The Great Plan

by Chase Wheeler

  But there wasn’t anything she could do about that now.

  Speed had no idea Trixie was in trouble. He and Duggery raced down the canyon. They came to a fork in the road. A tall signpost held two signs. One sign pointed to a road on the left that was twenty-five miles long. The other pointed to a road on the right that was a shortcut—only fifteen miles long.

  Duggery didn’t hesitate. He quickly turned to the right.

  “I’m taking the shortcut,” Duggery said to himself. “It’ll keep me away from Speed and those other guys.”

  Speed started to take the left turn, but stopped. He knew the shortcut was a bad idea.

  “Duggery’s heading for the volcanoes,” Speed realized. He had studied a map of the area before the race, and he knew where that road led. “He’ll smash up down in that area.”

  Speed raced after Duggery. Three volcanoes suddenly loomed before them. Thick gray smoke blew from each volcano.

  “Duggery! Get out of here!” Speed yelled.

  “Mind your own business! ” Duggery shouted back.

  The ground underneath them became rockier and bumpier with each spin of the wheel. The Mach 5 could handle it, but not Duggery’s race car. One of his tires got stuck on a large rock. It spun wildly, then quickly broke free. This propelled Duggery’s car over the rocks, toward the volcano.

  “Aaaaaaaaah!” Duggery screamed as his car flipped over and over. It stopped right at the edge of one of the volcanoes, the nose of the car hanging over the edge.

  The rocks under the wheels began to crumble and break. Speed skidded to a stop and ran to Duggery’s car.

  “ Duggery!” he cried.

  But his rival was not in the car.

  He must have been thrown when his car flipped over, Speed realized. But where is he?

  Speed peered over the rim of the volcano.

  “Duggery! Where are you?” Speed called out. “Duggery! Aaaaaaah!”

  The rock under Speed’s boots broke, sending Speed tumbling into the volcano. He clawed at the volcano’s walls with his hands, trying to stop his fall. He skidded to a stop on a narrow ledge.

  Speed looked down. Lava bubbled down below in the center of the volcano. Fiery flames leaped up from the lava. Speed could feel the heat.

  Then Speed heard a groan from below. Duggery was clutching on to a rock ledge a little below him.

  “Looks like neither one of us is going to win those five thousand bucks,” Duggery said. His voice was strained from the effort of hanging on. “We’ll be lucky if we get out of this alive.”

  Duggery tried to pull himself up, but he didn’t have the strength. Speed’s mind raced as he tried to think of a plan.

  If he hadn’t been so stubborn, we wouldn’t be down here, he thought. I might be able to climb out, but I can’t leave him trapped there. I’ve got to help him.

  The small ledge in Duggery’s grasp began to break away from the volcano wall.

  “The ledge is giving way! ” Duggery yelled.

  “Hang on! I’m coming!” Speed told him.

  Speed carefully worked his way down the ledge until he was within Duggery’s reach. He held out his right hand.

  “Hang on to my hand. I’ll try to pull you out of there,” Speed directed him.

  Duggery grabbed Speed’s hand—just in time. The rock he had been holding broke away and tumbled into the boiling lava below. Duggery screamed in terror.

  “Climb!” Speed ordered.

  Duggery struggled to climb up to the ledge that held Speed. But he couldn’t get a foothold.

  “Come on!” Speed urged.

  Duggery dug his boots into the rock, but the rock gave way.

  “Aaaah!” Duggery screamed. Only Speed’s strong grip kept him from falling. Sweat poured down Speed’s face. His arm strained with Duggery’s weight. But he didn’t let go.

  “Come on, we can make it together,” Speed said through gritted teeth.

  They climbed up the craggy volcano wall, digging their feet in whatever crack or crevice they could find. Speed pulled Duggery along the whole way. They finally reached the rim, just under Duggery’s car.

  With a sickening lurch, the whole edge of the rim gave way underneath them. They screamed and reached for the only thing they could—the axles of Duggery’s wheels.

  But the weight of the two racers was too much for the car. It started to tip over, ready to fall at any minute. If the car fell, Speed and Duggery would fall with it.

