The Totem Curse- Chapter 12: A Girl Named Poppy

Once upon a time, on June 15, 1994, Poppy Piper Andrews was born, in Early Poptropica. She lived in one of the apartments at Poptropica Towers, with her parents, Rose and Florian (not the one from Pelican Rock), and her older sister, Daisy.

For most of her childhood, Poppy was like every other kid and had many friends. She and her friends, and sometimes even Daisy, would role-play going on epic adventures with pirates and spies and super villains. So it was no surprise that Poppy dreamed of becoming an explorer when she grew up. She was always ready for adventure. She even had a huge map of all the islands in Poptropica hanging on a wall in her room.

But everything changed when she started middle school. Her friends suddenly stopped caring about her adventure games, and starting hanging out with the popular girls. Poppy tried to make new friends, but everyone already had them and no one noticed her or even cared. Yet her imagination and intelligence allowed for her to survive 6th, and then 7th grade. Soon it was her 13th birthday.

When Poppy woke up on the morning of June 15, 2007, she found her parents and sister, who was now 16, standing around the table, talking about something.

Rose: “She’s too old for all this ‘adventure’ stuff. She’s 13 now! She needs to grow up and actually make some real friends.”

Florian: “Just leave her alone! She’ll get over this phase eventually.”

Daisy: “Dad! Listen to Mom! Don’t you know how many years I had to pretend to have fun playing with her? It’s so weird! When I was 13, I cared about normal stuff like makeup. I’m so embarrassed about her! All the kids at school hate me because of her.”

Rose: “The only way she’s gonna learn is to throw out all her toys and ‘adventure’ stuff. I’m doing it right now.”

Florian: “Wait! You just can’t do this to her! It’s her birthday!”

Rose: “It’s for the best, Florian. Don’t you want our daughter to have friends and be happy?”

Poppy, who was hiding behind a corner the whole time, quickly ran to her room a second before her parents got. She started to cry right in front of them.

Rose: “You are getting rid of all this baby stuff. Give them to me right now.”

Poppy: “You can’t do this to me!”

She then pulled the map off of the wall, along with her adventure backpack, and ran away.

Rose: “Maybe we were too harsh on her, Florian. Maybe you were right, Florian. We can’t just force her to grow up.”

Florian: “Let’s just give her her stuff back and let her enjoy her birthday.”

But it was too late. Poppy had already ran out of the apartment and to Main Street. She ran all the way to the old part of town. Where the 8-bit Pilgrims lived.

When she got there, she sat down to cry some more. But she was interrupted when one of the Pilgrims walked up to her.

Pilgrim: “Help! Someone stole all of our stuff!”

Another Pilgrim: “My pig is missing!”

Yet Another Pilgrim: “And so is our bucket for the well.”

A Fourth Pilgrim: “Even our flag! Now ships can’t dock here!”

All of the Pilgrims: “Help us!”

Poppy: “So…you want me to find all of your stuff?”

Pilgrims: Yes!”

Poppy: “OK then…”

And for the next hour, she explored her town, where she realized that was adventure was real. There was a giant in the clouds, a huge spider, and even a jet pack, which she got to keep! When she found everything, she gave them back to the Pilgrims.

Pilgrim: “For all of your hard work, we will give you this!”

He gave her the golden medallion, which she put on.

Later, she used her jet pack to go back up to the giant. She flew around for a bit, but eventually the jet pack started to go crazy. She fell, but landed on more clouds. A bunch of people stared at her.

Woman: “Welcome to Home Island, my home!”

And then she saw a red head lady with a plane next to her.

Amelia: “Hi! I’m Amelia. Are you ready to start the race?”

Poppy: “What race?”

Amelia: “Just one where aviators from all over Poptropica race.”

Poppy: “Awesome! Can I come?”

Amelia: “Of course!”

But then the evil Red Baroness threw a wrench in their plans. They landed on Monkey Wrench Island.

The monkeys tried to help them fix their plane, but it didn’t work. They eventually came across the laziest man ever, who had his own ideas for a flying machine, which was the stupidest idea ever. But the monkeys came to the rescue! They built a yellow blimp.

Poppy: “We can use that blimp to win the race!”

Amelia: “Let’s go.”

They ended up winning the race, and Poppy found herself with a second gold medallion.

Amelia: “You can keep the blimp.”

Poppy: “Really?”

Amelia: “It’s all yours.”

Poppy hopped into her blimp, and pulled out her map, ready to go home. Then she realized something. She could finally explore Poptropica! This was her chance. Her only chance. She had to choose either adventure or family.

Poppy: “I’ll just go to a couple islands…like Shark Tooth and Time Tangled!”

After saving those two islands, she decided to visit 24 Carrot Island. She had no idea of what was in store.