Short Stories

The Rise of the Freerangers, Part 1

By Simon T.

Part One

The thunderous roar of industrial factories, toying away with various materials and crafts, could just be heard over the equally deafening chant of the many interesting characters in the tavern. Jim Kilo made his way through the crowd, heading for the counter. He was almost there, when a man suddenly slipped out of his chair right into Jim! 

“Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” the man said with a seemingly familiar accent before proceeding to get back up and sit back down. As he was sitting down, Jim just got a glance at a large paper at the table the man was sitting at. Some more people seemed to appear out of the thick mist of people and sat down. 

Jim stopped for a second to try and get another glance. He was inches away from getting a second look at the paper when the warped wooden door was kicked in, and the sagging windows shattered into dust. Some of the old, cracked tables near the front wall were thrown over into a sort of barrier as Chaos Industry troops stormed the room and the metallic droids began to use their capturing tools, leaping into the crowd and tying metal bonds around the legs and arms of everyone they caught. One enforcer [the nickname for the droids] commander, who was a human, was talking with the already growing mob of reporters on the current situation. 

Soon, Jim was surrounded by enforcers, and there was only a small group of people left un-detained. He cowered in a corner, as far from the enforcers as possible, when the wall seemed to vanish behind him. The enforcers closest to him sparked and then burst into flames, causing the other enforcers to begin firing to the missing wall. Jim crawled under a nearby table as the fight broke out. MAGIC forces had burst through the other wall and now, it was a skirmish.

A large explosion paused the firefight for a second, giving Jim a chance to slip out through the missing wall out onto the baren, scorched earth, hazy, suffocating air, and yellow, smoggy sky. As his eyes adjusted to the chaos outside, he noticed a group of enforcers spot him and point directly at him. 

In a blind panic, Jim ran as fast as he could to the nearby shuttle tracks and waited. One second, the enforcers began the chase. Two seconds, they were about halfway to Jim. Three seconds, they began priming their detainment units. Four seconds, a warning to surrender blared from their communication units. Five seconds, and the cargo shuttle Jim had been anticipating appeared. Six seconds, and Jim could see the glowing camera eyes on the enforcers. 

“Can’t catch me!” Jim yelled, then as the shuttle whizzed by, grabbing onto the side of the train. Jim clambered up the blueish metal side of the cargo crate, and he hung on for dear life.

Later, Jim was in the historic Teapot Inn. Clearly once grand, the large, faded building was in what now appeared to be disrepair. Jim was in a dark, shaded corner where he had a clear view of the Inn, as well as the only working thing in the Inn, the TV. The cracked tables and chairs combined with the sunken walls and leaky roof made the Inn seem like an abandoned criminal hideout. As a new segment on the skirmish came on, Jim paid close attention.

“... and following the recent skirmish, it seems many wanted criminals have run away from the place the skirmish took place. An extremely wanted individual, by both sides of this conflict, is a man named Jim Kilo. If anyone has information on this man, call (888) 280-4331,” the news anchor on the TV said. 

Jim was just starting to get used to the idea of being wanted, when he heard shouts and explosions. He ran over to the window, where he saw chaos taking its hold. MAGIC and Chaos Industry forces were battling it out in a full on battle. A squad of enforcers pointed to the window and Jim ducked down below the window to hide, but the damage was already done. The enforcers stormed the Inn, but then began firing through the open windows and doors, taking cover from the barrage the MAGIC forcers were launching on the Inn. 

Jim kicked an enforcer out of the way and began to run to the back door. He had to throw anything he could at the enforcers pursuing him, including chairs, tables, and even a barrel at one point. He was almost to the door, and he could almost touch the handle, when a sudden explosion rocked the old building. The walls began leaning in even more and then began to collapse, sending debris everywhere. Jim avoided most of it, and he hid under a table when a second explosion sent rock and dirt everywhere. Jim got up and began to run away, when yet again a third explosion sent debris all over the place, but this time, Jim was not under cover. As the wave of debris crashed over him, he wondered what was next.

