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 imag
es 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.