by Steve Cole
Zill shuddered. She remembered the view from the cliffs – all the way from the Poo-nited States to the skyscrapers of Goo York. This mountain of water would flatten everything, monsters and buildings alike, whenever Klukk chose . . .
Then, suddenly, the dark waters below began to bubble. For a brief moment, Plog and Zill dared to imagine it was Danjo coming to their rescue. But the next moment, a familiar, bloated form began to rise up, its murderous tentacles twitching with terrible intent. In the dim, blood-red light, the radio-actipus looked more terrifying than ever.
“Aha,” said Klukk, “the squid I summoned has arrived! And he appears to buk-buk-be in a state of dreadful aggravation . . .”
He raised a shadowy wing and clicked his claws. “Marvin, Maynard – feed these slime-loving fools to our angry friend!”
“No!” shouted Zill, struggling furiously as Marvin picked her up.
Plog said nothing. He was close to freeing himself. All he needed was a few more seconds . . . But Maynard wasn’t about to let him have them. With a gap-toothed grin he hauled Plog to his feet and shoved him over the platform’s edge . . .
Chapter Eight
SHOWDOWN WITH THE SQUID
SPLA-SPLOOSH! Plog hit the freezing, smelly water a moment before Zill did. At once, thrashing tentacles rose up from the black water and stretched out towards them.
Plog finally tore his hands free. “Swim for it, Zill!”
“Only got two paws untied, Fur-boy,” Zill panted. “Save yourself. I’ll try and distract it.”
“No way,” Plog shot back. “Hang onto me and we’ll use your tail as an oar. Move!”
Zill scrambled onto Plog’s back and they powered away through the water. But the squid was seething with rage and horribly close behind them. Zill splashed with her tail, and Plog swam with all his might, but his iron boots were weighing him down. In desperation, Zill spat out a slime-line and tried to tie the squid’s tentacles together – but the beast was too strong, and snapped the sticky rope apart.
“Swim all you like,” yelled Marvin. “There’s no way out.”
“The radio-actipus will get you in the end,” Maynard shouted.
The rubbery body of the deep-sea demon burst from the water, as big as the Slime-mobile, its beak snapping, its single eye narrowed with hatred.
“Turn your tail faster,” Plog panted to Zill; his legs ached so much. It was all he could do to stay afloat. “We’ve got . . . to get . . . away . . .”
“Too late!” cried Zill. With Klukk and his maggot-men’s laughter ringing in her ears, she closed her eyes as the supernatural squid towered over them and opened its jaws. Plog raised his fists to the ravenous squid, determined to go down its throat fighting. But just as the radio-actipus was about to swallow the Squaddies – PLOOP! It disappeared, leaving nothing but cloudy gloop.
Zill gasped. “Why did it vanish just as it was about to eat us?”
“I don’t know.” Plog realized that Klukk’s laughter had turned to babbling rage, aimed at his two hench-monsters.
“Fools!” spat the mastermind. “Nincompoops! What did you do?”
“We didn’t make the squid explode, master,” Maynard protested.
“Then maybe that thing did . . .” Zill pointed grimly into the inky water. Two glowing yellow circles were rising from the deeps, getting larger, brighter . . . “It’s the eyes of another sea monster!”
“No, wait!” Plog pointed in amazement as a familiar gleaming craft rose into sight, its headlights beaming about the gloomy cavern. “It’s the Slime Sub!”
A moment later, the roof hatch opened up – and Danjo emerged, grinning all over his face. “Plog and Zill – am I ever glad to see you!”
“Good to see you too, big guy!” said Plog as he and Zill splashed over to join the crab-monster in a soggy group hug. “How did you get away from that squid back at the beach? Klukk said it swallowed you.”
“It did,” Danjo agreed, “just as I made it inside the sub. Luckily, the sub’s new super-shielding kept me safe inside the squid’s belly – until it suddenly went pop.”
“But why did it go pop?” Plog wondered.
“Arrrrgh!” screeched Lord Klukk. “Those squalid Squaddies have more lives than a nuclear-powered cat. Destroy them, my maggot minions! And there are more radio-actipuses on the way, so shoot out those headlights buk-buk-before they arrive or I will shoot YOU!”
