Zoopaloopa - Part 5 (Pixiv Fanbox)

Part 5 - The Janitor

“Look,” shouted Milo pointing to the high concrete riverbank while holding tight to the netting that covered the raft.

Eddy looked in the direction and saw five or six large green Zoopaloopians running along the river bank to keep pace with the river current. He looked back at Zeek to alert the older boy steering the raft.

“I know,” shouted Zeek above the sound of the fast moving river current, “Don’t worry, they’s wont come near the water cos they cant swim, ok hold tight lads.”

Zeek pulled his goggles down in front of his eyes causing his vision to go bright white. Eddy turned back to face forward just as the raft entered into a tunnel. Suddenly the raging water current became more fierce as it was funnelled into the underground sewer system. Eddy ducked down as the orange concrete walls and neon yellowish green emergency lighting streaked past as the raft travelled through the tunnel.

Zeeks goggles now gave him an enhanced visual of the route ahead as he struggled to keep the raft from crashing up against the curved tunnel walls. Milo on his knees beside Eddy at the front of the raft raised his arms in the air.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!” shouted the youngest boy as they headed deep under Zoopaloopa city.

Outside at the entrance to the river tunnel the Zoopaloopas snarled as they heard their preys joyful shouting grow more and more distant.leaving them to search elsewhere for something to gobble up.

This is like some kind of park ride thought Eddy as the raft picked up speed. By now all three boys were soaked through by the splashing rough water cascading over the raft. A few times Eddy had to hang onto the netting real tight or be thrown from the raft. While Zeek was doing a fantastic job steering the raft, there was more than a few occasions where the raft shunted against the tunnel walls. Secretly Zeek was worried that the raft would start to fall apart.

“do you know where we are going?” shouted back Eddy spitting out water.

“Maybe,” Shouted Zeek, “There should be a large junction area down here somewhere, once we…”

Zeek’s enhanced vision Goggles revealed ahead the distinct pattern of water dropping over an edge, and the end of the tunnel.

“MILO HOLD ON!” was all Zeek had time to shout as the raft and its passengers were hurled over a torrent of falling water and dropped almost fifteen feet into more water.

Zeek emerged first and instantly started calling out for his younger brother. Eddy splashed above the water gasping for breathe and to Zeeks relief Eddy had Milo safely by his side. Surprisingly the raft was still in one piece and Zeek grabbed its side pulling it toward the other boys.

“Are you guys ok,” asked Zeek pulling his brother into a hug, “Soz, was not expecting that drop, i think we are at the central sewer hub or sumfin.”

Eddy looked around to see where they now were. It seemed like a large domed concrete chamber with multiple funnels of water cascading into a vast underground lake. Various strips of neon yellow lighting marked the walls with icons depicting various hazards that Eddy could not figure out the meaning of.

“So like this is under the city?” Asked Eddy trying to wade in the water while wiping his dark hair out of his eyes.

“Yes i think so,” replied Zeek, “This whole underground system is all to do with waist disposal and recycling.”

Zeek helped his brother back onto the raft then swam around behind it to push. His feet could just touch the bottom of the lake and was able to use it to push the raft towards a large archway that lead to another large tunnel.

“Hey Eddy hop on,” advised Zeek, “That there arch should be the exit towards the Jungle river.”

Milo helped Eddy pull himself up onto the raft as Zeek slowly pushed under the arch way. The water was calm compared to before and as the raft drifted over the water into this new tunnel, the loud crashing of the waterfalls became fainter.

“Erm, bro!,” piped up Milo, “it’s blocked”

“What?” replied Zeek wading around the side of the raft.

In front of the boys was what looked like a dam of rubbish and junk blocking the raft from continuing.

“What the hell?” groaned Zeek pulling the raft to the side of the tunnel.

There was a ledge on either side of the tunnel with just enough space to stand so Zeek pulled himself out of the water and lifted up his goggles. 

“Looks like the Janitor hasn’t been doing his job,” Said Zeek, “All this junk must have been washed down here from above and blocked it up.”

“How are we gonna get passed?” asked Milo.

“hey, i’ll think of sumfin bro,” replied Zeek, “There must be some tools down here somewhere, just need to find the right icons.”

“I think i saw some icons back at the hub place,” offered Eddy, “one of them looked like a wrench.”

“Great lets start there,” smiled Zeek bumping fists with Eddy before offering a hand to pull the younger boy up on the tunnel ledge with him. the two then started off back towards the central sewer hub.

Milo hopped up on the ledge to follow but suddenly stopped as his ears picked up a sound.

“Hey guys, do you hear people?”

Eddy and Zeek turned and looked at Milo then each other. The expression on Eddys face turned from confusion to surprise as he began to hear a faint sound of voices.

“I do Milo,” Said Eddy in in surprise, “do you hear that Zeek?”

Zeek pulled his goggles down to around his neck then wiped his face with his arm before standing up straight to listen. Sure enough Zeek started to hear the voices too, a faint chanting.

“Where is that coming from?” Asked Zeek.

“This way i think,” replied Eddy pushing passed Milo towards the blockage of rubbish and junk.

Once at the blockage Eddy crouched down and started to search for something. The other two boys watched with interest as Eddy pulled away some old boxes and rags to reveal an entrance to some kind of vent about a metre in diameter.

“It’s coming from through here,” Said Eddy looking back towards the other two boys, “come on, lets check it out.”

Zeek walked over to the vent and peered in. Once he was happy it was safe he motioned for his brother to join him. Eddy entered first, followed by Milo with Zeek being the last to enter, all the while the chanting voices grew louder.

The boys bare feet made light padding sounds as the three made their way down the metal vent shaft. It turned two corners before opening out into another chamber but unlike the central sewer hub, this chamber was not full of water. Instead it seemed to be a dumping ground for junk and trash.


