this is my first story so please don't judge. Please leave a review as it really helps motivate me to write more chapters. This story has been floating around for a while, and my siblings and i practically cried from laughing so hard the whole way through. I hope you enjoy it!
Shimmer opened the lid and slid back the curtain, smiling at the carefully hidden place. Her collection of books. But not just any books, these were her favorites, because with them, and really any book but these were the first, she could call out the characters or go inside.
And that is what she was about to do. She lifted the books titled "Rangers Apprentice," and grinned before laying them out. She carefully picked up one and nodded, choosing which one critically.
Book 4. The battle for Skandia. She would appear in the end of it, and talk to the people she would chose to bring.
"Let's see… Halt, Will, Gilian, Horace, Evenlan (Cassandra), and their horses and such of course.
Shimmer opened up the cover and mumbled, "Open up a storybook, and once upon a time, real things and real looks coming from a rhyme
Shimmer felt a whoosh of cold air and then heard the whisper of leaves. She was sitting on a rock, and the books had disappeared. A large castle was up on a hill in front of her, and it shone red as the sun glinted on it.
She stood up at the sight of castle redmont. She had to agree with Will, they did choose a suitable name.
She knew that at the moment the skandian boat was sitting at the shore of Araluen, and dropping off Halt, Will, Horace and Cassandra. It would be a long time before the two rangers would reach their cabin. She frowned as she realized it.
Shimmer sighed and mumbled a very similar rhyme, and the world around her changed as she found herself sitting in her pile of books again. She cleaned them up as she thought about exactly where she would like to go.
After all of them except the battle for Skandia were back in the box, she murmured the rhyme and the room became leaves and dirt. This time, castle araluen stood before her, tall and proud. The king (Duncan) would return here soon, probably to celebrate. She didn't remember this part perfectly, but it only made sense.
Then a thought struck her. In the end, Will was riding away, and Cassandra was watching him.
She repeated the stages of going home and back, and this time she was sitting in the woods as Will rode down the hill. She had placed herself downwind, so Tug couldn't scent her. Halt was riding Abelard next to his apprentice.
When they were a few yards away from her, she noticed Halt's eyes twitch towards her. She resisted a grin, and waited for Halt to notice her exact position.
It wasn't long before he narrowed his eyes and paused for a moment, as he took in the small figure hiding in the bushes. He must be thinking a child has wandered off into the woods or something. Because he didn't reach for his bow or knives.
Abelard and Tug had now sented her too at the close range, and alerted their masters. Will, who was lost in thought, instantly jerked to see what the little horse was trying to tell him. It took only a moment for him to follow Halt's well hidden gaze and spot her, although he showed almost no sign if it. She did notice however, that Will reached for the hilt of his knives, obviously not coming to the same conclusion that Halt had.
Finally, she decided to break the silence. She stepped out and both rangers started in surprise at her clothes. After all, jackets with designs and sweat pants didn't exist yet.
"Hi, I just want to talk to you two, so don't draw your weapons please." Both rangers stared in shock, unmoving. "I think your jaw is dropping a little further than necessary Will." she commented, and the apprentice snapped it shut, blinking in astonishment. Then the endless flow of questions began.
"Who are you? Where did you come from? How did you know it was me, and not some other ranger? Why are you dressed like that? Where did you get those clothes? Why do you want to talk to us? What are you doing out here in the woods? Did you walk all the way here? Where are your parents?" Finally he ran out of questions, but Shimmer knew the flow would start again when she finished answering them.
"Just what i expected from you." she said grinning. She saw his mouth open again, and she hurriedly answered,
"Shimmer, Papillon, books and Tug, most people are where i come from, store, because i want to show you something, same answer, no, and at home." She said, matching his same breathless flow.
Will blinked. He had quite forgotten exactly which question came first, and now he was trying to sort out the half answers in his head. Halt broke in.
"Let's go with this. Very detailed, tell us who who are, and where you come from." He had gotten over most of the surprise, and was now working his mind to figure out what was going on.
