Always Be Together

                                Always Be Together

By the time, Baron Dante and his subordinates seized control of Gobbo Valley and cast a powerful, dark spell on the creatures, turning the ducks, ladybirds, lizards, fishes, mountain goats and the rest to merciless monsters whilst the baddies made short work of the Gobbos, stashing them in smash boxes and locking them up in unbreakable cages (so if he had the desire to taunt, pick on someone or laugh at someone’s expense, any of the fuzz balls will be victims), Croc and Beany the Bird fled to a secluded place that is far-off in the Gobbo Archipelago.

They took shelter on an unknown, unidentified isle but unlike the other islets, it didn’t contain much greenery and other things such as sand, a rough, earthy ground etc. that anyone can spot. All it possesses is a tall, towering tree and a floor that hardly boasts any space. Staying here is like being exiled from their homeland but due to the circumstances that ensued at Forest Island, they didn’t have a choice.  

Croc is described as a green, adorable crocodile who is four feet high, has a pair of cute, buggy and beady eyes, a long snout, two tiny nostrils and one fang that protrudes from the left-hand side of his mouth. In addition, he has a yellow-coloured stomach, a short green tail, short arms, four fingered hands and large, three clawed feet. Finally, he wears a brown backpack for his inventory. Plus, he is well-mannered, kind-hearted, friendly, easy-going, a vegetarian reptile who loves peas, open-minded and an all-around nice guy to befriend with.

His main teammate, Beany the Bird, is a petite, enchanted yellow bird with black wings, a pair of large, buggy eyes, an orange, triangular-shaped beak and small, black talons. They met when King Rufus’ tail collided with the gong to summon her in order to take him away when the evil magician launched an assault on Volcano Island.  

The sky is painted in a mixture of different shades of oranges, yellows and reds which make up the main colours of the sunset. In the distance, a couple of islands can be seen in the horizon but looking from the remote area he is at, they appeared to be black silhouettes sitting next to each other in a row.  At the centre of the inaccessible islands is a colossal ball of blinding light everyone calls the sun. Although, the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful to take in, it didn’t perk his spirits up.

He couldn’t help himself but shed some tears and become emotional since the whole incident overwhelmed him. What’s more, he doesn’t know which is worse: dreading that his brethren were at the mercy of the nefarious sorcerer and his underlings, not being able to reach them in time if they passed away of starvation or him taking their happy-go-lucky, carefree lives or never seeing them again for weeks or even, months.  

Croc couldn’t bear to imagine what would have happened to the peace-loving Gobbos while he and Beany the Bird were absent, whether the wicked Baron Dante inflicted harm to them, brutally bullied them to his heart’s content or left them to rot in their prisons forever. Ever since this harrowing experience, the crusading crocodile became more alone than ever before and it reminded him of feeling out of place in the Gobbo Valley when he accidentally knocks over pint-sized, makeshift homes and wreck through buildings while he walked innocently. Things worsened for him when a game of pattycake with the Gobbos led to multiple contusions and injuries. He couldn’t help but recalling that previous incident and what happened now.

To top it all off, he is confused and unsure of what to do in times of unhappiness and in a dire predicament like this since his archenemy had the upper hand for the time being.

What can I do against that big brute? Isn’t there something that I can do? Why is he doing this all of a sudden? We didn’t do anything to him, is he doing this for the sake of fun for himself? Does he have something against us? I miss my pals so much! I hope they are all right wherever they are. A large number of questions and personal thoughts were plaguing his mind as he mulled over the current situation that he and his partner were stuck in. If only he can turn the tables on the sinful wizard and turn this around, not to mention getting things back to the way they were.

“What seems to be the matter, Croc?” Beany asked, perching herself on Croc’s left shoulder at the same time as she fixed her eyes on him.

All she received from the crocodile youngster is the silent treatment since he is still disheartened and in a complete state of tears. Noticing that her chum is teary-eyed and clearly in no state to have a conversation, Beany rose up from her position and fluttered around until she eventually made her way to him and floated in front of his face.

“I know that dark times are upon us, just know that we’ll be reunited with the Gobbos very soon. Straighten yourself up, stay strong and I assure you that we’ll prevail no matter what.” Beany the Bird kindly placed one of her black wings on one of the green protagonist’s shoulders whilst her other wing rested underneath his chin in an attempt to lift his face upwards so it is facing her. “I have a feeling that you’re still missing them and vise versa but the quicker we rescue them, the sooner we’ll meet them again.” She carried on whispering to him in an effort to calm him down and to stop him from sobbing. “Just remember that they’re counting on us and we mustn’t let them down.”

