Snow Roller Sidestep: Adee’s Terror Mountain Adventure

     She’d been dodging ice cream scoops her entire life. Sure, it only happened in her dreams, but who’s to say that wasn’t real? Her dodging skills were excellent. Walking through Neopia Central, she could dodge flying petpets; walking through Meridell, she knew how to dodge rolling cheese like the rest of them. It was time for a new challenge, a greater adventure. It was time to climb the summit of Terror Mountain.

     Terror Mountain was not always so terror-inducing. She’d heard stories of people climbing the summit and scaling back down the mountain quite peacefully; it used to be a rite of passage for neopets that grew up in Happy Valley, like Adee. But then the Snow Beast moved in. Terror Mountain hasn’t been the same since. People were afraid of him at first, but then they decided not to let the Snow Beast disturb their lives: the people of Terror Mountain went on with their days as normal.

     Snow Beasts are peculiar creatures that sleep for over 20 hours a day, so the people’s reaction to his move-in was less than desired. Their nonchalance disturbed his sleep all. the. time. So the Snow Beast took his revenge: the rolling snow. He sent his minions out every day during his long nap, and they took turns rolling giant balls of snow down the summit while he slept. This meant that one could no longer safely climb the summit to the top of the mountain, because there was rolling snow barreling down the mountain at all times. You didn’t want to get caught by one of those snowballs—no one knew what would happen to you if you did. And so the rite of passage of climbing Terror Mountain that many accomplished in the past to prove their bravery was no more.

     This all happened many years ago, long before Adee’s time. Of course, the people of Happy Valley have since adapted: they built ski lifts to the villages at the top of the mountain, so getting there was quick and most importantly, safe: the rolling snow couldn’t reach you there! But the rumours of neopets climbing the summit on foot remained. They were whispered about in Happy Valley with reverence.

     Adee was determined to be one of them, and tell her tale for years to come.

     ~~

     For weeks Adee had been reading books about climbing, about the snow rolling, and about the history of Terror Mountain and the Snow Beast. And now, it was here: the day had finally come for her to attempt her climb. She was ready to make Terror Mountain history. Adee gathered the essentials: an ice pick, snowshoes, her parka, ropes, a walking stick, snacks. These were the main items suggested from her research. She threw all of those items into her backpack, and then left her neohome.

     Adee stopped by her friend Mika’s neohome next door before leaving Happy Valley. She needed to make sure someone would check on Icee, her beloved petpet Abominable Snowball, in the event that she didn’t make it home by nightfall.

     “Hey Adee, you’re lucky you caught me, I was just about to catch the ski lift to the top of the mountain. Carassa and I are having another garage sale today. Wanna come with me?” Mika said.

     “Actually, I have plans of my own today! Can you check on Icee when you get home tonight?” Adee asked. “Hopefully I’ll be back by morning, but if I don’t check in with you—can you feed him tomorrow, too?” Mika, always a solid friend, agreed. They both started walking out of the neohome and towards the center of Happy Valley.

     Mika finally noticed Adee’s backpack and gave her friend a quizzical look. “Where are you going today, Adee? That’s a lot of hiking gear...”

     “Oh Mika, I can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get back! But this is where we part ways. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!” Adee started walking quickly in the opposite direction that Mika was going.

     “Adee, please be safe! I know you’re not about to do something that your mother wouldn’t approve of!” Mika shouted.

     “I promise I’ll be fine, Mika!” Adee shouted back, as she took off towards the summit.

     “Please be careful out—” Mika’s words of concern were drowned out by a low rumbling sound. Adee looked up; it was a massive snowball. The biggest she’d ever seen. At least ten times her size. And it was coming straight for her.

     Adee dodged out of the way quickly—she hadn’t spent years of her life dreaming about flying ice cream for nothing! She watched the snowball roll straight into the Crash Wall, another innovation of the neopets of Terror Mountain. This invention worked just as the name suggested: the giant snowball from the Snow Beast’s minions crashed straight into it, and exploded into powdery snow flurries everywhere. The Crash Wall protected the rest of the town from the rolling snow, since the wall quite literally stopped it all in its tracks.

