Nickoli Karloff stood looking out of the window of his high rise apartment. The city below him buzzed with life. The sleek hover cars flew by like clockwork. If only everything worked as well as the hover cars. Always on time and never late. A spot near his ear vibrated. Nickoli looked up as he touched the spot.
"You better have good news." He said coldly.
"I'm sorry sir," the woman's voice on the other end apologized. "Things have become complicated."
"What kind of complicated?" Nickoli raised an eyebrow.
"He jumped time before he had set coordinates," she said. "And he may have taken someone important with him. I didn't see who it was."
"Tasha, do I have to remind you what will happen to me and, by default, to you, if you don't sort this out?" His voice became frosty and sharp.
"Don't worry, sir, I'll sort this." Tasha said.
"You better." Nickoli said, ending the call.
Jack wasn't sure how long he'd been out. The cave he found himself in was dark and patched with radioactive multi colored mold. For a brief moment, he wished the assassin had caught him. Then again, he'd be dead. At least while he was alive he could plot. Jack reached for his cane and found air. Ice gripped his stomach as he realized the cane had been left with Walt.
At that time, the discolored humanoid that had kidnapped him entered the cave. The creature was clad in primitive looking scraps of plastic material somewhat like a Kevlar bullet proof vest. At the point of his spear was a shard of rusted metal that looked like it used to belong to a car. At least that is what he guessed from the ripples in the metal.
"Immortal." The creature pointed his spear at him. "You come."
"Why?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Come and you see," he growled.
He went to protest and the creature put the tip of his spear under his chin. Avoiding the rusty edge, Jack slowly stood. The creature then began prodding him down the radioactive passage.
Walt could hardly believe half the things that little boat did as they sailed across the sands. It didn't appear to run on any kind of fuel and while there was no wind, the boat still sailed like a speeding bullet. He was equally amazed as the princes kept up with the speedy craft. Suddenly the screen in front of the helm sprang to life. The face of the young boy they called imp was once again displayed.
"The great gulf is coming up," he said excitedly. "Can I pick the song?"
"My ship. My choice." The princess replied.
"Yes, but since I am forbidden to go out, I try to live through others." The imp replied.
"What song would you pick?" Walt called from his seat in the center of the boat.
There was a crackle as a screen appeared on the mast near Walt.
"And who is this?" The imp asked, appearing there.
"We picked him up in the waste." Princess called. "He calls himself Wat."
"Walt." The man corrected. "You sir, have fantastic eyes."
The imp turned his head bashfully at the compliment. His eyes were quite a sight to see. They were a deep purple with microscopic spirals of gold.
"I like you already!" He smiled.
"Imp if you're going to pick a song, pick a song!" The princess interrupted. "The gulf is really close."
"Aww yeah!" The imp shouted.
There was a burst of drums and an electric guitar.
"Can't stand it, I know ya planed it!" A voice shouted.
Then Walt saw something that made his heart drop. The horizon was approaching fast. The only reason it would be approaching that fast was that a cliff was there. A big cliff. In his peripheral vision, he saw the princes pulling out their swords. Soon all five princes were running at the cliff with a sword in each hand.
"...I'm tellin Y'all this is sabotage!!"
The ground disappeared, the princes jumped, and Walt nearly lost his lunch.
"Welcome to games!" The creature on the stand roared.
Jack looked up nervously, already guessing why he was here. The walls of the pit rose around him, strongly reminding him of the roman colosseum.
"You fight!" The creature pointed into the pit. "We watch!"
Instinctively, Jack looked around. He was the only one in the pit but he could see barred entrances.
'Please don't be lions! Anything but lions!' He thought desperately. Two of the primitive creatures grabbed ropes attached to one of the gates. With creaking groans, they pulled the gate up. There were deep thumps in the sand as what ever stood behind the gate came into view. Jack stepped back nervously as an eight foot tall man stepped into the arena. For a brief moment, he wished for lions.
"How...how do swords turn into wings?" Walt asked.
The five princes glided next to the boat on silver wings that had sprouted from the edge of the swords. The far away desolate ground stretched on for miles. Shattered ships, skeletons of what looked like great beasts, and the ruins of a few cities covered almost every inch of the desert floor.
"It's morphiuim," A pirate explained. "It's a bit unstable and slightly radioactive. Haven't you heard of it? It's pretty common."
"No. I seem to be out of my depth and far from a place I recognize." Walt replied. "It's fantastic! Could I have some to experiment with?"
"I don't think that's the best plan," the pirate said. "You have to have all sorts of shots to work with it. It puts some people to sleep and, in some cases, they don't wake up."
"You mean it kills some people?" He asked, alarmed.
"No. They simply sleep forever." The pirate shrugged.
"Wall HO!" The princess shouted. "Prepare for docking!"
Walt looked up. A Great Wall stretched up miles high and across the horizon. Near the top of the wall were large round windows spaced about a football field apart. The magnificent little craft alighted towards one of these windows. As they neared the window, Walt could see a rather victorian London looking chap standing at the glass. A regular Charles Dickens character.
Receiving a signal from the princess, the artful dodger pulled a series of levers causing the big glass porthole to open outwards. The boat sailed through the open glass and gracefully landed in the landing frame.
"An thas ow its done, boys!" The man's accent fit him perfectly.
After the princes had flown in, he worked the levers to pull the window closed. Walt, still a little stiff, disembarked from the boat with the pirates. Bursting with 1000 questions, his attention was drawn to the other side of the wall.
"Wow!" He said as he leaned against the railing.
This side of the wall contrasted sharply with the desert. A great forest stretched as far as the eye could see, lush and green and full of trees. The forest started about a half a mile from the wall. In the distance he thought he could see the faint outlines of a castle tower sticking out of the trees.
"What's that out there?" Walt asked pointing towards the tower.
"Tha' would be Villainia." The man pointed in a different direction. "They willa be taken ye to headquarters. Tha' direction."
"Hmm. Can you tell me what happened to make that desert out there and this paradise in here?" He asked.
"Tha be a long story, sir..."
"Walt, or what ever your name is," the princess called. "The train to Main Street is coming! We need to catch it to get back to headquarters!"
'Villainia and Main Street?' Walt thought as they made their way to the station. 'What kind of place is this?'
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