Stellas Journey: Episodes 1-11 - Transcripts

Stella's Journey Part 1

The last time we saw Stella, she was on the roof of a building with her brother Ben Ben. She needed to teleport them away from the awful GL army that was closing in on them. She could only teleport them one at a time, and she wasn't sure where they would end up or if they would even end up in the same place. Stella transported Ben Ben first. He blipped out of sight. Stella then teleported herself.

Ben Ben, as you might have guessed, was teleported to an island called the Valley, near a place called Valley Town.

Stella opened her eyes and saw thick, dense jungle. She looked around, hoping to spot Ben Ben. She knew it was like a one-in-a-million chance that they would be teleported to the same place, but still, she hoped.

Quietly, stealthily, she turned around slowly, peering through the foliage.

"Ben Ben," she whispered. "Ben Ben."

All she saw was thick forest—a dense collection of bushes, leaves, trees. She stood up carefully, slowly. She didn't know what was out there. She didn't even know where she was.

"Ben Ben," she whispered more.

A warm breeze moved through the jungle. Then—BOOM!—sounded in the distance. Then another. And another. Stella realized that these sounds were footsteps—big, earth-shaking footsteps—and they were getting closer.

The birds all around her perched in the trees took flight, and Stella realized that she should take flight as well. Stella stood straight up. She spun her head around again, this time searching for shelter. She saw not too far off in the distance a large, craggy, rocky hill—just a bit smaller than a mountain, but certainly larger than a hill.

The thundering stomps continued, and Stella took off. She ran as fast as she could. And the stomping grew nearer. Leaping over bushes and leaves as big as her entire body, she found a small dark cave tucked away in the huge hill.

The stomping grew closer and closer, and it was surely near the hill, not far from the safety of her small, dark hiding spot. She heard the sounds of a beast sniffing and rooting around. Stella sat and waited and waited until the dark of night. She waited, and the noises of the jungle became loud and angry. Stella hoped she hadn't accidentally taken some other creature's home—some creature who would return and find her there and try and take it back. She hoped Ben Ben was all right, and she hoped morning would come soon.

Morning did come. Stella slowly crept from her hiding place. Silently, she climbed and climbed to the very top of her hill—hundreds and hundreds of feet up in the air. Stella looked out upon this strange new world from way up high. She saw massive beasts roaming the land, huge birds of prey as big as a pirate ship circling the skies looking for their next meal.

Stella saw no villages, no plumes of smoke from campfires or chimneys, no sign of humans or towns or civilization. This was a land of carnivores, a dangerous place of wild animals and survival.

Stella knew Ben Ben wasn't here.

"I need to keep teleporting," she said to herself. "I have to keep going until I find Ben Ben, or someplace safe at least."

Stella breathed deep and slow to help focus her magic energy. She snapped her fingers and blipped someplace else, continuing her journey to one day be reunited with her brother Ben Ben.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 2

Last time on Stella's Journey, she tried teleporting to where Ben Ben was and it didn't work. She went somewhere, but it was a dangerous place and she was sure Ben Ben wasn't there. Stella has decided that for now, she will continue teleporting to different places until she is reunited with her brother Ben Ben.

Stella snapped her fingers and blipped into a dark place lit with torches. She was sitting on a stone floor that was damp and old. Stella looked around and saw that the walls and ceiling were also made of stone.

"This is some kind of ancient castle or dungeon," she said to herself.

Stella sat in the middle of a long hallway. Some torches hung on the walls and cast a faint glow. Stella looked in front of her. She looked behind her, wondering which way to go. She decided to go toward the end of the hall with the most light. She walked slowly, listening carefully for any sign of what was in these ancient halls with her.

She heard noises as she walked—all kinds of bad sounds, slithering sounds, and distant howling and growling. Stella continued to the end of the hallway and carefully peeked around the corner. She saw a large dark room. A few different hallways entered into this room, and an armored green cave troll walked in from one hallway and out through another.

Stella remained there, peering out, and noticed a number of other dangerous creatures come and go through this room. Wherever this place was, it was full of bad guys and it was dark and it was dangerous, and she saw no evidence that Ben Ben had been through this same place.

"Well," Stella whispered to herself again, "time to try it again."

Stella breathed deep and slow to help focus her magic energy. She snapped her fingers and blipped someplace else, someplace new.

Before Stella even opened her eyes, she could hear the gentle whooshing sound of the ocean. She smelled the salt of the water. She felt sand beneath her feet. Stella opened her eyes and gazed upon an island paradise. She sat upon a beach and looked out at the endless ocean.

Stella stood and was surprised that she could see all the way across the island to the other side. This was perhaps the smallest island she had ever seen. Stella walked all the way around the island. She was looking out upon the ocean for boats or other islands in the distance. She saw nothing but water. She heard no seagulls sounding off. Nothing. As beautiful as this island was, Stella was completely alone with no hope in sight for rescue.

She decided to rest here for a bit. She knocked down a few coconuts and had a snack. She even took a very relaxing nap in the shade of the palm trees. After she woke, she walked around the island once more, again seeing no sign of human life.

"Well," she said out loud, "as beautiful as this place is, it's time to go. Where are you, Ben Ben?"

Stella breathed deep and slow to help focus her magic energy, and she blipped someplace else, someplace new.

This time she woke in a very uncomfortable place. She was sitting in what seemed like a big pile of sticks high atop a mountain. She could see for miles in every direction. She saw more mountains, forests far below, rivers, and open fields. Whatever this place was, it was beautiful.

Large, round, smooth stones were in this pile of sticks with her, and Stella found that to be a bit strange. As she was investigating these oval-shaped stones, she heard a large shrieking sound from high above—something wild and animalistic, something angry.

Stella looked all around her now, a bit frantic. She was searching for the source of the sound, but also for a place to hide. High up in the blue, cloudless sky was a bird—but more than a bird. It was huge. Even from this distance, Stella could see long, sharp talons on its feet. Its body was dark green like a lizard, and its beak was more than a foot long.

In an instant, Stella figured it out. She wasn't in a pile of sticks. She was in a nest. These weren't oval-shaped stones near her—they were eggs. This big bird creature was heading straight for her, screeching so loud.

Stella scrambled out of the nest, climbing up the edge of loose sticks and leaves. She tumbled down the other side and fell hard on the stone. Stella stood up quickly and ran toward a small cave she saw in the distance. She knew she wasn't going to be able to outrun this huge bird.

This flying beast began to swoop down and grab Stella. Its huge prehistoric body cast a shadow around Stella, who dove to the ground at the last second. The bird flew by with enough speed that it created a breeze that ruffled Stella's clothes.

The bird was circling back to attack Stella again, and she knew it. She popped up to her feet and continued running toward the cave. She got there in time to see the bird land right at the entrance. Stella stumbled back into the darkness. The bird was too big to fit inside the cave, but it was shoving its beak into the opening and reaching in with its clawed feet, grabbing for the thing that had invaded its nest.

Stella relaxed a bit and sat against the wall of the cave. She caught her breath as the beast stomped outside and shrieked and flapped its wings angrily. A few minutes later, it hopped to the nest to check on the eggs.

Stella saw outside again through the cave opening. The sky was filled with these creatures now. They had been roused by the panicked shrieking of the bird attacking Stella. They were everywhere, and Stella noticed more and more nests along the ridge of the mountain. She was trapped. There was no other exit from this little cave, and leaving would expose her to countless hungry, carnivorous birds.

"Well, time to go again," Stella said to herself.

She sat for a moment to take in the view. This seemed like a nice place, and it probably was if you didn't consider the massive people-eating bird beasts. Stella was a little worried now. She was getting a little lonely, and more importantly, a little hungry. She needed to teleport to a place with people, some kind of civilization.

Stella breathed deep and slow to help focus her magic energy. She snapped her fingers and she blipped someplace else, someplace new.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 3

Stella opened her eyes and immediately squinted because of the bright sun. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she looked around. The sounds of a busy city bustled below her. Stella was on the roof of a building. All around her she saw city buildings and people and streets as far as she could see in almost every direction.

Stella had never been in a city so massive. She didn't know which direction to go or what to do. As she turned around on the roof of the building, she saw in the distance a large cluster of trees—the only area she could see that wasn't packed with buildings. She decided to go toward that area, hoping it was maybe a small forest where she could rest and collect her thoughts.

"Maybe I'll be able to rest and think a bit there in the trees," she said to herself.

Stella climbed down a ladder that was attached to the side of the building. She stepped down onto the ground in the alley. As she walked in the general direction of the trees, she was encouraged by the people talking around her. She could understand them. They were speaking the same language that she spoke, and Stella had considered the possibility that she'd teleport to a place where everyone spoke a different language than her—a language that she didn't know at all. She was so relieved to be able to understand everyone around her.

Stella had a new confidence now. For the first time since teleporting away from Ben Ben and her home, she was hopeful. She wandered through this new city, headed toward the forest she saw—or maybe it was just a park with lots of trees. She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she would be more comfortable in a place not so crowded.

