I Dedicate This Story to Fred and Bilbo, the Two Wonderful

I dedicate this story to Fred and Bilbo, the two wonderful

characters who have told me their story, and helped me write about this adventure.

Evan Frankel, 5th grade

June 2013

Prologue

Once apon a time, there lived a young giant by the name of Fred. Fred was born to a family who were so disgusted at there son's appearance, they dumped him into a river. But Fred prevailed and grew up in the forest near a small little village. This was where he met his best friend Bilbo.

Chapter One

One summer day, Bilbo found Fred sleeping under a tree. "Oh hello, Fred!" said Bilbo when he noticed him. But Bilbo was a frog and therefore could not speak loud enough to wake Fred from his sleep. "Fred!" said Bilbo, a little louder. "FRED!"

This was obviously not working, Bilbo thought. So he hopped up onto Fred's chest, and was about to let loose a big glob of spit onto his face, when Fred suddenly awoke to see Bilbo standing in front of him.

"Good morning Bilbo. How are you doing?" Fred asked, in a sleepy tone.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you'd like to go into town." Bilbo replied, taken aback.

"Naw, we'll just get teased and taunted by everybody." Fred said sadly.

"Aw, come on. We'll see if Priest Johnston has any leftovers!"

"Ok, fine, but not for long."

"Ok."

So the two friends started down the road to town.

"Geez, this walk is much longer for a frog like me." commented Bilbo

"No worries" said Fred. "I'll carry you.

"Thanks, you're a great friend!" Bilbo replied.

So Fred hoisted Bilbo up onto his shoulders, and they continued walking.

When they finally arrived in town, it looked almost deserted. All the doors were closed, which was unusual, since there would usually be kids playing by the fountains, or in each others back yards. That is, until they saw him, in which case they would run quickly find hiding place.

Suddenly, a fat rotten tomato came flying out of nowhere and hit Fred square in the face. "Aww, come on!" said Bilbo as more garbage fragments came flying at them. "I just took a bath!"

Chapter Two

Then a booming voice shouted "STOP!" It was the village leader, Brown, who was known for his strong hatred of monsters, especially Fred. He strutted over till he was inches away from Fred.

"I've told you many a time to stay out of my town, monster!"

"Well I was hoping that I could maybe have a bite to..."

"I DON'T CARE!" Brown shouted. "I WANT YOU TO LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK, OR ELSE WE WILL KILL YOU!"

Fred and Bilbo had been teased, taunted, and insulted, but they had never been threatened this viciously.

"Now would be a good time to go to Priest John's, don't you think?" Bilbo whispered.

"Yes, I agree." replied Fred.

They ran away as fast as they could. And darting in and out of the shadows, so as not to be caught, they hurried in the direction of the church.

They finally arrived at the church, panting. Fred gave the door a big heavy knock. And within a minute, an old man with grey hair and a white robe came to the door.

"Ah, hello Fred! Hello Bilbo!"

"Hi Priest John!" said Fred and Bilbo at the same time.

"Come in! Come in!" said the Priest, "I just finished baking some cookies! And I also have something very special to show you.

So they all stepped into the church and Priest Johnston went into the kitchen to get the cookies. When Priest John finally returned, he set down a platter of delicious looking chocolate chip cookies.

But before Fred had even taken one bite from his cookie, Priest Johnston pulled a big red book off the shelf, and opened it right in Fred's face. In the book, there was a two page picture of a grey stone with ancient inscriptions all over it.

"This is the Stone Of Demons." explained the Priest. "It was created in ancient times by a sorcerer named Jackson. He used it to unleash demons from a different dimension and kill his enemies."

Priest Johnston then slammed the book shut and returned it to its spot on the shelf. "Of course, this is of no consequence. I just thought you might like to see it."

Just then they heard a knock on the door. Fred and Bilbo froze, because they knew that if they were spotted, things would get violent. "Hide in the closet, there's an escape hatch in there! Quick!" whispered the Priest.

So Fred and Bilbo hurried into the closet, just as the door burst open. Then they heard some whispering that they couldn't make out coming from outside the closet.

"Lets get out of here!" said Bilbo. "Priest John said there was an escape hatch here."

And sure enough, there was a tunnel in the wall of the closet.

Chapter Three

After what seemed like hours of crawling, it began to seem that they would never reach the end.

"Ugh, it's so dark in here." said Fred with a hint of despair. "Are we ever going to reach the end?"

"I don't know." replied Bilbo. "But look, there's light!"

"Come on, lets hurry!" yelled Fred excitedly.

So they rushed out of the tunnel and into a forest. They found themselves in a clearing. To one side, there was a human made path that would likely lead back to town, and on the other side there was a deer path barely visible behind with a huge sign: Keep Out!

