by Jon Ireland
‘Not that kind of wind!’ exclaimed Rocket. ‘Good grief ... ’
Rocket reached into his belt pockets and pulled out several blueberries. He gulped them down and within seconds his tummy and legs glowed almost as bright as the camp fire.
‘Hold on tight,’ he said. ‘I’m about to create a whirlwind!’
‘Huh?’ said Hoppy. ‘A whirly-whaty-what?’
‘We should hold hands,’ said Liftoff. ‘Rocket’s going to make a storm.’
Rocket’s feet burned red and in a flash he was off. Faster and faster he circled around the camp, building up a dust cloud, whipping up a tornado. Each time he dashed around the camp the wind grew stronger.
Hoppy, Tinysaur and Liftoff stood in the eye of the storm. The fire behind them had all but flickered its last flames as the cyclone blew furiously about them. Tinysaur clung on to Hoppy and Hoppy held hands with Liftoff as the strong gusts tried to lift her up off the ground.
‘It’s working! Look!’ exclaimed Hoppy excitedly. ‘Rocket’s whirlwind is pulling the beetles into the sky.’
It was a bizarre sight to see, the millions of tiny red dots swirling and dancing in the air like a theatre show.
How many times had Rocket zoomed round them? A thousand? Ten thousand? Who could count? Neither Hoppy nor Liftoff could spot Rocket through the blur of red and black streaks.
‘Tinysaur! Watch out, your feet are coming off the floor!’ shouted Hoppy. In all the commotion, Tinysaur hadn’t noticed her big green paws lift from the earth.
Hoppy let go off Liftoff’s hand and tried to keep Tinysaur from flying away. But now Hoppy’s feet lifted off the ground as well. Both her and Tinysaur were being sucked up into the cyclone.
‘Where are you two going?’ said Liftoff, and he plucked Hoppy out of the sky by her left foot.
Hoppy shouted at the top of her lungs: ‘ROCKET! STOP! STOP! STOP!’
All of a sudden, the wind speed dropped.
Hoppy and Tinysaur fell with a thump to the ground.
‘Evening all,’ greeted Rocket.
He was looking at the carnage and admiring his night’s work. Way up high in the sky was a cloud of tiny red dots. Not a single beetle was left on the camp floor.
‘You may want to put these up,’ said Rocket, handing out two colourful umbrellas. He popped up a bright green umbrella of his own and grinned. ‘You’ve heard the saying “it’s raining cats and dogs” ... Well tonight it’s about to rain beetles.’
Then suddenly, thousands upon thousands of the tiny mini-beasts came pouring down upon them. Liftoff and Hoppy quickly popped up their umbrellas and Tinysaur snuggled in next to Hoppy’s legs. Like a heavy hailstorm, the black beetles tumbled from the night sky.
‘Hey, I thought insects turn into goo and slime when they get splatted,’ said Hoppy. ‘These beetles are shattering like glass.’
Liftoff put out one of his giant paw hands and grabbed one of the falling bugs from the sky. He opened his paw to reveal an assortment of tiny broken pieces of electronic wires and microchips.
Hoppy examined the fragments in Liftoff’s hand.
‘They’re not insects,’ Hoppy answered. ‘They’re machines. Tiny machines designed to look like beetles.’
‘Rain’s stopped,’ said Rocket, taking down his umbrella. ‘I say we sweep this mess up in the morning. I’ve had enough excitement for one night.’
‘You’re telling me,’ said Liftoff. ‘Another one of Doctor Mischief’s crazy contraptions no doubt.’
‘She’s always pestering us,’ said Rocket grinning. ‘Get it, pest-er-ing. You know, pest. Pest-er-ing us!’
Neither Hoppy nor Liftoff were laughing.
‘Good night, Rocket,’ yawned Hoppy. ‘I’m too tired for your lame jokes’. And with that she walked off with Tinysaur back to their blanket and bed.
‘I didn’t mean to bug you,’ said Rocket. ‘Hey, Liftoff, did you hear that? I said I didn’t mean to bug you!’
But Liftoff was back inside his cabin and already tucked up in bed.
‘Don’t let the bed bugs bite!’
Not getting the kind of response he’d hoped for, Rocket sighed and went back to his own bed. It had been a long night for everyone.
Chapter 12 – Crazy Klump
The next morning Liftoff had a broom in his hands and was sweeping out all the broken beetles and mess from the previous night. Rocket had started up the fire and was cooking some salted sardines.
