Targeted Age Group: 8-12
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi/fantasy, Childrens Fiction, Short Stories
Your Story:
The Star Power Puppy was awoken by his nap by a voice in his head. Due to sleepiness all he heard was, From what he understood, someone or someplace called Ebulon was in trouble and needed help. He was unsure about the last part. Who or what was he supposed to follow?
Being a superhero, Star Power knew that it was his duty to help, but how? What was Ebulon? This is the question he felt needed answering first. Luckily the young terrier mix was expected at the Fountain City Observatory, where he and a group of other superheroes called Heroes United, met weekly and in emergencies.
At the observatory, when all members of Heroes United had arrived, the team leader, Black Cat, began the meeting. As usual the cat began by saying, “If there is anything that needs immediate attention, please bring it up now.”
“I received a telepathic message this morning and was alerted by a mysterious voice that someone or something was in danger and needs help,” Star Power reported.
“Did it have a name?” Black Cat asked him.
“I don’t know about the voice, but someone or something called Ebulon is in danger,” Star Power replied. When Black Cat didn’t respond right away he said, “We have to help. We are heroes, it’s our duty.
“I agree,” Black Cat said, “But does anyone know who or what Ebulon is?”
“It sounds like a world to me,” a human with the power to shape shift into a Grizzly Bear called Grizzly girl said, “And I should know, I come from one.” The Grizzly Girl was from The World of Shape Shifters in the Other Realm.
“If that’s true then Asantra should know about it.” Wonder Wolf said. Asantra was a witch who came from the Other Realm. Her mom, DWW, had been the Head of the Witches Council, which is the person in charge of all magic users in both the Other Realm and Mortal Realm, as well as all the worlds in the Other Realm. Because of this Asantra knew about all the ones in existence and as a kid, had explored many of them.
“You mean the original Wonder Wolf?” Black Cat asked.
“Yes,” Wonder Wolf said. Before her days as Wonder Wolf began, Wonder Wolf was a girl called Dillon who had superpowers but hero identity until she met Asantra. In order to stay out of trouble with DWW, Asantra had asked Dillon to become Wonder Wolf, after creating the hero and going on an adventure with Black Cat and Chihuahua, which she wasn’t supposed to do.
“Do you know where to find her?” Black Cat asked.
“I’m pretty sure I can find her at the school,” Wonder Wolf replied confidently.
“I don’t think we should waste any time responding to the distress call,” Trixie said. Trixie was a shape shifter who could turn into any animal and look however she wanted. She could even become an exact duplicate of any animal or human in looks. Because she had this ability Trixie didn’t feel she needed a superhero costume to hide her identity and so she and her two sidekicks, a Golden Eagle called Miles, and a magical white Bengal Tiger cub, Cosmo, where the only members of Heroes United to use their real names full time.
“I agree,” Black Cat said, “Wonder Wolf, take Wonder Horse and find Asantra as quickly as you can.”
“Okay,” Wonder Wolf agreed, quickly mounting her horse. “We will be back soon!”
Black Cat’s sidekick, the little brown Chihuahua, Chihuahua, then quickly pushed a button on the wall, opening up a large hole in the observatory ceiling so that Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse could fly out of the building without any delays.
Asantra was in the middle of class when Wonder Wolf rushed in with Wonder Horse.
“Dillon! I mean…Wonder Wolf!” Asantra exclaimed in surprise, “What are you doing here?”
“We need your help!” Wonder Wolf said hurriedly, “Have you ever heard of a world called Ebulon?”
“No,” Asantra replied. “That isn’t a world in the Other Realm. Why?”
“Star Power got a distress call saying Ebulon needed help,” Wonder Wolf explained.
“And you think Ebulon is a world?” Asantra asked.
“We did,” Wonder Wolf said disappointedly.
“It still could be,” Asantra replied thoughtfully. “It could be a dimension.”
“A dimension?” Wonder Wolf asked.
“Dimensions are worlds in the Mortal Realm,” Asantra explained. “It’s a recent discovery. Mortals sometimes just call them worlds. Sometimes they are also known as alternate realities or alternate Earths. Until my discovery witches didn’t know that they really existed. We always thought the only worlds in existence were those connected to the Other Realm. Although we now know of a few, we don’t know all of the dimensions in existence.”
“How would I find Ebulon?” Wonder Wolf asked.
