“What are you guys doing here? If you wanted to come along, you could have just asked. You didn’t have to fly here in The Magic School Bus,” was all Steve had to say to Alex, Ben, George, and Luna as they stepped out of the flying bus that had once been Jack’s ship. 

“You know The Magic School Bus is yellow, dummy,” Michael snapped at Steve. 

“Listen you guys,” Alex panted as she ran over to them. “We’re sorry for ruining the fishing competition.” 

“You better be,” said a grouchy Michael, “I was about to beat my rivals!” 

“So, quick version, Jack is back on Earth and he’s after a magic sword. We need to get it back or the world is doomed,” Alex told them. 

“Wait! This all happened in like, three days?” Michael asked. 

“We need you guys’ help,” Ben told them. “There isn’t much time.” 

“I really want to finish this fishing competition. But if the fate of the world is at stake, I might never be able to do another one if it isn’t saved. So I’ll have to pull out of the contest this one time to help you out,” Michael exclaimed. 

Meanwhile, Jack and his flying group of aliens had landed on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. It appeared to be a normal island, but it was where the compass had told them to go. So they knew they were in the right place. 

“Those galactic explorers were fools to think they could hide this,” Zombie said as Jack placed the compass on the ground. It created a pattern in the sand and a green beam went out into the ocean. Then the water broke apart and a temple came rising out of the ocean. 

There were steps leading down into the ocean temple where the water had parted, and the sword was in the heart of the temple. Jack and his army could see the beam from the sword coming out of the part that stuck out higher from the water. It was time to enter the temple. 

Back on the beach in Oregon, Steve could see the sword’s beam. 

“Alex, what is that?” he asked. 

“A big problem,” she replied. “The compass led Jack to the Enchanted Sword.” 

“That’s gotta be hundreds of miles away,” George remarked. 

“Alright, huddle up,” Alex told the group. “Let’s figure out a plan. Together.” 

“I know how to get there fast enough,” Michael chimed in, pointing slightly to the left. Everyone turned to see the boat used for measuring the competitors’ fishing length sitting in the water. 

Moments later, they were cruising through the ocean to the island, with the boat’s operator tied up below deck. 

“What a good idea, Alex!” George shouted to Alex, who was driving the boat, over the sound of the waves. 

“You can thank my middle-aged smarts!” Michael shouted to everyone. 

When they got to the island, the boat went right up onto the shore. Steve and Ben assisted Michael with his scooter as they got off the boat onto the sandy beach. The entrance to the temple was a short walk away from them on the other side of the island. 

Steve’s dog Rufus led the way, and Luna followed close behind. The pets sniffed out the entrance to the temple. Alex, George, Ben, Michael, and Steve couldn’t stop staring in awe at the size of the temple and how it shaped the water in a strange way as it sat. 

“We’re going in,” Alex said nervously. 

Jack and his alien friends had used their technology to destroy all the traps ahead of them and were already at the location of the Enchanted Sword. They entered a massive room in the temple, and there it was. The Enchanted Sword sat on top of a large pyramid of stairs. 

“At last,” Jack said with a soft, excited voice. “The Enchanted Sword is ours. And soon, the world will be.” 

“Great speech, Jack.” Zombie and the others applauded him. 

But then, Zombie aimed his gun at Jack’s back and whispered, “Sadly, humans are no longer useful to me.” 

Before he could shoot Jack, Alex and her team burst in through the roof. Steve held Michael’s scooter above him and landed with it. He’d been practicing carrying it. 

“Not so fast,” Steve said to Jack as he put Michael down. 

“This guy again?” Jack exclaimed. “Why must he constantly interfere with my destiny.” 

“I think it’s Alex who’s doing that most of the time,” Steve said with a truthful tone. 

“Shut up!” was all Alex had to say. 

Steve then walked over to where the stairs that led to the sword were. 

“My destiny is to… not let the world be destroyed. And if you want that sword, you’re going to have to go through… ME!” Steve drew his own sword after saying that. 

