Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a magical forest not so far away from the large bustling city, there was a rather lonely wizard. The lonely wizard was lonely due to his magic spells not working in the way he wanted them to. Every time he tried to make an object float, it would be shot into a far distance where it would never be found again. If he wanted to turn a chair into a miniature, elegant horse, it would turn into a giant, mortifying ant instead. And each time he wished to duplicate a plate, it would disappear into thin air! It truly was a depressing time for our poor wizard. Why, it was so catastrophically depressing that it caused the dreadful spellcaster to lose the will to smile and laugh like he used to!
But luckily, hope is not all lost! For a brave band of heroes shall travel to the Enchanted Forest and search for the wizard to help him become the most powerful magic wielder in the universe, get his smile back, and live happily ever after!
Location of the Wizard: Magic Mountain. It’s the tallest mountain in the Enchanted Forest. You literally cannot miss it. If you somehow cannot find it despite its self-explanatory location, you’re a halfwit.
~~~
“That’s a really good narrator voice, Teena!” Pim complimented the tiny pink critter that sat comfortably on Charlie’s shoulder.
“Thank you!” Teena, the newest member of the Smiling Friends, smiled and wagged her pink, puffy tail gleefully after hearing the compliment.
Charlie handed back a large, slightly dusty scroll to the giant, realistically detailed, two-headed, well-dressed anthropomorphic lizard that had entered the break room and was standing in front of the trio. Meanwhile, Allan and Glep were in the background, doing their usual routine: washing the dishes while listening to music and taking a nap, respectively.
“Okay! Uhh. Listen, this is a really nice story and all, but wouldn’t it have been a lot faster if you, I dunno, told us what the problem was instead of making us read through a giant old scroll?” Charlie criticized.
“We agree that we would’ve much preferred to explain the situation ourselves,” one of the lizard’s heads began to speak in a calm, sophisticated manner. “But our dear wizard friend just loves to get creative, and he insisted on writing this scroll for you.” The other head suddenly butted in, his voice was more youthful and slightly raspy, like something you’d hear from the mouth of a '90s Saturday morning cartoon character. “So yeah, are you gonna help us out or what?”
Pim and Charlie gave each other a worried look. “Could you give us a moment, Mister Lizard?” Pim asked politely before both he and Charlie turned around and faced away from their client’s messenger.
“Charlie,” Pim whispered to his best friend. “I don’t think I feel comfortable going back to the Enchanted Forest.”
Charlie nodded his head. “Yeah, you and me both, buddy.”
“What’s wrong with the Enchanted Forest?” Teena asked quietly. “Isn’t that the place where people go to take on epic quests and meet with endearing magical creatures and marketable mascots? What’s the problem with that?”
“See, the problem is that last time we went there, a bunch of shit went down,” Charlie explained. “First, I got my hat stolen.”
“Then we got kidnapped by a witch,” Pim added. “Charlie had later taken a potion that made him so sick that it landed him in the hospital for a whole week.”
“Come on. That wasn’t caused by a potion, Pim. It was clearly allergies.” Charlie defended himself.
“Mhm.” Pim sarcastically replied while giving him a deadpan stare, then turned back to Teena. “Charlie even went on all of these quests, being the ‘hero’ of the forest, while completely ignoring our job!”
“It admittedly felt kinda good to be the hero and all, but it also caused me to become a little bit of a jackass.”
Pim moved closer to the bigger critter and glared at him. “A little?”
The sight of the usually happy, bright pink critter giving off glares was enough to make Charlie sweat. “Okay…maybe it was more than a little.” He spoke with a nervous smile.
“Not to mention there was Mi-” Pim started to speak again, but was interrupted by Charlie’s large hand covering Pim’s mouth. “I thought we agreed to never speak his name as long as we are alive.”
“But what if Teena wants to know!” Pim asked muffledly.
