Ninja Timmy

by Henrik Tamm

  Then he saw little Gack sail through the air with waving arms as he was tossed into the next hall.

  It was one of those fights that, if they had been famous generals and not ninjas (who always fought in secret), bards and musicians would have told stories and composed songs about, and the songs would still have been sung many generations later. As it was, nobody would ever learn of the ninjas heroics that night.

  Timmy looked around. All the Iguanas had either fled or lay knocked out across the room. He looked up to where the kids still waited, looking on in awe. He walked up to them and led them downstairs.

  They boarded the balloon-ship single file. The captain greeted each of them, and they all sat down on the decks. It was a little crowded, but that was okay. The moorings were loosened, and then the big ship hung there a moment, then turned and floated down into the city.

  The friends gathered around again. Simon, who had been on the top floor, said that he had come to a set of tall doors. He had used his goggles to look inside.

  “What did you see?” Timmy asked anxiously.

  “Nothing. Or rather, the goggles didn’t work the way they’re supposed to. It was as if they were blocked from seeing inside.”

  “Hmm…very suspicious. It must be the Blue Rabbit’s magic.”

  “Exactly what I thought,” Simon said.

  “And the Rabbit?”

  “No sign of him.”

  “Okay. Maybe he’s already fled.” Timmy knew that was probably wishful thinking, and he could feel a shiver go up his spine. “Lead the way, Simon.”

  They slowly climbed the stairs as quietly as they could. Soon they reached the top floor and came up to the doors that Simon had seen. Timmy could feel his heart beating.

  Chapter 16

  WITH THE GRIBBLES’ help, they pushed the tall doors open, and there stood an enormous gulping and hulking metal contraption. It was even larger than they had imagined. There was a main metal structure of shining brass, with pipes running along its sides. Among the pipes they could see pieces that looked familiar. In the middle were actually pieces they recognized from their orange-peeling machine! The center also had a door, with stairs leading up to it, and lights were blinking on and off within. There was a metal arm attached to one side, which was about to feed glass jars into the body of the machine. Those must be the jars holding the kids’ laughter, thought Timmy.

  On the other side was a mechanism for discarding the empty jars. Smoke puffed from various pipes sticking out of the engine.

  Directly in front of the machine stood the Blue Rabbit. His hands were not moving, his ears were straight up, and his body was absolutely still. He looked at Timmy.

  “You took the children. Why did you do that? What was the point? I have already taken their laughter. They are useless to me now. You accomplished nothing.”

  Timmy, acting much braver than he felt, moved slowly toward him. The Blue Rabbit followed Timmy’s every move with his little red eyes.

  “The machine is ready,” the Rabbit continued. “You don’t have the power to stop it. Or me. You defeated my Iguana captains; well done. But you will never be able to defeat me.”

  “Where is Flores? What did you do to her?”

  Rabbit made a grimace that was supposed to look like a smile.

  “Ah yes. Your dear cat girlfriend. I considered keeping her alive for a long while. She amused me. But she also upset me. She had a sharp tongue, that one. I can see why you liked her.”

  Timmy could feel his spirits fall. So that was it. Rabbit had done away with her.

  “You killed her!” Timmy yelled.

  “Killed her?” Rabbit made that awful laughter-like grimace again. “Why would I do that? I said I considered keeping her alive, and then decided to do so.”

  Timmy’s heart skipped a beat. Rabbit continued:

  “But I am afraid she will be coming with me. She is exceptionally smart and good at flying. To me, that is love. Soon I will have a soul, so I will need love. Yes. We will be in love and go away together. It will be perfect.”

  What a twisted mind this creature had, Timmy thought.

  “Where is she?” he snarled.

  Rabbit regarded Timmy coolly with his beady little red eyes.

  “Why, she’s right here.”

  With that, a trapdoor in the floor slid open, revealing a shallow compartment. Inside, bound, lay Flores. She looked helpless and scared. Instinctively Timmy dashed forward. While doing so, he withdrew the Ziliosphere. Enough time had passed by then that it should have been fully charged.

  He pressed the blue button as he ran, and the blue flash arced over Rabbit. But nothing happened. Time didn’t slow, not even a little bit.

  Instead the Rabbit snapped his hand up, and it was as if Timmy had run into a wall. He bounced against thin air, was tossed backward, and slid on the slick stone floor.

  Simon and the others gasped. They had never seen that kind of magic before. How could they fight against this?

  “You are not invited on our trip,” Rabbit said calmly.

  Then a new voice came from the shadows behind the machine. It was deep, and it echoed over the room.

  “Where are you going, Blue Rabbit?” the voice asked.

  The Rabbit spun.

  “What? Who’s there?”

  The voice grew in volume.