“Follow the voice,” Trom said walking into the room.
“What voice?” Wonder Wolf asked the old warlock confused.
“Didn’t you hear a voice in your head from Ebulon requesting your help?” Trom asked.
“I didn’t,” Wonder Wolf said. “Star Power did, but he didn’t hear the whole thing.”
“Hang on a minute,” Asantra said. “Trom? You received a help request from Ebulon?”
“Yes,” Trom confirmed. “The voice said to follow it to Ebulon.”
“Why didn’t you follow it?” Asantra asked.
“Because, I can’t just leave,” Trom said, “I have duties here.”
“Well, Sky and Jill can cover for me.” Asantra said quickly.
“What are you talking about?” Wonder Wolf asked.
“I’m going with you!” Asantra said determinedly.
From atop her shoulder Asantra’s familiar, a Double X Bird called Screetche, said, “I’ll go too.”
“But you guys aren’t superheroes,” Wonder Wolf said, “And from what I can gather from the call, is if out world is being contacted from another dimension, then there must be a big war or something happening.”
“I have been in fights before,” Asantra said stubbornly. “And I am a witch.”
“Asantra definitely knows how to fight,” Screetche said, “I have seen her in action. She once took on and almost won against a whole wolf pack!”
“Well…okay,” Wonder Wolf said hesitantly. “I guess Ebulon does need as much help as it can get.” Upon saying this Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse turned to leave. “Meet us at the observatory as soon as you can!” Wonder Wolf said to Asantra.
As the heroes were leaving Trom called, “Remember, tell Star Power to follow the voice!” Then to Asantra he said, “Tell DWW and the others back home about this!”
“Why?” Asantra asked confused.
“Ebulon needs them!” Trom replied offering no further explanation.
Not wanting to waste time Asantra changed into her wolf form and sped home with Screetche flying as fast as he could behind her. Just before she left the school she called back to Trom, “Tell Sky and Jill to cover for me here!”
Once home, Asantra changed back into a human and ran inside where she immediately ran into her mom’s familiar, a Golden Retriever called Trillman.
“Asantra!” Trillman said in surprise, “What…?” He began.
“I need to talk to you, DWW, and even Sampson quickly!” Asantra interrupted.
Sampson, who was a goldfish that had once been a warlock, upon hearing his name looked at Asantra expectantly and eagerly.
DWW had been in a room nearby. Upon hearing Asantra’s urgent request she came into the room. Asantra quickly told them everything. DWW was the first one Asantra would have expected to agree to help so she was surprised when DWW reluctantly said, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“But Trom said…” Asantra started.
“I know,” DWW said, “And for this reason I will talk to Turtle. If she agrees then we will go help.” Turtle was a witch living in the Other Realm who was now in charge of making most of the decisions regarding magic users.
“Okay,” Asantra said, “But hurry!”
DWW zapped herself to the Other Realm where she quickly found Turtle.
“We should help them,” Turtle said after DWW told her the situation.
“But witches have never been involved in a Mortal Realm war before,” DWW said.
“You wanted witches and mortals to get along,” Turtle reminded her. “Just because Ebulon is a different world that doesn’t change the fact that mortals live there. Don’t you want to have a good relationship with all mortals, no matter where they are from?” Turtle paused before saying, “Helping these mortals in a large war like this could only help.”
“You’re right,” DWW said slowly. “I do want to help them, but…”
“I know,” Turtle answered softly, “It’s a part of war that can’t be helped, but this doesn’t mean you have to take part in the killing. There are other ways you can help. Besides death, war comes with injuries, some of which a witch can fix. You can help everyone as a healer.”
“I could do that,” DWW said thinking it over. “Okay, I will tell Asantra that we will help Ebulon.”
After DWW returned to the Mortal Realm, before following her, Turtle’s familiar, a Labrador Retriever, asked, “Do you want my help?”
“Yes,” Turtle replied. “But not in battle.”
“Then what do you want me to do?” He asked.
Before answering him Turtle went to her friends, a witch and her familiar. “I need you two to cover for me while I am in the Mortal Realm,” She said.
Both agreed to do this. After they did so, Turtle turned to her familiar and said, “I need you to make sure someone stays out of trouble.” When she said this she was looking at her friends familiar.
Her own familiar saw who she meant and dutifully said, “Got it.”