‘What a strange night that was,’ said Liftoff, sweeping away the last remains of broken pieces.
‘I’m getting tired of all this nonsense.’ Rocket turned the fish over in the pan. ‘I say we make Shelly give Mischief the password and be done with it. I mean, who cares about a password on her computer?’
Tinysaur ran over to Rocket and panted.
‘You want some breakfast, eh?’
Tinysaur nodded excitedly.
Rocket threw a sardine to Tinysaur who swallowed it whole.
‘Any for you, Liftoff?’
‘No thanks. I’ve already had my twelfth bowl of Rice-Pops this morning.’
Liftoff’s stomach made a strange gurgling, fizzing, popping sound.
‘You know, that Mischief is more trouble than sitting on a nest of gobbler ants. I just want our fishing lake back with a bit of peace and quiet.’
Hoppy ran into the camp breathless.
‘I’ve looked everywhere for Shelly and I just can’t find him anywhere. What’s more, I found this note at the treehouse. It’s from Klump.’
Liftoff left his broom by the side of his cabin and came over to see.
‘What does it say?’ asked Rocket. He stood up from the fire and offered out the rest of the fish.
Hoppy showed them the note.
‘I don’t know if it’s some kind of trick or a bad joke, but look ...’
Rocket nibbled on the sardines and with his mouth half-full he read the note out loud:
‘All gone wrong,
We don’t have long,
When you see me next,
I may be gone.
You shouldn’t trust me,
If I tell you to stay,
I won’t be myself,
So run! Run away!
– Klump.’
‘That’s just crazy talk!’ said Liftoff, tapping the side of his head.
‘It’s just another one of Klump’s lame tricks,’ said Rocket. ‘Doctor Mischief must have made Klump write that nonsense.’
Hoppy scanned over the message one more time.
‘Shelly’s usually the one who’s good at these sorts of cryptic messages. Maybe the note was meant for Shelly?’ she wondered.
‘Maybe Klump wrote the message to get his attention?’ said Rocket. He snapped his fingers. ‘I bet Shelly’s gone to the mountain to find Klump.’
‘If it’s a trick to lure Shelly into the mountain then we need to stop them.’
‘I’m going nowhere,’ said Liftoff stubbornly. ‘I hate that place. I’d rather stay here and tidy up – I haven’t dusted my cabin in three days!’
‘But we need you,’ pleaded Hoppy. ‘You’re the strongest person on this island.’
Liftoff picked up his bunny and put it to his ear.
‘What’s that you say, bunny? You want us to stay here?’
‘Oh come on, you big softy,’ said Rocket. ‘It won’t take long. We’re not going inside the mountain anyway.’
‘No!’ said Liftoff firmly.
‘I’ll clean all the dishes if you come with us,’ said Rocket. ‘For a whole week!’
‘Nope.’
‘I’ll do the laundry. Even those blue shorts with the brown marks on the bottom.’
‘They’re your shorts!’
Liftoff crossed his arms.
Rocket gave Hoppy a ‘what can you do?’ look.
‘How about if I bake you some special honey oat cookies?’ offered Hoppy.
Liftoff raised an eyebrow.
‘Cookies?
How many cookies?’
‘Three large ones with extra chocolate chip toppings.’
Liftoff thought for a moment and sniffed the air.
‘Make it six and we have a deal.’
‘Deal,’ said Hoppy. She shook his big hand. ‘Now come on we’ve wasted enough time already. Let’s sort this mess out once and for all.’
It wasn’t long before Rocket, Liftoff, Tinysaur and Hoppy were back outside at Doctor Mischief’s mountain base entrance. Rocket was about to push one of the buttons on the communicator, when the giant steel doors suddenly opened.
Inside the round doorway was Klump who glided on his four wheels to meet them.
‘Come inside,’ Klump said in a monotone voice. ‘We’ve been expecting you.’
‘We got your note,’ said Rocket. ‘Kind of weird. But love what you’re doing with the poetry.’
‘Note?’ asked Klump, showing no sign of emotion. ‘I am unaware of any note.’
Hoppy handed him the message.
‘This one with your name on it.’
Klump took the piece of paper and tore it to pieces.
‘An operating error. You must come inside now.’
