Chapter 20
The power of the key
Sam put Peter in the center of the square, and told
him to repeat after him, but first he had to put on the
magical golden glove. When Peter pulled the glove out of
the bag, it glittered in the sun; the codes of Baja glowed
all over it. This time more rapidly than before. Peter put
his hand in the glove and it fit perfectly. The glove
sparkled with different sun ray colors; there were rays of
blue, green, yellow and red, all in one. Then it went
silent; nothing else came out of the glove.
Sam Carrot-Top told his son to repeat these words. "I
held my hands up to the sun, moon, and skies of Baja that
were created for you and I. To protect this precious land,
I call upon thee elders, come and awaken, hear our cries;
you promised you would never leave or forsake us. Arise and
come to you people, we ask of thee."
Peter repeated the words just like his father had told
him. At first, nothing happened; then the glove slid off of
Peter's hand and burst into a big golden dust ball that
flew all over Baja. The golden dust formed back into a
glove, sliding right back onto Peter's hand, as if had
never left. Then everyone could hear the ground shaking. It
rumbled violently, overturning trees, stores and farm land.
The citizens were instructed by Sam Carrot-Top to remain
calm, and they did. From a far distance, Peter could hear
the key calling him. He floated into the air as the glove
took him to meet up with the key.
"The key is coming!" shouted Peter to the crowd.
Everyone waited in anticipation, and then Peter's hand
uncontrollably stretched forward and reached into the air.
From a distance, the people could see the glitter from the
key in the air. The key had been collected from all parts
of Baja, one piece from Mr. Stewart's neck, another from
Oscar; who had passed on to another world, and the last
piece came from under the elders' temple.
A lady in the crowd shouted, "It's coming, it's
coming," repeating over and over again in excitement.
One person stood and watched in the crowd, and that
was Mr. Stewart, who did not want any part of these
festivities, for some reason. He didn't have a happy look
on his face. After all, the elders did leave him in charge.
But nevertheless, Mr. Stewart was not happy at all; he
turned and walked away. Many of the people noticed and
called him back.
"Don't you want to see this?" said a bystander.
Mr. Stewart said nothing, and just turned his back and
left.
Finally, the key was in the air, and it was reunited
with the glove. For the first time, everyone got to see
what the key looked like. When it merged with the glove, it
gave off a big sonic burst that filled the air with silver
dust. Everyone coughed and rubbed their eyes; dust was
everywhere. Then, all at once, the dust cleared up as if it
was sucked up into a tube.
Peter fell to the floor with the key stuck to the
glove like a magnet. He got up and showed the crowd the
key. Everyone was in awe; the key was one of the prettiest
Peter had ever seen. The jade was so hypnotic and
attractive; the key was made up of a mixture of jade and
silver with a hint of gold. There was no shape like this
known anywhere. When Sam saw his son becoming too attached
to the key, he quickly ran over to Peter and covered it up.
"Peter, remember what I told you," said his father
with a stern voice.
Peter then realized that he was falling hard for the
key, and apologized to his father.
"We must carry you to wake the elders," said Peter's
grandfather David.
As soon as Peter and the crowd ran toward the elders'
temple, they were stopped by Mr. Stewart and a group of
skeleton kings.
"I can't let you wake the elders," said Mr. Stewart.
Everyone was surprised and pushed toward the temple.
Mr. Stewart ordered the skeleton kings to attack. They were
nothing more than bones; they were decorated with the Baja
symbols and they were on Mr. Stewart's side. They all had
armor and long swords as their weapons.
"Why are you doing this, Mr. Stewart?" asked Peter.
Mr. Stewart scolded the crowd and told them that he
didn't want to see his brother die at the hands of the
elders.
"I knew you were evil," said Samantha, as she jumped
in front of Mr. Stewart with her ninja powers and cut him
across the face with her sword.
Mr. Stewart ordered the skeleton kings to attack, and
they did. They multiplied in numbers and attacked the
people, but it wasn't as easy as Mr. Stewart thought. He
was not going to get away. Sam Carrot-Top rushed his son
over to the area where a small hole was in the ground. He
ordered Peter to stay there and wait until he got back, but
Peter wanted to help with the war. He had to get into the
temple with the elders.
