 
### A Pixie Called Pudding

Copyright © 2011 Travis Flynn. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

### A Pixie Called Pudding

### By

### Travis Flynn

# Chapter 1

For a young pixie named Pudding, today was the big day. This was the day she was born for, no doubt about it. As she looked around, she took note of the fact that there was no cheering crowd, nor fanfare of any kind. The event hadn't been turned into a tremendous spectacle and even the reporters hadn't bothered to show up. A bright smile crossed her face. This was the way it was meant to be; just a wide open beach, a couple of good friends, and one long shot idea. Yes sir, this was the big day.

By human standards, it was late May, on a Saturday in 900 B.C. Somewhere near the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, Pudding was sitting on a beach, enjoying the sunrise and the salty air with her friends Nemesis, Jinx, and Fidget. With the exception of Nemesis, who wears a near constant scowl on her pointy face, these pixies looked every bit the energetic, cheery beings that they are often described as.

The early light of dawn had just lit up a row of puffy clouds like a great fire burning across the sky, but Pudding's deep violet eyes had already found something more exciting to stare at. Out on the sun soaked horizon, dark outlines of sea birds swooped in wide circles over pixie fishing boats. Pudding couldn't help but watch the way they soared around in such a carefree way. She admired freedom like that.

She continued to watch them until they disappeared from her view. Absentmindedly twisting a long lock of her curly blonde hair between her thin fingers, she said in a small, sweet voice, "You know, I wouldn't mind trying to fly someday."

Jinx nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind trying rye either. I don't know if it's as good as wheat bread, but hey, you know me; where food is concerned, I'm up for anything." He gave his notably plump belly a quick pat and then laughed one of those laughs that can be heard for a hundred feet in every direction. Nemesis gave this same belly a quick look and then turned away disgusted.

"Jinx," said Pudding cheerfully, as she beamed a smile at him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I said _fly_ , not rye."

"Oh...."

Pudding once again indulged in her fantasy of flying for a few moments. Her friends took advantage of her daydream to sneak in a few worried glances amongst themselves. Their cause for concern was a short distance away. Across from where they were seated on the beach, a dock had been built of pearly white timber. At the end of this dock, a giant brass colored object that looked like a slightly sleeker version of a tin can was floating half in and half out of the water. There was a glass window where the front should have been, and a giant propeller stuck out of the rear. A hatch on its topside was invitingly left open, which is what worried three of the four friends.

Jinx gave his slick black hair an extra hard slicking back, hoping that the movement would draw attention away from his mismatched sky blue and aquamarine eyes, which quickly switched their view from his worried friends, to the floating contraption, to the pixie girl lost in thought, and then once more to the contraption. With an air of apprehension, but trying to be as delicate as possible, Jinx said, "Flying sounds great and all, but I think we need to survive _this_ invention first, Pudding."

" _I_ could have put it better, of course, but still, I agree with Jumbo. Oh, oh, excuse me, I mean Jinx," said Nemesis fluffing her auburn hair back into its fancy position and resituating her extravagant white dress every time the breeze picked up. If she had bothered to look at Jinx, she would have noticed his chubby face turn slightly red, but her beady little silver eyes never lost track of the brass object. "This _thing_ ," she said, flicking her hand toward it while rolling her eyes, "this submarine, I think you called it. It makes me nervous. Ugh, I'm getting sand on my sandals and my dress is a mess. The things I _endure_ for you people...."

"Why would you wear a dress for this?" asked Jinx. "You look like you should be at a school dance or something."

Nemesis scowled at him. "If you knew anything about looking good, you wouldn't have to ask. Besides, we're here to make history, and I certainly don't want to be remembered in blue jeans and t-shirts like _you three_."

"You're right, Nemesis," said Jinx enthusiastically, "how dare we look like normal, sane pixies? We should be more _appropriately_ attired! I'll be right back." Jinx waved his hand and shouted, "Teleport!" disappearing in a brief flash of light.

Nemesis turned her eyes upon the sand where Jinx had just been seated, looking at it as though his mere presence tainted it. "I don't know why you have to spend time around such lame people, Pudding."

Surprised, Pudding turned toward Nemesis, searching the pixie's face for some indication that that comment was just a joke. Unfortunately, Nemesis had never looked more serious. "They aren't lame," she replied. "I saw both of them run two miles during the physical exams last week."

Pudding and Fidget both broke into laughter. Nemesis stared at Pudding dully.

Fidget, who was seated on Pudding's immediate right, said in a deep, though surprisingly timid voice, "I don't think she knows the real meaning of the word lame, Pudding." Fidget is something of an oddity among pixies, with his intensely orange eyes, buzzed brown hair, and lack of a sweet, song like voice.

"Oh! The word lame actually means...."

"I know what it means, Pudding," shouted Nemesis, "and _you_ know what I meant by it." She stopped to once again fluff up her hair. "I believe Jumbo threw up after that run you mentioned... but that doesn't surprise me; he and Fidget probably looked at each other's ugly faces near the finish line."

"I find them both very handsome," said Pudding sincerely.

Fidget turned away, trying to hide his now cherry red cheeks.

Nemesis made a gagging sound. "Well, I know _I_ want to puke every time I see either of them."

"Hey!" shouted Fidget, still facing away from everyone.

"Goodness me," droned Nemesis, pretending to be shocked. "Are you still sitting there? I thought you would have teleported to help Jumbo. I didn't know he could put clothes on without supervision."

"I manage just fine," said Jinx who had just reappeared. Pudding and Fidget took one look at Jinx and then started laughing again. Nemesis had a very sour look about her as she gave Jinx a quick up and down glance. She was too stunned to even say a single word. She simply folded her arms and stared forward blankly.

Jinx had returned fully dressed as a pirate. He even brought a fake parrot and a small black flag with a white skull and crossbones symbol prominently displayed. He put the parrot on his shoulder and then tied the flag to a long stick that he jammed into the sand near Nemesis.

"Ahoy, Pudding," said Jinx, "ready to embark at your command."

"I hope we don't all drown," said Nemesis. "I don't want to be entombed at the bottom of the ocean with this idiot."

Jinx smiled, but offered no reply.

Before Pudding could respond to her friend's lack of confidence, Fidget quickly said, "I believe in you, Pudding."

As soon as he had spoken, Pudding grabbed a hold of him with one arm and smiled brightly at him. He swallowed hard when he saw in her big purple eyes, his own eyes reflecting like two small suns.

"You see," said Pudding happily, drawing Fidget into a hug, "I don't make Fidget nervous."

"Hahaaaa," he laughed, in a tone that was close to a squeal. "You —" he was taking short irregular breaths. "You — nervous —" his face was glowing more than the sun drenched clouds. "You don't make, nervous me."

Fidget let out another squealing laugh. "I — mean — you — don't —" The hug was nearly complete. "You — don't —" Pudding's curly blonde hair was close to his face as he took in a deep breath "— smell — so good."

Pudding's charming smile darkened, but only slightly. Fidget began sweating and shaking. "I mean, um, you don't make me nervous, and you smell good; like lilacs."

"Lilacs! That's _me_ you twitchy little doofus," shrieked Nemesis, folding her arms even tighter and pouting at the idea that someone could fail to notice something about _her_ and even more disturbed that that something could be mistaken for _Pudding's_ something. "Pudding probably doesn't even use perfume," she said sulkily.

"Sure I do," said Pudding as she released Fidget, who instantly scooted out of her reach. When he had attained a safe distance, he leaned forward to get a good look at Nemesis; his eyes narrowed, and he looked like he was about to shout something, so Pudding intervened by saying, "Now, now, no fighting."

Fidget reluctantly obeyed, but still muttered, "You're lucky," just loud enough for Nemesis to hear it.

"I'm lucky? _I'm_ _lucky_? What are you going to do, insult me with that pea brain of yours? Or maybe you'll attack me with your twiggy little arms? To think, a stick figure thinks I'm threatened by him. I could get any of those stupid boys that are interested in me to beat you up in a heartbeat, stick figure."

"Stick figure! I may be small but I'm fast, I'd mow your boyfriends down like a stick figure tornado."

"Stick figure tornado!" said Jinx with a laugh. "That's awesome. You should be a super hero or something, Fidget."

"And you Jumbo, can be his dim wit side kick, but the only evil you two could hope to conquer is a jelly donut gone wrong. A super hero," said Nemesis doubtfully, "do you think...."

"Stop!" shouted Pudding in a forceful manner not typical of her usual personality. "We don't need to ruin this perfect day."

"What's so perfect about it?" asked Nemesis, as she kicked sand at a crab wandering its way along the beach.

"Come on!" replied Pudding, waving her arms at nothing in particular. "The weather is nice, my friends are here, the pre-test was passed with flying colors, something is attacking the submarine... something is attacking the submarine!"

In fact a pair of giant tentacles had come out of the water and wrapped around the forward section of the sub; they were furiously pulling at it in an attempt to rip it to shreds. Pudding jumped up and dashed toward the water, but Jinx, despite his relative girth, caught up to her, and grabbing hold of her arm firmly, stopped her in her tracks.

Jinx had the advantage of both weight and a good two inches of height, but it was still hard for him to keep Pudding from marching forward. "What are you doing?" she yelled, as she tried to break free of his grip.

"What are _you_ doing?" asked Jinx calmly. "Look at the size of those tentacles; you can't just run up and poke at it, I mean it might... wow...."

Angered by the resilience of the submarine, the creature surfaced completely, revealing six more fearsome tentacles and one massive mouth connected to an even more massive head. Four pairs of yellow eyes took note of the pixies and then settled glaringly on the submarine. With a ferocious roar, it rushed forward and chomped down on the forward section of the sub. Row after row of razor sharp teeth impacted the enchanted alloy of Pudding's latest invention. At first there was hope, but her heart eventually sank as a loud crack sounded out; the window had given way under the beast's assault, but the rest of the submarine, for the moment at least, was putting up a good fight.

That fight would soon be over however; the submarine reverberated like a drum as the creature started to bite with all its might, release, and then bite down again, over and over. Making little progress, it completely released the sub, swam a short distance away, and then with a few strong strokes, crashed into it. With a tremendous twist, the submarine obliterated the beautiful dock, rolled partly onto the beach, and was soon to be in the clasp of the sea creature's slimy tentacles once again.

"I have to do something before it grabs it again," said Pudding, desperately. She reached down, grabbed a bunch of sand, and clutched it tight. "Sting!" she shouted. Every bit of sand, down to the smallest pebble, gave a brilliant glow for a brief moment and then rushed at the creature's head, impacting just as it raised its tentacles out of the water.

The tentacles froze in midair. The roaring stopped. The water became calm. The pixies held their breath, and then watched in terror as four of the creature's eight eyes ever so slowly turned their gaze upon them.

The creature gave only the slightest hiss as a warning before furiously flailing all eight tentacles at Pudding, Jinx, and Fidget. Nemesis remained far enough back to avoid any threat or provide any help. Pudding held her ground, stopping tentacle after tentacle in midair with only a slight movement of her hand; Jinx and Fidget, though not as talented in the use of magic as Pudding, were also holding their own, but it was clear that they couldn't keep it up for long.

"Nemesis!" screamed Pudding, barely managing to hold back three tentacles simultaneously, "Grab my sword, and hit this thing. It's in the toolbox."

"Your sword! Why do you have a sword? What kind of girl are you?"

"Just do it. Quick, while it's distracted."

With a scowl, Nemesis ran her eyes along the beach. "What toolbox?"

"In the sub."

Muttering mean sentiments under her breath, Nemesis quickly unstrapped her sandals, in order to avoid getting even more sand on them, and then dashed toward the sub. She found it on its side, and so, was able to crawl inside, locate the toolbox, grab the sword, and get out with relative ease. When she got back to the scene of the battle, Jinx was missing but a scream could be made out every few seconds; he had been entangled in a tentacle and was now being dunked in and out of the water at regular intervals. After a few more seconds, he disappeared under the water completely.

Nemesis let her grip slacken as she approached the creature. Her courage failing her, she tossed the sword toward Pudding and then ran back to a safe spot on the beach. Pudding made a desperate scramble to get to the sword, pulling it up just in time to see Fidget get smacked right in the stomach by one of the powerful tentacles. He flew through the air, landing with a plop in the sand about twenty feet from where he started.

The fast rising sun reflected hard on the sword as Pudding raised it in front of her. The glimmer caught the creature's attention. Once again it froze in place, now considering Pudding with all eight of its eyes. With a quick motion it threw Jinx out of the water. He landed next to Pudding, gasping for breath. With one last mighty roar, the creature released a stream of thick black ink from its mouth that completely covered Jinx and Pudding from head to toe. It then reached once more for the submarine.

"If it wants the sub, there's nothing we can do about it," said Fidget, as he stumbled toward his drenched friends.

Pudding wrung her hands in frustration, but Fidget was right. The creature did want the sub, too. After a few more seconds of struggling to smash the invention to bits, it gave up. Instead, as a consolation prize, it decided to wrap two more tentacles around the vessel and haul it to the bottom of the ocean.

Nemesis and Fidget joined Pudding and Jinx at the water's edge. "Wow, look at that thing sink!" said Fidget.

"Oh, how terrible," said Nemesis in a tone that no one would have believed. "It was probably going to sink anyway," she added casually, and with a smile that she couldn't conceal, despite her best efforts.

Pudding ignored her jealous friend, as she normally did, and continued to watch in vain as the vessel sank. In the span of thirty seconds it was gone, leaving behind nothing but the occasional rising air bubble.

"Wow, did that ever sink fast," said Fidget, passing a hand over his forehead. He then edged up close to Jinx and whispered, "Can you believe how fast that sank?"

Jinx looked at Fidget oddly for a second or two before replying, "Shouldn't you be focused on something else, given the circumstances?" It was now Fidget's turn to look confused. "Fine, fine, I'll answer your question. No, I don't know of any fast bank. The tellers at all the banks are slow here. You have to wait forever to get a simple withdrawal done and don't even get me started on...."

"No," said Fidget cutting off Jinx before he could go into a long winded story about banking. He leaned in closer and pronounced as clearly as possible, "what I asked was, should it, you know, should it have sunk that fast?"

"Oh, that question makes more sense," said Jinx.

"Well, should it have?"

Jinx shrugged his shoulders as a reply, then turning to Pudding and out of genuine sympathy for his friend's misfortune simply said, "I'm sorry, Pudding."

"It's okay," she replied.

Nemesis let out a long, wicked laugh. "No it's not, now we'll never be able to see what's under the ocean."

"Sure we will," replied Pudding.

"How do you figure?" asked Nemesis doubtfully.

"I built two."

Nemesis pouted deeply.

Tomorrow would be the day that a pixie named Pudding was waiting for all her life.

