Furtle the Turtle was a boy with a turtle's head. He had a mohawk and could walk backward up trees. Furtle lived in an underwater treehouse in the middle of Furtle Forest.
Furtle the Turtle's best friend was a robot mermaid named Roberta Robota 2000, or the RR-2000. Roberta had a square head and a gold robotic fin. Roberta had a special power: she could control water.
One day, Furtle and Roberta were having a swimming contest to see who was the fastest.
"I can swim faster than you!" Roberta taunted.
"No, you can't!" Furtle retorted. "I can swim faster!"
Suddenly, they saw weird ripples in the water. They went closer to the edge of the sea to investigate. A bottle popped out of the water and landed at their feet. There was a note in it. It said:

I am holding your seal friend hostage. I challenge you to a race! The winner keeps the seal.
Signed,
Pistachio the Shark

"Silly Sally!" Furtle blurted out. "We've got to save our friend before he tries to eat her!"
"Why did he take her?" Roberta asked.
Pistachio was a lonely shark, and what he really wanted was a friend to play with. He had scary shark teeth, so everyone was afraid of him.
One day he saw Silly Sally, Roberta, and Furtle playing together, and he was jealous. He wanted to be friends with them. That day, he swam up to them to introduce himself, and they all ran away because they were afraid of sharks.
Pistachio felt lonelier and sadder (and a little bit madder) than he ever had before. So he kidnapped Silly Sally.
"We have to save our friend, so we have to do it," Furtle said to Roberta, even though they were both scared . . .

Please finish the story:

They were not going to give up. They practiced their swimming day and night, until the end of the race.  Roberta was not going to use any power because she wanted to win fair and square.  One, two, three.  GO!  The race began.  Furtle and Roberta against Pistachio.  It was a close race and Pistachio was in the lead.  He started to brag and laugh at Furtle and Roberta until a boat came out of nowhere and scared him.  Furtle won the race and saved Silly Sally.
- Amoret Jensan

So Furtle and Roberta challenged Pistachio the Shark to a race. They saw Silly Sally all tied up and Pistachio raring to go. Sally counted to three and the race began. It was intense. No one could get ahead of the shark. But he quickly tired out since Pistachio was out of shape. Furtle and Robert won! But Pistachio was still mad so the shark ate Sally anyways. Furtle and Roberta did not become his friends. Pistachio is still sad to this day.

Furtle and Roberta swam to the middle of the ocean to where Pistachio was waiting. Pistachio said, "The race starts now!" and took off. Furtle quickly called to Mail the Whale to pull him to the finish. Even though Furtle said he could swim fast, he didn't swim well at all. RR-2000 checked to make sure that Silly Sally was okay and took off to the finish. She was the fastest of all of them and caught up easily. In the final stretch, RR-2000 pulled ahead to win; controlling the water to push Pistachio back and allowing Furtle to get second. "No fair, you both cheated!" shouted Pistachio. "I just want to have fun racing." Both Furtle and RR-2000 apologized. "We just wanted our friend back," they said. Pistachio explained how he just wanted friends and didn't hurt Silly Sally. Furtle and RR-2000 laughed and said they were Pistachio's friends and called him every day. Pistachio checked his cell phone and noticed it was off the whole time. Furtle, RR-2000, Silly Sally, Mail, and Pistachio race every day and always have fun.
- Justin Huey

So Furtle and Roberta made a plan. Furtle was going to race Pistachio while Roberta made the water push Pistachio backwards. So the two fiends left for Pistachio's underwater cave. But when they got there , they had a great surprise. Instead of being afraid of Pistachio, Sally was playing Go Fish with him. She was even having fun. So from that day on nobody was afraid of Pistachio and everybody became friends.
- Anonymous

So Furtle and Roberta went to find Pistachio the Shark to find Silly Sally. After days of searching and almost impossible obstacles they finally found the shark and their friend. So they confronted the shark and said, "Why did you kidnap our friend?" Pistachio replied, "I just wanted someone to play with me and be my friend." So Roberta, Furtle, and Silly huddled up and saw that Pistachio was just lonely, so they played with him and they all became best friends.
- Graziamo Baker Jr.