“Orders received and understood, your Lordliness,” said Marvin. He and Maynard pulled out big white guns and started blasting.
“Quick!” Danjo hauled Plog and Zill inside the sub.
At once, Zill jumped into the pilot’s seat and pulled on a lever. “Taking us down!” she cried as the small craft dipped and descended.
But the next moment – BWAMM! A huge explosion went off in the water close by, rocking the sub.
“Marvin and Maynard have got bombs!” Plog groaned. “Probably the same explosives they’ve stuck to the sides of the cliffs, ready to flood Trashland.”
“We must get out of here and warn Furp and PIE about Klukk’s plans, pronto,” said Zill.
“Especially with more squid on the way,” Danjo agreed.
Plog held on tight as the sub accelerated. “Let’s just hope Klukk doesn’t open the floodgates in the meantime.” But suddenly he saw a bomb float down in front of the windscreen. “Reverse, Zill!” he yelled.
But it was too late. A colossal muffled crash tore through the water! For a moment, the black depths shone red-orange and the sub was smashed backwards, spinning wildly. Plog, Zill and Danjo were hurled around like marbles in a tin. The controls blew out completely – and as the shockwaves stopped, so too did the whine of the little craft’s engines.
“No power,” groaned Zill. “Now we’re a sitting target for any passing radio-actipus!”
“And I don’t want to worry you,” said Danjo. “But here come three of them right now!”
Plog swallowed hard as he saw the massive, billowing shapes come streaking out of the darkness towards them, a mass of flailing tentacles. “Even Furp’s new defences won’t keep this lot out! They’re going to . . .”
PLOOP! PLAP! PLURP!
In an explosion of goo, the savage squid suddenly exploded.
The Squaddies stared in baffled amazement as twenty points of bright green light came sparkling into view through the thick, goopy water.
“More bright lights,” Plog breathed.
“Must belong to more sea monsters.” Danjo gulped. “They might be even nastier than the squid.”
“We’ll soon find out,” said Zill as the dazzling lights grew larger and brighter still. “They’re heading straight for us!”
Chapter Nine
THE ALLIES ATTACK!
Suddenly, a neon-green shape slithered across the Slime-sub’s windscreen. “Look out!” yelled Plog. The shape shone so brightly, he had to shield his eyes. Only once it had moved further away could the Squaddies make it out properly . . .
Zill laughed in amazement. “It’s Dolofin!” The junkjack was glowing more intensely than an atomic lightbulb, and carrying something on his mega-bright back – a froggy monster in diving gear . . .
“FURP!” cheered Plog, Zill and Danjo.
Zill pointed to the other luminous figures. “They must be the other junkjacks.”
Plog scratched his head. “But what’s happened to make them shine like that?”
Dolofin and three other junkjacks swam underneath the stranded Slime Sub and heaved it up towards the surface. As it broke through the black waters, Plog saw they had emerged just out of sight of Klukk’s control platform.
Furp quickly climbed onto the roof, raised the hatch and slipped inside with Dolofin. Plog, Zill and Danjo hugged and high-fived them, although they could hardly see for the old junkjack’s shining skin.
“You’re so bright, you should come with a health warning,” Zill declared. “Furp, what did you do to him?”
“Simple!” Furp grinned and p
ulled out a bottle of Slime-Power Plus. “My super goo boosted the junkjacks’ natural glow-energy!”
“Just as it boosted the sub’s headlights and engines before,” Danjo realized. “But why did you give it to them?”
“To deal with the menace of the squid!” Furp beamed. “I worked things out, you see. Remember the cloudy stuff in the water that our tentacled terror left behind when it disappeared? It wasn’t ghostly goo, eerie ectoplasm or supernatural slime. It was all that was left of a squid that had just EXPLODED!”
Plog, Zill and Danjo were so amazed, their jaws almost bounced off their feet.
“Those creatures live in the darkest, blackest deeps of the Septic Sea, right?” Furp went on. “They must be super-sensitive to light – allergic to it, in fact. So allergic, that bright light makes them explode!”