Now in the Mortal Realm, Turtle said, “Because Ebulon will need strong fighters, I am going to release Sampson from his fish prison and allow him to become human until we return home.”
Because DWW had once allowed Sampson to return to his human form with disastrous results she said, “Why would you do that after what he did last time?”
“Because,” Turtle said, “He was one of our best fighters during the witch/witch hunter battle. He was a big help to us.”
“Yes, but he had alternate reasons for helping!” DWW insisted, “The last thing we need is for him to turn traitor again!”
“Again?” Asantra asked confused, “When was the first time?”
DWW and the others stared at her. “How could you forget?” DWW asked.
Sampson laughed. Something in the way he did this made Asantra suddenly remember. “Oh, yeah. I was there!” Asantra said.
Answering DWW, Turtle firmly said, “We need him.” Not waiting for any kind of reply from anyone, Turtle transformed the fish into a man. The next thing Turtle said was, “Now that everyone who is going is here, Asantra, lead everyone to the observatory to meet with Heroes United!”
As everyone started leaving, DWW noticed that Turtle wasn’t following them. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked.
“Yes, I will be there,” Turtle said. “But you won’t see me.” With that Turtle used her magic and disappeared.
Confused, DW followed the rest of the group as they headed to the observatory.
At the observatory the members of Heroes United were impatiently awaiting Asantra’s arrival.
“You’re finally here!” Wonder Wolf said as Asantra and her group entered, “Where were you?” Her question was answered when she saw the rest of the group.
“I’m sorry,” Asantra apologized. “Trom made me fetch them to go with.”
“The important thing is everyone is here and ready to go,” Black Cat said. Then to be sure this statement was really true she asked, “Is everyone ready?” When everyone confirmed that they were Black Cat said, “Star Power, lead the way into Ebulon!”
“But, the voice hasn’t returned.” Star Power said.
“Well, get it back,” Spy Girl said impatiently. The Spy Girl was one of the only human member of the team with no superpowers. She was just a regular, but well trained, girl with gadgets.
“How?” Star Power asked.
To avoid any in group fighting, Black Cat said, “What were you doing when the voice came to you the first time?”
“Sleeping,” Star Power said.
“I doubt Ebulon has the time to wait for Star Power to get to sleep,” Asantra said.
“You’re probably right,” Black Cat said thoughtfully. “Star Power, try calling out to the voice with your mind. This has always worked with your teammates and enemies.”
“Yes, but I know who they are so I can send them thoughts. I don’t know who the voice is attached to,” Star Power said.
“Try anyway,” Wonder Wolf said gently.
“Just focus on how the voice sounded as you send your own thoughts,” Chihuahua suggested. “Maybe that will help.”
Star Power did this. Star Power thought, There was no response so Star Power tried again. Once again he got no response. Getting frustrated Star Power unintentionally thought out loud,
The voice said.
Star Power apologized.
The voice then said,
Star Power asked.
It replied.
Looking at his teammates and giving a quick nod to them, Star Power began following the voice in his head. The voice led them to the other end of Fountain City and right into the Fountain City graveyard. The voice instructed.
“We have to dig,” Star Power informed his teammates.
“In a graveyard?” Chihuahua whimpered.
“Yes,” Star Power said. “And at a grave.”
“If that’s what the voice says to do, then that’s what we do,” Black Cat said.
Star Power then led everyone to gravestone number 23 and began digging. Chihuahua, although reluctantly, helped, as did Trillman. When they had dug a deep enough hole for everyone to fit through they noticed a staircase leading down. “Let’s go,” Star Power said.
At the bottom of the stairs was a small room and two tunnels. Star Power asked the voice.
It answered.
Indicating with his tail the direction they would be going, Star Power led the group through the tunnel on the right. As they got to the end they were very confused, for at the end of the tunnel was a wall. The wall was made of stone. Star Power asked.
The voice answered.
Star Power asked. The voice did not answer, this was a problem they would have to figure out for themselves.
“Well, how do we get past the wall?” Spy Girl asked.
“The voice didn’t tell me,” Star Power replied. “We are on our own now.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Spy Girl said, “The voice asks for our help then won’t tell us how to get to the other side of the wall! There has to be a way though.”
“I agree,” Black Cat said. “If there wasn’t a way into Ebulon, the voice wouldn’t have called for our help.”
