The Magical Quest

Chapter 5

"How long were you there?" Thundra asked. "Uh, I just got here." Jess lied. "These are my fellow Prophecy members." Maia told her. "We should introduce ourselves.'' Fircone said. He shook her hand. "I assume you've already heard about us, but I don't know you." Seeing him up close, Jess noticed something strange. His left shoulder was distinctly twisted, as if it had been broken and healed wrong. Chris looked like one of those kids who the teachers would naturally assume he was a troublemaker, and plunk him in the front row of the classroom and yell "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Raj was nice, but he seemed shy. "We've all been fighting in this war for a while...how long was it?" Chris said, glancing at Maia. She sighed. "Three years for us. The additional six was most of the adults, because they were looking for us." Jess shrugged. "Could you show me around the rest of the city?" she asked. "I'll be glad to do that for--quit shoving, Fircone!" Chris yelled. Becka looked like she was trying not to laugh, while Raj was cringing back for some reason. "Yeah, I'll go with Fircone." Jess said, and tried not to smirk at Chris' hurt expression.

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"Here's my workshop, in all it's glory!" Fircone said cheerfully. Jess' senses were instantly assaulted by loud machinery noises and the sharp smell of gasoline, grease, and motor oil, and loud rock music playing in the background. There was a workbench cluttered with blueprints, wires, batteries, and various other odds and ends. There was a large refrigerator filled with Cheddarwurst and haggis, which she knew because the door was partially open. An animatronic bulldog was running around with a fire breathing, plastic toy T-rex clamped in its jaws, and a robot that looked like R2-D2 and C-3P0 from Star Wars rolled into one was welding something together. It had a giant eye instead of a head. A sleeping loft was suspended dangerously on one wall, and a door labeled BATHROOM in large, slightly crooked letters stood off to the right. Then, there was a garage door off to the left. "This is so unorganized. How do you find anything?" Jess asked Fircone. "I really don't know. I have a system. A weird, twisted system that I don't even understand, but it's a system." he said with a grin. Jess noticed easily that he was also ADHD, and must've been so hyperactive that he needed to be doing 5 things at once to not be bored. "I'm gonna go up and get a snack. You can hang around here and look, as long as you don't touch anything. Who knows what could be buried underneath all this? Maia's been ragging me to clean my place, but I just ignore it." "Uh, can I see what's behind the garage door?" Jess asked. "Sure! Just don't mess with it." He grabbed a remote sitting on the workbench and pressed a button. It was like a TV remote combined with a Wii controller and a toy car remote all rolled into one. He started pressing the A button really fast. The door rolled open. A weird, mutated metal thing that looked like a cross between a death laser and an overhead projector was sitting in the middle, surrounded by tools and clutter. "This, my friend--" he began to say, but Jess punched him in the arm. "I am not your friend." she said, scowling at him. "Fine. This, when it's done, will create a portal to another dimension!" Fircone said, his voice filled with glee. Then he left to get a snack. Jess looked around, examining the machine. Finally, she couldn't resist the urge. Despite what Fircone had said, she pressed a random button. Something fizzled and sparked. Jess only had time to say "Oh, crud." before the machine crackled and exploded into a blaze of white-hot light. Suddenly, the fiery ball of light collapsed in on itself. Panting, Jess sprinted out. She needed some fresh air, so she ran to the elevator. She took it up, outside. Running out, she stood in the streets of Seattle, below the Space Needle, which the Order of Light's headquarters was located underneath.

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Luke had no idea where he was. He also didn't know how much worse his life could get. One minute he'd been meditating on a hill at his old home in Tatooine, the next, he was tumbling head over heels surrounded by debris, then crashing into the street of some bizarre location that resembled Coruscant. Apparently, the pedestrians either weren't interested in a scrawny, blond 18-year-old wearing Jedi robes lying in the street, groaning, while lying beside the remains of a moisture vaporator, or they didn't know he was there. He winced as he sat up. "Damn it." he muttered; he was bruised and bleeding, and his head hurt. Standing, he tried to get his bearings. If only Leia could see me now. I'd be a laughingstock. Luke thought to himself. He suddenly wondered what his twin sister would think when she found out what happened. There was a large, needle-like building to the north, reminding him of the amazing architecture on Coruscant, and a couple of shops to the south, and more people than he could count. Even though he was trained to remain calm in bad situations, his heart hammered against his ribs. "Man, for once I wish C-3P0 was around. He might've known something." he muttered to himself. Then he saw the girl. She looked about fifteen or sixteen, and she was wearing a blu T-shirt and old jeans, and muddy maroon hi-tops. She had a pale face, which was framed by thick, dark curls of black hair. He couldn't quite see her facial expression. Luke stood, but his legs felt like Sarlacc slime, and he tripped. The girl heard him yelp painfully, and her head snapped up. The first thing he noticed was her eyes. They were a brilliant green, and they almost seemed to glow. Her face was thin and pale, and despite the fact that she was sooty and soaked with sweat, the girl was strikingly beautiful. Luke had to make an effort to keep his jaw from hitting the ground. That girl was hot. For a moment, they stared at each other. Then the girl lunged, punching him in the face and slamming him into the ground. Luke struggled out of her grip and ran for it, but the girl snapped her fingers, and a fire hydrant next to him exploded, sending him flying back towards her, and she judo flipped him and pinned him down. "Please! I donwanna die!" Luke yelped. The girl reluctantly let him up. "Who are you?" she demanded. She sounded a lot like Leia when Luke had left the top off of the hummus. She was strikingly beautiful and dangerous at the same time, and Luke was having a hard time forming a complete sentence. "Um, er, my name's Luke Skywalker. I need to get home." he asked. The girl glared, and didn't seem fazed that she was meeting a powerful Jedi. She just pushed her shirt back from her belt, revealing a gold knife. "Don't cross me." she said. "Ah, I'm not from here. I need help. Besides, where am I?' Luke said, still not certain where he was. The girl sighed. "You're in Seattle, in Washington State, one of the larger states in the US." "Uh, what's a state? And what's the US?" Luke was even more confused. "You're dumber than you look." the girl said, her voice beginning to sound frustrated. "You better come with me."