun rays.

"PICK THE RIGHT DOOR, AND YOU'LL GO FREE!  PICK THE WRONG DOOR, AND THERE HE'LL BE!" the Carny's voice could be heard through a hidden speaker in the room.  Todd looked around, deciding which door to try first.

*that's it for now*

[Blaise McCloud]

This is pretty cool!  Really original idea!

Your detailed writing is a pleasure to read, as always.  The level of description your words carry is amazing.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

This is pretty cool!  Really original idea!

Your detailed writing is a pleasure to read, as always.  The level of description your words carry is amazing.

Thanks, but this isn't my original idea. 

I took this from an episode of that old TV show, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?".

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Todd walked up to door #5, a bright red door.  He opened it, and saw a floating ape skull, bobbing side to side, behind a row of bars, with a brick wall behind it.  "AAAAAAHHHH!" it screamed.  Todd shut the door.  He walked up to a bright green door, door #4....he opened it, and was greeted by loud calliope organ music, applause and cheering of an audience, all through hidden speakers, as a motorized flat, blue painted sign in the shape of of a pointing hand moved side to side, pointing down a corridor.  The exit.

"All right!  Kiss this place goodbye!" he said.  He was through the door, but caught it before it could shut.  "If I don't get that nose, I'm dead meat!" said Todd.  He stepped back into the room. He looked at the doors.  He walked up to door #6, a bright red door.  He opened it.  "HOO-HOO-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEH!  HA-HA-HAAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" the dummy of Zimbo the Clown zoomed out the door, laughing, mounted on an unseen mechanism, holding it to stand up straight.

"AHHHHH!" Todd shouted.  He found the dummy.  It looked just like that clown fox who had greeted him in the mirrored hallway.  Except for the fact its teeth were green, and its face was stretched into an enormous, permanent smile, and its eyes were red, dim, glowing light bulbs.  It wore big red floppy shoes, green and yellow striped baggy trousers, a red belt with a big letter "Z" shaped buckle, a blue polka dot shirt, a green and black collar ruff, a bright green bowler hat, a red curly wig, a round, red nose, and white greasepaint makeup.  It held in one hand a sack with a Cornerian Credits symbol on it, and a cigar in the other hand.

Todd reached slowly for the nose.  The dummy tipped forward, startling Todd.  "NO!" Todd shouted.  Todd paused, and said to himself  "Get a grip, Todd!  It's just a plastic dummy!  It can't hurt you!".  He took a deep breath, another deep breath, and then grabbed the nose off of the dummy.  It let out a squeaky "honk-honk!", like a bicycle horn.

"YES!  Score!" Todd shouted.  He smiled at the nose less Zimbo dummy.  "I beat you, Zimbo!  I won!  Thanks, buddy!  You just made me a hero!  I owe you one!  You'll get your nose back, when I'm done with it!"  Todd shut the dummy back into its compartment, behind door #6.  As he left out through door number 4, he said "I hope you can still smell your stinky ol' cigars without your nose!" and then he left, slamming the door behind him.

Behind door number 6, a strange glow emitted from under the crack in the door, as cigar smoke slowly wafted out from under the door.

***

Well, Todd was pretty cocky before stealing the nose.  But now, he was uncontrollable!

"Fox!  It's you!"  Todd said, taunting his cousin, as Fox wore the stolen clown nose.  They were all at McCloud Ranch, Fox's home, and gathered around Fox, who sat on the patio chair, sulking shamefully.  Fox couldn't believe Todd could be so brave..  He regretted making that bet.  "I can't believe you went all the way through there!" said Krystal.  "You must have been a little scared going through that ride!" said Akasha. "Why should I be scared!?" Todd jeered.  "It's all just fake dummies, cliche sound effects and lighting, and limited imagination." he bragged.

"Okay, Todd, you win...we get it!" said Fox.  "Wha'tsa matter, cousin?" teased Todd.  "I'll tell you what's the matter!  You've been an insufferable jerk lately, and winning this bet has made you an even bigger jerk!" Fox complained, tossing the clown nose away.  It landed at the edge of the patio. "Now, now, let's not be sore losers!" said Todd.

"There's a such thing as being a sore winner, to, Todd." said Lola, uneasy with what Todd had done. Madame Vulpine tsk-tsked and shook her head.  "Todd, darling, you might have brought something back with you from that ride, not just the clown nose..." Madame V. warned Todd.  "Pfft!  I'm not scared of a chain smoking thieving clown!" said Todd.

