“I’m telling you, Unk seemed like he was trying to mask the fact that he was terrified,” the boy said to Emmett on the bike ride to the mall. “He’s hiding something.”
“Come on dude, think about it,” his friend replied, shaking his head. “A giant snake lady with magic green fire? How could that have anything to do with reality at all? And how would Koga be involved, exactly?”
“I don’t know, man,” he sighed. “Why would he react that way?”
“Maybe he’s scared of snakes?” Emmett suggested with a chuckle.
Once their bikes were locked up outside the mall, they made their way inside to the comic book shop, grabbing a few recent Marvel and DC titles before perusing the manga section. From there they stopped by the food court for lunch, reading some of their new purchases as they ate.
Next up was the arcade, where they spent many hours smashing buttons, gripping steering wheels, and firing plastic laser guns. When they realized it was getting late, the boys grabbed their things and headed home. When they got to the park, they bid each other farewell and went separate directions.
While Mallory was riding his bike along the stone path towards his house, he saw something in the early night sky and slid to a halt. Squinting to get a clearer look, he noticed there were bright flashes high above him, popping in and out of existence in rapid succession with tiny bursts of electricity. He gasped as the air itself in the epicenter of the flashes ripped open into a swirling vortex of multicolored lights.
“Holy crap!” he cried out. “Is that a wormhole or something?!”
Something shiny bulleted out of the portal at high speed, flying directly at Mallory. He yelped as his heart began to beat faster, but he was frozen in place, unable to muster the will to move or run. As the object got closer, he noticed it was a small metallic automaton of some kind, colored in hues of silver, gold, and black. It was mostly humanoid, but instead of feet, the legs joined into a single large wheel.
“Greetings, Master Mallory!” he said in a high-pitched robotic voice with an Irish accent. The droid touched down on the stone path and retracted his rear-mounted jet boosters, standing much shorter than Mallory. The shape of his head reminded him of a french fry container, and had thin fiber optic wires spiking up from the scalp like rainbow-colored bioluminescent hair. He had large circular eyes that glowed neon orange, no nose, and a thin rectangular screen where his mouth would be that lit up like an LED equalizer when he talked.
“How… How do you know my name?” Mallory asked, still trying to grasp what had just happened.
“Why, because you are my new master, of course! I am here to escort you to Ursamoor with the utmost haste!”
“You sound like Jacksepticeye…” the teen pointed out. “Is this some kind of prank? Emmett, are you hiding in the bushes over there?”
“I was programmed with a voice you would know well! I would have opened with ‘top o’ the mornin’ to ya, laddie’ but, well, it’s not morning,” the droid happily explained.
“Who programmed you and why do they want me to go to… whatever place you just said?” Mallory asked suspiciously.
“Ursamoor, Master!” he repeated. “Some really nice guys want to meet you! Isn’t it exciting?!”
“What? This… This is a lot to take in…” the teen groaned as he rubbed his temples. “Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. Yup, I’m definitely dreaming…”
“Oh, you’re so ecstatic about going to another planet that you must be dizzy!”
“Wait, what?” He looked up in confusion. “Another planet? Now I know I’m dreaming…”
“Let’s go, Master!” Suddenly the droid fired up his jet boosters once more, swooped around behind Mallory, and extended several metallic tentacles that wrapped around the boy’s torso.
“Hey!” the teen yelped out as the little bot strapped himself to Mallory like a backpack. He then felt his feet lifting up off the ground. “Hey! HEY! Put me down! I-what-hey! Whoooaaaaaah!”
“Onward, Master Mallory! Destiny awaits your claim! Here we gooooo!!!” the droid cried excitedly as they shot up like a rocket, straight towards the swirling vortex that was still floating in the sky. Mallory was flailing wildly and screaming as he watched the ground fall away. “You’re right! This is so much fun that we should scream with joy! Aaaahhhhh!”
As they neared the portal, they felt a strong suction pull them in and launch them through a partially transparent tunnel of rainbow lights at an insane velocity. Looking down past his feet, Mallory could see Earth vanishing rapidly in the distance as they were flung towards whatever awaited them on Ursamoor…
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