A short story by Linh Hoang Nguyen
Chapter 1: Introduction
" You're it, Snot!" I giggled as we chased each other across the backyard. Snot's real name is Icarian Jordan Blackwell and he's 11, 3 years older than me. But I prefer Snot.And then we have mum. Mum is so colourful and REALLY positive, no kidding! And DAD. He's DEAD serious about everything. Snot and I were in the garden because that day he was separating the gravel, each and every one of them. He said if we go where he is he's taking 20c off our pocket money. Which is useless because 20c IS our pocket money. Also including Immorallia Jewel Blackwell! She's my adorwable guinea pig. And ME! I'm Leimomi Paige Blackwell. I can be sometimes negative, but can be really silly if I'm with someone I'm really familiar with.
"I'm TIRED." complained Snot. " You always are, sea slug." I teased. We have secret names for each other. Snot calls me old potato. "I'm going to bed, old potato." See? I told you! "Have fun making slithering around!" "Have fun ROTTING AWAY." He shot back, and sloped to his bedroom.
I decided to go for a walk and get Immorallia some fresh air. I went to my own bedroom and spotted Immorallia running on her wheel. I carefully carried her out of her cage and brought some carrot sticks. Then I walked to the front door and pulled my sneakers on.
I gave Immorallia one of the carrot sticks and opened the door slightly. I saw dad admiring his work on the gravel, which had been sorted out into squares. He noticed me and it was a bit too late to shut the door. "Don't worry. I'm done. Just be careful where you step." He explained. Hopping on my tiptoes like an idiot I managed to avoid ruining the squares. I crossed the agonising busy road and looked at Immorallia, who had managed to already finish the carrot stick in record time. I patted her head and grabbed a slightly larger one to give to her. She started nibbling straight away and I smiled. I turned around the corner. OH NO.
Ambimbola Smith(meaning rich child, which she is.). As you might know, some bullies are not pretty and popular. BUT Ambimbola IS. Weird, right? " OMG. Are you seriously wearing those SUPER CHEAP sneakers ? Yesterday I got sneakers for $300. Can you STAND wearing them? " She sneered. " I can," I challenged. "Where did you get that RAT from? The sewer? Where you live?" She taunted. Her gang (who was with her ) laughed. I'm okay when someone threatens me, but NO-ONE. THREATENS. MY .FAMILY. " Can you GO AWAY? YOU'RE the only RAT who's around here. What is it like with your SEWER FAMILY?" I asked, a bit shocked by my own outburst. Ambimbola glared at me and whispered: "Come on gang. Let's get out of here to avoid Miss Nuts."
They disappeared around the corner.
I went back to where I was when I crossed the road and started walking and gave Immorallia another carrot stick.
Chapter 2: The interesting bits
I noticed a news agency as I walked. I went inside and felt around in my pocket. YES! $20 was enough to buy something. I looked up to find a happy and positive lady smiling down at me. Reminded me of my mum. "Hello! Welcome to my shop. I'm Gabrielle, but call me Gabe. Choose any thing you want! What's your name?"
"Leimomi." I mumbled. I turned my head. There were so many things! For some reason I was drawn to the magazine section. I took 1 Total Girl magazine and walked over to the newspapers. Oddly, they looked rather interesting, so I took one. Then I realised I was a bit hungry and got a Kit Kat bar. I walked over to the counter where Gabe was and gave her what I had chosen. " I love Total Girl magazines! And mmmmmm, I'm mouth-watering at that chocolate." She sighed. I left the news agency with $15($4 dollars discount). I read the newspaper:
MIRACLE SLIPS AWAY FROM SCIENTIST'S HANDS
Dr. Mathew Jones managed to make a time machine that can transport you to the past, the future or even the present to see what you are doing now.
As it was so small, he put it in a robot so you have assistance and a guide. Sadly, he lost it and it is so important he sent out a search party to find it. " I spent half my own money on it and I have also wasted days, months of my life." Mathew sobbed. When it is found Jone's University will study it to see how this brilliant professor made it.
