The next few seconds were like a blur; the colors in my vision swirled around and I felt as though I was in a rolling hamster ball. Wait a few flipping seconds... I was! I also saw there was another person in the hamster with me. He was fairly tall, had squinty eyes, and slightly chubby cheeks. 

"Ya, this is my hamster ball! What are you doing here?" He barked at me.

"Mwuh?"

"I am HamsterGyu. This is MY hamster ball. SO GET OUT!!"

With a big push, I was thrown out of the ball and landed on my face for the millionth time today. Well, actually it was only the second but who said I couldn't over-exaggerate?

I had handed on a patch of grass. Regular green grass! "HALLELUJAH!!" I cried. Too bad I was still in this ridiculous skirt.

I stood up, patting down the girly clothing. It looked like I was still in Japan, with normal buildings and normal streets and normal blue-gray sky. I walked to the nearest shop, hoping nobody would notice me and my strange taste in fashion.

But guess what? All the people that passed by me were wearing skirts as well, even the guys. Was this some sort of prank life was playing on me?

I entered a random shop that had red walls, red chairs, and red tables. There were only four people in the shop, so I went over to them to ask them what was going on. The weird thing was they were four people I knew.

"Chan Doo? Changbum?" I exclaimed. "Eunjung and Hyoyeon, is that you?"

All four of my old dance crew members looked up at me and started whispering to each other. Chan Doo, the one I was closest too, turned to me. "Chan Doo is wondering who you are. He has not seen you around here before."

"I'm Changjo, remember me? And why are you talking funny?"

They all took turns to gasp dramatically before Eunjung asked me a question. "Do you not know of the law the Evil Red Queenka has placed on the city? If we do not talk in third person, then the Evil Red Queen and her guards will come after us."

"Um, who's the Evil Red Queenka?"

"Hyoyeon is wondering where this strange lad has been all these years." The blonde said. She bent down under the table and pulled out a cheshire cat. But not just any cheshire cat, a cheshire cat with Ricky's face on it. "Please let Hyoyeon explain."

"Uh... alrighty. Go ahead."

"Long ago... a long time ago.... a super long time ago... billions of years and years ago..." Hyoyeon started. "There was a planet called Earth. After several millions of years, there was a country that formed on Earth, now called Japan."

Cheshire Cat Ricky waved his tail in the air and then a visual image of the globe appeared for me to see. "The citizens of Japan were ruled by the Pretty White Fairy Queen. She was pretty and wore lots of white. And she was a fairy."

The image changed into a picture of Eun Mi, wearing a white dress and holding a wand. Um, how much weirder can this get? Wait, don't answer that...

"Everyone was happy under her rule. The fluffy unicorns of Japan were still alive and thriving then."

"YOU HAVE FLUFFY UNICORNS?!?!??!?!?!" I cried.

"SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Author-nim hushed the child. "Let them finish."

"Right, right..." I stuck my tongue out at the author before turning my attention back to the narrators of the story. "And then what happened?"

"The Pretty White Fairy Queen had a sister called the Evil Red Queenka. She was jealous of her beauty and pureness and stole the Pretty White Fairy Queen's magic cookie." This time, Ricky conjured up a picture of Jessica, all decked out in red, holding a sugar cookie. 

"A magic cookie?" I was about to laugh.

"Her magic cookie had magical powers!" Changbum protested. "It was what kept our candy crop fresh and sugary. When it was taken away, the Evil Red Queenka cast a curse on the kingdom of Japan. She locked her sister in the dungeons and now our country will wither away under her wicked rule..."

"Sounds serious." I said, trying to resist a laugh. "So how come nobody's fought her yet?"

"Eunjung thinks you are crazy." Eunjung said. "Nobody would dare to fight the Evil Red Queenka, her guards, or her secret weapon."

"She has a secret weapon?"

"Yes, Changbum said." Says Changbum. "But Changbum thinks you can help our country and defeat the Evil Red Queen."

"You think I can do what?" I'm going to become a hero! I'm so happy.... no. Of course I'm not. Why would I be?

"Chan Doo feels this special strong aura emitting from you." My friend said to me. "He thinks you have what it takes to save us. He wants you to follow Ricky-kitty to the Evil Red Queenka's lair and save the Pretty White Fairy Queen!"

"I'm sorry, I think you've got the wrong person. I don't think I'm stupid enough to do that-"

Too late. I was taken by the arm by both Changbum and Chan Doo, pulled to the back of the shop, and then thrown outside to a road that seemed to be made out of candy.

"Hyoyeon is telling you to travel on this Gumdrop Road to the Evil Red Queenka's lair. Ricky-Kitty will go with you to ensure your safety."

"No, I think this is a really bad idea-"

Cheshire Cat Ricky jumped on me and nibbled on my hair. "Let's go, strange kid."

"I said-"

Eunjung put something in my skirt pocket as I struggled to get Ricky off of my head. "Eunjung is putting something in your pocket. She says to take these with you. You will need them later on."

She pushed me forward and then shut the door in my face. I sighed and turned to the weird cat. "Well, I guess it's just you and me."

"You got that right, cross-dressing byuntae."

"What did you just call me, Ricky?"

"Nothing."