‘Klump, you are acting like a moron,’ said Rocket. ‘I mean, I know you’ve always been a bit bonkers but even for you this is odd. What’s up with your voice? You sound all roboty and machiney.’
‘I am a robot,’ answered Klump. ‘I am instructed to bring you inside.’
‘And what’s up with your eyes? They’ve gone all red. It looks freaky!’
‘I’m not going inside,’ said Liftoff firmly. ‘No way!’
Rocket leaned over to Hoppy: ‘I’m starting to think something’s not right with Klump. Remember what that note said –’
‘–You shouldn’t trust me if I tell you to stay,’ quoted Hoppy, remembering the words from the torn-up note.
‘You know what,’ said Rocket to Klump. ‘It’s such a nice day out here I think we’re going to stay right where we are. Why don’t you go get your boss, Mischief, and tell her to come out and meet us here instead.’
Klump’s eye’s glowed red and narrowed.
‘The Doctor must not be disturbed. You will come inside. I am under strict instructions.’
Liftoff put up a hand.
‘Not me. I’m going nowhere.’
‘You heard him, box-boy,’ said Rocket. He pointed into the darkness of the tunnel behind Klump. ‘We’re not coming with you in there. I think you’ve got a loose microchip or two. You don’t look right.’
‘Very well,’ said Klump nonchalantly. ‘You had your chance to obey. Now you will be forced to enter the mountain instead.’
‘Ha!’ laughed Rocket. ‘You and what army is going to make us?’
Klump raised his right hand in the air and snapped his fingers. From deep within the mountain came the sound of gigantic footsteps, like the pounding of cannon balls.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ said Hoppy, feeling the earth tremble beneath her feet.
Tinysaur whimpered.
The footsteps grew louder. A mechanical whining spinning sound started, like the sound of chainsaws and sharp knives.
‘Something big is coming,’ said Rocket.
‘I said this place was bad news,’ said Liftoff.
The booming and whining grew louder and closer.
‘Oh my goodness,’ gasped Hoppy. ‘What on earth are they?!’
Chapter 13 – The Arm-E Attack
Out from the mountain entrance, came the giants. Three monstrous robots who stomped forward on legs of iron. Their bodies were cylindrical, no neck and a slit for the eyes like knights in armour. Their arms were like tentacles, four on each robot. Twisting and writhing, the tentacle arms had sharp claws for hands.
‘You must surrender,’ said Klump. ‘These are Arm-Electrics. Arm-E robots can be extremely dangerous if not obeyed.’
‘Your dumb machines don’t scare us,’ said Hoppy fiercely, getting herself into a fighting stance. Tinysaur snuck behind Hoppy’s legs cowering.
‘Look at the size of them,’ said Liftoff.
‘Watch out for those claws,’ warned Rocket.
‘We’ll take one each,’ said Hoppy.
‘Klump, don’t go anywhere!’ shouted Rocket. ‘I’ll need you to clean up the scraps of metal after we’ve finished pummelling your army robots to pieces.’
‘How can Klump do any cleaning up?’ asked Liftoff blankly. ‘He hasn’t got a broom or dust pan and brush?’
‘Just tough talk, buddy,’ said Rocket. ‘You know, trash talk.’ He gave Liftoff a wink.
‘Arm-Es attack!’ ordered Klump, pointing at the animals.
‘Time for a fruit snack,’ said Rocket. He gulped a handful of blueberries from his side pocket, and within seconds his body and legs were brightly glowing.
The first of the three Arm-Es stomped menacingly up to Liftoff.
‘Hi! My name’s Liftoff. What’s your name?’ said Liftoff. The Arm-E reached out one of its clawed tentacle arms. ‘Hey, Rocket, I think this one is friendly.’
Liftoff reached out his right hand and grasped the claw of the Arm-E, shaking his hand firmly. But the monstrous droid responded by powerfully squeezing Liftoff’s hand with a force that would break the bone of any normal person.
‘Hey!’ said the super-strong Liftoff. ‘That’s a firm hand shake you’ve got there.’
‘I’m pretty sure they’re not trying to make friends with us,’ said Hoppy. She leapt to one side as the second Arm-E threw a tentacle punch, just missing her and thumping on the ground instead.
Tinysaur shrieked and fled to a nearby tree.
‘Some help you are,’ said Hoppy, skipping past a second swing from the Arm-E’s claw.
