It was the year 1785. An expedition had gone to the Mystic Jungle. It was a party of 20 people. Five were scientists. They had entered five days ago. They were just packing up camp when they heard a terrible sound. All of a sudden, everything darkened. They saw eyes peering maliciously at them...
The waves were crashing against the shores of Destown. At Zack's house, everyone heard yelling. "Zack's mom!" Josh yelled. "Where is Zack?" "In his room!" Zack's mom yelled back. Muttering under his breath, Josh went upstairs. He started knocking. Zack pretended not to hear. He had his room dark. His green eyes flashed in the darkness as he brushed his black hair from his face. Josh had his mysterious red eyes that seemed as they were reading your thoughts and his brown hair. Zack saw a sudden flash. Josh saw a flash beneath the door and then everything went dark.
Zack opened his eyes. He was in a jungle. Suddenly he remembered Josh.
He looked around wildly. He saw Josh laying at the foot of a tree. Zack breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to where Josh was. "Hey, wake up sleepy." Zack said.
"One more hour Mom." Josh mumbled.
"Hahaha, very funny." Zack said while kicking Josh. Josh sat up with a start. "Wha hapen?" Josh said.
"You were asleep, Josh." Zack replied.
"Oh." Josh said looking embarrassed. He then looked around. "Where are we?" Josh asked.
"I have no idea." Zack said. "At least you still have your bow and arrows and I still have my fighting knife."
"Yeah, true." Josh looked thoughtful. "Let's try going east." Josh suggested.
"Good idea." Zack said.
They started off. They walked. And walked. And walked. And, to make it more interesting, they walked. Finally they came across what looked like a den. "Its getting to be late. Let's rest here for the night." Zack suggested.
"Good idea, but lets make some sort of wall to keep away animals." Josh said. They started on the task with eagerness, but eventually the eagerness faded away. They finally finished. "I'm tired out." Josh said.
"Me too. I'm going to hit the hay." Zack replied.
The next morning they set out again. They found some unknown berries. "Do you think we should chance it?" Josh asked. "Because I'm hungry."
"Lets try it." Zack decided. A little while later Josh did not feel so good. "Ooooooogggggggg." Josh moaned.
"I've got some medicine in my bag." Zack commented. "Do you want some?"
"I'd love some." Josh said. Zack secretly thought that Josh looked like he was going to see those berries again very soon. As it turned out, Zack's prediction was correct. They decided not to chance anymore berries. "Hey Zack, why didn't you get sick when you ate those berries?" Josh wondered.
"I don't know." Zack replied. "Maybe I've got a stomach of steel."
"Maybe." Josh said thoughtfully.
As they were talking, they did not notice the shadowy figure that followed them at a distance. All of a sudden, they came to a clearing.
As they neared the center of the clearing, Josh spoke up.
"Hey look at that. Its a book." What Josh said was correct, for once.
"Well would you look at that." Zack said without enthusiasm. "ITS A BLASTED BOOK!!!"
"Hey take it easy Zack, it's just a book." Josh said looking uncomfortable.
"EXACLY!!! I've read millions of books, and they were all boring just like this one! I'm going to bet this one is going to be exactly the same!" Zack said looking outraged.
"Aw, come on! Just try it." Josh said picking the book up.
"Fine." Zack said snatching the book out of Josh's hand.
A second later there was a terrible screeching and a figure that looked like a lizard standing on its hind legs with daggers in its hands (or what you could call hands) leaped out of the jungle and charged toward them. Zack drew his knife, and Josh took out his bow and nocked his arrow, but the thing was to quick. It leapt on Zack, and screeched again. Pointing a claw at Josh, it hissed a few words. Suddenly, Josh couldn't move. It hissed a few more words and there was a bright flash.
Zack opened his eyes. Josh wasn't there. "I've been waiting for you a long time. I expected my monster to find and capture you quicker." Said an old man's voice. Zack struggled but found that he could move. He got up.
"Who are you?" Zack asked his voice wavering with fear. He didn't know why, but the voice filled him with fear.
"I am the Wise Shaman. I am pleased to meet you." The voice said.
"Where is Josh? Why did you bring me here? What do you know? What do you know about this book? What's your favorite color?" Zack demanded.
"Your friend will be here shortly, I brought you here so you could ask me questions, I know a lot of things, and a will tell you about the book if you stop talking, and my favorite color is puce."
