Chapter Eleven Winner

I was very flattered to be guessed as Brian Falkner because he is a massively clever writer but
it was me, Fifi Colston who wrote Eyepod into the Fabostory. I’ve always had a soft spot for mermaids, but never dreamed where you’d take her this week!

It was a quieter week for entries with everyone on holiday but some stalwart writers said ‘pah’ and wrote on anyway. Or should I say ‘dagnabit’? Which is what Andy’s great new character, Optix, the Chief of Fairy Police said when confronted with Giles and his possible implementation of the gorillas’ master plan. Andy was in China when he sent his story, so that’s a bit of dedication- well done it got here on time!

Hayley Coupe had a line that made me LOL, when Eyepod admitted she was a fish of sorts and Remy said he ‘Won’t tell a sole.’ Nice pun there Hayley, and great twist on gorilla parenting of mermaids too. Sometimes we wonder why our children are so different from us…

Caroline Moratti did a great romance writer thing by having a near kiss being thwarted- that’s the way Caroline, keep the tension going ‘will they, won’t they get to kiss?’ This keeps the love interest in a story going really well. Don’t let your character get what they want right at the start!

But the clear winner for me this week is Andy Xie. He took the plot far further than I could ever dream of- this would make a fabo graphic novel. Can you draw Andy?

Congratulations- and as you won an egg carton dog last time, I’m sending you a brand new hot glue gun and glue sticks so you can make your own. Also a plaster cupcake- which unfortunately don’t explode when thrown, but there’s always room for improvement! Which incidentally we see every week with you fabo writers- you have really grown with your work and we are mega impressed and can see you lining best seller shelves in the future.

Lots of love Fifi xxx

Chapter 11

By Andy Xie, Auckland Normal Intermediate

"The Revolution of Evolution"

“Aw, man. Screw it all!” Lewis yelled. Some adults behind him called out, but Lewis couldn’t make out what they were saying.

He grabbed beautiful Miriama – Eyepod out of the sparkling pool. What was he doing? He had no idea of whether Eyepod even deserved rescue, she was just so, so beautiful…

He shook his head, trying to free himself from the siren’s song. But even as his mind tried to resist, he found his body carrying the helpless mermaid in distress away from the pursuing fairies.

The fairies…

Weren’t they supposed to be the good guys? Lewis shrugged. All that mattered was Miriama – no, Eyepod now

Nothing else mattered.

* * *

Too Cool signaled for Ummm to stop.

“She’s done it,” he murmured, his face expressionless and unreadable.

“Is it, um, oh yeah, Siren’s Song?”

Too Cool nodded grimly. “It’s a classic case scenario. Lewis’s mind is gonna deteriorate, pronto, if we don’t do something about it.”

“We should totally call for reinforcements right now.”

“Totally.”

“Oh, and Too Cool?”

“What, dude?”

“We have to make our passwords tougher to crack.”

Too Cool smiled, despite the seriousness of the situation; Eyepod escaping from her prison, and already exercising the Siren’s Song was totally not cool. “That we do, my friend, that we do.”

Umm sniggered, prompting a chuckle from Too Cool. Soon, the two were already drowning in the pools of laughter.

***

Eyepod snorted. This human specimen truly does not know how to carry something, she thought, as the human carried her through the vast land.

Land.

She hated land. But it mattered not; soon she would awaken her true powers and enslave the sentient species this pathetic dirt pile of a planet.

“Boy,” she shrieked, “Carry me to the nearest body of water!”

Lewis nodded. “Yes, Miriama.”

Eyepod’s eyes narrowed. She had cast a Siren’s Song upon the boy’s mind, practically enslaving the boy. Right now, the human was only seeing and hearing things that he wanted to. Eventually, the boy would be reduced to a dribbling zombie, loyal only to Eyepod.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Eyepod’s face. The Siren’s Song was taking its toll on her. She grunted, annoyance distorting her face. This would not be a problem if she were at full strength. But for that, she needed pure water, something of which there was none in that blasted prison of hers.

“Slave!” she snapped, “FASTER!”

***

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Well, no. I mean yes! No. Maybe. Yes, maybe, let’s just leave it at that.”

Optix sighed, exhaling a large volume of smoke into the air, a stark contrast to his rainbow coloured office. Suddenly, his wary body launched forwards violently, and exploded in to a fit of coughs. Gasping for breath, he grabbed the cigar that still miraculously hung to his mouth, and stabbed it into his desk, exhausting the flame.

“Boss,” Too Cool said, his voice coming out of a glowing cube that sat in front of Optix, “You should really stop smoking. It’s bad for your body.”

“Shut up, officer,” Optix growled. It was true though, he reflected.
At this rate, I’ll be dead before Ummm and Too Cool get their first promotions, he joked to himself, not that would actually ever happen. He was their boss, after all.

“Now, repeat EVERYTHING you told me, from the start.”

Silence.

Optix sighed. Too Cool’s IQ seemed less than a Drooling Whippersnapper from the planet West Oopid, Sector Mindlessia. “You can stop shutting up now.” Optix moaned.

“Well, you already know!” Ummm whined.

“The short version then!” roared Optix.