He ran to retrieve the clown nose, and as he picked it up off of the patio, he smelled something.  Cigar Smoke!  "Cigar Smoke!?" Todd said, looking nervously around. He looked around the corner of the building where the smell was coming from.  Nothing.  The rest of team Star Fox went back inside, grumbling about Todd.  Todd smelled the air, looked around, and then went back inside with the others.  As he did, a cloud of cigar smoke emanated from a corner of the building beyond the corner that Todd had checked around earlier.  "HEE-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEEE-HEH!" came a nasty chuckle from around that corner, wafting and mixing with the cigar smoke...

*that's it for this chapter*

[Blaise McCloud]

Thanks, but this isn't my original idea. 

I took this from an episode of that old TV show, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?".

I remember that show...  Except I was afraid of the dark, so I didn't watch too often.

Still, as far as Star Fox fanfiction ideas go, it's pretty original.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Later that day, late into the evening, Todd arrived home at McCloud Hall, his and Lola's home.  Everyone had avoided Todd all day long, either because of his overly cocky attitude, or because of what Madame Vulpine had said, which made them scared.  Todd still had the clown nose with him, he had carried it all day, and he brought it home with him, and hid it in his and Lola's bedroom.

"Hello!?  I'm home!" Todd shouted, walking through the mansion.  He walked up the the front foyer table, and read the note Lola had left him.

HI HON! I'LL BET YOU FORGOT MISTY, MADAME VULPINE, AND I HAD REHEARSAL TONIGHT!  I LEFT YOU SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE IN THE FRIDGE, AND CHOCOLATE PUDDING FOR DESSERT!  DON'T STAY UP TOO LATE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES.  I LOVE YOU!  -XOXO LOLA!

"She's right, I did forget...oops.." Todd said.  He went to heat up the spaghetti dinner, and get the pudding from the fridge.  He heated the spaghetti in in the microwave, and took the pudding from the fridge.  He shut the fridge door, and held the bowl of pudding in one arm, as he sampled the pudding with his other hand, taking a swig with two fingers. A door creaked open in the mansion, startling Todd, making him drop the bowl of pudding.  The bowl didn't break, but the pudding spilled on the floor, making a big puddle.

"HELLO!?" Todd called.  No answer.  Todd frowned at the mess he had made on the floor, but then he drew his laser pistol, and crept towards the sound of the creaking door.  "Who's there!?  Whoever you are, show yourself!" he shouted. The hall closet door opened some more.  Todd stood to one side of that closet door and threw it open.  An umbrella toppled out.  Todd holstered his laser pistol, put the umbrella back into the closet, and shut the door.  "Good thing no one else saw me like that.  What the hell is wrong with me!?" he said.

The phone rang, startling him.  "AHH!" he shouted.  He answered the phone. "Hello!?" he asked.  "Todd, it's Fox." Todd breathed a sigh of relief  "Hey, what's up?" he asked his cousin.  "I just wanted to call and apologize for being such a baby earlier today.  You won that bet fair and square, and I shouldn't have been such a poor sport." said Fox.  "Apology accepted. Tell you what! I'll make you wear the nose only one day, and be in public wearing it for six hours, and I'll return it!  How's that?" Todd asked.  "No...I was hoping you's just return the nose, and forget making me wear it completely." said Fox. 

"You're dreaming!  Tomorrow's 'Zimbo Day' for you, cuz!" said Todd, hanging up.

*more to come*

[Velocity]

dat is so mean but so funny at the same time!

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Todd headed back to the kitchen, but the phone rang again.  Todd rolled his eyes, and walked back to the phone.  He answered it..."One day, six hours in public wearing the nose is the best I'm gonna do!" Todd said to the caller, assuming it was his cousin Fox.  "GIVE IT BACK!  GIVE IT BAAAAAAACK!  HEEEE-HEH-HEH-HA-HA-HA-HA!" a nasty, dry, creaky, high pitched voice said over the phone.

"No, way, I'm not falling for it, Fox!  You can't scare me!"  Todd said, hanging up the phone.  Todd walked into the kitchen, opened a drawer, took out a place mat, and put it on the kitchen table.  He didn't want to make a mess in the dining room, it was an informal dinner anyways.  "Fox won't get to me...No way...he's trying to make me call off the bet...they all must be in on it, trying to scare me, do what they think is teaching me a lesson...I'll show 'em!  I'm not scared, never will be...There's no such thing as 'Zimbo the Clown!'  I'll just eat dinner...relax...have a good laugh...not let them scare me!"  Todd talked to himself rapidly, as he set out a knife and fork for his flatware. 

