Once Upon A Time

Written by: PPT Divas/PPT Guys (PPT, really!)

Hi all! :) For those who don't know, a new game was started between the Divas and the Guys called "Once Upon a Time . . ." One group writes four consecutive parts, picks three extra usernames to throw the other group off and sends them over. The other group tries to guess who wrote which part. Points are given to the guessing team for correct answers and points to the writing group for each totally incorrect guess. Then the story is passed to the other group for a chance to write and so on until the game is done for that month.

This month's game consisted of sixteen parts in four rounds (four parts per round). The Divas won with a final score of eleven to nine. It was really close until the Divas broke the tie in the last round. :) For winning, the Divas who participated will each get a small neopoint award and a special button for their sig. :) Congratulations, Divas! Better luck next month, Guys. ;)

Here is the story from the December game. Try to see if you can guess who wrote which part. :)

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Part 1.

The rain drizzled softly around her as she trudged home from school. Her mind drifted as she walked slower and slower, not wanting to go home. Dalia's hair and clothes were soaked, even though she had her umbrella open. A splash awoke the girl from her daze as her right shoe sunk in the cold puddle. "Ugh! Great. This is not my day," she said exasperated. She lifted her foot and shook it a bit before placing it back on the sidewalk. She took a piece of folded paper from her coat pocket and looked it over again. "65? Mom is going to be steamed. This is so unfair!" She crumpled up the test as tears sprang to her eyes. She fought them back and threw the wadded paper in frustration.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!" said a male voice in front of her.

Part 2.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly, a blush snaking across her face. She glanced up in front of her, spotting a little boy of no more than ten years old. Looking indignant, he had both hands on his hips and was glaring at her. A blue backpack was hoisted over his thin shoulders.

"That hurt, lady," he snapped. "Watch your..." He snatched the paper off of the ground, "Haha. Watch where you throw your 65 test grades. Even I do better than that," he bragged. "And I'm the stupidest person in my class."

Part 3.

She snorted. "Congratulations," she muttered. "I am honored to meet you oh-so-stupid-one." She shrugged, getting ready to snatch back her paper. The boy, however, thought otherwise. Giving her a malicious grin, he leaped back.

"You shouldn't talk like that, not when you got a score of sixty-five!" The boy taunted, holding her test just out of arms reach. He stuck out his tongue, and then added, "You want it? Come and get it!"

And with that, he turned and ran. Dalia held up her hands in exasperation, and then chased after him.

Part 4.

The boy headed into the park with Dalia hot on his heels. When she reached the gates, she noticed him over by the pond. Racing over Dalia shouted at him to stop and give her the paper back. With a toss of his head he ignored her and began instead to climb the rocks next to the pond. Realisation dawned on her that the little brat was going to throw her test into the murky water. She started to run over and just before she reached the edge, the boy slipped...

Usernames to choose from for Round One:

Cassi

Jasujo

jellyoflight

ria

Sock

Twizzler0171

xjox

Part 5.

With a dull thud the boy smacked against the rock back first as his feet went out from beneath him, Dalia breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't fall into the murky pond but was still angry that he had taken her paper. "Hey, are you alright?" she queried on hurried approach to him.

"I'm fine, your paper isn't though. Sorry."

Dacia looked on as the embarrasing test paper dramatically sunk with a bubbly 'glub'. Rescue would be a futile effort. The child had sit himself down on a park bench on the other side of the pond, and was checking the contents of his little blue bag.

Part 6.

Dalia looked at him, sighing. "Well," she laughed, "At least now I won't have to show it to my mother!"

The boy looked at her, and said, "You may be dumb, but you're absolutely right there. The only thing worse than seeing a bad grade is your dad seeing it!"

"Oh, you see, my dad died three years ago. So... you know." replied Dalia, with the smallest hint of a tear.

"Oh, I'm... I'm sorry." replied the boy. He turned around and ran, not even taking his backpack with him.

Part 7.

Dalia picked herself, brushed herself off, and ran after the boy. There was something about him that made her know that they had to talk. She ran and ran, but it was obvious that he would out distance her soon enough. What could she do? She had to stop him? Suddenly a brilliant idea struck her.

As she was running through the outskirts, she yelled out "Stop him, he grabbed my purse!" A crowd of people began chasing the poor boy as he ran. Suddenly he took a quick corner and bounded into the forest. The last they saw of him, he was entering the forbidden cave of Hobo Ray. While the mob stayed at the entrance, Dalia entered, only to see Ray towering above her!

Part 8.

As he emerged from the inky shadows, Ray slowly raised his head. The crowd huddled closer as he showed them the mysterious item he held. A murmer went through the group. Suggestions were made, but Ray just shook his head.

"It's hopeless," Ray said in a somber voice. "The transmission's dead."

A wail went up in the back of the mob, and Ray begane to quietly intone a prayer.

