Author's Note: This will be completed in about three chapters. Untill then, reviews are greatly appreciated! (I mean, seriously. Send a couple of words in or something. Feed the author!)
This was originally for a contest. I couldn't remember which but then I realized that I didn't read the instructions well enough and broke one of the rules. Darn. I post this up anyway. Hope you like!
Dan's day wasn't great to start with. He had been busted for smuggling candy in social studies, had his locker barf out all his old homework papers and sat on a whoopie cushion in math class, courtesy of James McLevan.
Can you imagine it? The master of ninjas let himself get pranked? He should commit seppuku if he wasn't so scared of death. (Don't tell Amy that.)
Dan stalked out of school and swung himself into a bus. He was alone with only the bus driver for company. Dan didn't really like the bus driver. He never shaved so he had a long beard like Captain Hook and always smelled like ciggarettes. The bus driver peeked at Dan through the rearview mirror.
"Why the long face, kid?" he said in his gruff voice.
"Don't 'kid' me. I'm a level twenty one ninja and I own the Sword of Amaterasu. It's master, thank you very much," Dan said.
The bus driver smiled. "What's your name?"
"Omashu Lee Teryaki Chicken Spring Roll Arigato," Dan suplied with a smirk.
"Ha-ha. Very funny. Really."
"Dan. Dan Cahill. Not Daniel. Just Dan."
The bus driver's eyes flashed as if he recognized something. For a moment, Dan's stomach dropped in fear but the driver smiled again.
"Dan. What would you say if I had the newest Ninja Revenge video game?"
Dan's mouth dropped in awe. "You... have it? That is so cool! It was out yesterday but I didn't think anyone would get it now!" He resisted the urge to say 'especially people like you.'
"Au contraire, Dan Cahill."
"You speak Spanish?"
"That was French. Anyway..." The driver held up a small twenty centimeter box with flames on the sides and the unmistakeable form of a ninja doing a flip.
Dan practically screamed like a girl. "I would say GIMMIE!" He made a grab for the box. The driver surprisingly gave it to him with a laugh. "Take it. A gift from me to you, free of charge."
Dan laughed. No one would give a Ninja Revenge out for free. But hey, he wasn't complaining.
"Thank you, mister. You just made my whole day!"
"You're welcome, kid."
"Master," Dan corrected.
"What is it that you kids say these days? That's it. Whatever."
Dan couldn't wait to get home. He held the game in his hand as if it was treasure and flashed it at anyone who happened to climb in the bus. He was usually acknowledged with an eye roll or mutterings concerning his future. At last Amy entered the bus and sat next to Dan.
"Wassup big sistah?" Dan said.
"Don't call me your 'big sistah'. It's embarrassing," Amy said.
"Like your stammer?"
Amy blushed but angrily said, "I'll have you know, it's completely gone now."
"Guess what?" Dan said suddenly.
"No thanks."
Dan gave Amy no choice. "I got the latest Ninja Revenge!"
"I thought those only went out last week," Amy said, confused.
"You thought right."
"Then how come...?"
"The nice driver gave it to me, free of charge."
Amy glanced at the driver who was picking something out of his teeth and flicking it away.
"Really?"
"Really."
"What if he knows about the Cahills? What if he's a Vesper? Who would give free video games to other people? Especially people like you?"
"Amy, you worry too much. Enjoy life. Play Ninja Revenge."
"Okay, but I'm checking the package when we get home."
Dan rolled his eyes but let the matter pass. The bus jerked to a start and began its long journey home. Dan shut his eyes and clicked his heels together three times like Dorothy in Oz. He repeated the words, "There's no place like home."
He opened his eyes and he was still sitting in the bus with Amy looking at him like he sprouted wings.
"What?"
"You're disturbed."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
After a long ride, they arrived home and ran to his apartment and flew to his room, almost running over Saladdin. He eased out the CD out of the box and deposited it to his game system. Amy followed him in a more relaxed pace. She picked up the box and rummaged through it. She held out her hands and Dan saw that she had pulled out several beans.
"Oooh Amy! That might be a bomb! Let's take cover!" Dan said sarcastically.
"I'm not too sure. Why would people put beans in a game box?"
"I don't know and I don't care. Just throw it out."
Amy sighed. "Fine. Just checking."
She tossed it out of the window and went out of her room, predictably going to do her homework. Dan was glad. He could play in peace. The introduction song started and within a few minutes, he was kicking every demons' butt. Suddenly he heard a cracking sound. He thought it was from the game but he hit the pause button and the sound grew louder and louder. Dan ran to the window and was stunned by what he saw.