  “I’m going to jump,” Duggery said. “Follow me. ”

  Duggery swung to the right and then let go of the car. He grabbed the edge of the volcano.

  Speed followed. For a split second he was flying in midair, and his stomach dropped. Then his driving gloves gripped the volcano’s rim. He pulled himself up next to Duggery. Speed was grateful to feel solid earth beneath his body.

  “The only way we’ll be able to get out of this area is if we both use the Mach 5,” Duggery said.

  They both looked toward Speed’s car—and let out a sharp gasp.

  Ace Ducey and his men had parked their race cars. Now they were running toward the Mach 5!

  13

  RACE CAR RUMBLE

  Ace and his goons quickly surrounded the Mach 5. Speed and Duggery raced to stop them.

  “The plans we want are written in invisible ink on this windshield,” Ace told his men, an evil grin on his face. He turned to Speed. “We’re taking the Mach 5. Try to stop us and it will be too bad for her.”

  Ace pointed at Trixie, who was being held by one of his goons.

  “How did you get here?” Speed asked.

  “It’s easy,” Trixie said in her usual cheerful way. “Ace shot my plane with a road flare, so I jumped out and came down by parachute.”

  Road flare? Parachute? Speed was glad Trixie was all right—but now he was angrier with Ace Ducey than ever.

  “Let her go!” Speed cried.

  Ace ignored Speed. He nodded to his men. “We’ve got the plans, so now we can get rid of these troublemakers. We don’t want anybody finding out how we got those plans.”

  Skull Duggery casually started to walk away.

  “Hey, you! Hold it!” one of the thugs yelled.

  Duggery turned his head. “I have nothing to do with this whole thing. I just want to get back in the race. So long.”

  Duggery kept walking.

  “Stop him!” Ace yelled.

  One of the goons charged at Duggery, tackling him to the ground.

  Speed saw his chance to move. He aimed a karate chop at the chest of the nearest goon. The thug groaned and doubled over.

  Speed ran for Trixie, but the goon holding her dragged her toward the Mach 5. Suddenly the bad guy screamed in pain. His hand flew to his face.

  Someone was throwing rocks at Ace and his men!

  “Who’s throwing rocks? Come out of there! ” Ace threatened.

  Speed lunged at the goon holding Trixie, aiming a karate kick right at his knees. The man buckled over, and Trixie ran free. But another goon quickly grabbed her, and an army of thugs descended on Speed.

  Meanwhile, Duggery jumped back on his feet—and he was angry. He grabbed the thug who had tackled him and flipped him.

  Slam! The man’s back thudded into the dirt.

  Spritle and Chim Chim watched the rumble from the trunk of the Mach 5. Spritle held a slingshot and got ready to throw another rock. Then one of the goons spotted them. He growled angrily and stomped toward them.

  Spritle stuck out his tongue. He and Chim Chim laughed. Then they closed the trunk.

  The confused thug tapped the trunk of the car. Spritle and Chim Chim popped out, laughed, and then closed the trunk again.

  The man tapped the trunk. Spritle and Chim Chim popped out. An excited Chim Chim climbed on top of the trunk. But the hood shut underneath him, leaving Spritle inside.

  “Eek!”Chim Chim cried. The big goon grabbed him. Then he opened up the trunk and pulled out Spritle, grabbing him with his other ha
nd.

  “Our plan almost worked,” Spritle said. “We got nearly all of them with the slingshot. Guess we’d better think of something else.”

  “Eek!”Chim Chim replied. He chomped down on the bad guy’s hand.

  The thug let out a shriek and dropped Chim Chim. Spritle chipped in by giving the guy a hard kick. He dropped Spritle, too. Then Spritle and Chim Chim took off running.

  “Come back here, you little brats! Wait till I get my mittens on you!” the bad guy yelled.

  Spritle and Chim Chim hid behind a big boulder. The man chased after them, but couldn’t stop himself in time. He ran right into the rock!

  The man’s face turned bright red.

  “Come back here! ” he yelled.

  He chased Spritle and Chim Chim around and around the rock. The little guys were fast. They quickly jumped on top of another boulder. Spritle grabbed a rock.

  Wham! The rock came down on the bad guy’s head, and the bad guy went down.