With a simple nod and a determined, but slightly feeble, smile across Croc’s bright green, reptilian lips which indicates that he understands his calling and her advice, he wiped away his tears with his left hand and slowly regained his composure.

A lovely, meaningful and heart-warming piece of instrumental music which consisted of piano started to play which lasted for three seconds followed by the first two lines of lyrics which instantaneously commenced.  

Hmm
Yeah, yeah, hmmm,

We are friends for life
Hold that deep inside
Let this be your drive
To survive

And just stand high and tall
Make sure you give your all
And if you ever fall
Know that I’m right here

Croc sniffed as a fresh trickle of water gradually slid down his right cheek from his large, right eye whilst he remembered the carefree days of his childhood in the Gobbo Valley where the small, brown fuzz balls taught him how to walk on his two legs. He recalled them vividly, even if one of his memories contained him being a failure at walking. He continued to cry softly to himself while his memories were flooding into his mind. It is like walking down memory lane without using a time machine.

As a mere baby, he made an effort at taking a small number of steps forward by cautiously moving one leg at a time. With a few childlike, high-pitched grunts, he shifted his left leg, followed by his right leg a couple of times but since stepping is a complicated concept for him, he ended up falling to the floor on his stomach with an “Oof!” while he fixed his innocent, adorable eyes to the centre as if he is staring at an invisible screen or camera.

King Rufus watched in disbelief before tapping his miniscule, right foot, dwelling on what kind of lesson he should teach Croc next. Although, he knew that in time, his adoptive offspring will perfect his abilities, his balance and walking eventually. Before his reminiscences could continue any further, he felt like he can easily hear the voice of his female comrade, which effectively interrupted his daydream trance. During the flashback to his babyhood, he barely noticed his comrade hovering on the spot in front of him.

“Croc, please snap out of this!” Beany the Bird exclaimed, grabbing him by the straps of his brown backpack and shook him violently with all the strength she had within her. For a miniature bird who is smaller than he is, she had a quite powerful grip. Once she finished shaking the living daylights out of him, she loosened her grip on him when she is no longer clutching him with her talons. “We must focus on the mission at hand! The Gobbos can’t rescue themselves!”

Her voice immediately brought him back to his senses that caused him to return to reality.    

We’ll always be together
Don’t you worry, whoa whoa
I’ll always be by your side
Don't you worry
Don’t worry, no no no

“Don’t be sad, rest assured that we’ll get through this together. Don’t let Baron Dante and his goons get to you. Currently, they are the ones that stand between us and uniting with our friends again.” She lowered her voice until it is hardly a whisper with the intention of reassuring her discouraged companion as she finished scolding him in a caring, but stern, tone of voice. “Now, let’s set things right and hold on tight!”

And with that, she soared around the soon-to-be defender of Gobbo Valley; sprinkles of white stars were descending on to him from her. Thus, his height decreases drastically in size as he vanishes in a swirl of immeasurable quantity of mystical, kaleidoscopic sparklies or stars when he is levitated into the air.

“Whoaaaaaaa…!!” Croc hollered at the top of his voice, feeling the magic being in full effect to its utmost limit and the adrenaline building up. Actually, this is his usual bellow every time the bird gives him a lift.    

The circle will never end
Just know that we’ll meet again
And we’ll always be together
Forever always, oh
I am here

Countless hours later, Croc is still hanging on for dear life on to Beany the Bird’s talons as they prepare themselves for an inevitable touchdown on their home island, Volcano Island. On a related note, they are drifting in an airborne manner at the base of the gargantuan hill, complete with a stream of lava which is spurting out of an oval-shaped hole that lies at the centre of the hill, a single pointy tree, a layer of vivid, green grass and the grainy, coarse surface of the sand which below the grass.

Even though the atmosphere has the essence of familiarity, nostalgia and tranquillity, there’s an ominous sense of corruptness and disturbance lingering in the air which doesn’t bode well. It is most likely since the entire Gobbo Archipelago is under the sinister wizard’s control and the island is already infested with Dantinis and other menacing monstrosities. Clearly, they could care less about the Gobbos and their needs and they are doing whatever they want, however they please.  

“Well, we’re here back at home… or what’s left of it. I’ll drop you off so you can begin your adventure. You know the drill: traverse through this area, saving all the Gobbos and eliminating your enemies as you go and when you completed all of your tasks, hit the gong with a picture of me on it and I’ll whisk you off to the next place on this island. We’ll keep going until you rescued every last one of them. Good luck!” Beany the Bird instructed, offering the crocodile kid an action plan and an array of tactics as well as reminding him of their main objective and why they set out to carry out this task in the first place.  