“Maybe the wall isn’t real,” Wonder Horse suggested. “Like that one time.”
Wonder Wolf knew what time Wonder Horse was referring to, even though no one else did and said, “Maybe.” She went up to the wall and checked it everywhere. “It’s solid stone,” She reported.
“My claws can cut through anything,” Black Cat said. “I could probably cut through it.”
“Yes, but that would still take a long time,” Spy Girl said. “We need a faster way. Maybe Wonder Horse can break it down.”
Wonder Horse went over to the wall and gave it the hardest kick he possibly could. The wall didn’t even move, much less break. It should have, but it didn’t.
“Anyone else have any ideas?” Black Cat asked.
“Well, the voice called to Star Power. Maybe there was a reason he specifically got the message,” Asantra said.
“What do you mean?” Star Power asked.
“You aren’t the only member of Heroes United to have psychic powers,” Black Cat said quickly catching on to what Asantra was thinking. “So maybe you have the power to break this wall.”
“What can I do?” Star Power asked.
“Use your powers, it’s all you can do,” Spy Girl said.
“Well, okay,” Star Power said. As he said this the star shaped marking on his head began to glow, and as his the glow got brighter they were able to see something happening to the wall. Unexpectedly an image began to appear on the wall. The image was of the sun. Then images of a star and the moon also began to appear. Underneath Star Power saw these words: Shine a light on that which has the most. Star Power wondered.
“Has the most what?” Grizzly Girl asked.
“The most light, I’m guessing,” Cosmo said.
“Well that would be the sun,” Spy Girl replied.
Star Power was about to use his powers to light up the sun when Black Cat stopped him. “Wait,” She said. “I think this is a trick question.”
“Why?” Star Power asked, “The sun always shines brighter than either the stars or the moon.”
“Yes, but think about it,” Black Cat said. “What is the sun?”
“A ball of gas?” Asantra asked.
“Well, yes…” Black Cat answered, “But what else is it?”
“My powers come from starlight but are often most effective in the daytime,” Star Power said thinking he figured it out.
“Exactly,” Black Cat said. “And how is that possible.”
“Because the sun is also a star,” Star Power replied.
“Right.” Black Cat praised him, “Which means…”
“I need to light up the star!” Star Power exclaimed. This is exactly what Star Power did next. As his light shone on the star the wall began to fade and eventually disappeared completely. The heroes stepped past where the wall was and as they did, they entered Ebulon. As soon as everyone had gone through the wall suddenly reappeared, but now that they knew what to do, this wasn’t going to be a problem.
Upon entering Ebulon, the first thing they noticed was how cold it was. Black Cat observed that it must have snowed recently. Luckily besides fur, the animals were all in their superhero costumes so they were warm enough. The humans were a little cold but aside from Spy Girl, all of them could turn into some kind of animal. Spy Girl’s costume was weather adaptable so she quickly changed it into a winter suit. The witches and Sampson all had the ability to magically head themselves internally so they didn’t feel the cold either. Trillman and Screetche were the only two that would remain a little cold, but they weren’t freezing so they were okay with it. Besides they were here to help Ebulon and nothing was going to stop them from doing this.
After the weather the next thing they noticed was that they were in a market area. For a moment Wonder Horse wondered if anyone was selling apples, but was quickly reminded by Wonder Wolf that they were here to fight if needed. But what were they here to fight?
The question was answered when a large creature was seen approaching. As it came closer they noticed that besides being large, it was well muscled, had green skin, red eyes, mustard yellow armor, and was carrying large and sharp looking weapons in each hand.
“It’s an orc!” Sampson exclaimed gleefully.
Immediately, the heroes got ready to fight. DWW quickly set up a medical area using her magic, where she would be if anyone needed her. To make it blend in with the other structures she saw in the area, she made it out of stone.
Chihuahua growled a warning at the approaching orc, but as he did so he backed up. Black Cat unsheathed her claws and waited for it in the hunters crouch as if awaiting prey. Next to her, Cosmo did the same. Wonder Wolf mounted Wonder Horse and prepared to signal him into action. Grizzly Girl changed into her Grizzly Bear form, Trixie and Asantra changed into wolves, Star Power prepared his star, Miles and Screetche awaited their humans signals, Spy Girl drew a sword from her utility belt, and Sampson just stood coolly waiting for the enemy to arrive.