"Okay, I'll be quiet... when I turn into a monster!" Zack challenged.
"Look inside the book and you will." The Wise Shaman replied.
"Yeah, right." Zack said opening the book.
To his surprise, Zack saw the monster that had captured him in the book. There was a bright flash, and Zack felt his body changing. Zack looked up.
"I feel strange." Zack said, his voice sounding like a snake hissing.
He looked down at himself. He had the exact same body as the lizard creature that had attacked him. He had two fighting knives. "Fine I'll be quiet." Zack hissed.
"Good lizard." The Wise Shaman taunted.
"Don't push it." Zack snarled.
At that moment, Josh popped in.
Immediately, Josh shot at Zack.
It was so sudden (plus the fact that Zack didn't even think that Josh would attack him) that he did not have the time to dodge. The arrow spun toward him, and clinked off.
"Watchit!" Zack roared.
"Zack?!?" Josh said looking dumbfounded.
"Shut up!" Zack said. Turning to the Shaman he said, "So could you turn me back so no one ELSE makes a mistake?"
"No problem." The Wise Shaman said confidently.
Zack felt his body changing back. Josh looked sick when Zack looked.
"That didn't look good." Josh said looking away.
"So explain." Zack prompted.
The Wise Shaman started speaking. "Long ago, Man and Monster were fighting.
The Men came to me and asked for something to defeat the monsters. So, I made the book your holding. Do not interrupt! And so, the Men started sucking up monsters. But the Beast Lord had a plan. He stole the book and changed it so that when a man opened the book, he might have the body of the monster. And so, the Men started killing there own army. The Captain of all the Men soon figured out the Beast Lord's trick for he experienced it himself. Now he hid the book and the Men won the war! But not for long. The Beast Lord is now getting restless. Now what you must do is defeat the Beast Lord. And now for the Symbol." The Wise Shaman sighed. "The Symbol is the magical mark that the Beast Lord left on the Book. The Symbol is the reason that people turn into monsters. Now I am finished telling you what I needed to tell you." The Wise Shaman looked up. "One more thing before you start talking. I can cram that Book full of monsters, but you need to learn how to use them. Unfortunately, you do not have the time. I can also teleport you to the Beast Lord's fortress" The Wise Shaman finished speaking.
Josh burst into speaking. "What are you crazy? Zack can't do that! That is putting so much on one person!"
"I can do it Josh. Wise Shaman, can you put the monsters into the book? Zack asked. Josh looked at him like he was crazy but then he sighed.
"I guess I better go with you to keep you out of trouble or from doing something you'll regret later" Josh said. Zack grinned at him, then looked at the Wise Shaman.
"Can you make it full of monsters? He asked.
"Yes." The Wise Shaman replied. He put his hand on the book and murmured a lot of words. The Book glowed all the colors of the rainbow and more.
"Done. You ready?" The Wise Shaman asked.
"Yeah." Zack said with a nervous grin at Josh. Josh grinned back. The Wise Shaman chanted a few words then pointed a finger at them. A wisp of pink smoke surrounded them.
"I feel sorry for the guy to like pink." Josh said pitifully.
They could not see anything but pink now and then all of a sudden the smoke dissipated. They saw pink stone all around them. A cavernous hole that appeared to serve as a door stood in front of them.
"Why does everyone like pink these days? Josh asked.
"I don't know." Was Zack's reply. Zack grinned once again at Josh. "If we don't live through this, I want you to know that I know that we will always be best friends.
"Always." Josh said grinning back. And with those words, they walked into the cave.
When they entered, they did NOT find what they were expecting. The expected spiked maces, giant swords, dreaded catapults, evil looking torture devices and many more things that would make the most brave and fearsome warrior to scream in terror and flee. Instead, they found doilies, steaming cups of tea, pictures of friends and family and other things like that. It was Josh's worst nightmare because, it was all pink.
"This is...unexpected" Zack commented. Josh just looked pale.
"Well, no sense hanging around here. Lets go further in." Zack said pulling Josh's arm. They walked further.
"Hello. Welcome." Said a warm voice.
"Sorry for intruding. We were just curious." Zack said.
Josh gave him a look.
"Sorry. I just feel like I have to be polite."
"Oh that's quite alright. I don't get many visitors." Said the voice.
