Project Imagination

Chapter 4

Wild in the west

Daniel and Mink arrived at the castle. Daniel stopped smiling when they saw King Lukas. Daniel walked up, picked up his stuff, and put on the APEX armor. "Cool, the little gadget just got me a one-way ticket to something awesome." Daniel said as he looked at the king, "Hey! Why didn't Mink get anything?" King Lukas laughed, "Oh, in time she will, you just have to be patient."

A portal opened behind them. "This is the portal to your first area." the king said, "Where it goes, I will not say." They all looked at the portal. It was a sandy color with hints of blue and green. No one did anything. Then Daniel started walking towards it. Then he started running at it. Once he got close he jumped into to it. Everything went black before it did he heard the sound of his companions jumping in. As everything was black he felt like he was floating on air. It was like nothing could ever touch him. Then the feeling stopped. He opened his eyes. He saw the sky, but it was really close up, then getting far away. He turned his body so he faced the other way. He could see the dusty ground with cacti scattered everywhere. The ground was getting slowly closer. "Darn it! I had to exit the portal in the air?" Daniel said. He tried to find his acquaintances, but they couldn't be seen. So he just stared at the ground getting closer. Then he stopped watching. He had closed his eyes when he thought he was close to hitting the ground. But he didn't. Instead, he was moving forward. He opened his eyes. He was riding a horse. He looked to his left. Ender was standing up on his horse like it was a surfboard. He looked to his right. Shaymen and Tysin were riding a horse. Tysin was wearing a leather hat and a white shirt with overalls. Shaymen was wearing the same thing. The thing was Ender was wearing the same thing he usually wore but he had a piece of wheat in his mouth and his shoes were cowboy boots now, same with the others. Ender had a holster with an old revolver. They finally stopped. Shaymen looked at Daniel. "Well, ev'ryone I reckon our friend went and got himself awake," Shaymen said. Daniel looked at him. "Why are you talking like that?" He said, "Also where is Mink? Did she make it?" Shaymen tipped his hat. "Well if ye don't know already. We're in the wild west. Also Mink, I guess, is the damsel in distress." Daniel laughed as he looked at his clothes. He was wearing a blue button-up shirt with a leather jacket that cowboys wear. Not one like a biker or something. He was also wearing a sash-like thing with bullets being held to it, and boots with spurs. "Well, I reckon I'll be a talking like you folks now." Daniel said, "And, nice try with the Mink thing I reckon, Y'all done got me fooled by that there." Daniel looked at Ender, he was shaking his head, then Ender got on his horse and said, "Come on! The town's up ahead!" Then Ender kicked his horse in the side to get it to get moving. Everyone else followed.

Meanwhile where Mink was being held...

"Let me go, ya idiots!" Mink yelled to the people who were tying her to a chair. The one closest said, "Quit squirmin' ya cute little money maker!" He was kind of right. Mink was dressed like a rich girl in the west back then. The only thing she had that could hurt anyone was a pink parcel, which was what a fancy umbrella is called. "Did you just call me cute?!?!?!" She said as she was about to kick the guy talking to her. They laughed. "We saw yer friends out yonder." said one that looked like the leader, "Yer friends will be a-comin' for ya!" Then one pulled out their gun. "Yup, and when they do," he said as he pulled the trigger, "Kablamo!" The bullet hit a bottle, blowing it to pieces. They all started laughing again. "Um, who exactly do you think I am?" Mink asked. They stopped laughing. "She gots a point there boys, who is she?" one of them said. The leader shook his head. "Y'all kidnapped her and ya didn't know if she was rich er not!" He said. They talked for a while, then they turned around smiling.

