Lil' Plisky

Plisken watched as his fellow Dwarfers shrank down into their child like appearances. Except Jade who seemed to stay about the same height. Being forced into a Candy filled land was irritating enough- no wait it was amazing! Look at all the candy and everything! It was nnnahhha!
<Snip>
“Hello!” Said a friendly, happy young voice, interrupting the Dwarfers' giggles.
“My name’s Marylou Marzipan, but most people just call me ‘Em’, short for ‘M & M’.”
The Dwarfers looked over at her. “Who are you?” Jay demanded, hands on hips.
“I just told you, doi!” She retorted.
The others began to laugh again.
“Shut up!” Jay shouted. And, still respecting him as their leader, they did. For the few moments their kiddy attention-spans would let them.
“Now then, I take it you’re here for the race?” Marylou enquired.
“Race? What race?” Artemis said, excited and caressing the go-kart.
Marylou studied his wobbly legs and frowned. “We’ll have to get you fixed up first. Here, eat this.”
She shoved something which looked like a Bassett’s Liquorice Allsort in his mouth. His legs almost instantly sprung back into shape, and working order.

</Snip>
“So is this Treguards game?” Plisken thought, fighting to keep his adult mind, “To trick us with Go-Karting and candy and ohhhh look at that tree!”
Alex bounded over, his alomst sicking cutenesss overwhelming Plisken.
“This could be a risk…” Alex said, serious for a moment.
“… But let’s do it! Come on Plisk!” He galloped over and grabbed Plisken’s arm, pulling him forward.
Plisken was about to go galloping off with Alex but an eerie high pitched giggle came from somewhere. Plisken sighed as he saw Alex almost collapse in laughter. Plisken felt around his chin, searching frantically for his beard with which to stroke. But he did not find it. And his arm was back, the metal limb having been, for lack of a better word, healed. And his normal body had been given back to him. Gone was the body of the Madame and the ridiculous hair style that came with it – Plisken had a young and youthful body. And his dress, which Plisken was becoming strangely attached too, was no gone and instead a replica of his great coat drowned his tiny body, the color almost hiding his face. On his head of long brown hair was his hat, the wide brim constantly falling over his eyes and blocking his vision. A huge blue feather was stuck into a band around the crown of the hat. This gained much laughter from his friends and lil’ Plisky could have sworn he could here Treguard’s laugh on the wind. It sent chills down Plisky’s spine.

Marylou giggled as Plisky skipped over to the turret in the factory. She burst into even harder laughter when she saw Plisky skip straight into the turret with a loud bang. Plisky fell on to his back but sat up quickly, his little mind carefree of such things. He pushed the brim of his hat up again, his hands slipping out from under the massive cuffs of his coat.
“So, what’s your name?”
Plisky mumbled something from under his wide brimmed hat, he was almost too shy to look at Marylou in the face.
“What’s that?” said Marylou, leaning in closer.
Plisky mumbled that something again, only a little clearer.
“Bakewell? I thought the others called you Plisky?”
Plisken suddenly looked up, wide eyed and scared, “Oh wait no my name is Plisky. It is really!” In his childish mind, lil’ Plisky had forgotten to not use his real name. Unbeknownst to him, it was safe to use it in AR and VR but the shock of using his own name still hit him hard.
Marylou bent down to eye level with Plisky. Despite all the Dwarfers and Marylou being the same age, or having the appearance of the same age, lil’ Plisky was much smaller than everyone else; much like it had been in his own youth many, many years ago. “Why did ya change your name?” Marylou asked with genuine concern.
“It’s in case the bogeyman get’s me,” said lil’ Plisky, tear welling up in his eyes with the mere thought of ‘the bogeyman’. Perhaps the others had partitions in the VR units to not allow ‘bad memories’ to be accessed when in this childlike state but lil’ Plisky had not such protection.
“The bogeyman? Aw, come here,” said Marylou, putting her arms around lil’ Plisky as he tried to force back the tears, “How about we make your cart, okay?”
Lil’ Plisky nodded, his huge hat almost falling off. Marylou smiled as she watched the little boy climb up onto the turret.
“Okay, now you just have to hit those sweets over there,” said Marylou kindly, pointing to the waterfall of confectionary in front of the turret.
“Okay Miss Marzipan,” said Plisky, taking a hold of the controls, he could barely see over the turret. His previous fears of his own memories had been pushed back and he was quite content to make his Go-Kart.
As a child, Plisken had not been very much into Go-Karting, sweets or indeed turrets. He much preferred reading his father’s books atop the large windtraps on the moisture farms of the Io countryside. But the presence of Marylou seemed to encourage him to participate.