"I wonder what this place is." said Bilbo. "And what is that tunnel for anyway?"

"I don't know that," said Fred, "But what I do know is that we'd better get down that deer path or we're goners!"

"Agreed. Now let's skidattle!"

So they rushed down the path, ignoring the sign. When the path ended they found themselves by the side of a mountain which mysteriously, they had not seen before.

"Well that got us nowhere!" said Bilbo. "Where to now?"

"Don't give up so fast, Bilbo. said Fred. "There's a door in the side of this mountain!"

"That is such a cliche." commented Bilbo.

Fred found a lever just behind a bush and, assuming it triggered the door, he pulled it. The door in the side of the mountain rolled open.

"Um, I don't know if I can do this Fred." said Bilbo in a fearful voice

"How bout I wait for you here, okay?"

So Fred stepped through the door alone, realizing that Bilbo was truly scared. But the minute he stepped in, the door slammed shut.

"I should not have done that." said Fred to himself. So Fred turned around, and saw that he was in a big room with a huge, round, alter looking thing in the center. Fred was very confused. But then his eyes fell onto an inscription on the side of the alter. It was in an ancient language that he could not read, but he did recognize the picture of the Stone Of Demons, which was drawn on it too. Then Fred came to a sudden realization.

"This must be where that wizard guy Jackson used the stone!" Fred almost shouted. "I never knew that Jackson lived so close to here."

Just then, he heard the mountain door slide open, and two people walking towards the alter room. Fred needed a place to hide quick. But where was a giant like him to hide in such a small place? He quickly ducked into the shadow of the corner, and prayed they would not see him. The two men stepped into the alter room. Fred could not see them, so hopefully they would not see him. Just then, one of them spoke.

"So now that we're in private, can you give me the stone?" he said

"Ok," said the second. "But remember, it can only be used on a full moon."

"I know, I know." replied the first. Then Fred heard them walking away, and when he was sure the had left, he stepped out of the corner.

"I have to warn Bilbo and the townspeople." he thought frantically. He rushed through the alter room, and opened the sliding door to get out.

Fred ran out the door and nearly stepped on Bilbo.

"PRIEST JOHN AND ANOTHER GUY WALKED IN THERE!!!!!!"

"TWO GUYS ARE GOING TO USE THE STONE OF DEMONS!!!!!!"

Chapter Four

Fred and Bilbo looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. "Did you just say that Priest John was the other man I heard talking?" said Fred slowly.

"Maybe, but that depends on what you heard." replied Bilbo

"Well I heard two men talking about how they had the Stone Of Demons and that they were going to use it on a full moon."

"That must have been Priest John. No wonder he was so interested in the Stone!" shouted Bilbo.

"What are you doing?!?!?" said Fred, who was sort of whisper-yelling. "Those two goons might have heard us. We have to get back to town right now and try to reason with Priest John."

"I agree." said Bilbo.

So with their legs pumping, Fred and his friend Bilbo raced down the path and back to the clearing where the opening of the tunnel had been. Then Bilbo spoke up, "Shouldn't we go back through the tunnel? I mean, the path might lead somewhere else."

"No, it'll be fine." replied Fred.

So from there, they ran down the road that Fred had said to probably lead to town. It didn't however, and they found themselves lost.

"Well that was just a grand idea." grumbled Bilbo. "And look, the sun is setting."

"Not to worry Bilbo." said Fred. "We can just go to sleep here, and then in the morning, we can retrace our steps and go through the secret shaft."

"Good idea." replied Bilbo, yawning. So Bilbo gathered some leaves to make beds while Fred started a fire. And after a bit of trouble including Fred getting stuck in a bear trap, they had a nice dinner of deer and lizard, they lay down to sleep.

In the morning, they woke up, and tried to retrace their steps back to the clearing. And this time, they were successful and soon found themselves right near the entrance to the secret tunnel. But just as Fred was about to step in, Bilbo said, "What if they are waiting for us and attack us when we get through?"

"Well, I'm a giant. I can handle it."

"Good point."

So Fred climbed into the shaft, followed by Bilbo, and they started crawling. When they reached the end, Fred jumped out of the closet, and into Priest Johnston's house.

Chapter Five

"I know what you're up to Priest John!!!!" yelled Fred. "And I'm not going to let you get away with it!!!!!!"

Suddenly, Priest Johnston stepped out from behind a door, and stared straight at Fred. "There is no need to stop me." he said calmly. "This will benefit both of us, don't you see? If I unleash the demons tonight, they will destroy the town and all of the impure cavemen who run this joint."

"But they'll destroy everything, including you!" said Fred without actually knowing if this were true or not. "I can't let you do this!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way." said the Priest with an grim expression on his face.