On the way, Stella heard voices in an alley—angry voices, demanding voices. She slowed down as she approached the place where the alley opened into the street. She leaned around the corner, looked down the alley, and saw two big, tough-looking brutes. They were facing away from her. Stella couldn't see who they were talking to. It must have been a smaller person, but whoever it was had something they wanted and they were cornered.

"Just give us the stones, kid," said one of the brutes. "Give us the stones and we'll let you be on your way."

"But I don't have any stones," said a smaller voice. "I don't have any stones, okay? Just leave me be."

Stella was surprised to hear that this voice was unmistakably the voice of a child. These two grown men were threatening a child to give them some kind of stones. How awful. Stella couldn't stand for this. She couldn't just walk on by without doing something.

"You heard the kid," Stella said loudly as she rounded the corner. "Leave her be."

The two men turned slowly and faced Stella. They were rough-looking for sure—likely making their entire living taking things from other people and getting into fights and such.

"And what if we don't?" asked one of them with a crooked grin.

Stella held out her hand, used her magic to create a small flame just above her palm. The two bandits each took a step back but didn't entirely retreat. So Stella made the flame bigger and bigger until it was as big as her head. She pulled her hand back like she was going to throw the fireball down the alley.

"You can get out of here or you can eat fireball," said Stella. "The choice is yours."

The bandits realized there was no way they were taking on someone throwing fireballs. They grunted angrily and turned to leave. Before rushing off down the alley, the biggest of the two brutes looked down at the kid and said, "I see you again, you better have some magic stones for me."

Then the bullies jogged off down the alley and out of sight.

Stella approached the young girl who the thugs were threatening.

"Thanks," said the girl. "Hey, how did you do that? That thing with the fire in your hand?"

"I've always been able to do magic," said Stella.

"How many magic stones do you need to do that?" asked the girl.

"Hmm. Magic stones?" asked Stella. "I don't know what magic stones are."

"Wow. Doing magic without magic stones is super rare," said the girl. "I'm Clover. I know a lot about magic stones. It's what me and my brothers do. We're stone collectors."

Stella had no idea what Clover was talking about. "Oh, that's cool. I'm Stella. I'm new around here. I don't know about magic stones or anything like that."

"Are you visiting friends or family or...?" asked Clover.

"Well, I'm kind of just on my way somewhere," said Stella.

"Yeah, sure. Okay then. Well, you've got to let me return the favor," said Clover. "Come over for dinner and you can stay with us while you're passing through."

Stella didn't want to impose, but she really needed a home-cooked meal and a good night's sleep. And, you know, she did just save this girl from a couple bandits.

"That would be amazing," said Stella. "Maybe you can tell me about this place, about the magic stones and where you find them and everything."

Stella and Clover chatted all the way to Clover's home where she lived with her two brothers, Jude and Elliot. Stella was happy to be here and to have made a friend so quickly, but she knew her journey was only beginning. She was still focused on finding her brother Ben Ben. But until she found Ben Ben, maybe this place could be her home.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 4

Clover, Jude, and Elliot invited Stella to live with them. These three siblings who had lived on City Island their entire life made a living selling magical artifacts, and they would venture out into the caves of City Island hunting magic stones. They would then draw the magic from the stones and use it to make things that other people could buy.

They made things like Super Spice, which doubled the amount of food it was used in. They made magical dog leashes that walked dogs all on their own, and they made lotion that would grow your hair back. They made all kinds of medicines and cure-alls and handy things that people all over City Island loved to buy and use.

Stella had been living with them for a few months now and helped make the magical items. Recently they began running low on magic stones and needed to make a run to the caverns to get more.

"Alright, Elliot," said Clover. "You stay here and keep an eye on the house. We're gonna go get more stones and we'll be back later tonight."

Elliot nodded. He was a bit eager at being left in charge of the house.

Stella, Clover, and Jude packed up their gear and headed north to a small forest just outside the city. Most of City Island was covered in city—buildings, streets, and all that. The city had not grown into this small part of the island though, because it was dangerous. The creatures from within the caves sometimes roamed free in this little forest.

Well, Clover and Jude were very sneaky and they were usually able to find magic stones without needing to deal with any cave spiders or giant rats or anything. Lately though, they noticed more and more dangerous creatures in the cave tunnels. It was becoming quite dangerous for them to continue hunting the magic stones.

"Alright, guys," said Stella as they stood before the cave opening. "Let's just grab the first stones we see and head back home."

Clover and Jude agreed. The three kids snuck into the tunnels as quiet as mice. They made not a sound. Their heads turning from side to side, keeping an eye out for anything that might be out hunting. Each of them carried a small torch.

After a while in the darkness, Stella noticed something. She silently pointed down the tunnel where the glow of her torch was reflecting off of some magic stones. The trio sped up to the stones, which, like always, seemed to be growing from the stone floor of the caverns. The kids pulled out their small picks and hammers and tapped the stones to knock them loose. Soon their bags jingled with the sound of magic stones.

"Alright," said Stella. "Let's head back. This should be enough for a while."

Clover and Jude agreed. The three turned around to leave the way they came, and their torchlight reflected off something else. Now did they walk past more magic stones and not notice? Each of them held up their torches to get a better look, and they saw, blocking the entire tunnel, a huge cave spider. The reflections they saw was the torchlight shining off the beady eyes of the cave spider.

It chittered, making an odd sound. The three kids saw the legs of the spider ending in sharp points piercing the floor of the caves. They saw the mandibles in the spider's mouth moving and clicking. They were terrified.

"Run!" whispered Stella.

The three turned and ran through the dark tunnels of the caves. They knew their way around from having been here so many times, but racing away from this awful beast, they were bound to get turned around, confused, maybe lost. The sound of the spider's sharp claws tapping through the hallways echoed behind them. They were keeping pace for now, but the spider was faster than they were.

The kids turned a corner, hoping they could outmaneuver this spider and possibly make their way to the cave entrance. Once they turned the corner though, they could not continue. They skidded to a stop. Before them was another huge cave spider, so big that it completely blocked their path. There was no way around it. And behind them skidded the other spider.

They were trapped. They held their torches out toward the spiders, keeping them at bay. As their light shone down the tunnel, they saw more reflections. Behind the spiders were more round, shiny reflections. The kids noticed then that behind each of these two huge cave spiders were more huge cave spiders. They were totally trapped between two long lines of dangerous, hungry cave spiders.

"What do we do?" whispered Clover to Stella.

"The halls are full of them," said Jude. "We're outnumbered."

Stella knew there was no way out for them. There were too many cave spiders. Even with her magical powers and Clover and Jude, there was no way. Stella knew there was only one way for them to get out of this situation. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was their only hope.

"Group hug, you guys," said Stella. "Grab onto me. Hold on tight."

Clover and Jude had no idea what Stella was thinking, but they didn't have any better ideas. They grabbed onto Stella.

Stella had never been able to teleport to a specific place on purpose before. She was only ever able to teleport to a random place, and she had never teleported more than one person at a time. Stella needed to teleport her and Clover and Jude back to their house in City Island.

Stella breathed deep and slow to focus her magic energy. She stuck a hand in her bag and held onto the magic stones they gathered earlier. Stella thought hard about her new home in City Island. She snapped her fingers and blipped to someplace else.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 5

If you'll remember, the last time on Stella's Journey, she tried to teleport herself and two of her friends back to their hideout on City Island. She had never before been able to teleport to a specific place and never before more than one person at a time. But she figured it was better than being eaten by a cave spider, which was the alternative. So we rejoin Stella and her friends to see where they really are.

Stella and Clover and Jude squeezed each other tightly and closed their eyes. They heard a voice, a little voice, and it said, "Why are you hugging and where did you come from?"

They loosened their grips on each other and opened their eyes to see their home, and Elliot was there next to them.

"Elliot, you're here!" yelled Clover, and she knelt down and hugged her little brother.

"Uh, yeah, of course I'm here. I live here and so do you. That's why we're all here. Why are you acting so strange?" asked Elliot.

"We were about to be cave spider lunch, Elliot," said Jude. "Stella used her magic to teleport us back here."

"Ooh, nice one, Stella. You're really figuring out the teleporting thing, huh?" said Elliot.

"I guess so," said Stella. "I'm just glad that none of us got eaten."

The kids all agreed that not being eaten was a really good thing. Once everyone calmed down, the kids made dinner and got to thinking. Stella, Clover, and Jude were all thinking the same thing. Stella was the first to say it.

"You know, I don't want to go back in those caves anymore," she said. "Our trips to find magic stones have been getting more and more dangerous, and we barely made it out today. And what if my magic doesn't work just right the next time?"

Clover and Jude looked at each other. Clover said, "You're right. I don't know what we'll do without the magic stones, but it's just not worth it anymore."