The earth was churning like something was going to sprout out of it. Dirt was spilling out and something green poked out of the ground. A small plant. But, it kept getting taller and taller until the top broke free of the ground. It was a three meter long stub. It grew in a mutant-like speed. Dan looked in horror as it grew as tall as a house, then his apartment, then a skyscraper, then it hit the clouds. The top was lost in the clouds.
"AMY!" Dan shrieked. Amy came running into his room. She saw the plant.
"What did you do?" she asked, afraid of the answer.
"Me? Do I look like a botanist to you?"
Suddenly, someone screamed. It came from the clouds. It sounded familiar, just like...
"Nelly?" Amy asked. "How'd she get up there? I thought she was in the mall."
"Climb?" Dan offered.
"Cut it out. She up there! Should we call the police or something? Maybe the fire department?"
Dan swung his leg onto the window sill and bent his legs. "No time for that. She's in trouble. Besides, would 911 believe us if we said that a beanstalk grew out of the ground?"
Dan launched himself from the window sill and uttered a ridiculous battle cry. He clawed at the giant leaves and started to climb up.
"Dan Cahill! What if you fell off? That has got to be the most reckless thing you have ever done! And I've been through the Clue Hunt!"
"Come on, Amy! Don't be a sucker," Dan taunted.
Amy groaned. "Do I have to do it?"
"Yes."
Amy balanced herself in the window sill and uttered a prayer as her feet left the window sill. She screeched like Saladin but managed to grab a leaf. She was breathing heavily already. Dan was already a few feet above her. With trembling hands, she began to climb. They kept climbing and climbing until Dan's head disappeared into a cloud.
"Woah!" Dan gasped.
"What? That's physically impossible!"
Amy looked down and her legs felt like jelly. They were somehow as far up in the sky as a plane would be. A fall would most certainly be deadly.
"Dan? We should go down. Now," Amy said, cursing herself because her voice was shaky.
"No! We're in the top! Come up!" Dan shouted as he pulled himself up and the rest of him disappeared. "Woah!" he repeated.
Amy climbed faster. Not a lot of things would make Dan say "woah" twice, except if it was related to ninjas. Amy was sure there aren't ninjas in the clouds.
She reached the top and her head burst through the cloud and she was amazed by what she saw. No, it wasn't more clouds. It was beautiful scenery filled with hills, forest, a beautiful lake and even a castle. As if she just walked in into a fairytale. She looked down and saw that she was still holding on the beanstalk and the beanstalk just grew into a hole in the ground. From the hole, she can see the clouds and Boston. Amy saw Dan running around the forest like he was pumped full of sugar.
"This is so cool! We're in a different dimension!"
"Take it easy, Dan. Do you not see the impossibilty of it all?" Amy asked, still stunned by everything.
"Psh. Duh, sister-o. We're in a different dimension! And there's a castle! We're in Disneyland!" Dan attempted to do a cartwheel.
"Stop it. We've got to find Nelly. This must be a Vesper trick. I told you those beans were suspicious."
Somewhere, Nelly screamed again. It was coming for the castle. Dan stopped frolicking around and looked at Amy with fear in his eyes.
"Right. This is a rescue mission. Must stay focused," Dan muttered.
Nelly screamed again. Amy and Dan started to run to the castle, all the while trying to stay calm and brave. In a matter of minutes, they reached it, Dan huffing loudly because of his asthma.
"Wait... Amy... gimmie a minute... stupid asthma," Dan had said in the way.
Amy and Dan stood in front of the giant castle. They were like ants and they weren't feeling really brave for what will be in there.
"Remember Jack and the Beanstalk?" Amy asked.
Dan rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. Even if I don't read as much as you do, I'd still remember my fairy tales. It's the story about that gingerbread house, isn't it?"
Amy wacked him. "Kidding," he said.
"Yeah, I've got a feeling that the giant is there."
"You lie!" Dan said sarcastically.
Amy wacked him again.
"Ow," Dan said lamely.
The door was probably as big as the Empire State Building. It was a good thing that there were cracks on the wood. They quickly slipped in. Inside was a room as big as the state of Hawaii with furniture as big as it. Sitting in one of the chairs is the giant. And he was watching TV.
Author's Note:
How was it? Good? Bad? Tempted to get a fortune-teller to hypnotize you into forgetting this story? Review!