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Like three cannonballs, Sophie, Elva and Trom came blasting out of door number four, landing neatly in a soft sofa that had been placed so perfectly that it couldn’t be a coincidence. The energy container with the lightning bolt gently flew out of Sophie’s hands and floated up next to the other objects. Through the door they’d just come from, they could still see the dark sky above, lit only by furious thunder strikes. Standing on the edge of the roof of Loki’s palace was the Grox, looking down at them.

Sophie tumbled off the sofa.

”We have to shut the door!”

All three of them hurried towards the door, but the Grox had already jumped off the roof. Sophie was the closest, and she leapt towards the door handle. If she could just manage to close the door, the Grox would be trapped on the other side – but she wasn’t fast enough. Before her eyes, the Grox swept past her, landing in the sofa as well. The Grox was in.

There was only one thing to do. Without exchanging a word, all three of them ran towards the final door, but the Grox had anticipated their move and leapt in front of the door, blocking their path.

Sophie, Elva and Trom froze. Their only other exit was the Dimension Door, and there was no way they’d be able to get it open in time. They slowly backed away, not taking their eyes off the Grox for even a second.

The Grox stepped closer, laughing to itself. “Once I take your powers, the Queen will have to make me a captain – at least!”

The kids kept backing away, while the Grox followed at a leisurely pace. It seemed to be savoring the moment. Like a predator that had finally backed its prey into a corner and was now just toying with it.

Sophie’s eyes darted around the Dimension Room. There had to be something that could help them. But what? Her eyes settled on the rug on the floor, which the Grox was standing on. Maybe if they pulled the rug, they could knock the Grox off balance long enough for them to get to the final door? Maybe?

Sophie’s calculations were cut short, though, as door number two suddenly opened. The Grox, Sophie, Elva and Trom all turned to look as Mek stepped out. She stared at her three classmates and the Grox with a look of deep surprise.

”Just what is going on here?” she said in a stern voice.

Sophie seized the opportunity. She grabbed at the end of the rug and pulled, but she wasn’t strong enough. The weight of the Grox kept the rug firmly in place, and now its attention was squarely back on them.

Elva and Trom acted quickly. They grabbed the rug and pulled as well, but the Grox had already realized what they were up to. It leapt forward, swinging one of its sword arms towards them. One slash with its arm would be all it took to cut all three of them in half, but halfway through its movement, it suddenly stopped.

The startled Grox looked at its motionless arm with confusion. The arm had turned to stone.

Mek had taken off her sunglasses and was aiming her gaze directly at the Grox. It wasn’t just its arm – the entire right side of the Grox’s body was now turning to stone. The Grox screamed and threw itself behind a chair to hide.

Sophie, Elva and Trom hurried over to Mek, who kept her eyes fixed on the Grox’s hiding place.

”How did a Grox get in here!?”

”We kinda let it in by accident,” Sophie answered.

“By accident?”

”It’s all my fault,” Trom muttered.

Mek grimaced. ”Somebody come up with a plan for how we’re gonna beat that Grox, because I can’t keep using my gaze. It drains me.”

Before any of the others could start trying to think of a solution, they heard a familiar voice.

”Sophie, Trom, Mek, Elva, hiiiiii! Where’ve you been!?” Fiff came flying out from door number one. She was just about to fly over to them when she noticed the state of the room. “What’s happened here?” she asked, looking around in confusion.

Trom had barely raised his voice above a mutter since the Grox first entered the Dimension Room, but now he suddenly yelled, “Fiff! Get over here, quick!”

Fiff finally spotted the Grox and immediately lit up into a red blaze, shedding her cheerful yellow hue.

”You bully!” Fiff bellowed, and without a second thought flew straight at the Grox, hitting it with all her might. The Grox fell backwards. Mek put her sunglasses back on.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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”Mek, what are you doing!?” Elva exclaimed.

”I’ll hit Fiff if I don’t stop. But we have to help her!”

The Grox was back on its feet and swung its left arm towards Fiff, but she dodged it and hit the Grox so hard that it was sent flying to the opposite end of the room.

”Or maybe she doesn’t need any help…” Mek said, sounding quite impressed.

”Fiff, get away from the Grox so Mek can turn it to stone!” Trom yelled, but Fiff didn’t hear him. When she was all glowing with rage, she hardly ever listened.

Sophie didn’t feel at all sure that Fiff could handle the Grox on her own – even less so when saw that the Grox had now gotten back on its feet after being sent flying. They had to find something that was powerful enough to take down the Grox once and for all.

Sophie’s eyes darted to the floating objects up under the ceiling. The glass bottle. The lightning bolt was still inside it. That had to be enough to take out the Grox. Sophie started darting up Trom’s staircase of books that was still floating in the air.