Back to the story. I folded the newspaper up and smiled. Immorallia finished her carrot stick. Thank goodness I had a dozen. I tried to give her another one but she refused. Full, I thought. I looked down, as I had bumped into something. A tiny robot appeared at my feet.
"HELLO. YOU MUST BE MY MASTER. HELLO MASTER. WANT TO GO TO THE FUTURE TO SEE YOU STILL 9/8?" It said. I was a bit bedazzled by it and had randomly muttered 'yes,'.
Before I realised what was happening we flew down from a ceiling. Immorallia was nuzzling her head against my hand for another carrot stick to check if she was dreaming. I gave her one because I knew how she felt. I sat on a bed. I noticed controllers and pressed a button. "WOOOAAHH!! AARRGGHH!!!" I cried. The bed was FLYING! I managed to get the bed on ground.
"Who's there?" Shouted someone. I had no choice but to dive under the bed. I looked at Immorallia, who was shaking. Poor thing. A girl who looked exactly like me barged into the room with the same parents as mine and the same Snot(I mean Icarian). I crawled out of the bed. The girl looked at me in shock. "Wh-Wh-Who a-a-are y-y-y-y-y-you?" She stuttered."Leimomi." I answered. "But that's me! How did you get here? This place has 100% security!" She stammered. "Calm down, Leimomi. If she speaks like you and looks like you and has the same name we can trust her, like we trust you." Leimomi's dad said. "Okay. Hi! How did you get here?"She smiled. "Well I found this robot and it somehow transported me here.""So you didn't come on purpose! Welcome! You must be hungry! This way to the kitchen!"Leimomi"s mother grinned. "I don't mean to be curious, but how come you're just like me?"Leimomi asked me."I'm not sure too. Maybe ask the robot."I replied. My twin turned to the robot and her mouth moved. The robot answered back. Leimomi turned back to me and smiled."You own a TIME MACHINE?! Lucky you!"She gushed. We went to the kitchen and my jaw dropped.
This house was AWESOME! The plates and bowls including cutlery set themselves up on the table, a TV sat in the corner and changed channels itself and a robot was happily cooking the food. "It's like you have never seen a normal house before!"Leimomi exclaimed. I was like, NORMAL?!
Anyway, we sat down. Leimomi's mother ate granola with chia seeds and apple juice, while Leimomi's dad(who is lactose intolerant) had orange juice and toast and the other Snot and Leimomi had strawberry yogurt and milk with some fruit. The kitchen robot twisted it's head around to face me."Hello, new earthling. What would you like for your meal?"It spoke."Erm... jelly and chocolate with lychee juice?" I spluttered. The robot turned it's head around again and gave me the exact same thing I wanted. I chose those things because the food I have is BORING!"And something for your pet?""No thank you. She has food already."I answered, while giving another carrot stick to Immorallia."She's so adorable!"Squealed Leimomi.
"I thought you had one?"I asked Leimomi. "Oh yeah! IIIIIImmmoooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrraaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!"
She called. Suddenly the same Immorallia came in a ball. WITH LEGS. And get this! It had CONTROLLERS. My own Immorallia squealed as she knew she would have this in the future."That's not all,"Leimomi proclaimed proudly. She clapped her hands twice and the other Immorallia fiddled with some buttons. The ball went up and she jumped out."NOOOOOOOO!" I screamed. But just before the guinea pig reached ground the ball(which had somehow shrunk) stuck onto the other Immorallia's(I'll call her O.I.) back and pulled her up. The ball pulled her up to the ceiling and then it stopped for a few seconds. But then O.I. sprouted wings! Yes, WINGS! She flew across the room until she looked a bit tired and landed. The ball grew back to it's original size and O.I. climbed in. I thought she would go but a small bed popped up and O.I. flopped on it. I took a bite out of my chocolate to check if this was a dream. Nup. "You'll have to get used to that,"Said Leimomi and we giggled.
Chapter 3: Not so nice to meet you, Odilo Poison Dart!
