With the first bounce, you’re pretty much hooked. You’d skateboarded a lot in your youth, and this has the height and excitement, without the wheels. You find that if you bounce at the right angle to the mountain side, you will slide down and meet the gummy floor with almost no impact but great speed, and multiple bounces and slides later, you’ve pretty much carved a new X sport. You wonder which energy drink will want to endorse your invention first, as you slide to the far edge of the mountain range. You spot a glistening river not far away, and your sweaty, exuberant form wants nothing more than a tall glass of clear water. You wander that way, sliding on the icing as you go. You can see the river running, and the other side is covered with candy canes. Tall, white bodied candy canes, like redwoods, but running with clear candy streaks through the bases that glisten and reflect in the bubbling river. This is truly peace, you think, mentally planning your homestead on the flat riverbank, and cupping cold handfuls of lemon-lime sparkling water into your mouth.
Suddenly, from deep in the Candy Cane Forest, you can see a large number of large... bears(?) emerging on the other bank. Their translucent bodies still oddly menacing. Or, maybe it’s just that you can hear their deep growls echoing with tones of frustration and sedition. You try to back into the shadows of the foothills again, but the largest one, the Purple one, sees you. He pulls a candy cane straight from the ground and swings it like a bat. You wonder if he’s ever seen a game. He’d be a hell of a hitter. All the bears turn, and begin to approach, wading into and across the river.
You turn, and begin to run further downstream, when you hear a thunderous growl from behind you.
“DON’T RUN! WE NEED YOUR HELP!”
You look. It's the purple one. Of course it's the purple one. You take a breath and...