Summer Fun

The summer sun shined down through the maples and cast their shadows on the meadows. The Newearls, all assembled for once, splayed around the side yard of their mansion. Drake, manning the grill and cooking some hamburgers with Sara sitting at a small bistro table reading a magazine. Jon and Amy sat at a small table, cards in the both hands.

“Is he going to come or what?” Amy said her leg impatiently bouncing under the table causing her whole body to bob up and down.

Jon leaned forward over his hand and shuffled his cards nervously “I invited him, I don’t know, maybe he just isn’t into this sort of stuff. Go fish.”

“We are playing poker”

The sun dipped behind a cloud and it became darker. Much to dark for such an event. A low rumbling sound came from the earth and out struck a slate of pure black. The shadow rose fifteen feet in the air and spread out. From the dark soft material which ate light, doors materialized and became a solid structure. They threw themselves open and he stepped out.

Jerico dressed in his typical long red jacket and black uniform underneath. His white hair was tied behind his neck then spilled down all the way to behind his knees. Behind him through the door arms sprawled out in all directions. One carried a large ornate suit case which it set next to him. The arm then patted him on the head and retreated back into the doors which slammed shut and plummeted into the ground.

The sun came back from behind its clouded shelter.

“What an entrance” Amy scoffed.

Jon stood up and moved towards his brother. Mutual ground was a new experience for both of them and he felt nervous approaching so unguarded.

“Glad you could make it”

“Yes, I thought it might be time for a vacation of sorts. I was able to find some time in my schedule to relax” Jerico said

Drake gave him and waved and behind Sara’s magazine she gave a quick nod.

Jon wrapped his arm around jericos neck and jerked him towards the table where they were playing cards “I have a card game to teach you, It’s called ‘Go Fish’”

“It’s poker!” Amy shot at him.

“Poker”

“You know I am ruler of basically hell, gambling is rife, I know how to play poker” Jerico said.

“Amy will you get your brother, dinner will be ready pretty soon” her dad said.

Amy groaned “Where is he?”

“I think I saw him getting carried away be some ghosts or something” Sara flipped a page in her magazine. “Or maybe it was skeletons, something supernatural”

Amy let out another groan and looked out through the trees and meadows towards the south.

“Should we be worried?” Jon looked south with Amy.

“Who knows, come on, you too Jerico, I think I know where he might be.”

The three of them left the Newearl manor which sat in the head of the dolphin and traveled south to the center of the island. They past through glades and large maples. Calm streams twisted and turned leading to large lakes of crystal blue water which glistened in the sun. Soon though the sky grew gray and overcast. The trees started to lose their leaves and instead of reaching towards the sky they twisted in all directions. The landscape turned from lively forests to skeleton trees, rolling knolls of tombstones, spiked fences, haunted houses and mausoleums. Jack O’lanterns started to pop up here and there on top fences and graves. Their faces flickered wide jagged grins.

Jerico stopped at the top of the hill and looked towards the mountains they were heading towards. Large brown Jack O’Lanterns smiled back at him from the base.

“What is this place? This island has very unique properties” he said and looked back from where they came from.

“My mom found it, she seems to find all sorts of odd stuff. The mist surrounding the island is some sort of barrier, repels people, but it let my mom through. The whole place is like some magical island of mystery. The rules don’t make sense and it limits your abilities.”

Jon stopped “What do you mean?”

Amy looked back at them “Try flying”

Jon hopped high in the air, but he could not sustain it and fell back down.

“See, don’t you think we would of just flown here instead?”

“I take the carriage around the demon world, portals get boring, also I don’t want to see everyone instantly”

“Good point, I thought we were have like a bonding walk or something” Jon broke out into a smile

“Okay, well, this island is odd, just know that it is a unique space, not everything you can do other places you can do here. Be careful. Come on, we still need to walk back after we get him”

As they continued towards the mountain the graves and hills slopped down into a town of broken down buildings themed in vicorian. Orange, brown, purple, and black paint made a mixture of haunting overtones.

As they approached the town of broken Victorian streets they saw white shapes floating around. They were pure white, but slightly translucent with two black ovals imprinted that floated inside them.

