The i who lost his dot (part 3)

If you haven't read my introduction and the first part of the story, please do so here before continuing.

As soon as the little i left the q, he heard a strange whirring sound. Not seeing anything, he kept on walking. He was starting to get thirsty, and wished he had something to drink. Suddenly, he saw what looked like a water faucet with a knob on top to turn.

As he reached for the knob, he heard, "RRrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr."

Looking around, he still didn't see anything, so he tried again.

"RRrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr," this time louder.

"Sorry," said the i, realizing that the water faucet was actually a little r.

"It's all right," the r told him. "That happens every so often. What are you doing around here?"

The i replied, "Have you noticed anything go by? I lost my dot. It looks sort of like a small wheel."

The r thought for a minute. "I did see something roll by toward the s, but I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was your dot?"

"Thank you so much!" said the i, happy that someone actually might have seen his lost dot.

On he went, until he saw something move in the grass. Jumping back, he screamed.

"Sorry," said the s. "I was just sunning myself."

"You scared me!" cried the i.

"I didn't mean to, honestly," said the s. "What brings you all the way down here in the first place?"

"I'm looking for my dot. I think it rolled down this way. R thinks he might have seen it," replied the i. "Have you seen it?"

"I saw something, but it may or may not have been your dot. I was slithering away from it, so I didn't see exactly what it was."

"All right, thank you," said the i.

"See you soon," said the s.

The next letter looked vaguely familiar to the i, but he couldn't quite place it. It looked like the f, but had a straight top like a tree. Then he remembered what it was.

"Hello, t," he said.

"Hello, little i," said the t. "What are you doing?" The t waved its branches at the little i.

"I'm looking for my lost dot," the i said. "Have you seen it?"

"Does it look like an apple?" the t replied. "I think I saw it roll by. I thought it was an apple at first, but then it rolled away down toward z."

"Thank you," said the i happily.

By this time, the little i was sure that his dot had indeed rolled down the alphabet. He was definitely on the right track. But here was another puzzle. This letter looked like the n, but was upside-down.

"Who are you?" said the i.

"I'm a u," said the u.

"You're a me?" questioned the i.

"No, I am a u."

"No, you're not me, you're you."

"That's what I said! I'm a u."

Confused, the little i quickly went on his way.

The little i remembered what the next letter was before he got to it, because it had quite a reputation.

"Hi, v," the i said.

"What? Oh, hi," said the v. "Don't I look lovely? Yes, I think so."

"Have you seen my dot?" asked the i.

"You've lost part of you?" replied the v, looking him over. "Oh, you have, haven't you? Well, that's not good. I would never lose part of myself. I'm well-connected! You'd better find it. Can't be losing parts of yourself now." And the v clicked its tongue.

The i was taken aback, but he had been warned that the v was vain.

So on he went. He was almost scared to walk up to the next letter, because it looked like the v but twice as pointy. He had to ask, though.

"Hello?"

"What do you want?" said the letter.

"Sorry to bother you, w," said the i. "Have you seen my dot?"

"I didn't see which way it went," said the w, "but it may have gone between my points."

"Ok," said the i, looking around. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said the w.

That wasn't as bad as the i had thought it would be. The w was actually pretty nice, at least compared to the v. Soon, the i came to a road sign. He stopped, but he couldn't read what the sign said, so he walked right up to it.

"Hello," said the sign.

"Hi," said the i. "Are you a letter?"

"Yes, I'm an x," said the x. "I stand here and tell others which direction to go."

"Can you tell me if you've seen my dot?" asked the i. "I lost it, and it rolled this way."

"I don't know if I've seen it, but you might try that way." And the x pointed down the road.

"Thank you," said the i, and continued on.

Next, the road forked. At least the little i thought it did, until he got up to the fork. All of a sudden, the fork stood up.

"Please don't step on me," said the y.

"I'm sorry," said the i. "I thought you were the road."

"Yes, I get that a lot. What can I do for you?" replied the y.

"I've lost my dot. Has it come down here?"

"It may have come down this way," said the y. "So many things have gone over me today that I just don't remember."

"That's ok," said the i.

As soon as the i walked away from the y, he heard a loud snoring. It got very loud, until he saw what it was.

"Z, wake up please," the i said loudly.

"ZzzzzzzzzZZZ?" said the z.

"Z, can you tell me if you've seen my dot?" asked the i.

"No, I haven't seen any dotssssssssszzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzz."

The i sat down after the z and cried. He was so disappointed that he hadn't found his dot. But his journey wasn't over yet.