"Gumwyn"

by cheetah the furry

12-21-99 to ??

CHAPTER 1

Frantic Falls. Maybe not the best place to live, but one gummi calls it home.

"Gusto!"

"Just a _few_ more minutes, Gruff." the artistic gummi stalled, adding a couple more carefully placed lumps to his current sculpture.

"C’mon. We don’t have all day. YOU asked US to help patch up the holes in this place." Gruffi paced.

"Hey, gotta strike while the inspiration’s hot!"

Zummi, carrying a bucket and standing with Grammi, knew this wasn’t going to get anyone anywhere. "Come on, Gruffi. We can start now and Gusto can catch up." The lavender-furred wizard started for the back of the eroded wall. Grammi followed, shaking her head.

Gruffi scowled before marching after them. "He’d better."

Totally distracted, Gusto could be heard saying, "Sure thing. Be right there."

At the wall, Zummi looked to Grammi, who in turn looked to Gruffi. Five little cracks in the wall were dribbling water.

"Well… It looks like we’ll just need the Jiffy Tree sap."

Zummi handed Gruffi the bucket and passed he and Grammi each one of the four brushes. They each went to work coating the cracks with the sealant sap.

Gusto was still ‘preoccupied’, Gruffi saw as he started on the fourth crack. He huffed and slapped the sticky goo in place.

"Are there any more?" Grammi asked, wandering back over to Gruffi, her brush ready.

"I think that was it. I didn’t see any more-"

Gusto, interrupting without raising his head, pointed. "One more. Over there."

"Gusto," Grammi started as she walked over to him. "Don’tcha think you should be helping? This _is_ your home, after all."

He still didn’t look up, too absorbed in studying his unfinished creation. "But you’re doing so well! I’d probably just mess it up. And there’s only that one left, so…"

"Never mind, Grammi," Gruffi growled. "We could be here all day tryin’ ta get him to help. I’ll do it. _I’ve_ got OTHER responsibilities to get back to." He looked pointedly at Gusto before stomping over to the side wall closest to the falls.

Upon inspection, there was a hole, but it wasn’t caused by leaking water. Gruffi frowned and poked a furry brown finger in. The rock fell inward as if it were chalk!

"Hm…" It was hollow in there. He poked a little more through and listened to it hit bottom. Deep.

"Is it a big leak?" Zummi asked, looking over Gruffi’s shoulder.

"No leak. It’s a hole."

Grammi closed in to see. "Where do ya think it goes?"

Gusto suddenly jumped in beside them. "Hey, I’m done! You guys aren’t finished _yet_?"

The floor beneath them gave only a slight rumbly warning before it and part of the wall in front of them gave way under the weight. The four gummies went tumbling down, yelling all the way, only to land in a cavernous collection of water.

Gusto, recovering, made a bad joke as they waded onto the bank of the cavern. "That’s definitely _not_ the way I’d planned to take a bath."

While Grammi held back an angry Gruffi, Zummi marveled, for inside this cavern was a mini storehouse of… well, several things. "My stars! Look at this!"

Having seen what grabbed Zummi’s attention, the other three decided to catch up while wringing out their clothes. A lot of what they saw in this small horde was shelved books. Zummi started picking through the shelves immediately.

Grammi, looking in a large, unlocked chest, turned to Gusto. "Did you know this place was here, Gusto?"

"Nope." he answered, picking up a book which lay in the mud. "And it doesn’t look like anybody else does either."

"With good reason, too." Gruffi added, taking a look around.

Zummi’s efforts to read the books were in vain. The writing was smeared or totally gone and all the books were soggy.

"Looks like this place gets a frequent influx of water."

They all realized now that Gruffi was correct. Even the ground they walked on was smooshie wet.

With a sigh, Zummi tossed the book in his hand and walked over to Grammi and the trunk, which contained smeared drawings and paintings. That caught Gusto’s eye but the book Zummi discarded fell with a clunk, and not a flop. Frowning his puzzlement, Gruffi went to investigate where the book landed.

"This cavern must’ve been used by humans as a place to hide vings of thalue. Er.. I mean, things of value." Zummi hypothesized, pointing to the most intact of the portraits in Gusto’s hands. It was a painting of a woman.

Under the soggy book sat, buried in the mud, a gold object. Curious, Gruffi pried it out with a grunt and enough force to send him on his rear.

Taking a good look at the thing in his hands, Gruffi beheld a short, gold scepter.

Grammi, having noticed his find, joined him.

"Huh. Human treasure."

He was about to toss the scepter aside when it began to glow bright greenish. Grammi took a step back with a gasp but the scepter began pulling Gruffi toward a small but growing greenish portal above the water. She grabbed on to him. The force behind the artifact was too strong and pulled them both into the water.

"Let it go!" Zummi yelled as he and Gusto rushed into the water after them.

"I can’t!" Gruffi strained. The magical force held his hands firmly to the scepter and pulled him and Grammi closer to the portal.

Zummi quickly dug in his hat for a magic spell. "Uh, uh…Mummove mummee ummovummer thummere!"

As Gruffi was sucked into the portal, Grammi in tow, Zummi’s spell sent him flying into them and he, too, was sucked through. The portal closed, leaving Gusto staring on helplessly.

The green portal appeared again over the cavern’s inlet and out flew first Gruffi, then Grammi, and finally Zummi, back into the water. Sputtering, they waded to shore.

"What happened?" asked a wary Grammi in the dead silence afterwards. As they looked about, each of them saw no lost horde of books, no waterfall, and no Gusto. "Where are we?"

"Look! The scepter!" Zummi pointed to the artifact in Gruffi’s hand, which held a dull green glow again.

The three gummies watched as it quickly disappeared.

Gruffi stared at his empty, freed hand. Dread filled his thoughts as he once more looked about at the bareness of once-familiar surroundings. "I don’t know, Grammi."

Where the falls should have been, there was only a large opening to the cavern in which they stood, the opening not hidden by falling water, below what was once Gusto’s home. The day shined bright outside. The three exchanged glances once more.

"Well, I don’t care what it was. I just wanna know where Gusto and his home went!" Gruffi huffed, more bothered by the recent events than he was letting on. After re-emerging from the cavern, they’d searched but found no sign of the artistic gummi or his domicile.

"We do, too, Gruffi, but finding out about that magic scepter will help." Zummi explained, trying to reassure him. He was just as upset by their situation, as well. "The scepter must have pome surpose. Er.. Some purpose. Looking in the Great Book can help." They were currently headed back home, to Gummi Glen.

"Ya don’t think it was gummi magic, do ya, Zummi?"

"No, Grammi. But the Great Book of Gummies mentions several human-created magical items, also."

"I don’t like this one bit." Gruffi crossed his arms over his chest. "Not one—"

Grammi gasped, stopped dead in her tracks.

Gruffi and Zummi followed her frightened gaze.

"Great Gallopin’ Gummies!!"

Zummi rushed forward but there was no great oak tree, and therefore no Gummi Glen. "No… It can’t be!" No Great Book…

"Are… Are we gone? Or is everybody else…?" Grammi clutched Gruffi’s arm, unable to finish the sentence.

Gruffi found his voice enough to answer. "I… don’t know. I just don’t know, Grammi."