Welcome to Story Quest, a weekly podcast where we bring your stories to life!
In this episode we bring Avid’s story Fred the Fruitivore!- to life.
If you have a story idea, you could be like Avid and have it turned into a Story Quest. All you have to do is send us your story idea here. We know you have the best imaginations and together we can create the most brilliant stories!
That’s just what Avid did. You can watch the story they suggested come to life below, plus they tell us all about the inspiration behind the story at the end.
Listen out for brand new Story Quest episodes every Thursday!
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Read along to Time Travelling Kids! Here
You can read along to the story while you listen. Just follow the text below. Don’t worry if you find a word tricky – you can pause the video whenever to give yourself more time.
The air was thick with the acrid scent of burning metal and the sharp tang of ozone. Jagged beams of neon light sliced through the smoke-filled sky, casting an eerie glow over the war-ravaged landscape. Buildings, once towering, lay in ruins, reduced to rubble and twisted steel. The ground trembled with each thunderous impact, as if the very earth itself recoiled from the violence that had consumed it.
Amidst the chaos, two bewildered figures materialized with a soft shimmer. Maya and Max. They stumbled onto the battlefield. Their eyes widened in disbelief as they took in the nightmarish tableau before them. The staccato rhythm of laser fire, accompanied by the whirring and clanking of metallic monstrosities, echoed in their ears….
But the story doesn’t start in quite such a dramatic way. It started at Wimblebum House.
“History is BORING! It’s all about crumbling old castles and peasants and people wearing britches.” hissed Max as the school tour inched its way around an old room filled with books.
“Yeah – who cares about Victorian children playing with sticks and hoops” agreed Maya.
Maya and Max were on a school trip to a very important old building. According to their teacher it was the finest example of Georgian architecture and was – wait for it – home to Sir Timothy Wimblebum, noted author and botanist. He had discovered a type of mushroom that stuck to rocks. They’d seen his empty crypt in the woods, Sir Timothy had built it for his grave but had mysteriously disappeared, then the gravelled lawns and were now trudging around the rooms of the house.
“If only we could learn about the future instead of the past!” grumbled Max as the tour moved into another boring old room which was where Sir Timothy kept his collection of stuffed squirrels. One in particularly looked rather startled. Well you would be if you’d been stuffed and put on a shelf with a load of other squirrels. Someone cleared their throat. It was a curator who was polishing a brass statue of a squirrel. He’d overheard them.
“I know you’re more interested in video games and all that new technology but you can learn a lot from the past – it’s important we appreciate it.”
“What, like how to stuff a squirrel?” whispered Max which made Maya laugh.
The tour inched on but something caught Maxes eye – to the edge of the room there was a strange haze – as if light was tangling in a knot. He nudged Maya – “look! What’s that? Is it a trick of the light?”
The rest of the tour had gone through to the next room and the curator seemed engrossed in his squirrels so Max and Maya tip toed carefully towards it, it was curious and strangely exciting.
There was a WHOOSH! And their surroundings changed – It was dark. The ground trembled beneath their feet as towering mechanical giant ROBOTS strode in the distance, their metal feet pounding the earth with an ominous rhythm. High above, sleek drones darted through the sky, emitting laser beams that sizzled through the air leaving trails of vapor.
“WOOOAH! Where are we?” yelled Max.
“We must be in the future – look this is the ruin of Wimblebum House!”
“How can you tell?”
Maya reached down and lifted up a very charred stuffed squirrel. But there wasn’t time to waste – Maya’s heart raced, her breath catching in her throat as she instinctively pulled Max behind a shattered wall. Still clutching the squirrel her eyes darted across the futuristic battlefield, trying to make sense of the frenetic scene. A barrage of neon-blue laser bolts danced through the air, intersecting in a deadly ballet. Robots, sleek and menacing, moved with an otherworldly grace, firing precision shots at the beleaguered human defenders. And the battle was getting closer.
Max clutched Maya’s arm, his wide eyes mirroring her shock. “We have to get out of here.”
Just as she spoke, a deafening explosion erupted nearby, sending shockwaves through the ground. The shockwave knocked them off balance, and they huddled closer to the shattered wall for cover.
A man ran towards them – he was holding a weapon of some sort.
“What are you doing outside – come with me!”
“No – this way! Said Maya “The crypt – there’s a place to hide in the wood!”
They were in a warzone, a battleground of a future they could hardly comprehend. They all raced to the woods and luckily the crypt was still standing – they squeezed in side as monstrous robot feet gained on them. They breathed a sigh of relief.
“What year is it?” Max asked the man, panting.
“3023 of course!”
“A thousand years in the future!”
“What are you talking about?”
The robots were advancing – they held their breath. Maya felt a surge of determination. “We can’t just stay here – we have to get back.” Max nodded, his fear tempered by the fire of purpose in Maya’s eyes.
“Take these with you!” yelled the man throwing the strange weapons at them, as they crawled out of the crypt along the broken ground, careful to avoid the relentless crossfire. The whine of engines grew louder as a squad of robotic warriors closed in on their position.
With a swift, almost instinctive movement, Maya checked the charge, her heart pounding as the moment of truth arrived. As the robots approached, she aimed and fired, her shot finding its mark with a burst of electric light. One robot down. Two robots. Three.
Max’s eyes widened in amazement as Maya expertly took down another. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
She shrugged – “video games aren’t just for fun, right?”
Max quickly caught up, shooting another robot, and then another and then the way was clear. They crawled back to the ruins of WImblebum House, making their way towards the shimmering haze and rolled through the mists – just in time as drone fire tore up the ground in their wake. They were back in the present. They sank to the floor in relief.
PHEW!
“Maybe we should stick to the past” panted Max.
Maya nodded. She would take a month of crumbly castles over an hour in a robot battle.
The curator looked towards the door.
“Quickly – stand up the tour is coming back”
“Who ARE you?” said Max – he must have seen them come through but didn’t seem remotely phased.
“I’m just the curator, I told you it was my job to help you appreciate the past.”
“So YOU summoned the portal?”
“Well, I’m never quite sure if it will appear or where we’ll end up – the portal usually has its own ideas” and with that he put his finger to his lips and winked.
“It was Sir Timothy’s most impressive discovery – not that we go around telling people.”
“Is that why Sir Timothy was never found? He decided to go through the portal?”
The curator raised his eyebrows. And with a little bow he turned and left. And I have to be honest Maya and Max found the rest of the tour much more interesting now they’d realised Sir Timothy had a few secrets – as well as his squirrels.
So next time you’re visiting an old building or spooky ancient Castle. Keep an eye out for a shimmering haze, you never know what you’ll end up learning! Maybe you’ll even find Sir Timothy on the way!
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