The Tale of the Imys

By Chian-Shin Du and Kiana Anvari

Once upon a time, on a planet far far away, there were six tiny monsters, known as the Imys. These strange creatures were about the size of a tissue box, and had arms and legs the size of pipe cleaners, along with a variety of colors for their luxurious, and long fur. There was Timy, a blue, always cheerful, cloud-shaped monster. Then there was Jimy, a purple, perpetually angry, spiky-shaped monster. Their friend, Bimy, was a red, heart-shaped, sad monster. Even though he was a heart, he was pretty heartbroken. Why? That is a story for another time. 

Timy, Jimy, and Bimy each had twins. There was Kimy, who was Timy’s twin brother. Kimy was identical to Timy, except for the fact that he was a deranged sort of happy, instead of a purer kind. Jimy’s twin, Rimy, was angry as well, but the type of fanatical rage barely contained in his small, fluffy, body. He was also generally as sour as a lemon. Bimy’s twin, Limy, moped about constantly, hating himself and the world.

Timy, Jimy, and Bimy decided to go on a camping trip together. They packed many snacks, like donuts, strawberry açaí lemon drinks, and numerous other unnecessary things. They made a long trek through the forest that day, hiking through luscious, leafy forests and viewing lakes that glittered like jewels under the sparkling sun. The sun smiled at them while they made the trek to their campsite.

“I’m t-tired…” Bimy complained for the one millionth time. Indeed, his tiny little legs wobbled, looking as if they might give out. 

“Shut up, Bimy. WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING!” Jimy’s yell echoed around the forest, sending birds flying up in clouds of black.

“Let’s compromise. How about we set up our campsite now?” Timy asked. He was generally the voice of reason in their group. 

The group agreed. They found their campsite, decided to set up their tents, and got everything settled. After that, they fell into the dark abyss of sleep, slumbering away. The night air was frosty and cold, but their long, thick fur protected them from the chill.

They were woken up in the morning by a loud growl. “Sorry,” Timy grinned apologetically. “That was my stomach. I’m starving!”

The trio decided to go get some snacks. However, where beautiful, delicious food had been laid outside just a day before, there was nothing but one single pack of chocolate chip cookies, which promptly disappeared into Timy’s mouth, wrapper and all. 

“W-w-whe-where are our snacks?” Bimy asked, bursting out into tears. Bimy’s tears flowed, a waterfall of sadness and hunger. 

Jimy yelled out furiously, “I’LL FIND WHOEVER STOLE OUR SNACKS!!!!!!!!”  

“It’s okay, let's look around! Maybe just a bit of wind blew it away, ok?” Timy said this

in a calm voice; he was always an optimist. Timy was never sad, mad, or anything else other than happy.

And so, the group searched for a very long time. Timy had long lost his enthusiasm, but kept a smile plastered onto his face until Jimy’s scream of frustration echoed through the emerald forest. 

“SOMEBODY STOLE OUR FOOD!” he screamed. The leaves on the trees all around them rustled.

Bimy was too sad to keep on going. He was practically dead. 

Suddenly, Timy spotted Rimy carrying some of their snacks. He was stomping around the forest, scaring away squirrels, who scampered away. “Look guys! That’s Rimy! He’s stealing our snacks!” Timy sounded oddly excited, since he was always happy.

Jimy agreed. “We should follow them! Just be sneaky though.”

Bimy looked miserable. “Mm-may-may-be  w-we should grab some s-snacks?” he stuttered.

“What snacks?” asked Jimy dryly.

Bimy looked crestfallen. He turned to see Timy tumbling through the forest. Yes, tumbling was the right word. Timy’s tiny legs went up and down, rolling down the hill. He fell through bushes until a big rock stopped him. Each thorn was a tiny needle, stabbing poor Timy.  

You see, the Imys were rather clumsy monsters, with their tiny legs almost unable to support their body weight. Thankfully, the thief, Rimy, didn’t notice Timy. Bimy and Jimy looked at each other and started tumbling down hills, which were the rich, deep, color of chocolate. They eventually caught up with Timy, and they stalked Rimy all the way to a clearing surrounded by towering trees. What they saw in the clearing enraged all of them, even Timy.

“They stole our snacks!” Timy looked mildly annoyed. For Timy, this meant that he was beyond furious.

Bimy shuddered, once, then twice, and burst out into tears. “A-are they using it to power a spaceship..?”

Turns out, they were. See, the thing about the Imys was that when they turned five, each one of them set a goal. They would then have until they were eighteen to finish that goal. If they didn’t meet their goal, they would die. Kimy and Rimy’s goal had been to build a rocketship. So now, as 11-year-olds, they were going to complete it. Kimy, Limy, and Rimy did not procrastinate.