When the yellow bird and Croc arrived at Volcano Island, she reduced her altitude bit by bit by the second until it gets to the point where they gently touches down on the ground which welcomes them with open arms. Seeing as he is almost mute, the best he can do to say goodbye is pulling her into a brief warm embrace before he loosened his grip on her. Goodbyes are bittersweet but he knew that he must venture on without her.

Once he bids farewell to his friend, she ascends while progressively picking up speed and took off straight away, allowing him to embark on his first adventure. He lets his eyes wander around his surroundings, absorbing in what to expect from the corrupted Forest Island, how to anticipate anything that waits around the corner and to know what he is up against. To put it bluntly, expect the unexpected because it is better safe than sorry in case his adversaries might plan an ambush, attack him from behind or catch him off guard. For all he knew, nearly everything is there just like he left it, except that there were countless Dantinis roaming around just like they own the place and thirty-six Gobbos were confined in smash boxes, cages, caves and several other jails which were spread throughout this island.

The isle contains mostly of hills and grass, with loads of caves which were jam packed with red-hot, boiling lava. Speaking of lava, they were gushing out of the caves as well, which can be seen often and typically in rivers. Strangely in some parts of the isle, there is the odd waterfall with searing, scorching lava to boot. At the peak of the islet’s biggest hill is a boxing ring. Along with the main island, off the coast of this isle are two hidden islands which can only be accessed after rescuing a particular sum of Gobbos which were secreted on each of these islets is a puzzle piece.

One thing is for sure is this is going to be the start of an epic, thrilling adventure which will span across four worlds (including the mysterious, secret Crystal Island).

Find me in the sky
Dancing with the moon and night
Your heartbeat is disguised as my
Lullaby

Be happy and know that I’m
Watching you travel far and wide
Waiting for us to meet again

Meanwhile, King Rufus sadly gazed up at the clear, dark abyss of the night sky as he clutched on to the cold, iron bars of his cage. In fact, he can easily witness the sky since it is practically hovering above Baron Dante’s castle on his seemingly private island. Day and night after constant torture that the Gobbo monarch received from the Dantinis, he consoled himself that his adoptive son is safely out of Baron Dante’s reach.

He may not be with Croc at the moment but at least he will be by his side in spirit. If only he could break out of those bonds but unfortunately, it is futile to escape from this never-ending living nightmare. For now, the regal Gobbo can only hope for the best.

However, his intuition tells him that the little crocodile is still out there, travelling across four uncharted, but colourful, worlds and heroically freeing the Gobbos from their prisons (which restricted them from the outside world and surroundings) while he’s at it, with Beany the Bird in tow. Sooner or later, chances are that they’ll see each other in a long-awaited father-son moment of togetherness.

To Croc (or “Mr. Fun Socks” or “Choo Choo McBoogie”, according to some of the Gobbos), King Rufus the Lactose Intolerant isn’t just his adoptive father; he’s also his friend for better or for worse. Sadly, fate has stepped between him, the crocodile and his subjects and they were separated against their will.

In the meantime, he’s waiting patiently for that faithful day when he and his reptilian child are united as one and peace is finally restored in the Gobbo Valley.

We’ll always be together
Don’t you worry
Don’t you worry
I’ll always be by your side
Don't you worry
Don’t you worry

Meantime, Croc kept on advancing through the Gobbo Valley as if it is like a walk in the park after he got the first area (which is known as “1-1 And So The Adventure Begins”) done and dusted until he proceeded into the second area (which is called “1-2 Underground Overground”) at long last. After he dealt with a few red Dantinis which were pulling out all the stops in putting a damper on his escapade, overcame a myriad of obstacles and accumulated a mass of crystals and items in the entrance area and the first underground segment, he came across a smash box just waiting to be stomped into an innumerable amount of pieces which is positioned under the lengthy set of platforms which were joined up to become like a staircase in the underground. Depending on where he is standing or travelling, they can be either leading upwards or downwards.  

“Shazam!” He yells with a childlike, high-pitched voice while he is in midair before he stomps on the smash box with a humongous, white question mark on it. It instantly shatters into smithereens and it is crushed underneath his weight, revealing a Gobbo inside.

“Oi! Oi!” The unnamed Gobbo continually jumped up and down on the spot, trying to grab its saviour’s attention. As soon as Croc gingerly landed on the ground after executing his stomp attack, the lovable fuzz ball squealed “Yippee!” before it is magically vanished in a whimsical swirl of rainbow-coloured, magical sparklies, being shrunken down and packed into his backpack along with his inventory such as White Crystals, Colour Crystals, Gobbos, Extra Lives, Keys and last but not least, Jigsaw Pieces.