When we finished our meal Leimomi's mother asked me if I wanted to go to the news agency with Leimomi and her. I nodded and she told her husband to bring something. He came back. WITH HOVERBOARDS! And soon I was back with ye old jaw-dropping routine. Leimomi taught me how to balance and turn it on and stuff like that. "You stand on it side-ways,"She informed,"And press a button. Don't worry, there's one on each side. Then you stand up straight and then you need to tell it where you want to go and it takes you there. It's also solar powered so it's actually charging when you use it. And the amount of time you use it can be limit-less. You can also sit on it." I decided to sit on it, as I have MAJOR problems balancing sometimes. I pressed a button and WHOOSH! Off I went, hair flying behind my head. Veeerry ssllloowwlly I lifted my fingers off the board. "Who hoo!" I yelled, waving them in the air. I looked side ways at Leimomi, who was grinning.
We tiptoed into the news agency. I expected to find the future Gabe, but instead there was this big burly man whose muscles bulged whenever he reached for a can of tomato soup."HELLO! WELCOME! GREETINGS! LEIMOMI, IS THIS YOUR TWIN? YOU LOOK SO ALIKE! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?" He-well, said? No, too quiet. Bellowed? That's better. He bellowed. "That's Bob. A GINORMOUS man with a even bigger heart."Leimomi said, while her mum bought newspapers and magazines and handfuls of guinea pig food. Mrs Blackwell(in the future) gave us some money to buy something. We both bought a Nerf Rebelle gun. You know, those mini ones.
BUT when we stepped out the door a
- rabbit with a snake's head was smashing stuff( it was gigantic)
-gorilla with lion fur was picking up cars and throwing them everywhere
-stripy, roaring zebra kicking barriers
And the most terrifying was this animal with a rabbit tail, a snake's mouth, a gorilla's arms, a lion's body, a tiger's face and a zebra's legs, doing all three and assisting them. I looked closer and noticed a mad scientist was riding on its back. I turned to my twin and said "Leimomi. I learned something in science and I think it's gonna help. Please get some snake poison AND MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T COME FROM A KING COBRA. All snakes are immune to their poison,especially the King Cobra. I'd recognise that snake any time of the day. Ask Bob for some. Make sure it's super deadly and I hope it doesn't go in your mouth." She nodded and ran back to the shop. Soon she returned with a small bottle. I read it.
BE CAREFUL
VERY DEADLY EVEN FOR SNAKES
USE ONLY AT CRITICAL TIMES
I thought this was sure critical, so I popped open the lid. I got my Rebelle gun out and soaked the foamy bullets with poison. Carefully, I ran out to the intimidating animal and shot one out. It hit the animal on its back, and it hissed/screeched and turned its head. My eyes widened. I forgot that fly spray doesn't kill you, and it's poison-same with the Rebelle gun and THAT THING. "RUN!" Leimomi screamed. We tried to escape but the mad scientist had seen us. He clicked his fingers and robots appeared out of nowhere. They took hold of our wrists and flew away. We heard the faint sound of of Leimomi's mum crying for her daughter and her friend, saying she should have not taken them to the news agency. Fog surrounded us and using our free arm we tried to bat it away.
Eventually we came to a isolated mountain with a big(and I mean BIG) metal building with a sign saying "The EVIL", and we were taken in. I looked around and there was tecnological devices everywhere-the biggest were giant tubes connected to a huge green sphere with buttons and those things that look like sticks and-doesn't matter. The robots took us into cages and the mad scientist climbed into the sphere and pressed a button, twice. Instantly these gloopy rubbery thingies(sorry, I say that so much) shot out and wrapped themselves around our arms TIGHT. The robots then removed the cages. "If you are trapping us here, then why are you removing the cages? True evilness wouldn't do that." I protested. "Excuse me? I am taking over the country. BAM! Evilness;IN YOUR FACE! I, Dr. Poison Dart has done 30 years of evilness studying." He replied proudly. "I wouldn't like to hear your criticism, so instead you're going in a big metal box instead of those lame handcuffs." He went on.
As Dr. Poison Dart spoke, the handcuffs melted away and the metal box grew around Leimomi and I. "So we gotta find a way to get rid of him and save the country. Mind's blank - any idea?" Leimomi muttered."Well,er, we could control the robots to take him away?""I'm worried if we take him to another country he does it again and in the sea it's the same. Maybe you had something in your time that could make him unevil?""No way! We didn't have all that moolah for the stuff you even have now!" We couldn't think of anything and waited ten minutes.