"What do we do then?" asked Elliot. "How will we make money and pay for everything?"

"We'll figure something out, Elliot," said Jude.

"You know what I've been thinking?" said Stella. "What if you three came with me? We could sell everything that we have here and set off together—the four of us. You could join me in my search for Ben Ben."

Clover, Jude, and Elliot didn't answer right away. It was a big question. City Island was the only place they had ever known. It was their home, but they didn't really have any attachment to the place—no family they would be leaving. And they couldn't get magic stones anymore.

"Well, that's a lot to consider," Clover said as she looked to Jude and Elliot. "It's worth thinking about anyway."

The next morning, the three had made their decision. They would join Stella on her adventure. They figured it was time for them to move on from City Island and seek their destiny—or, you know, just travel a bit. And they were becoming a new family with Stella and wanted to help her find her brother.

The next few days, the kids sold nearly everything they owned, leaving only the things they needed to travel with—whatever would fit in a backpack. They bought tickets to travel on a boat to another island. The trip would take five days.

The day came when they all would set off on their journey. They said goodbye to their friends and boarded the boat to someplace new.

The boat they were traveling on was a merchant boat. It was a boat that carried goods from one place to another, buying and selling, and sometimes giving people rides. There were some other people who bought passage on this boat too. It was packed with boxes of things—all kinds of things: coffee beans, grain, wool, tools—all things the crew would try and sell at the next stop.

Stella, Clover, Jude, and Elliot were comfortable on the ship and had met some other kids too. It was turning out to be a nice trip.

On the third day of their five-day trip, the kids were down in the cafeteria playing cards with some other travelers. They heard yelling from up on the deck—loud, urgent yelling coming from the crew. Stella and the kids all ran up the stairs to the deck. The crew was running around frantically, pulling rope, readying weapons, yelling to each other.

Stella saw a crew member up in the crow's nest point off in the distance and yell, "They're closing fast! Fast!"

Stella ran to that side of the boat and saw a ship headed fast in their direction. The ship out at sea was twice the size of the ship she was on, and it was speeding through the water super fast. At the very top of this ship was a dark red flag.

"It can't be," thought Stella. "The Red Pirates."

She had heard of the Red Pirates but thought they were just a tall tale—just a scary story collected from ship's crews and boat passengers and embellished over the years. But there they were.

"Oh no," said Clover from behind Stella. "Pirates."

"Have you ever dealt with pirates before?" Stella asked Jude.

"No," she said.

Her mind was racing, thinking of all the ways they could get out of this. There was no land in sight. The other ship was twice as big with probably twice as many people on it. Bad people.

"Grab a weapon," Stella said to her friends. "There's a big shipment of swords down below. That ship will board us in just a few minutes."

"What should we do?" asked a couple other kids who happened to be traveling on the ship.

Stella turned and saw two kids standing, looking at her. They seemed to be waiting for instructions from her.

"Who are you?" asked Stella.

The older kid said, "I'm Eleanor and this is my younger brother Gordon. Are those really pirates coming this way?"

"Yeah," said Stella. "You two can go down to the hold and wait for things to settle. I'll come and get you once this whole pirate thing is over with."

"Certainly not," said Eleanor. "We are here to help, not hide."

Stella thought of herself and her brother Ben Ben, how they found the courage to fight back against the entire GL army and make it away safely. It wouldn't have turned out that way if they had just hidden. Eleanor and Gordon reminded Stella of herself and her brother Ben Ben.

"All right then, go down below and grab some weapons. Anything you know how to use, bring them up here. Got it?" said Stella.

"Got it," said Eleanor and Gordon together.

Stella saw the captain looking through a telescope at the pirate ship. She ran to him and asked, "Have you ever dealt with pirates before?"

The captain was startled and lowered his telescope to look at Stella. "I've dealt with many pirates through the years. I've fought some. The rest I've just paid off. But those pirates charging through the water coming straight for us—those are the pirates you never wish to see. The Red Pirates. And we can't outrun them and there's no land nearby. I don't know what we'll do."

"We'll fight," said Stella. "It's the only way."

Stella reached out and took the captain's telescope as he ran below to prepare his crew. Stella looked through the telescope at the pirate ship. Many pirates stood on its deck, wielding weapons and hollering and preparing the cannons.

"Cannons!" Stella shouted out loud in surprise.

The ship Stella was on didn't have any cannons. It was just a merchant ship.

"Their ship has cannons? No fair!" yelled Stella. "No fair, no fair! I'm sick of this—cave spiders and dinosaur birds and pirates with cannons. And I'm over it!"

Stella was stomping down the steps to the deck now, and her friends all saw her throwing a bit of a fit. Clover, Jude, Elliot, Eleanor, and Gordon all had handfuls of weapons—swords and daggers and bows and arrows. Stella knew that those weapons would do little good. Those kids didn't have experience fighting or wielding weapons. She looked out to the pirate ship closing in on them and gritted her teeth.

"Eleanor, Gordon, you two start a fire in a pot up here on the deck. Clover, you three go below and get some things to burn from the ship."

The captain then approached Stella. "Ah, you know you can't light a fire on a boat, right, dear? I do appreciate you're trying to help, but, you know, light and fires on wooden boats is an awful bad idea."

"It won't be a fire on our boat. It'll be a fire on their boat. Just keep out of line of those cannons," said Stella.

"You heard her, crew! Cut to starboard and don't let them see a broadside!" yelled the captain as he and his crew scrambled around on the deck doing sailing stuff.

Soon Eleanor and Gordon had a fire going in a cook pot right there on the main deck. Clover and the others brought up lots of wood from down below. Stella stood next to the edge of the boat and looked out to the pirate ship. She was going to try something completely new, something she had never done before, and she was hoping it would work.

Stella held out her hands—one hand open and pointed at the pirate ship out to sea, and the other hand open and pointed at the pot of burning wood. Stella closed her eyes to focus her magic. She snapped both fingers and poof! The burning wood from the pot disappeared completely. They heard yelling from the pirate ship and saw smoke coming from its deck.

"It worked!" yelled Stella. She had just teleported the burning wood to the deck of the pirate ship. "More!" Stella yelled. "More fire!"

The kids scrambled around trying to quickly light another fire in the pot. Meanwhile, the captain was frantically trying to zig and zag through the water. The pirate ship was so much faster. There was only so much he could do.

Soon the pirates lined up a shot and blasted a line of cannonballs right at the merchant ship. The balls whizzed over the deck, barely missing the mast.

The captain yelled down, "They're too fast! They'll have a line on us in another few minutes. I can't outmaneuver them!"

"Can you hold them off until their ship is burning?" asked Stella, wondering how much time she had.

"They put the fire out! They've got water pumps! It's not working!" yelled the captain, looking through his telescope.

"Stella, can't you just teleport the pirates off of their boat?" asked Eleanor.

"Off their boat to where?" asked Stella.

"To the water," said Gordon. "Just teleport them out to sea."

"I don't know," said Stella, and she really had no idea. Lately she had been pushing her teleporting powers to the limit, trying new things. She really was figuring it out, getting total control of her powers, but she didn't know if teleporting the pirates off the ship would work. But it was worth a shot.

"You're right, Eleanor. I've got to try. Captain, get close!" yelled Stella.

"Get close?" yelled the captain. "I don't want to!"

"Trust me!" Stella yelled back. "It's our only chance!"

The merchant ship cut back toward the pirate ship. Soon their cannons would unleash another barrage and certainly sink the merchant ship. Stella held her hands out toward the pirate ship and closed her eyes to focus her magic.

Stella had her eyes closed as she worked her magic, and she heard the distant splashing sounds. She could hear her friends around her cheering.

"They're gone!" said the captain, looking through his telescope. "Their deck is empty!"

Sure enough, out in the water was a large group of pirates splashing and yelling and swimming back to their ship.

"Wait a minute," said Clover. "They're just going to swim back to their ship."

"Nope. It's our ship now," said Stella. "Gather our things. I'm going to teleport us over before they swim back."

Clover, Jude, and Elliot ran below deck to get their things.

"Stella, can we go with you?" asked Eleanor.

"You and Gordon want to come with us?" asked Stella.

"Yeah," said Eleanor. "You'll need extra crew for that big boat."

"Definitely," said Stella. "Get your stuff."

Stella approached the captain. "We're taking their boat. You guys should get out of here."

"Thank you, Stella. We'd be in a deep bit of trouble without you," said the captain. "Good luck on your travels."

Stella went to her friends now waiting on the deck with their bags. "Everybody ready?" she asked.

Everyone nodded. She held out her hands and closed her eyes and blipped to the pirate ship. Everyone opened their eyes to find that they were, in fact, on the deck of the huge pirate ship. They could see the merchant ship nearby, turning away and setting off quickly. The pirates were still out in the water, swimming back to the boat.

"Mm. I'll lower a couple lifeboats for the pirates before we leave," said Jude. "We can't just leave them out there."

