Chapter 21
Meeting the Elders
Long rugs were made of the finest cotton; a flame
blazed in the background, awaiting the elders, and there
were three waterfalls that showed the faces of the elders
in the water. The walls seemed to grow as one entered the
room, and the halls had hieroglyphic pictures of every
beast and creature known in the world of Baja, and beyond.
The seats where the elders sat were made of pure gold
with rubies studded all over the arms and legs. Around the
room were the sarcophagi of twelve people in a glass case;
they seemed to be so real. As Peter went over and looked at
the glass casing, the sarcophagi seemed to move! It gave
Peter a fright, and he quickly jumped back screaming.
Michael was a little afraid too; he was not that big tough
guy as he acted as in school.
The walls of the temple changed colors, and there was
an opening that led to another room, but Peter remembered
what his father said, and placed the key in the golden box
on the side of the largest throne. He quickly put his hands
over the golden box, and the key melted like butter on hot
toast! It became nothing more than liquid gold that slid
down a hole in the golden box and disappeared. But, what
was really happening was that the key was opening each
elder's hibernation box. The key Peter had was the eighth
and final one, making the chain reaction complete. Mr.
Stewart burst through the window, and Mr. Carrot-Top was
right behind him.
"You're too late, he already did it," said Michael to
Mr. Stewart.
Mr. Stewart pushed Michael and Peter out of the way.
"You dumb little brats!" he said as he tried to stop the
chain reaction of the eight keys.
But Mr. Stewart could not find where the secret
opening was. As Peter got Mr. Stewart in his sights, he
tried to create a hole, but it did not work.
"Son, no one's powers work in this temple but the
elders," said Sam Carrot-Top to his son.
"Yeah, you silly brat," said Mr. Stewart as he
patiently waited to see if the key really would work.
Everyone waited patiently; Mr. Stewart paced the room
back and forth, he bit his nails constantly, waiting for
something to happen, but nothing did.
Meanwhile, back outside, the piranha lion plant had
devoured all the stone army men, and it was time for Jane
to destroy it. She did not want to; she began thinking of
Oscar, her beloved cat that died in the forest. But she had
no other choice; even though she was the lover of plants,
she had to destroy this one because of its sheer size and
the destruction it would cause. The plant would eat just
about anything in sight and never stop eating.
Jane kissed the flower good-bye, and injected it with
the poison. Then, just like the plants Jane once cared for,
this plant became sick and withered away. Slowly it lost
its strength; Jane could not watch, so she just started to
walk away. When she did take a sneak peek back, the plant
was gone, withered and blown away by the wind.
Samantha comforted Jane in her arms, but there was
little time for crying. Jane had to go to the temple and
see if her son and husband were all right. After the
battle, the people started to come out into the square
again; they were told that Peter had reached the temple.
The people sat in the square and waited for word.
Meanwhile, Peter's friends and Jane headed to the temple.
Clara's mother tried to stop her, and told her not to go,
but Clara insisted that her friend might need her. She
convinced her mother that she would be all right.
Meanwhile, in the temple, Peter and Michael, along
with Mr. Carrot-Top and Mr. Stewart all waited.
"Maybe we are too late," said Peter to his father.
"No, we are right on time," said Mr. Carrot-Top.
Soon the lights dimmed, the walls moved, and the stone
structure rocked. Twelve tombs came out of the ground with
a loud roaring noise, instead of the eight Peter had
expected. The tombs were glowing with the codes of Baja.
One by one the tombs glowed; they were the most beautiful
coffins anyone could lay their eyes on. Each one was made
out of some type of antique wood, and the codes on them
seemed to be hand-carved. There were symbols and drawings
on each one that were drawn with golden ink of some sort.
