Welcome to Chap. 12 of It's Magic? Part 1: A Lost Memory: Trials, Punishments, and Rewards.' You may have noticed I changed the title. That would be because I am including a sequel to this, and possibly a third version, if I don't get bored. I am still open to suggestions, if anyone wants to make any, I will gladly look at your suggestion, and, if I can fit it in, I will include it in my story somewhere. I'm also trying to make up for lost time, which is why this chapter is up so soon after the other one. Once again, I thank whoever invented winter break. I do not own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody in any way. Now that that's over with, on with Chap. 12: Trials, Punishments, and Rewards

CHAP 12

Alex woke up feeling oddly claustrophobic. He couldn't see squat, it was pitch black wherever he was.

"Hey, you're finally awake." Cody said

"Yeah. It feels…oddly clustered in here." Alex replied

"That's because this room's barely 7 feet by 8 feet." Zack remarked

"How do you know that? It's pitch-black in here." Alex asked Zack

"Do you remember those contacts Yurihagaki gave me?" Cody asked Alex

"Yeah, why?"

"They're still in. I can see plain as day, it's as if there's a bright light in the room. I measured the distance, then told Zack, and he told you."

"And why did you do that?"

"I was bored…"

"Yeah, you tend to do stupid stuff when you're bored."

"Yeah, you're right about- …HEY!"

"You could try to find a way to escape."

"Already tried. They took away all of our tools and stuff. The only things they didn't take away were our clothes, shoes, and my contacts." Cody informed him.

"No! Then that means…" Alex said as he frantically searched his pockets. "They took it! They are SO dead when we get our stuff back. I'll pulverize them!"

"And…why?"

"They took away the necklace my friend gave me as a goodbye present when I moved. I'd zipped it up in my pockets, and they TOOK IT!"

"Crap, man, sorry about that. You shouldn't have taken it in the first place."

"I always wear it, wherever I go. It's the only thing I have that he gave me. My mom insisted it stay home, or that I give it back, but I can't. Not when it's so precious."

"Now that you mentioned it, I did see you wear it quite often. I just never noticed it." Cody remarked.

"Oh. Man, that's got to suck." Zack commented

"Yeah. I'd better get it back, or I'll kill every last one of these people until I do."

Just then two guards stepped into their pitch-black cell, opening the door and flooding it with light.

"Paul shall see you now."

"Is he the one that took the necklace?" Alex asked

"He took whatever he took. He never told me what he found."

"THEN I'LL MAKE THIS PAUL CHARACTER SUFFER UNTIL HE GIVES IT BACK!" Alex shouted.

"Basically what he's trying to say is: 'Sure, we'll go.' He's a bit ticked right now."

"Yeah, we could see that. Now come this way."

They were held at knifepoint all the way to Paul's chambers. (A/N: Think of gunpoint, only with a knife.) When they got there, Paul spoke.

"You have attacked our guards, and threatened to kill me, Zeta's king. For this you shall be punished, thrown into a pit with the most ferocious sandworm we have ever bred. You will be given what you had when you came here, and if you survive, you may go."

"That's it? Well, that won't be too hard then. Bring it on."

"Very well, then. Prepare to die."

They were led into an arena of some sort; it had seats filled with various alien races and groups. Alex spotted the Ansibrue people, which he had learned were called the Khahabri, in one spot, and some humans in another. He felt he should recognize one of them, that had somewhat short hair, and looked to be in 9th grade or so, but he shook it off as a mere coincidence. The arena was pitch-black, and nothing could be seen. Then a voice boomed out from a loudspeaker.

"Hello everyone, good day, and welcome to the show!"

"Show? What kind of punishment is this?" Cody wondered aloud.

"In this corner, we have the Grandfather-of-the-Desert, the great sandworm!"

A light flickered on, revealing a 15-foot long giant worm, with two glowing green eyes and a mouth at least 4 feet in diameter. It roared loudly, and sounded like a high pitched drilling machine, whining continuously.

"And in the other corner, we have our competitors, Alex, Zack, and Cody!"

A bright light enveloped them as the rest of the lights came on, revealing the crowd even more. The man Alex thought was his friend was just another random stranger, who happened to look slightly like Daniel. Alex focused on the sandworm, his weapon ready, as Zack and Cody readied their weapons, and got into their position.