"Yeah," said Stella. "You're right. Drop two lifeboats and let's get out of here."

The kids dropped the lifeboats for the pirates and set sail for someplace new.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 6

Stella stood on the deck of the massive pirate ship, examining a map, thinking of where to go next.

"So where should we go next?" asked Clover, looking over her shoulder.

"I have no idea," said Stella. "I don't know anything about these places. Let's just head west for now. Follow the sun," said Jude. "We can spend some time checking out the ship and maybe find some clues about our next stop."

"Great idea," said Stella. "Everyone split up. Gather any important documents, maps, or clues that might help us get to the next safe place."

With that, everyone—Stella, Clover, Jude, Elliot, Eleanor, and Gordon—went below deck to check out this big boat. Once they reached the first level down, they all stopped. Suddenly they heard something and went quiet. They heard the sounds of pots clanging gently, silverware scraping on pans, and someone talking.

"There might be more pirates still on the boat," whispered Stella. "Let's stick together and search room by room."

So they all walked down the hall on their tippy-toes, trying not to make a sound. They followed the noises and reached an open doorway. Slowly, Stella craned her head around the edge to get a good look at who was in the room.

The room was a small kitchen space, crowded with stoves and tables and pots and pans. There were barrels of food and tables covered in cooking tools and serving dishes. Sitting on a stool in the middle of the room was a young boy. He was using chopsticks to eat a bowl of plain noodles, and he had an owl perched on his shoulder. The boy was distracted, flipping through the pages of a book laid out before him, and there was no one else in the room.

Stella looked back at her friends waiting in the hallway. She nodded her head as if to say, "It's okay to go in." Stella stood in the doorway now and said, "Who are you?"

The boy looked up and said, "I'm Emmett. Who are you?"

"I'm Stella. Are you a pirate?"

"Well, not really," said Emmett. "I'm the chef."

Emmett continued eating his noodles while talking with Stella and didn't seem too concerned about this new group of kids.

"Are there any more pirates below deck?" asked Stella.

"I don't think so," said Emmett between bites. "They all ran up top a bit ago, attacking and pillaging and generally being awful. I guess I needed to make some noodles though, and I guess I missed out on what was going on."

The kids now realized how hungry they were. With all the excitement, they hadn't thought about food much and their stomachs growled. Watching Emmett eat, he used his chopsticks and lifted a single noodle up to his shoulder. The little owl perched there leaned forward, snatched the noodle, and gobbled it up.

Then Emmett noticed everyone eyeing his bowl of noodles hungrily. "Where are my manners?" he said, standing up. "You guys want some noodles?"

The kids spent the next hour preparing more food and eating the meal together. They shared their experiences leading up to this meeting. Everyone learned Emmett's story. They learned that he's a traveling noodle master. He accepted the job on this ship without realizing they were a bunch of pirates. They've been keeping him here for a few weeks, refusing to let him go because his noodles are so good.

"Me and Ally probably would've escaped eventually," said Emmett. "But I sure am glad you guys are in charge now. You smell a lot better than those pirates."

"Well, you can go whenever you please," said Stella. "We're not keeping anyone against their will."

"Hmm. Where are you headed?" asked Emmett.

The group then looked around at each other. They were wondering the same thing.

"Well, we're not sure," said Stella. "I'm looking for my brother, but I have no idea where he is. I guess we were just going to wander from port to port."

"How about this," began Emmett. "Locked up below in the hold of this giant ship is all the stuff these awful pirates have been stealing and pillaging. I know where most of it came from, so we can look for your brother and return all this stuff to the places it got stolen from."

The kids looked around at each other again and figured this was a pretty great idea.

"This is a pretty great idea," said Jude.

"Do you know where the last place the ship was?"

"Oh yeah," said Emmett. "Come with me."

Emmett led his new shipmates deeper into the cargo hold of the ship where the pirates kept all their booty.

"Here it is," said Emmett, patting a huge stack of wooden crates. "The entire sprinkle harvest from Sprinkle Town. Worth a fortune. Really so sad though. They stole all the sprinkles right before the big Sprinkle Festival."

"Okay," said Eleanor. "You're gonna have to explain all this sprinkle talk."

"Well," began Emmett, "the city of Sprinkle Town lies on an island that grows the most delicious, exotic, amazing sprinkles you've ever tasted. Chocolate and vanilla sprinkles grow on trees. Chicken and bacon-flavored sprinkles are made by expert food chemists. Mint and coffee and lemon-flavored sprinkles grow in thick sprinkle bushes. There are endless flavors of sprinkles, and new ones are made or discovered every year. And every year, the city of Sprinkle Town holds the Sprinkle Town Festival. This year was supposed to be the biggest yet, but the pirates nicked their entire supply. It's all right here."

For the next few minutes, the kids walked around these stacks of wooden crates, reading all the endless flavors. There were hot dog sprinkles and marshmallow sprinkles. There were lavender sprinkles and saffron sprinkles. Sprinkles flavored like pickles and milk and orange and tuna.

"You're right, Emmett," said Stella. "We should try and return all this stuff, and along the way we can search for Ben Ben."

The crew agreed. They set course for Sprinkle Town right away, and they reached port within a couple days. They approached the port to a screaming, angry mob of sprinkle citizens.

"Oh yeah," said Stella. "Last time they saw this ship, they got robbed of all their sprinkles. I didn't think about that."

She stood at the front of the ship and yelled out to the people on the dock, but they couldn't hear her. There was too much shouting. Stella turned to the rest of the crew and shouted, "I'll be right back!"

She closed her eyes, focused her magic, and blipped right down to the docks. She teleported onto a stack of large wooden shipping crates. She turned to the mob of people and yelled, "We're not pirates! We just stole their ship. Well, we didn't steal it exactly. We just took it, you see. And, uh, what I mean to say is this ship belongs to us now, okay? But we're bringing back all the sprinkles the pirates stole. You see, that's why we're here."

And before Stella could even finish, the crowd erupted in cheers and whoops and hollers. The crowd then began to disperse and set up for the Sprinkle Festival, which they had only days before canceled due to lack of sprinkles.

Stella waved at the boat to let them know it was safe to dock. The crew began offloading the heavy wooden crates of sprinkles. The citizens of Sprinkle Town were elated. They were hugging the new crew and thanking them over and over for returning the goods. Everyone was so happy that the festival was back on.

"You could have kept them, you know," said a tall woman next to Stella.

Stella turned and said, "I guess, sure, but we're not pirates. We just happened to have a pirate ship. Maybe we should get it painted to avoid confusion in the future."

"I'm Harper. I'm the mayor of Sprinkle Town," said the woman. "Have you ever been to the Festival of Sprinkles before?"

"Oh yes, pardon me. I'm Stella. And no, I've never been here before, but we can't stay long, I'm afraid."

"Oh, you must," said Mayor Harper. "This year's Festival of Sprinkles will be held in honor of you and your crew. You'll be like royalty for the next few days. You really shouldn't miss it."

"We are absolutely not missing this, Stella!" yelled Clover as she was rushed into town by the joyful crowd.

Stella looked on as the rest of the crowd was welcoming her crew into town. Clover was right. They couldn't miss a Sprinkle Festival in their honor.

"I guess we will be staying after all," said Stella as Mayor Harper led her into town.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 7

Ever since the kids got to Sprinkle Town, they had been helping set up for the yearly Sprinkle Festival. They distributed all the stolen sprinkles to their rightful owners. Then they joined the townspeople in building the food stalls and setting up the tables. There was a lot of work to be done, and this was expected to be the biggest Sprinkle Festival yet.

The main streets of the town were now lined with booths and tables where people sold all kinds of things. One booth was Sprinkle Babies—sprinkle bottles that sold bottles full of sprinkles that had flavors of things kids loved, like chocolate and cotton candy, but they were really all made from spinach and kale.

One booth was called Barbecue Blasters, where they had barbecue-themed flavors like pulled pork and spicy chili. But instead of just eating them, they filled a little sprinkle cannon with your chosen flavor and blasted it into your mouth.

Another table was called Sprinkle Jam, where all these different jams were chock-full of sprinkles, and you bought toast and then slathered it with your favorite sprinkle jam. There was strawberry jam with vanilla ice cream sprinkles and vanilla jam with chocolate brownie sprinkles.

There were sprinkle-related games, carnival rides, and contests. It was pretty awesome.

Eleanor and Gordon were walking down Main Street together, checking it all out and trying some sprinkles that people offered them. The residents of the town of Sprinkle Town all knew Eleanor and Gordon and the rest of the crew by now, and someone approached Eleanor and Gordon and said, "Oh yeah, you two! It looks like we need help setting up one more booth down that way at the end of Main Street."

"Sure thing," said Eleanor. "We're on it."

The two walked to the end of Main Street to find the rest of the crew there waiting—Stella, Clover, Jude, Elliot, and Emmett. There was also a little crowd of residents there too, trying to look inconspicuous.