  “Don’t you remember me?” A pause, then: “Don’t you remember your maker?” And now they all recognized the voice. It was Alfred.

  Rabbit peered into the shadows, trying to see where Alfred was.

  “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  There was a shift in Rabbit’s voice. Something they hadn’t heard before. Perhaps a trace of…fear?

  Timmy had no idea how Alfred had gotten there, but he was sure it had everything to do with magic.

  Alfred moved out of the darkness. Because of the lights from the machine, his shadow appeared huge on the wall behind him. He looked larger than they knew him, taller, more imposing. He moved forward, toward Rabbit, and Rabbit took a step back.

  “And why are you treating my friends so poorly?” Alfred asked. His voice was big; it echoed and boomed through the room. Rabbit took another step back, then stopped. His hand came up again, like it had with Timmy, but Alfred kept coming toward him.

  “Oh no. No, you don’t.” Alfred’s voice now made the windows shake.

  Rabbit was quite clearly shocked that his magic wasn’t working. They saw that Alfred had his own hand up, countering Rabbit. It was as if a silent but powerful battle of magic was raging between the two of them.

  “You may not rob these children of their right to laugh! It’s not the way it’s done! You sad, miserable creature!” Alfred’s voice boomed. “And you will release the girl.”

  “I want what all of you already have. I am only doing what I have to!” Rabbit yelled back.

  “I’m sorry, Rabbit, but no! Their laughter is not yours to take!”

  The walls and floors shook. Everyone stood watching, powerless to intervene. They could all feel the immense energy shifting back and forth, with the two figures fighting for control.

  “Now, Timmy!” Alfred said loudly.

  Timmy stood, frozen for a second, not sure what Alfred meant.

  “Timmy, now!”

  Timmy finally understood. He rushed forward, toward the machine and toward Flores. This time there was no invisible force field. The Rabbit was too distracted by Alfred. Timmy leapt into the hole where Flores lay. As quickly as he could, he untied her and managed to pull her up onto his back. He jumped up, feeling Flores clinging to him, and dashed across the floor. The others helped her down. Then Timmy turned back to help Alfred.

  Alfred was struggling. Rabbit now seemed to have the upper hand.

  “Try it now!” Alfred yelled out. “The Ziliosphere!”

  Timmy pulled out the device and pressed the button. Nothing happened, not even a spark. Timmy could feel his heart sink. He watched as Alfred fell to the ground and the Blue Rabbit
strode forward.

  Suddenly there was a bright flash, nearly blinding Timmy, and a sparkling plume of a million colors shot out of the blue device like fireworks. The plume engulfed Rabbit. Sparks and smoke filled the room.

  Timmy could see the Rabbit’s movements start to slow, but not very much. The Blue Rabbit’s power was great.

  “His neck! There is a switch under the fur!” Alfred called out again through the sparkles that were still raining down. Timmy could see that he was barely hanging on.

  Timmy ran forward again, straight at Rabbit. Simon, Jasper, and Casper were right behind him. Together they made a ladder with their bodies, with Timmy on the top.

  He reached into the blue fur on Rabbit’s neck. He felt a flap and pushed it up. Inside was a switch.

  “Flip it! Quickly! I can’t hold on!” Alfred was shaking now.

  It was an old iron switch, and at first it wouldn’t budge. The Rabbit started turning. The friends scrambled below Timmy to follow Rabbit’s rotation, and Timmy almost fell. He pressed the switch with all the might he had in his little paw, and at last he could feel it loosen from its rusted casing.

  Flop! And at once everything changed. The Rabbit gave a jolt and let out a horrible howl that ricocheted around the room. Very slowly Rabbit started to sink to the floor.

  In a beat, Alfred had rushed up to him and was now holding Rabbit up, very tenderly, so that he wouldn’t fall. Alfred held the furry toy in his arms and gazed into his eyes. Timmy could see that Alfred looked very sad.

  “This is not the way it’s done, my old friend,” Alfred said softly to his creation.

  Then he very carefully laid Rabbit down on the floor. Alfred exhaled deeply. The Blue Rabbit lay perfectly still; his eyes were closed. Timmy watched Alfred. His eyes were sad, and his lips moved, as if he was whispering. Timmy realized he was saying goodbye. Timmy waited a moment, and then he walked up to the old toymaker.

  “Are you okay, Alfred?”

  “Yes, Timmy, I’m fine, just fine. Well done, all of you.” His voice was still serious.

  “We got him,” Timmy said.

  “You got him. You all got him.” Alfred’s face finally broke into a soft smile, and he looked at the young friends. They were a gang of ninja crime-fighting animal inventors, and together they had saved the city.

  Timmy saw Flores, who had now gotten to her feet. He walked up to her and took her paws in his. She looked tired, but she was smiling at him.