     “Whew, that was a close one” Adee muttered to herself. She looked up the summit; she couldn’t even see the top of it. She was in for a long climb. She felt a brief moment of fear, but that feeling was quickly replaced with determination and anticipation. Her adventure awaits!

     She took one last look back at the Crash Wall as she started up the summit. She always wondered what would happen if you were run over by one of the giant snowballs. She couldn’t see any pets or petpets in the remains from the snowball that had just crashed into the wall. Did they…? Adee wouldn’t even let that thought enter her head. She continued on her path, up the mountain.

     Adee’s strategy for avoiding getting carried away by the giant snowball was twofold: first, she would dodge them as best she could, since dodging was one of her strongest skills. But if her dodging wouldn’t be fast enough, Adee would curl herself up just in front of any sort of obstacle near her: a tree, an igloo, a hut, or even just a fallen branch. Adee knew from her research that the snowball was able to jump over obstacles, so hopefully curling up right next to one would keep her safe. And if she did get swallowed up by the snowball, her proximity to the obstacle meant that the snowball would hit it, lose some of its body mass, and Adee would come flying out, safe and sound.

     The first part of the hike up Terror Mountain was quite easy. Pleasant, even. It was no wonder why the neopets of this land called it Happy Valley: she felt pure joy as she looked down at the town where she grew up.

     Adee’s stomach started rumbling and she decided it was time to reach for one of those snacks in her backpack. As she took it off, she spotted an unopened chia pop in the snow to her left. Oooooh, blueberry. Her favourite!

     “What a lucky find,” she thought. “I can save my snacks for when I really need them.”

     Adee started towards the chia pop when she heard a whisper.

     “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”

     “Huh, who’s there?!!?” Adee whipped around, trying to find where that voice was coming from. She spotted a red poogle, hiding in a snow-covered tree to her right. The poogle had a number 5 across its back on a jersey. Was this a poogle that came from the Poogle Races in Faerieland?

     “If you take that chia pop, the snowball will come straight for you. It’s looking for chia pops. It’s hungry. Don’t take it.”

     “How do you know?” Adee asked. “Is this just your way of trying to save the treat for yourself?”

     “It’s not,” the poogle said. “Listen.”

     Sure enough, that low rumbling noise Adee heard before starting her climb was happening again. If she wasn’t listening closely, she would have missed it. Adee ran to hide in the tree with her new poogle friend and watched the snowball come barreling down the hill. Sure enough, it swallowed up the blueberry chia pop.

     “Wow, good looking out! Thank you for saving me. Hey, what’s your name?” Adee asked.

     But no one was there to answer her. The poogle was gone.

     “Huh, that was weird,” Adee muttered to herself. “Okay, no more getting distracted by chia pops! I have to focus!” She pulled a bag of trail mix out of her pack and snacked on that as she continued to climb, listening ever so closely for that rumbling sound.

     The second snowball came not three minutes later. She dodged it like a pro, but despite her quick skills, it came a little too close for comfort. The third snowball grazed the top of her parka, leaving some snow behind as its parting gift. Maybe Adee needed to change her strategy up a bit.

     By the time the seventh snowball flew past, Adee was a pro. Her new strategy involved climbing the mountain from obstacle to obstacle and hiding in front of them. Each snowball jumped, so it missed Adee completely. She felt confident; she was going to reach the top of Terror Mountain in no time.

     ~~~

     Three snacks and fifteen snowballs later, Adee was about halfway up the summit. She could barely make out the town of Happy Valley below her; she was so far from home. She had successfully dodged all of the snowballs that had come her way except one: in a very harrowing moment, she had been swept away by a medium-sized snowball. It was a cold experience as she began to feel herself sink into the snowball, certainly terrifying, and Adee thought it was the end. But then, the snowball hit a branch and Adee flew out, tumbled a bit, and came to a stop right next to a patch of yellow snow. Gross! Since that scary moment, Adee had been extremely careful. She was on her A Game. She would not be thwarted by a silly snowball today!

