10 Fireworks

Chapter Ten Fireworks "Oh, this is so exciting!" exclaimed Luxor as they left his house. "Why are you so excited?" asked Abigail. "Because!" Luxor answered. "In every great story about a knight or a warrior, they are sent on an impossible mission by a king or queen. And the hero must prove his or her worth by completing several trials. Luckily, in this story, there are three warriors. You two and me." "We're not warriors," said Finn. "You are now," said Luxor. "And we weren't sent on a mission by the queen," said Abigail. "We're working against the queen." Luxor lowered his voice to reflect the drama of the situation and said: "These are your trials."

Abigail rolled her eyes at Finn and laughed. If they were going to go on this impossible mission, they might as well have a robot narrator with them. They walked out into the alleys of the village, Luxor hovering just above their heads. They tried to keep their eyes down and be as unnoticeable as possible. "Okay, Luxor," said Finn. "Now, if we run into anyone who recognizes us, you need to tell them you've caught us. That way you get to be the hero for the queen, and we get into her castle without any trouble." Luxor smiled and nodded. He seemed pleased with the plan. "Walk a little stiffer, Finn," whispered Abigail. "Like your arms are made of metal." Finn did his best to walk robotically. They'd already made it halfway through the village, and no one had raised a metallic eyebrow at them. "It's working," he whispered. "No one suspects a thing."

"CLEAR THE WAY! CLEAR THE WAY!" shouted Luxor above their heads. "VILLAINS COMING THROUGH. THAT'S RIGHT—I, LUXOR, HAVE CAPTURED THE VILLAINS WHO ELUDED THE QUEEN'S GUARDS NOT SO LONG AGO! PLEASE MAKE WAY SO THAT I, LUXOR, MAY RETURN THEM TO THE QUEEN'S CUSTODY!" Finn gasped. Abigail poked Luxor in the belly. "Luxor! That's not helping!" she shouted. "TELL YOUR FRIENDS, TELL YOUR ENEMIES THAT IT WAS I, LUXOR!" The robot was shouting to everyone in the village. "THE QUEEN HAS NO BETTER FRIEND THAN LUXOR. THAT'S L-U-X-O—" "We better run now," Abigail told Finn.

But just then, a robot shaped like an upside-down pear floated in front of them, blocking their path. Luxor stopped talking and he stopped flying. If a robot could go pale, Luxor would have been white as a sheet. Finn recognized the strange-looking bot immediately. It had been at their dinner with Queen SuperAwesome when they'd landed. "I know them!" shouted the robot. "You're right, Luxor, you fool! You have captured the scallywags." "Scallywags?" asked Abigail. "What are you, a pirate?" "How dare you!" shouted the pearbot. "I am 212222122221111, chief chef of our world. I made you the little stone bricks you so rudely declined to eat!" "I love a tasty stone brick!" said Luxor. "Oh, be quiet, Luxor," said the chef. "I can take them in from here, cough cough." "Hey, these are my prisoners," said Luxor. "And besides, this has to be our first trial." "These fleshy creatures cannot go to the queen," said 212222122221111. "They must be

brought to the dungeons!" "Dungeons!" shouted Finn. "Why do robots have dungeons?" "Yeah," said Luxor. "Why do we have dungeons?" "Enough!" shouted the chief chef. "The dungeons are the caves and tunnels that run below this village. They have always been there. We have been slowly filling them with black tar to reinforce our streets and buildings. But now we can fill them with you!" 212222122221111 reached down and grabbed Finn by the shoulder. "Let's go!" the robot shouted. "I will CUFFAWFOFAFFFAFOFF." "You'll what now?" asked Luxor. But the chief chef couldn't answer. He took a step back and opened his mouth. Out poured a waterfall of sparks.

"Oh, he's got a bad case," said Abigail. The chef coughed again, and a small, whistling tube, almost like a tiny firework, shot out of his ear. "Uh," said Finn. "Puke puke pukity puke," said the chef, and a long, thin rocket shot out of his nose, up into the sky, and exploded in a spray of sparkly golden lights. "The virus makes fireworks?" asked Luxor.