So Roberta and Furtle got the courage and went to find Pistachio so they could save Silly Sally. When they found Pistachio he was sitting there mad and they saw Silly Sally scared and crying. "Help, help, help." So Furtle said, "Let Silly Sally go," and Roberta said, "Yeah, let's race Pistachio." Then Pistachio began to laugh and said, "Let's start." So they started. Pistachio and Furtle raced all around the ocean and in the end Furtle won and got Silly Sally back.
- Taylor Harlan

Tommy Poopypants crawled faster than Doogie or the doctor could keep up with. "Stop, Tommy--we want to be your friends!" But Tommy couldn't hear them. After an hour they finally caught up with Tommy under the bridge. He had fallen asleep to the sounds of the river. Dr. Dukenberg took out a tiny glass and filled it with a strange purple liquid and poured it on the giant Poopypants. Tommy shrank to a normal-sized baby and Doogie and the doctor made him a friend and the fearsome foursome played every day in the garden.
- Cat Schlenker

Furtle and Roberta tried to save their friend, Silly Sally, but failed. Just when all hope was lost, Chuck Norris came to the rescue. Chuck Norris wasn't afraid of sharks, so he had no trouble saving Silly Sally from Pistachio the Shark. He roundhouse kicked animals for his services, everyone lived happily ever after...
- Anonymous

So Furtle and RR-2000 decided to talk to Pistachio and see if they could all be friends. "Only if you are not mean and promise not to bite us," Furtle said. And Pistachio groaned. He was worried the turtle and the robot wouldn't like him because he looked so scary. "Just try, please!" RR-2000 said. They decided they would all race, just for fun. Maybe if they had fun, Furtle thought, they would all be friends. "And the winner," Pistachio said, "get a slice of pizza! And it's on me!" They all tied, and everyone got free pizza at the finish line!
    - Anonymous

. . . and so the race was on that following day. "I'm really afraid," said Furtle the Turtle. "I am too," replied Roberta Robota, "but we must stay strong for Silly Sally and bring her back." Furtle finally agreed that Roberta was the fastest of the two so she would race against Pistachio the Shark. "You're going down!" Pistachio teased. "It's on!" Roberta yelled. This was the closest, most intense race Furtle had ever witnessed. They each approached the finish line, but Pistachio the Shark just wasn't fast enough. Furtle and Sally were extremely excited for Roberta and this made Pistachio even sadder. The three friends noticed this and began to feel bad for him. "We should do something," said Furtle. "But what?" asked Sally. "After all, he did kidnap me," she said. In the end, they agreed to befriend Pistachio the Shark as long as he vowed never to kidnap anyone else again.
- Anonymous


Roberta and Furtle sent a note in the bottle that said, "We accept your challenge!"  The next morning they all gathered for the big race.  "First one around FunPlay Island is the winner and keeps the Seal!" said Pistachio.  The whistle blew and all 3 began to swim around the Island.  They were neck and neck the entire race but just before the finish line Pistachio swallowed too much water and began to sink.  "Help!  Help!" he screamed.  Roberta and Furtle swam over and helped him to the shore.  "You guys saved my life!" Pistachio said.  "I'm sorry I kidnapped your friend."    
- Hannah Swanson

Furtle the Turtle accepted the challenge.  Furtle figured with Roberta on his side he couldn't lose.  That evening Pistachio and Furtle the turtle met up at Red Reef, the darkest part of the ocean.  "First person around the Jelly Fish Canyon and around Squid Mountain wins," Pistachio said, knowing that passing through Squid mountain would be dangerous.  Furtle the Turtle took a deep breath and was off.  Passing through dangerous Jelly Fish with the guidance of Roberta, Furtle the turtle crossed the finish line!  "Cheater," said Pistachio.  "You will be my prisoner now."  Furtle the Turtle thought for a minute.  "How about we just hang out sometime.  That would show all the creatures of the ocean you're not mean and they would want to be your friend."
- Brandi Hall

Pistachio was not a bully, but by the way he looked like everyone was afraid of him.
Roberta and Furtle decided that since Roberta had a special power, she would race him.  At the race Roberta was very nervous.  The race started and Pistachio was far in the lead.  "Use your power, Roberta!" Furtle shouted.  Roberta slowed the water down around Pistachio and made it hard for him to swim.  Roberta won the race and freed Silly Sally.  She told Pistachio if he only wanted a friend all he had to do was say so.  Now all four of them are the best of friends.
- Brandie Green