"My name is Shimmer, and i come from the future in a sense. The future, in a different world. This may be confusing, but right now we are all in a book. You come from a series call Ranger's apprentice, and we just finished book four, the battle for skandia. Will became an apprentice in book one, the ruins of gorlan, and book two, the burning bridge, Will and Evelyn were captured and Morgarath was defeated. Book three, the icebound land, Halt and Horace went after Will and Evanlyn, and Will… well, we don't have to get into details. Anyway this book, the battle for Skandia, Will recovered and escaped with Evanlyn. You defeated the Temerji, Halt got unbanished and Will decided to keep training as a ranger."
Stunned silence.
"Have you two forgotten how to speak?"
More silence.
"Ok. I'll wait." Shimmer said, crossing her arms and smiling.
It was a few moments before any sound came from the three of them.
"Do you really expect us to believe you?" came Will's voice. "I mean, we obviously aren't in a book."
"Then i wouldn't be able to predict your future, or tell what had happened in the past. Should i go very detailed?" then, before they could stop her, she went on. "On the ship tied to the mast, you wanted it to go under if it meant it would end Will.
On Scorkhill, you had a exercise schedule, which involved running up the hill, down the hill, doing pushups, and Evelyn didn't want you to because she had another way out. She was the princess Cassandra. But you did it anyway.
You tossed pieces of driftwood into the ocean and thought the smaller you were the safer you were, although you were wrong.
In Celtica, you were traveling with Horace and Gillian, and he taught you the double knife defense, and Horace used that move to take out Morgarath. He also advised you to jump off the cliff instead if facing the angry axeman with just your knives, because it would be less messy that way.
And Halt slapped Despereaux with his glove even though Horace taunted him, and he practiced with Horace by having him place a straw filled helmet on a pole as he rode Kicker towards you. You put your arrows in the slots.
I can also tell you about when you met Crowley, and how that knight threatened to break his nose. You put an arrow through his leg.
Then you left Crowley way later after you met Morgarath and he foolishly offered you a job. You changed your mind, came back, and there was Crowly up against a tree and surrounded by Morgarath's men. You helped defeat them, and together you set off on your ''quest' to stop Morgarath and get the ranger core back on its feet. In the end however, well, after you chased Morgarath out, he killed Pritchard, Crowley and your mentor.
There is a lot more i could tell too, including how Morgarath first took control of the Wargals, and even more details about your adventures, but it's not black magic as you two are probably thinking. If it was, i wouldn't be so open about this, or so comfortable talking about this stuff to a pair of rangers. And why would i even want to figure out this stuff at all, when i could be using my power to take over or whatever witches do if they even exist."
"Alright, alright!" Halt said, holding up his hands. "But even if we are in a book, why do you want to talk to us? There is hardly a point if you do live in the future with your light speed carrier pigeons."
"Oh, is that what you think the future will be like?" Shimmer asked, stifling a giggle. "So i guess there won't be flying cars. We have phones. See?" she said, pulling out hers. The rangers leaned down from their saddles and stared at the tiny device. "You can have a code, and conversations and games. Just let me turn it on… there!" she said, pressing the button. "And now you just try the code." she said, handing it to Halt. "Tap the numbers in the order you think it is set." Halt tried repeatedly, but each time his guess was wrong. After the two-hundredth time he threw his hands in the air in defeat.
"How does that even work?" he asked with a bit of heat.
"Beats me. I didn't make it, and it's very complicated. Plus you need the right materials."
"I can see that." he muttered dryly, passing it of for Will to try. He seized it eagerly and began tapping away.
"Don't worry Halt, there are millions of patterns. There is almost no way he would get it. I mean, how many four-letter combinations are there? Think about the chances he has." Shimmer said. Will glared at her.
After ten minutes Will shoved the phone into her hands.
"What is it?!" he asked frustrated. She grinned and took it from him, before hiding the screen from their view and after a quick series of taps unlocked it.
"You make it look so easy." Halt snorted.
"Well i know the code." she said simply.
"But what is it?!" Will exploded out of curiosity. Tug took a step to the side and snorted nervously at his master's anxiousness. Will patted his horse's neck to calm him down, and muttered a 'sorry' to the barrel chested pony.