“Hey you!” Amy called and pointed to the ghost in the middle of the street.

“Wh-wh-who me?” The white cloud jolted in place.

“Yeah you, what’s your name?”

“Ja-ja - Jackal”

“Jackal have you seen a boy with pointy ears” she pointed to her own “get carried through here?”

The ghosts eyes searched in its fog then rotated to look behind it then back at Amy “Yes, they took him to the top of one of the hills”

Amy waved Jackal a thanks and the three of them continued on through the town. It soon sloped down to train tracks and chain linked fences that surround a large chasms that stretched on for miles. Raising out from the darkness, stone pillars shot up into the sky. The brownish black Krag held haunted mansions, trains that went in and out of the mountains with ghost following close behind and tombstones that followed the same scheme as the town. On top of some of the pillars rested large balls of jagged stone that had been carved into faces of jagged grins and frowns adorned with candy corn shaped eyes.

Great stone Jack O’ Lanterns that lit by some mysterious energy projected ghostly light form their faces. The pumpkin hills.

“Great, how the hell are we supposed to get up there?” Amy let out a heavy sigh then turned to ask Jon and Jerico. Off to the right was small train that held its own grin made out of steel. Jon sat in one the cars, which was to small, with his knees tucked under his chin, while Jerico sat two cars behind him leaning back and stretching his legs to rest on the car between them.

“All aboard” Jon called over to her.

Jackal the ghost came floating down the hill “I-I-I can help you” he floated to the conductor spot on the train which fit him perfectly “One moment” Jackals black eyes closed into a slits and then opened with a spark. A black conductors hat poofed into existence atop of his head “R-Ready!”

“The conductor has arrived, lead us to victory” Jerico smiled “Hop on Amy”

Amy moved to the car behind the conductor and laid her self across the car, her legs hanging out the left side, her arms hugging the bar that lead to the small roofon the right. “Just take it easy”

The tiny train gave a whistle and steam bellowed out of the front boiler then slowly moved forward towards the cliff edge.

“Please work” Amy crossed her fingers as the train slid off the side of the cliff and started to descend. Slowly at first then faster as it seemed to free fall.

“Jackal!” Amy screamed “What the f-“

The train jack knifed up and towards the sky sending them holding onto the tiny cars as they ascended.

They passed a couple of platforms that held small grave sights and some odd looking buildings, past a few stone pumpkins that were lower and kept climbing till they reached the highest pumpkin that was close to them. It was larger then the others and the top of it was multi tiered with ramps leading to an apex. Jackal guided the train to the lower level that had the most space and aligned the train with a small track that started at the cliff and half mooned to the other cliff edge.

“H-here we are” the ghost whistled the train as it came to a stop. The three unstuck themselves from the cars and moved up the winding hill roads to the top of the platform. At the top there were trees that reached their limbs towards the center where an alter that was engraved with smiling pumpkins and dancing skeletons which Newearl was laid upon, his hands bound behind his back. Six ghosts shuffled back and forth around him in a sort of dance.

“This doesn’t look good” Jon said as they approached.

“Hey” Amy shouted. The ghosts all turned to look at them with their smoke eyes. “Get away from him”

“Oh thank goodness” Newearl said shuffling to face them

The ghosts moved to form a line infront of the alter. Newearl was blanketed in a haze.

The middle ghost spoke up “This alive being was caught desecrating one of our graves”

“Absolutely shameful!” A ghost in the line up cried.

Amy put her fingers to her forehead and rubbed “what did he do now?”

Newearl shuffled towards the end of the alter “I wanted to find out more about the grave so I was cleaning it to read the inscription better, then these dudes show up out of no where and attack me”

“See! Desecrating” The ghosts bobbed up down.

Amy stepped up to the line and hit the middle ghost where its nose would be. Its smoke eyes turned to x’s and it bounced back past the alter. The other ghosts, shocked at the ability to effected by something alive started in all directions and panic ensued.

“Look, I am sorry he cleaned your grave, but you can’t do “she waved towards the alter “what ever this is to him, I’m taking him back with me” Amy uncut Newearls wrist.

“B-but someone has to atone” The ghost that was struck cautiously glided towards them.