One by one, the coffins flew into the air; they formed
a circle and danced around. Each coffin stood over a
throne; then they opened and the elders came out. They were
like heavenly bodies! Peter's and Ben's eyes grew larger as
they gazed upon the elders that they had always heard their
parents talk about. Each elder was different, but they all
looked alike. They were some sort of Egyptian pharaohs, all
off a different color, but they all looked alike at the
same time. They were brown skinned, red, blue, yellow,
orange, purple, green, white, black, pink, Burgandy, and
multi colored. All of the elders were adorned with large
crowns with hieroglyphics and gems. The skins of the elders
all glowed with the codes of Baja. Their eyes were jet
black, as if they could see inside someone's soul.
Peter and Ben were afraid, they did not know what to
do or what to say as the elders awoke. They opened their
mouths and looked up to the heavens as some sort of mist
came floating into their mouths. Then from their mouths
cockroaches came out and fell dead to the floor. This
freaked Peter out, and he ran and hid behind his father.
Sam Carrot-Top knew not to speak without the elders'
permission, but apparently Patric Stewart did not heed
this, and he approached the elders. He was struck to the
floor.
The head elder, which was the yellow one, held onto a
glass sphere to see what had happened to Baja in the last
ten years that they had been hibernating. What the elders
saw was most pleasing, but when they got to the present,
they were very disappointed.
"Come forth, Sam Carrot-Top," said the yellow elder.
The elder touched Sam Carrot-Top's heart and searched
it very well; he saw his hurt and his pain. Then the elders
all joined thoughts to see what the one elder was seeing.
They saw all of Sam Carrot-Top's pain, they saw how he was
wrongly accused of betraying Baja, and the elders
apologized to him, and gave him a disc of honor. It was
filled with smaller magical symbols, and the elders told
him that he would know what to do with it when the time
came. Peter continued to hide behind his father.
"Come forth, my child," said the yellow elder.
As Peter came forward, he was still afraid. The elder
then searched Peter's heart, and saw all the good that he
had done. The elder gave Peter back the key and glove, and
told him that he could choose to keep the glove and go on
saving the galaxy, or he could give it back and pas
s it on.
Peter loved the adventure, but was afraid to disappoint the
elders.
They read Peter's mind and said, "You would not
disappoint us."
Peter was a little shocked to know that they knew his
every thought. The elder acknowledge all of Peter's
friends, those who started out as his friends and those who
just became his friends. Peter decided to keep the key and
glove, which was very pleasing to the elders; it showed
that he had character, even though he was afraid to mess
up. He did not take the easy road, which was to give it up;
he took the road least traveled and very scary.
"I know a war is coming, and you're afraid," said the
head elder to Sam Carrot-Top. Sam acknowledged the elder.
"Don't worry, we will be fine," said the elder.
Soon Jane and Peter's friends came bursting into the
temple, ready to fight with Mr. Stewart. When they saw that
the elders were present, they quickly knelt down to them.
For the first time, the children were seeing a group of
mystical creatures that they only used to hear their
parents talk about. Jamyra and Clara could not stop staring
at the elders; they were so strange looking, like nothing
they had ever seen.
The elders acknowledged the children and their part in
saving Baja. Each got a medal that was unique to each
child; soon they would find out what their medals could do.
Then the elder called Jane up to the throne. He touched her
heart and saw her pain, and like her husband, she was also
given an apology and a secret disc. The elders reminded the
Carrot-Tops that they were chosen for this task, that all
that happened to them was already written in the codes.
Jane let out a tear, and from behind the elders walked
Oscar.
"Oscar, is it really you?" said Jane.
"Yes, the one and only," said Oscar.
Jane forgot all of her problems as she rubbed her
hands through Oscar's fur. "I missed you so much," she
cried.
Oscar just licked Jane on the face and sat next to
her. The elders let Jane know that they would have brought
her mother back, but she was more comfortable in another
world. The elder told Jane that she would see her parents
one day very soon; just right now, the time was not right.
Jane accepted the elders' wishes and never mentioned her
parents again.
The elders then turned toward Mr. Stewart, lying on
the floor. They scolded him for betraying their trust. When
he saw that he would not convince the elders to trust him,
he opened fire on them with his magic wand. But it did not
hurt the elders; they were protected by a force field. The
elders mentally lifted Mr. Stewart into the air and placed
him inside a huge animal carcass that lay behind the walls.