"1-8-2-6." she said confidently. "So here are some of the games i have. Temple run is a fun one. Try it out." She handed it to Will, who took it suspiciously before tapping the screen.
"Tap up to jump, swipe left and right to turn, and down to slide. Tilt the phone to move on the trail."
Will got no further than the first rope before he ran off the cliff. Halt snorted.
"Great job." Will turned to glare at him.
"It was my first go." He protested.
"Then what are you waiting for? Run again!" Halt said impatiently.
"I don't know how." Halt rolled his eyes.
"Even Tug could figure it out." He said, pressing the big button that read 'Run Again.'
"AAUUGGHH! Not yet!" Will bellowed, making Halt jump back.
"You were supposed to tell me, not do it. Now i fell without even touching the rope!"
"Then start again already." Halt said with a wave of his hand.
Will collected 50 coins on his next run before he was swept away in the river.
"Bubble bubble."
"What?"
"Bubble bubble." Will repeated. "That's what it says." and I'm staring at some weird creature.
"That's not you, that's some goon who stole from a skull-headed monkey. You don't even look alike! And he has that weird hat!" Halt's temper flared.
"Well I'm controlling him, so he counts as me."
"Just hurry up and run further than 50 coins already." Will grinned evilly.
"Why don't you try?"
"Because i'm watching you play right now, so hurry up." Will made it to the mines before he crashed into the wrong side, and his body flailed about in the cart.
"Why do i want this ugly thing anyway? I mean, what's so important about it that I'd risk my life for it? It doesn't even look helpful much less nice!" Will snorted after his twentieth death, this time by flames.
"Nice and crispy?!" Will said mockingly. "That looks like ashes! Why would that creep eat ashes? I think that monkeleton should eat something tastier than that."
"Monkeleton?" Halt asked. "What in the world is a monkeleton?"
"A monkey skeleton." Will replied. "And it's your turn to die now. I'm through getting ripped, cooked, drowned, sawed, squished and falling to my death." Halt rolled his eyes.
"So you want that to happen to me now?" Will grinned easily at him.
"It would certainly be enjoyable to watch." he said happily. Halt sighed and began to play.
The first three things he did were jump and slide down the start rope, trip, and trip, causing the 'monkeleton' to catch up and tear him apart.
"Well this is certainly thrilling to watch yourself get ripped apart by a big black bonehead." Halt said, frowning at his flopping body being tossed around by cruel claws.
Over all, he was twice as bad as Will.
Die.
Die.
Die.
Die again.
Ripped.
Drowned.
Crushed.
Drowned.
Cooked.
Fall.
Head smacked.
Tilted too far.
Smacked.
More death.
"Whoever made this certainly is creative about ways to die." Halt scowled.
"Told you it wasn't easy." Will said scornfully. Halt turned to face his scowl on his apprentice. Will smiled at him.
"How about a different game?" Shimmer suggested.
"Sounds great. I'm through with this one." He said, passing it off to Shimmer. She took it, and looked through her choices.
"How about 'dumb ways to die 2?'" She asked.
"NO!" both rangers shouted at once, and she shrugged innocently.
"Bowmaster 2?" Halt snorted.
"Why even? We can already shoot for real. It's probably really hard to control anyways." Halt said shrugging of the idea.
"And what's with all the 2's?" Will asked.
Suddenly Shimmer grinned.
"Oh, you guys HAVE to play this one!" Both rangers eyed her suspiciously as her grin grew wider.
"What is it called?" Will asked.
"Moron test!" She said gleefully, shoving it into Halt's hands. Before he could protest, she added with a glint in her eye,
"If you're smart enough, you don't have anything to worry about." He narrowed his eyes, but clicked start.
Press the red button to continue.
Halt clicked the red button.
Where are you right now?
Halt clicked the earth.
Now touch the sun. Don't worry, it's not hot. Halt clicked the sun.
Touch the remaining planet.
Out of the duck and saturn, Halt clicked saturn.
Touch the plus sign.
Halt did.
Crack the eggs from left to right.
Touch the red button, then blue, then green.
