Paraworld Zero (5 page)

    “Hey—” said Buz, suddenly stopping. “Nice dog.”

    The two boys stood there for a moment, leering at the curvaceous woman,
trying to say something intelligent, until they heard the screech of a car and someone yell,
“Hey, kid, get out of the road!”

    The seniors turned around to see Simon running across a narrow street up
ahead. Reluctantly, they pulled themselves away from the attractive woman and followed after the
boy.

    Simon darted down a side street between two large buildings and realized, to
his horror, that his luck had finally ended; he had just run into a dead end.

Chapter 3
    

    

    Buz snickered. “Oh, look at the little mouse caught in a corner.”

    Spike picked up a cracked two-by-four and tapped the side of an old, beat-up
car. Buz found a red brick and followed suit.

    Terrified, Simon ran to the far wall as the two older boys closed in on their
prey. His heart pounded in his chest, and his eyes darted about, looking for an escape route.
Dirty newspapers littered the dark alleyway, and streams of filthy water gathered in small pools
about their feet.

    “Look, guys,” Simon pleaded, “I didn’t say anything.”

    “Sure ya didn’t.” Spike laughed in a patronizing manner. “But just to be
safe, we’re gonna make sure you
don’t
say anything.”

    At that, both teenagers ran towards Simon with weapons in hand, but just as
they reached the petrified boy, a light blue mass of electricity appeared in the air behind them.
The electrical cloud expanded to three feet in diameter and formed into the shape of a sphere. A
flash of green shot out of the strange ball and smashed into Buz and Spike, forcing them to fall
at Simon’s feet. The ball of lightning disappeared as fast as it had come, leaving no trace of
even being there.

    Simon’s mouth hung open in bewilderment. A young, beautiful girl sat on top
of Buz and Spike. She wore a sleeveless green tunic that extended to her mid-thigh. The plastic
fabric stretched across her chest like spandex, lay flat against her stomach, and hugged her
hips. She also wore green boots that held onto her slender legs with several straps of leather.
But despite her clothing, her most unique feature was her bright green hair; the long ringlets
reached down to her thin waist and sparkled in the dim light.

    “
Ahm-Chi Kuta,
” the girl said, looking down at the boys. “
Masta Baloo andga eichi?
”

    “What on Earth are you saying, girl?” Buz answered back.

    The strange girl jumped up, waved a small wand, and chanted, “
Aiyee, Aiyee, Aiyee bookata!
” The wand released a stream of light that engulfed her body
for a second and then vanished. She opened her mouth to speak once more.

    “
Guten morgen…
”

    Spike scratched his chin.

    “
Ohayo gozaimasu… Buenos dнas… Bonjour?
”

    “Are you making fun of us?” Buz asked, raising his brick. He sat up and
rubbed his head.

    The girl smiled. “Good morning.” Her clear voice was as soft as an autumn
breeze.

    “Good morning,” Simon stammered. He could hardly believe what he had just
witnessed. The strange girl had appeared out of nowhere.

    She turned and said, “My name’s Tonya. I’m from Paraworld 4329.” Her
yellowish green eyes sparkled as she spoke. “Wow, this looks
really
different from what I was expecting.”

    Tonya bent over and picked up a curious device she had dropped during her
collision with Buz and Spike. It was about the size of a textbook but had two handles, several
buttons and knobs, and a digital readout that looked almost like an odometer from a car. She
banged the device against her wand as if she were trying to erase an Etch A Sketch.

    “Ah, this thing’s broken.”

    Simon looked over at the readout on the device. It appeared to have eight
place markers for digits, but they were all spinning wildly, resembling a slot machine. The first
marker became blank, and then the second, and then the third, and so on, until it reached the
last place marker. The final marker spun for a second more and then went blank like the
others.

    “Oh, yeah, really funny!” Tonya smirked. “Someone’s trying to play a joke on
me.”

    “Excuse me, little girl,” Spike interrupted. He grabbed his two-by-four and
stood up. “We were in the middle of something here. Run along and play somewhere else.”

    She turned to Simon and asked, “Are these your servants? Because if they were
mine, I wouldn’t let them talk to strangers like that.”

    “You
are
making fun of us,” Buz chimed in as he scurried to his feet, still clutching his
brick.

    “They’re not very smart, are they?” She chuckled. “Professor Gwyn told me all
about this paraworld. Is it true the younger you look, the older you really are?” She didn’t wait
for an answer. “I mean, that’s simply amazing. I heard this is the only charted parallel world
where everyone grows down instead of up. To think of it, I’d be considered an old woman
here!”

    She laughed heartily, but Buz and Spike were not amused.

    “I can’t quite put my finger on what paraworld your servants are from,” she
continued. “Oh, I hope this isn’t on the test. I know they’re not native to this paraworld—their
bodies are too big and clumsy. I bet they’re worker drones from Paraworld 5467. Am I
correct?”

    Simon just stood there with his mouth open in confusion. What a strange
girl.

    “Oh, fiddlesticks!” she exclaimed. “Let me see… Oh, I know! I should have
seen it earlier. By the way they’re holding their sticks and stones, they’re from one of the
prehistoric worlds, aren’t they? So are their brains really the size of a walnut?”

    “Okay, that’s it,” Buz grunted. “You’re gonna pay for that!”

    He picked up the girl as easily as he would a feather pillow and walked
towards a large puddle of dirty water.

    “Oh, dear,” Tonya said, looking back at Simon. “Do you think he understood
me?”

    Simon couldn’t answer because he too was being removed from the ground; he
tried to free himself, but Spike had an iron grasp.