Mr. Stewart screamed until he became horse. The bugs inside
the dead carcass ate him alive; all the powers he had, and
he could not get out of the animal rib cage.
"That is his sentence for betraying us," said the head
elder.
For the first time, the elders decided to go outside
and meet the people; it was time to give the people hope.
It was time they knew who they were fighting for, and who
they should be loyal to. All twelve elders rose from their
thrones and floated out the door into the town. The people
of Baja were in total awe; they pointed and stared at the
elders, their hands waved in the air, wanting to be touched
by just their garments. As the elders gazed upon the
townspeople and saw that they were afraid and fighting for
the land of Baja, the elders promised them bounty as they
could never conceive.
"There will be plenty according to your good deeds,"
said the elders.
But first, there was a war coming, and the elders had
to go and mentally prepare for it. They sought out David
and Dorothy Carrot-Top, and told them even though one of
their sons was evil, they would have mercy on him because
of their good deeds. All Dorothy could do was cry and show
great appreciation to the elders by bowing to their
request. As the elders went to prepare for the mental
challenge ahead, all the people could not believe what they
had just witnessed. They were afraid, but they were happy
to see after all these years a face that would save them.
The people were now filled with hope; they were ready
to fight and put an end to the war. Then they heard
marching coming forward and there was also a foul odor in
the air. This time it was not Sam or Steve, it was a group
of Bella's beast; they had now entered the outer rings of
the mainland of Baja. The alarm went off.
"Now it is time to unveil my newest creation," said
David.
Everyone gathered around to see what his new invention
was. David was the father of invention, he seemed to make
anything he could dream up, and what he'd made was nothing
less than spectacular. On the outer rings of Baja, David
had installed electric rings; they were electrified rings
that flew from one end to another with the speed of light.
Once activated by an intruder, the rings shoot off nonstop,
slicing through anything in their way.
Bella and her army of beasts were the first to test
out the new technology. As the alarms sounded on the
mainland, the electric rings went off. They went flying
across the outer rings of Baja. The citizens could see the
bright colors of the rings from where they were standing.
The rings sliced through Bella's army, decapitating many of
her men and strange beast. When she saw this, she went into
warrior mode and instructed her men on what to do. By this
time, she'd had lost ten thousand of her men and beasts to
the electric rings. Bella quickly drove her men and beasts
from harm's way, but on the outer edges of Baja lay
devastation. The sand was soaked with blood from Bella's
men and beasts
Bella ordered her people to keep low and look out for
any other devices. No matter how much magical spells she
knew, Bella could not stop the electric rings. So she
decided to go ahead and plow through. She lost many more
men and beasts, but they finally got past the rings. As
Bella came into the town square with her men, millions of
citizens were waiting for her.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," said Bella, and then
she ordered her beasts and men to attack.
Thousands of skeletons with swords attacked.
"Oh, not them again," said Jamyra.
Then there were huge sand octopi that came through the
crowds, eating and devouring the people. Bella laughed, but
was quickly approached by Samantha, who wanted to get even
with Bella for the time they were in the Azul Sea.
"You can never beat me," said Bella to Samantha.
Samantha pulled out her sword, and the two women
warriors fought; jumping and leaping over everyone. Bella
cut Samantha on the
side of her face; then Samantha took
out her magical star blades and used them to pin Bella to a
tree. Jane ordered the tree to hold Bella as long as it
could, and the tree did just that, wrapping its limb around
Bella's waist. It squeezed tight until Bella spit up blood.
Samantha went over and continued to use her martial
arts skills on Bella; kicking and punching until she was
out cold. But that was not the end of Bella; she was
playing dead. Bella broke away from the tree and turned it
into wood chips. Jane could hear her tree crying. Bella
then jumped on Samantha's back and fought with her.
Meanwhile, the other citizens were fighting stone men,
dark Ryders, skeleton armies, huge elephants, and Bella's
favorite man-beast with claws that cut people's heads off.
