Burning and Woofing

“Woof!” Barky screamed. “I know how excited you are,” Boob calmly said, “oh yeah, forgot. The walk. I’m so bad at times. Sorry.”

It was 7:00 am in Ipsu. After they got home from walking, Barky wanted to eat. Boob went to sleep. Yup, you might understand now why Boob is called Boob. His real name was Bob, but because he was super lazy, people referred to him as Boob. He complained about the time, how sleepy he was, and the list went on and on. So Barky trudged into Boob’s room. “Woof,” he asked, “woof woof woof woof woof woof woof?” “Not now, Barky,” Boob responded, “I’m too sleepy.” “WOOF!” Barky screamed as loud as he could in Boob’s ear. “AAH!!! Laser incoming!” Boob screamed as he shot up from his bed, in anxiety. “Woof woof…” Barky whimpered.

“Oh.. sorry… I must have heard wrong.” Boob said while trying to catch his breath. He was afraid of lasers because his town was constantly under attack from rival towns. Being incinerated by a laser is very, very bad, as we all know.

“What do you want now?” “Woof woof woof woof.” Barky responded.

“You want to eat? OK. I’ll see if there’s any food left for you to eat.”

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Ipsu recently had a supply shortage. Food, drinks, you get the idea. And that explains why Boob kept ignoring Barky when he wanted food. And it was not the first time. Ipsu was VULNERABLE to supply shortages, happening EVERY. LITERAL. WEEK.

The source of the shortages was well known. It was the city, Fido. Ipsu’s “arch-enemy”. Yeah. Fido always wanted to steal Ipsu’s food, and minerals, Ipsunian, and Ipsu always wanted to steal back the Ipsunian minerals, as they are the main source of power. It is also the city which kept firing lasers at Ipsu.

“Oh…” Boob said as he came out of the kitchen, “there’s one thing left, and it’s rotten snails.” Barky loved snails, even the rotten ones. Barky leaped up, into the fridge, opened the rotten snails, and ate everything in one go.

“AAAAH!” Boob screamed in anxiety, again. “Woof?” Barky asked, curiously.

“It’s another laser! And going to kill us!”

Just when one would think everything was peaceful, there was an ACTUAL laser this time, flashing bright red. The laser had come from hbu5, the First Alien Immigrant of Fido, an alien who had held this title for 80 years.

“WOOF!!!” Barky warned. “WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!” “NO!” Boob replied, still in anxiety. “We need to stop this, otherwise Ipsu will be burnt to crisp!”

OK. I know what you’re thinking. Boob will stop Ipsu from burning to a crisp. There is only the bad news. The bad news is that Boob is one who was turned into a crisp as the laser tore through their home. The entire town of Ipsu was on fire, burning devastatingly to all the citizens, especially Barky. He knew he wouldn’t be able to revive his owner. He was a good dog, but he knew he didn’t have powers. Even worse, Barky’s home was on fire, where all his favorite toys and food were.

Barky was scared. He didn’t know what to do with his dead owner. He started crying over Boob’s dead body. He had to flee from burning Ipsu. But he wasn’t sure where to go. What was he going to do? Should he run away from Ipsu to ensure safety? Nope. He knew freeing the city from trouble is what Boob would do, so Barky resolved to complete his work.

How though? First, he collected information from other survivors. He was a smart dog.

“I think we should make a machine to fire a laser at Fido. They did this to us.” suggested a survivor, David, “now let’s get our revenge!”

They were quick friends, and they knew they had a big task ahead of them, which is to help Ipsu become what it was before. A peaceful neighbourhood with lofty ideals.The survivors had to be quick before it was late to save Ipsu.

As the survivors fled to another city, Adas, David started to share his idea, about imitating hbu5. But first, they had to come prepared, and focus on defense more than attack.

After working tirelessly David announced he had made a Fire Sword while they were running. “This can kill people and turn them into dust.” David claimed. The survivors were interested saying “oohs” and “aahs”. Barky just went “woof”. “But how are we going to defeat that creepo?” a survivor asked. “He has a machine! We can’t get to his own body!”

“I also know how to get through that,” David reassured. “Behold, the Melting Sword! This is much hotter than the Fire Sword! It can even melt metal! Since hbu5’s machine is made out of metal, defeating him will be no sweat!” “HURRAH!” everyone shouted. “THREE CHEERS FOR DAVID DAVINS! HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH!”