As the orc got nearer, Black Cat began commanding her team, “Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse, you two are the most indestructible of the team. You will lead the battle from the ground. Fly if you need to. I will lead an air attack with Chihuahua. Asantra you will be in charge of orders for your team! The rest of you, follow me and Chihuahua!”
Considering her team was just her and Sampson, Trillman was going to help DWW, and Sampson was not about to let himself be ordered around, knowing this Asantra simply said, “Sampson, fight!”
“I can do that!” Sampson said eagerly. He was impatient for the fight to begin. Although she wouldn’t admit it, Asantra was also impatient for the fight to start.
Black Cat observed the orc as it moved towards them. Being a superhero she wasn’t about to lead her team into a fight until the enemy threatened them first. To her surprise the orc walked right past the heroes and into the marketplace, where it immediately began smashing things.
“I don’t think we were supposed to let it past us!” Spy Girl said.
Although not attacking her team, it was threatening innocent people. For this reason Black Cat said, “Team, attack! Don’t let it do any more damage!”
Sampson used his magic to make his hands flame. He began creating a large fireball.
Black Cat, took to the sky and aimed her attacks at the orcs head. The rest of her aerial comrades did the same. The more grounded members of her team went for the orcs heels. Together Black Cat and her team managed to surprise the orc with their strength. It had not expected them to be much of a threat. The orc aimed some strikes at the members of Heroes United with its weapons, but they were able to stay behind him, which made it harder for him to hit and easier for the heroes to dodge the attacks at themselves. Together Heroes United, and Asantra, managed to get the orc on the run. Not paying attention the orc ran towards Sampson, who looked up just in time, from creating his fireball, for the orc to run right into him. To his surprise and delight the orc caught fire and began to burn.
When the orc was dead, Sampson looked at it proudly. “I just killed my first orc,” He bragged. Sampson caught a look from DWW as he said this. “What?” He asked defensively, “He ran into me! Besides magic can’t be used to kill anyone directly, only hurt them. What I was doing wouldn’t have killed him if he hadn’t been dumb enough to run into my fireball.” This was true, magic only worked to kill if the killing was indirect or unintentional.
DWW didn’t answer him. Although she didn’t like killing, this wasn’t her problem with Sampson, it was his attitude to killing that bugged her. It was hard for her to believe that she had ever liked this guy and had been friends with him. Rather than argue with him, DWW looked away.
“So, that’s it? We won?” Spy Girl asked.
“It can’t be,” Asantra replied.
“Why not?” Grizzly Girl asked.
“First, that battle was too short,” Asantra said, “And second…” Asantra noticed something in the distance. The rest of the heroes looked at what Asantra saw. More orcs were on their way. “Orcs never come alone,” Asantra finished.
“Everyone get ready!” Black Cat called, “And this time, let’s keep them away from the market! On my signal we attack!”
The approaching orcs looked much like the lone orc that had attacked the group. Only the color of their skin and armor varied. All of the orcs were large, repulsive looking, carried large and sharp looking weapons, and were wearing very aggressive expressions.
The heroes looked upon the orc army with equally aggressive expressions. Sampson’s expression was just a little different than the rest. His was aggression like the rest, only it was mixed with excited anticipation.
When she felt the army was close enough, Black Cat launched herself into battle signaling with her tail for the other heroes to follow. Not far into it Black Cat realized that the heroes appeared to be fighting a losing battle, at least with the way they were fighting. Every hero had gone after a different orc, and most were barely making progress against the army. There were too many orcs attacking at once. The heroes would need to come up with a strategy to greatly reduce the enemies numbers.
“Spy Girl!” Black Cat called out, “Do you have any gadgets that could attack multiple enemies at once to at least give us some fighting room!”
“I think so!” Spy Girl called back after defeating her orc. Spy Girl stopped fighting orcs for the moment to look in her small, but mysteriously deeply pocketed utility belt. As she did another orc began approaching from behind her. Chihuahua, who happened to get thrown in Spy Girl’s direction by the orc he had been fighting, noticed this.
Regaining control of his flight ability, Chihuahua flew a circle around the orc, distracting him for a few seconds. Spy Girl began pulling something long and green out of her belt and began doing something to. To Chihuahua who only saw quick glimpses, as he flew around the orc, it looked as if she was unwrapping or peeling whatever it was.