He was so nervous, and worked up by that eerie phone call, that he was placing handful after handful of forks and knives at his place at the table.  When he saw what he had done, he slapped his forehead with his palm, and said "Grow up, Todd!" and he placed all the forks and knives back in the drawer, except for the first fork and knife he had set out.

The microwave beeped, ending its cycle.  Todd took the spaghetti and meat sauce filled casserole out of the microwave, and placed it on the table.  Something was wrong with the casserole.  Black, putrid smoke leaked out from under the cover, Todd could see smoke through the clear cover.

"How the hell could that burn so fast!?" asked Todd in shock.  He removed the cover, and as the smoke cleared, he saw the casserole was filled with cigar butts, on top of the spaghetti and meat sauce, with black, acrid smoke rising from them.  "CIGARS!?"  Todd shouted in disbelief.  He put the lid down on the table, turned around, and noticed something on the floor he didn't notice before.  The chocolate pudding puddle had a giant floppy clown shoe footprint in it, with a raised letter "Z" in the middle of the footprint!

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" shouted Todd, as he ran from the kitchen, up to his room.  He shut the double doors behind him, and got on the phone. He hit one of the speed dial numbers for his cousin.  "Hello?" asked Fox on the other end.  "Fox!?  I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you!  Not just tonight!  Look, I'll level with you!  I was scared on the ride when I found the 'Zimbo the Clown' dummy!  I'm scared now, too!  Now, please level with me, Fox!  Did you just call my house a minute ago, pretending to be Zimbo the Clown!?"  asked Todd in a panicky tone.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Todd!  What's going on!?" asked Fox.  "Was that you or what!?" asked Todd.  A click was heard, someone picking up on the extension.  "Who's that on the phone line!?  Krystal!?  Fara!?  Fay!?  Miyu!?  Slippy!?  Falco!?  Get off the line!" Todd shouted.  "Uh, Todd, you called me on my private phone line!  It's gotta be coming from your place!" said Fox.

"IF YOU DON'T GIVE IT BACK, I'LL HAVE TO COME UP AND GET IT!!!  HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA!" that same voice from before, the one from that last call that Todd received, was heard by both Fox and Todd.  "Whoa!  What the hell was that!?  Todd!?  You there!?"  Fox's voice drifted out of the phone, sounding just as panicky as Todd's had sounded now.

Todd didn't answer.  He ran to the double doors of the master bed chamber suite, and locked them just in time.  The handles on the two doors rattled furiously.  Todd stepped cautiously back. A strange hissing sound was heard, and a purple, helium filled balloon drifted up from under the door, after being inflated. The balloon was on a string, being payed out by whoever was on the other side of the doors, the words "GIVE IT BACK!" were written on both front and back of the balloon.  "POP!"  the balloon popped, startling Todd.

"What the hell was that!?" Fox's voice wafted from the cordless phone on the floor, bring Todd back to reality.  "I'll call you later, Fox, and don't sweat the nose, I'll explain later." said Todd.  He hung up the phone, grabbed his backpack, the clown nose, and used the emergency fire escape roll up ladder, hidden in the bay window's bench seat, and climbed out of the master chamber suite, as the door handles still rattled furiously by whoever Todd had locked out.

***

Pleasure Land Amusement Park was now dark, quiet, closed.  Todd McCloud ran through the park, and into the "PLAYING IN THE DARK" fun house at the back of the park, he had sneaked in through a secret entrance that few knew about, which he and Lola used to use when they were younger, to avoid paying admission fees, or to get in after hours.  But Todd and Lola stopped stiffing the park, and for the most part, stopped sneaking in after hours.

The security guards were on the other side of the park right now, giving Todd enough time to do what he needed to do.  Todd went into the fun house, the doors were unlocked, but the fun house was dark, and quiet, except for the emergency lights that were kept on as required by the fire code.  He ran past the Frankenstein anthro bear, which didn't growl at him.  He passed the curtained alcove in the next room, the red curtains didn't part, the coffin behind them didn't have its lid open, the anthro bat vampire inside didn't rise from the coffin to scream at Todd. 

Todd passed the anthro pig zombie, who didn't shake its decapitated head at Todd, making eerie noises and jumping out from behind the stone column.  Todd passed the dragon's head in the wall hole, the dragon didn't breathe fire and poke its head and neck in and out, repeatedly.  But as Todd passed the dragon, its mouth and nostrils released some small clouds of smoke. 