# Chapter 2

The sun sent out one last blast of orange and red before climbing above the horizon. Pudding tossed her sword onto the sand before slowly walking to the water's edge so that she could wash the creature's ink off. Jinx started to follow her, but stopped quickly. Despite being drenched in ink from head to toe, Fidget noticed that Jinx was grinning. With a quick turn and an even quicker dash, Jinx closed the distance between himself and Nemesis, wrapping her up in a huge hug and saying, "Thanks darling, you saved us." The top of her head barely reached Jinx's shoulders.

The only response Nemesis could make while smothered so tight was a shriek similar to the one the creature had let out before leaving. When Jinx released her, she looked down at her dress slowly, and seeing the ink the hug had left behind, began to quiver violently. While clenching her fists as tight as her thin arms would allow, she said in a voice that was barely a whisper, "You're going to pay for that, you fat freak." She took a step back, waved her hand, shouted the word "Teleport", and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

When Nemesis had raised her hand, Jinx had instinctively flinched, thinking that she would make good on her threat then and there. He breathed a sigh of relief when she had simply decided to return home.

"What did she say to you?" asked Pudding and Fidget together, as Jinx approached the water and began washing off the ink.

"Oh, you know, she told me that she adores me. I think she wants to date me."

"I'm pretty sure she wants to take you out Jinx, but I don't think she means on a date."

"We'll see, Fidget, we'll see. Hey, you know what? I think I'll surprise her by showing up at the next launch appropriately dressed." Jinx grinned mischievously at this admission and then said, mostly to himself, "I have the perfect outfit in mind."

"Speaking of the next launch, when will that be, Pudding?" asked Fidget.

"I don't know. I may have to make some adjustments to the second submarine. Do you guys still want to go? If we had been in the sub when that thing attacked... you could have been killed."

"Of course we want to go!" said Jinx. Pudding turned to look at Fidget. He made his head nod a very slight yes, prompting Pudding to once more grab him in a hug. She had forgotten that she was soaking wet and still slightly drenched in ink, though that wasn't what made poor Fidget so nervous. As it was, after a couple of seconds in the hug, Fidget jumped back, mumbled something incoherent, waved goodbye, and then vanished just like Nemesis had done.

"Sheesh," said Jinx, "we hug people and they run away immediately. We're a pair of winners, aren't we?"

"No doubt about it," replied Pudding as she embraced Jinx.

That hug now complete, Jinx put on a fake embarrassed face and then playfully said, "I... uh... I gotta get outta here." He and Pudding laughed together, and then with a quick shout of farewell, Jinx was gone.

Unbeknownst to Pudding, Fidget returned almost immediately. He took up a vigil from behind a small sand dune in order to make sure that nothing bad happened to his friend. Fidget is known for excessive worrying in addition to nervousness.

Pudding turned to the west and watched a distant point of the coastline, roughly two miles away. It was a cloudless day, so she had to squint hard to see a small sapphire flame floating in the sky. This blue flame belonged to the Beckon Point Lighthouse, situated on the outer edge of Lumina, the principal pixie city in the region. Beckon Point is responsible for monitoring naval traffic, both pixie and human, and then informing pixie vessels of current dangers via the magical signal fire.

The fire from the lighthouse blinked on and off a few times. Next to the destroyed dock there was a single torch sticking out of the sand that had a bit of flammable material wrapped around the top. Seeing the signal from the lighthouse, Pudding quickly approached the torch on her end of the beach, and grabbing hold of it, she said, "Ignite."

A similarly colored flame came to life and blinked in the same pattern. The lighthouse responded with a pattern of reds and yellows. Fidget, watching the lights and interpreting their meaning, said quietly to himself, "All clear. Good Luck."

Pudding sighed loudly from her point at the beach and grabbing the torch again half heartedly whispered, "Red, Red, Blue, Blue." The flame on the torch responded to her commands by issuing the colors.

Fidget watched her response and once again talking to himself, he said, "Test canceled." He frowned sadly as he saw the lighthouse confirm the message, and then the dock's flame died out as suddenly as it had appeared. Fidget watched Pudding retrieve her sword and then pace back and forth a few times, gazing out at the ocean. Finally coming to a stop, but still staring out at the ocean, she said, "Teleport."

Fidget turned west immediately and looked toward the outline of the city. In a darkened building that he knew to be Pudding's home, there was, for a moment, the briefest, tiniest flash of light in one of the windows. Knowing that his friend was home safe and sound, Fidget smiled, and concentrating hard, said in the same clear tone, "Teleport."

# Chapter 3

Fidget arrived in his living room, where Jinx, who happened to be his roommate, was sitting at a small round table, playing chess by himself. For some reason understandable only to Jinx, he was not winning. Fidget flopped down on the chair opposite him without saying a word, took over the chess pieces that resembled forest pixies, and was defeated in three moves by Jinx's prairie pixies. It should be noted that Fidget is the grand champion chess player in Lumina, at least, when his mind is in the game.

"You seem preoccupied," said Jinx but Fidget didn't respond. After a few minutes of silence, during which he put the board and pieces away, Jinx asked, "So, did our fragile little flower get home safely?"

Fidget snapped out of his deep thoughts instantly. "You know I don't think that she's fragile. I just worry about her, that's all."

"That's very sweet of you," said Jinx, grinning.

"Oh be quiet."

"That's a tempting offer, but I refuse." Jinx walked himself over to a flower patterned sofa and collapsed on it. He grabbed an envelope off of the end table next to him, and tore it open eagerly. "Oh, this is interesting, Fidget... it was addressed to you, I hope you don't mind."

Fidget seated himself in a rocking chair, put his feet up on their coffee table, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. He knew there was only one party that ever sent him mail during the school months. "What do my parents want now?"

"It's just two lines, it says, 'Dearest son, when are you going to ask out that pretty blonde haired pixie that we met last month? Her radical ideas are just delightful....' I personally would like to know the answer to that question as well, Fidget."

"Ugh... what does it really say?"

"They want you to attend the May Ball. They think it would be good for your social development."

Fidget laughed, though somewhat dejectedly. "Being made fun of by our worthless classmates during the day is bad enough; I don't think being made fun of on my free time will help my development anymore."

"True, but this is your perfect chance to ask her out...."

"Pudding?"

Jinx made a disappointed face before sarcastically saying, "No, I meant Nemesis because everyone knows how fond she is of twitchy little doofuses. OF COURSE PUDDING! Stop being dumb and just ask her out already."

Fidget turned slightly red before spluttering, "I... try, you know, I just... I... well...."

"Wuss out?" said Jinx. It was his own small attempt to help Fidget find the right word, while also confronting him with the undeniable truth.

"Yeah. She intimidates me. She's so smart and nice and pretty. I clam up every time I try. She's older than me too, that doesn't help."

"So she's a few months older, a lot smarter, and way prettier than you... stop being a wuss and just ask her out."

"I hope that wasn't supposed to be a pep talk?" asked Fidget with a laugh.

"Come on, this is a sure thing. You ask, she says yes. It's as simple as that."

"How do you know?" asked Fidget, trying to hide his genuine interest.

"How do I know?" asked Jinx in utter disbelief. "Um, she's always smiling at you."

Fidget shrugged his shoulders. He had hoped that Jinx's information would be a little more insightful. "She smiles at everyone."

"She's always hugging _you_."

"She smiles at and hugs everyone. That's her personality!"

Jinx continued as though he hadn't heard a single word Fidget had said, "She's already met your weirdo parents without running in the opposite direction."

"They aren't that weird...."

"Yes, they are," Jinx added quickly. Fidget couldn't really argue; his parents were pretty odd. "She didn't punch you when you said she smelled bad."

"Jinx, you know I didn't say it or mean it like that."

"She didn't kick you when you broke her arm."

"That was an accident."

"She didn't put a curse on you when you teleported her into that garbage dumpster."

Fidget threw his hands up in frustration. "I _told_ the instructor I wasn't ready to do group teleportation. He didn't listen, so blame him if you want to blame someone."

"No need to get defensive, I'm just trying to make a point. You see, these are all good signs. If she doesn't like you, what is she still doing around you? You know what, Nemesis is right, you are a doofus. Don't worry though, I can teach you to be something less of a doofus. For starters, we need to put dating in terms that a doofus can understand. You need to think of dating like... like ... football! You see, Pudding hands you the ball all the time and you just keep dropping it, over and over."

"Do I really?" asked Fidget as he once again assumed his preoccupied look.

"Yes, you really do."

"Can I pick it back up?"

"It's best to just fall on it and wait for the next handoff. But know this, you can't keep fumbling Fidget, or else she'll hand the ball to someone else. So, ask her out next time."

"Maybe."

"Life is too short for maybe and too long for regrets. Do it. I command it."

"Maybe."

Jinx sighed, stared at Fidget for a few seconds, and then decided to change the subject. "So, that was pretty wild stuff today."

"No kidding! How do you suppose that sea creature got so close to the coast without the lighthouse notifying us? When I was standing there, they signaled all clear to Pudding... not even ten minutes after we were attacked. You'd think they would have said that a dangerous monster was on the loose twenty feet from where we were standing."

"Hmmmm, you're right," said Jinx. "The lighthouse should have seen something that large breach the pixie barrier, especially since they were keeping an extra lookout on that area for Pudding's test run."

"Not only that, but that creature went right after the submarine like it knew exactly what it wanted. Why would it do that? For that matter, why take the submarine? The magical reinforcements that Pudding gave the metal probably made that thing angry since it couldn't smash the sub to bits, but to steal it! That doesn't sound like any sea creature attack I've ever heard of."

Jinx dropped his voice to a whisper, "Maybe somebody didn't want us to make the maiden voyage today."

"There are some strange coincidences involved, but do you really think someone would purposefully sabotage us?" asked Fidget.

"I'm just saying it's possible, though I don't know who would want to put a stop to Pudding's moment of fame... we aren't even sure if the submarine works."

"It did sink fast," said Fidget, in a worried undertone. He stood up and began to pace around while his mind turned to the past for a few moments. "The only people who openly oppose Pudding's inventions are the instructors and the magitorium's councilors. They don't really like her interest in science, but they could always just confiscate her inventions if they _really_ wanted to."

"That's true." Jinx began to drum his fingers on the end table, "Who else could it be then?"

Fidget narrowed his eyes as his thoughts suddenly struck upon something that he found completely obvious. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before now. "Who else knew about the test run, and would have a problem with Pudding succeeding?" he asked, in an accusing tone.

"You're not thinking... no... not Nemesis?"

"You have to admit that it's a possibility."

"I doubt she is _that_ jealous of Pudding," said Jinx.

"Nemesis is jealous of anything that takes attention away from Nemesis. At any rate, someone planned this out, and whoever was working in the lighthouse was in on it. I was supposed to visit my parents after the submarine's trial run; they were interested in knowing whether it worked or not. I'm going to get that visit over with right now. I'm sure I'll be gone all day, so let's go see the harbormaster tomorrow. Maybe we can get something out of him."

"All right, that sounds like a plan. Oh, hey," said Jinx trying to make it sound like he had just remembered something important, "did you prepare for the telekinesis practical?"

"No."

"Dang, I was hoping you could show me how to do some of it."

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

Fidget and Jinx separated, going to their bedrooms on opposite sides of the living room. Fidget grabbed a few items from his dresser, and then headed out into the city. Since he wasn't born in Lumina, he never had a chance to get bored of its environment, and so, he always got a kick out of walking through the city, rather than just teleporting to the area he needed.

Immediately upon stepping out onto the smooth, stone paved streets of the university district, Fidget looked around at all of the old buildings. The architecture closely resembled what humans would someday call the gothic style, but that was only true of this district; it is possible to walk around and see much older and much newer designs, depending upon which direction you go.

Lumina, like many pixie cities, is an interesting mix of several different time periods. Since pixies live so long, and get set in their ways, many of the older generations never move on to newer things. So, upon his walk, Fidget encountered streets filled with pixies that had on everything from blue jeans and tank tops, to togas.

Although this area of the world was colonized by pixies only a hundred years earlier, Fidget encountered older and older architectural designs as he neared the center of the city. This always seemed to impress him greatly. It was really only due to the fact that very old pixies looking to get away from encroaching humans were the original colonists. Little did they know that humans would colonize a small island just north of Lumina within a few decades.

After the initial colony was setup, younger generations quickly jumped at the chance to take part in the formation of a new pixie city. That is why Lumina's architecture and entire culture seems to get newer and newer the farther away you get from the town center.

Fidget eventually came to a large pavilion with several tall stone arches placed at regular intervals. He read the pixie symbols on each arch, until at last he came upon one that had "Bermuda" written on it. As he waited under that particular arch, he turned his gaze upon a large, fancy dormitory that was situated near the magitorium's chambers. This was a dormitory that only the pixie children with the richest parents could afford.

"Yeah, we'll talk to the harbormaster tomorrow," said Fidget aloud, but to himself, "and I'll keep an eye on Nemesis."

Fidget touched the arch, causing a massive burst of light to encompass the entire area. When it died out, he had teleported to his home town in the Bermuda Triangle.

# Chapter 4

After spending the entire day with his parents, Fidget had returned to his dormitory and immediately gone to bed. If he had known how fast Nemesis would act, he might have begun keeping an eye on her that very night. Then he would have noticed a cloaked figure sneaking out of the exclusive dormitory where she lives during the school months. Unfortunately for Fidget, he expected that even pixies with evil intent would wait for a more agreeable time of day to commit their unsavory acts, and so he had gone to sleep, leaving Nemesis free to act.

Weaving in and out of lonely lanes at a maddening rate, and being sure to stay out of the moonlight as much as possible, Nemesis made her way through Lumina, finally coming to a stop at a worn down shack of a house.

From underneath the cloak, a tiny hand came out and knocked on the front door softly. It was eventually opened by a tall brute of a pixie with long greasy black hair and deep black eyes. He looked puzzled until the figure in front of him reached up and lowered the hood that had concealed their face.

"Nemesis! Come in, quickly."

As she entered the house, Nemesis gave its dinginess a disparaging look; disgust was evident in every feature of her face. The door was quickly closed behind her, leaving her standing in a small living room with a round table and two chairs. A light breeze was being carried into the house through an open window, causing the flame of a small candle on the table to dance back and forth, casting an eerie light throughout the room.

With a big yawn, the tall pixie offered Nemesis a dust covered chair. She looked at the dust, looked down at her cloak, and then once again stared at the thick layer of dust. Without saying a single word, she yanked the table cloth off the table, knocking several food crusted plates onto the ground with a crash. The candle went tumbling as well, plunging the room into darkness.

Muttering something under his breath about "rich" pixies, the large fellow bent down and picked up the candle. "Ignite," he said, which instantly relit its flame. By its light, Nemesis bunched up the table cloth and set it over the dust layer, but upon seeing the food stains on the table cloth, she decided to just go ahead and stay standing.

"Nimrod, you do justice to your name, did you know that?"

Nimrod tried to understand her meaning, but was lost for words for a few moments. "Uh, sure. Hey, hey, I thought I told you not to come here. You... you could have been seen."

" _Believe me_ , I don't want to be seen in this... _area_... anymore than you want me to be seen here, but we have to have a little chat. I thought I gave you clear instructions. What was that today?"

