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. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or publisher.
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A Pixie Called Pudding
By
Travis Flynn
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, Pudding 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 in 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 wore 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.” Jinx 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 in order 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,” said Pudding. “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, cutting her off, “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…not surprising; 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 surprised. “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 breathes. “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 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 darkened, 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 Jinx’s 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 had 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 easily able to crawl inside, locate the toolbox, grab the sword, and get out. 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.
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 merely 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 isn’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 sunny, 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. 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.”
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, ‘Oh 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 didn’t hear 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,” added Jinx 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 definitely should have seen something that large breach the pixie barrier, especially since they were keeping an extra lookout on that area specifically 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 at the magitorium. 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 would have a problem with Pudding succeeding?” asked Fidget 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.”
“Alright, 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. Not being born in Lumina, Fidget 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 this 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.
Eventually, Fidget came to a large pavilion with several tall stone arches placed at regular intervals. Fidget 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 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, Fidget had teleported to his home town in the Bermuda Triangle.
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 its 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 closed quickly 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. The door was quickly closed behind her. 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.
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 Fidget 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, “How are ya?”
She opened the door and let them both in.
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 small 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 hard for even 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 Pudding 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 before…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, 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.
“Mmmhmm, 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, and 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. 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 right?” 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 Pudding’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.”
“Alright! See you guys tonight then!”
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!
“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,” replied Pudding.
“Nimrod missed that monster, and it almost killed us. The least we could do is scare him with the sudden formation of a giant ice berg 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 and put 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.
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