Trapped Tiki

Alfie, an adventure loving Golden Retriever, and Molly, a curly brown Wirehaired Pointer, are two dog friends that meet for fun and games at the park each day. But today, Alfie’s housemate Tiki, the little black ShiChi, is missing!

“Where’s Tiki?” barks Molly.

“I don’t know,” Alfie whines worriedly, “I’ve looked everywhere”.

“Let’s have a look together,” suggests Molly. They run off, into the bushes, following Tiki’s scent.

Molly and Alfie pop out in a small clearing with honeysuckle blocking it off from the rest of the park. The only entrance that a human could fit in is a narrow mud track. There is a tree in the middle of the clearing, and tied to it is Tiki! A Rottweiler is patrolling in front of her. It growls at Alfie and Molly. Alfie gnashes and growls at the Rottweiler to keep it captivated while Molly gnaws at the rope. “Please help me, Molly,” pleads Tiki. “I’m trying to,” Molly grunts in reply as she chews the rope yet again. The Rottweiler notices her and abandons Alfie. He shunts Molly onto the ground. She gets up and charges into the Rottweiler. Molly barks fiercely. The rottweiler whines and sprints away. Molly returns to the rope and gnaws it off the tree. Alfie bites it off Tiki’s neck. “Thank you,” Tiki yaps happily. Suddenly, a man pushes through the mud track and seizes Tiki. “Sit,” he commands. Neither Molly or Alfie follow the command. The dogs jump and slam their paws into the man, barking angrily in his ears. He knocks them off and runs away in a different direction with Tiki. Molly and Alfie shoot after him, barking as they go. The man arrives at a Transit van and throws Tiki into the back… the dogs run in after Tiki. Before they can get out, the man slams the doors shut. He climbs into the driver’s seat and drives away.

After a very short drive, they arrive in an old factory. “Welcome to your new prison, hounds!” sniggers the man as he opens the van doors. The dogs shoot out, into the next room. “Oh, come on!” the man roars. The dogs run in circles around him. They leap onto a desk and flow back through the door. Before the man enters the room, the dogs squeeze through a hole in the rotting door. The man sees the dogs escape and hops into his van to follow them.

He spots the dogs on the path to the park. He pulls over and jumps out, sprinting toward them. The dogs weave around trees to find their owners about to leave. They bark to alert them that they are in danger. “Give me my dogs,” growls the man as he emerges from the trees. “These are our dogs, you beast!” say the owners. “I want them to be mine so they are mine!!!” roars the man. Fortunately, the owners had called the police about their missing dogs and they arrive and take the man away.

“It’s good to have you back, Tiki,” smiles Molly. “Yeah. I think we all deserve a rest,” says Alfie. Their owners put the dogs back in their cars and drive home.

By Max.

Superhero Junior

Cora was only nine years old, but she had a big secret… she was a superhero named Cool Cora! Being nine, she was only just getting started as a superhero and still testing out her new powers. Her first battle was a real struggle! Don’t believe me? Well, read it below!

Cool Cora was standing in front of Mulberry Care Home. Her biggest enemy, Spyborg, was operating his powerful and illegal Spycam. He was scanning the Grand Central Bank to find out the layout and finalise his plan to rob it! She had already tried to fly, but her powers wouldn’t allow that. She ran superfast at the wall, but she couldn’t keep it up for long enough to reach the roof. Then it hit her like a cannonball - super climbing! She gripped onto a gutter and launched into action. By gripping onto every nook like a monkey, she reached the roof.

She blasted two lightning bolts into Spyborg and said, “Give up Spyborg, and no fighting happens”. “I will never give up!” snarled Spyborg in his robotic voice, “Spybots! Attack her!” Five robots flew up from the ground and fired laser bursts at Cool Cora. “Ha! See how you like that!” cackled Spyborg as he activated his rocket boosters and flew to a faraway rooftop with a giant antenna bolted onto it. Cora used her super vision to see where Spyborg was headed. That must be the operating platform, thought Cora, I have to get there.

She used her super speed to weave around the Spybots as she blasted them with lightning bolts. Cora could feel her power draining. She didn’t have much left before her powers would need recharging! Whirrs and beeps were coming from a supercomputer on the operating platform. Cora conjured up the last of her power to sway the weather in her favour. She pushed the wind up so high that she could glide over to Spyborg using her cape! Cora checked her power. She pushed everything she had into the power tank, trying to turn willpower into superpower. She found just enough superpower to complete the mission. Houses and flats zoomed past below.