"You said to let a creature through the barrier. That's what I did."

" _I told you_ to let it through the barrier after we got in the submarine. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? AFTER WE WERE IN THE STUPID SUBMARINE! If that thing had attacked us while we were in the invention of little miss smarty pants, the council would have deemed it dangerous, and then they would have had no choice but to confiscate ALL of her inventions. She would have been finished."

"You could have died if it attacked while you were in the su... submaline."

"Submarine, Nimrod, she calls it a submarine... pay attention, stupid."

"Whatever, you still could have died."

Nemesis eyed him suspiciously. His concern was unwarranted, and more than a little unwanted in her mind. "We would have teleported out in time. No one would have gotten hurt. Instead you let the creature pass through the barrier early, and they all nearly died fighting it. The invention can't take the blame if no one is in it."

Nemesis began pacing back and forth in the tiny little room. "Ugh, this place smells; don't you know how to clean?"

"Feel free to leave anytime you like."

"Oh, we aren't finished yet," said Nemesis threateningly. "You need to take care of the second one."

"Second one? A second submal... a second invention?"

"That's right, genius, she made two of them. She'll be making it even stronger now that your little monster showed her where it's weak. So, this time you're going to have to let a couple of those creatures into pixie territory."

"What? No, no, I'll lose my job if another one gets by me. One can be written off as a mistake... two is just plain negligence. They would fire me."

"So, get a new job."

"I can't, this is the only magical job that I'm rated to do. If I lost this job, I'd have to go get a normal one. You'll have to con someone else this time."

Nemesis changed her tone, hoping that something a little less threatening might turn the conversation more to her favor. "Pudding's inventions will be the downfall of our society. If a pixie like you cares about things like that, you should be thanking me for "conning" you into helping me."

"You're just jealous that you can't invent anything like the stuff she comes up with."

"I ... bah... jealous... of her! What's there to be jealous about?"

"She's smarter, nicer, and a lot prettier than you."

The words cut Nemesis deeply, as she herself had spent quite a long time thinking the very same things. Still, her own self-deluded pride wouldn't allow her to admit to it. Instead, her anger level shot through the roof and she did the only things she knows how to do in situations like these; shriek and scream, very, very loudly. "HOW DARE YOU! She... ahhhh... have you seen the way she dresses... prettier... HOW DARE YOU!!! She wears blue jeans! BLUE JEANS! She's a menace! A deviant! A... a... are you listening to what I'm saying?"

"Just go bother someone else, I'm not going to help you a second time."

"You don't get to decide... what are you doing? Get your dirty hands off of me... whaaa...." Nemesis landed out in the street with a soft plunk and Nimrod's door was immediately closed. She stood up and glared at it for a few moments, as though it would open simply because she desired it too.

It seemed for a moment that her wish would be fulfilled, as the door suddenly popped back open, but Nimrod had only done so to poke his head out into the street so he could have one last parting word, "Don't ever touch my table cloth again." He stepped back inside and slammed the door behind him.

With a last shudder of rage, Nemesis began to sneak back home.

# Chapter 5

Early the next morning, Fidget and Jinx went to talk to the harbormaster, but of course, he knew nothing of the security breach. He was more than willing to write it off as a mistake by his apprentice, Nimrod. Jinx accepted this explanation, but Fidget still believed there was foul play at work.

Regardless, the two friends gave up their investigation and headed west to see what Pudding was working on. Just outside the workshop, Jinx motioned for Fidget to wait before going in. He wanted to try one last time to convince his friend to ask Pudding out.

"I'm telling you, she likes you."

"Enough, Jinx. I've thought about it, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me. You're crazy. Now, I'm going in. If you want to stand around out here, go for it."

Fidget reached for the door handle.

Jinx quickly whispered, "I bet you get hugged."

"I already told you she hugs... yyyyaaaaaa...."

Fidget had begun to turn the handle, but stopped suddenly when a small, round metal ball smashed through the workshop's wall, landing in the street just a few feet from where he and Jinx now stood.

A set of goggles appeared behind the hole in the wall and a pair of violet eyes surveyed the damage, eventually taking notice of the two dumfounded pixies standing outside.

"Hey, guys!" said Pudding, in her typical super cheerful voice, opening the door to let them both in. "How are ya?"

Fidget and Jinx looked at the hole in the wall, then at Pudding. She looked like she had been climbing in a chimney. Only small slips of her blonde hair could be seen peeking through a thick layer of dark soot. The goggles had protected her eyes, but the rest of her face and a long leather apron she wore were equally covered.

Pudding slipped the apron off gently, trying to avoid knocking the soot onto her yellow blouse top and blue jeans. As Jinx had predicted, she closed the distance between herself and Fidget, immediately hugging him when he walked into the workshop. Even in his now nervous state, Fidget was able to catch a sly grin from Jinx. He rolled his eyes in response.

"Hiya, Puddin'," said Jinx. "To answer your question, I'm great. Fidget is almost as great, but slightly less. You know how it is. He does try so hard to keep up with me, but it's tough, I am pretty awesome." Pudding went up to Jinx and hugged him too, which now drew the sly grin from Fidget. Jinx shrugged his shoulders and then burst out laughing.

"What are you guys laughing about? You're not laughing at me, are you?"

"I would never laugh at you, Pudding," said Fidget in a voice that couldn't have been more sappy... or sincere.

Jinx chuckled, then shook his head in a slightly disappointed way. "No, certainly not."

Pudding eyed them both for a second before reassuming her bright smile.

"Sooo, what's the deal with this?" asked Jinx, pointing at the wall.

"That," said Pudding, with a grin, "that was a slight miscalculation."

Pudding stepped outside to retrieve the metal ball, leaving Jinx and Fidget admiring her other handiwork. No matter how many times they enter the workshop, they are always left in awe by their friend's creative mind.

Pudding's workshop is a cross between an ordinary warehouse and the most fantastical place you can imagine. It's here that all of her great inventions are dreamed up and eventually come to life. All along the walls of this vast space are a collection of things that whirl and things that gurgle. Most have odd glows. Others are even hard for Pudding to explain. One thing is for certain, all of the objects are quite out of place with everything else of a pixie nature.

For pixies, scientific research is mostly frowned upon. Until Pudding came along, no pixie would have ever dreamed of inventing a vehicle that would let you dive beneath the ocean's waves simply to see what's there. In their minds, there's no reason for such a thing to exist because it serves no meaningful purpose. On top of that, pixies that can use magic are expected, sometimes even required, to spend their time researching magic, not science.

To Pudding's credit, she has never listened to the naysayers, and that is why her workshop is filled with dozens, perhaps even hundreds of small inventions that are scattered here and there. Most of them serve no practical purpose, but to Pudding, they are priceless. That goes double so for her best inventions. These are the ones that, at this point anyway, have stumped even her intelligence. They include the still untested submarine and her various attempts at producing a rocket. In a small, leather bound notebook that she keeps with her at all times, many more devices of a similar nature exist solely as drawings, though in Pudding's mind, no matter what it takes, these dreams will become a reality... someday.

Pudding stepped back inside, set the ball on a workbench, and then grabbed a rag to wipe off her face. When all of this was done, she said, "Well, you guys showed up just in time. Check it out!" She led Jinx and Fidget past a long line of metal fragments and workbenches, to a large bay door on the west side of the workshop. With a wave from her hand the door slid back, revealing both the second submarine, and the large cliff that it was currently dangling over, suspended by a pulley system that she had invented.

To the astonishment of both Jinx and Fidget, Pudding had radically altered the look of this submarine. The new design was sleek, stylish, and much, much bigger than the prototype.

"The _Titan_ was my prototype submarine; I call this one the _Poseidon_. I'm just putting the finishing touches on it."

"This one looked just like the other one... you changed all of this in one night?" asked Fidget.

"Hmm... oh no, I changed all of this in the past two hours," said Pudding.

"You're amazing."

"Thanks, Fiddgy." Fidget was instantly in the one armed hug that so terrified him. He quickly shook loose from it.

"Fumble," said Jinx, while pretending to clear his throat.

"What did you say, Jinx?" asked Pudding curiously.

"What did I pay for what?" asked Jinx, clearly confused.

"What did you _say_?" repeated Pudding, stressing every word clearly.

"Oh, haha, I didn't say anything. Did _you_ hear me say something, Fidget?"

Fidget glared at Jinx before responding, "Nope, not a word."

"You see," said Jinx, stepping to the very edge of the workshop so that he could give the submarine a better look while gently patting it, "I didn't say anything."

"The cliff looks like it has eroded even more than the last time I was here," said Fidget edging up to the submarine so that he too could feel it.

"Mmm hmm, it sure has. This whole edge of Lumina will fall into the ocean in a couple of years."

"We're safe here though, right?" asked Fidget apprehensively. He couldn't help but notice that the submarine was dangling over a roughly 100 foot straight drop to a crystal blue ocean that was much deeper.

"For now, but I think I'll have to abandon the workshop inside of a month."

Fidget leapt back from the edge, staying close to Pudding, who had walked back over to the metal fragments near the center of the workshop. Jinx eventually joined his friends but continued to stare at the submarine. With one quick movement, he jumped back over to the edge of the workshop, leaned toward the submarine and started sniffing the exterior.

Pudding and Fidget exchanged glances while doing their best to stifle their laughter. Jinx spoke up at last, saying, "Very smooth exterior. This plating looks like a new alloy, it feels like a new alloy, it smells like a new alloy... and now for a taste test...."

"Oh, please don't bite the submarine, Jinx. You'll hurt yourself, and you might fall if you keep leaning over the edge like that."

"It is a new metal alloy though, right?"

"Yep," replied Pudding, happy that Jinx had noticed the difference. "It's more heavily enchanted too. These exterior plates should be much stronger than the _Titan's_. The fragments over here are some of the extras."

"Ah, you see. I have an eye for things like this. I tell Fidget all the time that I have an eye for things that others might not notice. But he doesn't believe me, do you Fidget?"

Fidget took a step back so that Pudding wouldn't notice him making mean gestures. "Where is the window?" he asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"I removed it. It was the weakest point on the prototype. Instead, I cast a transparency spell on the front interior plate. It will let us see right through the hull, just like there was a window there."

"Awesome," said Jinx, "but if you can see outside with a spell, why did you put these other holes all along the bottom?" He then pointed toward two holes at the front of the submarine, two more on the side they could all see, and two at the rear.

"Ah... _those_ are torpedo tubes." Pudding said this with a slight grin. She knew her friends would be greatly interested in this aspect of the _Poseidon's_ design.

"What's a torpedo?" asked Jinx.

Pudding walked to a work bench that was covered with a long white sheet. She grabbed the sheet and pulled it off, revealing a long, cylindrical, brass colored object with a clear, cone-like container at the front and a propeller at the back. " _This_ is a torpedo."

"It's a weapon," said Fidget, thinking out loud.

"In a sense. I made it defensive in nature though. After the test of the prototype, I figured it would be a good idea to have some way to defend ourselves. You see that cone at the top. That can be filled with a small amount of magic. The same crystals that power its turbine engine allow it to hold the magic charge for an extended period of time. So, it is a hybrid of machine and magic."

"Very cool," said Jinx. "What does it do though?"

"Well, let's say I cast an ice spell on the conical container. Like so...." Pudding placed her hand over the torpedo's frontal charge and said "Freeze." The cone instantly began to glow with a soft blue light. "It will hold that spell in the crystal and release it on impact with, say, a giant sea creature. The ice spell will encase the creature in a big magical iceberg for a minute or so, allowing us to escape. The spell will wear off quick enough that the creature won't be hurt by it."

"How many of these do you have, Pudding?" asked Jinx with a twinkle in his eye.

"I have nine of the ice torpedoes built and eight typhoon torpedoes almost ready to go. The typhoon torpedo should produce an underwater cyclone that will disorient any monsters that get caught up in it."

"Have you tested these yet?" asked Jinx.

"No. The metal ball that just smashed a hole in the wall was a small test of a different type of projectile based torpedo. It didn't exactly go according to plan. I just want to scare the monsters away, not hurt them."

Jinx and Fidget both looked at each other with wide eyes. "Can we give one of them a test fire?" asked Jinx, while Fidget turned to Pudding and grinned mischievously.

"They do need to be tested... but not in here, I don't want to blow another hole in my walls," Pudding admitted.

"They certainly do need testing," said Jinx.

"Absolutely," added Fidget.

"Nemesis always wants to see your workshop...." said Jinx as he lost himself in the thought of encasing Nemesis in a block of ice for a few seconds.

Since the workshop is a safe haven for Pudding, she only allows people that she trusts implicitly inside of it. Needless to say Nemesis has never been on the approved list; a point which greatly agitates the stuck up pixie. Nemesis has made attempts to find out what Pudding is up to, but has been thwarted by the workshop's defenses on all occasions.

Shortly after setting up shop in this building, Pudding lined the roof with a slick metal layer and then greased it with a lubricant she developed. This defense was implemented to prevent anyone from teleporting onto the roof and peeking through the skylights that run along it in order to catch a glimpse of Pudding's inventions. If they do so, they will slide right off the building. Nemesis broke her leg the day after this defense was implemented, though she always stuck with the story that she had fallen off of a horse.

Pudding also put an anti-teleport spell in place to redirect those who don't belong in the workshop. If a pixie did attempt to teleport in without the proper approval, they would end up in a lovely little pig pen in the agricultural district. Nemesis's favorite dress was ruined by this defense, though she made up an excuse for this incident as well.

"I second this idea of firing it at Nemesis," said Fidget.

"We can't test it on Nemesis!"

"Why not?" asked Jinx and Fidget together.

"She is a little different, attitude wise...."

"That's putting it mildly," said Jinx.

"...but, she would never harm us."

"Let's hope so," said Fidget, under his breath. The glint returned to his eyes as he poked at the torpedo, "We still need to test this somewhere."

"We'll be back just before sundown, Pudding," said Jinx. "I think I have the perfect spot in mind. In the meantime, Fidget is going to show me how to use telekinetic magic so that I don't fail the test tomorrow."

"All right! See you guys tonight!"

Pudding followed them to the door of the workshop and said goodbye. As the door closed, her eyes caught a small phrase that was painted in pink paint on the paneling of the door, where it could be seen every time she leaves the building. It read: Never Let Anyone Tell You That You Are Going To Fail!

# Chapter 6

"We're totally going to fail," said Fidget, worried, as usual.

"Peeshaw my friend, we're far too smooth to fail," said Jinx, in what he probably believed was a reassuring tone.

"Jinx, this is a bad idea."

"I'm not known for bad ideas, Fidget. Pudding, what do you think of my plan?"

"It's awfully mean."

"Nimrod missed that monster, and it almost killed us. The least we could do is scare him with the sudden formation of a giant iceberg right in front of the lighthouse during his work shift! Come on, it'll be funny. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Jinx does have a point," said Fidget.