Todd was now at the doors chamber, where Zimbo would be.  The "Door #0" spun open slowly for Todd, letting him in before he could even touch the door, then it slammed shut after he passed through it, as if Todd were being expected.  Todd stared at Door #6, got scared, and said "Forget it, I'm gone!".  He ran to door #4, and tried to open it, but it was stuck, or locked, or...Door #6 creaked open, slowly.  There was no clown dummy there, just a dark room, filled with mist, and a dim gray light.

Todd gathered his courage, and said "Mr. Zimbo?  Okay, I'm very sorry that I stole your nose!  I was trying to settle a bet with my cousin and my friends...I know that's no excuse, I was wrong, and I'm sorry."  Todd took off his backpack, placed it to the left side of the door (which opened to the right), and unzipped the outer, small pocket on the backpack, and he took the clown nose out of the small pocket, and placed it just inside the threshold of Door #6.

"...also, I got you this...to show there's no hard feelings..."  Todd unzipped the big, main compartment of his backpack, and removed a small wooden box.  He held it up, opened the lid, and took out a handful of..."Cigars!  All for you!" said Todd, placing the cigars back into the box, closing the box lid, and placing the cigars box inside the threshold of Door #6.

Todd zipped the compartments of his backpack shut, put his backpack on his back, and stepped back from Door #6.  The door swung slowly shut, and Door #4 opened, and Todd ran out though it, and the door shut behind him.  Door #6 creaked open again, and there was the dummy of Zimbo the Clown, giving off his trademark laugh, the nose back in its rightful place on the dummy's face.

Outside, Todd ran out of the fun house, and towards the park exit.  As he left the funhouse, the old Fox carny stepped out of the shadows, watching Todd leave the "PLAYING IN THE DARK" attraction..."IT'S THE MOST FUN IN THE PARK...WHEN YOU'RE PLAYING IN THE DARK! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" the old fox carny took a puff on his freshly lit cigar, and laughed some more as Todd slipped out the park gates, and as the old carny laughed, and as he laughed and smoked his cigar, his laughter mixing with the laughter of Zimbo the Clown, emanating from the hidden speakers on the outside of the funhouse, as the plywood face of Zimbo the Clown on the front of the fun house grinned, the brown pipe sticking out of it, resembling his cigar, suddenly had black smoke coming out of it, as calliope organ music played faintly in the distance in the park.

*THE END*

[X-Gamer]

Wow. Very impressive. I like how you describe everything so clearly. Great job Julius!

[Velocity]

awesome display!

i love your work!

i would LOVE to see more of your work.

nice job :D

[evilwaffles]

Heh, nice job Julius. Very good use of description and a unique plot make your stories always enjoyable to read.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

I'd like to thank:

Starfox Online . net for being here so I could post this

Star Fox and its creators, rights owners, etc.

Kursed, for letting me use her FC's Tigress and Kylie.

tyler

Blaise McCloud

x-gamer

evilwaffles

caat01

rainfyre66

DRL

for reading and commenting on my fanfic

and especially to the creators of the tv show "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?", for one of their best episodes, "The Tale Of Laughing In The Dark", which I based this fanfic on, and I also thank the creators/writers of that specific episode of "AYAOTD?".

[Kursed]

TIgress:Thanks for thaknig my creator ,but would you stop makign todd such a jerk?"

[Guest FoXXX]

I just read this, awesome job, Julius, I like stories like this :D

[Guest Julius Quasar]

TIgress:Thanks for thaknig my creator ,but would you stop makign todd such a jerk?"

Todd learned his lesson, so he's a little less of a jerk now. (Thanks).

I just read this, awesome job, Julius, I like stories like this

Thanks, dude!

[rainfyre66]

I never really watched Are You Afraid of the Dark, but this was yet another entertaining story, you just have a way of pulling the reader in while providing good visualization for them, and always a good bit of humor.

Though I'd think the park could have been "Meteor Land", the amusement park that was originally built on the Meteor from SF (as it says in the manual).  :wink:

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I never really watched Are You Afraid of the Dark, but this was yet another entertaining story, you just have a way of pulling the reader in while providing good visualization for them, and always a good bit of humor.

Though I'd think the park could have been "Meteor Land", the amusement park that was originally built on the Meteor from SF (as it says in the manual). 

It was a great show.  Thank you!

Yeah, but "Meteor Land" failed, this is a working park ;)