Amy thought for a moment. “Okay, okay ,you know where the mansion on the north side of the island is? You can get there right?”

“Of course,we ghosts can go anywhere”

“Right…. Well we are having a cook out, come on over, we will get you something “ she motioned over to Jackal and whispered “what do ghosts eat? Absorb ? Consume? Besides souls”

“We ghosts loves a good bonemeal”

“We will have some bonemeal for you” Amy announced confidently.

The ghosts stretched in delight and swarmed all over.

“Okay, see you there” Amy and the rest descended back down to the train.

“Where are we going to get bonemeal form” Jon said

“I don’t know we will dig up some grave on our way back and grind up the bones” Amy flopped back on the train.

“That sounds way worse then what Newearl did, that is actually desecrating a grave” Jerico lay back in his train car. Newearl agreed and sat on a large coffin shaped platform on the back of the train.

“Well, sometimes you gotta do these things” Amy waved at them.

“A-actually, we can get some in the store in town b-b-before we go back”

“Perfect, see these things always work out” Amy thumbs up to them.

Sara flipped another page of her magazine while drake sat at the table writing something down in a notebook.

“You think they are okay?” Drake crossed something off in the notebook.

Sara glanced up form her book “Yeah, it looks like they are fine”

Drake glanced up at the sky where he could see a small train floating towards their clearing. Surrounding them was an entourage of small puffs of white. Amy waved from the train and as it got closed to the ground hopped off.

“Hope you don’t mind we have some extra guests”

Sara grinned and put her magazine down “Not at all”

The cookout was filled with tales of the beyond, cheers for fallen comrades, and catching up on each others lives. The ghosts recalled their past lives and what they did sometimes on the island while enjoying their bonemeal, while Drake and Sara extended their yard to be haunted.

Soon the games resumed which found Amy, Jon and Jerico back at the table. Cards in hands.

Amy held her cards close “I’m calling you”

Jon threw down his cards “Go fish”

Amy and Jerico leaned forward.

“That’s a royal flush!” Amy threw her cards down”

Jerico rested rubbed his face with one hand “You have won the last three games. And it’s Poker!”


It’s my birthday! I wanted to write a bit of a silly story with some of my characters. They rarely ever get to hang out together and this ‘summer’ time was meant for a breathing period for all of them. I will run over some of the Charactrs.

Amy Newearl - Her first nameis based on Amy Rose from Sonic and was my first Phantasy Star Character. Her parents are Drake and Sara, while here brother is Newearl (get to him in a minute) She has been featured in my Holiday town stories having a good time.

Jonathan - His name is based on my name as well as Jonathan Joestar from JoJo Bizare adventure. I thought it was cool that a main character in a Japanese manga could have my first name, so why not make a character of mine have my name as well. His brother is Jerico.

Jerico - Jons older brother who has a pretty tragic past. I wanted his name to sound biblical and I liked the name of the city Jericho. I actually thought it was spelled Jerico, so I always spelled his name that way, it just stuck.

Newearl - This character is very important to me, which is why he doesn’t have a first name (yet). When I started this whole family back in 4th grade, Newearl was the first character that I ever wrote about. It was Dr.Suess’s birthday and we had to produce our own small storybook. Actually, the Newearl mansion, Drake and Newearl are all in that original story where he and his father are off to get his dreamcast in clockwork city across the bay. That was 24 years ago. There is alot to tell about these characters and while they will make cameos here and there in the tales, there will be a separate project for them.

Story takes place on Ecco Island

You can find Amy out and about in these -
Halloween Town
Christmas Town

Ecco Island

There is a place that lays east of a city of gears of massive proportion. Clockwork City. Sitting on the coast it stretches miles and miles across the sea wall with towering skyscrapers that smile into the endless ocean. Just beyond their vision, shrouded in a mist that seems to hang around, like a curtain that is never pulled, an island wades.

In the shape of a dolphin spinning in the air and named after such a dolphin that might of saved a few planets and times at one point, this island sits alone and undisturbed by the huge mechanized city on the coast.Why? Well it is filled with magic, creatures from beyond and ancient evil. On the other hand the island is self sustaining. Creatures, and things have made it their home and even an eccentric family of powerful mages have built a mansion on the island.