This was a very bloody war, but where were the elders? They
were still in their meditation zone. Peter, on the other
hand, was swallowing monsters with his black holes. Sam
Carrot-Top was making his fists turn orange so he could
have super strength. He used that to throw and swing
monsters every which way.
Clara used her saliva bug flies to swarm and pester
Bella and her men. Jamyra was freezing as many things as
she possibly could; Robert used his watch to make it snow,
and the animals that could not take it, died on the spot.
Sam Salmon used his fart balls and let them burst, sending
the enemy flying into the air. Michael used his powerful
wings to zip back and forth supplying cures and medicine
for the sick and injured.
Steve knocked them out with his toe jams, and Millie
was disappearing and secretly tying up men with their own
chains. Bella had huge giant elephants knocking down homes
and structures. Some elephants were throwing people all
around with their ten tusks. Dorothy had saved her secret
potion for the last. She sprinkled a little gray dust on
the floor, and a cyclone appeared. At first it was small,
and then it grew larger and larger and swept away half of
Bella's army.
Bella then called upon her sand man giant. It was
huge, made from pure sand of the desert, and nothing seemed
to be able to penetrate its source of energy. It went round
the town, sinking people in quicksand from houses, temples,
schools and stores. Then, from out of the back of the line
came another sand man. It turned into quicksand, causing
everyone to be stuck. Peter moved his hands from under the
thick sand and conjured up a black hole that the sand
monster sunk into.
Jane called all of her plants, flowers, and vines to
come and bury Bella with their roots. The plants and other
vegetation came from miles away; they hovered around Bella
like wolves around a piece of meat. Some of the vines had
sharp tentacles that sliced Bella as they wrapped around
her. The plants and all the roots of the trees attached
themselves to Bella and carried her way below the surface,
where they buried her alive.
Now that Bella was gone, her pets ran away, back to
the Ambassador Forest. Then, from the air, Cilus, Larry,
Horitio, Hoyle and Mirus came flying down on their bat-like
creatures. David had something in store for them. The air
space of Baja was covered by a bubble that would bounce the
enemy off of it.
Cilus and his team of wizards came in and hit the
force field, not knowing it was there, and causing most of
his monsters and men to fall off and injure themselves.
Cilus was upset and used his magic staff to remove the
force field and let his team of monsters in. Peter and the
citizens of Baja had another battle on their hands.
First down was a team of armadillo men. There were
thousands of them, their shells were hard and nothing
seemed to be able to penetrate them. They shot fire arrows
at the speed of light, hurting thousands of Baja citizens.
The only solution to this was to have Peter make a great
many black holes, and so he did. His hair stood up on his
head and turned even brighter orange, and the orange went
to his hands where he formed holes to swallow up the
armadillo men.
Then there were the cloud giants, and this time they
were flying on a magic disc. It helped the giants move
quickly through the air, and it was equipped with laser
power. The cloud giants came gliding on the disc, shooting
lasers from every side. The people ran as the lasers cut
through everything. Some of the citizens hid underground,
but many remained above.
Samantha used her armored helmet and breastplate that
David made for her. With one touch, the armor covered her
entire body. It glowed with Baja symbols, and could
withstand anything. Samantha looked like a walking metal
statue.
"That is very cool," said Peter to his grandfather
David.
Samantha stood in the way of the cloud giants, and
when they came her way, she used her magic sword to slice
their disc apart. The cloud monsters were knocked off of
their special disc and onto the floor. Other than that,
they had no special talents or powers, and were then blown
away by Dorothy's tornado creation. The cloud monsters blew
away like leaves in the wind, never more to be seen.
Hoyle came down, throwing cards that turned into smoke
blasts; sending the people flying all over the place.
Behind Hoyle were the scarecrows that came down and tried
to grab up all of the children of Baja. The scarecrows had
heads like pumpkins that were made of glass. The rest of
their bodies were nothing more than hay, and inside their
chests beat fake hearts that were made for them by Cilus.