Touch the biggest duck.
You have a pulse!
Touch the bee to continue.
Touch the orange button, then green twice, than blue.
Halt clicked orange, than green, and then the buttons moved as he clicked for green again, causing him to click red instead.
"Wha…?!" Halt exclaimed. "Darn it…" he mumbled angrily. Will was laughing.
"You should have seen your face! It was hilarious!" he said, nearly falling out of his saddle. "You're not even close to a genius! Not even halfway!"
Halt shoved him out of the saddle and Will landed hard on the ground, but he barely noticed.
"Alright smartypants, you try it!" Halt said, tossing it to Will. Will caught it, and clicked 'start over.'
Touch the red button to continue.
Will clicked the red button.
After five minutes he had finished without losing once.
"Well would you look at that! I'm a genius!" Will said, glancing triumphantly at his mentor.
"No, you're lucky." Halt snorted. "As always. Besides, you couldn't even figure out how to start that running game."
"At least i can remember it's called 'temple run', not 'that running game.'" Will replied, still grinning. Halt rolled his eyes.
"Names aren't important." he said.
"Last time you said that it was quickly followed by another statement." Will replied. "That supper is."
"It is!" Halt said.
"And so are names, that's why we have them." Halt glared at him.
"Anyway you two, i want to show you some stuff, as i said before, but i also want to show Gillian, Evanlyn and Horace, so we have to go find them." Shimmer interrupted.
"That sounds great, but we can't just leave Araluen and everyone wondering where we are and the kingdom open for attack, and Horace needs to continue his training, while i doubt the king is in any hurry to send his daughter off again, nor would she want to leave her father so soon."
"Oh, i have very simple solutions for every one of those problems." Shimmer said casually as Will remounted his pony. "When you are out of the book time is… well, sorta paused. It's as if you're still here, and we can go to any second of the book we want when i take you back anyway."
The rangers looked at each other before Halt sighed. Will was looking pleadingly at him, and he couldn't see what would be wrong about it.
It seemed pretty safe from what she had told him, and if she wanted to kill them this was a poor way to go about it.
And she most likely didn't want to imprison them, because if she really did come from the future with objects like her phone, there would definitely be a better way to do it.
"Alright fine." he said and looked at her.
"Great! So now i just have to go talk to the others."
"You mean we?" Halt asked.
"No, i meant…" Shimmer began to protest.
"You would have a lot easier time if we tagged along, and you know it." Halt said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"Alright fine. Ready?"
"For what?" Will asked, but Shimmer had already closed her eyes and was beginning to mumble.
Suddenly the two rangers found themselves in the middle of a strange room, with cream walls and a carpeted floor. There was glass in the windows, and the door had a brass doorknob. The ceiling had tiny random bumps all over as though somebody had intentionally dabbed at it while it was still drying.
There was a wooden bunk bed in one corner, and at the foot was a large desk, also made of wood with fancy designs on the lid. The windows had thin planks (of wood, again) and they were all in the same position, the sunlight seeping through them.
Another desk, this one with a different design and structure, was near the door, and a closet was built into the wall. The rolling doors were closed, blocking the ranger's view of inside. There were two bookshelves, both full of books, and on top of them were some figures and other interesting things, including a glass ball on a black pedestal, a silver round box with buttons, and a picture frame.
"WHAT THE?!" Will exclaimed, nearly falling off Tug. Halt looked at him, one eyebrow raised.
"How are you not shocked?" Will asked wide eyed to his perfectly calm mentor.
"Well what did you expect? A loud explosion, traveling through stars and then we slowly drift into a room just like our cabin?"
"No… but i didn't expect this." As a matter of fact, Will had thought something very similar to Halt's description would happen, but he didn't think it would be wise to tell the older man that right now."
"Did you expect we would be suddenly thrown into a totally weird room in a split second?" he asked. Halt shook his head.
"No, but i knew we were traveling somewhere that should match the time zone of Shimmer's phone, although what traveling would be like i had no idea what to expect." In truth, Halt was nearly as shocked as Will was, but he had worked hard over the years to conceal any emotions, and did an excellent job at hiding them.