  Spritle and Chim Chim cheered.

  “One more for us! ” Spritle cried happily.

  Back at the Mach 5, Speed and Duggery continued to fight the thugs.

  Slam! Speed flipped one of the goons.

  Bam! Speed pummeled another bad guy.

  One of the thugs ran toward Duggery. Thinking quickly, Duggery picked up a rock and threw it at the man’s feet. The thug tripped and then bumped his head into one of the black cars.

  Spritle and Chim Chim happily jumped up and down. Chim Chim did a little flip.

  “Hurray for Duggery! Hurray for Duggery!” Spritle cheered.

  Then they saw someone running for them. The big bad guy who had chased them before had woken up.

  “Just wait till I get you troublemakers!” he yelled.

  Spritle and Chim Chim ran in a circle around him. They ran so fast that they hid right behind his legs. He didn’t even know they were there. The thug had big muscles, but his brains were pretty puny.

  “Where’d they go?” he asked.

  Chim Chim jumped up on Spritle’s shoulders. He gave the bad guy a push. He toppled over like a bowling pin.

  “That makes two for us! ” Spritle cried happily.

  By now the ground was littered with Ace’s men. Speed had taken care of most of them with karate chops. Duggery had taken down a few with some old-fashioned fighting, too.

  Then the sound of a wailing siren filled the valley. Everyone stopped fighting and froze. The bad guys looked panicked.

  “The police! ” Ace yelled. “We better get out of here! ”

  14

  FIGHT FOR THE MACH 5

  While everyone was fighting, Spritle had hidden himself behind a rock. He blew into a toy siren that sounded exactly like a police car headed for the scene. He chuckled as the thugs fell for his trick and began to panic.

  Trixie delivered a karate chop to the now distracted thug holding her. She ran to Speed’s side.

  “Speed! Are you all right?” she asked.

  Speed nodded. “Are you?” he asked. But Speed never heard Trixie’s answer. It was drowned out by the familiar sound of a powerful engine revving. Speed turned to see Ace Ducey drive off in the Mach 5!

  Speed ran to a black race car. One of Ace’s men blocked his path.

  “I’m taking that car!” Speed told him. He jumped up and knocked the goon over with a karate kick. Then he hopped in the black car and took off after Ace.

  Ace looked in the rearview mirror and saw Speed trying to catch up to him. “Ha-ha! Now I’ve got the fastest car in the universe!” Ace gloated. “He’ll never catch me now.”

  Speed stepped on the gas pedal of the black race car. The car’s wimpy engine barely picked up speed.

  “What kind of cheap car is this?” Speed complained. “It doesn’t move fast enough to catch the Mach 5.”

  Speed could hear Ace’s evil laugh as the goon sped even farther away in the Mach 5.

  “This car has got everything,” Ace said to himself. “Including plans on the windshield for an even better engine!” he said. That made him start laughing even harder. He tapped his boot on the floor of the car. His foot accidentally hit a button. The Mach 5’s hood flipped up, blocking his vision.

  “How do I work this car?” Ace asked frantically.

  Ace started freaking out. He took his foot off the gas, and the car slowed down. Then he started pressing buttons on the steering wheel, hoping to lower the hood.

  Instead, he lowered the hydraulic jacks. The Mach 5 began to hop up and down.

  Thanks to Ace’s confusion, Speed was easily able to catch up.

  “I’ve caught up with him, but how do I get him to stop?” Speed wondered out loud.

  Speed pulled up alongside Ace in the Mach 5. He stood up in the driver’s seat. With a cry, he leaped into the Mach 5!

  The black race car spun out of control. It smashed through a guardrail and crashed into the embankment below, exploding in flames.

  Speed and Ace grappled for control of the steering wheel. Speed tried to pry Ace’s hands off of the wheel, but he wouldn’t budge.

  The car veered off the road now. Speed yanked Ace off of the wheel, but the villain toppled over, pulling Speed with him. Ace and Speed wrestled on the trunk of the Mach 5. The driverless car zoomed toward the guardrail, about to crash!

  Then Ace’s boot knocked into the A button. The hydraulic jacks kicked in again. The car bounced over the guardrail and landed on a flat ledge below the road. Now the Mach 5 zigzagged across the grass, headed right for the edge of a steep cliff!