"I don't have double joints. I'm not bendy at all."

"Point! Point! I said you have a point."

Jinx chuckled slightly. "You're testy when you're nervous, did you know that?"

Fidget glared initially, but eventually grinned.

Jinx turned to Pudding, putting on his most charming smile. "What do you say, Pudding, want to give it a try?"

"I guess it would be funny...."

"That's the spirit!"

Pudding, Fidget, and Jinx were sitting at the beach once again, only this time they were waiting for the sun to go down. The dock had been magically repaired, and the torpedo was now sitting on it. Pudding had tried to find Nemesis, figuring that she might want to see the torpedo in action, but she was mysteriously missing from all her normal hangouts.

"You see there," said Jinx, pointing at the lighthouse. Pudding and Fidget could barely make out the silhouettes of two pixies, one leaving the lighthouse and the other going in. "The shift is changing... our friend Nimrod is on duty now. Ready to fire the torpedo on your order, captain."

Pudding heard Jinx, but didn't immediately respond to him. When he turned to look at her, he noticed that she had taken on her dreamy expression and that usually signified that some idea had suddenly popped into her head. "What's on your mind?" asked Jinx.

Pudding was instinctively twirling her fingers through one of her long blonde curls. This was an especially bad sign in the minds of her friends. At last, she spoke up, asking Jinx, "How did your telekinetic training go?"

"Poorly," said Fidget, answering for him. Jinx bit at his lips nervously, but could offer up no other answer.

"Hmm... you did all right holding the sea creature's tentacles back with magic."

"That's because I had the proper motivation, Pudding; it was a do or die situation. Unless I have to do it, I don't seem to be able to."

"Well, how about this?" said Pudding as she motioned for her friends to follow her to the edge of the dock. "The torpedo can guide itself, but I want you to guide it with your mind." She bent down over the torpedo and opened a small panel that led to several small, multicolored crystals.

While she was fiddling with the arrangement of these crystals, Jinx asked, "What's the motivation?" He was doubtful that Pudding could come up with anything that would prove sufficient. "If there's nothing at stake, I can wave my hand around all day long, but nothing will happen."

Pudding gazed out across the water and saw a pixie fishing boat on the horizon. "That boat over there," she said, "the one moving toward the commerce docks... it has black sails, do you see it?"

"Yes," replied Jinx. "My brother works on that boat."

Pudding flipped the panel shut and slid the torpedo into the water. "Your motivation is to save him," she said. Before Jinx or Fidget could protest, she waved her hand over the torpedo. Its propeller sprang to life, sending it racing toward the boat. "You've got about fifteen seconds."

"You've got to be kidding me!" yelled Jinx, as he jumped to the very edge of the dock and began to furiously wave his hand back and forth at the fast disappearing torpedo. Unfortunately, nothing he did made the least bit of difference; the long rippling wake of the torpedo showed that it was still very much on course.

Pudding turned to Fidget and saw that he had a very worried, completely stunned expression on his face. Behavior like this was simply not what he had come to expect from his friend. To reassure Fidget that everything would be okay, Pudding winked at him. He knew then, that she was prepared, at any moment, to divert the weapon herself.

The torpedo was racing along the water's surface, so Jinx could see that he had only a matter of seconds left to act. His face scrunched together hard and his eyes sharpened their focus; it was now or never. He flicked his hand hard to the left, and to his surprise, the torpedo suddenly turned in that direction, missing the boat by a good thirty feet.

"YES!" shouted all three pixies together.

"Can you believe it guys? I did it!" Jinx was so thrilled with his success that he waved his hands around in celebration, forgetting the fact that those very same movements were guiding the torpedo.

Both Pudding and Fidget shouted together, "Jinx! Stop! Stop! The torpedo!"

The torpedo veered left, then right, dove slightly down into the water, and then with a last twirl from Jinx's hands, turned directly toward the lighthouse.

Pudding instantly raised her hands, concentrating on the torpedo, but to her dismay, her magic could not stop the runaway weapon. If she pushed hard to the left, it countered just as hard to the right. "Something's wrong with it, it's like its _targeting_ the lighthouse... I can't get it to stop!" Pudding was straining as hard as she could, using every ounce of magic at her disposal, but it made no difference. In a manner of seconds, the torpedo flew right out of the water with the force of a missile, slamming into the stone base of the lighthouse.

A thunderous boom sounded out and a brilliant blue glow blinded everyone for an instant. This was followed by a shockwave that covered everything in a fifty foot radius with a thin layer of frost. Though it was an impressive sight, the true power of the torpedo was about to be displayed at the point of impact. All three pixies watched in disbelief as an ice berg suddenly sprang to life, encasing the towering lighthouse and smashing its way up and in as it grew larger and larger. It was evident, even from their distant point on the beach, that the expanding ice was obliterating the lighthouse's base.

Since the torpedo was only designed to be detonated in the water, Pudding had no way of knowing how long the ice would last. For the moment, it was the only thing holding the damaged tower together. Unfortunately, without water to reinforce the spell, the ice disappeared as suddenly as it had formed, leaving behind a massive hole and long fractures that were still snaking their way up the lighthouse's infrastructure. A violent cracking filled the air, and shortly after, the lighthouse tipped toward the ocean; what was left of it fell right in.

All three pixies teleported to the scene of the accident and began to search for Nimrod, but the dust that had been kicked up prevented them from seeing more than a few feet in any direction. After several minutes of searching, they had still found no sign of him, and he hadn't responded to any of their shouts.

"I can't believe it," said Jinx, surveying the shattered stump that remained of the lighthouse's foundation. Part of the tower had hit the sand; it lay around in large chunks. The rest had hit the water and was now sinking its way to the ocean floor.

"Maybe he teleported," said Pudding, trying to stay optimistic. "He might have teleported."

"I didn't see a flash of light," said Fidget. "But maybe... you never know... let's hope."

"Hey! I think I see something," said Pudding after another few minutes of searching. She cupped her hands around her eyes to help keep the dust away. "Out in the water. There, look where I'm pointing. I hear something now too. There are voices... listen...."

As the pixies stood still, listening for any signs of life, they heard a familiar voice shouting even more familiar sentiments. "Kick harder, you stupid idiot, my shoes are getting wet. You are the most worthless ... _how can you not swim faster than this_... KICK HARDER!"

"Nemesis!" shouted Pudding in the general direction of the voices.

"Pudding! Is that you?"

"Yes. Are you all right?"

With a voice full of sadness and utter despair, Nemesis responded, "My shoes are getting ruined!"

"Are _you_ all right?" Pudding repeated, putting extra stress on her words.

" _Yes_...." Nemesis replied snottily.

"Is Nimrod with you?"

"That worthless idiot is here."

"Thank goodness," said Pudding to Fidget and Jinx. They both nodded in agreement. "How far out are you?"

"How far out are we, idiot?" There was silence for a moment, then Nemesis continued, "The idiot thinks we are thirty feet out or so."

"Do you need help?" shouted Jinx.

"No, we don't need help, Jumbo... especially not from _you_!" said Nemesis, but Nimrod managed to yell back a stifled, "Yes."

As the dust settled, Pudding and the others could see Nemesis and Nimrod out in the water. Nemesis was floating on her back, doing her best to keep her shoes out of the water. Poor Nimrod was doing everything he could to drag her along while keeping himself afloat. It was evident that he was close to exhaustion, because his head came closer and closer to going under with each weak stroke that he made.

Jinx, wanting to make up for some of the damage he had done, rushed into the water and helped to haul Nemesis in. Unfortunately for Nemesis, Jinx was in such a frazzled state that he instantly dunked her when he got to her, completely submerging her expensive shoes. Upon resurfacing, she began screaming again about how everyone else is so worthless, right up to the moment where Pudding and Fidget helped to drag the swimmers onto the coastline.

Even though he hadn't done much swimming, Jinx was sprawled out on the sand clutching his side just as hard as Nimrod was. Nemesis quickly stood up, surveying the damage to her shoes. She let out one of her standard screams of anger at seeing the waterlogged footwear.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Pudding, going up to each of her friends and looking them over for any injuries. Jinx gave a half-hearted nod, but continued clutching his side. Nimrod was gasping for air, but otherwise unhurt. Nemesis only mentioned something about her ruined shoes, again.

"Was anyone else in there, Nimrod?" asked Pudding.

"Uh... besides me and Nemesis... uh... no."

"Good."

Fidget heard Nimrod's response and instantly glared at Nemesis suspiciously. "What were you doing in the lighthouse, Nemesis?"

For a brief moment, Nemesis assumed a very guilty face, but quickly recomposed herself. "I was... I... are you trying to accuse me of something?"

"Should I accuse you of something?"

"Don't take that tone with me... I was... I... tried to figure... well I was trying to see why this idiot missed that big sea creature the other night." Nemesis turned toward Nimrod and kicked some sand on him. "Isn't that what I was doing, idiot?"

"Uh... yeah," said Nimrod, sitting up. He noticed that Nemesis was glaring at him, as though to say, " _Don't say anything stupid, idiot_!" so he decided to say something that would irritate her instead; "Hey, those are nice shoes, Pudding."

Pudding scrunched her eyebrows together thoughtfully. "Oh, well... thanks, Nimrod...."

"Really, tennis shoes?" said Nemesis, glaring even harder at Nimrod. He simply smiled back.

"I think he might have a concussion," Fidget whispered to Jinx, "he's talking about shoes."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll make the news...."

"That's not what I... never mind." Fidget turned his attention back to Nemesis. "You were in the lighthouse the whole time?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What do you know Jinx, we tested it on her after all."

Jinx did his best to laugh, but his face only showed the slightest hint of a smile. He was far too embarrassed and ashamed to get much joy out of the situation.

"You tested what on me? ARGH! Don't tell me, _don't even tell me_ that _you_ had something to do with _this_? Pudding! Was this _another_ one of your experiments?"

"We were testing an experimental defensive weapon," Pudding admitted.

"Defensive! You ruined my shoes! You knocked down the lighthouse! You... you forced this one," Nemesis pointed at Nimrod, "to... to... to take a bath...."

"I love your hair, Pudding," said Nimrod. "It's so much curlier than hers." Nimrod in his turn, pointed at Nemesis. The stuck up pixie let out a slight shriek and then clutched her hands together so hard that her knuckles turned bright white.

In her mind, Nemesis couldn't think of any possible reason for Nimrod to torture her with such cruel comments. All she knew for sure was that another such remark would push her over the edge, so she said, "I think we need to get this idiot to the hospital, he's acting even dumber than normal. What should I tell them when I admit him; that you wanted to blow up the lighthouse with your 'defensive' weapon?"

"It wasn't meant to be detonated outside of the water...."

"It was my fault," said Jinx. "I accidentally guided it into the lighthouse."

Nemesis had a venomous look on her face as she turned to Pudding. "How could you let someone so stupid try to control one of your devices?"

"Jinx is _not_ stupid! He was controlling it just fine... it got away from him that's all. I couldn't get it to stop at the last minute either. It was an _accident_."

"Accident or not," said Nemesis, turning her gaze upon Jinx, "you've ruined the last set of my clothes, Jumbo. The next time I see you, we're going to settle our debt."

Jinx lowered his eyes, too embarrassed to say anything.

At this point, pixies were now teleporting onto the accident scene at a maddening rate, each one demanding an explanation of what had occurred. Nemesis ran over to them and began to play the role of innocent victim a little too well.

"I had just stepped out onto the lookout railing," she told one of the pixie reporters that was in the crowd. "I was visiting that soggy idiot over there... no, not the fat one, that tall dumb looking one. Anyway, I had just stepped out when something collided with the lighthouse. We would have teleported, but the collision knocked us both down. Before we could even stand up, the whole tower tipped over, and we were flung far out into the water. I surfaced as fast as I could, because I knew my shoes were in danger."

Nemesis pointed to her shoes and gave a quick explanation of their merits over any other shoe that normal pixies could afford. Having fully explained the important details of her footwear, she continued, "At that point I quickly rescued Nimrod, the idiot that I came to see, because he doesn't know how to swim. My friends that you see here showed up, and the fat one jumped into the water... he thought he was going to help us... I had to rescue him too."

"You rescued both of them, at the same time?" asked the reporter.

"And let's not forget my shoes."

"Wow, amazing."

"I don't try to be a hero, but it does seem to come natural to me."

"Any idea what hit the lighthouse?"

Nemesis let out a long, wicked laugh as she turned to Pudding. "You'd have to ask her."

Pudding couldn't help but notice that Nemesis had a victorious smile on her face. This was the moment Nemesis had looked forward to ever since crossing paths with Pixiedom's most infamous inventor, and try as she might, she couldn't hide the thrill she got out of finally seeing Pudding's dreams nearing their end.

# Chapter 7

The reporters questioned Pudding for quite awhile, and it didn't take long for their stories to spread across Lumina. Though it was late at night, the head of the magitorium was summoned to the site of the accident and given the details; most of them were the details that Nemesis had lied about to make the situation worse, but either way, the case was a bad one for Pudding and Jinx. Fidget was seen as an accomplice, though no direct blame was pointed his way.

Since it was so late, Pudding was to appear before the magitorium in the morning, immediately after completing the telekinetic portion of her magical exams.

Pudding, Jinx, and Fidget met up early the next morning on the outskirts of Lumina, intending to walk to their test site. Nemesis met them along the way with a group of her friends in tow; they were little more than a collection of the meanest and dumbest pixies in Lumina.

Nemesis had the brightest smile on her face as she said, "Hello, Pudding, and hello to you two losers."

"Hello ugly, and hello lackeys," said Jinx. Nemesis wrung her hands and her eyes bulged slightly, but her smile soon returned.

Pudding frowned, but said in her cheery way, "Hi, everyone." Every single male pixie that Nemesis had brought with her uttered an enthusiastic "Hi, Hello, or Hey, Pudding!" As the group turned and began to walk toward their test site, Nemesis jabbed several of them in the ribs with her elbows.

The exam was to take place outside the habited parts of the city, on a long, risen rectangular plateau of sand that slopes off sharply on each side. The site had been setup to resemble an archery range, with a series of targets on one end and the pixies at the other.

Their task was fairly straight forward; lift a series of seven oddly shaped stones with your mind and hit progressively smaller targets at the far end of the plateau with them. The final task was to lift one heavy stone and, in a controlled fashion, guide it wherever the instructor told you to.

As the two groups of pixies joined their classmates along the edge of the plateau, the instructor gave them their testing order. Pudding was up first since she had an appointment with the magitorium. She shocked everyone when she lifted all seven stones simultaneously and hit every target dead center. The final task was laughably simple to her too. Having passed the test with flying colors, she teleported to the magitorium. Fidget yelled good luck just before she left, but his voice was lost in the wind.

Nemesis was up next. Not to be upstaged, she tried to lift all seven stones too, but only managed to move them a few inches. She tried several more times, but had to eventually give up and complete the task one at a time. She too lifted the heavy stone quite easily.