“Of course,” said Plog with growing excitement. “That’s why it’s so dark out there – and why Klukk wanted his maggot-men to shoot out our headlights.” He turned to Zill and Danjo. “The first time we saw a squid disappear was when Furp boosted the sub’s headlights with Slime-Power Plus, right? A different one grabbed us from behind, but it popped when we dragged it to the surface in bright sunshine.”
“Right,” Zill agreed. “And the Slime-mobile’s headlights made that one by the shore go ‘ploop’. But why did the one that ate Danjo explode?”
“I couldn’t figure out how to switch on the Slime Sub’s headlights for ages,” said Danjo sheepishly. “I guess the brightness burned up its belly in the end . . .”
Furp nodded. “And once I’d realized that bright light was lethal to these squid I went to tell Plog and Zill – only to find that they’d disappeared and that the Cast-Iron Cliffs were leaking water! Of course, I had to find you . . .”
“So he brightened up us junkjacks with Slime-Power Plus and got us to hunt about for a secret way into the cliffs,” Dolofin explained. “We saw a whole load of squid go through a hole in the seabed—”
“And it led us here,” Furp concluded. “Judging by the clever devices that hold in all the water while the squid come and go, I’m guessing Lord Klukk is involved.”
“Right up to his shadowy beak,” Plog agreed. “We’ve got to smash his control centre.”
Danjo smiled. “With ultra-luminous junkjacks to protect us from the squid, that leaves just two maggot-men out there to deal with.”
“Armed with bombs, guns and the power to blow these cliffs apart and drown half of Trashland,” said Zill.
“What?” Furp’s eyes went extra boggly. “Then we must attack at once.” “I’ve got a plan,” said Plog. “But it’s not a very safe one.”
“Is it ever?” Zill grinned. “Tell us more . . .”
One minute later, guarded by glowing junkjacks, Plog and Danjo were swimming underwater towards the control centre on the platform. Marvin and Maynard were staring into the water, guns raised, apparently confused.
“Well?” Lord Klukk squawked from his two-way smellyvision set. “Have you learned what caused the radio-actipuses to buk-buk-blow up?”
“They probably just ate too much,” Maynard decided.
“Yeah,” said Marvin. “That furry orange bear thing would give anyone indigestion . . .”
I’ll give you a lot more than that, Plog thought darkly as he and Danjo quietly emerged below the platform, right under the maggot-men’s feet. “Get ready, Danjo. Zill and Furp should begin their distraction any time . . . now.”
Suddenly, across the cavern, the Slime Sub popped up into sight – with Zill and Furp hiding behind it.
“It’s the Squad!” spluttered Klukk. “OPEN FIRE!”
At once, the two maggot-men sprayed the sub and the water around it with a hail of muck bullets.
“Now, Danjo,” hissed Plog. “While they’re making a racket . . .”
Danjo reached up with his hot pincer and used it like a tin opener to cut into the base of the platform, the sizzling slime within scorching through the thick wire mesh.
“Our bullets are bouncing off that sub thing,” Marvin complained.
“Then use a buk-buk-bomb,” raged Klukk. “Destroy that sub!”
“Quickly, Danjo,” urged Plog.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” grunted the crimson crab-monster, still hacking away.
Maynard hurled a bomb at the Slime Sub – and Zill’s head popped up from the water. She spat out a slime-line and snagged the bomb in mid-flight – and with a jerk of her head she changed its course. BLAMMM! It exploded harmlessly in mid air. He threw another, and Zill dealt with it in the same way.
“She has blown up our last bomb,” Marvin complained.
“That wretched poodle-skunk!” Klukk clucked furiously. “Why have my squid not squished her?”
“We’ll take care of her now,” Maynard growled, and raised his gun. But suddenly, Dolofin and his twenty blinding bright junkjacks jumped out of the water, splashing and shouting in a wide, protective semicircle.
“Curse them all,” Klukk roared as Marvin and Maynard shielded their eyes. “Faced with such buk-buk-brightness, the squid won’t be able to get them. You must destroy those over-luminous lump-heads, you miserable maggots! Now. NOW!”