“I actually DO wanna know, now that you brought up this mysterious villain.” Teena slid down Charlie’s right shoulder and leaped onto Pim’s left shoulder. “Come on! Tell me about this diabolical stranger.” She grinned with delight and anticipation.
Charlie sighed and removed his hand from Pim’s mouth. “Mip…Mip was a character. That’s all I’m willing to share.”
“He was a forest folk who helped us escape the witches' lair. He was nice, I guess. But he was planning to kill the princess with a bomb he disguised as a gift!” Pim muttered.
“Jesus Christ.” Teena’s voice dropped from high-pitched and curious to low and shocked.
“He was probably planning on using us to take the blame for the princess’s death. The whole reason we went to the forest in the first place was to make her smile for a portrait.” Charlie added. “But he's dead now, so we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Pim nodded in agreement.
“I can still feel his presence whenever he gets brought up, though.” Charlie crossed his arms and rubbed them, like he was warming himself up from a chilly breeze. “It’s like I’m being haunted by an actual ghost, and I do not like that feeling. Not. One. Bit.”
“Me and Charlie swore that we would never talk about Mip, nor would we return to the Enchanted Forest ever again. But now it seems like we have to go back. After all, the rules say we can’t say no to anyone who comes to us for help.” Pim spoke as rubbed the back of his right hand.
“If that’s the case, why don’t I come along with you guys for this job?” Teena offered. “I’ll be your mini guard dog to make sure no creepy creatures come to interrupt our real quest.”
Pim and Charlie looked at the small pastel pink critter, looked at each other, then back at Teena again.
“Okay then. As long as you don’t end up getting carried away by mermaids.” Charlie agreed with a grin.
“Not even the natural oceanic sexiness of magic fish people will distract me!” Teena grinned back.
“It’ll be great to have you come along with us, Teena!” Pim spoke with excitement. “It’ll be a Pim, Charlie, and Teena adventure!” Pim held his arms out and exclaimed with glee.
The trio turned around and faced the two-headed lizard messenger again.
“Me and my trusty companions have decided to go on this quest!” Teena leaped off Pim’s shoulder and landed on the floor. “It would help us greatly if you could lead us to Magic Mountain.”
The two lizard heads smiled. “Why of course, little one!” The first head nodded. “We are more than happy to assist you!”
“Yeah, dude. Being a guide would be, like, totally radical, bro!” The second head added. “Follow us, man!” The giant two headed lizard creature walked out of the break room.
“Does he ever get bored of talking like that?” Charlie asked with annoyance. Pim and Teena could only respond with shrugs, looking equally as annoyed as Charlie.
~~~
Charlie felt uneasiness swirling around inside his stomach as he walked on top the grassy field of the Enchanted Forest. He looked straight ahead, his only focus being glued to Mister Lizard guiding him and his two pink friends to Magic Mountain.
He didn’t look at anything that might catch his attention, such as the flying tree leaves that whispered wind into his ear or the tiny blue gnomes carrying big raw crystals in their tiny hands while singing a song about how happy life is. He didn’t even dare to turn his head around to gaze in awe at the unicorns along with their glitter-covered horns and manes.
“Holy leprechaun stuck in a pot filled with gold. IT’S A UNICORN!!” Teena shouted with excitement and bounced up and down. “I need to ride one, ASAP!”
“Teena, remember.” Pim kneeled down and gently poked her shoulder. “You’re our guard dog.”
“Darn it. You’re right, Pim.” Teena stopped her jumping and stood up straight. “Guard dog Teena’s gotta keep her guard up!” She saluted and began to walk more with more alertness. Pim giggled at Teena’s endearing actions as he continued to walk alongside Charlie.
“I shall return for you later, mister magic glitter horse!” Teena stopped in her tracks and pointed at the unicorn she looked at earlier.
“Actually my name is Henry.” The unicorn replied in a deep voice that contained a hint of an Australian accent.
Teena's eyes widened in surprise at the voice coming out of the unicorn's mouth. “Oh shit. My bad! I, um, I didn’t know that.”