Another orc appeared while Chihuahua was busy with the first and raised his ax like weapon, which may have been an ax, Chihuahua wasn’t sure. Just before the weapon hit Spy Girl, Chihuahua rushed towards it and grabbed the handle in his jaws. Because Chihuahua had super strength, among his other abilities, upon having a hold on the orcs weapon, the little dog was able to hold on tightly and pull the orc in a different direction by twisting around in the air, though what he really wanted to do was get the weapon away from the enemy. As he was struggling to do this, the other orc attacked Chihuahua.
With an extra strong twist, using all his strength and his full body to achieve his goal, Chihuahua finally twisted the weapon free from the orcs hand. Chihuahua then turned, or rather, straightened himself out just in time to avoid having his head removed by the weapon of the second orc. Instead of losing his head, the orcs weapon landed a clean hit and cut right through Chihuahua’s long tail.
Fighting a yelp that would make him lose his grip on his confiscated weapon, the now angry little dog swung the weapon at both orcs, who at this time were standing very close together. The orcs were lined up just right and Chihuahua put just enough force in his swing to remove something very important to both of them.
“I got it!” Spy Girl exclaimed suddenly. She was holding something long and yellow.
Chihuahua heard her but didn’t respond. He was distractedly sniffing at something long, brown, and furry on the ground. With a whimper, Chihuahua realized that the thing used to be his tail. Chihuahua wanted to pick it up and make DWW reattach it, but he looked in the direction in which the majority of orcs and heroes were fighting and once again he felt very angry. With a growl, Chihuahua decided that his tail could wait. Right now there was a battle to be won!
Spy Girl threw her gadget towards the center of the enemy army.
“Was that an ear of corn?” Asantra asked.
“Sort of,” Spy Girl replied. She then explained, “It is corn in the sense that it looks, feels, and is grown like corn, but it acts very different and you wouldn’t want to eat it.”
“Why’s that?” Wonder Horse asked curiously.
“What it does is highly destructive,” Spy Girl answered then offered no further explanation knowing that the heroes would find out what the corn does very shortly. Spy Girl watched where she had threw the corn and waited patiently until she saw a bright flash of light. The flash was a signal that Spy Girl knew meant the corn was ready to activate. As soon as she saw this, Spy Girl urgently said, “All heroes fall back now!”
Everyone did as Spy Girl said and the kernels of the corn began popping in all directions. As kernels hit something they exploded. This went on for several seconds, and maybe even as long as a minute passed before all was quiet, at least quiet as far as the exploding corn was concerned. Sadly, the results were not what had been expected. Only minimal damage had been done to the orcs closest.
“It wasn’t powerful enough!” Black Cat said.
“Well, it was designed for humans and human sized enemies,” Spy Girl explained feeling disappointed.
Suddenly Sampson had an idea. “Do you have another one?” He asked Spy Girl.
“One, why?” She asked suspiciously.
“I have a good idea,” He replied smiling mysteriously and somewhat evilly at the same time. “This time, though, make sure it lands directly in the center of the orc army!”
“How?” Spy Girl asked.
“Use the birds,” Sampson replied simply.
The birds, Miles and Screetche, soon found themselves flying over the orcs with an ear of corn in their talons. Upon finding direct center they dropped it into the army which for some reason had stopped attacking and was only beginning to attack the heroes.
As it fell, Sampson used his magic to make the ear of corn as large as possible until it exploded. By the time the kernels began popping each kernel was almost as big as an orc. This time, for most of the orcs, as they got hit by a kernel, it meant instant death. For the remaining orcs, which were around ten rather than two hundred as before, they were either injured, stunned from the bright light caused by the corn activating and the explosions from each kernel, or both. As soon as this opportunity presented itself, the heroes were upon the enemy quickly eliminating all remaining orcs.
Upon winning the battle, all of the heroes except Chihuahua, wanted to celebrate. Chihuahua unhappily returned to his tail and picked it up. And for the first time, since it got cut off, Chihuahua felt the pain of losing his tail in more ways than one.
Sampson didn’t follow the other heroes back into the market either, but this was for a different reason. Sampson was looking thoughtfully at the dead orcs.
Chihuahua carried his tail, which was colder than he had expected it to be even for having been sitting in snow, towards DWW. As soon as he reached her he handed DWW his tail, which she took from him.