Fidget and Jinx watched as every student completed the task. A few had some troubles, but none had showed anywhere near as much anxiety as Jinx was now showing. Most of the students returned to their homes after completing the test, as it was the only one scheduled that day, but Nemesis and her lackeys stayed behind. They all grinned when Jinx stepped up to attempt the test.

At first, he thought things would go well; he had picked up the stone and sent it flying toward the target. It even looked like it was on course. However, just as the stone was about to hit its mark, it veered off sharply.

"That's all right," the instructor told him. "Try the other six."

The next stone missed too. So did the third, and the fourth. After every miss, the crowd gathered around Nemesis let out a loud laugh. A few began to taunt Jinx. He redoubled his concentration. This one would hit, he just knew it. The fifth stone whipped around immediately, hitting the instructor in the face.

Jinx gasped. This certainly wasn't the kind of hit that he was looking for.

"Oh geez, sorry!"

"Just try the heavy one," the instructor said, while rubbing his face. "If you can lift it even an inch off the ground, I'll give you the lowest passing rating that I can."

After that attempt, the nervousness and embarrassment that Jinx felt went away. He was now certain that the group of pixies were using their magic to interfere with his test. Anger was starting to show in every one of his movements.

Jinx stepped up to the heavy stone and gave it everything he had, but it wouldn't budge. The crowd laughed again. He clenched his hands together tightly, and his face turned bright red with frustration.

"Try this one, Jumbo!" yelled a rather ugly pixie, throwing a tiny pebble at Jinx.

Jinx narrowed his eyes.

"Professor!" yelled Nemesis.

Jinx clenched his hands together even tighter.

"Professor! Maybe you should give fatty a donut and tell him to move it into his mouth. I bet he could do that in a heartbeat." Nemesis and the crowd began laughing even harder. Even the instructor was smiling, though he continued to rub his face.

Jinx had had enough; he thrust his hand out as fast and as hard as he could, putting everything he had into one massive telekinetic burst... a burst that he sent directly at Nemesis. The spell smacked her right in the stomach, sending her tumbling head over heels down the sandy embankment. The crowd watched as she rolled down the sand, eventually hitting the beach and sliding to a stop.

As she tried to untangle herself from her dress, she stopped to scream at her gawking friends, "Don't just stand there! Do something." A few of them ran down the embankment and helped her to her feet. When she had once again reached the plateau, she made her gang come with her as she marched toward Jinx. Fidget quickly formed up with him, standing shoulder to shoulder.

"What's the plan here?" asked Jinx.

"I'm done being pushed around by her and her dumb friends, I say we take um." Fidget turned to the instructor, "And if you get in the way, or try to help them... we're going to hit you with that rock again. Got it?"

Without a single word, the instructor teleported away to get more help.

"You're the bravest wuss I've ever met, Fidget."

"You can put that on my gravestone...."

"Peeshaw my friend, we're far too smooth to lose."

The ensuing battle between the outnumbered friends and their favorite Nemesis fast became legend in Lumina. Never before had the bullies been stood up to, so they were completely unprepared for the ferocity that Fidget would display. They had assumed the nervous little fellow would teleport away at the last minute, leaving poor Jinx to fend for himself, but what they got instead were some of the fastest casted spells on record. Nemesis would have done well to remember Fidget's comment about being small, but very quick.

While his spells had little power to them, he flung them out at frightening speeds. The bullies couldn't hope to react in time. Two were frozen in place before they even knew Fidget had started casting. Another was stung on the nose, causing him to run away in tears. A fourth smelled smoke, and looked down just in time to see that his shoes were on fire. He took off down the embankment, heading for the ocean.

Jinx, quite the opposite of Fidget, had almost no speed, but when his spells hit, the bullies sure knew it. Unfortunately for Jinx, he only sent one of the brutish pixies flying before Nemesis laid him out flat with a flick of her hand. That would be the only spell she could properly aim, because, from his back, Jinx returned the favor. Nemesis landed with a dull thud, twenty feet away.

Before anyone could make another move, the instructor showed up with reinforcements and quickly put an end to the fight. All told, Fidget and Jinx had taken on eight pixies and lived to tell about it. None of the bullies were seriously hurt, though their pride would never be able to recover from their defeat.

Nemesis once again played the victim, getting the instructor to leave her and her friends alone, and instead take Fidget and Jinx into custody. Since they didn't want to risk Fidget and Jinx getting away during teleportation, the professor and the law officials made them walk the long distance from the testing grounds to the magitorium.

"How do you suppose Pudding is doing?" asked Jinx.

"I think we're about to find out," Fidget replied.

# Chapter 8

Pudding arrived outside the magitorium's council chambers long before her friends had gotten into their brawl. The council chambers were fashioned after the oldest pixie architecture, giving them a grand yet somewhat ominous feel. An enormous white marble exterior and intricate stone work set this building apart from every other building in Lumina.

A pair of giant oak doors open to a narrow entry way which leads to a cavernous, rectangular room. In stark contrast to the exterior, the interior is very gloomy. The council sits at a dark wood table at the very center of the room, surrounded by rows of equally dark benches that rise up all around them, giving the place the look of a stadium, but the feel of a tomb.

From outside the chambers, a large spire with a single window can be seen rising high above the council room itself, but no one outside of the magitorium has access to it. Even then, only those with the highest of ranks know how to reach it. Some of the best pixie teleporters have tried to get into the spire, but all have failed in their attempts.

Pudding wondered about this secretive area as she listened to her footsteps echo loudly off the drab floors of the council room. Even by the faint light of a few flaming torches, she could see that the council table, and indeed the whole room, was completely empty. She continued her approach anyway, figuring that someone might eventually appear, but when she reached the table, nothing happened.

"Hello! Is anyone there? I had an appoint...."

Before she could finish the phrase, Pudding was encompassed in a brilliant light and then instantly teleported to the spire that she had just been thinking about. The mystery of this place was well deserved. It appeared to be nothing more than a long series of winding steps that kept climbing higher and higher. Since there was no way to go but up, Pudding began ascending the stairs. She was nearly out of breath when she reached the top, but there was nothing there but a stone wall. At least that's what she thought, at first.

"Enter," yelled a voice that seemed to come from behind the stone. A moment later, an ornately designed metal door appeared in the wall. It opened of its own accord.

The door led to a small, finely decorated room that had circular stone walls with one large, oval glass window that looked to the south, commanding a stunning view of Lumina's town center. A single oak desk and two chairs were in the middle of the room. An old pixie that Pudding recognized as Juniper, head of Lumina's magitorium, sat at the chair that faced the window. Instead of admiring the view, he was glancing over a large folder that contained several official looking documents. Beside theses documents burned two candles, one with a blue flame and the other red.

"Ah, Miss Pudding, welcome," said Juniper in a tired voice, finally taking notice of the young pixie in front of him. "Please, have a seat." He instantly returned to the documents, flipping through them slowly, taking his time to scan over each one thoroughly.

Pudding did as she was asked, taking the seat that placed her back to the window. She took advantage of the old pixie's silence to study him. She could tell from the fact that his neon green hair had grayed significantly that he was at least nine, maybe even ten thousand years old. His skin was somewhat droopy and even his pink eyes seemed to have lost most of their luster. He had a very authoritative presence, nonetheless. The fancy black robe he wore didn't hurt that image any.

This wasn't just an old pixie, this was an old fashioned pixie; the kind that would have no time for the nonsense of a teenager. Pudding, though ever confident in herself and her ideas, couldn't help but worry that this meeting wasn't going to go well.

At last, Juniper addressed Pudding, looking directly into those big purple eyes. "You should consider yourself privileged, not many people get to see this room."

Pudding smiled; maybe it would go better than she expected. "Thank you. That's an interesting use of concealment and illusion spells," she said, motioning toward the door. "I assume the winding staircase is part of the illusion as well?"

Juniper appeared slightly shocked, but quickly recomposed himself. "You are very perceptive. No the staircase isn't real; it is merely designed to detain those who aren't allowed in here. If someone manages to teleport to this area, they will simply wander endlessly in that staircase... or at least until we arrest them. This room is too important to leave unprotected, don't you think?"

"It is a very nice room, but I don't understand why I'm in it? I thought this was supposed to be a meeting with the _entire_ magitorium?"

Juniper shifted his vision to the window, avoiding Pudding's gaze. "Due to the... nature... of your... interests... I decided upon a private meeting. Some pixies are just so... impressionable; I don't want your ideas to find a larger audience and thereby cause even more harm than they already have."

"No one has been harmed... very seriously anyway."

Pudding chuckled, but Juniper did not. Instead, he narrowed his eyes sharply. "You need not try to convince me of anything; all of the issues have already been decided."

Pudding tilted her head inquisitively. "How have the issues already been decided?"

Juniper looked down at his hands, once again avoiding the intense stare that Pudding directed at him. He swallowed hard, and then clearing his throat, said, "The magitorium met late last evening and discussed the issue of the lighthouse and the failed attempt at launching a device that you call a submarine. Then we looked into your permanent files... after that, it was... easy to reach a conclusion."

"I can explain some of those incidents, if you'd like," said Pudding, never losing her cheerful demeanor.

"Explanations? You can offer explanations for all of this?" asked Juniper as he pulled a second file folder out that was filled with dozens of papers. He opened the folder and flipped to the very first document. "Unauthorized use of time travel magic."

Pudding smiled as she remembered her first time traveling adventure. "Well, I was only eight years old," she said, "you can't really blame me...."

Juniper let out a snort, as though he believed an eight year old should be held accountable for their actions. He licked his fingers and began flipping through document after document. "Revelation of Pixiedom to the human beings known as Egyptians. Revelation of Pixiedom to the humans known as Babylonians... Persians... Assyrians... need I go on?"

"I didn't know that we were supposed to hide from humans. Most of them are really quite nice, once you get to know them."

"Human beings are a primitive, warlike race. They would murder or enslave us if they knew we existed."

"None of them have ever tried to harm me...." said Pudding, in all honesty.

"Then you were lucky. Pudding tried to interject, but Juniper raised his hand to call for silence as he continued to read. "Interference in human affairs – The file indicates that you not only showed the Egyptians how to build pyramids, but you built several for them... using magic; they even call one of them _The Great Pyramid_."

Pudding motioned for the file, and after Juniper reluctantly handed it over, she read through it. "Oh, this file isn't entirely correct. The Egyptians were already building pyramids when I arrived. I just helped them with a couple, like that really big one you mentioned."

Juniper yanked the file back, setting it with the others. "Your variations are so mathematically precise that human beings will have no explanation for how they were built. They certainly couldn't achieve such perfection on their own; they're too primitive. Their entire culture will forever be altered because of your actions."

"I'm sure that's an overstatement," said Pudding doubtfully. "Besides, if the international magitorium hadn't erased the memories of the humans that I encountered, the construction of the Pyramids wouldn't be a mystery to them."

Juniper snorted again. "If it only stopped there! Let's keep reading, shall we? Designed hanging gardens for Babylon. Developed phonetic alphabet for the Phoenicians. Introduced several cultures to the art of metallurgy, astronomy, and basic mathematics."

"I was eight. I didn't know any better."

"Willful destruction of state property," said Juniper. This charge seemed to hold particular weight with him.

"I have never willfully destroyed anything that wasn't mine!" shouted Pudding, finally losing her calm.

"Fine, we'll remove the 'willful' and simply list it as destruction of state property, satisfied?"

"No, not really."

"Even more counts of human interference and unauthorized time traveling. Unsanctioned scientific and magical experimentation. You've been all over the world in several different time periods, both past and future, interfering with humans and risking the safety of countless pixies. Your newest endeavors are no exception; your submarine could have been the death of you and three of your friends. Your torpedo destroyed the lighthouse and again, nearly killed two people."

Pudding frowned; the old pixie did have a point. "I'll admit, not all of my tests have gone according to plan, but I've done a lot of good too. I stopped the dragon of Bermuda with one of my net throwers. I helped develop the pixie barrier system that keeps us hidden from those "evil" humans you worry so much about. And you know what? I built the lighthouse here in Lumina to conduct gravitational experiments before the magitorium seized it for commercial purposes. It was MY lighthouse to knock down."

Juniper looked down at his files for a moment. "Ah, the lighthouse was indeed yours; I wasn't aware."

"There are all sorts of good things about me that you don't have in your files."

"Granted, you've made significant contributions. That is why you have been given so much latitude. We aren't trying to be the bad pixies here, Pudding, we just don't understand your insistence on pursuing this path. You're obviously an extremely gifted magician... not many my age can use temporal magic, let alone when they were _eight_ _years old_. You constantly impress your instructors. You have offers for internships to any field at every major pixie city in the world. You could even be the head of the international magitorium yourself one day. Most pixies would give everything they had for _half_ your talent. Why must you waste it?"

Pudding looked taken aback. "I'm not wasting it! I'm doing things with science that magic will never be able to do. Every pixie has their way of contributing to the world; this is mine."

"Unfortunately Pudding, this is no longer your way. I conferred not only with the magitorium of Lumina, but all of the major magitoriums throughout Pixiedom. We agreed that it would be irresponsible of us to simply sit here and hope that your next undertakings don't have horrific results. Your friends will be cleared of all charges, as they are simply impressionable, unwitting accomplices. You however, will only have two choices. Number one: you will immediately surrender your workshop and all of its contents and enter into a magical internship this very day. Option two: we will confiscate your workshop and your research. Then, you will be banished to the city of apples, where scientific research is strictly forbidden and harshly punished."

"You can't just banish me! I'm still a minor! My mom would never allow you to banish me!"

"Where is your mother, Pudding? We've attempted to contact her on several occasions over the past month, but she can't be found. It seems that no one has heard from her in quite some time."

"Oh, she's... on vacation... I'm not really sure where... and I don't know when she'll be back."

Juniper eyed Pudding suspiciously. "In light of that, the magitorium has decided to take on the role of your guardian. It is _our_ decision to make, and we've made it."

Pudding stood up and walked toward the window. If she squinted hard enough, she could just barely see the chimney sticking out of her workshop. "You couldn't have properly conferred with the magitoriums in one night. You've been planning this for quite some time."

Juniper cleared his throat nervously. "You have to understand, we've had complaints about your experiments. We've been investigating you for several months now."

"Who complained?"

"It was a confidential complaint."

"Science is the way of the future, not magic. You have no right to stand in the way of progress."

"It has already been done."

"I really don't have a choice then, do I?"

"None. Oh, and if you're thinking about escape... there's only one way to teleport up or down from here, and even you don't know how to do that yet." Juniper reached into his desk and pulled out another document, sliding it over to where Pudding had been sitting. "Just sign this paper granting me the right to confiscate your workshop. You will be my guest here until I have received confirmation of the workshop's seizure. I can help you pick out a magical internship while we wait."

Pudding still gazed out the window as she considered the options in her mind. A bird passed lazily over the city; she watched it closely. "Magic won't let you fly," she said to Juniper without turning around, "and I have always dreamed of flying."