“COME ON GUYS! LET’S DO THIS!” Kimy shouted. His grin was stretched so wide it looked painful, and it probably was. 

Limy groaned and aimlessly tossed a clump of brown dirt, sending it flying everywhere as Rimy dumped more snacks beside him. “Come on! We have to do this!” Rimy yelled.

Little did Rimy, Limy, and Kimy know, in the bush right next to them, lay their twins. Not only that, but they were various degrees of mad. Timy was mildly annoyed. Jimy was furious beyond reason. Bimy was more sad than angry, but he hated that these Imys made him feel that way.

Timy shuddered. “How am I related to Kimy?” he asked aloud, rolling his eyes.

Bimy shuddered. “D-d-dunno,” he muttered.

Suddenly, Jimy tripped over a small pebble. “GAHHHHH!!!!” he shouted.

Limy, Kimy, and Rimy’s heads whipped around.

Rimy’s face twisted into shock, then recognition, then anger, as he shouted, his face taking on a red tint, “What are you doing? GO AWAY!” 

Jimy tried to get up, but failed. His tiny legs kept on collapsing. Timy and Bimy rushed over to help him. Jimy got up and glared daggers at his twin. “Not until you give us back OUR SNACKS!”

Bimy burst into tears and started crying so hard he was barely able to breathe. “H-h-how about we just leave… it's ok…”

Jimy was not ready to give up, not until he got what he wanted. “I would NEVER give up that easily. We can't just back down that quickly.” 

Timy agreed, and with that, the three of them, Jimy dragging Bimy along, screamed, “CHARGE!!!!!!!”

Then all together, under the burning sun, Timy, Jimy, and Bimy stormed into the rocket ship. They quickly got into a fight with Kimy, Rimy, and Limy. It was pretty hard to fight when you were clumsy, so what ensued was hilarious. THWACK! SMASH! CRASH! BAM!

Dearest reader, I’ll let you picture the scene: Imagine six fluffy, top-heavy creatures trying to fight each other in a tiny rocketship, cluttered and filled with snacks, notebooks, and more snacks. Every time one of them tried to land a blow, they would fall, tumble, and roll for a couple of seconds until they crashed into a mountain of brightly colored snacks, which caused an avalanche. 

Rimy picked up a snack pack and threw it, with full force, at Timy. Timy just barely managed to jump out of the way, tripping Jimy in the process. “SORRY!” yelled Timy as he decided to grab a snack pack to throw at Limy.

Limy got hit and sobbed.

“COME ON GUYS! WE HAVE TO GET OUR SNACKS BACK!” Jimy screamed at his friends.

Even Bimy was trying to fight. He ran towards Kimy, screaming and crying. Kimy got scared but quickly recovered to throw a snack pack at Bimy, who started crying even harder.

In the chaos, nobody noticed two small, purple blobs sneaking out, dodging the flying snack packs.

Rimy giggled, a deranged, dark cackle, sour as a lemon and as salty as the Dead Sea. “For years, I have kept it a secret. My vow was not to build a rocket ship but to get revenge on my childhood bullies. You guys made fun of Jimy and I’s majestic purple color, and now you will pay for the suffering you have caused me! SO LONG, PEOPLE!” Then, he flipped a switch. The rocket started rumbling, a volcano that was about to erupt.

Inside the rocketship, Timy, Bimy, Kimy, and Limy were still throwing snacks and fighting each other. As the rocket began counting down, the loud, artificial voice booming with each number, they slowly stopped fighting. The snack pack Kimy had just thrown landed with a pathetic thump. 

The rocket ship began shaking violently, gradually increasing in speed until Timy, Bimy, Kimy, and Limy were launched up into the sky in a fiery explosion toward a new planet.

Rimy and Jimy turned to each other, gave each other a loud high-five, and began fighting with each other.

“Oh yeah? You think you’re funny? More like your face looks funny!” Jimy yelled.

“I'm the favorite child! I'm smarter, funnier, and just awesomer. Also, that means your face looks funny! We are identical, in case your small tiny brain forgot! ” Rimy said angrily. He tried to stop his foot, but because his legs were so small, he ended up falling.

Jimy doubled down with laughter, which caused him to lose his balance as well. 

Then, they burst out into laughter together and high-fived each other again. “We did it!” They shouted together, and then promptly fell asleep with exhaustion.

Meanwhile, the spaceship filled with Timy, Bimy, Kimy, and Limy had landed on a weird planet. One similar to the planet they had resided on, Imy. This planet was known as Earth. Timy, Bimy, Kimy, and Limy tumbled out and started looking for snacks, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.