With each Gobbo he freed from imprisonment, he felt better and his mind is at ease for the time being. After all, every single of them were his beloved relatives, regardless of their diminutive stature and furred bodies. After all they have done for him throughout his early years as an infant; he had the desire to return the favour and save the day. With the right motivation, inner strength, capabilities, agility and determination, he can almost do anything as long as he sets his mind to his duties and is ready to have a challenging task and quest weighing on his shoulders. As they always say: With great power, comes great responsibility.

Eight down, one-hundred and thirty-seven Gobbos to go. He thought to himself, counting how many members of his adoptive family he must set free from their seemingly everlasting internment.  

At this rate, it could take him days, weeks or months to hunt and free all of his ‘gerbilesque’ relations. If he keeps this up, the reunion with them and his adoptive dad will be sooner than he thinks.

For now, he presses on into the next part of the area by him about-face with a 180° hop and climbs up the platform stairs before disposing the Dantini temporarily with a swing of his tailswipe move. Using the crate to his advantage, he leaped on it to reach the high platform with a key sitting on it. The instant he has it in his possession, he alternates between the two smash boxes and bounds on top of them.

The circle will never end
It’ll never ends
Just know that we’ll meet again
We’ll meet again, no
And we’ll always be together
Forever always
Oh
I am here  

Depending on which crate he stomps, he either shouts out any of his trademark yells such as “Yezzoo!", "Wahey!", "Shazam!", and "Kazoom!". When he obliterates them to trillions of fragments with the purpose of obtaining the green crystal, it adds to his inventory without delay. The minute that is out of the way, he went down the flight of platform steps and made a beeline for the cage which includes a petrified, little critter.

As soon as the cage dematerialised and faded into absolute nothingness in a small explosion of millions of spectrum twinkles when the reptilian protagonist utilised the pocket-sized, silvery key, the irresistibly cute, fuzz ball bounded up and down repetitively with the aim of grabbing its saviour’s interest whilst squealing, “Oi! Oi! Oi!”, repeatedly and giving him eye contact. It seems there is no end to the relentless shrieks.

The moment the young, green-scaled reptile touched one of the members of his kin, the Gobbo called out, “Yippee!”, with an overwhelmingly cute voice before it is mystically evaporated in a bewitching swirl of multihued, magical shimmers, being minimised and packed into his trusty backpack.

By the time he scaled up the platform staircase, the ruby-coloured Dantini came back from beyond the grave in a ring of enchanting, white sparks which can get on his nerves.

Before his reddish opponent can react, Croc dispatched him momentarily with a swift whip of his tail with less trouble at all. Whenever he makes use of his tailswiping skill, he spins anti-clockwise unless he is forced to twirl clockwise. “Honzoof!”

Once again, the baddie vanished in the same way he appeared. When the coast is clear, the crocodile juvenile scurried for the door as quickly as his legs and feet could carry him before the Dantini can return in mere seconds or minutes and become a nuisance. Thankfully, it didn’t take him that long to turn up at the door. Without any hesitant, he departed through the doorway when it opened automatically as if it truly senses his presence. Truth to be told, it acted like an automatic door. As soon as he got to the next section of the area, it closed behind him and he ploughed on through this place.    

If you need me yeah (yeah)
I'm in the wind
Look for me friend
I'm in the stars (I’m in the stars)
When you need me
The heavens will send
A message within
Straight to your heart

Meanwhile somewhere within the depths of the Volcano Island (which is otherwise known as Forest Island), a lone Gobbo is confined in a tight, cramped cage. Unluckily, it had nowhere to run or break free from captivity. It seemed like weeks or even months of waiting inside its confinement with nothing to eat and do, not to mention being bored out of its mind.    

Since the Gobbos were a social group, it makes sense why they were distraught at being split from one another all over the Gobbo Archipelago. It is bad enough that they were still grief-stricken after the aftermath of the invasion and being imprisoned for a prolonged period of time didn’t help either.  

Due to being unprepared in a crisis like this, it continuously hopped up and down on the spot even as it expelled a short, shrill cry for help in vain and despairingly which expressed a combination of emotions such as sorrow and distress. After squealing in a high-pitched voice numerous times, it gave up in defeat and brought its ear-piercing cries and uninterrupted jumping to a halt before pacing to the front of its cube-shaped cell and it merely stared upwards into the clear, night sky in a hopeless manner but at the same time, in an optimistic way too.

Little did it know that Croc and his yellow-tinted ally were thinking of it and the majority of the adorable, pocket-sized fuzz balls caringly and hoping that they are safe and sound wherever they are. Furthermore, all of them are doing the similar thing.