"Hey guys," said Gordon. "Is there one more booth to work on?"

"I'm not sure," said Stella. "We were all asked to meet up here for different reasons, and now it looks like there's no one here to give us any direction."

"Sorry I am late," said Mayor Harper as she emerged from the crowd. "The residents of Sprinkle Town and myself want to say thank you for all of your help. Without you returning the sprinkles and helping with all the last-minute setup, this festival would never have happened."

The crew now noticed that the crowd of Sprinkle Town residents around them had grown. They were entirely surrounded now by a very large group of people all watching the mayor's announcement.

Mayor Harper continued, "And so we've agreed to gift you your very own Sprinkle Town Festival booth. Feel free to theme it however you like, and you can use any sprinkles you find in storage and anything else you need from the kitchen in Town Hall. Thank you so much."

With this announcement, Mayor Harper lifted a hand and gestured to a nearby empty booth. The crowd of townspeople cheered and Stella and her crew were genuinely surprised. They began checking out the booth and coming up with ideas for the sprinkle theme they would use.

Stella approached Mayor Harper. "This is incredible. Thank you so much."

"It wasn't even my idea," said Harper. "The rest of the townspeople really felt the need to show their appreciation."

"Well, it's amazing. As if this journey wasn't memorable enough," said Stella. "I do need to ask for a simple favor though."

"Anything," said Mayor Harper.

"Well, if we intend to return all the things the pirates stole, then I think we're going to need to paint the boat," said Stella. "And maybe get a better flag."

"Of course," said Mayor Harper. "Can't go floating off looking like pirates everywhere you go."

While Stella and Harper picked out paints for the boat, the rest of the crew went to work figuring out what their booth would be offering up during the festival.

Later that day, the crew and the townspeople were all eating together at a big potluck dinner. The crew was excited to know the new color of their ship, and Stella was excited to know all about their new sprinkle booth.

"Okay, well, there were lots of colors to choose from," began Stella. "But eventually I decided to paint the boat in such a way that it could not possibly be mistaken for a pirate ship. We put on a few coats of bright white paint and then added big purple polka dots."

The crew thought this was the best possible paint job for their ship.

"And what about you guys?" asked Stella. "How did the sprinkle booth end up?"

"Well," said Clover, "the idea was mostly Emmett's. So Emmett, do you want to tell Stella what we decided?"

Emmett piped up. "Well, I'm excited to announce the name of our very first sprinkle booth is Sprinkle Explosion. We will be offering up an incredible selection of sprinkle bombs made by rolling different ingredients together to create a round, layered dessert. For example, our flagship mixture will be a spoonful of peanut butter rolled in vanilla sprinkles, dipped in chocolate, rolled in powdered sugar, rolled in cereal, dipped in chocolate, rolled in peanut butter sprinkles, rolled in toasted oatmeal, dipped in white chocolate, and triple-rolled in a mixture of chocolate and double chocolate sprinkles."

"Whoa," said Stella. "That's intense. I can't wait to try one."

For the rest of the meal, the crew took turns coming up with wild flavor combinations that they could offer during tomorrow's festival.

Everyone had a great time at the festival. The Sprinkle Explosion booth ended up being one of the most popular. By the end of the festival, everyone was exhausted from making so many sprinkle bombs, and they were also pretty full from trying all the other sprinkle things. The crew agreed that the days of this festival were some of the best of their lives.

But nothing gold can stay, and eventually it was time for the crew to depart. They had packed the ship with supplies and were saying goodbye to a large group of Sprinkle Town residents near the dock. The crew was hugging new friends they'd made, promising to write or one day return to visit.

"Well, Captain Stella," said Mayor Harper, "where to next?"

Stella paused, a little taken aback at being called Captain. "Um, well, after reviewing all the stolen stuff down in the hold, I think our next stop is someplace called Golden to return a bunch of stolen gemstones. Then there's a place called Burrow where we need to return these weird carrots. And then a place called the Valley where a bunch of technology appears to have been stolen from a town called Power Island, I think. And after that, I don't know, we'll see."

"Well, it's good to have a plan," said Mayor Harper. "Thank you again and good luck to you."

Stella and her crew returned to their ship a few pounds heavier and ready for adventure. Actually, they were ready for a nap, but after the nap, definitely adventure.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 8

After leaving Sprinkle Town, the crew was on their way to an island called Burrow, where they were returning many huge wooden crates filled with carrots—or what looked like carrots. They were bigger than normal carrots, some as big as a baseball bat, and they were all colors of the rainbow, and some were sparkly. The crew really knew very little about these big super carrots, but the location of their origin was stamped right there on the wooden crates, so they were going to return them.

As they approached the docks of Burrow, Stella ran their flag up the flagpole. It was white with multicolored polka dots.

"It sure is nice they're not attacking us," said Emmett. "This new paint job was a great idea."

"Totally agreed," said Eleanor. "Not being attacked is one of my favorite things."

They docked the ship and Stella left to find the dockmaster while the rest of the crew began unloading the heavy crates of unique carrots. Stella noticed a woman holding a clipboard and giving orders. She rightfully assumed that this was the dockmaster and she approached her with the good news.

"Excuse me. Hello, I'm Stella. We are here to return some carrots, I think. Some Red Pirates must have stolen them from here not long ago, and my crew is unloading them now. Where would you like us to put them?" said Stella.

"The carrots?" said the dockmaster in disbelief. "You've got the carrots?"

The dockmaster looked over Stella's shoulder to where the crew was unloading the crates and stacking them near the gangplank. She ran to the crates and opened some of them up and pulled some carrots out of the boxes to inspect them.

"The carrots! They've brought the carrots back! Notify the generals!" yelled the dockmaster to the laborers around her.

Everyone scrambled down to the ship and carried the crates up into the warehouses that lined the shipyard. While the carrots were being moved inside, the dockmaster walked back to Stella.

"Where did you get these?"

"They came with the ship," said Stella. "I mean, they were in there when we... well, uh, this ship used to belong to the Red Pirates, but, well, it's ours now. And all this stuff was in the hold down there and we were certain they stole it."

"Of course they stole it," said the dockmaster. "And our battle bunnies are weak. They're getting decimated up at Battle Beach, and this shipment of power carrots could save the day. Help me haul them up north. I'll tell you all about it on the way. We've got to hurry."

Stella and her crew loaded the many crates of carrots onto wagons that were pulled by massive bunnies. These rabbits were as big as horses. Some of the citizens fed these huge bunnies some of the carrots they had just delivered. The rabbits pulled the wagons filled with people and loaded with carrots north to a beach, the place they called Battle Beach.

On the way, the dockmaster introduced herself and told Stella what was going on.

"I'm Harrison. A few weeks ago, the Red Pirates came in the night and took every power carrot we had in storage. They took them in the dark of night and we didn't even know about it until the next day. And the very next day, the land sharks attacked at Battle Beach—the biggest land shark army in recent memory. And our battle bunnies don't have nearly enough power carrots to keep them going. We're growing more, sure, but it takes time. We've been fighting off the land sharks, but things are looking grim. These power carrots are just what we need to fight the land sharks back into the ocean," she said.

"When you say land shark, you mean...?" asked Stella.

"A land shark. You know, they're like regular sharks but with longer fins, and they can breathe in and out of water. They use their overgrown fins to pull themselves along the ground, and their tail fins are so strong they can even stand up and fight. They launch themselves into battle, chomping anything that gets in their way. Land shark attacks are nothing new here on Burrow, but we usually have powered-up bunnies to fight them off."

"Whoa," said Stella. "This is heavy."

It didn't take long for the crew to arrive at Battle Beach. There was a tall hill surrounding the beach, so when the wagons got there, they circled up at the top and everyone could see down into the battle. And it was grim for sure. Land sharks were everywhere and the battle bunnies fighting looked exhausted. Once the land sharks won the beach, they would certainly begin chomping their way into town.

"See there," said Harrison, pointing down to the battle. "Normally our soldiers would be riding the bunnies, but they're too weak to allow a rider now. Everyone, quick! Take the carrots down to the bunnies!"

Everyone who had come along ran down into the sandy battleground. Some people were a bit afraid and they stood back and threw the carrots into the fight. Stella and her crew each grabbed huge carrots—the biggest ones, the ones too big for throwing. Eleanor, Gordon, Emmett, Clover, Jude, and even little Elliot each grabbed the heaviest carrot they could carry, and they rushed into battle.

The bunnies began to take notice. The sounds of rabbits eating carrots—the crunch, crunch, crunch—began to fill the beach. Now the soldiers were having trouble fending off the land sharks while the bunnies ate. The sharks were simply too big.

Emmett, with Ally on his shoulder, slid next to an exhausted-looking bunny and dropped the carrot in front of it. Its eyes opened wide and it crunched loudly, and in three big bites the carrot was gone. Emmett was so distracted being next to this massive rabbit that he didn't notice the land shark coming up behind him. Just as the shark opened its mouth to chomp him down whole, Stella yelled, "Emmett, behind you!"