She grabbed the bottle and pointed the lid towards the Grox, but she couldn’t use it yet. If she unscrewed the lid now, the bolt would hit Fiff as well. She looked down at Elva, Trom and Mek, who were watching helplessly as Fiff battled the Grox.

”Trom, we need to distract the Grox so Fiff can get away!”

”But how?” Trom turned towards her, only now realizing that she’d moved to the top of the room.

Another door opened – the second door this time – and out stepped Varis and Rok. Rok was only just able to squeeze his large stone body out the door. They both stopped in their tracks as they noticed their surroundings.

”Come on, guys!” Varis said. “You can’t do all the fun stuff without us. I wanna smash up the Dimension Room too!”

Rok tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the Grox.

”Oh, it’s like that, then. Well… Attaaaack!” Varis yelled, throwing books, lamps, chairs and everything else he could get his hands on at the Grox.

That was exactly the distraction that Sophie had been hoping for. Varis’ attack had taken both the Grox and Fiff by surprise, momentarily pulling Fiff out of her blinding rage. Trom seized the opportunity and yelled at Fiff to get out of the way, pointing at Sophie. Fiff finally listened and flew far enough backwards for Sophie to unscrew the lid.

Except she couldn’t. It was stuck. Even using all her strength, she couldn’t budge it an inch. If she wanted to unscrew it, she’d need the help of someone much stronger than she was.

With Fiff no longer right next to the Grox, Mek removed her sunglasses and aimed her gaze at it. The Grox threw itself behind a knocked-over bookshelf. It skewered one of the books with its burning sword arm and threw it straight at Mek’s face.

Elva pushed Mek out of the way, and they both fell over. The burning book flew over their heads while Elva and Mek tumbled across the floor. Mek was covering her eyes with one hand while desperately searching for something on the ground with the other.

“Where are my glasses!?”

The glasses weren’t more than a few feet from her. Elva got to her feet to grab them, but another burning book made her throw herself back on the ground. The next burning book hit the glasses, knocking them even further away from Mek.

The Grox emerged from behind the shelf, leaping towards Fiff.

”Rok, I need your help!” Sophie yelled.

Rok quickly rushed to the staircase of books. He looked at the books uncertainly before stepping onto the first one. It sank all the way to the floor, along with Sophie’s hopes. Rok was too heavy for the books to hold his heavy stone body, and without his strength they’d never be able to unscrew the lid. The only other student that’d even have a chance was Fiff, and she was busily occupied.

Sophie tried pulling at the bottle, wondering if she could just toss it down to Rok directly, but it felt like some kind of force was working against her, pulling the bottle back towards the ceiling. She could only get it as far down as the height of her knees before she had to give up.

”Uh-oh… Oh m-my, how did a G-Grox get in here?” asked a frightened voice. Vix had just stepped into the Dimension Room through door number 3. Vix, the nervous skeleton that was always falling apart and had to be put back together.

A wild idea popped into Sophie’s head.

”Vix! I need you to fall apart!” she yelled.

Vix looked up at her with a scared expression. “Wh-what?”

A cracking sound was heard throughout the room as the Grox’s arm broke free of its petrification. With two arm blades swinging at her, Fiff could no longer dodge every attack, and she retreated even further back.

Sophie pointed at Vix and then at the bottle. “We’ll form a rope out of Vix’s bones, and then Rok can pull it!”

“I, I d-don’t know if that’s a thing I can d-do,” Vix stammered, looking down at his skeletal body.

Trom and Rok looked at Vix, waiting for the go-ahead to take him apart.

“B-but if it can help, I g-guess it’s worth a t-t-try.”

The flaming books had started fires in several parts of the Dimension Room now, and Fiff had been forced into a corner. She was still dodging the fiery arms of the Grox, but she couldn’t keep it up forever.

The Grox was gleeful. ”Ahh, look at all the wonderful abilities you kids have. With all your powers, I’ll have as many as The Nightmare himself!”

Rok tossed Sophie one end of Vix, who had been shaped into about 10 feet of bone-based “rope”. She grabbed the end, which Vix’s skeletal hand was attached to, and lifted it up to the lid. The hand grabbed on tightly, while Sophie angled it so that a strong pull should hopefully screw open the lid.

Everything was ready, but Fiff was still trapped in the corner with the Grox. Suddenly Mek came running through the room. She’d found her sunglasses. She jumped and slided along the floor, pulled off her sunglasses and aimed her gaze at the Grox’s feet. The Grox roared as its feet petrified and were stuck to the ground. Fiff seized the opportunity to fly out of the Grox’s reach.

”Pull!” Sophie yelled.

Rok, Trom and Vix pulled with all their might, and the lid got pulled off the container. The lightning bolt shot down towards the Grox. The entire Dimension Room lit up in a massive explosion of light, and the students were all knocked back.

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