A CHOICE-FILLED ADVENTURE STORY
THE METAVERSE’S CRAZY CROSSOVER— A Simple Story
Written by Students of MS. MASSEY’S FIFTH GRADE CLASS at MITCHELL ELEMENTARY
FIRST EDITION AN 826MICHIGAN DIGITAL PUBLICATION
Copyright © 2022 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, and the authors. The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study. By purchasing this book, you are helping 826michigan continue to offer free student programs. For more information, please visit: 826michigan.org
You are in the Metaverse at a pool in the Matrix. You are a potato swimming in the pool. Your favorite color is red, which is why your floaty is red. A random shark jumps in the pool and attempts to eat you. A second potato fights the shark while you do twenty backflips to escape. You can turn the pool into lava or you can teleport into bed.
If you decide to turn the pool into lava, turn to page 2. If you decide to teleport to bed, turn to page 3.
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You decide to turn the pool into lava. Dora the Explorer as a robot comes out of the lava and steals the potato helping you. She also has a shark head on her hand that spits out baby sharks. She uses the potato as a weapon. A rocket launcher appears out of nowhere. You use it to fight Dora. It shoots out spicy tacos, llama spit, gumballs, snowballs, anime books, and unicorn farts. You find a bucket of water and use it to cool the lava. Peppa Pig with a lightsaber appears with Kermit the Frog doing karate! A portal appears in the ground in front of you. It leads to a basketball match between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. It also leads to a unicorn apocalypse. You hear the clip-clops of hooves and see unicorns trying to spray the mists that taste like cotton candy to turn you into a unicorn. Dancing cats rule over the unicorns and you see Elmo riding a unicorn.
If you decide to go to the basketball game, turn to page 4. If you decide to go to the unicorn apocalypse, turn to page 5.
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You decide to teleport into bed. Your bed has potato bedsheets on it and a potato slice as a blanket. If you get hungry at night, you can eat your potato bed. Chicken nuggets and a rocket launcher are under your bed. Dwayne “The Pebble” Johnson, who is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s weaker son, comes into your room. He is tall and strong. He tells you, “It’s about drive, it’s about power.” He wakes you up and lifts you out of bed. The Pebble takes you to Fortnite. Mr. Beast is in the sky and he shoots you with a water gun and knocks you out. When you wake up, you see Elmo stalking you through the wall. Elmo is made out of funfetti cake and you can eat him so he doesn’t hurt you. You can stay with The Pebble or go through a rift.
If you decide to stay with The Pebble, turn to page 6. If you decide to go through a rift, turn to page 7.
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You decide to go to the basketball match with LeBron James and Michael Jordan. There is a t-shirt cannon firing green Mountain Dew shirts and milkshake shirts into the crowd! If you get the Mountain Dew shirt, you get a free Mountain Dew! If you get the milkshake shirt, you get a free milkshake! Bugs Bunny is brought to the match by Doctor Strange, but doesn’t know who to root for. The rest of Looney Tunes appears and splits their support for each team. Daffy Duck cheers for LeBron James, while Bugs Bunny cheers for Michael Jordan. They start to argue. A unicorn appears through the portal and farts on LeBron James, turning him into a unicorn. Lamar Jackson appears and makes everyone play football instead! The Looney Tunes join in. Peppa Pig and Kermit the Frog help LeBron James. They are at a tie! At halftime, Snoop Dog in a Hello Kitty outfit appears driving a Cadillac and throwing out money. Baby Yoda and Michael Jackson do a moonwalk in Snoop Dog’s car. Another car appears behind them playing his songs. It has a giant pipe in the back. The exhaust is really tall and has an outline of pink and blue polka dots. Michael Jordan starts doing the earth walk. Mickey Rat comes out to sing but he breaks the microphone and is forced to leave. Elsa also appears and sings “Let It Go”. The game resumes after halftime. A potato returns to play football but he’s too small and gets stepped on. Everyone stops arguing because LeBron James is a unicorn. The game ends in a tie. You can either follow Mickey Rat or Doctor Strange. If you decide to follow Mickey Rat, write your own ending. If you decide to follow Doctor Strange, write your own ending.