“Well, basically, Eyepod got outta of the prison, and we want you to send a whole army after her.”

Optix grunted. If it were any other officers reporting in, he would have already sent the army. But since it was Ummm and Too Cool, he had to make sure that what they were saying was happening was actually happening.

“Are you sure?”

“Like we already said, maybe.”

Optix smashed his face into his palms. This was ridiculous. But if it really was the same Eyepod who had destroyed half the troops of the Intergalactic Space Police…

“Alright,” he declared, “I’m sending the cavalry to that primitive mud ball to capture Eyepod. But if this is a prank or anything, I’ll rip both your wings off!”

His solid carved face sagged in grief. Optix rose from his seat creakily, revealing two lumps of flesh that protruded from holes in his shirt, where his wings should have been.

“Just like Eyepod ripped mine off.”

***

Too Cool made sure that they were off the line, and immediately turned to face Ummm.

“He still won’t let the fact that she ripped his wings off go…” he whispered somberly, and then immediately burst into maniacal laughter.

“What a loser, man!” he managed, before succumbing once again to mirth.

“Totally!” Ummm agreed.

***

Lewis struggled over the hill, which majestically loomed over a raging torrent of sparkling sapphire.

Eyepod, who was slung over Lewis’s shoulder, was buzzing with excitement, her enthusiam palpable from a mile away. Her eyes shone with twisted delight.

“Now, you pathetic excuse of a… whatever you’re supposed to be, drop me in the water!”

Lewis smiled innocently, his mind completely engulfed by the haunting melody of the Siren’s Song. “As you please.” He brought his arm down, when –

“Stop Lewis!” Ummm called out.

Lewis paused for a moment, the remnants of his free will fighting a lost cause, then proceeded to drop Eyepod into the lake.

Eyepod sneered. “A bit too late, now.” And Lewis dropped her in the water.

Too Cool and Ummm’s jaws dropped to the floor in shock.

For a few precious moments, all was still, like the calm before a storm.

Suddenly, a huge serpent burst from the lake, causing a huge eruption of water. It’s scales were of the deepest blue, and it had at least ten emerald globes that were its eyes at each side of its draconian head.

“Now who’s going to stop me? A huge army, like the last time I broke out of that infernal prison?” the serpent hissed in Eyepod’s voice.

“Well, actually, just about.” Too Cool shrugged, as a swirling mass of space tore itself into the space in front of Eyepod. Space ships poured from the hole in the fabric of space-time, phasers at the ready. In the center of the fleet, there was a huge warship, easily the size of the Skytower. A gravelly voice rung across the clearing.

If she could have in her serpent form, Eyepod would have shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”

“Eyepod,” Optix demanded from the warship, his voice carried over via a hyper-phone, “We shall not allow you to repeat the massacre of Space Sector 134567927222 again. Your arrest is definite. But before we do so, I must ask, why?

You were a high ranking officer of the 9th Guard in the Imperial Peace Keeping from the Celestial Division of Nebulus, yet you threw that all away to commit cold blooded murder.” Optix paused and coughed violently. “Why?”

The serpent Eyepod hissed, spraying acid mist into the air. “Because it was rewardless! I needed somebody to recognize my work – my power! But nobody would. Those who cannot admire me must be eradicated! I am, after all, the best. I am number one! ”

Optix’s face twisted in disgust. Eyepod’s ego knew no bounds. “The only thing you’re number one on is in terms of absolute evil,” he replied. To the fleet, he commanded, “Fire all phasers, maximum power output!”

Every cannon in the thousand strong fleet began charging, highly potent energy electrifying the atmosphere. Just as they were about to fire, a spaceship dropped from the sky.

Then another.

And then all of them.

Optix grunted, desperately hanging on to the rails of the falling warship. Below him, the ruins of the fallen ships combusted into crimson puillars. “What the heck? Why are we falling?” Optix demanded.

“It seems that… we’ve been hijacked, sir.”

The gorillas! Optix cursed under his breath.

Right on cue, an all too familiar voice boomed over the hyper-phone.

“Hullo, old chaps,” Giles teased, “Seeing how keen you all were to chase down Eyepod, Miranda and I took this as the perfect opportunity to hijack your headquarters and neutralize all your technology. Now, prepare for de-evolution!”

“I shall not allow you to shatter my glory!” Eypod shrieked.

“Dagnabit, consider what you’re doing, Giles!” Optix roared, even as his massive warship fell to the ground to be consumed by the hungry flames.

But there protests were all in vain; it was already too late.

Too Cool, Ummm, and Lewis watched in terror as the clouds above began to swirl, making way for a beam made of the light of a thousand suns to blast them into the past.

***

“Urgh…” Remy moaned as he woke up. Or at least, he tried to. What came out was more of a hoot. Ignoring that, he groggily clambered up, only to fall right back on his sorry butt. His mind was like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle; he just didn’t have the strength to try and solve it. He couldn’t remember a thing; the last… however long it was – it was just a hazy blur. He slapped his hand onto his forehead. Somehow it felt different. Remy adjusted his hand so he could inspect it. As soon as he did, his heart felt like it would rip itself out of his chest.

His hand, it was furry.

Just like a gorilla’s.