Sorry for the delay, but this is more than twice as long as some ot the other episodes...and with moving into college, I got a tad delayed...

Children from all over the internets, gather 'round and let me tell you a tale. It is a tale of grand proportions, a tale upon an epic scale, a tale so amazing that few can read it without being physically AND emotionally moved. It is a tale of a young lad, a lad named Keith.
This young lad had a very peculiar problem - he was love struck. He had eyes for one and no other, and he believed whole heartedly that they were meant for each other. However, it seemed, at least to him, that the universe was dead-set on preventing him from being with his love. This is not his story, but rather the story of "The Three Little Pigs" with Keith superimposed upon the main character!
Just kidding.
Here we go.

"...and I said 'Calculator? I don't even know her!' Hahaha."
Derrek broke out into laughter. "Ben, that's your best joke yet!"
Keith rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Don't do that Keith," Ben said. "You know that joke never gets old."
"Yeah," he responded, "what's already ancient has a really hard time 'getting old'."
"Hey, don't dis Ben's humor. He's hilarious!"
"Well, you seem to have the monsters convinced your funny," Keith said, shooting look at Derrek, "but you don't have me convinced."
"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Ben responded. "Seems odd, don't you think?"
"Maybe us monsters just have more sophisticated humor," retorted Derrek, as if he had taken offence to the previous comments.
"Yeah, that's it..." Keith said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Hey Ben," Keith said, changing the subject, "isn't it time a new character was introduced?"
"What do you mean," Derrek questioned.
"Well Kermit, in the last three episodes, we've met new characters after the opening. First was the creature attacking Ben's house, then Lance's dad, then you. So now is around the time a new character should be introduced, right Ben?"

"Actually Keith," Ben said, "I had heard that the author wants this to be a flashback episode..."
"A what?" asked Derrek.
"A flashback episode," Ben began, "is where a new character asks main characters about something important in the past that hasn't been explained yet. It is normally used so that the author can tell about past events not yet explained, yet not actually have to make it a previous episode or rewind time to show the important events."

"Wow!"
"Yeah, really useful. It also helps shed some light onto situations from the past or foreshadow future events that may be similar."
"That sounds awesome."
"It may be," Keith butted in, "but do you know what this means?"
"What does it mean?" Derrek asked.
"It means that you have to ask us a question Kermit."
"Keith, stop calling him Kermit!"
"I will stop when he stops singing 'It's not easy being green'!"
"Umm...so...how did you guys get your wings?" Derrek asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Now that is an interesting story," Keith commenced, "one that requires me to quit using quotation marks for a while and one that will probably make this one of the longest episodes ever. Let's begin.

It was actually an amazing coincidence that we met in Florida. Ben was in Orlando with his family at a timeshare and I had won a programming contest that (for some odd reason) included a trip to Orlando. We just happened to meet at SeaWorld (hahaha, SeaWorld), and ended up just chatting and catching up. We were about to go our separate ways when there was a rather large explosion. At first, I thought it was one of the attractions, but then there was a second, larger explosion that seemed much closer.
"I haven't been to SeaWorld in a while," Ben said, "but I am pretty sure they didn't actually have explosions as an attraction."
"We could investigate," I suggested. "It beats just sitting here doing nothing."
"You've got a point."

We set off toward the explosions as a couple more happened before our eyes, closer and closer to us. We eventually ended up face to foot with a huge creature. We almost reached its kneecap. It then backed up and leaned down so we were actually face to face, then roared at us with so much force and ferocity that it knocked me into Ben, who in turn fell over. The beast then reached for us with a giant hand when a voice in my head started whispering the word "fly." Now, I had stopped hearing voices in my head years ago, so this came to a surprise. It was even more a surprise because the voices in my head from the past had told me things that I actually could do, while this new voice was telling me to do impossible things.

That's when I felt a weird pressure on my back, as if something was growing out of my back. I stood up (and then noticed that Ben was no longer beneath me, and there was a hole where he had been. I later realized that the monster had stopped reaching for me also, but back to the story) and found something sprouting from my back. It turned out to be wings, wings made of glorious golden Twinkies. I took flight, and then noticed that the monster was fighting with something else - a manatee that had somehow gotten out of its enclosure.

As I pondered this oddity, I noticed some dirt being moved on the ground behind the creature, and from it sprung Ben with shiny silver wings and what looked to be some sort of drill. He then took flight and I noticed two things: that the "drill" was actually two swords he had been using do dig, and that his wings were made up of swords. There was every single kind of sword that I had ever seen, and many that I had never seen. I was amazed, needless to say. He then flew above the creature and threw his two swords into the creature's eyes. The manatee then jumped ("How does a manatee jump?" asked Derrek. "I don't freaking know," Ben answered. "It just did, now let him finish!") into the air and landed on the swords, stabbing them deeper into the creature's eyes. The creature wailed in pain and fell over backward, onto another enclosure. The three of us landed and the manatee looked at us. It spoke to us telepathically.

"I cannot believe it, the angels have finally arrived. Quickly, follow me to the manatee enclosure, all will be explained there."
I looked at Ben, and he shrugged back at me, and then began following the manatee.
* * *
At the manatee enclosure, we were amazed to see the manatees out of the water and waddling around on the land ("Though, considering what we just fought," Ben interjected, "it wasn't as farfetched or amazing as it could've been"). When we entered, they all began telepathically communicating with us and each other. It was as if we were all in one large chat room (one that was surrounded by water and reeked of rotten fish and who knows what else).