Peter called upon his friend Ben to use his cape and
take him to the temple. Ben cut loose from his parents, and
ran to help Peter as his parents fought the skeleton kings.
As Peter and Ben were about to take off, Mr. Stewart came
on a black bat, just like the one his brother had, and
chased Peter and Ben.
When Jane saw that her son was being chased, she
immediately called upon the trees of Baja to attack. Jane's
fingers grew green and she dug them into the ground,
causing the trees and vines to respond to her call.
Meanwhile, as the trees grew, Peter and Ben were still
being chased by Mr. Stewart. He had a big long wand that
could change into anything. At first, it was a golden
headed snake that hissed after Peter and Ben; then it was a
swarm of stinging bees. Patric Stewart just laughed, and
told Peter he was nothing more than a foolish child to
think that he would save Baja.
"Don't listen to him," said Ben.
Ben and Peter took off and headed toward the temple of
the elders. As Mr. Stewart followed, Jane's vines came to
life and flew through the air, twirling and spinning,
causing Mr. Stewart to tumble off of his bat-like creature.
The vines then wrapped themselves around the bat creature
and sucked it underground. Everyone could hear the bat
squirm and scream as the vines crushed its body.
Then Jane had her trees come alive and chase Mr.
Stewart as he dropped out of the air and ran toward the
elders' temple to find Peter and Ben. In the meantime, Jane
was also using her powers to awaken the trees to come
forward and help her fight. The trees and the vines pulled
their roots out of the ground; their master was calling,
the one who had saved them was in trouble, and needed their
help. The trees, flowers, and shrubs sent signal codes all
over the land to summon the other trees and flowers to come
and join in the fight. And join they did! Trees came by
the
thousands, they stomped their roots on the skeleton kings;
the plants and trees were fighting side by side with the
citizens of Baja.
Millie and Clara teamed up and used their powers to
help defeat the skeleton kings. Clara opened her mouth and
her green saliva bug flies came pouring out, covering the
eyes of the skeletons so they couldn't see. The people took
advantage of this and fought harder.
Then Millie disappeared and reappeared, causing the
skeleton kings to lose focus as she ran through them
unnoticed and tied Jane's vines around the feet of the
skeletons. When they tried to run toward the crowd, they
fell flat on their faces. Millie was so happy, she laughed
as the skeletons fell one by one, tumbling and falling over
each other. Once on the floor, the crowd swarmed over the
skeletons and tried to capture them. But the skeletons were
so strong, even though they were made out of bones; they
pushed through the crowd like a knife through paper. They
knocked the people to the floor as if they were nothing
more than rag dolls.
Jamyra made her hands freeze, and pointed them toward
a group of skeleton, and they froze instantly; their bones
shook, and soon they were nothing more than a block of ice.
Jamyra did this over and over, until there was ice
everywhere; even the citizens were cold.
Since Robert was so skinny, he used his body to slip
in and out of the skeleton kings, secretly moving their
chest plates, leaving them open to attack. As some of them
went to attack, their breastplates fell off, making it easy
for the people to destroy them. Each chance the citizens
got, they attacked and destroyed a skeleton king by ripping
out their mechanical heart.
Clara stood side by side with Samantha; they pulled
out their swords and fought with the skeletons. Clara
called upon her fire dragon, and out came a burst of heat.
She directed the dragon toward the skeletons, and ordered
the dragon to burn them to a crisp. It did so; the
skeletons tried to run, but they were no match for Clara
and her powerful dragon sword. The face of the fiery dragon
followed the skeletons, throwing fire balls from its mouth,
burning and charring them.
Michael used his powerful wings to fly above and drop
smoke bombs inside the crowd of skeletons. They let out a
piercing cry and called for their master, but no one came.
Mr. Stewart was too busy chasing Peter and his friend Ben.
Steve then took off his shoes and let his toe jams out; his
feet grew big and the odor did a good job. But it was also
chocking the citizens. So Steve hurried and put back on his
magical shoes, and flew to catch up with Peter and Ben.
Meanwhile, Sam Salmon took in fresh air and made fart
bombs. He blew them in the direction of the skeletons, and
they got blown away. Then Sam would chew his slime gum and
throw it on the ground, causing the skeletons to slip and
fall. But the skeletons kept on being produced, and their
numbers were getting larger and large. They had the ability
to multiply ever time their existence was threatened.