“Well.. uh.....hat wasn’t what I expected, but thanks, guys!” David nervously said, handing the Fire Sword to Barky, while keeping the Melting Sword himself.

“Woof! Woof woof woof, (IPSUINAN) woof woof (MINERALS) woof woof woof. Woof?!” Barky said as he leaped onto the table.

“Great! Exactly what we need to power up these swords! Good dog.” David said, surprised.

There were holes at the handles of the swords, which were triangular, perfect for fitting the Ipsunian minerals in. A red glow started to encircle around the Fire Sword. The Melting Sword however glowed as white as snow. “Yes! This means our swords have been empowered! Today will be the perfect day for revenge!” David smiled. They set off to Fido, a short walk from Adas.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, wandering the streets of Fido was a white but dirty cat by the name of Apsa, He was originally from Ipsu, however after seeing fire and being experienced with it, he had to flee to Fido, being all weary and scared from fleeing. The first thing he saw in Fido was a shop called “The Future Shop”. At the front of the shop was a mirror, with the label “See your future self.” However, Apsa couldn’t read English, only understanding it orally. When he looked into the mirror, much to his surprise, he saw a lion. He jumped backward, before realizing he would need to be determined. As he went into the shop, he saw lion colors, lion sounds, and even a lion talking to him about determination and revenge.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The survivors from Ipsu found a machine in Fido. It looked robotic humanoid with features protruding menacingly. Could this be the thing that fired the laser? They might have found the weapon, but no sign of hbu5.

They decided to just melt the machine. Little did they know, the machine was made out of salt. Who would have known?

They put their Melting Sword onto the machine. Nothing happened. Everyone, including Barky, was left confused. “That’s strange,” David said puzzled. “It’s literally of metal!”

“Uh… David, wouldn't mind looking a little closer?” one of the survivors asked in a confused way.

“SALT?! Why would anyone make their machine with SALT?!” David exclaimed. “Hbu5 is an alien, silly. He’s not like us, David.” “Hey look! A cat!” another survivor said excitedly. “Maybe he can help us.” As it went out of the shop, Barky and the other survivors, all weary, took notice of Apsa. David came over, bent down, and gave his hand to him. “Do you want to come with us?” David offered. Apsa put his hand on David’s, then nodded. Everyone smiled. “OK, back to work,” David announced. As they went back to Adas, everyone tried to formulate a plan for hbu5’s machine.

David pulled out a meta-holographic interface. He then looked up the melting point of salt. 801ºC.

“Darn…” David said quietly, “that’s even more than what the Melting Sword can handle. Oh well. That means we have to find more crystals!” “Woof!” Barky said as he leaped onto the table, again. “Woof woof woof woof!” “Again?!” David said, astonished, “bro, you are one clever dog.”

They put the crystal into the back of the Melting Sword. Then they set out once again.

When they arrived at Fido, everything changed. Hbu5 was in the robot, the robot had been remade in silver, and seemed stronger than before.

Luckily for our survivors, the robot’s melting temperature was now lower, being silver. Apsa raised one of his front paws, then a light came around him, then he immediately became a lion. With his new body, he snatched the Melting Sword, then lashed it out at the robot. And, to David and Barky’s surprise, the robot melted in the blink of an eye. But hbu5 wasn’t ready to give up. He pulled out a laser gun, the very same which had killed Boob.

Barky felt despair in his eyes. He didn’t want to suffer the same fate as Boob. However, his head was filled with confidence. He snatched the laser out of hbu5’s hand, then swung it at him, shattering him like glass. He knew his mission wasn’t just to kill hbu5. His mission was to destroy Fido, as a whole, for revenge. Food shortages, his owner, and his long-lost toys.

Luckily, he found a bomb nearby. He put that into the Fire Sword, with effortless work. Then, the sword got bigger and bigger until it was the size of Fido itself. Shaking it around, Barky managed to set Fido on fire, destroying the Ipsunian clones in the process. Mission complete.

As the survivors came back to Ipsu, Barky and Apsa weren’t sure what to do. David and the others stated they had a big home, and offered to let them stay there. They all agreed, and everyone lived happily ever after.