Oh oh oh

We’ll always be together
Don’t you worry
Don’t you worry, no
I’ll always be by your side
Don’t you worry
Never worry about a thing, no no no no no no no

After painstakingly navigating through each island, one after the other whilst searching high and low for the Gobbos in nooks and crannies, dispatching the Dantinis, other foes and the guardians (which were formerly normal creatures before they were transformed into beastly monsters), collecting quirky and odd items like White Crystals, Colour Crystals, Extra Lives (which were in the forms of red-coloured hearts), Keys, Torches and lastly, Jigsaw Pieces as well as handing a humiliating defeat to Baron Dante, Croc celebrated his victory by cheering ecstatically and performing a victory dance.

“Wow! Wahey!” He cheered overexcitedly, relieved and utterly over the moon that he emerged victorious in the showdown which decided the fate of the Gobbo Archipelago.

However, his celebration is short-lived when he heard the sharp, high-pitched squeals of his adoptive father.  And with that, he paces to his steel cage and tail-whipped it.

With a reasonable potent swing of his spinning tail attack, he released a deafening yell from his minuscule jaw. “Kerpow!”

Thus, the cage disappeared within a blink of an eye after Croc’s tail made contact with it and it unlocked by itself. Surprisingly, it didn’t require a shimmering, but petite, silver key to unlock it, in comparison to the countless cages which were located in various parts of areas in Forest Island, Ice Island, Desert Island and Castle Island.

Grasping the realisation that he is ultimately free from what appeared to be weeks or months of the nightmarish ordeal he suffered through, King Rufus bounced happily in a stationary position in a brief, odd dance of his own. “Yippee!”

However, it doesn’t matter since Croc’s adventure has been brought to an end for the time being. King Rufus promptly leaped into the backpack before Beany the Bird swooped down from above somehow and flew around the crocodile hero, creating a cascade of mystical, multi-coloured sparkles which gradually fell on him just like snowflakes. Therefore, this caused him to shrink when being picked up before they took off into the pitch blackness of the starry night in an en route to Forest Island.

Back at the place they call home, King Rufus is standing on a small, dark brown rock while he directed his loyal subjects and provided them orders. Under his command, a handful of Gobbos pulled on their long, black ropes which are securely tied to their latest work of art which is a likeness of the main protagonist. Due to their miniscule sizes and heights, it took a while to set up the stone sculpture that they built in his honour. Once they succeeded in pulling up a ginormous statue of their rescuer which is made out of stone, the victory party is already underway complete with an upbeat, up-tempo music and dancing.

The circle will never end
It’ll never ends
Just know that we’ll meet again
We’ll meet again, no
And we’ll always be together
Forever always
Don’t you worry

As the shindig progressed into the daytime, they were strutting their stuff in a huddle on the smooth green grass, popping up around and on top of the left arm, backpack and the tip of the tail, right cheek and right eye of the statue, boogying round the right foot of it and resuming their bopping above it even as Beany the Bird is soaring around the sculpture’s head.  

Down below, a few Gobbos were gleefully dancing around Croc who is standing in the middle. He watched them having the time of their lives like nobody’s business whilst he clapped in rhythm with the beat of the music. By the time his teammate, Beany, joined him, she soared above and around him. For unknown reasons, he subsequently raised his arms and hands in the air, most likely because he is pleased of his acts of bravery in the face of danger. If it weren’t for him, his relatives and companions are doomed to be divided and isolated from each other for perpetuity which is a terribly cruel and lonely fate to have.  

As long as they have each other, no one can tear them apart. Not even the notorious Baron Dante and his villainous minions can jeopardise their friendship. By the looks of it, they are going to stick together for many years to come and beyond. Thanks to Croc and his brave, daring efforts, all’s well that ends well.

I am here
I am here
Yeah
I am here
I am here

After the final lyric, “I am here”, the music, the vocal cords and the line echoes and fades out continually for four seconds until it gradually disappears entirely.

Overall, he learned the true value and meaning of friendship and how much the little, tremendously adorable furries mean to him as his companions and his adoptive family. Nothing or no one can change that. Along the way, he risked his life for them whilst fighting off the Dantinis that dared to stand in his way, battling against the baddest of the baddies, saving all of the members of his adoptive family individually, gathering any of the items he can get his hands on and to conclude, confronting the sinister sorcerer in an all-out, full-scale tumultuous scuffle. The crusading crocodile had a gut feeling that this isn’t the last of the infamous warlock and he might have survived the final confrontation but he shrugged it off. He’d be better off with making the most of his peaceful, laid-back life he enjoyed right now.