When I was little, I would always plead with Professor Wave to take me on his research expeditions. Every few months or so, he would embark on trips to the more remote spots of Punny Garden to search for new plant and animal life. On my birthday, he said he would take me on one of his expeditions. When he told me the fabulous news, I jumped around the room in pure and utter joy. It was the most exciting thing ever – but little did I know, this would lead me straight off of a cliff into free fall from one of the highest mountains in Punny Garden!
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” I screamed, as the frigid air swallowed up my cries. I flailed my arms around wildly as I fell through the purple clouds, my eyes wide open on the lookout for one specific plant. Then – there it was! A Turmeric Sky Spore, with its neon yellow petals floating peacefully in the breeze. It kind of resembles regular dandelions, but they’re GINORMOUS – over 10 feet tall each! These spores could only be found in a tiny remote airspace atop Cedarstole Mountain, or that the only way to get one would be to catch them in midair. They literally are just born in midair and spend their entire lifetime floating about the mountain ranges. Legend has it that if enough spores come together that a sky land can be formed among the clouds.
With all my might, I scrambled in the air towards the giant Turmeric Sky Spore and quickly grabbed it. My descent drastically slowed down which lead me to grab another Turmeric Sky Spore that was nearby just to ensure that I would have a better chance of slowing my fall. My heart was pounding like crazy as the cold wind continued to slap my face like a Lemon Kangaroo! I can only imagine what Figaro would say if he ever fell off a mountain with me. He’s cozy in his bed right about now after rejecting going on this far off adventure with us. (unbeknownst to me at the time, Figaro was actually off on an important mission himself to solve one of the greatest mysteries that have ever befallen the Punnies.)
“HEYYYY!” Professor Wave’s voice echoed through the air. He and Tomarin (his lab assistant) were both holding on to Turmeric Sky Spores and gliding through the air. “Good that you didn’t have to use the emergency parachute!” he laughed. “These spores will do just as well, and they are so much more colorful too,” said the Professor as he pointed to the spores I was holding. I didn’t realize it earlier, but the spore started to change colors as they are known to do when they are taken a hold of. Mine started as neon yellow, but soon changed to neon blue!
After we landed (I crash-landed), Wave took samples from each of our spores and carefully stored them away into his assortment of containers. He was especially interested in the ones I was holding because he’s never seen them grow so big before nor has he seen them change to more than one color. My spores changed from yellow to blue and then to orange and finally to green neon colors. He told me for an absolute beginner, I did an exceptionally excellent job of spore-diving. He truly thought this trip would scare me into never asking to go to dangerous places again, but you can probably predict that I would always take every opportunity to do so in the future.