So Furtle and Roberta had decided to save their friend seal, Silly Sally.  The only way they could save their friend was to race in the lake where Silly Sally was being held.  The next day Furtle the Turtle and Roberta the Robot had began their race in order to save their friend Silly Sally.  During the race, the turtle was in the lead, but soon Roberta the Robot was in the lead and finished first place.  That win had saved their friend Silly Sally and the shark was put in time out.
- Aushinay Wall

Furtle and Roberta swam to the reef where Pistachio the lonely shark spent his days.  "Let's not compete against him, Roberta," said Furtle.  "Let's invite him to join us."  They saw Pistachio and next to him was Sally, tied up to coral.  They approached with caution.  "Listen, Pistachio, let our friend go!" said Roberta, "and we will play with you."  Pistachio untied Sally and carried her to Furtle.  "All I wanted was a friend," said Pistachio.  "We know," said Furtle, "Let's go have a race!"  And they all swam away.
- Mattie Frank

Furtle went to the bottom of the ocean to find a friend for Pistachio.  He found another shark and seduced her with his Mohawk while Roberta danced to the robot to keep the shark interested.  Once the shark was hypnotized with love, he grabbed her by the fins and brought her to Pistachio.  He told Pistachio that the shark just wanted a friend, and Furtle traded her shark body for his friend Silly Sally.  And Silly Sally, Furtle, and Roberta went back to the shore to race.
- Jack

We have to do this.  Roberta and Furtle put a message in the bottle and tossed it back in the water.  The next day, Furtle and Roberta were standing at the edge of the water when Pistachio came out of the water.  He said, "OK, I'm here, let's race."  Furtle said, "Dude, be cool.  We can totally get along.  You just have to bring Silly Sally to us and quit being a Silly Sally yourself, you kidder!"  And he did.  And all of the jokesters lived together forever, definitely being jokey jokesters until the end of time.
- Jesse Peck

So Roberta and Furtle went over to Pistachio's place.  It was a huge cave with everything an ordinary underwater creature wanted.  Coral was lined up around the cave and every toy imaginable to an underwater creature was at Pistachio's.  But none of this mattered, for Pistachio wasn't happy.
    Pistachio greeted Furtle and Roberta and showed them his ultimate possession, his race track!  Pistachio then said, "First one to cross the finish after 3 laps wins!"  The green light at the start of the track lit up and the race began!
    Pistachio for most of the two laps had a big lead over Furtle and Roberta.  Then the third lap began and Pistachio started to lose steam.  Furtle and Roberta were picking up speed and catching up to Pistachio.  Roberta then used her water control to zoom into the lead.  It looks like our heroes are going to win after all!  However, just before Roberta was able to cross the finish line, Roberta ran out of power!
    Realizing that Roberta won't win the race, it is now up to Furtle.  It was neck and neck, with both racers taking the lead constantly.  However, when Furtle saw the finish line, Furtle gave it all he got.  Pistachio however wouldn't give up.  He realized that this race was giving him all he had.  He would win over and over again on his own track, but wouldn't be satisfied with his win.  The two racers cross the finish line and . . .
    Furtle comes out victorious!!!
    Pistachio although he lost for the very first time, was very impressed with the race he just lost.  "I have never raced like that in all of my life, Furtle.  I will be honored to set Silly Sally free and fix Roberta on me.  I just want one thing from you," Pistachio said.  At this point, Furtle was gritting his teeth and messing his Mohawk.  He knew full well that his win against Pistachio will come at a hefty price.  Then Pistachio continued to speak, "Will you be my friend?  You see, I have none for I am a shark and my presence scares people away!  All I want are some friends in my life like you have.  Do we have a deal?"
    "It's a deal!" Furtle confidently said.  He then breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he won't be eaten or Roberta won't be scrap metal or a slave for that matter.
    Back at the underwater treehouse, Furtle, Roberta, and Sally were playing ball together when they heard a knock on the door.  It was Pistachio and he wanted to play ball too.  So all four of them played ball and became the best of friends forever.
- Evans Ward Collins

We have to save Silly Sally from Pistachio the Shark.  Furtle Turtle and Roberta Robot went to find Pistachio.  When they found him, he was still mad so they tried talking to him but he wouldn't give in.  So they offered to make peace and all be friends as long as Pistachio promised that he wouldn't eat them.  Pistachio agreed and Pistachio the Shark, Furtle Turtle, Roberta Robot, and Silly Sally played all night long.
- Anonymous