So, thus began my journey to a place I've never been or heard of. The Gumdrop Road seemed to go on for miles and miles. Rows after rows of candy glistened under my feet and gave off that sweet-candy smell. Cat-Ricky's annoying riddles weren't really helping either.

"If the fox stole the tooth fairy's flitter, what color is the sky?"

"If I ate a pink pineapple, would my hair turn green or grow mustaches?"

"If the acceleration of a slug is the opposite of its change in velocity, what is the next door neighbor's fish called?"

"If author-nim goes on and on about this, will her subscribers get bored, unsubscribe, or tell her to go to the mental hospital?"

SHUT IT RICKY BEFORE I MAKE SOMETHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU.

"Yeah, shut up!" I repeated.

Ricky puffed out his cheeks and then disappeared in the blink of an eye. He re-appeared in front of my face and wacked me with his tail. 

"Nobody tell the almight Cheshire Cat Ricky what to do!!" He screamed, clawing at my face.

After enduring what must have been five whole hours with that lunatic cat, we came across something that blocked our path. It was a guy... wearing a green turtle shell on his back. He was also holding an actual turtle in his hands. 

"Hello? Can you please move?" Cat-Ricky said. "You're in the way."

"No." The guy simply said.

"Why not?"

"I'll move if you listen to my story."

"We don't have time for your stupid story-" I clamped a hand over Ricky's mouth before he threw a temper tantrum. 

"Sure, go ahead."

“You see, I got a pet turtle because I used to feel lonely a lot. But my loneliness got deeper and deeper as he grew up.”

This sudden sentimental confession made the both of us laugh hard.

Not noticing, the strange lad continued on. "I felt great attachment to the pet, but one day I realized he had grown up a lot, to an enormous size. In the end, he became too big to keep at home, so I had to send him to an aquarium. This is a different turtle though, and it will never be the same turtle that I raised for several weeks..."

Cat-Ricky rolled his eyes. "That's a very sad sob story. Now can you shut up and move?"

The dude pouted. "Nobody cares about me and my loneliness. All they do is laugh at my turtle obsession."

He reluctantly stood up and moved to the side before crying out: "DDANGKOMA, YESUNG-APPA MISSES YOU!!! COME BACK!! NOBODY CARES ABOUT ME ANYMORE!!"

Suddenly someone called StarlightTango jumped into the story and hugged the poor fellow. "That's not true! I care about you!"

StarlightTango took Yesung's hand and then they both rode on the turtle to happy turtle land where they would live with the turtles forever.

Creeped out by the sudden event, Cat-Ricky and I just silently walked past them, our journey almost forgotten. We had entered a giant clearing when I felt something sticky and whip-creamy land on my face. "What is this?"

C.A.P. hyung magically appeared before me, but he was wearing a super ridiculous outfit. He had on a frilly suit, a weird looking har, and heavy white make-up on his face. "Hello there, little one! I'm the Mad Capper! Would you like to joing us in the Mad Capper's Annual Tea Party Food Fight?"

"Hyung, I don't-"

"OOOOOHHHH!!!!! FREE FOOD!!!!" Cat-Ricky screamed. He leaped off my shoulder and into the crowd of people that were throwing food at each other. 

I saw Chunji take a dish of kimchi and dump it on Niel's head, who counter-attacked with a flamethrower. Wait, how did he use a flamethrower? Is he a Pokemon? Well, we are in Japan after all...

I got shoved to the right and then saw C.A.P. about to stuff a cucumber in my ear. I dodged and ran forward, bumping into a dude eating what looked like chicken.

"I HAS CHICKEN AND YOU DON'T!!!! THAT MEANS I WIN, MWHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" The lunatic shouted.

I stepped back, hoping I didn't get Onew Condition, and slipped on a lollipop peel. What the heck is a lollipop peel? Is it the wrapper, or the stick, or is it the colorful swirl that-

Nevermind about that. I had slipped and fell backwards onto someone. We landed onto a puddle of chocolate pudding.

"Ow..." I stood up and peered down at who I had crashed into. It was Ji Yoo.

"What the heck? You DARE trip onto me?" She began to scream.

Everyone else in the food fight stopped what they were doing; Cat-Ricky froze with his face stuffed into a giant piece of sushi. Onew held his chicken a few centimeters away from his mouth, his tongue trying to reach it. C.A.P. stopped wrestling Chunji to the ground and Niel dropped the Pocky sticks he was trying to stick up the hyung's nose.

"I am the guard of the Evil Red Queenka, second in command! How dare you get my chiffon dress filthy!"

"Why would you wear a chiffon dress to a food fight?" I said. She glared at me and then took out a mashmallow sword from her hair.

"You! You dare talk back to me!" She sliced the air in front of my face with her 'weapon'. "SEIZE HIM, AND HIS LITTLE CAT-FRIEND TOO!"

Out of nowhere Yoo Jin appeared and hit Ricky in the head with a tazor, but his head vanished and only his cat-body was visible. 

"What is this sorcery?!?" He shrieked. Ricky teleported to cloud nine, above our heads, and his head came back.

"You can't get me, na-na-na boo boo!"

The two twins grunted and cornered me. "But we can get you, little child." Ji Yoo grinned evilly and Yoo Jin tazed me. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside before blacking out.