By the end of the mini-game, lil’ Plisky was quite tired. He had not been an excellent shot in the first round, despite Marylou’s compliments. Perhaps his skill with weapons had vanished in his child like state. Maybe it was the narrow view he had between the brim of his hat and the top of the turret. In the second stage, in which the objective was to whisk it all together, Plisky had gotten confused by the instructions and just plainly did the wrong thing each time. But he didn’t care, he didn’t know what was bad and what wasn’t and Marylou’s kind comments certainly helped him carry on regardless. When it finally came to showing off the kart, Marylou seemed quite worried. In the short time she’d known lil’ Plisky and despite her age, she’d grown quite attached to the little boy and she didn’t want to see him feel sad when his inevitably horrible kart rolled out.
When the garage doors finally rolled out, one of the worst looking go karts Marylou had ever seen chugged out, with what looked like bubbles pluming from a funnel made of Polo Mints. The wheels were large Wagon Wheels (of the Jammie Variety lil’ Plisky pointed out) and there seemed to be Kit-Kat bars acting as those connection rod thingies (lil’ Plisky didn’t know the proper name).
“Um, Plisky Bakewell?” said Marylou as lil’Plisky rushed over to examine his Kart in detail, “You’ve made a steam train.”
Lil’ Plisky beamed a large grin from under his hat, “Isn’t it cool?” Plisky hopped up into the driver’s cabin, an array of valves and pipe made from liquorice cable. Behind the kart/train was a fender filled with chocolate drops ready to be used in place of real coal. The main body was made of a Swiss Roll (of Swish Roll as Plisky had said) and there was a little whistle made from a Whistlepop sitting proudly in its purple colour. A large automated nozzle floated down from the ceiling, the nozzle was attached to a red and white straw and Sprite whished through it. The straw fed into a tank on the side of the train, obviously Sprites was used in stead of water. The inside of the furnace, which the chocolate drops would be fed, was made of Woolworth’s Boiled Sweets, something that hadn’t been used in Go-Kart construction in a long time. On the side of the train, a nameplate shone with honour and the words Emily gleamed brightly in the factory’s lights.
“How do you expect to win with a train?” asked Marylou, opening up a panel to reveal the engine’s workings beneath.
“Why do I want to win?” asked Plisky in complete innocence, his eyes firmly fixed on the train-kart.
Marylou laughed lightly at the cuteness of lil’ Plisky. Despite his lack off winning chances, he probably deserved to win more than most. She snapped her fingers as an idea floated into her head. She ran off into a storage cupboard nearby, throwing out various oversized sweets in search of something. When she revealed her self again, she was proudly holding a large green Soor Ploom.
“Oooh, what’s that?” whispered lil’ Plisky in awe.
“This, Plisky, is a Soor Ploom Turbo Charged Engine Booster. And I built it myself!” She placed it firmly into the engine compartment of Plisky’s steam kart/ Go-Train, the vehicle humming with power. “I can’t promise you’ll win but this this’ll help!”
Plisky jumped down out of the cabin and ran up to Marylou, “Thank You Miss Marzipan,” he said sweetly as he gave her a tight hug.

<Snip>

You know , all that stuff in Lemon Sorbet. Hey, I've just had double periods of PE, give me a break! I know it doesn't really gell (jell?) well from here on out but it is Blue Dwarf so if you'll allow me to play loose and fast with the continuity.

</Snip>

"Hey Alex," said Lil' Plisky, tugging at his friends clothes, "That boulder looks like the one in Thomas the Tank Engine." He gave a little giggle despite their impending doom.

"What boulder? Oh, that boulder. Aren't you a little old to be watching Thom-"
The gravity of the situation took a little while to hit mini-Alex's brain but when it did, he quickly pulled the little kid into his kart/train and hopped into his own. Lil' Plisky dived onto the seat and fired up his Steam-Kart, shovelling the little chocolate drops into the firebox. Alex's was ready and waiting to go but he hung back to wait for his young/old friend. With a 'wheesh' of steam from the Sprite filled water tank, the Go-Steam-Train-Kart set off, building speed. And not a moment to soon as the boulder was pushed off the cliff and landed on the road with a thunderous crash. From his cab, lil' Plisky could see that Alex was taking this far too seriously. This was just like Th-. Lil'Plisky looked behind- the boulder was getting extremely close. It wasn't a natural boudler but a perfectly round one, and this only helped it cruise along faster.

<Snip>

She felt taller, older, more like her old self again but the memory of why they were there was still fuzzy. Still not quite there. She knew that they had to protect the tree, to rescue her friends and protect the tree. More men trooped out of the baracks and set up in the bunkers. Looking into the reflective surface of the metal baracks she saw herself and instantly recognised her new avatar as that of a Ghost. An elite sniper able to cloak.

</Snip>

As Jade activated the F.A.I.L.S.A.F.E., Plisken felt himself change - like he was gaining more power. Large, Christmas Tree like structures errupted from the ground, waves of energy building up to a spherical generator at the top. A lethal bolt of lightning lashed out and struck the boulder, blowing it to dust. Lil' Plisky himself found himself clad in a purple great coat, his hat's floppy crown becoming strong and tall. He still retained his child like height and mind but he was stronger, more powerful. He was a Black Mage.