"Dreams like that pass, my dear, in time," said Juniper with a sigh.

"Only if you give up on them," said Pudding, finally turning toward the old pixie. She stayed by the window, but tilted her eyes toward the paper. With one of her cheerful smiles, she said, "I choose option three."

"Option three?"

"Remind everyone, once again, that there is always another choice." With a wave of her hand, Pudding obliterated the large oval window, and before Juniper could wipe the shocked look off his wrinkly old face, she dove right out of it.

# Chapter 9

Oddly enough, the first thought that entered Pudding's mind as she fell toward the earth was of Juniper most likely creating a new document with the headline: WILLFULL Destruction of State Property. With the air rushing through her hair and the ground coming up awfully fast, she gathered her wits about her, yelling the word, "Hover."

Pudding's freefall was halted almost immediately. She found herself suspended in midair roughly five feet off the ground. After a mere second or so, she dropped the rest of the way, landing nimbly amidst the shattered fragments of the spire window. She raised her hand to teleport away, but a series of joyous shouts caught her attention. She turned toward their source and saw a large group of pixies running toward her.

At first glance, Pudding noticed two familiar faces in the group. On second inspection, she also identified her telekinetics instructor and four other adult pixies that were clearly police officers. The entire party had initially run toward the town center when they heard the clatter of the window fragments colliding with the ground, but had stopped dead and stared in horror as they saw Pudding dropping out of the sky. When she hovered in place, they took off toward her again, yelling, screaming, pumping their fists, and just being crazily excited in general.

"Hey, guys!" said Pudding, smiling in spite of the circumstances.

"That was awesome!" shouted Jinx.

Fidget was too lost for words to do anything but stare at Pudding.

"I... I didn't know anyone could do something like that," the instructor muttered.

"That's because you've never tried," replied Pudding, with a wink. Before the escort could overcome their shock, she waved her hand and said "Group Teleport."

Pudding, Jinx, and Fidget arrived in the workshop, safe and sound. Pudding reminded the others about her anti-teleportation defense when they asked about their professor and the law officials. The other pixies had rematerialized inside the workshop but were immediately redirected to the pig pen in the agricultural district since they weren't on the approved list.

Pudding asked Jinx and Fidget to wait for her as she scurried into the living area connected directly to the workshop. While she was gone, they noticed that the workshop had been changed considerably since their last visit. It was cleaner, seemingly brighter, and perhaps strangest of all, empty. The tables were barren, the walls were cleared, and all of Puddings tools and inventions were nowhere to be found.

Pudding reappeared moments later, carrying several small bags with her. She ran over to the bay door, slid it open, telekinetically loaded the bags into the submarine, and then turned toward Jinx and Fidget.

"What was happening with the officers?" she asked.

Fidget shamefully looked toward the ground, "We uh...."

"We got into a fight with Nemesis and her friends," said Jinx, not so much ashamed as proud. "Oh, and Fidget threatened the professor with a second rock beating... I hit him in the face with a rock during my exam. Don't look at me like that, Pudding, it was an accident."

"They don't think that," said Fidget.

"True," replied Jinx. "They think I did it on purpose. Anyway, we were being arrested, and expelled I would assume. How did your meeting go?"

"Fairly similar," said Pudding. "They gave me the option of handing over my work or taking it by force. That's what I expected they would do, so I planned for it... I'm heading out."

"What do you mean, heading out?" asked Fidget.

"I'm taking the submarine and leaving Lumina."

"What?" Fidget gasped, sounding more than a little heartbroken. "Where are you going to go? What will you do? How are...."

Pudding gave Fidget a gentle pat on the shoulder, which stopped him midsentence. "Don't worry about me. I've been operating a second workshop on that human island just north of us for about three years. I'll be safe there."

"Are you serious?" asked Fidget and Jinx together.

"Yes. During the night, I teleported some of my best experiments there. The rest I packed into the submarine; I'm not turning them over to anyone else, especially not the magitorium."

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked Fidget. "Being around humans, I mean."

"Dangerous? I don't think so."

"How do you fit in with them? Don't they notice that you're different?"

Pudding laughed. "It's not hard to fit in, Fidget. We look just like them... well aside from occasional eye and hair color differences. They were afraid of my eyes at first, but they got used to them. You really don't need to worry; I've been dealing with these humans for years. They're nice. I even let them use my inventions, in exchange for raw materials."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" asked both pixies again.

"YES! Trust me, they're harmless."

"There has to be some other way," said Fidget. "What about your mom? Can't she do something about this?" He was trying to come up with any reason to get Pudding to stay.

"My mom left over a month ago to do an experiment, and she hasn't come back yet. She was only supposed to be gone for a week....

"Where did she go?" asked Jinx.

"I can't tell you."

"She's time traveling, isn't she?" asked Fidget.

Pudding considered lying, but instead decided to simply say, "Possibly." After a moment, she continued, "I can't count on her help this time. I have to do what I have to do. Now, are you two coming with me, or not?"

"Coming with you?" said Fidget.

"What's left for you here? If you're both expelled, you can't hold any magical jobs. So you'd be stuck doing the same old boring stuff your whole lives."

"I don't know...." said Fidget.

Pudding grabbed Fidget by the shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Haven't you ever wondered what's out there?" she asked, gracefully waving her arms around, focusing on nothing in particular. "Out there, beyond the pixie barriers that protect all of our colonies, there's an entire world full of excitement and fascination. I want to see it. Come with me, it'll be an adventure!"

"Sounds good to me," said Jinx, sounding completely sold on the idea.

"I don't know...." said Fidget once again.

"Fumble," said Jinx, staring blankly at Fidget. Fidget blinked thoughtfully.

"What?" asked Pudding.

"Nothing," replied Jinx.

"Well, you'd better decide fast. I altered the barrier around the workshop to not just stop teleportation, but to also stop anyone from walking in uninvited. It will only hold them for a few minutes, though. After that, we're all under arrest, permanently this time."

Pudding hurried around once again, grabbing things that she needed for her trip. Jinx looked at Fidget, then, checking to make certain that Pudding wasn't looking, bent down and mimicked a football player recovering a fumble. He then stood back up and pointed earnestly at Fidget.

"Okay... let's make a run for it," said Fidget with a slight twitch.

"You won't regret it guys, it's going to be great, you'll see" said Pudding as she turned a wheel that activated the pulley system suspending the submarine over the cliff. The sub slowly lowered until its top hatch was even with the floor of the workshop. Upon Pudding's command, both Jinx and Fidget climbed inside.

"This is the coolest thing ever!" shouted Jinx, looking over all the shiny mechanical dials and levers that were spread across several consoles. "We even have our own seats."

The submarine's interior featured three control consoles that sat near three seats. One seat was placed in the center, toward the front of the submarine. This is where Pudding was going to sit. The dials and levers on her console allow her to steer the sub. There was also a small crystal ball embedded in her console. Using magic, this ball is capable of revealing images outside the submarine.

Fidget took a seat on the right hand side of the sub. His console controlled engine power and kept track of oxygen and hull pressure levels. On the left side, Jinx was looking over the weapon controls which simply consisted of a lever for each tube and a magical targeting system. He fingered the controls happily.

Fidget watched nervously as Jinx began pretending he was targeting enemy vessels with the torpedo system. "Maybe I should handle the weapons, Jinx."

"Please Fidget, what could go wrong?"

"You knocked down a lighthouse...."

"Hit it dead center though, didn't I?" replied Jinx, grinning mischievously.

Fidget couldn't argue with logic like that.

The rear of the submarine featured a large, curved metal container with several clear slats that revealed a large crystal core. This was the engine. The rest of the submarine was taken up by inventions and supplies that Pudding had packed in tight on all sides.

"Pudding! Can you hear me out there? Pudding!"

"Don't touch it, Jinx, whatever it is!" Pudding yelled instinctively.

"Fine!"

Pudding took a last look around the workshop, and then with a sad smile, she turned the pulley system's wheel again. The submarine began its long descent down the cliff at a steady pace.

Fidget peeked his head out of the hatch, and saw Pudding still standing on the scaffolding. "Aren't you coming?" he shouted.

Pudding cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted back, "I'll teleport after you're in the water. I have to make sure the submarine gets lowered properly."

"Okay!"

The submarine was half way down the cliff side when a knock on the workshop door startled Pudding. She walked toward the door and opened it up. Nemesis was standing outside, and there was a monumental grin on her face. She attempted to step through the entryway, but came to an abrupt stop when she smashed her face against the invisible barrier that Pudding had placed around the workshop.

Nemesis rubbed her nose and did her best to not look like a complete fool, but wasn't able to divert that image entirely. Pudding reached through the barrier, pulled Nemesis inside, and then quickly hurried back to the pulley system.

Nemesis followed her, looking around at the barren walls and tables. "This is your famous workshop!" she said with a scoff. "Somehow I expected more than a bunch of empty benches."

"You caught me at a bad time," replied Pudding, keeping a careful eye on the pulleys and occasionally peeking over the edge of the cliff.

Nemesis walked over to the edge of the workshop, leaning over it to get a look at what Pudding was doing. "Making a run for it, are we?"

"That's right."

"Hahaha, you won't get far," said Nemesis in a mocking tone.

"And why is that?"

"The magitorium just told Nimrod to go on duty at the temporary lighthouse... since you knocked the other one over, of course. Anyway, he is supposed to signal all pixie vessels to blockade a giant shiny vessel under your command. They're even supposed to fire on you if you try to breach the pixie barrier."

"You can't be serious," said Pudding, looking unusually worried.

The look on Pudding's face inspired Nemesis all the more. "I couldn't be more serious," she said with a laugh.

"You have to tell them not to fire on the sub!"

"Why should I do that?"

"I will not have my life dictated to me! If they don't like my choices, then they can just let me go and ignore me. But if they try to stop me... _if they fire on me_ ," Pudding looked regretful, but determined, "well, I'll have no choice but to fire back... those poor pixies won't stand a chance!"

Nemesis threw her hands up in the air. "You're afraid for _them_? Isn't that just like _you_ , to think you can take on everyone else by yourself, because you're just sooo special."

"I've never said anything like that!"

"Well, you act like it."

"No I don't... ugh! I don't have time for this!"

"See, always doing something sooo important."

Pudding didn't respond until she heard a soft splash indicating that the sub was in the water. "Are you really so blind that you don't see... that... that... small crack in the floor... do you hear that? Oh, no!"

"What are you babbling about?" said Nemesis, looking at the very same crack and not understanding Pudding's sudden fear.

"The cliff side... it's eroding. Lowering the submarine must have destabilized...."

A horrible crumbling noise stopped Pudding midsentence. The tiny crack that she had observed stretching its way across the entire workshop floor was now forty or fifty cracks that were fast becoming holes. Pudding knew immediately by their size, the workshop was about to join the ocean.

"You need to leave. Now, Nemesis! I have to get to the submar...." Before she could finish her sentence, the entire workshop tilted hard toward the ocean, throwing both pixies to the ground. Pudding had just enough time to grab hold of Nemesis before both of them slid out the bay door.

During the fall, with debris from the cliff hitting her all over the place, Nemesis screamed like she's never screamed before. Through sheer strength of will, Pudding was able to maintain just enough of a grip on Nemesis to cast the hover spell on both of them. On this occasion though, since she had to stop both Nemesis and herself, Pudding was only able to slow the descent, not stop it all together. Nemesis fell right into the open sub hatch, landing with a hard crash on the metallic floor, two feet from the engine casing. Pudding also fell through the open hatch, landing with an equally hard crash on Nemesis.

Jinx and Fidget jumped out of their seats in fright, and then stared at the spectacle as though stunned. Pudding jumped up, twisted a dial that caused the engine to give off a dull blue glow, and then sealed the hatch. As they felt themselves gently gaining speed, several dull pings were heard as small rocks fell on the hull.

Not even five seconds later, everyone heard a massive crashing and splashing as the entire workshop and much of the cliff crushed into the coastline and ocean. Though they narrowly avoided the workshop's collapse, huge chucks of falling debris still impacted the submarine.

Fidget stared nervously at the space and metal above him, expecting that it would give way at any moment. Jinx jumped over to Nemesis and began looking her over for injuries. Pudding kept switching between consoles, turning dials and pulling levers that only she understood. She breathed a sigh of relief as the submarine safely skirted out into the open water. Finally, she took her seat at the helm, saying "We won't be able to dive for a couple of minutes, if at all. Fidget, I need you to look for any signs of damage to the hull. If you see any, we can't dive below the water. Jinx, how's Nemesis?"

Jinx had flipped Nemesis over and propped her up against the engine casing. She remained there, slumped over, unconscious, and looking extremely disheveled, especially for her. "She's got a nasty bump on her head, but she's probably fine."

"In that blue bag over there," said Pudding, motioning toward the area near the engine, "there's a few healing crystals."

Jinx rummaged through the bag until he found a few round, golden crystals. He rubbed one of them on the large bump. "Nemesis," he said silkily. "Darling dearest, wake up."

Nemesis opened her eyes slightly and then began mumbling incoherent lines about the state of Pixiedom's dress code, how much orange juice an average sized kangaroo can drink, and her thoughts on the universe in general.

"Is she okay?" asked Pudding, who was mostly concentrating on steering the submarine and altering the images in the crystal ball that was embedded in her console, in order to see what was happening outside.

"She's delirious," said Fidget, recognizing the symptoms since he had them too.

"No, she'll be fine," said Jinx. "Actually, I think you made her smarter, Pudding."

"Pudding!" spluttered Nemesis, trying unsuccessfully to stand up. "Pudding!" she said once again, as she dropped back down to the floor. "You should have seen her submaline! That monster got it good! Ahahahh." Nemesis wiped at her lips disgustedly. "Filthy Nimrod!"

"What about Nimrod?" asked Fidget. Nemesis didn't respond; she merely looked around blankly. Fidget reached out and shook her shoulder, getting her attention. "Nemesis, what were you going to say about Nimrod?"

"Nimrod? Hahaha. He's kinda cute... for a poor person. Kinda like you," she said, reaching out and grabbing Jinx by the cheek, "kinda cute, for a fatty. Hahaha. I don't feel good...." She passed out again, drooping over. Jinx leaned her up against the engine casing, gingerly.

"I can't believe it," said Fidget.

"I know! I told you she wanted to date me...."

"No! She passed out again. She must have a concussion or something."

"Oh, Jinx!" said Pudding, who had now turned around and focused on her three friends. "Not the golden ones... use the red crystals."

"Oh, yeah... I should have paid more attention in school," he admitted, while he grabbed a red crystal from the bag. He rubbed this on Nemesis, bringing her about instantly.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Nemesis was aware of Jinx rubbing something against her forehead. "Don't touch me you creep!" she shouted. "What... how did I get in this deathtrap? Did you kidnap me?"

"Yeah," said Fidget, laughing cynically, "of all the pixies in Lumina, you're the one we wanted along for the ride."