Zack then roared aloud, and as he did, the people
covered their ears and moved out of the way. Zack's roar
was so loud that it shattered the bones of the skeletons,
and the bones went flying through the air; there were bones
coming from every direction. That was the loudest roar Zack
had ever done; store and house windows were blown out.
Zack's roar commanded everyone's attention.
Meanwhile, Sam and Jane were fighting side by side
again, along with David and Dorothy. Dorothy was great at
making potions; she made a few thousand for the war, and
was about to use some for this unexpected turn of events.
She mixed potions to turn a few pieces of old rags into
ghosts; they were all equipped with bows and arrows and
huge hammers. The rags had two holes for eyes, and that was
as far as human features went. They floated on thin air,
and Dorothy sent them after the skeletons. The rags went
flying in groups, attacking the skeleton kings with their
hammers, and bows and arrows.
"You are all right for a grandma," said David lovingly
to his wife.
Dorothy just smiled and continued to whip up potions
to help her people beat the evilness of the forest. The
rags glided through the crowds of skeletons, hammering
their heads to the floor; while other rags covered their
faces and threw them into one big bag. Dorothy decided to
take out her potion of burping balls. She gave the children
each a burping ball, and as they burped uncontrollably,
huge bubbles formed that engulfed the skeletons and took
them up into the air, taking them far away. The skeletons
could not get out of the bubbles, and they tried so very
hard. The bubbles were made of a strong magical material.
Dorothy made the children's day; they got a big kick
out of burping out loud and not getting into any trouble
for doing it. Soon the skeleton kings withered away like
old leaves; many were caught and put in jail, while others
went floating away or turned into nothing more than dust.
As the people kept on fighting, Peter and Ben were
still being chased by Mr. Stewart. He used his magical wand
to produce a flying disc that came in behind Peter and Ben.
Ben flew with Peter in his hands as Mr. Stewart came from
underneath and pulled Peter by the legs causing him to lose
one of his shoes. Peter tried to fight with Mr. Stewart,
but it was not working; Mr. Stewart was much more powerful
than Peter could ever be.
Peter wiggled and fell out of Ben's hands onto Mr.
Stewart's flying disc. He tried to push Peter off, and onto
a bed of thorns. When Jane saw this from a distance, she
again summoned her plants to protect her son. The plants
ran through the elders' temple grounds like snakes,
sniffing and searching for their master's child. Soon the
trees formed a soft bed as they saw Mr. Stewart push Peter
off of his disc, and toward the thorns, but they were no
more, they had now become soft flowers. Mr. Stewart was not
happy; he had to stop Peter and his friends from awakening
the elders. The elders only had a few more days to be
asleep, and if not awakened, they would sleep for another
ten years, leaving Mr. Stewart in charge once more.
The people refused to let this happen, and everyone
fought with all their might. When Mr. Stewart saw that the
skeleton kings were disappearing, he sent in stone armies
that came in the form of hard sculpted stones. They were
well-equipped with the finest weapons of destructions and
were ready for war. Their eyes glowed and every time they
ran or walked, their bodies made a weird rock sound, like
two rocks rubbing against each other.
Mr. Stewart hollered, "Beat them if you can!" and went
after Peter.
Sam Carrot-Top went after Mr. Stewart as he chased
Peter. Sam Carrot-Top's hands grew orange and his strength
became more powerful. He picked up a rock the size of two
large homes, and threw it at Mr. Stewart, hitting his
flying disc and causing it to malfunction. This gave Peter
enough time to run across the courtyard. The elders' temple
was so huge; the grounds were massive in size. Peter had no
idea where he was going, but he knew that he had to run or
Mr. Stewart would catch him. Sam Carrot-Top ran after Mr.
Stewart causing him to look over his shoulders every now
and then.
"You touch one hair on my child's head, and I will see
to it that you never see the light of day!" shouted Sam to
Mr. Stewart.
"You foolish old man," said Mr. Stewart.
Off Mr. Stewart went behind Peter with full force,
using his magic wand to make walls appear to block Peter
from entering the temple. Peter didn't have to worry; his
father was right behind him breaking down the walls.
"Way to, Dad," said Peter.
Sam Carrot-Top just smiled and rushed his son on,
"Hurry, Peter, you must get into the maim hall of the
temple. Place the key in the golden box that sits by the
largest throne, and then move away."