Usernames to choose from for Round Two:

Atamand

Christopher

coming2atvnearu

ScottNak

Tested

timkhj

Xil

Part 9.

Dalia frowned. 'What's he doing?' she asked herself. Her question was answered when Ray looked back at the crowd and said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't fix it. It seems that Borovan's brain is permanently broken."

Many women in the crowd sobbed and the men took off their hats and lowered their heads. Dalia blinked in confusion, thinking to herself, 'I don't remember it ever working right anyway...'

Suddenly the pensive moment was broken when a shrill scream erupted from the cave.

Part 10.

The crowd stepped back in fear. Some of them muttered, "Another one!" Dalia asked the crowd what was going on, but nobody answered. So she decided to walk into the cave. A collective gasp could be heard.

When Dalia went into the cave, she couldn't see anything wrong. "Umm, guys? It's just a bunny. And what a cute widdle bunny it is, yes it is..." The bunny growled, and a blinding light flashed. When Dalia could see again, there stood the thing of her worst nightmares, something she had hoped never to encounter.

Part 11.

Dalia could handle one bunny at a time. Dalia could handle two bunnies at a time. Dalia could even handle three bunnies at a time, if she was feeling brave. But Dalia could not handle six hundred bunnies at a time.

She gulped. She put out her hand against the wall of the cave to support herself. She was feeling sick. As far as she could see, there were bunnies everywhere. White, brown, black, spotted, patched, plain -- it was a sea of fur. Large ones, small ones, long eared ones, short eared ones, old ones, young ones, baby ones. And it didn't end there. Because she was sure they were breeding. Bunnies were the breeding kings of the world, after all.

She didn't know where six hundred bunnies came from. A moment ago there had been one. Now there was more than one. A lot more than one. And that meant that there was only one thing that Dalia could do. So she did it.

Part 12.

She turned and fled in terror, her eyes wide and her heartrate going wild. She ran into the crowd and was engulfed in a sea of confused people for a few seconds before she burst out again. She had barely run a little more before she crashed into a wall. A soft, furry wall. Ouch. She rebounded comically off the mass of fur and landed on her backside, gasping for breath. She looked up.

She screamed.

Usernames to choose from for Round Three:

_jade_em_

Lillie

Lulaloli

meowth1982

r4che1

Twinkle

tymaporer

Part 13.

Dalia screamed so loud that it could have shattered a crystal glass easily. She clenched her eyes closed, fearing what could come next. But upon waking up, she noticed that she was drenched in sweat and panting repetitively.

She was in her bed. She got up very slowly and thought to herself very slowly whether or not it had been a dream. It seemed too real to be a dream, but too odd to be real.

Part 14.

"How could it have been a dream?" thought Dalia. "That only happens in third-rate novels where the author cannot think of a logical ending to his over-fantastic story!"

Suddenly her eyes were attracted towards a sheet of paper on her bedside table. On it were the ominous numbers: "65".

It was really just a dream after all. Slowly, Dalia recollected the events of the day. After getting back her test paper, Dalia was so traumatised that she did not dare to go back home. Instead, she booked herself into a hotel and cried herself to sleep on the bed.

Part 15.

Dalia wondered if her parents were worried. She shook it off however, and began to pack her things, preparing to go to school for the day. Besides, she thought, if she decided to go home today, she could always try to think of an excuse or say she was staying at a friend's house.

She checked out of the hotel and walked out to the road.

"Strange, these roads don't look familiar..."

Part 16.

Dalia surveyed her surroundings which surrounded her. The dirt roads were smeared with more trash than a bagel would have smeared on it if the usual condiment for bagels was trash. Plastic bags, wooden sticks, soda cans, aluminum foil, and other such remnants of what looked like a hobo's abode were strewn over the brown dirt.

"This is very odd," said Dalia, retracing her steps in her mind from a few hours ago. "How in the heck could this place go from beautiful to beautiless in such a short time?"

The girl then looked down and let out a gasp of incredulity, a word which here means 'disbelief that her clothes and skin were now similar to the clothes and skin that one might find on a hobo.'

Usernames to choose from for Round Four:

Yoshi

Xil

watericesage

Qanda

simsman24000

ScottNak

Dragonfire

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Answer Key:

1. Jasujo

2. Sock

3. Twizzler0171

4. xjox

5. Christopher

6. Tested

7. coming2atvnearu

8. Atamand

9. Lulaloli

10. tymaporer

11. Lillie

12. _jade_em_

13. ScottNak

14. Qanda

15. Yoshi

16. simsman24000

How many did you get right? Did you beat our groups? If so, maybe you should contribute to the next game starting January 2nd. ;) Happy New Year all! :)

Editor's Note: There aren't any sources for the icon (made by Fzun, by the way) because this is a last minute article.. So my apologies to those sources that haven't been credited. Also, the article itself was put together by Jasujo, so big thanks to her. :)