     Adee noticed that the snowballs got smaller and smaller as she got higher up—clearly, because they hadn’t gained as much mass as they had when she was lower on the mountain. Since they were smaller, they had to be less dangerous, right?! Still, she climbed on, listening, hiding, and dodging very carefully.

      Adee became lost in thought as she continued to climb. Her attention moved to imagining how she would be celebrated when she reached the bottom. Mika and Carassa, her two best friends, would certainly take her out for a celebratory dinner! Maybe she would make it into the Happy Valley Times, and have a whole article written about her! She couldn’t wait for the story of her heroic climb to travel throughout all of Neopia. Maybe, just maybe, her story would make it into the Neopian Times. How cool would that be!

     All of a sudden, Adee snapped back to reality, and found herself staring down a snowball that was five times her size. And it was coming straight for her. What happened to the idea that smaller snowballs existed at the top of the mountain?!

     There was no time to dodge or hide: the snowball picked Adee right up. And they rolled down the mountain together, Adee and the snowball. Over and over. Adee tumbled into the snow. She was calm, but panicking on the inside. She could feel herself sinking into the snowball, her feet first, then her legs, then her midsection. She willed the snowball to hit a tree or an igloo so it could knock her out. She watched as the snowball picked up another treat, a purple negg, and then another, a blueberry chia pop. Of course, her demise would be marked by the blue streak of a blueberry chia pop next to her. How ironic.

     Adee sank farther and farther into the snowball. She felt cold all around her. She gave in to the snowball, and let it fully swallow her. She became one with the snowball. Once she was inside, she felt movement, and saw a flash of red. Was it the poogle friend she met on her way up? Was he coming to save her?

     “Over here!” she shouted. “Help me! Help me! I’m in here!”

     “Adee, Adee, wake up. Wake up Adee! You’re having a bad dream.”

     Adee opened her eyes to see Mika standing over her. In the distance, she spotted Carassa playing with Icee, her Abominable Snowball.

     “Adee, were you dreaming about ice cream again?” Carassa asked.

     “Mika? Carassa? You’re here? I’m here? How did I escape the snowball? Did the red poogle bring me back home?!”

     “Adee, what? This doesn’t sound like your normal ice cream dream. We were supposed to meet for dinner tonight but when you didn’t show, I let myself in with my petpetsitting key. I figured you were having one of your epic naps again, and I was right.” Mika said.

     “It was all…. A dream?”

     “Yes Adee,” Carassa said gently. “You’re safe now, you’re home. But we’re hungry, let’s eat!”

     Adee slowly came to and got ready to go to dinner with her friends. It was a cold night out, so she wore her parka. A patch of fresh snow fell off it as she put it on. Adee noticed her snowshoes were covered in fresh snow in the corner… next to her hiking backpack, which was still packed up. Hmmm, this was odd. Still, Adee decided not to question it. She had friends that had been waiting on her; she didn’t want to keep them waiting any longer.

     Adee, Mika, and Carassa left the neohome and headed into the center of town.

     On their walk, Adee passed a red poogle with a number 5 jersey. She did a double-take, and as she did, she noticed the poogle wink at her. Whoa.

     “Adee, what are you doing? Come on!” Carassa shouted from across the square. Adee hadn’t even noticed that she was frozen in her tracks, still staring after that red poogle.

     “Sorry, coming!” Adee called, racing to catch up with her friends. Her heart was pounding and her mind was racing. Who was that poogle? What really happened to her all day?

     Right now, though, Adee just wanted to have a fun night with her friends. “Hey, can we go get chia pops after dinner?” she asked as she caught up with them. “I’m really craving a blueberry one.”

      The End.