Jinx, in the most loving tone he could assume, said to Nemesis, "Sweetie...."

Nemesis didn't even try to hide the shock or disgust she felt at being called such a name by Jinx. "Excuse me, fatty?"

"Now that I know you think I'm cute...."

"Cute? CUTE? You're homely on your best days!"

"I think it's only reasonable that you admit that you came along on this trip to be with me." Jinx and Fidget started chuckling. Nemesis quivered with rage.

"I'd rather die!"

"You may get your wish," said Pudding. Everyone turned toward her, and in doing so, saw the image being displayed by the crystal ball. They then looked through the frontal plating, where the transparency spell had left it see-through. "We're surrounded."

The image was a grim one. Over two dozen pixie boats were floating about a mile from the submarine, with even more of them approaching on each side. Every single boat had their cannons, or at least the closest thing pixies have to cannons, fully deployed. These cannons wouldn't fire a cannonball, but instead would release a fast moving orange projectile that was entirely composed of magic.

"Wow... look at all those ships!" said Fidget, sitting down before his legs gave out on him.

"They must have figured I'd try to run," said Pudding. How else could they have gotten so many ships in place this quickly? They were waiting for me."

"Can their weapons break through this hull?" asked Jinx.

"They'd have to wear down the enchantments first, but with so many of them, I'd say yes."

Nemesis, without a further word, said "Teleport... Teleport... TELEPORT!"

Everyone watched as Nemesis tried more and more desperately to get her teleportation spell to work. "An anti-teleportation barrier... and I didn't even feel us pass through it," said Pudding. "I underestimated them. They really were ready for me. How far do you think it extends?"

"It doesn't matter," shrieked Nemesis. "There's no way to outrun them now. We have to surrender!"

"No way!" replied Jinx. "We've got the torpedoes; let's let them know that we mean business."

Fidget looked at Jinx grimly, but in his heart, his fighting side was coming alive again. "How many torpedoes do we have, Pudding?"

"There are a total of eight torpedo tubes, with one in each tube. Two forward tubes, two on each side, and two in the rear. One typhoon and one ice torpedo in each pair."

"What's everyone's vote?" asked Jinx. "I say fight."

"Fight," chimed Fidget.

"Surrender!" yelled Nemesis earnestly.

Pudding drummed her fingers on the console as she watched the crystal ball. The magitorium's forces were quickly closing in on the submarine. A decision needed to be made, and it needed to be made now. "That anti-teleportation spell will affect the magitorium's forces as well. The other pixies won't be able to get away from their boats if we do fire on them. So, we'll try to dive under them. Take your stations everyone."

Fidget and Jinx sat down and focused their attention on their dials and levers. "Why are there only three seats?" asked Nemesis.

"Just stand near the engine," said Pudding. Nemesis reluctantly obeyed. "Everyone listen closely and do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you. Okay?"

"Aye, aye, captain," said Jinx. The others consented as well, though not as enthusiastically.

Pudding grabbed hold of her controls firmly, eyed the position of all of the pixie boats, and then began issuing her orders. "Fidget, turn that dial on your right hand side all the way to the right." The engine began to glow brighter and hum loudly as Fidget completed his task. As the submarine gained speed, something impacted the hull.

"They just fired at us," yelled Nemesis in a terrified voice.

"Jinx," said Pudding. "There's a dial above the torpedo levers that is labeled fire control."

"I see it."

Several more dull thuds sounded out as the magitorium forces began firing at will. Pudding reset the crystal ball to see the exterior of the submarine itself from a bird's eye view. Dozens of tiny orange spheres, closely resembling chunks of molten iron, were bombarding the hull. When they impacted the enchanted armor of the submarine, they set off a dazzling explosion that looked something like fireworks.

Pudding reset the view to see forward only and then said to Jinx, "Set it to non-targeted and then fire tube one. Count to five and then press the button that says manual detonation."

Jinx did so.

Whoosh!

The torpedo was away, rocketing toward the bulk of the pixie navy that floated directly in the sub's path. Five seconds later, Jinx hit the detonation button causing a tremendous spout to rise out of the water and then begin spinning rapidly. As it gained speed and ferocity, the magitorium forces in front of the sub stopped firing. Their only concern now was getting out of the way of the massive typhoon.

"Do the same for torpedoes four and six."

Massive icebergs soon appeared on each side of the submarine. They grew so big that the pixie vessels approaching from the sides had no way to continue firing.

Nemesis sat by the engine, watching the action unfold. She couldn't help but notice an obvious flaw in the plan. "I don't mean to interfere with your superior strategy skills, Pudding, but you fired the first weapon along the same path that we're travelling. Aren't we going to hit THAT HUGE TYPHOON?"

"That's where you come in. There's a switch on the left side of the engine, flip it." Nemesis did as she was told, though not without verbal protest. A mechanical clinking filled the air, coming from under the flooring, near the bottom portions of the hull.

"What's that sound?" asked Fidget, Jinx, and Nemesis together.

"There are tanks between the floor and the outer hull; they are filling with water to let us dive the sub."

The submarine sank quickly, going deep enough just in time to slip under the choppy current created by the typhoon at the surface. Once this occurred, the blockade vessels had no way of tracking the submarine, nor any way to reach it, even if they could locate it. In a few minutes, Pudding and her stalwart crew would be past the blockade.

# Chapter 10

After those few minutes were up, Pudding turned to her friends with a triumphant grin on her face. "We did it guys! We just passed through the pixie barrier. We're free! They'll never follow us this far out. Not only that, but we're the first pixies to ever travel to this depth!"

"Yay," muttered Nemesis, unenthusiastically, but Fidget and Jinx were all smiles.

Fidget slowed the engine down so that there would be plenty of time to take in the scenery. Pudding's usual cheery attitude was eclipsed by her almost insane excitement. "Listen to that soft gurgling sound of the ocean and look at that!" She pointed at a group of colorful fish that had come over to investigate the curious object that had graced their waters. "Look at those fish, oh, and those corals! It's spectacular! This is better than I could have ever imagined."

"The submarine is a great design, Pudding," said Jinx.

"It really is!" added Fidget.

"If it's so great, why did everyone try to stop it?" asked Nemesis with more than a slightly jealous air.

"Try is the appropriate word," said Fidget.

"Yeah," said Jinx, "what could stop this thing?"

Before anyone could make a further response, Jinx's question was answered with a jarring crash that sent everyone flying out of their seats. The whole submarine shook harshly, as though it were being tossed end over end through the water. With a dull thud, it came to a stop against a large coral outcropping. Pudding staggered over to her console as the others attempted to pick themselves up off the floor. She quickly reoriented the crystal ball to see outside the sub once again.

Pudding had just enough time to shout, "Hold on to something!" before another tremendous jolt spun the submarine completely over, leaving everyone smashed up against the roof. "It's the sea monster! It's ramming us."

Everyone assumed a horrified expression, but none more so than Nemesis. After all, she was ultimately responsible for giving the creature a taste for pixie submarines.

The creature smashed into the sub a third time, leaving it floating right side up, thankfully. Pudding checked her instruments during the brief few moments that the creature needed to close the distance it had put between itself and the submarine after the last hit. She was about to say that everything looked okay, but a screeching noise and the sound of metal being crushed brought about a momentary silence in the sub. Then, a series of gasps broke the silence, as all four pixies witnessed tiny indentations being made in several sections of the hull. The creature had locked on to the sub with its powerful jaws and was slowly biting down.

"I thought this submarine was made of a stronger alloy," said Fidget, his voice little more than a whisper.

"It was...."

"Was?" shrieked Nemesis.

"The pixie navy fired on us... they weakened the enchantment. As long as that thing has a hold on us, we can't move and it _will_ buckle the hull eventually."

"What do we do?" asked Fidget, looking like he was on the verge of fainting.

The hull plates began to crunch loudly under the extreme pressure of the creature's bite. It wouldn't be long now....

Pudding quickly assessed the situation, coming up with an idea that just might work. "We have to get it off the submarine. Everyone stand on your seats, I have an idea."

"Is this like all of your other ideas?" asked Nemesis.

"Nope, this one's crazy; I'm going to electrocute it. The padding on the seats is non-conductive, so we should be okay."

"Lovely," muttered Nemesis. " _This_ one's the crazy plan... as if the rest weren't."

Fidget, Jinx, and Pudding climbed up on their seats, ignoring the comment that Nemesis had made. Nemesis looked around, then folded her arms. "What should I do?"

Jinx reached his hand out and grinned widely. Nemesis looked at the others. Fidget shook his head no, and Pudding said, "I'm going to be moving around, so you can't stand on my seat with me."

Jinx reached both hands out this time. There wasn't enough room for both of them, but it was better than being electrocuted, so with a deep cringe, Nemesis reluctantly took hold of Jinx's hands, letting him pull her up onto the seat with him.

"After I shock this thing, everyone do what I tell you. Fidget, turn that dial to full power again. Nemesis, flip the switch on the engine back to its original position. Jinx, get ready to fire the rear ice torpedo but only if I say so; you'll be manually detonating it immediately. When I say go, okay? Jinx?"

"Rear ice torpedo. Manual detonation. Got it"

"Good. Remember, don't touch anything metal for the next second or so... now then... SHOCK!" Pudding waved her hands at the spot where the indentations were largest, sending a small, but dazzling bolt of lightning at the hull. The air seemed to crackle and tingle as the spell was transferred through the hull, and out into the water, with some of it making its way to the creature.

The creature roared with anger at the jolt of pain that it felt, which caused it to momentarily release the sub. "Go!" yelled Pudding, dropping back down on her seat with a soft plop. She took the controls as Fidget turned the engine to full power and Nemesis hopped down to the engine casing, flipping the switch.

The engine sprang to life, and the mechanical pumps that controlled the submarine's dive tanks began forcing the water out of them. The submarine was tilting upward and heading toward the surface. Pudding was about to declare victory, but she located the creature using her crystal ball; it had recovered from its shock, and was on the move again, picking up speed faster than the submarine.

"We're almost to the surface, but we won't be able to get there before that monster catches us again, so we'll need a little help," said Pudding. "This is going to be rough guys, but it's the only way. Jinx, fire the rear ice torpedo."

Whoosh!

Jinx fired the torpedo and immediately detonated it. The ice spell sprang to life behind and slightly below the submarine. All four pixies kept their eyes on the crystal ball, watching spikes of ice shooting up all around them. After it grew sufficiently large, the iceberg hit the submarine. Instead of sinking the sub, the fast expanding iceberg catapulted it to the surface with enough force to send it flying through the air.

With a hard splash the submarine landed some fifty feet from the tip of the iceberg. Luckily, the submarine was right side up, and, aside from some severe scratching and a few crushed sections of the outer plating, it appeared to be mostly undamaged. The interior was an entirely different story.

"Everyone all right?" asked Pudding, sliding off the engine, where she had landed. She shoved some of her luggage aside, as it had flown everywhere. All of the smaller inventions that she had packed in tight on all sides of the submarine were now littered across the floor. Nearly all of them were destroyed.

"I'm good," said Jinx picking himself up off the floor.

Fidget had managed to hold on to his seat so tight that he didn't get thrown around at all, though the flying debris inside had cut his forehead slightly. Nemesis was on the floor near Jinx, groaning loudly, "I think something's broken; I heard a snapping sound ... NOOOOO!"

Pudding and Jinx quickly scrambled over to her, crying some variation of "What, What is it, or Where are you hurt?"

Fidget searched through the debris for a healing crystal.

"My sandal strap! It's broken! NOOOOO!"

"You're fine," said Jinx. "Stop screaming. STOP SCREAMING!"

"Shut up, Jumbo! These sandals are worth more than your life is."

"Quit that you two," said Pudding, walking back over to her console, doing her best to not step on the broken remains of her inventions. "We have to see where we are and if that thing is still after us." After some careful examination using her spells, Pudding concluded that the monster had given up on the chase because there was no sign of it. Apparently it didn't want to go for a third round with the sub after seeing it display its power in such an impressive way. Pudding also noticed that the submarine was only a few hundred yards from its destination. "We're almost where we need to be, but we're pointing the wrong way; we must have gotten spun around when we were ejected from the water."

Nemesis continued to sit on the floor, pouting, but Jinx and Fidget retook their seats in order to check over their controls. Fidget used the healing crystal on his forehead as he read the engine output numbers. "The engine dial is still turned on, but we're not moving."

Pudding moved to the rear so that she could examine the engine. "Hmm... it was hit hard by the iceberg. All of the magic is leaking out of the crystal and into the surrounding area instead of being utilized. Turn the engine off Fidget, if I repair the leak, there will be just enough magic left to get us to the human island."

Nemesis leapt to her feet, looking outraged. "Human island! What kind of insanity is that? Take me home! Now! I didn't agree to this stupid trip of yours!"

"Just teleport home if you don't want to be here," said Fidget meanly.

"I can't teleport that far, you idiot. No one can without the help of the teleportation arches."

"Pudding can," said Jinx.

"Yeah right!" screamed Nemesis.

"I can move between the human island and Lumina with a little bit of concentration," said Pudding.

"Oh, really! You can, huh?" asked Nemesis doubtfully.

"Yes."

"And how do you get through the pixie barrier, little miss genius?"

"It's not an actual barrier, Nemesis. It's more like a magical fog, and it only works in one direction. You can leave without any problems, but if you try to enter it without being approved by the lighthouse, then you are instantly surrounded by a thick mist that makes it very difficult to navigate. Which is only a problem for ships and sea creatures. If you are strong enough, you can teleport between here and the human island without ever encountering the barrier."

"UGH! I didn't know that! I didn't think about it."

"There's your problem," said Fidget.

"My problem," said Nemesis, "is that I'm stuck with you three on this piece of junk."

"Piece of junk! Are you crazy? This thing is awesome," said Fidget, coming to Pudding's defense.

"It needs a complete redo," said Nemesis.

"A redo," said Pudding, perhaps for the first time taking offense at something that Nemesis said. "You know what I call a redo? Daft!"

"Torpedo aft," said Jinx. "Aye, Captain."

"What? Jinx! NO!"

Whoosh!

Jinx had already pulled the lever, sending the remaining rear torpedo rocketing toward the human island. Pudding leapt over to the weapon's console and hit the manual detonation button, but it didn't work; it had suffered some damage during the escape from the sea creature. All Pudding could do was watch the typhoon torpedo with her crystal ball, and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, after about six seconds, the torpedo covered the distance to the island, but kept going. Pudding hurried back over to the targeting controls and saw that they too were damaged. The torpedo wasn't on a straight course. Instead, it was heading directly _under_ the island, where it detonated a few seconds later.

The water surrounding the coast began to churn violently and dark clouds billowed across the sky, letting out devastating forks of lightning. Pudding knew immediately that something was wrong; even for a magical storm, this was way too big.

"Of course... the magic from the engine didn't leak out into the water... it went into the torpedo's crystals. It magnified the spell."

"How bad is it?" asked Fidget.