Location: Some town in the middle of nowhere. Date: ???????? Time:10:30

"There be the saloon." said Ender. Daniel was out of breath, it was only 10:30 and the sun was blazing hot. Shaymen looked at Daniel. "After you went through the portal, King Lukas said that the person that will help us will be in here." Shaymen said pulling something out of his pocket, "He also gave us this gadget that will tell the name of the person." The gadget looked like a cell phone, but it only said the name of a person. " Jonathan Smith." Daniel said, "That's the name." Suddenly a man came flying through the window of the saloon. "Come on, that the best you got Johnny?" said a man inside drinking, "Well, Smiths were always terrible fighters." Daniel was shocked, this was the man who was going to help them? Daniel was surprised. Then he heard this coming from another man who just walked in. "Boss, that girl my boys caught, ain't rich at all." said the man, "She was just dressed like it when we took her from her friends." Daniel now knew what was going on. Those men fighting Jonathan took Mink. Daniel ran inside the saloon, was his gun ready in hand. "Hey, Y'all over there!" Daniel yelled at the men, " What'd you do to Mink?!?" The men laughed. "That's her name?" one said, "What kind of name is that! A pet name?" They laughed more, then another said, "What, are you her boyfriend?" Everyone laughed this time. That did it. Daniel pulled up his gun and shot the boss it the chest. The boss looked at him, then his eyes went white. That's when the boss fell over. Everyone in the saloon looked at Daniel. Then the men started pulling out their guns. Suddenly they heard a rifle being loaded. Daniel looked over. Jonathan was holding a rifle and pointing it at the men. "I'll give ya to the count of three, to leave this boy alone, or I'll blow yer heads off!" Jonathan said pulling the trigger slowly, "............. Three!" Right, when he pulled the trigger the men started to duck behind a table, but that's where he was shooting, the table. The men fell to the ground and the table collapsed on top of them. The saloon went silent once again. Jonathan turned to Daniel and his friends. "Yall better get outta here." he said, "Before their amigos come for ya!" They didn't move. No one spoke for a while. Then Daniel said, "We need you!" Jonathan was confused. Ender shook his head. Tysin was confused also, for some reason. Daniel walked closer to Jonathan. "Come with us, we need to talk." Daniel said. Jonathan nodded his head, they walked out of the saloon. Jonathan held up his hand so everyone could see him. He whistled, a house and carriage came up. "This is my carriage, I use it as a decent way to earn a living," he said climbing onto the carriage, Daniel climbed up and sat right next to him in the shotgun seat. The rest climbed into the passenger area. Jonathan got them moving. "So, what're you needing to tell me?" he asked. Daniel sighed. He didn't know what to say. "Look, My name is Daniel. I'm from a different world. I'm here to save your world and the other ones out there by traveling through each one. I need your help, apparently, on my mission to restore your world." he said, "Your world will disappear if my friends and I don't do this, it will hurt our world as well!" Jonathan nodded. Then Jonathan looked out to the open land. "You know, if you try to travel to all of them, you won't make it." Jonathan said, " Let's say there are a million worlds out there, you save a few, go to new ones, and the ones you just saved, still start to disappear." Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing, this man who seemed tough, was talking logically. "How do you know?" Daniel asked, "I mean, you don't seem like a person to use that type of logic." Jonathan smiled. Then he started to look serious. "Because I'm a college instructor." he said, "I traveled from California to Texas, during the summer so I could gain more information on physics." Daniel's eyes widened, Jonathan didn't seem like he was a teacher, he seemed more like a drunk, or maybe a man that seems to have no place in life. Yet, he's a college instructor? No, he's a college physics instructor! They came to a stop at a rundown barn. A man was standing there taking care of the crops near the road. "Hello! What can I do ya for?" asked the man, looking straight at Daniel. Jonathan smiled. Looking the man directly in the eye, Jonathan patted Daniel on the back?!?! "Hello, my son and I are on our way to Oklahoma for some business;" Jonathan said calmly, "and we were wonderin' why you are at an old rundown barn?" The man dropped his handheld plow. "Well this is where I live." he said. Jonathan looked at the barn, "Yes but I've been by this barn before, and no one's used it except as a secret hideout." The man stumbled backward, trying to reach for something, while still shocked, but Jonathan was quicker, but before you could say, "Hands up!" Jonathan had pulled out his shotgun and killed the man. "Well that escalated quickly." Ender said poking his head out the window. After everyone got out of the carriage, they started walking towards the "abandoned" barn. When they got inside, it still seemed abandoned, just some rusty tools, some straw and some wood. "Doesn't seem that anyone's here." Shaymen whispered. Daniel scanned the area, he saw a ladder in the far left corner of the building. He looked up. A few shadows casted across the wall. "We're not alone," he whispered, "Follow me." He crouched down and darted for the nearest corner. The other's followed. Daniel got up and darted towards the ladder. The other's followed.Suddenly they heard a gunshot. Daniel turned around. Ender had his minigun, and it had went off, but it sounded like a pistol. "Did you hear that." said one of the shadows. "Crap! We are dead!" Daniel thought. He saw the shadows disappear. He started to climb the ladder. Before he fully got to the top, he looked to see what was up there. He saw Mink tied to a chair. He wanted to yell to let her know they were they, but that would also alert her kidnappers. Wait, if Ender has his minigun, He thought has he reached behind him, "Then I have my sword!" He pulled out the enchanted sword that he got from King Lukas. He threw it in Mink's direction. "What the heck is that Joe?!" said one man, trying to grab what looked like a blur. The man named Joe turned around, just in time to witness his friend's hand being cut off. "Joel!" Joe yelled, running over to his friend, "What happened to ya?" Suddenly they watched as a pink parcel came towards them, knocking Joe out cold. "I'll tell you what's going to happen!" Mink said, hold Daniel's sword in her right hand, "You let us all leave, or you'll get your heads cut off." Joel got up, and using his only hand, dragged Joe away. Daniel ran to Mink. "How did you do that?" He asked, "I've never been able to do that." Mink laughed, "I've never thrown an enchanted sword at a friend and cut someone's hand off at the same time, which reminds me." Mink kicked Daniel's leg. "What the heck made you think that you could throw a sword at me and I would live to tell people about it?!" she said, then Mink hugged him, "But thanks for 'saving' me!" Mink walked over to Ender, and punched him in the gut. "Thank you for almost blowing Daniel's plan to stop these guys." She said, and then punched him in the gut again, "Now, let's go. This place smells like Horse crap and beer." Mink handed Daniel his sword back. They left the abandoned barn before the cops could come, but in front of the barn; was another portal. "Well, I reckon this'll be good bye." said Ender, as Mink kicked him in the shin, "Ow! Ok, I get it. No more western accents." Daniel smiled. It was sad to have to say goodbye, but he knew that things would be better. Shaymen was first to go through the portal, because Tysin pushed him. Mink started laughing as she tripped Tysin, making him fall through the portal. Then Mink jumped in the portal. Ender stayed with Daniel. "Thanks for everything Jonathan." Daniel said. Ender waved goodbye, then did a backflip into the portal. Daniel waved goodbye as well, and jumped into the portal. Everything went black.