I already had snapped the Kit Kat bar I bought in Gabe's shop in half and gave one side to Leimomi. "Hey... don't you notice that when we first saw Dr. Poison Dart and his animal he was holding a whip and some kind of walkie-talkie? It's pretty clear he's controlling it to do stuff. Poor thing. I bet it doesn't like him." Leimomi said. "Wait a minute! If the animal doesn't like him then it can destroy him. Serves him right for trying to take over the country." I exclaimed. Leimomi jumped to her feet."If you think the animal can destroy him then let's try it!" Then I had another brain wave and said the poison could break open the metal cage. We tried it, and it worked!But a the metal dissolved into goey mess the robots were coming at us. Lucky I know how to punch and kick well.
Chapter 4: Fight for our country like an army (except without all the people and we're fighting against a mad scientist and have not much hope.)
Okay, I'm really bad at that. I'm not the type of hero who's a ninja star and has just recently saved the universe 245 times. I'm that kind of person who waves their arms around like I have gone mad when it comes to punching and I have no sucess. Let me prove it to you.
-In all of my school athletics and swimming carnivals I have come last.
-In tests I don't go well because I go crazy. I can't manage time. Let's say for now.
-I am most CERTAINLY not good at being real careful. Really.
So I did what I could. I waved my arms like crazy. But I somehow managed to knock them out. I used this tactic on the rest and soon all of them were lying on the floor. While I did this Leimomi clogged all the shooters that could get out dangerous things. The scientist had disappeared. "So now we find the animal." I said. After searching we found a tunnel and crawled through it . We were struck lucky as a ladder led down to... IT.
I carefully climbed down and when I got to the bottom I signalled to Leimomi to follow. After she went down we heard a low growl. We turned around and the animal was there. It thought I and Leimomi was dangerous. As I looked closer it had camoflaging wings. It reminded me of How To Train Your Dragon and like when Hiccup met Toothless, I lifted my hand to try and stroke it. It came closer. Very carefully its furry head touched my hand. Slowly I stroked it and it nuzzled its head against my arm. "Aw, cute."Leimomi said. "By the way, I managed to get Dr. Poison Dart in ye old handcuffs. We just gotta get the animal to-""GRRRRRRRR!" The animal growled. It went towards Dr. Poison Dart but there was a chain attached to it's neck. Suddenly I remembered the poison and the metal cage and checked the bottle of poison. Only one drop left! I very very very very very carefully put it around the chain, which instead snapped.
The animal ran towards Dr. Poison Dart and took him in its hands and stood up on its hind legs. It went outside, and its arm went round and round and then it let go-the scientist was flapping his arms about-I didn't realise I was grinning.
Chapter 5: The reward
We were sent to Leimomi's mum straight away and she hugged us. She was so quiet and her eyes were red from crying. We all got a flight from the president who gave both of us a medal. He dropped us at the house. But before he went he said "It has been nice flying with you. The scientist's animal can be taken care of. Just touch my hand and it will go to your hand. Whenever you want it it'll appear in a cage. Even if you leave it the last time it'll appear next time still in the cage." I touched his hand and a ball of light went into my hand. He went. I collected my robot from the house and Leimomi gave me a necklace . She had one on and she said we could communicate and see each other in it. I got Immorallia back.
I said bye and asked the robot to bring me back to the past.
I floated down to the streets and gasped. No time had passed! Joyfully I went home and told everyone I had found the robot-the time-travel one! Very soon a bedraggled but over-the-moon scientist went to collect it and said thanks.
But the next day Dr. Mathew Jones arrived at our door. He said the robot still thought it was my owner. It missed me 24/7 and he had to take it back. It appeared at my feet and I took it to my bedroom. Dr. Jones left.
A week later I was having my first chat with Leimomi."Have you thought of a name for the animal?" Leimomi asked. "Of course! Amelia Advia Blackwell.""Good for you!" I said bye and pushed down the locket. I looked at Amelia, who was playing with Immorallia. I smiled and thought of the things I had achieved. I was happy who I was.