“It’s okay you’re not the first to call me that. It’s cool, mate. It’s cool.”
There was dead silence in the air for a couple of seconds.
“Soooo. See you later?” Teena waved.
“Yeah, no worries, we can totally go on a quest together later.” Henry said as he displayed his glowing horn.
“Nice.” Teena ran off to catch up with her friends and guide, leaving a trail of pink dust behind her.
Charlie turned his head around and saw that the small dog-like critter was running up to Pim and then proceeded to climb and cling onto his shoulder like a baby sloth. The big guy sighed with relief, knowing that their newest friend had remained beside the group and hadn’t gotten distracted or taken away by anything in the forest. He wouldn’t know what he would do with himself if both of his friends got taken away by a group of seductive sirens or another scamming witch. His eyes then turned to Pim, who was conversing happily with Teena.
Teena seemed to have whispered something in Pim’s ear that caused the frog-like critter to let out a bubbly laugh.
Charlie chuckled softly at the scene, wondering what she had told Pim to make him let out his charming laughter. A part of him wanted to join in on the conversation, but he couldn’t allow himself to get distracted by anything or anyone.
Instead, he turned his line of vision towards his untied white shoes.
“Hey, C, you doing okay back there?” Teena turned her head and asked with a light smile.
Charlie, realizing that he had been staring down for a while, nodded in response to the tiny critter’s question. “Yeah, yeah I’m okay. I, uh, I just noticed that my shoes are untied.” He pointed to his shoes. “Common thing that happens.”
“Hmm.” Pim walked up to Charlie and kneeled to take a closer look at his best friend’s white sneakers. He squinted his eyes and placed a finger up to his chin in thought, as if he were a detective inspecting a newly discovered clue. He suddenly grabbed both of the untied laces.
Charlie furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and frowned. “Uhhh. Pim, what are you doing?”
“Tying your shoes of course!” Pim replied jubilantly.
“Dude, c’mon. I can tie my own shoes. You don't gotta do it for me.” Charlie grumbled,placing his hands inside his hoodie pockets.
“Juuust want to make sure the laces are tight enough for the rest of the walk.”
Pim hummed a merry tune while he held onto both of Charlie’s loose laces and tightly crisscrossed them, forming two large loops that were the exact same size.
Charlie was certain that he didn’t need any assistance with a task as simple as tying shoelaces. He wasn’t a child anymore. Even so, a part of him felt grateful that Pim was always willing to help him, no matter how small the problem was.
It was one of the things he admired the most about his best friend after all.
“There we go!” Pim gave a simple pat on Charlie’s newly tied shoe laces. “Good as new!”
“T-thanks, Pim.” Charlie thanked his friend. He tried his best to hold back a smile of gratitude but the corners of his lips betrayed his wish. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem, Charlie!”
“Does anyone feel like this walk has been going on forever?” Teena questioned while she adjusted herself comfortably on Pim’s shoulder. “Isn’t the mountain supposed to be, like, the easiest thing to find in the forest?”
“That is what Mister Lizard told us.” Pim agreed as he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
“Hey, Lizard guy,” Charlie cleared out his throat and caught up to Mister Lizard. “Me and my friends have been wondering, how long is it going to take for us to get to the mountain?”
“Worry not, dear Smiling Friend.” Mister Lizard replied. “For we are already here!” The two headed creature revealed the giant purple mountain that shone like a crystal in the bright sunlight.
“Oh my! It’s beautiful!” Pim spoke with sparkles in his eyes.
“Huh.” Charlie placed his hand in his hand pockets while he looked up at the glittering shining mountain that displayed itself in front of his small black eyes. “Looks like you really can’t miss it after all.”
“Seems like the only thing we need to worry about now is climbing all the way to the top.” Teena commented, pressing a paw against her chin in thought.
“Shouldn’t be that difficult.” Charlie replied casually.