Zoopa Loopa - Part 2 (Pixiv Fanbox)

Part Two - The Mall

The street tarmac was dry and fresh. Not a surface worn by the continual use of vehicles, it was tidy and clean except for the occasional piece of paper blown in the wind. Fine painted florescent markings ran across the tarmac. These were for use in locating popular destinations in the city such as the Augmented Cinemas, Swimming pools and shopping malls. 

A pile of discarded clothes lay across markings that looked to distinguish a sidewalk from a road. White socks, two Zoopverse sneakers and a torn shirt. Further along was a pair of khaki quarter length shorts and underwear.

From across the silent street in a side ally two young eyes darted left and right taking a good hard look at the area up and down. Once he was confident it was clear Eddy emerged from the dark and padded quietly over to the clothes. Kneeling down the boy quickly checked the size of the shorts. They would fit him. The previous owner, the one who screamed must have been his size, perhaps his age. Briefly Eddy wondered who the poor kid had been, maybe they could have been friends. The thought quickly left his mind as he stood up straight and stepped into the shorts and buttoned up the waist. Eddy then turned and picked up the shirt and pulled it over his head. The warmth of the material was slightly itchy since he had become accustomed to not wearing a shirt in this tropical environment. 

Eddy picked up a sock and hopped on one foot as he pulled the sock over his toes. He stopped as a thought came to him, balancing, slightly wavering from side to side before pulling the sock off and casting it a side. His reasoning was that socked feet, even shoed feet, took away a major advantage he had over the Zoppaloopians. The bare soul of his feet gave him grip to climb the curved bubble shaped buildings to safety. A trick the Zoopaloopians could not achieve with their furry covered paws. From there Eddy could then leap onto other more traditional shaped buildings and avoid the ground entirely.

A small blinking LED caught Eddies attention and after quickly taking another look around he knelt down. A smile of surprise and excitement appeared on the boys face as he realised what he had found. ZoopaGlasses were much sought after gadgets for anyone visiting ZoopaLoopa City and only available to those in the top social brackets.

Picking up the shades and lifting up to his eyes the glasses flipped open to allow Eddy to neatly place them on his head. Eddy silently mouthed WOW as his vision was covered in dialogue windows and icons. The painted markings on the street came to life as bright moving arrows and in the top left of his vision a list of red ‘unavailable’ error messages appeared flashing momentarily. 

Eddy took a deep breath as he thought for a second.

“Vendors” He said quietly as almost a whisper.

Suddenly many little yellow logos of what looked like snack bars appeared in his vision with a distance number under them. The closest was highlighted and animated arrow markings on the street lead the direction.

“Ha, Neat” Said Eddy with a slight giggle. 

It had been a while since he had last eaten and the Vendors seemed well stocked and easy to brake into. Unfortunately Vending machines where popular ambush sites for the Zoopaloopians.

Eddies smile disappeared as a new thought popped into his head.

“The Mall” He said and the Vending machine icons were quickly replaced with one single Blue icon. 

The Street markings changed to a line of moving arrows showing the way. Eddy new better than to follow this guide on the ground so moving fast the boy crossed the street and placed a bare foot on the side of the curved building. With his soul and toes firmly gripping the surface Eddy started to climb up the side slowly. As he neared the top the curve of the bubble shaped building allowed him to pick up speed.

Running along the rooftops Eddy kept an eye on the street below and the augmented arrow guide leading him to his intended destination. The boy moved with such experienced grace almost like dancing as his young legs pushed him from one balanced move through to another. He had learnt from an early age the art of free running from his older brothers , to move quickly and efficiently through the environment using only his body and his surroundings to propel himself. Never had Eddy imagined how important it would become for his survival. 

Running at a wall, using his small size and good strength as momentum to hop skip and leap up, grabbing with his small fingers, gripping then pulling up with his arms. It came to him naturally, second nature.

Curling his toes on an edge before his legs pushed and sprung him over a ledge. Arms out, his body feeling for balance through the air, his legs brought forward to absorb the impact. Feet land softly pushing his body into a low role before using the remaining energy from the landing to spring back onto his feet and resuming his run. Down below where Eddy leaped across an ally a grayish blue Zoopaloopian looks up briefly to see nothing but night sky, then shakes its head before returning to sniff the ground.

Eddy had not yet ventured to this part of the City, preferring to keep close to his make shift camp on top of a building near where the city met the jungle. He was wary that the further you went into the centre of the city, the more Monsters you might come across.

In the ZoopaGlasses an orange flashing icon blinked to say he had arrived at his destination. He slowed down his running and walked to the edge of the current building he was on. Below was an area of grass, a ring of green with plants and trees surrounding a large circular glass building through which you could see many levels. The entrance was a grand doorway with a statue of a large happy giggling Zoopaloopian above it.