Emmett reacted quickly, and without looking behind him, he jumped in the air, landing right on the back of the battle bunny who by now had eyes blazing red with anger and energy. Emmett gripped onto the rabbit's fur, and before he had a chance to slide off, the rabbit leaped toward the shark and delivered a devastating bunny kick to the snout. The shark flopped onto its side, and the bunny rushed off to the nearest foe with Emmett riding on its back.

The rest of the crew continued to deliver carrot after carrot onto the beach, and soon the enraged bunnies were power-kicking the land sharks right back into the ocean. Once the last of the ocean beasts were driven to the water, everyone dropped to the sand and sat, catching their breath, thoroughly exhausted.

"Hey, Captain," said Emmett. "Maybe next time we make a delivery, we just, you know, drop it off at the dock and move on."

"I don't know, Emmett," said Stella. "You may have found your calling as a battle bunny rider. You looked pretty good out there."

Dockmaster Harrison approached Stella and her crew there on the beach. "If it weren't for you returning these carrots, the entire island of Burrow may have been overrun with land sharks. We are in your debt. Join us tonight for a post-battle feast in your honor."

The crew was so absolutely famished by now that they gladly accepted this invitation to dinner. And what a feast it was! Tables and tables filled with mountains of the finest foods.

"You know," said Clover, "I could get used to this life. And maybe once we return all the stuff in this ship, we steal another pirate ship and return everything in that one too. It's like everywhere we go, we are the guests of honor."

The crew agreed that for now, this adventure suited them just fine. They stayed in Burrow for the night, packed up the next morning, and continued on their journey.

"Where to next, Captain?" asked Jude as everyone was preparing the ship.

Stella consulted her notes and replied, "Oh, it looks like west of here—a place called Golden—to return all those gemstones down there. And then after that, someplace called the Valley. For now, I'm just hoping we won't need to fight off any land sharks at Golden."

The End

Stella's Journey Part 9

Stella and her crew left the island of Burrow and headed for the Island of Gold. Now, this time they were returning large wooden crates filled with gemstones and bars of brightly colored metals and jewels. All of these valuables were probably worth enough to buy a fleet of ships.

This trip was quite uneventful though. They returned the merchandise and the citizens thanked them. The crew was not invited for a dinner in their honor. They were not showered with gifts and praise, and that was okay with them. A good night's sleep and a quick resupply, and they were back on the water, headed to a place called the Valley—a place none of them had ever been.

"Remind me what we're returning to this place," said Captain Stella as she examined a map up on the deck.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," said Emmett. "It's a bunch of electronics and stuff. I can't tell what it's used for, but it all looks pretty advanced."

"The map here shows that the town it was stolen from—a place called Power Island—is inland quite a bit," mentioned Stella. "We won't just be sleeping near the docks for this one. We'll have to travel into the island a bit. Eleanor and Gordon, prep some overnight bags for our journey. Emmett, can you make a few days' worth of food for us? Clover, here's the map—continue this course here. And Jude and Elliot, you two come with me to the hold so we can pack up all these electronics."

And so the crew got busy preparing for their visit to the Valley.

Stella and her crew arrived at a small port town in the Valley called Little Village. Everyone was gathered on the deck with their backpacks laid out and ready.

"Alright, crew," Stella began. "There are too many electronics here on this ship for us to carry all the way to Power Island, so we're gonna leave it all here on the ship. We'll get to Power Island and figure out who all this belongs to, and then we'll bring them back to the ship to get all their stolen things back."

The crew figured this was a good idea since they were already weighed down with their travel gear. They locked up the boat and began walking along a small dirt road further into the island of the Valley.

It was a nice day and the crew was happy they weren't getting rained on. Based on the map they were using, the town of Power Island was near the middle of the island. Since they were traveling on foot, it was going to take them two days to reach Power Island.

After many hours of walking, they stopped near a small forest and set up camp. Each crew member had their own tiny tent and they lined up their tents just inside the trees, not too far from the road. After a good night's sleep, they continued their journey.

Halfway through the day, they stopped at a small village for something to eat. They were very tired and very hungry, and the first store they passed in town was called Hooper's Goofballs. They had no idea what a goofball was, but the sign said they had food, so the group entered and promptly sat down, giving their legs some much-needed rest.

Stella approached the counter and asked, "Hey, what's good here?"

The man behind the counter answered, "Well, goofballs are our specialty. That's what most people order anyway."

"Perfect," said Stella. "Lots of water and some goofballs for me and my friends, please."

The crew sat in silence for a bit, some of them even nodding off, waiting for the food. A short time later, the server came out with their food. A plate was placed in front of each person, and even though they were all quite hungry, no one started eating. On their plates was a big, lumpy, gloopy, ball-shaped brown thing. It looked like a giant meatball covered in shiny dark brown gravy.

"Is this a meatball covered in shiny dark brown gravy?" asked Emmett.

"Nope, that there's a goofball," said the server.

"I guess I should have asked when I ordered, but what specifically is in a goofball?" asked Stella.

"Well, let's see. It's a candy bar melted down and shaped into a ball, dipped in chocolate, wrapped in cotton candy, dipped in chocolate again, rolled in sprinkles, dipped in chocolate again, dusted with powdered sugar, dipped in chocolate again, rolled in cereal, dipped in chocolate again, slathered in peanut butter, dipped in chocolate again, dipped in caramel, dipped in chocolate again, dipped in chocolate again, dipped in chocolate again, with a cherry on top. But we ran out of cherries. Sorry about that."

Once they established that these were not mystery meatballs covered in weird gravy, they dug in and gobbled up their goofballs. Since they were going to be on the road for a while, they each ordered a second goofball. And you know, it was always nice to support the local economy, so they went ahead and each ordered a third goofball. And because, you know, they had never even seen a goofball before and thought maybe this would be their only chance to get one, they ordered a fourth goofball.

And about halfway through the fourth goofball, they realized that eating this much sugar was a terrible idea. But they didn't want to be wasteful, so they went ahead and finished them. It was tough, but they did get back on the road to Power Island.

"I think I'm sweating chocolate," said Emmett.

"I am truly unwell," said Clover, holding her belly.

"I have a chocolate goofball baby in my tummy and it's angry," said Gordon.

"Yeah, that was maybe one too many goofballs," said Stella. "But just a few hours of walking and we'll be there."

The rest of the trip did take a bit longer than expected. Everyone was walking quite a bit slower with bellies full of goofballs, but they eventually reached the town of Power Island. A large, brightly lit neon sign marked the entrance into town. As the group walked down Main Street, they saw electronics everywhere. All the stores had lighted signs in the windows. Robots lifted and carried and worked. Solar panels reflected sunlight from every roof. Citizens from all over were milling about, shopping for new technology.

"Uh, hey Captain, where do you think we should go?" asked Clover.

"I'm not sure. Just keep an eye out for someplace that looks official, you know, a town hall or something," answered Stella.

Soon they noticed a building with a big sign that read "Power Island Tech Center."

"Well," said Stella, "let's start here."

The group entered and were met by a shiny metal robot that said, "Hello and welcome to the Technology Center of Power Island, home to research and development leading to many scientific advances. How may I help you?"

"Uh, well, I think we're just looking for someone in charge," said Stella.

"Of course. One moment, please," replied the robot, and it walked off out of sight.

Soon, a smallish, oldish man in a white lab coat shuffled into the room.

"And you wanted someone in charge? I am in charge. I am Victor, head engineer of Power Island. What do you need?" the man said.

"Well, it's kind of a long story I guess, but the short version is that we have a pirate ship that was filled with stolen pirate stuff, and we are returning all this stuff. And included in all the stuff was a bunch of—we don't even know—a bunch of technology, and the name of this town was stamped on the crate. So we are here to find out who to return this stuff to," said Stella.

"You have a pirate ship?" asked the man. "How do you just have a pirate ship?"

"Uh, well, I guess you could say we stole it," answered Stella. "But we figured they were evil Red Pirates and we are good guys, and we decided to return all the stolen stuff. So that kind of, you know, kind of makes it all right, I guess."

"Red Pirates, you say?" asked Victor, and his eyebrows raised up and he looked at the group a bit more closely. "No small feat to defeat those guys. They are bad dudes. And yes, there was a very important shipment of technology stolen recently, and I suspect that's it. It is very honorable of you to return these things. Do you have them?"

"Well, no," answered Stella. "It's all back at the ship. We didn't want to drag it all here without really knowing who it belonged to, but we can just take you back and pick it up."

"Ah yes, take me back, pick it up. Of course. I will bring many robots to help us. This is area and I will contact some ninjas to accompany us, just in case," said Victor.

"Ninjas? Just in case?" wondered Stella.