Like Maynard, Marvin hefted his white rifle – but then Furp came leaping out of the water, bouncing about from junkjack to junkjack, wiggling his butt and blowing raspberries. As he did so, the junkjacks ducked in and out of the water like performing seals.
Marvin waved his gun about helplessly. “Who do we aim at first?”
“I dunno,” moaned Maynard.
“Get a grip, boys!” Zill spat another slime-line and used it as a whip, cracking at the maggot-men’s fingers, trying to knock the guns away.
And while the noisy chaos raged on all around, Danjo finally finished cutting his hole in the base of the platform. Taking a deep breath, Plog pulled himself up through the jagged gap. Marvin and Maynard didn’t hear him creeping up behind them . . .
“Let maggots disappear,” Plog boomed, “the Slime Squad is here!”
Marvin and Maynard turned round in surprise – straight into a flying furry fist. WHUMP! THUMP! The maggot men went reeling over the control centre’s safety rail and fell with a SPLASH into the water.
“Nooooo!” squawked Klukk, quivering with rage on the screen.
“’Fraid so,” Plog told him with a wink. “And that’s your last line of defence gone.”
Danjo climbed up to join him. “You should know by now, stinky beak – the power of slime will win every time!”
“Nicely punched, Fur-boy!” Zill called, swimming over as Dolofin and the junkjacks grabbed Marvin and Maynard in the water.
“Yes, indeed, Plog.” Furp hopped out of the water, his metal pants rattling. “Now, let’s deactivate all this terrible equipment.”
“Go ahead and try,” sneered Klukk.
“I will, thank you.” Furp pressed a button on the main panel – but then a loud raspberry burst from the controls. They flashed on and off, and turned an angry red.
“Ha!” Klukk chortled. “I rigged the controls to self-destruct if anyone tried to work them without entering the proper code. And when they explode, the cliff walls will go with them. All this lovely water will devastate Trashland – and you silly slimy Squaddies will buk-buk-be to buk-buk-blame!”
Chapter Ten
CAST-IRON CATACLYSM
Klukk burst into noisy laughter, and Danjo crossly squirted red-hot slime at the screen. The smellyvision set blew up in a cloud of smoke, and an eerie silence settled.
Plog turned to the maggot-men in the water. “What is the proper code?”
“It’s too late now,” moaned Maynard.
“Once the self-destruct is set, there’s no way to stop it,” Marvin agreed.
“I be thinking us had better push off sharpish!” Dolofin called – as the fierce glow about him faded. Soon he was back to his normal, softly glowing self. “Uh-oh,” said Furp as the other junkjacks started fading too. �
��The effect of the Slime-Power Plus is wearing off – and I haven’t got any more.”
“No lights means no way to keep back the squid,” Zill murmured. “And that aggravator thing is still jammed on, driving them mad . . .”
“Terrific,” Plog groaned. “As if things weren’t bad enough already, the squid could attack at any moment – and we’re completely defenceless!”
“We’ve got to destroy these controls,” said Furp.
“The explosion that tears open these cliffs will destroy them all right,” Danjo muttered.
“That’s it!” boomed Plog. “At the end of the countdown, the bombs stuck to the cliff walls will explode. But if we can get one of those explosives now and use it to blow up the controls . . .”
Zill nodded. “It might stop the countdown and save everyone.”
“It’s worth a try,” said Furp.
Plog looked down at the maggot-men. “Where’s the nearest bomb?”
“We’ll never tell you,” vowed Marvin.
Danjo pointed behind them, where the water was churning. “Look – the squid are coming!”
“In that case we will tell you.” Maynard pointed to the far wall. ‘They’re over there, just below water level.”
“And with aggravated squid coming, just below water level is not a good place to be,” said Dolofin. As huge probing tentacles splashed through the water towards them, he and his crew splashed up onto the now-crowded platform. Marvin and Maynard clambered after them. The controls started flashing faster.
“How can we get the bomb now?” Danjo cried. “If we swim for it, the squid will get us.”
Suddenly, a massive tentacle smashed into the side of the platform and several junkjacks almost fell into the water. “They’ll get us if we stay here too,” said Zill shakily.