“Can you reattach it?” Chihuahua asked her pleadingly.
DWW looked at the tail thoughtfully and examined it. Although she wanted to say something positive to him, DWW knew that she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Chihuahua, but I can’t,” DWW answered him regretfully. “That part of your tail is dead. All I can do is clean and close your new tail stub.” While it was true that DWW couldn’t do anything about the tail he lost because magic can’t bring back the dead, although it can reanimate dead things with brains, she could easily have used her magic to give him a full tail again. DWW didn’t mention this to Chihuahua because she knew how proud the little dog was of his tail and he would never feel this way about any tail created by magic, it just wouldn’t have been the same.
Although he hadn’t noticed before, Chihuahua looked back to see that his tail was sill bleeding. Sadly, Chihuahua allowed DWW to do what she could in the shelter she had created. When she was finished she told Chihuahua to go celebrate with everyone else although she knew Chihuahua probably wouldn’t do this.
As Chihuahua came out of the shelter, he was surprised to see the other heroes waiting for him. Black Cat was sitting patiently in the front of the group. Before Chihuahua could say anything Black Cat said, “You may have lost your tail but you should be proud; not for the loss of your tail, but because of why. You lost your tail in a battle helping a friend and because of this the courage and loyalty you showed will not go unrewarded.” Black Cat paused here then she placed a paw on Chihuahua’s shoulder and continued, “You have now achieved full hero status. Today you are no longer my sidekick…you are my partner. Congratulations Chihuahua!”
“Really?” Chihuahua asked. His eyes were shining with excitement, “I’m now a hero…like you?”
“Yes,” Black Cat said, her eyes shining equally as bright.
“But how did you know?” Chihuahua asked in confusion, “I didn’t think anyone noticed.”
“I know I didn’t say anything earlier, but I did notice,” Spy Girl said. “I told Black Cat because I felt you deserved more than just a thank you.”
Before Chihuahua could say anything else something caught his attention. Chihuahua stood rigidly for a couple seconds sniffing the air.
“What is it?” Black Cat asked unsheathing her claws in case another army of orcs was nearby.
Suddenly Chihuahua’s stub tail began wagging. Excitedly he said, “I smell cookies!” He then ran off towards the scent. Black Cat relaxed and followed him at a slower pace. The rest of the heroes then followed her. While most of the heroes were beginning to celebrate in the market, one was busy with something else.
Sampson was performing a spell over the entire, recently killed, army of orcs. During the battle he had noticed just how good of fighters the orcs were and with Spy Girl having used up all her exploding corn, if he had control over this orc army Sampson wondered if enhanced with his magic, he could take over this world. Now of course was as good a time as any to try he figured.
Just as his zombie orcs began to rise, DWW noticed and quickly alerted the other heroes. The heroes complete with DWW, approached Sampson, whose army had now fully risen. Sampson’s zombie army was now ready and awaiting his command.
The heroes treated Sampson as any other villain and waited until he made the first move to attack them.
“Zombie orcs attack!” Sampson called. The zombie orcs didn’t move. “Attack!” Sampson said again. Still he got no action. “Zombies, come on! Attack! Attack now!” Sampson was getting very frustrated and feeling very confused. Why were his zombie orcs not listening to him?
Suddenly Turtle materialized in between Sampson and the heroes. Quickly she conjured up a fishbowl then using her magic she turned a confused and surprised Sampson back into a fish.
“What just happened?” Wonder Wolf asked confused.
“In order to prevent an attack from Sampson, as I had expected,” Turtle began looking at DWW as she said that last part. “I used my magic to join with him so that I would be in him the entire time.”
“He should have been able to sense your magic then, shouldn’t he, or at least have known someone else was using his body?” Grizzly Girl asked.
“I was never using his body exactly,” Turtle said. “He never knew I was there because I allowed him complete freedom right up until that last moment, or last spell he performed. During that last spell I made it so that instead of using his magic, he was using mine which meant that the zombie orcs would not be loyal to him…but to me.” Upon explaining this Turtle released the zombie orcs from the spell and the orcs resumed being dead.
“I should have known you would have a plan,” DWW said apologetically.
Turtle looked back at her thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything for a few moment. When she eventually did say something, it was to all the heroes. What she said was, “Now that all the enemies really are gone, let’s go celebrate!” And that’s exactly what they did.
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