Peter and his friends fought with the scarecrows as
the other citizens dealt with Cilus and his other
creations. As the scarecrows went around snatching up
children, Peter and his friends were right there to save
them. Peter made a few of his black holes, while Clara shot
fire from her golden sword at the scarecrows, causing them
to burn. Because the scarecrows were made of hay they
burned very easily.
Then Peter remembered that he had a gift from the
school trip. He took the black box out of his bag, opened
it and let out his army of little fighters. These little
people were very small, their skin was very black, and the
codes of Baja were imbedded in their skin. They came ready
for war with their bows and arrows, hatchets, hammers,
knives and flying daggers. Peter let them out, and they
attacked the scarecrows, cutting them into tiny pieces. Hay
was flying through the air as the little army shredded them
to pieces.
Jamyra froze many of the scarecrows with her ice
touch; Michael and Millie got the children to safety as the
scarecrows tried to kidnap as many of the children as they
could. Ben then took his magic cape into the air and caught
the scarecrows that were trying to tak
e the children.
Robert hid his pole-like body around a tree, where he snuck
in and out of sight, causing the scarecrows to bump heads
as he tied their straw together. It was so funny, as the
scarecrows bumped heads, that Robert had to laugh.
Cilus sent his porcupine people down, and Samantha
quickly put on her full armor. One stick from these quills
would cause death; so Jane sent her thorn-like razor plants
to take on the porcupine people. Jane called upon her green
fingers and summoned her razor plants. They came through
like a fast moving blade, cutting off the porcupine
people's quills.
Then Larry came down with his father, Mirus Stewart,
and they unleashed the fuzzies on the people. The fuzzies
were cute, but they were capable of mass destruction; they
sent down sharp liquid razors that were very strong and
durable. But Zack had a trick up his sleeve; he roared so
hard that the fuzzies could not take it. They puffed, and
once they puffed, they could no longer send down liquid
razors. So, for a while, it was raining razors that sliced
through anything: trees, houses, the roadways, and
structures.
Cilus was furious, and sent out his mud people, who
came in groups of thousands upon thousands. They were
nothing more than a glob of mud, and they were more of a
nuisance than a threat. Then from the seas came Marcus with
his group of creatures, but he too was a victim of David's
electric rings. Many of his men died by the rings, and he
wanted to take revenge.
As this was going on, Millie disappeared and
reappeared beside Larry, who was down on the ground helping
his father fight. Millie begged Larry not to join his
father in the destruction of his own land, but Larry was
upset at Millie. She had powers, and he did not.
"Children in Baja without powers are considered
outcast!" said Larry to Millie.
Millie explained to Larry that it was just a myth that
his uncle put in his head, and he would spend his life
regretting all that he had done. But Larry had his mind
made up; he was treated like a prince by the wizards.
"Cilus, only wants your body to house his spirit,
because the one he has is too sickly," said Millie.
But Larry did not want to hear any of it. He flew off
on his bat as Millie disappeared. Sam Carrot-Top saw his
brother Marcus ready to wage war on Baja.
"You fool!" said Sam Carrot-Top.
As soon as he said this, Marcus punched him in the
face. Sam and his brother fought; no one interfered, and
Sam made his hands turn orange and then grew muscles that
were so strong, he sent his brother flying into a tree.
Marcus came out of the tree, shooting fire balls at Sam,
but they were blocked by Samantha's shield. Even Samantha
begged Marcus to stop what he was doing, but didn't listen.
Marcus brought more creatures to fight; the poisonous
spiked octopus with twenty-four tentacles, and large
elephants with ten long sharp ivory tusks sticking out of
their faces. The elephants ran through the town, stabbing
as many people as they could with their tusks; until little
bitty Clara reached in her backpack and took out her magic
sword. She cut the tusks off of the faces of the elephants.
Then there was a big bang; whatever was coming was
something huge. As the people looked around, they saw it
was the twelve elders; they had combined themselves into
one to form a giant monster. It was twenty feet tall, white
skinned with red polka dots, and a long trunk sat on the
face. It had ears that stuck up in the air, huge blue eyes,
and a tongue that was made of sharp prickly ivory razors.