    “We’re going to teach you and your girlfriend a lesson,” Spike said. “On
three.” He signaled to Buz. “One… two…”

    “Oh, I see you can count,” Tonya said with genuine surprise in her
voice.

    “
Three!
”

    Buz and Spike launched the two kids towards the murky water. Simon hit the
shallow pool with a hard thud, splashing water everywhere. He closed his eyes and moaned. After a
brief moment, though, it occurred to him that he was the only one in the water. He rolled over
and, to his astonishment, saw the young girl suspended above him in midair.

    “What are you?” Spike shouted in disbelief. “You little freak!” He raised the
two-by-four and lunged at the girl.

    “
PROTECTION!
” Tonya exclaimed, raising her wand.

    A sphere of golden light engulfed her body. She clutched her stomach in pain
as yellow lightning bolts shot out of the sphere and wrapped themselves around Spike. He screamed
in a high-pitched voice as the electrical ropes raised his body into the air.

    Tonya went into convulsions, throwing her head back and forth in agony. She
waved her wand uncontrollably. Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning ran down the alley and struck
the long row of parked cars like a thread being sewn into fabric. The windshields, side windows,
taillights, and mirrors exploded from the impact.

    Resembling tentacles, the yellow bolts of electricity wiggled around as if
they had a mind of their own. Mercilessly, they threw Spike’s body from one building to the next.
Two more giant arms—both emerald green—shot from the golden globe and grabbed two parked cars
near the entrance of the alleyway. Crunching sounds echoed horribly in everyone’s ears as the
thick arms of electricity squeezed the cars tightly, making the hinges buckle. The awful
crunching stopped for one second, and then the two vehicles rose fifteen feet into the air and
smashed together with such tremendous force that when the two hunks of metal fell, neither of
them even resembled cars.

    Simon stood up and surveyed the destruction with eerie trepidation, but then
he jumped as a lightning-entangled body descended just inches from his face.

    Spike, hovering in the air before Simon, brought his head up slowly and
whispered, “Help me.”

    Face to face, Simon stared into the hopeless eyes of the teenager who, just a
moment ago, had threatened to shut him up permanently. Simon had always been intimidated by
Spike—the way he pushed people around, the way his large biceps bulged under his shirt
sleeves—but now the senior didn’t seem so big anymore. Spike was just a bully—scared and
pathetic. Quick as a whip, the tentacles jerked the teenager’s body back and flailed him about
the alley once more.

    Simon glanced at the sphere of translucent light and saw the silhouette of
Tonya lying in the bubble. She might have been unconscious or even dead, but he couldn’t tell. He
eased his way closer and tried to peer into the ball. Tonya’s head twitched as though she were
having a small seizure.

    Mustering all of his strength and courage, Simon pierced the sphere with his
hand. The hot, gooey sensation made him feel like he had just stuck his fist into a bowl of warm
Jell-O. He extended his arm a little farther and grasped Tonya’s hand to wake her up.

    Tonya opened her eyes, and the sphere of light exploded all around them. The
shock wave rippled up both sides of the two buildings and shattered every single window at the
same time. A shower of broken glass plummeted to the ground, tearing through the hoods of the
parked cars below. Simon shielded his face and collapsed as shards of glass whizzed by.

    Dazed and in pain, he felt his vision slowly come into focus. Simon realized
he was staring into Tonya’s yellow-green eyes; she had fallen on top of him.

    “Wow, that was great,” she said, giggling.

    Simon’s mouth fell open in amazement. Her beautiful green hair had turned
pitch black from the ordeal, but she didn’t seem to notice yet.

    The two children stood up and looked down the alleyway. Spike lay nearby,
moaning to himself. All the cars had been destroyed, and glass was strewn everywhere. In the
midst of everything stood a lone figure: Buz.

    Simon limped over to the young man and saw tiny bits of glass stuck in his
plump cheeks. Buz’s face and body remained motionless, but his eyes followed Tonya’s every
movement. He trembled as she drew near.

    “Buz?” Simon inquired.

    The large boy fainted.

    It was then that Simon noticed the onslaught of camera flashes coming from
the entrance of the alleyway. Japanese tourists were videotaping them and taking pictures.

    “How odd,” Tonya said, looking at the group of frenzied tourists.

    “Come on. Let’s get out of here!”

    Simon grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley and into the main street.
The crowd backed up as the kids emerged onto the sidewalk.

    “Wait, I need to meet up with my…” Tonya looked up at the multistoried
buildings in surprise and quietly finished her sentence, “…class.”

    Simon pushed her along the street, away from the cameras and tourists.

    

    

    Back at the disaster site, a dark figure entered the alleyway. Slivers of
broken glass crunched under his steel-tipped boots as he walked over to Buz. The dark figure
tossed some handcuffs onto the large boy’s chest. Bending down, he reached into Buz’s black
overcoat and pulled out a small phone.

    “You know that favor you owe me?” Butch’s charismatic voice penetrated to the
other end of the phoneline. “Forget about it. After what I’m about to tell you, you’re going to
owe me much more than you can imagine… Yeah, I’d say it’s of national security.”

    

    

    Simon and Tonya made their way up the street about as fast as fish swimming
up a waterfall. Everyone in the area flocked to the demolished alley to get a peek at what had
happened. An old Japanese man showed a police officer the footage he had captured of the two
children running from the scene.

    Farther up the street, Simon sprinted past a policeman listening to his
radio. “
… thirteen or fourteen years old, Caucasian, green outfit, long black hair
…”

    “Hold on. I see them,” the officer responded to the broadcast. He chased
after the two kids, but the wall of people hindered his progress.