"Halt's just as shocked as you Will, but he's sneaky with hiding them." Shimmer said, picking up a book.
Halt spun around and glared at her, as Will's face broke into a grin.
"Oh," he said, as Halt tightened his grip on the reins. Before Halt could say anything in reply, Shimmer mumbled something and Will prepared himself for another shock.
The room switched to a forest, with a castle in view from where they were. Will let out a breath.
"Now i forget the name of this fief, but Gillian is about to leave this place. He recently defeated Foldar, and arrested the baron for plotting with him. It was really quite clever how he did it, but don't tell him i said that." She glared at both rangers and they nodded in assent.
"Good." she said, spinning around.
"Look, he's leaving now. Let's wait down for him over the next rise." She turned to the Will. "Um… would it be possible for me to ride with you and Tug not buck? Cause i don't know if…" She stopped awkwardly. Will's eyes widened.
"You know Tug's code, don't you?" He said deflated. She nodded slowly.
"And Blaze's, Abelard's is too hard to pronounce without practice, and i think it mentions Cropper's somewhere too." Will sighed.
"Well it won't make a difference anyway. Just don't tell anyone else what it is please."
"Everyone who reads Ranger's Apprentice knows, but i won't tell anyone except in my world. Besides, my siblings and I are the only ones who can go into books."
Will gestured to Tug, and Shimmer whispered in his ear, ''Will you allow me?"
That's when Will realized what she had said.
"Siblings? Will they tell? How many? What…" Shimmer held up her hand.
"One more question and I'll answer like i did last time." She glared. "Yes i have siblings, they won't tell, and i have six. You can meet them once we have gathered everyone."
She swung into the saddle and the three of them rode off to wait for Gillian.
"Why exactly do we have to wait for him and not ride up right now?" Will asked.
"Two reasons." Shimmer replied. "First I would rather not let anyone at the castle see anything that happens, it could get awkward, and second it's funner this way."
"Oh." said Will, a smile touching his lips.
Once they were in position, Will asked if he could play on Shimmer's phone while they waited. He wanted to get a even higher score on temple run. Shimmer unlocked it and gave it to him.
"Good luck." she said, turning back to the hill. Will nodded as he slid under a bridge.
"That's you're choice game? I thought you were through getting squashed, ripped, drowned and all that stuff." Halt said looking questionably.
"Not anymore. I'm ready to die all over again. In fact, i'm actually starting to enjoy seeing the ridiculous pictures and sentences after getting killed."
"You're hopeless." Halt said shaking his head.
"Here comes Gillian!" Shimmer hissed. Will looked up after his most recent death and clicked the off button.
"Can i play later?" he whispered to her.
"Maybe Zap-zap will let you play on hers." She replied. Then, as she noticed his mouth beginning to open, she added, "My sister." Will nodded and turned to face the approaching Gillian.
Shimmer decided it would be best if Gillian didn't see her mounted on Tug when they first met. It would only arouse a lot of questions.
It didn't take long for the ranger to spot and recognize them.
"Halt? Will? You're safe!" He said galloping over to them.
"Gillian!" Will said, embracing his friend.
"What are you doing here Halt?" he said suddenly remembering his mentor's banishment. Halt waved his hand.
"We don't need to get deep right now, but under special circumstances it was lifted."
Gillian nodded, knowing he would have to be satisfied with that answer, and mostly just glad Halt was here.
"What about Evanlyn? Is she safe?"
"Yes. She's with King Duncan."
"How did you get back so fast?"
"Well…" Will said hesitantly. "We didn't exactly." Gillian looked at him confused. Will gestured to Shimmer hiding in the bushes. "We need you to meet someone, but… it's really confusing." Will said as she stepped out of the bushes.
"Hi, my name is Shimmer and please don't freak out. I am… I'm not sure if I've know, as in talked to, these two long enough to consider them friends yet, or rather for them to consider me a friend." Gillian was looking at her totally stunned.
"Look," Halt said, "it is really confusing, as Will already said, so let's get to the point. She wants to show us some stuff, and apparently she comes from outside our book…"
"Outside our book?" Gillian said, totally confused.