Suburbs became bustling cities that rumbled with traffic and people. And then the air shook violently with the roar of the antennae’s signal. The shaking broke up the wind, causing Cora to shoot in a zigzag pattern through the strands of resistant wind. She crash landed in front of Spyborg. “So you made it through all of my obstacles, huh?” he smiled nastily, “Finish her, Peter!” A tall man emerged from a metal control room inside the antenna and aimed his laser gun at Cora. “This is your end, Cool Cora. Mwa ha ha!” cackled Spyborg. “THERE IS NO END FOR COOL CORA!!!” Cora screamed. Her determination had bolstered her resolve and somehow refilled her power tank. She blasted a lightning bolt into Peter and melted his laser gun with a second one.

Spyborg knew that defeat was imminent, but he wanted to rescue his plan before defeat. The villain pressed button after button, scanning the bank in 3D. He emailed it to his hidden lair and encrypted the link. I can return to my plot after I escape prison, thought Spyborg as he launched a super virus destroying everything on the supercomputer and wiping the hard drive. The virus quickly destroyed itself afterwards.

Cora incinerated the supercomputer, antenna and control room in a giant blast of pure power. It took a few seconds for Spyborg to realise that he was pressing buttons that no longer existed. Cora knocked Spyborg off the operating platform and onto the ground, where the police wrestled him into their van. “Mission Complete!” smiled Cool Cora.

By Max

Christmas Tree Magic

Louie Carter is in a Christmas Tree shop with his family. Trees tower over Louie like mini mountains. They sway in the breeze, casting giant shadows over him and his family. “That’s a good one,” Mum notes. “Yeah,” agrees Dad. Louie touches the tree on a pointy needle. It tickles his hand. He suddenly feels very cold. Then Louie notices that he isn’t in the shop anymore!

There are Christmas Lights up along the roof and a heavily decorated Christmas Tree sits in its pot in a corner.A giant door is open, and elves are sprinting around him with presents. They are loading them into a red sack on a red sleigh! Santa’s Sleigh! thinks Louie. “Hello, there,” an elf says to Louie, “wonder why we’re loading the sleigh so early? Well, we have to deliver to other planets as well as Earth, so we deliver to them early,” “Cool,” replies Louie.

“Please can you help us?” requests the elf.

“Err… OK,” says Louie.

“Just get some presents from that room there and load them into Santa’s sack,” explains the elf. Louie jogs off into the present storeroom.

Chandeliers attached to the ceiling with Candy Canes hanging from them cast a soft glow in the storeroom as Louie selects a pile of presents labelled, “Cosmic Gifts 1/12/2020”. It is in Santa’s swirly handwriting. That’s today’s pile, thinks Louie as he carries three presents back into the sleigh room. He loads them onto the sleigh before the elf asks him, “Have you sent your Christmas list to Santa yet?” “No,” replies Louie, “I haven’t even written it!”

“Well, just go through the door with the Christmas lights, and you can discuss it with Santa himself!” smiles the elf, “He loves meeting the children that receive his presents!”

In Santa’s workshop, Louie meets Santa. “Ho Ho Ho! Welcome to the North Pole, Louie!” Santa booms.

“Hello, Santa! How do you know my name?” asks Louie.

“I know everyone’s names! It’s part of the Christmas Tree Magic,” Santa replies.

“What’s the Christmas Tree Magic?” asks Louie.

“Ah, the question every Teleported asks,” sighs Santa, “the Christmas Tree Magic begins when you are teleported to the North Pole by a Christmas Tree. Then I am reminded of everyone’s names and told your name by my Christmas Tree. You help the elves and I discuss your Christmas List with you. Simple”. It is not simple to Louie. His head hurts when he even tries to work it out. “Anyway, what do you want for Christmas?” Santa asks, cutting off Louie’s thoughts. “I want a new bike bell, preferably with Lightning Macqueen on it, an Avengers Endgame Iron Man, Mario Kart for Nintendo Switch…”

An hour later, Louie’s Christmas list is complete! “Well, it was a long hour, but we did it,” smiles Santa, “goodbye Louie”. A polar bear thunders in and says, “Hop on” in a deep but friendly voice. Louie sees the ice, sea and land zoom past him as the polar bear runs faster than the wind. When they reach the sea the polar bear blows bubbles as big as a trees for he and Louie to travel in underneath the waves. They arrive back at the outdoor Christmas Tree Shop quicker than a shooting star. They stop behind a tall, wide Christmas Tree. “Goodbye, my friend,” whispers the polar bear before he scratches the ground and shoots away.

Louie re-joins his parents. “Let’s buy this tree,” says Mum. They buy the Christmas Tree with the Christmas Tree Magic.

By Max