"It's probably the fault of my former friend." Suddenly Josh had an inspiration.
"Is his name The Wise Shaman?" Josh asked.
"Why yes. How did you know?" The voice asked.
"He told us this fake story about your granddad." Josh said.
"How do you know it was its granddad?" Zack asked in bewilderment.
"Simple. How does a lord live this long? He got killed by some other monster and that monster became king. Then another monster killed him and became king. By then, the first king's family got plenty mad, so they killed that king and chose somebody else. Then that king got killed by the king's family that started it in the first place. And so on and so forth. The current queen is her!" Josh said gesturing triumphantly.
"Alright, alright you found me out. I just wanted to live in peace, but The Wise Shaman (or so he calls himself) just wanted to have some publicity and he started to tell all these horrible stories about me.
True, my great, great, great grandfather warred against the humans but that doesn't mean that I can't live in peace. So anyway, the humans started raiding me and I couldn't take it anymore and I built this fortress." She said stepping out of the shadows. She was actually quite nice looking. She looked like a human mixed with a dove. She had a dove's head and her whole body had feathers. She had had hands that were covered in feathers and from her shins down she had scaly feet that had filed down talons. She also had wings of course.
"The true story of The Beast Lord is that as a joke, The Wise Shaman's great, great, great grandfather made the book. He enabled it to change a human into a monster. He gave the book to his best friend.
Sadly the book worked all to well. Once he had been changed into a monster, he couldn't change back. Only in ten thousand years will the curse end. As you can see, the curse is wearing off." She finished smiling wistfully. When they entered, they did NOT find what they were expecting. The expected spiked maces, giant swords, dreaded catapults, evil looking torture devices and many more things that would make the most brave and fearsome warrior to scream in terror and flee. Instead, they found doilies, steaming cups of tea, pictures of friends and family and other things like that. It was Josh's worst nightmare because, it was all pink.
"This is...unexpected" Zack commented. Josh just looked pale.
"Well, no sense hanging around here. Let's go further in." Zack said pulling Josh's arm. They walked further.
"Hello. Welcome." Said a warm voice.
"Sorry for intruding. We were just curious." Zack said.
Josh gave him a look.
"Sorry. I just feel like I have to be polite."
"Oh that's quite alright. I don't get many visitors." Said the voice.
"It's probably the fault of my former friend." Suddenly Josh had an inspiration.
"Is his name The Wise Shaman?" Josh asked.
"Why yes. How did you know?" The voice asked.
"He told us this fake story about your granddad." Josh said.
"How do you know it was its granddad?" Zack asked in bewilderment.
"Simple. How does a lord live this long? He got killed by some other monster and that monster became king. Then another monster killed him and became king. By then, the first king's family got plenty mad, so they killed that king and chose somebody else. Then that king got killed by the king's family that started it in the first place. And so on and so forth. The current queen is her!" Josh said gesturing triumphantly.
"Alright, alright you found me out. I just wanted to live in peace, but The Wise Shaman (or so he calls himself) just wanted to have some publicity and he started to tell all these horrible stories about me.
True, my great, great, great grandfather warred against the humans but that doesn't mean that I can't live in peace. So anyway, the humans started raiding me and I couldn't take it anymore and I built this fortress." She said stepping out of the shadows. She was actually quite nice looking. She looked like a human mixed with a dove. She had a dove's head and her whole body had feathers. She had had hands that were covered in feathers and from her shins down she had scaly feet that had filed down talons. She also had wings of course.
"The true story of The Beast Lord is that as a joke, The Wise Shaman's great, great, great grandfather made the book. He enabled it to change a human into a monster. He gave the book to his best friend.
Sadly the book worked all to well. Once he had been changed into a monster, he couldn't change back. Only in ten thousand years will the curse end. As you can see, the curse is wearing off." She finished smiling wistfully.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!" A voice that both Zack and Josh recognized shouted. It was the Wise Shaman. "You have ruined my plan! I was going to take over the world!!! But no. I shall!"
"That guy has lost his marbles." Zack said.
"How did you know I lost my marbles? It happened when I was six. I've never found them again." He sighed as he walked into the cave. "Anyway, I have to destroy you all. No matter." He finished, raising a hand. Zack's first instinct was to open the book. He did so seconds before a lighting bolt crashed into the room. The queen launched into the air and flew toward the Wise Shaman.