"Yes, yes, just in case. Perhaps cave trolls or bandits wandering about on our way there or our way back. And the technology is quite valuable and rare, so we go first thing tomorrow morning as a big group. You must stay here in town for the night. Get some good sleep and meet me here in the morning. Goodnight," said Victor.

And with that, he hustled back into his laboratory, mumbling some sciency stuff.

"Well, crew," said Stella, "looks like we're staying here for tonight. I guess we should go find some place to—"

"I will accompany you to your destination. The Power Island Tech Center will pay for your rooms and meals. Follow me, please," the robot from earlier interrupted Stella and began walking outside.

"Uh, well, I guess we follow this thing," said Stella.

They followed the robot outside and it led them to a lovely little hotel where they had wonderful sleep and a delicious dinner. But they all skipped dessert.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 10

They were up bright and early and on the road, headed back to their ship. Victor was accompanied by three robots who silently marched behind him. The robots carried all their gear and they made great time. Eventually, they reached the same small village where the crew had gotten so stuffed on goofballs the day before.

"Alright then," began Victor. "They're going to meet the ninjas here in a little bit. Is anyone hungry? There's a little shop here called Hooper's Goofballs, and they sell the most delicious—"

"Sorry to interrupt, Victor," said Stella, "but we got so stuffed on goofballs yesterday, I don't think we could eat another one for as long as we live."

Well, Stella was wrong about that. They each ended up eating another goofball, but only one this time. And the weather was so nice that they all sat outside to wait for the ninjas Victor had called to meet them.

Shortly, two ninjas arrived on scooters. They buzzed into town and stopped near where the group was waiting. Victor greeted them.

"Thank you so much for meeting us, ninjas. I appreciate your help. Belise, Tatiana, this is Stella and her crew. They are the ones trying to return the Red Pirates' stolen booty."

"We're happy to help," said Belise. To Stella, she said, "It's pretty great of you guys to bring that stuff back. You'll have to fill me in sometime on how you got that ship from the Red Pirates in the first place. But for now, I think you should take us to the docks and we'll make sure the stuff gets back to Power Island safely."

Everyone agreed and Stella led the group back to the small oceanside village where their ship was docked.

Tatiana slowed the group down once they reached the town. She was looking all around with her eyes narrowed, like she was suspicious of something.

"Slow down, everyone," said Tatiana. "Something's not right."

The group then all started looking around, trying to notice something out of place, trying to figure out what the ninjas were so concerned about. The villagers of this town were nowhere to be seen. The streets were eerily empty. And as they neared the docks, they could see many more ships floating out at sea—pirate ships, all flying the red flag.

Just then, a man exited one of the shops on Main Street and walked into the middle of the road. Stella recognized this man as the captain of the pirate ship they stole.

"Uh-oh," said Stella.

"Uh-oh?" asked Tatiana. "Uh-oh what? What uh-oh?"

"That's the captain of the pirate ship we stole," said Stella, pointing to the man.

He must have heard her because he yelled back, "Yes! Captain of the pirate ship you stole! And we're here to steal it back! You have underestimated the Red Pirates, my dear, and you'll pay for it! And no number of ninjas or robots can save you from your fate now!"

The pirate captain raised his hand and gave a signal. Before anyone else could respond, more pirates stepped out from their hiding places. They stepped out from behind barrels and from around corners. They stepped out of stores and buildings and walked out into the street. Some were even on top of the buildings lining Main Street, and they stood up as well. Behind them, more pirates slunk out from the shadows and surrounded them. The many pirate ships out to sea were apparently watching through their telescopes, and they began sailing toward the docks.

Victor pulled a small metal device from his pocket and spoke into it. He then walked into the street to face the former pirate captain.

"I have just contacted the rest of the ninjas, and they'll be here any minute," said Victor, holding up his little communication device. "Between those ninjas and these robots, you and your pirate friends don't stand a chance. Your best course of action is to leave here and never return."

Victor motioned to his robots and they walked into the street behind him. Whirring and clicking sounds came from their metal bodies and their robot eyes glowed red. All at once, the three robots said, "Battle mode engaged."

"If it's a fight you want, then we'll oblige," said Tatiana. "But it won't end well, I can assure you."

Belise pulled out both of her swords and Tatiana prepared her bow. All the pirates revealed their weapons and Stella's crew readied themselves. The pirates began closing in on them now, and the heroes were outnumbered about three to one. That's not counting the many pirate ships out to sea that were making their way into the docks.

Quietly, Emmett reached into his pocket and pulled out a few pieces of a magical carrot. Back at Burrow, the dockmaster had given Emmett one of the magical carrots, firmly telling him to only use it in an emergency. Emmett figured this was just such an emergency. He lifted a few pieces of the glittery, sparkly red carrot to Ally's beak. Ally preferred meat, but he made an exception here and gobbled up the carrot pieces.

The Red Pirate captain yelled an awful yell. "Red Pirates, attack!"

And the heroes were beset upon all sides by the vicious band of pirates. At that moment, Ally—who had somehow grown to three times his usual size and was nearly as big as a person—spread his wings and took off into the air. He arced high and then swooped down, aiming right for the pirate captain.

"Get him, Ally!" yelled Emmett.

Ally's sharp talons slashed at the pirate captain. The captain swung his sword in defense, trying to swat this massive feathered beast.

"Get this thing off of me!" he yelled out to his fellow pirates.

Tatiana shot arrows up at the pirates on top of the buildings, and Belise used both of her swords to keep other pirates away. Stella and her crew were battling with weapons they got from the pirate ship. Clover, Jude, and Elliot all had matching swords. Eleanor and Gordon had cool bo staffs. And Emmett was fighting off pirates with two huge ladles from the kitchen. You might think ladles are not a good choice for combat, but Emmett was holding his own.

Victor's robots were spinning and kicking and flipping all over at great speed. They were incredible to watch, and if it weren't for them, the pirates would surely have overwhelmed the heroes already.

While fighting off pirates, Clover mentioned to Stella, "Hey, there's about 15 ships out to sea there, headed for this fight. And if there are 20 pirates in each ship, then we can expect 300 more pirates in this battle in about 10 minutes. We can't win this fight, Captain."

Stella glanced out to sea and noticed the pirate ships continuing to sail in toward the docks. There was no way they could fight off all those bad guys. The Red Pirate captain was right—they had underestimated the Red Pirates, and now they were in trouble.

Stella realized she needed to use her magic to get out of this. Stella held out her hands and focused her magical energy, and a group of pirates blipped right out of sight. Her crew looked around, surprised to find their enemies suddenly disappear. They looked up and saw the pirates high up in a tree. A couple of them were starting to climb down, but most were too afraid to move, holding on tightly to their branches.

The heroes continued the fight. Soon Stella heard the distinct buzzing sound of more ninja scooters. She was engaged in battle with the pirates and couldn't turn around, but she was comforted knowing some other ninjas had arrived.

Momo, Ben Ben, Tim, and Ray hopped off their scooters and rushed into battle. Stella used her magic to blip a few more pirates up into the trees, and Ben Ben saw them disappear and then reappear among some branches high above. He only knew of one other person with the ability to teleport other people. He looked around the battlefield now. He didn't even really know much about the situation. He just knew they got a call from Victor about some super emergency at Little Village, and they left right away.

Then he spotted her, and he couldn't believe it. Ben Ben called out, "Stella!" from across the road.

Stella heard Ben Ben's voice. She hadn't heard that voice in so long and she didn't believe it was him at first. She turned, and there he was—Ben Ben, except a ninja.

She turned around and Ben Ben saw her, and there she was—Stella, except a ship's captain.

"Ben Ben!" yelled Stella.

"Stella!" yelled Ben Ben.

And they raced to the middle of the battlefield and hugged so tight they squeezed tears right out of each other's eyes.

"I missed you so much, Stella. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again," said Ben Ben.

"I missed you too, Ben Ben. I can't believe it's really you. This is all so crazy," said Stella.

"Yeah, what are you doing here anyway?" asked Ben Ben.

"It's a long story," said Stella. "Let's defeat these pirates and I'll tell you all about it later."

Belise, Tatiana, and Ally had been fighting the ship's captain this whole time. He was pretty tough, but no match for all these ninjas. Finally, Ally grabbed the pirate captain by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. He flailed around trying to get at Ally with his sword. Higher and higher Ally lifted him in the air until the captain was so scared he dropped his sword and begged to be lowered back to the ground.

"Oh, stop! No higher! No higher! Put me down! What kind of awful fighting is this? Put me down, please!"

By now the ninjas and robots and ship's crew had fought back the pirates, and the battle had quieted. Ally lowered the captain to the ground and he sat slumped over, trying to compose himself. The other pirates nearby stopped fighting, afraid they would be the next ones teleported up into a tree.

"Alright then," said Tatiana. "You're done here. Get your men and get out. Don't ever come back to the valley."

The pirate captain began laughing maniacally.