As Eddy looked his glasses recognised the doorway and the zoopaloopian statue came to life in his vision making the boy jump back a step.

“Welcome to the ZoopaMall! Here you can buy the best in clothes, toys and Augmented games! - come on in! you know you want to! BEEP”, The animated visual faded leaving the static statue with its disturbing cheeky grin.

Eddy stepped to the edge of the building again and started to look at the items available in the Mall.

“Zoom Double” He said and the glasses magnified and focused his vision so that he could see through the glass into the mall.

First floor seemed to be a mess. Shelves tipped over, boxed toys all over the place. On the second floor was the clothes department and as the glasses refocussed he could see it was in a worst state than below. Ripped and torn fabric covered the floors with a layer of soft fluff. In fact no clothing was left un-shredded, the Zoopaloopians must have torn up every piece of clothing. All that was left standing were the shop mannequins used to display the merchandise now left clothe-less in their aspirational poses.

“Bingo” whispered Eddy before taking a quick scan of the area, then sliding on his bottom down the side of the building.

Inside the mall bright white light lit everything up. Ever since the ZoopaLoopians turned crazy the energy grid continued to power the automated systems. Lights, sensors, elevators and escalators still worked.

On the second floor of the mall the hover escalators automatically sensed a presence and started moving. Soon the black mop of hair belonging to Eddy appeared as he rose to the clothing department. Stepping out into the bright lit room the torn clothing on the floor warmed his bare feet with a comfy tickle.

Quickly the boy made his way towards the centre of the room and the mannequins. They were pale pink in colour and had stylised minimal features standing almost the same hight as Eddy’s twelve years. Eddy gave a small sniggering smile as he saw they were not dressed and reached out to grab one of the pink plastic dummies. Suddenly the Hover Escalators started to move again, causing Eddy to turn quickly in alarm. Looking right and left for some where to hide Eddy began to panic.

Two green furred ZoopaLoopians appeared traveling up the escalator. One was quite a thin looking monster while the other seemed quite fat and overweight with very stubby arms and legs.

“I don't know why we bother checking out this place anymore bruv,” said the Fat ZoopaLoopian, “All those kiddies have learnt best not to come round here cos they know we check this place out”.

“It’s all right for you Zox,” Snarls the Thinner monster, “cos you is fat innit, you plump with scoffing that bus load”.

“aww yeh Zax,” Replies the plump monster licking his big wide lips, “thems was good bruv”.

The Thinner ZoopaLoopian Zax perks up his head suddenly as he smells something in the air causing his fat companion to get excited.

“What is it, you smell human yeh, YEH?”

“i smells something bruv,” whispers Zax, “Me thinks a human has been here like”.

The thin monster places his face to the floor and sniffs the ground and follows the cent over to the mannequins. Looking up he see’s one is still clothed.

“AWWW BRUV,” cries the hungry monster, “Im so hungry I've started to smell tings”.

Eddy stands as still as possible posing between the two mannequins. His hands on his hips trying to stand cool while looking towards the ceiling.

“It’s just one of them dummies bruv,” Says Zax turning to his companion, “look it still has them clothes on.”

Zax starts to sniff Eddies body before giving a long lick up over his legs across his little crotch bulge.

“MMM, this dummy tastes so real,” moans Zax,”my mind is like playing tricks, you get me?”

Eddy struggles to keep his calm and stand still while the skinny ZoopaLoopian sniffs. Beads of sweat form on Eddies brow and slowly trickle down the side of his face causing an unbearable urge to wipe away.

“You should rip up them clothes so no kids can use them,” advises Zox, “Don't want no clothes to gung up our teeth bruv.”

Zax reaches out with his big furry clawed paws starting to tug down Eddies shorts, but a distant high pitched scream catches the attention of both green ZoopaLoopians . Their little round furry ears prick up and they look towards the mall entrance before turning to each other.

“Quick, there might be stragglers for us!” shouts Zax and soon the two green furry ZoopaLoopians are bounding back down the Hover Escalator the wrong way jostling over who will get out the front of the mall first.

Eddy finally relaxes out of the pose he had held for so long and pulls up his shorts.

“Shit, that was too close” he whispers to himself finally wiping the sweat from his brow.

Grabbing the mannequin to his left and holding it under his arm Eddy then runs to the back of the mall in search of an alternative way out. Finding an emergency fire exit Eddy races down a stair case and pushes a door leading out into the street.

Checking quickly to make sure it’s clear he then runs across towards the types of buildings he has become so familiar with. Instead of running up the side of the curved bubble shaped building, Eddy slowly uses the grip of his bare feet to pull the mannequin up the side. 

After struggling for almost five minutes the boy reaches the top and safety before collapsing panting for breathe, relieved that he’d completed his quest. 

“Now to set the trap.” He says with a cheeky little smile appearing on his face.

To be continued....