4
(start again at page 1)
You decide to go to the unicorn apocalypse. You teleport to a town with supermarkets called Chicken Nuggetville and smell the oil in the air. There is a genie lamp in the shape of a chicken nugget in the store, and half of the store is burned because of the war. All the buildings are pink, but they’re turning black because of the war to end pollution. You are then chased by Elmo, although he is actually trying to help you. Cookie Monster joins him and throws cookies at the unicorns. The unicorns are busy eating the cookies that Cookie Monster threw at them. Elmo is on the massive dancing cats’ side in the war, which has been going on for 140 generations, but it’s only been going on for seven days because twenty generations of unicorns are born every day through cloning. The unicorns no longer know why they’re fighting. The dancing cats hypnotize the unicorns to do their bidding. The dancing cats want to take over the world and have a world without humans, because they want to industrialize the world. You can either join the treaty with Justin to end pollution or join the dancing cats and industrialize the whole world.
If you decide to end pollution, write your own ending. If you decide to industrialize the world, write your own ending.
5
(start again at page 1)
You decide to stay with The Pebble. Elmo decides to attack you. Because he is made of cake, you can spray fruit punch at Elmo through a water gun so he melts. You eat the cake from Elmo so that you can survive. The Pebble finds Caillou and they make a bond. Caillou sings, “I’m Caillou and I cry a lot.” Caillou decides that he likes green, blue, and black. He puts on green and black clothes. He wears Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Supreme and Jordans, and hats. Caillou turns into a giraffe and says moo and then turns into a hippo. He gets drafted into the NBA finals and does the moonwalk. Caillou goes into a hat store and buys a bunch of hats. He gets adopted by giant hippos. He leaves that family and goes to the wig store as a hippo and gets adopted by somebody else. He loses his old adoptive family on his way to the wig store, and has the choice to go live with them or with his first adoptive family.
If you and Caillou decide to live with your hippo adoptive family,
write your own ending. If you and Caillou decide to live with your new adoptive family,
write your own ending. 6
(start again at page 1)
You decide to go through the rift. You end up in Minecraft with only a wooden shovel. Elmo is still stalking you, but he’s actually friendly. He asks you for help, because he doesn’t want to be stuck as a cake. A creeper comes up behind Elmo and Elmo falls into a hole. You try to help Elmo with the wooden shovel, but it was already almost out, and it breaks. You need to find a rope somewhere. You fall into a two-block hole, but there’s a rope, because someone else had just escaped it. You use that rope to climb out and wrangle the creeper cowboystyle and trap him in the two-block hole. After you save Elmo, you find a village where villagers want to trade an iron sword for five emeralds, so you need to go mining. You find a cave, and inside it is a swarm of zombies. Elmo uses a confetti cannon to blind the zombies. A stack and a half of TNT, as well as flint and steel, appear in your inventory. You lay them down, blow them up, and find five emeralds and three diamonds. After you find the diamonds, you see a skeleton in full iron armor. You grab the skeleton and drop it farther down the cave. You leave the cave, but it’s nighttime, so you go back into the cave. You make a blockade from the rest of the cave, as well as from the entrance of it. Elmo’s still with you, and you fall asleep. You wake up to a zombie trying to break into your base, so you defeat it. Then you leave your base to gather some wood and coal, so that you can make torches to prevent other mobs from spawning. You add the torches to the walls, replace the blocks to close off (cont’d on page 8)
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your base, and now it’s light. You make a chest with the extra wood, and put all your extra supplies in it. You find a saddle in the cave and a horse outside, so you and Elmo take the horse back to the village. In the village, you successfully trade the five emeralds for the iron sword. Your health is at one heart, so you eat Elmo’s legs, but luckily, they regrow. You are also able to rest safely and peacefully in the village. The End.
8
(start again at page 1)
(space to write your own ending)
THE END 9
(start again at page 1)
inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities. Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing. Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members. We believe that with one-onone attention from caring adults, students improve their academic performance, develop a sense of belonging, and discover the unique value of their voices. We also believe that the more fun a student has, and the more directly we speak to a student’s interests, the more we can help students find the fun in learning. That’s why our programs are more than just extra homework. All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their individual voice. ONLINE LEARNING LAB In the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned all of our programs online. Our priority is to ensure the safety of our community, while continuing to offer engaging, high-quality opportunities to students. Each of our main programs—Schoolwork Support, Workshops, Field Trips, and In-school Projects—has been reimagined for the virtual space as part of our new Online Learning Lab. For the 2021–22 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well! SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18. Generally, we offer this program at three locations: at our Liberty Street Lab in Ann Arbor, at the Michigan Avenue Branch of the Ypsilanti District Library, and at our Winder Street Lab in Detroit’s Eastern Market, though in-person programs are on pause this year. We have added a Virtual Schoolwork Support program. Students are paired with two tutors to work on assignments for school and writing projects of their choosing.
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We work with a group of writers who help and support each other
A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world
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by Gerald Richards, CEO
826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
Find out more at 826michigan.org