“You know, Bendy. I suppose it’s really time we talked about how we got here.”
“*Much* better than Mabel’s house, I’ll tell you that. Lots to do in this town. Bar around every corner if we ever tire of Bar Lemon. Which I haven’t.”
“I didn’t ask you how you liked it here… in comparison to New Island. I’m asking you about how we got here.”
“Dunno that part,” his robot companion returned. “Just woke up one day and here I was.”
“It can’t be that easy,” Fisher gruffed, shaking his head. “I personally think I remember something else — don’t think it was just a dream.”
“Well?” prompted Bendy. “Spill it.”
—–
“It started that day we went over to the park to play and then spotted Mr. Yellow in the distance: looking different. We went up to him and saw that weird-y combo thing, looking like it was pissing on the ground. Red liquid instead of the usual yellow, but not blood I don’t think.”
“Soda,” offered Bendy. “I tested it when you turned your back to the camera.” Fisher winced toward him, making Bendy shrug. “Couldn’t resist.”
“Anyway, I went back to Bar Lemon down the wall — that’s when you decided to visit the beach scene — but as soon as I sat down at the bar and started watching Molly warm up, things started happening. Mustered and Catchup were on break…”
“When *aren’t* they,” groused Bendy. “At least when Natsu Lemon isn’t around — the boss.”
“Which is becoming more frequent; that could be part of it as well.” He put his hands behind his head. “But it was something about the dance that… awoken me. Part of me that was, er, dormant before.”
“Sex?” Bendy joked. “You’ve never had any problem there.”
“‘Course not,” Fisher reinforced to his sometimes erotic pal — just every once in a while. “Something else. The dance told a story. The *music* told a tale. I believe the song was called ‘OTR.'”
“‘On the Run’? responds Bendy quickly. “Over the Rainbow’? I have both of them in my database. If you wish, I could even sing both at once.”
“No. No more wacky combos for a while.” But then Fisher realized Bendy was totally on to something in his prescient manner. It *was* a combo of those songs. *Another* wacky combo, two in one day. And perhaps intimately connected. Yes, it had to be so. He blew out a large puff of air. A chill also passed through his body.
“So anyway,” he began again after the reflective pause, “I started remembering stuff about the spaceship. About the regeneration. Dr. I.C. Yourinsides.”
“She prefers Dr. Ice Cream lately,” corrects Bendy. “But: spaceship?”
“Yes. We were taken away from New Island and then placed here. This *new* New Island.”
“That’s a horrible name. Why don’t you just name it after yourself.”
“Why don’t *you*?”
“OK,” acquiesced Bendy. “Lord Bendington the Third’s Island it is.”
Fisher shakes his head again. “No, let’s just use your original suggestion. Name it Fishers Island. Or maybe just Fisher Island. Either one… 1/2 and 1/2. Like a fisherman or several fishermen live here, or were seen here. Fishing or something, I suppose.”
Bendy splashes around water in his pool. “Alright.”
“Now about the spaceship…”
(to be continued)
Sunklands 