"This is for what your great, great, great grandfather did to my great, great, great grandfather!" She shouted, hurtling toward him.
He simply raised a hand and a shield came up. She smashed into it and dropped at his feet. Josh, taking advantage of the Wise Shaman's distraction, fired an arrow. It whistled through the air but the Wise Shaman was wise. He had put up a force-field that was voice activated.
The arrow clinked off.
"Hey, Shaman! How do you turn that thing off?" Zack yelled.
"It will only stop when I say, "stop". Oops." He added when the shield came down. Zack's mind was racing. He only needed to change into a monster that was large and powerful enough to get everyone to listen. Luckily, the answer was simple. Zack looked in the index. He found an entry that said "Very large and powerful monster enough to make everyone listen" page 75. Zack flipped to page 75. The monster looked small.
"Oh well!" Zack thought. He raised the book. It shone like a star. He felt his body changing although this time it felt like even his soul was being wrenched into a new shape. When he looked up everyone took one look at him and burst out laughing. Zack felt so angry that he started changing again. He shot up in height and his cute little claws grew long and wicked. His teeth grew huge. He grew long bat-like wings. He felt muscles growing. He felt powerful. At that point, everyone looked up to start laughing again, but boy were they surprised.
"Um Zack? At first you were a cute little teddy but now you look...SCARY!!!" Josh said. Then everyone dove behind the same thing.
"But none have even dared to become a Grantak. How could he?" The Wise Shaman asked.
"I don't know but Zack is going to go out of control with the power." The Queen said.
"Okay." Zack boomed. "We are going to sit and have a meeting."
And with that, he turned back.
Zack sat down pointedly. Everyone else followed his example.
"Look, I don't know what is going on here," Zack said. "But I just teleported here by accident. Josh came too even though he didn't want to." Josh gave Zack a look.
"Anyway, we just chanced on The Wise Shaman and he sent us here. So what is REALLY going on here?" the Wise Shaman and the Queen looked at each other. Then they burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?!?" Josh said looking angry.
"Its just that, you guys fell for it so well!" the Wise Shaman said laughing harder. Josh's temper flared and he glared at them. They laughed harder. "Okay we'll tell you." the Queen said. "The whole deal with this is that this is just a joke. This is a costume. By the way, I'm Becky. See, we (Donald and I) met up when we were in training. Don is somewhat of a magician and I'm a skilled ventriloquist. He has the quick temper so he's perfect for the part of The Wise Shaman. I am the quieter one so I play the part of the Queen. The whole idea for this is that we, well, um, well when they're not looking while fighting the 'Wise Shaman', I take a little of their money and then we tell them about our operation. They usually give us that money back for the good show. But the thing is, well, since I have to be the Queen he has to sew this thing up. He usually pokes me in the back to boot." she said while reaching for the back of her neck. Her face fell when she said, "Hmm, that's strange. Hey Donald, help me with this." Zack and Josh looked at each other and decided to just watch. Donald gasped.
"Becky, I can't see the strings to cut. Its like it just went away."
Becky didn't look so good.
"What do you mean? If the strings are gone that means I can't get out!!!." Zack and Josh could see that this wasn't good. But Zack saw one chance.
"I've got an idea." He said. "If I cut were the strings WERE than you guys could keep going." Becky looked delighted.
"Please do. Its very miserable sleeping in this hot thing, waiting for someone to come." Zack took out his knife. He tried cutting though the whatever it was. His knife suddenly dulled so it couldn't even cut skin. Zack looked at Donald.
"You used magic to sew it up didn't you?" Zack said.
"Well, yes." He admitted. "But only because she didn't want me to do it with a needle." Becky sounded sad.
"And because of it I'm stuck in this thing forever." She said.
"Well," Zack said thoughtfully. "Maybe if Donald enchanted my knife maybe then it might be able to cut through."
"Now that that's been brought up its my turn to tell my part." Donald said. "I can't really do magic. I'm gifted with the ability, its just I still haven't mastered it yet. But I know this much about enchanting things is that it might work and it might cut through, or it might make it stuck forever." They all looked at Becky.
"Let's do it." She said bravely. Donald enchanted the knife.
To make a long story slightly longer but also slightly shorter than what it would have been, the enchantment worked.