The island is unique, as it’s environment is culmination of many different types that just happened to be smashed into a dolphin shaped space.

In the north and south of the island, the top of the head of the dolphin, and the edge of the tail, are sweeping golden sand beaches surrounded by dense tropical forest. Waterfalls, large plants, twisting trees and rocks build out the forest. There are many deadly creatures in these regions, but some paths have been cleared by the natives to reach the paradise that sits just beyond. It seems as the tropics are connected to the beaches, as they reach inland, the tropical forests thin out out more and more until there is no trace, but a far away shadow of the massive trees and dense vines. The smell of thick water on the nose.

As you head east down the dolphins head you will find sprawling meadows, large maples, and grassy knolls. A paradise of small woodland creatures and gentle streams that fill the ears with a quiet appreciation for the little things. This is where the Newearls, the mages, have built their mansion. In a cove surrounded by knolls and a maple forest lay their massive establishment. It has a small road that leads between two knolls and into the meadow. The Newearls, being sort of seekers of chaotic land and magic, the ones that push the envelope on magic and maybe sanity, sought the island through feeling. When they emerged through the thick mist on their boat, the island welcomed them as explorers of the edge of magical wills and let them onto the island. While ships and sailors, pilots and inter dimensional travelers would get lost in the thick mist, the Newearls knew the island would not reject them as it called from Clockwork city to them.

While they enjoyed some time as a family when their kids were young, tragedy and opportunity struck. It became a summer home after a while. A vacation spot from the world.

As you head south to the middle of the dolphin the mood and atmosphere take a creepy turn. A landscape of rolling hills of pumpkin fields, graveyards and trees stuck in perpetual skeleton states, this area is permanently in autumn. The sky even turns a orangish black at night and during the day, the sun always has a tinge of darkness to it. Going past the fields the land starts to slope and large haunted mansion spring up and towns littered with broken lights and doors hanging off the hinges. The ground opens up into free fall. Leading to an abyss that has yet to be explored. Reaching out of the abyss are great jack-o-lanterns made out of darken brown rock. Decrepit-ed mansions and ghostly trains make their towns on these giant towering glowing pillars of Halloween. Whispers, screams, terror and fright. All wrapped into a physical location scorched in candy corn, the sweet smell of leaves, cinnamon and pumpkin.

Climbing out of the carnival of thrills and chills one would continue south to the tail of the dolphin which curved towards it’s head. Before hitting the tropical jungles of the coast and sandy beaches, a denser more ancient forest exists. Like an ancient amazon that had been growing for millions of years and another million on top of that, with large stone aqueducts that shuttled water to hanging stone gardens and remnants of monuments to unknown gods. This area guarded by dense jungle holds Aztec stone monoliths with the mindset of the Greeks. If one could reach the inner sanctum of these overgrown palaces, still ponds of crystal clear water would await. Shining they would sing to the viewer a calming song of tranquility. When the sun was shining it would illuminate the insides of these forgotten chapels of the old. Revealing stories older then time inscribed on the walls.

This is Ecco Island. A place filled with wonder and magic. Always looking to surprise the visitors with new landmarks and strange attractions that have yet to be unveiled. If you see the mist out at sea, while the clocks tick loudly in the background, wonder if the island is beckoning, if it would let you cross the barrier to it’s magic.

-

Ecco island is a remnet of my past. When I was in 4th Grade a certain video game came out. Phantasy Star Online. This game changed the course of my life in many ways. It gave me the Newearls, the magic family, and it inspired my whole imagination. It still does.

My teacher at the time had us write our own story for Dr.Suess birthday. We had to make the whole book and everything. My story was actually about the son of the Newearls getting his Dreamcast. But the place that they lived, was Ecco island. I continued building their stories through out my life. Amy Newearl, who was in the Christmas Town story, is the main character of the stories. She looks basically like the stock FoNewearl from the game(which turned out to be unique online, as everyone customized the character haha).

Ecco Island is named after Ecco the Dolphin. I had beat the Sega Gensis game, which was stupid hard, and loved the really odd nature of it all. Also I really love dolphins.

We will revisit some of these characters in the future.