Chapter Four: Talent School
“Woah.” Noel said, pointing at the candy factory incorporated, P&J’s collection. "Look at it, Aze.”
He followed his brother’s finger marveling at the edifice before them. The factory stretched for stories, conquering even mountains. He looked up from the bottom to the top, his neck bending as far back as it could to see the skyscrapers, which quite frankly surpassed the designated meaning of the word. They circled around, deeply staring at the clouds, wondering where the factory may have ended. He looked over to offices with clear windows and interior white walls, then to tin trash cans outside. When suddenly a honk was heard as they turned to the unfamiliar noise.
"Honk! Honk!"
A man was already outside his car window, enraged, pressing on to his horn.
“Get the f@#$ off the road!” he said.
Behind both of them in the middle intersection, there were these hovering vehicles all behind one another, beginning to honk their horns in tandem.
Another person stuck his head out the window of his car and said, “TrafficBot 3000! Get these two dorks out of the road this instant! I have to cache my quarterly bonus. I made $250,000 just this year, and it ain't even over.”
“Umm? Okay,” Noel replied, “Good to know.”
His eyes flutter, and he says no longer angry but as nicely as possible, “I know, right. Thank you, by the way. I needed that.”
“No problem.”
“Now get out of the road before I call the cops!” He said, back to being angry, “TrafficBot, hurry it up.” A simplistic machine with a carbon ball for legs and clamps for hands rolled over to brothers, picked the two up by the collars of their shirts and chucked them onto a sidewalk nearby. “And get this portal device out of here too!” he grumpily finished.
The little robot stopped to scan the magic and said, “Cannot compute... Cannot compute...” As if it could figure out how magic worked in the first place.
"Oh crap. Sorry mister, I'll be right there.” Aze ran back and put his hands up, waving them around and chanting, "Portal open, now portal close. You did your job, now let this man go.”
He looked at Aze as if he were clinically insane, “What are you doing?”
“I'm ending the spell.” The portal became smaller, shrinking in size before having left completely. He rubbed his hands together and spoke. "Sorry about that again," bowing in apology.
“I have no idea what you're talking about, but never do it again,” he said this as he sped away.
Aze helped his brother up and patted themselves down.
“Did we make it?” Noel questioned.
Aze snickered, covering his mouth in excitement, saying, “We must have. It’s the same houses and flying containers from the video!” Out of pure exhilaration, he started to dance on the concrete sidewalk.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Stop dancing. We’re still not in the clear just yet,” he said in all seriousness. "Like, what is that over there?” Noel looks at the robot strolling nonchalantly as it picks up trash with its extending clamps for hands. “Any guesses?”
Aze didn’t stop dancing; in fact, he got faster. "Sorry, I can’t help,” Aze exhaustedly huffed out. “I. Have. To. Dance.”
Noel asked again beggingly, “Stop for one second.”
Aze bounced from side to side, only stopping when yet another mysterious noise was heard.
“DING DONG… DING DONG!”
Doors everywhere began to slide open automatically; batches of people came out of them; they'd never seen anything like it. “A door that couldn't be locked,” Aze thought was a clever idea. The sidewalks then began to open just like the doors, automatically, but they had to be opened through holes that launched people safely and freely out of tubular tunnels. All sprung out carrying devices to their faces, or they were touching pieces in their ears. “That looks painful,” he also thought to himself, “Why would anyone want to put something like that into their ear?” He could hear the music from there.
Everyone on the sidewalk now began to talk amongst the crowd, drowning everything else out. The two boys from nowhere, couldn’t tell who were tunnel people and who weren't. They had no chance to breathe. The numerous passersby bullied them, pushing them into an innocent bystander. It was rush hour, the most dangerous part of the day. The brothers couldn’t make out a single word that was being said, as what was being spoken was in otherworldly dialects. What they could understand was about vacation plans made three feet away. He looked closer at the stampede, realizing that these people weren’t the typical Tamarian villager like back at home. Hell, they weren’t people at all. Everyone was alien to them. A purple man, maybe a woman, with tentacles swept through. Another made of metal nudged in between the brothers, saying, "S-O-R-R-Y.” In a cold, divided, not-human-like tone. A headless woman held the robot's hand, following close and wedged herself, and keeping the brothers apart.
“Sorry about that,” the woman's voice said, coming from a lower position. She was cradling her own head.
Aze grabbed his brother by the hand and ran away.
Noel, raising his voice, said loudly, “Where are we going, Aze?!”
“Out of here!” Aze saw a less infest sidewalk across the street going a different direction.
They sprinted across the street recklessly. Cars almost crashed, maneuvering out of the way for jaywalkers, “Get off the road!”
Noel said to his brother, “Maybe we should listen to them when they say to stay off the road.”
Aze replied, “This has to be the #1 most active road in history. I’ve never not been allowed on a road before…”
They saw green aliens dancing with signs next to stores, and then to holograms promoting the movie “Fast and the Furious 32,” starring a seventy-two-year-old Vin Diesel.
As a car nearby takes off into the sky. Noel said, amazed, “Did you see that? That's so cool.” It wasn’t as overwhelming for these two as they thought.
A disturbance emanated from above this side of sidewalks. “ZZZZZZVVVVV! ZZZZVVV.” A group of kids on flying boards zipped past. Ahead, people formed single-file lines. There were so many types of creatures, such as aliens, mutants, humans, cowboys in their get-ups, Native Americans with feathers on their heads and red face paint. There were very few animals and robots, but all congregated in this large lot. No matter where you turned your head, you couldn't ignore the people who were waiting in line, going into what looked to be a school. Amidst the throng it was impossible to see fully.
Aze jumped as high as he could into the air, trying to get a better look. He propelled fifty feet above and began to levitate; his eyes sparkled and shined as if they contained stars. Not too far away was the school, a place he had seen many times before, but seeing it in person now was beyond all expectations. The university became the entire field of view. It was also unlike the city’s futuristic device; it was made of oak wood and brick and was Victorian with pointed ceilings. Beyond there was a large dome where stadium lights pointed down a Battle Arena.
Upon first glance, the school seemed to be a hodgepodge of the past and future.
He landed back on the ground. “Alt,” he said breathlessly, as if it had just been taken away. “It looks grander in person!” Noel smiled happily for Aze and said that somehow everything ended up in the right place at the right time. “We totally did it. That was easy.”
Noel grabbed Aze's attention at the edge of the sidewalk there and said, “Maybe we should ask around for what's happening. You know, get some information on this place. Something important must be going on today. Wonder if it's always like this here?”
Aze nodded, took a step off and said, “Good idea. Let's get to it then."