The third Arm-E rushed at Rocket with all four tentacles – its claws spinning like blades. The tentacle arms swung in to grab Rocket, but at the last fraction of a second Rocket zoomed away.
‘I don’t like hugs from robots,’ said Rocket, suddenly reappearing behind the Arm-E.
Liftoff was still hand in hand with the first Arm-E, its powerful claw crushing down on Liftoff’s bones with incredible force.
‘Hey, that tickles,’ said Liftoff, giggling. ‘Let go!’
Liftoff tugged back his hand but the Arm-E held firm. So without a great deal of effort, Liftoff swung the giant robot over his head, crashing it on to the ground.
SMASH!
‘I do wish you’d let go of my hand now,’ said Liftoff. ‘This is a very, very long hand shake.’
He slammed the Arm-E back and forth over his head, until its claw fell off and its body smashed to pieces.
The second Arm-E flicked out all four of its tentacles like whips at Hoppy, who immediately jumped back with a flip. It was then that she stumbled and fell on to her back.
Tinysaur yapped in terror.
The Arm-E had its spinning pincers out and they pressed in towards Hoppy who was lying on the floor. She could feel the wind from the rotating claws on her cheeks.
Tinysaur dashed out from her hiding place and ran to Hoppy, barking and yapping frantically. The Arm-E was distracted just long enough for Hoppy to safely roll out the way.
SHWIZZ!
The spinning claws hit the ground, cutting up the grass and tearing up the dirt.
Rocket leapt on to the back of his Arm-E attacker and sat on its shoulders.
‘What have we got here?’ he said, seeing a secret hatch built into the rear the machine.
The Arm-E wriggled furiously to shake Rocket off.
‘You’re m-m-m-making me dizzy!’ said Rocket with a wobbly voice. He gripped his left hand on the Arm-E’s shoulder as tightly as possible. With his right hand he tugged open the hidden compartment, and inside he saw what looked like four enormous power cells.
‘Batteries!’
He pulled the batteries loose and chucked them to the floor, leaving the compartment empty. The gian
t Arm-E squawked and fizzled, and then creaked to a halt, falling head first to the floor with a fantastic –
CRASH!
Rocket hopped off the Arm-E’s back and onto the ground beside the fallen metal giant.
‘Now look who’s powerless…’
Meanwhile, Hoppy energetically ran and threw herself on to the last Arm-E, flipping herself up and balancing with one foot on its head. She reached down her hands into the robot’s eye slit – neatly dodging a tentacle swipe – and ripped out a camera with a pop and spark of electricity.
‘You can’t hit what you can’t see,’ she said. And leapt off its metal head landing in a crouched position on the floor.
The sightless Arm-E, dazed and confused, flapped its tentacles aimlessly and stumbled around. It swiped out a spinning claw and accidentally hooked itself in the foot, sending itself toppling over.
CRASH!
The three giant Arm-E robots lay broken and defeated on the ground. A waft of grey smoke drifted into the sky.
‘I told you we’d need someone to clean up this mess,’ said Rocket. He turned to see Klump speed off back into the tunnel entrance. ‘Hey, where are you going? I want a word with you!’
Chapter 14 – Back to the backdoor
Just as Rocket was about to sprint over and give Klump a piece of his mind, the massive steel doors to the mountain entrance suddenly slammed shut.
‘We’re not finished with you yet, Klump!’
Rocket turned to Liftoff and pleaded; ‘How about opening that door for us? Should be easy for you ...’
‘No way,’ said Liftoff, shaking his head, ‘I told you I’m not going in there.’
Rocket went over to the steel door and knocked.
‘Hey! Let us in!’
A second security door slammed over the first, doubling the protection.
‘First they want us in? Now they don’t,’ said Rocket. ‘It’s like they can’t make up their minds?’
A third security door whooshed up from the ground.
‘How rude!’ said Rocket.
‘And they were being ever so friendly before,’ said Hoppy.
‘Let’s wait till Klump comes out again,’ suggested Rocket.
‘And get into another fight?’ said Hoppy. ‘No thanks. Next time there might be thirty of those Arm-E robots. Or more!’
‘Well that’s that then,’ said Liftoff cheerily. ‘Back for lunch?’
‘Lunch?’ frowned Hoppy. ‘How can you think of lunch? We’re at war! I’m getting inside this mountain one way or another.’
‘There is only one way in,’ said Rocket tapping on the third security door. ‘And we’re shut out.’
