Summer in the Treehouse

One sunny summer afternoon, Fred and Paul were in their treehouse. You might think they are just another pair of buttheads having nothing to do, but that is where you are wrong. You see, Fred is actually a genius. Like a genius genius. Like I.Q. 256 genius. See what I mean? Paul is a very skilled hacker, who has once hacked the white house. He almost got caught, but good thing he shut down his computer just in time. You might be thinking, “Wow! They will be really dangerous if they get into the wrong hands!” You are absolutely correct. It is a relief none of them have any intention of joining the Cobra Squad. They are a squad made by the dangerous kingpin known by the name of Grudd. No one knows what he looks like except his wife. 

Even though Fred and Paul don’t want to join the Cobra Squad, they are certainly mischievous. After all, they are only 12!!!!! Grudd has tried numerous times to get them to join his squad. He tried sweet-talking, bribing, threatening, and torturing them, but none of the options worked. He is reaching the end of his rope, and if he does not get them, he will have to eliminate them, so they do not become a threat later on. Back to the treehouse. You know how I mentioned Fred is a genius? He decked out the treehouse with a bunch of gadgets. Some of them are harmless, like the water gun, water balloons, a fan that has unlimited power, a robotic assistant, a toilet that never stinks, and an iPad that can get games that need money for free. (Fred is kind of a video game addict.) Fred also equipped the treehouse with dangerous stuff, like a variety of guns, melee weapons, and a button that triggers a smell 1,000,000 times stronger than a skunk, but his most prized invention is a button that transforms the treehouse into a robot. So far, he has not needed to use the button yet, but he has a feeling he will need to soon. 

Paul only has one thing that he cannot lose: his trusty computer. It is equipped with his most prized hack bots. Those are bots Paul invented himself. They will automatically hack anything Paul wants it to, as long as it is not too advanced. It also has a drive full of hacked video games that he cannot lose. His computer’s best feature is the laser inside of his camera. If you put in the incorrect password 3 times, the camera on the computer will shoot a laser into your eyes, causing permanent blindness, and will also take a picture of the intruder. Luckily, Paul has a special type of glasses that prevents him from getting blinded. His computer can turn as small as a usb, and back to a full-sized computer at the press of a button. Isn’t that cool?

Grudd has been planning his attack on the treehouse for months. He knows how smart and skilled Paul and Fred are. Meanwhile, Paul has been messing up Grudd’s plans. He disrupts their radars, hack their information, and uses his drone to take pictures of their battle formation. Grudd got smarter. He used one night to plan his attack, and launched the attack at dawn. He has set up an unbreakable formation. All of his troops had a lightweight shield attached to their helmets, to protect them from assaults. They had heavyweight shields in the front of the group, and back of the group, so they are pretty much untouchable. Their gunners were going to take turns shooting from a hole in one of the shields. Once they do, they would move to the back, and so on. He thought it was a fool-proof plan, but Paul and Fred had a counter. They attacked the soldiers from the sides. In just over 10 minutes, every troop was dead. Grudd returned to his palace, furious. He gathered all of his brainiest scientists to make a secret project. After many weeks, they finally finished it. This time, when they went to attack, the soldiers were just holding guns. 

Paul and Fred thought they gave up, and started firing. They were shocked to see the bullets get stopped in mid air! The secret project Grudd made was really a force field!!!!! Paul and Fred ducked inside and tried to think of a plan. 

Fred’s thought of an idea. All they had to do was shut down the force field from the main console! It was a job for Paul. Paul finished in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, Grudd and his team have no idea the force field has been shut down. Fred and Paul decided to prank them. Fred turned the treehouse into the big robot, and used it to block off all of the exits. Then, they each hid a katana behind their backs, and went down the ladder to fake surrender. 

They did a good job. Such a good job, in fact, that Grudd and his team turned their backs on them. Huge mistake. In seconds, all of his troops were dead. Only Grudd was alive. They Asked him a question. “We have been curious. What is your real name?” they asked. “If I tell you, will you let me go?” Grudd asked. “Maybe,” they replied. “ Well……..” Grudd answered, “My name is…………. Butt Wole Fartbucket the Third.” Fred and Paul doubled over laughing. After they calmed down, they sent Grudd to the police. “Well,” Fred said, “He won’t be terrorizing other people anymore.” “ Yeah,” George replied, “ But what are we supposed to do now?” “We could write a book about our adventures!” “Great idea!” They set to work. They decided to write the book in 3rd person. They submitted the story to Reedsy Prompts, in the prompt titled “Write a story about a summer afternoon spent in a treehouse.”

 and are still waiting patiently to see if their story is a winner!