"This will be a fight to the death. If they win, which I doubt, the competitors' rewards willl be that they are set free, with no charges pressed at all. An excellent prize, considering that they threatened to kill our king, Paul."

Everyone gasped in surprise.

"Come on, it was sarcasm! Okay, maybe it wasn't, but we'd never actually kill someone of such importance!" Alex protested.

"Now I see why it's considered a punishment." Cody remarked

"I agree with you completely, brother."

"Okay, you're not making any sense."

"Yeah, I know, just forget I said anything."

"Oka-"

"Let the fight begin!"

"We're in a mess now. Let's get him. Or her. Or it, whatever! Just attack the damn sandworm."

"Yes, mother." Zack remarked.

a picture of London appears on the screen

The storyline is interrupted as the scene with Maddie and London takes place

London: Okay, I'm…whatever that word is to make something, like, important, confused. Is Alex Zack's mother? Or is Carey Zack's mother? Wait, Alex is a guy, so he'd be Alex's father? But then why did Zack call Alex his mother?

Maddie walks up to London

Maddie: Zack was being sarcastic. I think you're looking for the word "officially."

Maddie walks away

London: Yeah, that's it! Wait, I still don't get it. Maddie, wait up!

Now back to the story as London continues thinking on the subject, but ending up just being clueless as usual.

(A/N: I told you I'd get them in! They may be featured in other random story interruptions, if you guys want them to! Review and please comment on this new aspect. Thank you. We now return you to your original program…book…thing.)

The sandworm lunges at them as they separate, Alex jumping up, and flying above the sandworm, Zack veering to the right, and Cody to the left. Zack shoots it with the paralyzing laser, and Cody just summons three balls of water, and, not having much else to do, begins to juggle.

"Hey, looks like we've got an entertainer here, folks!" the announcer…er…announces.

Cody realized the monster was charging at him, and threw the water balls at the monster, he didn't have time to draw his sword. The monster avoided water, and as one of the water balls hit him he retreated, like it was harmful or something.

"Cody! Try hitting him with more water, he doesn't seem to like it!" Alex said

"You think?" Zack asked Alex sarcastically

"Well…okay!" Cody replied

Cody formed a flowing river of water, his special element, and as the water started near the edges and pooled toward the center, the sandworm ran to the center of the arena, trapped by the slowly advancing pool. As the water touched the beast and slowly drowned it, Alex lifted Zack and Cody into the air, and flew them toward the audience stand and placed them down among the various races of aliens. The Khahabri congratulated the trio on defeating the most ferocious sandworm to inhabit Zeta. Paul spoke to the three in private after the battle and recognition was over.

"You may go free as I promised, and keep all of your items you have brought with you here. However, there is something else I would be grateful for you to do, I will reward you by adding some new technology onto your weapons if you succeed in completing this task."

"What is this task?" asked Alex

"Rahshignura, which means the lord of evil in our language, has terrorized our peaceful people for centuries. If you could defeat him, then our problems with him will end, and we can go back to life as it once was on Zeta."

"This sounds familiar." Alex noted

"You think?" Zack asked him.

"Can't the author come up with a more diverse plot?" Cody wondered

"Anyway, we'll do it." Alex asked

"Our people will be grateful, we thank you. You shall always be welcomed by the Neyruta" Paul answered in gratitude

End Chap. 12

You can probably guess who Rahshignura is, right? Yeah, anyway here are some pronounciations that I have forgotten.

Zeta: Zay-tah

Paul: Pah-ull (Hey, you never know who might have trouble…)

Khahabri: Ka-ha-bree

Neyruta: Neigh-roo-ta

Rahshignura: Ra-shig-new-ra

And yes, I can come up with a more diverse plot, which will be coming in later chapters. It gets a little repetitive, I'm sure, but this may be the last time a plot similar to this comes up. Anyway, I am updating quite fast, to make up for the time I lost, and I will be making a sequel to this. It's name shall be It's Magic Part 2: The Dreamer. It'll feature two more of Alex's friends he had back in Ames, IA, at his old school. It also happens to be where I live. And where I go to school. I realize that that is not a sentence. Yeah… I will update more frequently.