"Yes. We are inside a book this very moment." Halt said confidently.
Gillian wasn't sure what to think, and turned to Will, who he saw was nodding at Halt's statement.
"Gillian, do you like games?" Shimmer asked. As he nodded cautiously, she said "Great!" and turned to Will. "Can i have my phone back?" he tossed it to her and she unlocked it before showing it to Gillian. "See? It's a awesome device, and it can do all kinds of things. How about you play Hungry Shark Evolution? It's really fun." she shoved the phone into his hands and he stared dumbly at the screen.
"How on earth…?" he said as the game loaded and a shark began moving, waiting for him to click start.
"This device is called a phone. Lots of people have them and other similar things where i come from. Things are so advanced later, but it's also a different, although very similar, world. People used to live like this, but there were no rangers, or things like Worgals or Kalkara… sorry, i know you guys don't like to talk about them. Anyway, tap the words start." she said pointing to it.
After he did, it went on to choosing and upgrading your shark. Gillian was dumbfounded.
"How does it do that?" all his suspicions instantly faded away as curiosity took it's place.
"I don't really know, other than advanced technology. Things I would have to spend a millennium explaining to you guys."
She went on showing him how to play for a few minutes, before she stepped back to let him try it on his own.
"So remember, don't touch the big spiky balls, or way bigger sharks. Some other things can hurt you too, like the purple jellyfish. The balls with strings attached. And the seals can hurt you, so you have to eat their tails first. And the brown sting-rays. The blankets with ropes trailing behind." Gillian was nodding, ready to get started.
"So these sharks really exist here?" Will was asking nervously. "In the ocean? And they could eat us?"
"But they don't really. Not on purpose. Well, not usually. They think you're a seal and try to eat you, but once they realize you aren't, they almost always leave." Shimmer reassured him.
"Almost always?"
"If they don't just punch them in the nose. It's super sensitive. But you're more likely to die from falling out of bed than a shark attack." Will sighed with relief and turned to watch the game.
Gillian, it appeared, was a natural. He dodges the bombs like they weren't there, snatched up pelicans before they could take off, gobbled the seals before they could turn, and leapt onto the boats and beaches, chomping up the people as they stood there shaking with fear.
The tiny fish and crabs never had a chance either. If he saw them they were as good as dead. Even the electric eels and enormous sharks seemed to only run into him while he was on a gold rush, but then he was invincible and didn't hesitate to tear them to shreds.
"Are you good at everything?" Will asked after he finally got a go at being a shark and died in less than one minute, nowhere near Gillian's score of eighteen minutes. Halt managed to claw his way to three minutes before his shark turned it's belly up and sank.
"Not everything."
"Let's see… Sword, best stealth in the corps, and a crushing high score on your first go."
"You can climb." Gillian pointed out. Will shrugged.
"I know. Everyone has good points. But you seem good at everything." as Gillian began to protest, Will looked thoughtful adding, "I wonder how far you could get in temple run… and I'm not sure i want to know."
"Temple run? Is that another game?" Gillian asked.
Shimmer nodded and showed him the game the other two rangers had already tried. Gillian tapped play eagerly, and began to run.
"So the goal is to run as far as possible without letting the monkeleton kill you. Or anything else for that matter."
"And it's not a monkeleton, for your information. Will just calls it that because it looks like a cross between a monkey and a skeleton."
Gillian nodded and leapt onto the starting rope, swaying smoothly.
"Oh boy, here we go again for another high score." Will sighed as Halt leaned in closer, trying to see while Gillian jumped into a minecart.
Shimmer smiled. It was funny how quickly serious men, who faced danger so often and were expert archers and spies, as well as many other things, could act like children in an instant when given a phone.
She really wanted Halt and Will to meet Batman and Robin now. And it would also be ridiculous to add Ladybug and Chat Noir to the mix. There were a few other characters it would be fun to get together as well, but for now she should just focus on keeping Gillian from spending all day on her phone.
So, what you think? Please don't forget to leave a review, and i will be adding more chapters if people actually like it enough.