"The torpedo detonated directly under the island... the typhoon will act like a giant whirlpool, and with that much magic at its disposal, it could pull the whole island under the ocean."

"What do we do?" asked Jinx, more than a bit unsettled.

"We rescue the humans."

"You're insane!" Nemesis screamed, her tone even more shrill than usual.

Fidget folded his arms, glaring at Nemesis in disgust. "I thought being a hero came natural to you, Nemesis. That's what you told the newspaper reporters."

"I was lying, Fidget."

"Well," said Pudding leaping out of her seat, "here is your chance to make good on that lie. Group teleport!"

# Chapter 11

All four pixies arrived on the coast of the human island, just outside Pudding's second workshop. The water was already beginning to swirl rapidly in a clockwise direction, sweeping along the coast, pulling the sand and earth along with it. With a lurch, the island itself began to slowly twist in the same manner.

"Okay," said Pudding, surveying the scene, "the typhoon is gaining speed underneath the island, but we've still got a few minutes before it pulls the whole place down. I need all of you to teleport to the human city, gather up everyone that you see, and then bring them back here. I'll teleport them to Lumina."

Nemesis glared at Pudding in a less than respectful manner. "What kind of plan is that?" she asked.

"The only one we have, now go."

"How do we get them to come with us?" asked Fidget. Jinx was wondering the same thing. Even Nemesis nodded her head in agreement with the question.

"Sleep spells, stuns, stings... use your imagination. Do whatever you have to, just get them all here. There are only thirty or forty of them and they all live in a small city near the very center of the island."

Fidget, Jinx, and Nemesis teleported away, leaving Pudding behind. She quickly ran into her darkened workshop, feeling around for a crystal that activates a series of magical lanterns placed along the walls. Finding it, she flipped on the lighting, which revealed large, dusty workbenches and several of the larger inventions that she had moved to this workshop during the night. None of these items were on Pudding's mind however. Instead, she moved over to the east wall and turned one of the magical lanterns sideways.

A series of mechanical clicks sounded out, and then the grinding of metal gears filled the air. Pudding watched as a small section of the flooring on the west side lowered, revealing a very large hidden tunnel beneath the floor of the workshop. She slid a ladder down into the mouth of the darkened tunnel and then jumped in. She felt around until she had placed her hand on the smooth metal frame of yet another invention.

"You're not quite ready," she said to the invention, "but you're the only chance I have to escape all of this."

After a minute or so of fiddling with the contraption, Pudding climbed back out of the tunnel, where she was met by Fidget, who was waiting nervously in the workshop. Pudding shot him a questioning glance, as she was surprised to see him back so soon.

"What happened? Did you already find all of them?"

"There's no one here, Pudding."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there are no humans here. No city. No people. Nothing."

"That's impossible."

Jinx and Nemesis arrived a moment later. Both of them confirmed the fact that there was no one there, nor was there any sign that anyone had ever been there. The island gave another terrible lurch, knocking everyone to the ground, and sending several of Pudding's inventions crashing to the floor.

Pudding climbed to her feet while thinking over the situation as fast as she could. "I'll be back," she said. Before anyone could protest, she teleported back to the submarine. She looked through all of the broken inventions quickly, finally grabbing a small green sphere that had visible cracks running along its glassy surface. She let out a long sigh, and then teleported back to the second workshop. Pudding showed her friends the sphere.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Fidget, looking at it with reverence.

"Yes," Pudding replied. "It's my time travel crystal. It looks like some of the magic that leaked out of the engine accidentally turned it on. There are no humans on this island because we traveled back in time thousands of years. Way before humans or pixies had settled here."

"WHAT!" shrieked Nemesis. "Is that a joke?"

"I'm afraid not," said Pudding, bracing herself against another tremor from the now fast sinking island.

"Wait, if we traveled through time, how is your workshop still here?" asked Jinx.

"Well... last night, when I transferred all of my inventions over to this workshop from the one on Lumina... I may have sent it and all its contents back in time."

"May have?" asked Fidget.

"Well, I definitely did," responded Pudding. "I did it to make sure that no one would be able to stop me from doing my research. I had originally planned on leaving Lumina by myself. Then I would have simply traveled back in time to a point before pixies or humans lived in this area. I would have been able to conduct my experiments without interference from anyone."

"Send us back to the right time period then, if it's that easy!"

"I can't Nemesis... the crystal is broken. We can't go back, and we can't stay here either; this whole island is going under in about three more minutes."

"The submarine then?" asked Fidget, fast becoming terrified.

"There's not enough power left in the engine to get us past the whirlpool that the torpedo created. The sub will be pulled down a few seconds after the island is."

"You can teleport us to Lumina!" yelled Jinx, very proud of the fact that he had come up with a viable alternative.

"Lumina was inhabited by dragons during this time period, and not the friendly kind, believe me."

"What then?" yelled Nemesis, clearly agitated, even for her.

"Follow me," said Pudding, jumping down into the tunnel, with the others hot on her trail. "I have one last invention. It's an early prototype, and I have no idea if or how long it will work. It's going to be _extremely_ dangerous, but it's our only chance."

Pudding felt along the stone walls of the tunnel until she found a crystal that activated the tunnel's lamps. They burst to life, revealing the last great invention that Pudding had been working on.

"Whoa," said Fidget.

"What is this _thing_?" asked Nemesis with disgust.

"I call it a jet," said Pudding.

"Well that doesn't sound dangerous," said Jinx. "How does it work?"

"You don't want to know," replied Pudding, seriously. The others took her at her word.

The jet was constructed out of the same bronze looking metal that Pudding had used on her submarine, though it was of a considerably thinner design. After all, this was supposed to be a flying machine, so it needed to be light.

The jet featured a sleek, aerodynamic look that closely resembled the fighter jets that humans would one day develop. The main external differences being a cockpit that seated four small pixies and landing gear that was really only designed for takeoff. Pudding hadn't gotten around to figuring out how to land it yet. Its twin rear engines were turbine based and also powered by the crystal assembly that Pudding had developed for the submarine, although this design was built for high speed bursts, not sustained output.

While Jinx and Fidget admired the design, Pudding did her best to prepare her friends for the launch of this device without making them too terrified. "This tunnel extends across the whole island," she said. "It slopes gently upward at the end, leading directly to the mouth of a large cave on the opposite end of the island. These tracks here," she pointed toward two lines of metal that closely resembled rail road tracks, "they will guide the jet along the tunnel. Its engines should pick up enough speed by the time we reach the cave opening to blast us clear of the island... I hope."

"You hope?" said Nemesis.

"Hop in," said Pudding with a big smile, refusing to answer the question.

"This invention rides along the top of the water then?" asked Jinx.

"Uhhhh, not exactly, Jinx."

"Oh, no, no. Noooo! This isn't a flying machine? Pleeease tell me this isn't a flying machine!" Nemesis had an extra amount of doubt in her voice.

"Hop in," said Pudding again, still ignoring Nemesis.

"We're all going to die," said Nemesis.

"Hop in," said Pudding a third time, after which, Fidget and Jinx climbed a small step ladder leading to the cockpit, and then jumped into the two back most seats. Nemesis had to be shoved up the ladder under protest, but Pudding eventually got her into the second seat. Pudding then tossed the broken time travel crystal into a small leather satchel filled with supplies from her workshop. She slid the satchel under the first seat and then jumped in, shoving the step ladder clear of the jet. She slid the canopy shut, grabbed the controls, pressed a couple of buttons, and then said as loud as she could, "Brace yourselves."

With the press of a large red button, the twin engines roared to life, emitting a noise that made the _whoosh_ of the torpedoes sound like a light breeze. The invention shook with a violence that struck fear into all of its passengers, even Pudding. Before they could give it much further thought they were all slammed back against their seats, as a burst of fire sent the jet racing down the dim tunnel with a sickening speed that exceeded anything that Pudding had expected. In the span of ten seconds, the jet cleared the tunnel, rocketing out of the mouth of the cave at an angle that pushed it quickly into the air.

Now that it was airborne, the jet shook even harder. Pudding was doing her best to keep it stable, but it more or less had a mind of its own. Jinx and Fidget turned back just in time to see the human island being swallowed by the swirling water, disappearing into the mouth of the whirlpool. The submarine gave off one last glimmer as it too was swallowed whole. Nemesis held her head in her hands, staring numbly at the back of Pudding's seat, too afraid to look anywhere else.

Finally managing to get the craft to respond to her input, Pudding gave a quick glance left and right. She couldn't help but smile. "Can you believe this, guys?" she yelled, trying to keep her voice above the roar of the engines. "This is so cool!"

The aircraft had just skimmed through a large fluffy cloud. Pudding dropped back down below it, looking out in every direction at the vast expanse of ocean and islands. It all seemed so tiny from high above.

"This is awesome!" yelled Jinx.

"How fast are we going?" asked Fidget.

"I don't know, the speedometer broke... really fast I guess."

"So, what's the plan here?" asked Jinx.

"We need to find an island near Lumina that's safe enough for us to teleport to."

"You can't land this thing?" asked Fidget, nervously.

"Oh, goodness no... I'm surprised it even flies."

Nemesis began to bawl.

"What's wrong with you?" shouted Fidget.

"I just noticed that _both_ of my sandals are broken."

Pudding frowned, despite her best efforts to stay positive. She angled the plane back toward Lumina, hoping to spot a safe place among the islands near it, just as a long wailing sound erupted across the cockpit. The roar of the engines diminished to a loud purring, and then fizzled altogether.

Pudding poked at the ignition button, but it was no use. She tilted her head toward her friends, and shouted, "The engines just died... we're going down."

Pudding once again lost control of the jet, but that didn't matter. She saw what she was looking for. Perhaps a good fifteen miles from Lumina was a cluster of small islands that she and the others could teleport to. "Look out the left side of the canopy. Do you see that small group of islands?"

All three pixies responded with a firm yes.

"We'll still be able to glide through the air for thirty seconds or so, but when we get near those islands, teleport out."

Pudding gently touched the controls one last time. It was her way of saying goodbye to yet another one of her inventions. And then, as the jet glided past the islands, she and the others teleported out. Once on the ground, they all turned just in time to watch the jet slam into the water about five hundred feet out. It burst into thousands of tiny pieces that would soon join Pudding's other inventions at the bottom of the ocean.

# Chapter 12

All four pixies surveyed their surroundings. They were stuck on a very small island that was little more than a sandy coast with a few palm trees, no supplies, no shelter, and no hope of rescue. Aside from the clothes they had on, and what Pudding had brought along in the leather satchel, they had nothing. For Nemesis, this was enough reason to simply drop on the sand, and bury her face in her hands. Jinx laughed when he saw her plop down in desperation. Fidget walked over to Pudding, who was watching the spot where the jet had gone down.

"I still believe in you," he said.

Pudding smiled sadly. "I knocked down a lighthouse, sank an island, and stranded us about eight thousand years in the past."

"It was an adventure though!" said Jinx.

"Yeah," chimed Fidget.

"I changed the entire course of history! No one can settle on that island now because it no longer exists."

"Please," said Jinx, trying to make Pudding feel better. "What was that place even called?"

"Atlantis."

"Atlantis? Pfft, who'll remember it? Do you think, thousands of years from now, anyone will ever wonder, or care what happened to a tiny little island called Atlantis? Not a chance!"

"Yeah, so don't worry, Pudding," added Fidget.

"Don't worry!" shouted Nemesis. She sat up on the beach and glared at Fidget. "I don't know why we would worry," she said in her most sarcastic voice, "we're only fifteen miles from a dragon infested Lumina. If they don't eat us, you can bet fatty here will after a couple days of starvation." Nemesis stood up and tromped off to the other side of the island, which was only about twenty feet away.

"She's right," admitted Jinx, "we're going to starve to death. In a few days anyway."

"Do you have any idea how slow those few days are going to go, with her complaining the whole time?" said Fidget.

"That's it!" yelled Pudding, jubilantly. She walked right up to Fidget and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a genius!"

Fidget turned a rare shade of scarlet before babbling, "I – wa – if I – just. Huh?" He then laughed nervously.

"The time crystal is broken, but not completely. I wouldn't want to use it to travel through time again, but I think I can still make it stop time, at least on this island. Do you see? I can freeze this island in time. We know from history that pixies will be the first people to settle in this area, several thousand years from now. I'll set the crystal to turn off as soon as one of them approaches. That way we can get rescued, get our hands on a temporal crystal that still works, and get back to the time period in which we belong."

"Yes!" shouted Jinx. He then began dancing around joyously. Nemesis, who had heard him shout, came over, hoping for good news. When she heard the plan, she simply shrugged, thinking that she could have come up with something better if they had only given her a few minutes.

Pudding also decided to cast a beckoning spell over the general region. That way, no one would be able to resist coming to the island if they happened to sail anywhere within a mile of it. She then grabbed the glassy time crystal and cast a spell over it.

After a few moments, she said, "Okay, the spell is ready. It will reactivate normal time flow on this island as soon as someone else steps foot on the coastline. The farther you are from it, the sooner it will freeze you, as the field starts outward and works its way in, slowly."

Nemesis instantly walked to the very edge of the island. "Then I want to be over here, so I can be frozen immediately." She then continued under her breath, "I don't want this to last any longer than it has too." Everyone else stayed close to the time crystal.

"Anyone have anything to say?" asked Jinx.

"Not to the likes of you!" said Nemesis, folding her arms. Everyone ignored her, as always.

"Um, see ya guys in a few thousand years," said Jinx with a laugh.

"Yeah, what he said," was Fidget's only reply.

"Okay, good luck everyone!" said Pudding.

Pudding set the sphere down in the sand, and waved her hand over it. It began to glow with a bright emerald light. A smile spread across Jinx's face as he quickly dashed over to Nemesis, planting on her lips the biggest, sloppiest kiss that he could manage.

Nemesis coiled her hand into a fist that was fast making its way toward the pixie now kissing her, but she froze suddenly as a dull green energy field passed over her and Jinx, freezing them in place. It then slowly made its way toward Pudding and Fidget.

Fidget watched the field draw closer and closer. "What now?" he asked, turning toward Pudding, looking into those deep violet eyes.

"Now," said Pudding, taking him by the hand and giving him a reassuringly bright smile, "Now... we wait."

### End of Book One

The Adventure Continues In

A Pixie Called Pudding:

The Siren's Song

# About Travis Flynn

I grew up in Sioux City, Iowa and continue to live there to this day. I obtained a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Briar Cliff University in 2008 and a master's degree in Management Information Systems from Bellevue University in 2010.

When I'm not writing, I'm a fan of biking, skiing (when I'm not in Iowa, anyway), and have been known to love sci-fi television and video games a bit too much.

To anyone who has read any of my stories, you have my sincerest thanks. I appreciate that you took time out of your day (and perhaps money out of your wallet) to spend with me and the odd people that I dream up. Thanks again, and stay tuned for more!

For more information about me and a list of available titles, please check out

http://www.flynnpublishing.com