Eddy stepped out of the shaft quickly looking around. The chanting echoed around the chamber and was clearly the voices of children. Milo emerged from the shaft quickly followed by Zeek.

“What are they singing?” asked Milo stepping behind his brother for comfort.

“It sounds like ‘Gobble Gobble’,” whispered Eddy glancing at Zeek.

” Gobble you up” said Zeek quietly crouching behind some empty canisters.

“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP”
“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP”
“FEED THE JANITOR, MAKE HIM FULL”
“FEED HIM GOOD, FEED HIM THE FOOL”
“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP”

The three boys looked up at the chamber ceiling. At the centre was a hole with a beam of sun light cascading down.


“Up there,” nodded Zeek, “the singing is coming from above ground.”

At that moment a loud screaming filled the chamber causing Milo to jump with alarm. Eddy watched as a wriggling boy of around eight was lowered through the hole. Rope tied a dozen times around his naked waist keeping his arms tight to his sides leaving his legs free to kick the air around him.

“I dont want to be gobbled up, i dont want to,” shouted the blond curly haired boy, “pull me back up, PLEASE! PLEASE!”

The three boys crouching behind empty barrels amongst junk watched as the dangling boy dropped bit by bit into the centre of the chamber.

“What are they doing to him?” Ask Milo scrunching up his nose in confusion.

“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP”
“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP”
“FEED THE JANITOR, MAKE HIM FULL”
“FEED HIM GOOD, FEED HIM THE FOOL”

“ROOOAAAAARRRRRRWWWWWWWW!!!!”

The boys froze as the deep resounding roar echoed around the chamber. The chanting from above ground stopped and the small boy on the end of the rope became paralysed with fear. Zeek crouched down as much as he could and motioned to Eddy and Milo to do the same.

“Everyone,” he whispered slowly, “everyone be very still and don't make a sound.”

Eddy watched as from beyond a great pile of rubbish appeared the huge familiar shape of a Zoopaloopian but maybe three times the size of Snagtooth. From the boys hiding position the great monster was silhouetted against the sunlight poring in through he ceiling hole. The dark shape sniffed the air and quickly picked up the sent of the boy dangling from the rope and snapped its head quickly in that direction.

“It’s the Janitor,” whispered Zeek under his breath as quiet as he could.

The boy on the rope suddenly started to struggle again in realisation of the monsters interest. He kicked his legs and wriggled his toes in the vein hope that he would somehow magically break loose of the ropes like a superhero. Meanwhile the Janitor moved slowly forward into the light to reveal a wide fierce grin dripping with saliva.

The Janitor was so much larger than any other Zoopaloopian. Its fur was a dirty yellowish green with a tiger like pattern of orange markings. Its bottom jaw was also orange and the fur around the mouth was matted and stained.

Eddy noticed other differences between the Janitor and Snagtooth. For instance the Janitors paws were much larger proportioned and shaped like big shovels presumably for scraping up the junk and cleaning out the sewers. Its eyes looked like large built in circular goggles.

The Janitor moved closer and lifted it’s head up at the dangling naked boy nudging the boys feet with its large snout. The sniffling scared boy tried to pull his legs away only for the monster to move and bump the boys behind causing the child to swing and spin on the rope.

Eddy had seen this before, the Zoopaloopians often would be gentle to bring their prey to a false sense of security before pouncing, and here Eddy waited for that pounce.

“GOBBLE GOBBLE, GOBBLE YOU UP” The chanting started again from who ever was above ground suspending the poor boy on the rope.

The Janitor roared and opened its gigantic jaw to reveal another feature, that of a long tongue with what appeared to be a three pronged claw. the tongue in no time at all had wrapped around one of the boys bare legs and snaked up between the ropes around the boys waist and chest. With a tug the Janitor pulled the boys wriggling feet into its salivating mouth. The rope stretched briefly before falling loose as who ever was holding the rope at the other end must have released their grip. The Janitors long claw tongue wasted no time in unwrapping the rope from the young boy who struggled to hold onto the monsters snout.

“Please don’t eat me, PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!” screamed the boy before the Janitor flicked its head up opening its jaw wide as the boy was thrown into the air.

To the blond curly haired boy it was as if time had slowed to a crawl, reaching out his thin arms and kicking his scrawny legs. As he started to fall back towards the open jaw the boys body turned and twisted leaving him to face the large gaping maw head first.

Eddy watched as the small boy dropped into the mouth which clamped shut over the still wriggling body leaving the lower half of his body to stick out through the furry saliva dripping lips kicking with urgency. With a slight move of its jaw and a quick snapping sound the legs dropped still before being sucked into the janitors mouth like noodles.

“YEAAHHYYY!!!!” came the cries of excited from above ground as the Janitor growled below.

“Did those kids above just feed a boy to that Zoopaloopa?” Asked Eddy.

“It’s getting mental up there,” replied Zeek quietly as possible, “the quicker we get to PortZoopa the better, come on lets git”

The boys started to move back towards the vent shaft.

CLANG!

Eddy and Zeek both quickly turned to find Milo had tripped against a large stack of empty metal containers.

“Sorry,” he said laying very still, his big eyes wide and alert, “do yu think it heard?”

Eddy and Zeek watched as the stack of containers started to gently lean over picking up speed before turning into a loud crashing pile of tumbling junk and dust.

CRASSHHHHH!!!!

“Erm… Do you think it heard that?,” asked Milo scrambling to his feet.

ROAARRWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

“Does that answer your question?,” shouted Zeek, “MOVE YOU ASS NOW, NOW! ”

To be continued...

note: there could be a couple of weeks before the next chapter as i've caught up with what was previously written.