Story Ideas

Idea #1

Zach and Ollie are walking near the sea side, wondering what they’re going to do today. Zach thinks it might be fun to cool off in the water and Ollie agrees. As the two of them head down to the ocean, they come across a sad man, Robby, standing right on the edge of the sandy beach. They ask him what’s wrong, and the man explains that the sand is too hot for him to walk on. The sand is so hot there’s no way he could make it to the ocean without his feet catching on fire. Zach touches the sand with his finger, which quickly causes it to ignite in flames. He confirms that Robby is telling the truth.

Zach and Ollie decide it’d be a great idea to help Robby. Zach suggests walking on the sand with his shoes on. That way his delicate feet won’t touch the sand. Robby raises his pair of shoes to reveal smoldering holes on their bottoms. No go. Ollie says the man should make a running long jump into the ocean. Robby jumps up, revealing he can only jump a height of 2cms. Ollie gets out his ruler and confirms this remarkable fact.

Just as Robby is about to give up, Zach asks him how come doesn’t just not walk on the sand. Robby is puzzled by this suggestion. Ollie steps out over the sand, and as his foot lowers, it lands on the air. Ollie begins walking on the air, with his feet not touching the ground at all. Zach joins in and the two walk straight to the ocean. Come on in, the water’s great, the two yell to Robby. Cautiously, Robby steps out and sure enough he’s able to walk on the air without touching the sand!

The three have a great time and after an hour or two Zach and Ollie decide to head back. As they leave, Robby thanks them once again for all their remarkable help. Robby decides to get out of the ocean, while a bunch of sea creatures watch him walk over the sand. Following his lead, a host of sea creatures walk on the air, finally free of the terrors of hot sand.

Idea #2

Zach and Ollie are walking through a desert. Off in the distance they spot a deserted ghost town, Dusty Flats. In the town they find the Mayor, packing his bags and ready to leave for good. He explains that ever since the clouds stopped raining and the town well went dry, folks have left. In a desert as dry and arid as this one, people can’t last too long without water.

Zach and Ollie decide to help return water to the well. The Mayor laughs it off, saying it’s impossible. This just encourages the two even more.

Zach and Ollie begin to think of an idea. Zach says they should have a brainstorm. Ollie starts to think really hard and sure enough a little rain cloud appears over his head. Zach grabs the cloud and twists it like a rag to drip out the water into the well. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be enough to fill it up. They decide to make the ground sweat, so they rub the ground really fast to get it hot and sweaty. The plan doesn’t work and it just makes their hands hurt.

The Mayor reminds the boys once again that the task of refilling the well is impossible. Unless they can talk to the clouds, they’re sunk. The two light up! Talk to the clouds, that’s it! Ollie jumps on Zach like a spring and Zach launches him into the sky. Ollie appears right next to a big cloud and lands on a smaller cloud. He asks the cloud why it’s stopped raining. The cloud is very embarrassed to realize it has forgotten to rain for so long and heads back down to Dusty Flats to fill up the town well.

The Mayor gapes in shock as the well is full and all the town citizens return. Zach and Ollie shake the Mayor’s hand and wish him and Dusty Flats the best of luck. They hop on the cloud and the three fly off to uncharted destinations.

Idea #3

A little girl’s cat is stuck in a tree. She tries everything she can think of to get it out, like shaking a stick at it and pounding on the tree, but the cat won’t leave. The cat seems to be unaware that there’s a problem. As she starts to cry, Zach and Ollie arrive and ask her what’s wrong. She explains the situation and the two decide to help.

Ollie opens a can of cat food, hoping the smell will convince the cat to leave the tree. Unfortunately, a bird flies by and grabs the can of cat food. The cat then attacks the bird and the cat food lands on the tree branch with the cat. The cat very happily eats from the cat food can. Zach ponders that maybe the cat will gain enough weight to break the branch. Sure enough, the branch breaks due to the influx of new weight, but the cat lands on a sturdier branch.

Zach gets out a laser pointer and points the dot by the cat. The plan is to get the cat to follow the dot down the tree and onto the ground. The cat is initially interested in the dot but Zach is moving the dot so much that the cat grows tired of following it and falls asleep.

Just as things look their worst, Zach decides the problem is that they’ve been trying to get the cat to come to them. They should come to the cat. Ollie gets it and grabs the ground while Zach holds onto the tree. As Ollie pulls with all his strength, he lifts the Earth up out of its usual orbit. Zach holds onto the tree, keeping it at the exact same level, so after Ollie is done pulling, the cat on the tree branch is now at the little girl’s level. She grabs the cat and thanks Zach and Ollie profusely. The two blush and say it’s just what they do. Ollie pushes back down on the ground, returning the Earth to its original place, just in time to avoid an incoming meteor.

Zach and Ollie wander off once again into the remarkable world.

Idea #4

A little boy, Billy, is trying to open his can of fruit juice, but he accidentally breaks off the pull tab. How can he open it now? Thankfully Zach and Ollie have arrived, ready to help.

Zach starts offering advice, but curiously, none of it works. His suggestion that Billy glue the pull tab back to the can doesn’t work. Neither does his idea that Billy should use his psychic powers to open the can, as Billy does not have any psychic powers (his friend Akira does though). Zach thinks the plan to toss the can far enough up into the air so that it becomes part of the cloud and thus rains down fruit juice will work, but it doesn’t. The cloud (from the first treatment!) explains that it doesn’t work that way.

Zach is driven to despair! Nothing he can do is helping this poor child. Billy keeps insisting that no, it’s not that big of a deal, but he is ignored. Ollie comes to comfort Zach and tell him that it’s okay. Not every idea you come up with is going to work. This doesn’t soothe Zach; he just wants to help and now he can’t. Again, Billy insists it’s really not a problem, but Zach tells him that it’s okay, he doesn’t have to cry.

Just when Zach is at his lowest he looks at the can and comes to a shocking realization: what if Billy…drank a different can of fruit juice? Billy is dumbfounded by this absurdly simple solution. He grabs another can of fruit juice and goes to pull the pull tab. Zach and Ollie gather around, Zach in particular is very nervous. Billy pulls the pull tab and the can opens fine. Zach is exuberant; the plan worked!

The three congratulate each other and Zach and Ollie walk off once again. Zach is incredibly happy and confident in the knowledge that a low point is just a prelude to something great.