"It's not me you need to worry about now," he said. "It's them."

And he pointed down to the docks where the entire fleet of pirate ships was now unloading. The heroes watched as hundreds of pirates began climbing off their ships and flooding up the main street to battle them.

The pirate captain then turned to Stella. "You'll regret the day you—"

"Nope," interrupted Stella, and she used her magic to blip the pirate captain high up into a tree where he instantly hugged the trunk in fear.

"That's great, Captain Stella, but what do we do about those guys?" Emmett asked, pointing down the road at the overwhelming mob of Red Pirates coming their way.

There were about 300 pirates and only 17 heroes—18 if you counted Ally.

"I think I've got a plan," said Stella, and they all crowded around to listen as Stella quickly let them in on the idea that would save them all.

The End

Stella's Journey Part 11

Last time on Stella's Journey, our group of heroes was watching as the entire Red Pirate crew—all 300 of them—were storming up the road from the docks. The heroes couldn't take on all the pirates, but Stella had a plan. She waved everyone over and they quickly huddled up and listened.

"Alright everyone, I've got a plan," Stella began. "You've got other dojos and heroes on the island, right?"

"Definitely," answered Momo. "But they're all too far away to get here in time."

"If someone can point out their locations on this map," Stella pulled out the map they used to get to Power Island, "then I can teleport there and then teleport the heroes back here with me. Then I can do it again and again until all the island's heroes are here fighting with us."

"I'll go with you," said Momo. "The heroes of the valley don't know you and certainly wouldn't agree to go with you if you just blipped out of nowhere and were like, 'Hey, let me teleport you to some danger up in Little Village. Trust me, it's totally cool. I'm Ben Ben's sister.'"

"Well, first of all, I don't sound like that," said Stella. "And second of all, yeah, that's a good idea."

"Well, hang on now," interrupted Ben Ben. "Stella, the last time you teleported away, you... I mean we... what if it happens again? What if you teleport away to someplace? I mean, what if you can't control it?"

Stella realized that Ben Ben had no idea of her travels. He had no idea how her powers had grown and her teleporting abilities had improved. Ben Ben's memory of Stella's teleporting was bad. It was a bad memory, and of course he wouldn't want her to try it again.

"I mean, it's one thing to teleport pirates up into trees," continued Ben Ben. "But I can't lose you again, Stella."

"You won't, Ben Ben," said Stella. "It's not like before. I've got complete control over my powers now. And I've got a little boost I've been saving for just such an emergency."

Stella reached into her bag and pulled out some magic stones she'd been saving. Everyone looked on in surprise as the stones glistened and glowed in Stella's hands.

"You kept some magic stones?" said Clover.

"I did," said Stella. "And I think they'll give me just the boost I need."

"We don't have time for this," said Momo. "Those pirates will be up that hill in minutes. Here, hand me that map."

Momo stood next to Stella and pointed out three different locations on the map. "Here, here, and here," he said. "You think you can make those?"

"I know I can," said Stella. "Let's go."

Stella closed her eyes to focus her magic, and in a flash, she and Momo disappeared. The heroes all looked a bit stunned, seeing Master Momo and Stella disappear so suddenly like that. Clover moved closer to Ben Ben, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be back," said Clover. "Trust me."

Meanwhile, Stella and Momo blipped into sight among a ninja training grounds. Stella looked around and saw clowns.

"Momo, where are we?" whispered Stella as the clowns silently began walking toward the heroes.

"Don't worry," said Momo, and he ran to the clowns. "Alright, clown ninjas, I know this is gonna sound crazy, so here goes. This is Ben's sister Stella. She's magic and has the power to teleport people, and she's teleported us here so we can teleport all of you up to Little Village where the entire band of red pirates are attacking the Valley Town Ninjas as we speak. And if you don't come help out, we are doomed and there's no more time to explain. So what do you say?"

The clown ninjas all silently crowded around Stella and Momo. Stella was a little nervous about the whole thing. She didn't even know clown ninjas existed before about five seconds ago. One of the clown ninjas nodded its head and squeezed its clown nose.

Honk!

Momo was perhaps the most respected hero in the valley. Any other ninja would follow him wherever and whenever he asked. Momo turned to Stella and nodded his head.

Stella closed her eyes once again and used her magic to blip herself and Master Momo and all the ninjas from the Clown Dojo back to Little Village. They popped into view just as the Red Pirates crested the hill and engaged the others in battle.

The red pirate numbers were overwhelming. The clown ninjas were professionals, and as soon as they blipped into sight at Little Village, they pulled out their duck bombs and threw them into the crowd of pirates. These were smoke duck bombs, and they exploded into a huge cloud that caused the pirates to choke and cough and rub their stinging eyes.

"Stella, let's go!" urged Momo.

And again, she used her magic to blip them to the next place on the map. This time they found themselves in another ninja dojo training area, but there was no one around.

"Momo, is everyone gone?" asked Stella, looking around.

"Nope," said Momo. "They're just really good at hiding. Ninjas, come on out! We really need your help!"

Slowly, the ninjas of the Southern Swamps Dojo crept into view. They were expertly hiding behind trees and training equipment and buildings. They were all right there, close to Momo and Stella, but completely hidden.

"What do you need, Momo?" asked one of the ninjas.

Momo took a deep breath. "I know this is gonna sound crazy, so here goes. This is Ben's sister Stella. She's magic and has the power to teleport people, and she's teleported us here so we can teleport all of you up to Little Village where the entire band of red pirates are attacking the Valley Town Ninjas as we speak. And if you don't come help out, we're doomed. And there's no more time to explain. So what do you say?"

Another member of the Southern Swamps Dojo nodded at Momo and said, "Okay, let's go."

Again, Stella used her magic to blip herself, Momo, and all of the Southern Swamp ninjas up to Little Village. This time she didn't waste a second, and as soon as they all blipped into view, she looked at the map and teleported herself and Momo to the third and final location.

When Stella opened her eyes, she saw massive stones—20, 30 feet tall—and they had doors and windows in them. There was an entire neighborhood of these stone houses.

The sound of Momo's voice blasted through the air like a bullhorn. "Wizards! Witches! Spell casters! We need your help!"

At the sound of Momo's voice, a group of people came running and stood nearby waiting to hear what all the hubbub was.

"What's all the hubbub, Momo?" asked one of the witches.

"Tubes! All of you, listen up! I know this is gonna sound crazy, so here goes. This is Ben Ben's sister Stella. She's magic and has the power to teleport people, and she's teleported us here so we can teleport all of you up to Little Village where the entire band of red pirates are attacking the Valley Town Ninjas as we speak. And if you don't come help out, we're doomed. And there's no more time to explain. So what do you say?"

Old Witch Tubes looked around at the other spell casters of the Rock Fields and then turned back to Momo and said, "Well, let's go then."

Stella teleported them all back to Little Village to an incredible battle. The clown ninjas, the Southern Swamps ninjas, the Valley Town Ninjas, Stella's crew, and now the wizards and witches from the Rock Fields fought bravely to defend the valley from the entire Red Pirate clan.

Stella was so tired from her teleporting that she could barely stand. She stumbled to the porch of a nearby storefront and fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, the battle raged on. The clown ninjas spun and flipped through the mess, attacking as one and laying waste to the evil pirates. The ninjas of the Southern Swamps snuck among the crowd, dashing in and out of combat, knocking out the pirates. And now magic blasts rocked the pirate army from all around as the spell casters from the Rock Fields chipped in to do their part.

Eventually, the battlefield quieted and the Red Pirate army was nursing their wounds. The pirates lay all about Little Village, many of them already tied up by the ninjas.

Stella was feeling better and sat up watching the ninjas tie up the pirates. She walked over to where some heroes were standing, catching their breath.

Momo looked upon the large group of defeated pirates, and he looked down near the docks where many pirate ships floated on the water.

"Hey there, Captain Stella. Looks like you've got some more stolen pirate booty to return." Momo gestured down to the docks at the many boats of the red pirates.

"Oh no. Nope, not me. I'm taking a break from the sea. I'd much rather stay here on the island for a bit," said Stella. "Or forever."

"And what about y'all?" Momo asked the rest of Stella's crew.

Before they could answer, Tatiana interrupted. "Maybe you could be substitute ninjas while me and Tim and Ray return all the stolen goods on those ships down there," said Tatiana.

"Oh, I call Captain!" yelled Tim.

"You can't just call Captain," said Ray. "I'll rock-paper-scissors you for it."

"No need, boys," said Tatiana. "I am obviously Captain Tatiana, but you can both share the title of First Mate."

"That's a good idea," said Ben Ben. "You can all stay at the dojo until Tatiana, Tim, and Ray return. And then after that, if you wanna stick around here in the valley, you can live at the academy."

Stella's crew nodded in agreement. Clover said, "Honestly, I think we're just glad to have a little peace for a while."

And Stella added, "And I'm just glad to finally be home."

The End