  Speed took off his helmet and conked Ace over the head. He pushed him out of the car and into the grass. Then he jumped into the driver’s seat and slammed on the brakes.

  The Mach 5 spun into a 360, kicking up a cloud of dust. It stopped inches away from the edge of the cliff.

  Speed leaned against the steering wheel, relieved. But his troubles weren’t over yet. Ace Ducey stood in front of him. He had a menacing grin on his face and a small boulder in his hands.

  “You are a tough kid, Speed, but you are no match for Ace Ducey!” the villain cried.

  15

  RACE TO THE FINISH

  Speed had to think quickly. If Ace chucked that boulder at the Mach 5, the car would go tumbling over the ledge.

  “Get out of the car, Speed,” Ace said. “Those plans belong to me.”

  I can’t let him get the designs that Pops wrote on the windshield. I can’t! Speed thought.

  Then he knew what he had to do.

  Crash! Speed smashed his helmet into the windshield, shattering it. Ace gasped in horror.

  “You’ve smashed the designs!” he wailed.

  Ace was in shock, and now Speed had the advantage. He swung himself out of the car, kicking Ace’s wrists so that Ace had to drop the boulder. The kick was so strong that it sent Ace somersaulting over the edge of the cliff.

  Speed peered over the cliff. Ace had landed in a puddle of mud below. He was all right—but he wasn’t going to be chasing Speed for a while.

  Then Speed heard the roar of an engine. He turned to see Skull Duggery speeding down the road, riding in his red race car once more.

  “I better get back into the race—and fast!” Speed realized.

  Speed jumped in the Mach 5 and sped after Duggery. As he raced down the mountain road, he realized he was in luck. The rest of the race cars in the Sword Mountain race were just up ahead. He was back on track.

  Behind him, Sparky tried to catch up in his little yellow car. Trixie had radioed for help from the volcano, and Sparky had picked up Trixie, Spritle, and Chim Chim. Now they hurried back toward the racetrack.

  “Go, Speed, go!” Spritle cheered. “You’ve got to win that money for Pops!”

  The clash of gears got Speed’s blood pumping as he thundered down the track. Duggery was in his sights now.

  Duggery contacted him on his radio.

  “I should say thanks for saving me from that volcano, Speed, but the way I see it, we�
�re even,” Duggery said. “I wouldn’t have gotten into that mess if those goons weren’t after you. See you at the finish line, loser!”

  Speed gritted his teeth and pressed the Mach 5 to go even faster. He hugged the next curve without slowing down at all. He had to get back to the head of the pack. The end of the race was coming up—on the same track where it started, in front of the crowd of racing fans.

  Speed and Duggery easily zipped through the competition, passing racer after racer. Soon an arch that looked like a giant wheel appeared in the distance—the gateway to the finish line.

  “The leading cars are fast approaching the finish of the Sword Mountain Race!” the announcer told the crowd. “In just seconds, you’ll see them rounding the final curve. Stand by! ”

  Excited fans stood in their seats, waiting for the finish. Down on the track, Pops paced back and forth. He had rushed to Sword Mountain as soon as he had recovered from Ace’s attack. He was worried about his windshield, but he was worried about Speed even more.

  “The first car coming down the home stretch is car number two, driven by Skull Duggery! And coming up fast is the Mach 5, driven by Speed Racer!” the announcer cried.

  Pops brightened. “Speed’s all right!”

  He peered down the track. Duggery’s red car and the Mach 5 came into view. Pops frowned when he saw the windshield.

  “The windshield’s been smashed!” he cried.

  He was angry at first, but he was more relieved that Speed was all right.

  Sure, those plans were on the windshield, Pops realized. But that’s not the only place I keep them...

  Speed and Duggery zoomed toward the finish line. The two cars were nose to nose. The crowd watched anxiously.

  Who would win the race?

  16

  WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING

  At the last second, Speed gunned the engine of the Mach 5. He slipped past Duggery at what looked like warp speed. Speed crossed the finish line a car’s length ahead of his rival. The checkered flag at the finish line waved.