While Steve and Jack dueled, the aliens went after Steve’s friends. Now everyone was fighting everyone. The chaos made the cave-like room threaten to collapse. 

Jack kicked Steve and he flew backward, landing on his back on the floor. Jack stood over him with his sword, ready to stab Steve! Before he could, though, Michael appeared and rammed Jack with his scooter. Jack fell to the ground. 

“You saved me,” Steve said in awe to Michael. 

“Let’s not get all corny about it,” Michael replied. 

Jack got up and tried to come after them again. But then Steve noticed something behind him. Zombie had reached the top of the stairs and was standing near the Enchanted Sword. He pointed it out to Jack, who stopped trying to attack them and turned around. 

Zombie was going to grab the sword and get the ultimate power for himself. Everyone stopped fighting. Jack yelled to him. 

“That wasn’t the deal,” he shouted from down below. 

“You poor naive human,” Zombie said, “aliens have been planning a takeover for years now. You just gave us a head start.” 

Everybody froze when he said this, shocked by the sudden plot twist. 

“But I trusted you,” Jack exclaimed. “You were my friend.” 

Zombie laughed. “Our philosophy is that no human is spared. We cannot break it. Come on, boys.” 

The aliens all flew up to the sword. 

All Jack could yell was “Mutiny!” because he was supposed to be their leader. Zombie grabbed the sword, and it transferred its power into his body. He was now one with it. Him and all the other aliens teleported away to who knows where. And with the sword gone, the temple started falling down. It was probably some kind of self-destruct. 

Water came pouring through the walls, flooding the room fast. Alex called to her friends to get out of there. All her friends were running out of the exit, and Jack had a big rock from the temple wall fall on him. Alex yelled to him, but he was trapped underneath it. 

Alex dove into the water to help lift it off of him. She knew he needed to stop the aliens just like they did. So she dove under the rock and got Jack’s attention. Together they lifted it and swam up to the shore of the island. The ocean went back to normal as the temple finished collapsing. 

When they were both safely on the beach, Jack asked her, “why did you save me? You just gave me a tactical advantage that I don’t understand.” 

“It wasn’t a tactic,” Alex replied. “I couldn’t just stand there and let you die.” 

“Why? I’ve been trying to destroy you since the moment we met,” he said. 

“Because we have an alien invasion at stake. And we are humans that know about it so we have to stop them. You worked with them, so you have all the inside information on them,” Alex told him. 

Before Jack could respond, Steve and the others came running down the beach. 

“Alex, where did you go!” George called. 

“Watch out, it’s Jack!” Steve shouted. 

“Guys, it’s alright,” Alex responded. “We all have to focus on stopping the aliens.” 

“I don’t see a way we can get off this island,” Ben said sadly. 

“Wait,” Steve exclaimed, “there’s a boat in the water. Let’s go get their attention.” 

The group went to the edge of the beach and started waving their arms and shouting to the boat. When it came to the shore, it wasn’t a boat at all. It was a floating RV, which was being driven by no one other than Dan! 

The group was happy to see him, but they wanted to know how and why his camper was in the ocean. 

“It turns out I need a passport to go to South America. So when I found out this model of RV has a boat feature, I decided to explore the Pacific instead,” he told them. 

Dan’s camper was one of the newest models, with all kinds of new and futuristic features. He loved the self-driving option for long trips, but there were still some other things about it that he hadn’t discovered. 

Alex turned to Jack. “Come on. We’re not beat yet.” 

“You want me to come with you?” he asked. 

“We can’t have you staying on an island for the rest of your life,” she said. 

“I guess that’s logical.” And with that, he got into Dan’s camper/boat along with everyone else. 

—

Zombie and the aliens used their new Enchanted Sword to teleport to Alex’s village. The villagers were confused to see a bunch of aliens in their front yard. 

“We will start with this little town,” Zombie told them. 

They were all glowing green with the powers of the sword. Zombie slashed a tree to test the sword. It cut the tree in half and it engulfed in a quick flame, then disintegrated. 