Worlders - The Worlders are an organization trying to take over the world and “Perfect” It. They want to eliminate all magic and Chaos Industries for a new system called Advancementation. The end goal of the Worlders is to conquer all of the universe, and rule with an iron fist.

Magic Organization - Magic stands for Mages Against Gaining Chaos Industries Constantly, and their goal is to reform the world. They believe Chaos Industries is a crime, and magic is all there should be. They believe they must cleanse the world of all non-magic, and they must restore it to its former glory. 

Chaos Industries - An organization hoping to revolutionize productivity and put growth before the thoughts and needs of others. End goal is to spend this planet's resources and move on to many planets, to harness all. They believe that for the universe to truly be used to its potential, it must be cleansed of those unworthy. There are few humans in Chaos Industries. They often employ “enforcers” who are really just droids, who can do anything humans can do and more.

Freelanders - Anyone who is not with any group is deemed a Freelander. They are a mix of mages and non-mages. The non-mages’ ancestors have forsaken magic for the path of Chaos Industries. Ancestors of the mages have not. It is possible that two parents are not both either mages or non mages, but a child will always be a mage. One who is a mage does not need to use magic, but they could. All mages can do simple spells, but require training for harder spells.

A Short Willie Story

Candy Heist

By Anonymous

One fine autumn day, Willie was out in the park. There were children playing, dogs walking, and landscapers raking the leaves. Willie was sitting on his favorite bench, looking around, when he saw a group of kindergarteners huddled around a plastic Halloween candy bucket. Willie decided to go over to see what they were doing. 

“Quick, before that guy gets here! Eat eat eat!” Willie heard one of the kindergarteners say. Then Willie noticed something. The kindergarteners were eating candy. They were all shoveling the candy down like it was about to disappear. Willie then remembered Halloween was tomorrow! 

“Give me your largest size of the ninja costume!” Willie yelled at the local costume store clerk. Bursting through the door. 

“Geez kid, relax.” the teenager behind the counter said. 

“You’re not Jerry.” Willie said, “Where is Jerry?” 

“Jerry is on his Halloween vacation, and by the way we are sold out of everything.” The teenager said. At this Willie excused himself from the store, calmly walked outside and proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs. 

That night when Willie was thinking in his room, he looked out the window. He saw his neighbors, the Clerkensons, putting together a take one setup out on their porch. That was when an idea struck Willie, a completely original, one of a kind, brand new idea! He would get a large sack, go to all the take one houses, and steal all their candy! Foolproof, he thought, because I could just eat the evidence!

On the night of Halloween, Willie creeped down the street in no costume. He held a large candy sack, and then he struck. He run right up to the Clerkenson’s setup, dodging interactive props and zombie hands, grabbed the bowl, then dumped it into his candy bag. He could hear the Clerkensons inside, and ran as quickly as he could to the next house, then the next. Within 40 minutes, he had an overflowing candy bag. He walked down the street, back towards home, with a smug smile on his face. As he opened the door to his house, his mom was watering the plant inside. Willie silently slipped up the stairs and into his room, slowly closing the door. 

“Ahh” Willie sighed with relief, “Time for a feast!” He reached into his overflowing bag of candy, and picked up a handful. He peeled the wrappers off of them, noting the green, red, and pink candies. 

He began to eat, when he heard his mom call up the stairs, “5 Minutes then I’m going to vacuum your room!”

“Uh-oh…” Willie said, realizing that to hide his candy he would have to eat all of it! He started to speed peel the wrappers and shove candy into his mouth. The minutes ticked by, as the minutes shortened the pile of wrappers increased.

“Ok time for the vacuum!” Willie’s mom said as she pulled the vacuum through the door, “Willie?” Willie was laying on the floor with a stomach ache the size of the empire state building.