Off Peter went, as Mr. Stewart still tried to block
him by making magical walls appear. Then Steve came flying
in on his magical shoes and tried to grab Peter by the
shoulders and fly him up to the center of the temple. But,
it did not go as planned. Mr. Stewart grew eight arms like
an octopus and snatched Steve out of the air and threw him
aside. Steve flew through the air, screaming as he could
not stop himself. Mr. Stewart threw Steve so hard that he
crashed into a tree; luckily Jane had a tree catch him, or
he could have ended up hurt. Steve thanked the tree for
catching him and then slid down its bark.
The people were so busy trying to fight the stone
armies that they could not worry about what was happening
to everyone else. The stone armies attacked the people,
throwing thousands of rocks into the air, hurting most of
them. The rocks that the stone army threw were so sharp and
heavy, they hurt the citizens one by one. The stone army
was much more powerful than they had expected; nothing
seemed to be able to slow them down. The citizens hid in
the secret tunnels that they had built underground in
preparation for the war. Only a few of the citizens with
powers were ordered to stay by David; who was the leader of
their army.
Meanwhile, Jane and the remaining others were forced
to stay and defend Baja. Jane had her plants and trees come
together to crush the stone army; she then made her fingers
turn green and summoned a plant that had been hidden away
for centuries. Jane was trusted to keep this plant a
secret, because it was so dangerous. Jane called upon the
piranha lion plant. It eats everything in sight, and when
it was finished, Jane would have to kill it or it would eat
everything in the land. This would cause extinction among
the Bajaians and their land.
As Jane called upon the piranha lion plant, she placed
her hands in the dirt and said the secret spell. The
piranha lion plant emerged; everyone could hear the growl
coming from underneath the surface. The roads cracked and
gave way; soon there was a large petal sticking out of one
of the cracks. Soon the plant emerged its big head from the
opening. Everyone got out of the way, except for Jane. This
plant looked like a dandy lion, only with fangs all over
it. From the petals to the roots, the fangs were sharp, and
very dangerous. It dragged its body across the roadways,
making a scraping sound as it crosses the road. As everyone
ran from the plant, Jane ran to it, comforting it. The
piranha lion plant was not happy about being awakened and
roared.
Jane told it, "I have dinner for you," as she pointed
toward the stone armies.
She let the giant plant sniff her fingers to let it
know that she was the one who summoned it, and she was the
one who would give it commands. Jane ordered the plant to
attack and eat all it wanted. Before she could get the
words out of her mouth, the plant took off, chewing on the
stone army like a snack. Most of the stone army members
ran, but they could not outrun this plant. Not only was it
very hunger, but it was very fast, with sharp fangs and a
very healthy appetite.
Jane jumped on the back of the plant and watched as it
ate each stone army member one by one, or sometimes two by
two. She had to remain on the massive plant to kill it when
it was finished doing its job. If she let it go, it would
only cause destruction all over Baja, and she would be
responsible for it. At the base of the plant's stem was a
soft red area; that was where Jane would inject the poison
to kill it. To do this she had to remain on the back of the
plant. The plant was having the time of its life, all the
food it could imagine was right in front of it.
Meanwhile, Sam Carrot-Top was still trying to catch
Mr. Stewart, who was trying to prevent Peter from entering
the temple of the elders. Mr. Stewart threw fire balls at
Sam, slowing him down a little. Soon Peter's friends joined
Mr. Carrot-Top and went after Mr. Stewart. Jamyra tried to
freeze his wand, but missed. Then Mr. Stewart threw a fire
ball at her, knocking her out a bit. Clara jumped in front
of Jamyra, who was down on the floor trying to compose
herself, and sent her green saliva bugs at Mr. Stewart.
They swarmed around him and were soon attacking him. Mr.
Stewart rubbed his face to try and get the bugs off, but
Clara's bugs liked to stick around.
Michael caught up with Peter and continued lifting him
to the top of the temple, where he could wake the elders.
Michael used his wings and flew through the window of the
temple with Peter in his hands. Once inside, they were in a
place no child was every allowed, unless called by the
elders. It was immaculate, there were golden statues of
kings and queens, and treasure chests filled with gold
coins and silver dollar notes. There was enough money to
buy anything a child could every want.