The other aliens had the power of the sword but no swords themselves. So Zombie used the sword to make copies of itself, and now all the aliens had them. 

Some of the aliens surrounded the villagers near Ben’s Biome Tower. The villagers had no weapons, no way of fighting back, just two pairs of eyes each. To watch their homes be destroyed. 

— 

Everyone was piled into Dan’s floating RV, and they were speeding through the Pacific Ocean toward the West Coast. Alex and Jack sat up front. 

Alex turned to Dan and said, “this thing might take a long time to get there.” 

“No we won’t,” Dan said, “check this out.” 

He pushed a button with a picture of a plane on it, and the camper grew wings, a tail, and jet engines on the back 

When Dan said, “hang on,” Steve was sitting on the back of Michael’s scooter. “There is nothing to hold on to!” He exclaimed. 

The camper took off from the ocean and climbed into the air, flying faster and faster. They could see the sword’s glow from in the sky as they approached the coast of California, and it was coming from a familiar place. 

“They got to your village,” Jack pointed out. 

“I’ll get us there, don’t worry,” Dan said. 

As the group headed for Arizona, the aliens on the ground in the village were terrorizing it. Luckily Alex and her friends landed before things could get too out of hand. 

Zombie stopped what he was doing when he saw the camper land in the village. When 7 people and two animals got out, he recognized who they were. 

“Leave Alex’s village alone, you deceiver,” Jack yelled at Zombie. 

“Look who has sided with the humans,” Zombie said to his alien army. “Get them!” 

The humans and aliens came charging at each other. There was no plan, just fighting. Alex felt stupid for not thinking of a plan. There was just a big sword and gunfight right in the middle of the village square. 

The other villagers joined the battle too, throwing objects at the aliens. Jack went toward Zombie. He grabbed the Enchanted Sword from him. 

“We need to destroy the sword,” he called to the others. 

The aliens surrounded Jack. 

“Throw me the sword!” Shouted Alex. 

Jack threw the sword and Alex caught it. She ran for Ben’s Biome Tower. The aliens all tried to go after her. 

“We need to help Alex, guys!” Steve told the others. 

They used their swords to fight the aliens. They were able to keep the other aliens from climbing the tower, but Zombie started up the tower after her. She climbed to the second level, and Zombie was climbing after her. 

Alex had an idea. If the sword’s power could make anything real, then she could make it so none of this ever happened. As she reached the top of the tower, she started trying to figure out how the sword works. 

“What do I do?” she cried. “How does this thing work?” 

Zombie got further up the tower. Time was running out. Below, she could see Jack and her friends being beaten by the aliens. Alex pointed the tip of the sword to the sky. It released a bright glow. 

Zombie got to the top of the tower and grabbed at Alex’s leg. But the glow from the sword came from the power of Alex’s thoughts, and the aliens disappeared. The buildings went back to normal. Alex’s camper, which had been destroyed back in Chicago, appeared back in her driveway. Alex had wished the whole situation away. 

“How did you do that?” Steve asked Alex as she climbed down from the tower. 

“This sword has the power to make anything you want a reality,” she replied. 

“Is that why I’m still here?” said a familiar voice from behind them. 

“That’s right, Jack. I think you have the power to be a good person, like when we met you in the woods,” Alex said to him. She had reversed everything with the sword except for Jack’s new personality. 

“I’m sorry for always going after you guys. I’m glad we could stop the invasion together,” was all he could say. 

“No need to rebuild the village,” Alex announced, “this sword did it for us.” 

“What are we going to do with it?” Jack asked. 

“We have to look after it. Together.” She said. 

“Just like friends look out for each other?” Jack asked. 

“Exactly,” Alex replied. 

Then Steve said to Alex, “I know it seemed like we were all drifting apart. But remember, when your in trouble, your real friends will always stop what they are doing in order to help you.” 

Alex looked at Steve for a moment. “That is surprisingly good advice for someone like you.” 

“Anyway,” Steve said, clearing his throat, “now that we’ve got the corny stuff out of the way, all that alien fighting made me hungry. Who wants a barbecue?”