"Welcome strangers, welcome to our home," one said. It was almost impossible to tell which one spoke at first, but they all had different tones that helped differentiate between them.
"We would like to thank you," said another, "for helping us defeat the troll attacking our home."
"Not a problem," I said.
"On the contrary," said a third, the one who had shown us to their abode, "we owe you greatly for it, for this is sacred ground."
"Okay," said Ben, "Now you've lost me. You mean to tell me that, not only are there telekinetic manatees at SeaWorld in Orlando, but SeaWorld itself is holy ground?"
"Yes," said the same manatee. "In fact, we only have our powers because we live here, and you only have awakened your powers because you came here..."
"Now, which one of you is Keith?" The voice was that of an older looking manatee, who the others all made way for. It seemed as if he was their elder.
"That would be me," I said.
"Ah...you're shorter than I expected..." he responded. "No, I am kidding. I had heard you humans enjoyed comedy, so I attempted a joke. However, I'm a tad rusty..."
"It's ok," I said. "Your joke was better than all of his (I pointed at Ben) jokes combined."

"Ah, well, that's good...I suppose," he responded. He waddled closer to us, and then looked at each of us for a couple of seconds. He turned to Ben. "You must be Ben. Many say that they are a lover, not a fighter, or vice versa. You will have to be both in order to keep your young friend here in line...for he is to lead the fight against the monstrosities and save the world!"
"Whoa whoa WHOA!" I shouted. "Hold up for a second. You mean I have to save the world?"

"Well, not alone." The elder manatee started waddling toward the back of the room, and it seemed as if the walls were shifting. Soon, we could see what was happening - the walls were rising, and what was hidden underwater was becoming apparent. It seemed like some giant rock, you know, like every single prophecy on every half-decent fantasy series is written on. ("Wait," Derrek interrupted. "What about Harry Potter?" "The man said half-decent series," Ben responded, "not works of crap.") "It is said," continued the elder manatee, "that you will lead a revolution of sorts. There are a multitude of mythical creatures beginning to invade our world. We can no longer keep our ancient secrets secret..."

The elder was now by the stone, which was still rising. The one who had led us there began speaking again. "I told you both to stretch your wings and fly, and you both did. Do you have any idea what this means?"
"That I have to stop taking LSD when I get to Orlando?" Ben said.
"See," I said, "this is what I mean by horrible jokes. And I have to deal with him for even longer now?"

"What it means," said the elder, ignoring both of their comments, "is that you are also mythical creatures, but you are special mythical creatures. You are the angels."
The stone seemed completely revealed now, and it was a tad difficult to see, due to the dark room we were in. However, the elder was nice enough to sum it up for us. "It was predicted long ago that, at some point, evil creatures that only existed in legends and imaginations would begin to rise from the fictional as a part of a plot to rule the universe."
"Wait...how does that work?" Ben said, skeptical as usual ("And for good reason," Ben said. "Would you have believed it?" "I did, partially because we were talking with manatees!" responded Keith.)

"I am not quite sure," said the elder manatee. "This room isn't really that light, and it's even darker underwater where the stone normally lies. Therefore, we have never gotten that good a look at it..."
"If any of you have a flashlight," said the first manatee who had spoken to us, "we would be most appreciative."
"Just a sec," Ben said, "I always carry a flashlight."
"Ben," I looked at him, "now isn't the time for sarcasm or bad jokes."
To my amazement, Ben actually pulled out a flashlight. (Ben pulled out the flashlight and showed it to Derrek. "I never leave home without it.") "Here you go. Do you just want me to shine it on the stone?"
"Yes, that would be helpful," said the manatee who had led us in. Ben shined his flashlight on the stone and we all got a good look at the stone. This soon became problematic, because it was written in an ancient language that neither of us understood.
"Please," I said, "tell me you know what it means."

"Well," the elder began, "I have no clue what the words say. I cannot read that language. However, I clearly see the name Keith and a drawing of a man with golden wings, and on his right side, I see another with steely wings, and he appears to be named Ben. Hmmm...."
"We cannot read most of it...our dictionary for this language got wet because we were always using it underwater and we can't read the pages," the manatee who led us in told us. We have some translations over there, but they basically say what we told you."
The elder waved at the section he was at. "This section shows the angels, but it is all covered in algae. There is room for countless numbers of angels, not just you two. Keith, as the protector of the world from this horrendous plot that the author hasn't figured out quite yet...I mean from the evil that is beginning to manifest itself, it is your job to find the other angels and bring them here. Some may already have their wings, if they have visited Orlando recently."

"Or any SeaWorld really, it doesn't matter," said another manatee.
"Anyway," the elder continued, "you must find the other angels, and come back here. Hopefully we will have found another dictionary or at least cleared off some of this algae."
"Ok...we'll be going now..." I said, beginning to understand Ben's skepticism.
"Wait," said the manatee who led us here. "There is one more thing you should know. The only other part we've cleared off says that you will also be fighting to rescue your true love, and along the way, Ben will find his."
"That's enough motivation for me," said Ben cheerily, as if he now believed what they said to be true.

"Okay, I guess we'll give it a shot. We'll head back home, and then when something happens, we'll work our way back here. That will give us more time to search for the angels, and give you more time to get your prophecy straight!" I was really annoyed, but we had to believe them. There was no other way to explain the wings, the telepathy and the troll that had attacked us ("Since he already debunked my drug trip theory.") so we had to believe them. We left SeaWorld and headed on the first plane back home, but it was too late. When we got back, our school had been destroyed, and our teachers and certain students, like my true love, were nowhere to be seen. I stayed at Ben's house, then a few days later we were attacked.

"You can stop right there," Ben said. "If Derrek wants to know the rest, he can read the first three episodes."
"You have a point there," Keith said. "Besides, talking in the first person is such a pain. I bet it annoys many writers."
"Actually, I'm sure many prefer it," responded Derrek. "Not a lot of them, but still enough for it to be worth noticing."
"Point taken," Keith said. "So, to Orlando?"
"Sounds good to me..." Ben said.

TO BE CONTINUED...