  “You silly cat,” she said, but her eyes said something else.

  “I’m not the one who got herself captured.”

  “Just so that you would come for me, oh ninja master. I couldn’t make it too easy for you.” She smiled mischievously.

  They looked into each other’s eyes and stood nose to nose. Behind them, they noticed everyone watching in anticipation. It was a little awkward, but neither of them cared.

  And then Timmy and Flores kissed. The room broke out in a cheer. It was quite the moment. They finally let each other go and turned back to their friends.

  “So what now?” Timmy asked.

  “Well, now help me open all those jars so all those poor kids can get their given right to laugh back.” Alfred smiled.

  Alfred unhooked jar after jar from the machine and handed them down to the friends. There were hundreds of them, and everyone helped unscrew the lids.

  As each jar was opened, a faint laugh could be heard somewhere across the city. There were probably many startled parents that night who woke from their sleep and suddenly heard their kids burst into uncontrollable laughter.

  With his head down and feeling a little ashamed, Timmy had to tell Flores that he had crashed her airplane. At first her eyes narrowed and she looked at him very sternly; then she burst out in a laugh and said:

  “Well, then you’ll just have to help me build a new one! With lots of magical gear in it this time.”

  Later, the captain came back with the balloon-ship, and they all got on board. Alfred boarded last, carrying the Blue Rabbit gently in his arms. As the sun started to peek over the mountaintops early that morning, they sailed the giant airship down through the clouds, high over the streets and squares of Elyzandrium, and back home.

  Timmy and Flores found an attic across the street from the toymaker’s shop, where they moved in together. Dobie and the Gribble cousins already lived just a few blocks over, so they stayed where they were. Alfred put the Blue Rabbit into a large box, which he put into a room in the very rear of his shop. He locked the room with several heavy locks. You couldn’t be too safe. Simon, Jasper, and Casper moved their stuff from the baker’s loft and found a space just a few buildings away from the old toy shop. While they carried their equipment down the stairs, the baker’s daughter, Mathilda, stood watching them. Simon told one of his jokes, and Mathilda burst out in a wonderful little laugh.

  All the friends spent their days in the back rooms of Alfred’s shop and helped him build amazing magical toys. But when night fell, they would still patrol the rooftops of the city, watching for any bad guys and keeping the city safe. The Gribbles finally became full members of the gang, after having lifted many heavy things in Alfred’s workshop and having come with countless boxes of chocolate. They also all finally voted on what the name of their gang should be, and they became the Magical Ninjas. Timmy thought the name was quite nice.

  It was during a particularly stormy night about a month later when something very strange happened. Despite the weather, the gang was out patrolling as usual. Through the rain, they suddenly saw something. At first it was a mere speck in the sky, barely visible through the downpour, but as lightning flashed, they saw what it was: a bird—round and fat, and with wings that looked much too small to carry it—fluttering through the air. An object of some kind was strapped to its back. The bird struggled against the strong winds, seemingly utterly exhausted. As they watched, the fat bird fell slowly from the night sky.

  “Come on!” Timmy shouted.

  They all ran toward where the bird had fallen. When they reached it, they could see it lying there, barely conscious, breathing heavily. It looked at them with defeat in its eyes. Simon approached it carefully, knelt down, and petted it gently. He gave it some water, and it seemed to smile at him, and a minute later it had fallen asleep in his arms. The friends then focused their attention on the object on the bird’s back, which turned out to be a container of some sort. Timmy opened it carefully. Within was a rolled-up piece of paper, which he unfolded. It was a message, written in a language he had never seen before, but among the words he didn’t understand, there was a name he knew:

  Alfred.

  The friends looked at each other. This had to be a message for him! But what could it mean?

  Acknowledgments

  This book owes its existence to imagination itself, which has prodded me and dared me to chase it all of my life. I also must thank my family—my wonderful parents, Robert and Ing-Marie; my amazing brother, Martin, and his wife, Anna, and children, Vilma and Hjalmar; and my brilliant aunt Carina—who have watched with often amused bewilderment my twisty, bumpy, and odd path through life. I have always had their unwavering support, even if it has taken years to explain to them what it is I actually do. And of course to my extraordinary Dannah, who patiently believed and loved. Many thanks to all the excellent people at Delacorte Press/Random House, who took a chance on this work, and much gratitude to my friend Monica Stein at Bonnier Carlsen, who championed the book in its first rendition.

  About the Author

  HENRIK TAMM is a conceptual designer in Hollywood involved in various animated and live-action projects. He has helped create the worlds of such popular and acclaimed films as Shrek and the Chronicles of Narnia series. Although written originally in English, this novel was initially published in Swedish in his home country of Sweden. Ninja Timmy is Henrik Tamm’s first adventure in book form.

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