Suddenly Fred heard a whoosh and a huge log came out of nowhere and whacked him in the back of his head. He caught a glimpse of his attacker. A big man in a green shirt. Fred assumed that this was the other man he had heard. The man cursed, seeing that his projectile had not done the job. He lunged at Fred and grabbed him around the waist. But Fred was too strong for him and threw him against a wall, knocking him unconscious. Fred then turned to face the Priest, who saw that he was in trouble. He grabbed a vial of blue liquid off a shelf, and threw it at Fred. The vial hit Fred right in the nose, and the liquid splattered all over his face. Fred then began to feel very weak, and stumbled into a wall and blacked out.

He awoke in a cage, which had been placed in the room with the alter. Priest John was standing right near the alter holding a bowl. "I could have just killed you you know." said Priest John without even looking at Fred. "But I want you alive to see the invasion of the town, to see the burning of the houses. And if we do not see eye to eye by that time, then I will kill you."

Fred was about to recite a cliche monologue about how Priest John was crazy and how his plan would never work, when Priest John pulled the Stone Of Demons out of the bowl. It was truly spectacular and it glowed red in the moonlight. Priest John then dropped the Stone onto the alter. As soon as he did, a huge red portal appeared in front of the alter. And then a whole bunch of things happened at once. First, the ceiling mysteriously disappeared, turning the mountain into a sort of volcano. Then, winged demons which looked a little like dinosaurs came flying out of the portal, and started flying out through the hole in the roof.

Fred watched as these beasts flew away, presumably to descend and destroy the town, and knew that he could not let this happen. The bars of his cage were metal, but looked pretty flimsy. He started to devise a plan.

Chapter Six

He saw that the Priest was looking at the portal, and giving an evil laugh. Fred put his plan into action. He threw the hardest punch he had ever thrown, and the target bar cracked and broke.

Priest John heard the crack, and whirled around just to be thrown off his feet by Fred's fist and go sliding into the wall. "Ha ha ha!" laughed the Priest, who still sprawled on the floor. "You cannot stop them now!"

"I don't believe you!" said Fred, though he thought it was probably true.

Fred rushed to the alter, and grabbed the stone. This closed the portal, but it did not stop the demons from attacking the town. Hardly thinking, Fred jumped up and grabbed onto the leg of the last demon. And even though he was a giant, the demon was so big it hardly felt him. When the demon, ridden by Fred, was out of the mountain, Fred saw a horrific sight. The demons were ripping and burning all the houses. "THIS HAS TO STOP!!!!" Fred yelled to no one in particular. When the demon he was riding was flying right above the town, Fred let go and fell about a hundred feet into the town square. He landed, causing a huge dent in the ground. He saw citizens running around and screaming all over the place. Just then, he heard a familiar booming voice shout, “YOU!” the voice had come from Brown, who looked like he had gone through a paper shredder. “YOU’RE THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS!”

"No, you don't understand!" cried Fred. "I'm trying to prevent this!"

"You shall die!"

Brown picked up a nearby pitch fork and lunged at Fred. Fred quickly jumped aside, not wanting to hurt him. Brown landed hard on the cobblestone, and just lay there, looking crippled. Fred didn't know what to do. He looked at the stone, which lay in his hand.

"There must be a way..." he said to himself. "Well, it's worth a shot."

He took one last look at the stone, closed his hand around it, and squeezed. The stone cracked, and started growing lighter. It grew so light, Fred threw it away, and quickly ducked under a horse cart. He heard a loud whine coming from the stone, and then in a great burst of light, the stone exploded, shooting out a wave of blue light. The wave expanded until it was like a shield covering the town. And then the most amazing thing happened. The demons started flying away. Fred crawled out from under the cart, and saw that the sun had come out, and that the demons were flying eastward in a big swarm.

Chapter Seven

"I did it." said Fred in a sort of whisper. "I DID IT!"

Just then, Brown got up off the ground and limped over to Fred. "You're a hero!" he said. "I'm so sorry that the town and I misjudged you. But I want to know why you did it. I mean, we were always so mean to you, so why did you help us?" Brown turned to look at Fred, but he was gone.

Epilogue

Fred and Bilbo sat under a tree one day. "Why did you do it?" asked Bilbo.

"Do what?" questioned Fred.

"You know, save the townspeople. You could have helped Priest John."

"We'll, I'm not really sure why I did it, but I guess it was just that they didn't understand that I was good person at heart. So I wanted to prove to them, and maybe myself, that I was a good person."

"I also have another question."

"What's that?"

"Well I was just thinking, you repelled the demons from our town, but what if they go terrorize some other town, or maybe even come back?"

A frown crossed Fred's face."Well you know, I was thinking of that too. I guess we'll have to go after them one of these days."