Each elder's color was present; the elders went after all
the animals and creatures of Baja, picking them up and
throwing them far away from Baja.
Then the elders came to Cilus as he tried to run. They
grabbed him and took a bite from his neck, delivering
poison into his body. Cilus shook, his life was draining
out of his body, and then he crawled over to Larry and hung
onto him. Cilus stole his soul and ran off. Mirus was upset
that Cilus betrayed them, and went after Cilus, but turned
around to see his dying son in Cilus' old body.
Then the elders went after Marcus, but Dorothy
screamed and they remembered their promise to her. They
took Marcus and placed him in a magic pod, where he would
remain for many years. Marcus' family got a chance to say
bye, but he spit on them and closed his eyes as the elders
took him away.
Mirus disappeared with Larry into thin air, and the
elders went back to their temple. The war was finally over;
Baja was severely damaged and the citizens would have to
come together to rebuild it. Peter and his friends were
held up as heroes. The Carrot-Top family was held as
caretakers of the elders, and the Carrot-Top name was
restored to good standings. David was now the new
gatekeeper of Baja, and Samantha became the new principal
of Waldorf Academy. She gave up fighting and always honored
her fallen friend Red Fox.
The elders were awake for another month, and even
though Baja was badly damaged, the people put on a royal
parade to honor the elders. It was filled with costumes and
dancing, fireworks and plenty of food. Peter and his
friends ran wild through the parade; the elders sat on the
thrones as they watched their people having the time of
their lives, and the war was now over.
Peter and his friends took an oath to remain friends
no matter what; they had been through so much together.
From a distance, Peter thought that he saw Mirus, but when
he looked again, the figure had moved.
Back in the forest, Mirus was crying over the loss of
his son Larry. He vowed revenged on Cilus, and his screams
were so loud they could be heard far away. Mirus went into
hiding, and no one saw Cilus again; besides, he was now in
the form of Larry Stewart.
Back in Baja, everyone was celebrating victory over
the seven wizards, and everyone watched as the elders were
put into hibernation again, not to be disturbed for another
ten years. Whatever came up, the land of Baja would have to
pull together.
Peter was now back in school and getting along great
with his friends. There was no more animosity between
Jamyra and Peter; there were no more two sides, there was
only one. Instead of Peter racing seahorses, he brought in
a new racing sport from earth: soapbox racing for all the
children to try. His grandfather made the soapbox cars and
the races were off and running. The school had the new
racing program, and many sponsors came from miles away.
Some children got scholarships to exotic worlds, but what
everyone wanted was the lifetime pass for the Captain
Johnny show.
In one of the races, Peter was car #8 and in the lead,
&n
bsp; and out of the blue he was passed by someone. The crowd
cheered as the winner crossed the line, and it was none
other than Millie Spoon, who was congratulated by her
friends.
Jane went on to open and run her toy shop with her
mother-in-law Dorothy and her father-in-law David. They
made the toys and played Santa Claus. That year was the
best year; Robert made it snow with his watch and Zack used
his magic pencil to draw and build up the town. Everything
he drew on paper came to life. Zack was very wise in what
he drew; he only drew things that would improve Baja and
keep it safe.
Jane had something she and Sam had to do, and that was
go back to earth through the oracle and leave everything to
Mr. Jones. When Jane and Sam went back to their old home,
they saw Mr. Jones was having a hard time with the land;
the government was giving him trouble and sending people to
cheat him. So Jane and Sam decided to help him; they came
to Mr. Jones as ghosts and showed him where they'd hidden
millions of dollars and the magic seed. Jane told Mr. Jones
to move up north and start over.
In the meantime, she would not let anything grow on
this land again. Mr. Jones wanted the Carrot-Tops to come
back, but they explained to him that they could not, and
were happy where they were. Mr. Jones took the money and
seed, and quickly moved his family. Jane used her green
thumb to poison all the vegetation in the land, making the
government pay for what they had done to Mr. Jones. Without
anything else to do, the Carrot-Tops headed back to their
home in Baja.
THE END
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