The Battle

by Katrina Kahler

  Out of instinct, I spun and changed into my Quazar costume. I popped open the window. But before I could get down there, I saw Don walking towards the three creatures.

  “Di, Jo, Col, why are you here?” Don asked, arms raised.

  I felt slightly at ease that Don seemed to know who the three creatures were. But I felt less at ease because he had his hands in the air.

  “Dr. Don, we are detecting weird vibes from our colony below the earth,” one of the creatures said.

  Don nodded. “I understand, Col.”

  I have no idea how he could tell the three seemingly identical creatures apart.

  “The mole men and women do not like detecting weird vibrations!” another of the creatures said.

  “Yeah, when you live underground you don’t want things to be shaken,” the third creature said.

  “Look, guys, I promise you I will look into this first thing in the morning,” Don said.

  The three mole men shook their heads. “We prefer it’s done at night. Daylight is too bright. It hurts our eyes,” the one called Col said.

  Don nodded. “I understand, I get that, but you have to trust me. I want what’s best for both our worlds.”

  “Technically, we share the same world,” Col said. “We just live below the earth and you live above it.”

  Di and Jo nodded in agreement.

  “Right, silly me!” Don told them. “I just want what’s right for your people below the earth and for my people above it.”

  “Technically, we’re not really people. We’re more like intelligent moles, hence the reason we are mole creatures!” Col said.

  “I just want what’s best for both humans and mole creatures,” Don said slowly.

  “Yes, we can’t disagree with that,” Col said. Di and Jo both nodded in approval.

  “Good! So you will let me handle things in the morning?” Don asked.

  The three mole men (I assumed they were all men) huddled together. I used my Q-hearing to pick up their conversation. Unfortunately, all I heard was…

  Cru…. Curn… Crooo…

  Currrrr Cooooo Crunch

  Coooo CoCOO cooco

  Don coco coooO

  Coooooooo Ellie Mae

  I didn’t like the way that ended.

  The three mole men turned to Don. “We will let you handle it!”

  “Good,” Don said. I believe Don and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

  The mole man named Col lifted up one of his three fingers. “But we want certain assurances that progress will be made.”

  Don touched his heart. “You have my word of honor as a scientist and a gentleman.”

  Col smiled. “Thank you.” He paused. “But that’s not enough.”

  Don kept his hands raised. “I’m not sure what more I can offer you….”

  “We want collateral. We will hold something valuable of yours to make sure you follow through with your promises,” Col said.

  “But from what I understand, mole men use rocks and diamonds for currency. I have nothing of value for you,” Don said.

  Col shook his short thick head. “No, we will hold something of value to you. We will give it back once you finish the job.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” Don said.

  “We will take your daughter, Ellie Mae. We will keep her until you do what you’ve promised to do,” Col said.

  “Now I’m sure I don’t like that!” Don said, forcefully.

  The three raised their weapons and pointed them at Don. “We don’t care if you like it or not, we’re the ones with the rock guns.”

  Don held his hand up higher. “Yes, you may have weapons,” he said slowly. “But I have him.”

  That comment from Don sure was sharp. He knew I’d been watching and listening all along.

  “Who?” Col said.

  I opened my window and zoomed towards the three mole men, hovering in the air above them. “Me! Quazar!”

  The three mole men looked up at me.

  QUAZAR NOTE: FOSTER DAD’S ACTUALLY NOTICE STUFF.

  “Do you spell that with a z or an s?” One of the mole men asked me.

  “Jo, why would you care?” Di asked.

  “I like to know things,” Jo answered.

  “With a z, for zap!” I said. I pointed at them with my index finger and charged it up. I sent out a bolt of lightning that struck the ground at their feet.

  The three mole men jumped back.

  “Fire!” Col ordered.

  The three of them aimed their weapons. They fired at me, pelting me with high speed rocks. Each of the rocks bounced harmlessly off me. After they fired about a hundred rocks, they stopped.

  “Are you mole guys done?” I asked.

  The three of them looked at each other. “Those were our best high-speed rock guns.”

  “Well, you know the saying…if the rocks don’t work, use the claws,” the one called Col said.

  The three of them dropped their weapons. They showed me their hands. Each of their claws looked razor sharp.

  “Come here, Quazar, and fight boy to mole men!” they challenged.

  I knew I could probably blast these guys with light and that would end this fight quickly and mostly painlessly. But these three moles had threatened my sister. I needed to make them feel a little regret.

  I landed on the ground a few feet from them. I pounded my fist firmly into my open palm. The force of that blow sent the three mole men staggering backward. They struggled to maintain their balance but they didn’t fall.

  They glared at me. “Impressive trick!” Col said.

  I flexed my muscles. “No trick, just raw power.”

  “You want raw power?” Col shouted. He pointed at me. “Jo, Di, attack formation delta omega pi!”

  “What?” one of them said.

  “Yum…pie!” the other said.

  Col sighed. He thrust his finger at me. “Get him!”

  The two mole men took a flying leap and were on top of me before I knew what had happened. They were much quicker than I had thought. One hit me in the knees. The other landed on my head.

  They drove me to the ground.

  “We're small but way strong!” one of them told me.

  The one on top of me showed me his claws. “Our claws can cut through diamonds! Are you tougher than a diamond?” he asked.

  “Not sure,” I said. I propelled him upwards, sending him flying towards the roof of our house. “But I do know I move a lot faster than diamonds!”

  The mole man at my knees stabbed me in the back of my knee with his claw finger.

  “Ouch!” I yelled. I had to admit these mole men were strong. I saw the mole man prepare to strike again. I flicked my leg, sending him flying up onto the roof with his buddy.

  QUAZAR NOTE: APPARENTLY MY SKIN IS NOT TOUGHER THAN A DIAMOND!

  The two of them sat together on the roof. They looked at each other. “Mole bro, I don’t like it up here.”

  “Me neither, mole bro,” the other said.

  “Brilliant!” Don shouted, “The mole men are afraid of heights!”

  “Yeah, we don’t get a lot of height underground,” Col admitted.

  Col darted behind Don. He drew a claw and placed it under Don’s chin. “Listen, Quazar…with a Z or an S. We don’t want to hurt Doctor Don. Doctor Don has always been a friend to mole men and mole women. But we cannot allow these weird vibrations to continue! I do not wish to hurt Doctor Don, but if you do not surrender to us, I will be forced to hurt him. Our demands are reasonable!”

  I needed to handle this gently. Of course, negotiating was something I wasn’t all that great at. I mean, I was just getting used to dealing with people on a regular basis. Negotiating took a lot of give and take, I knew that. I just wasn’t sure when to give and when to take.

  ADDED SIDE QUAZAR NOTE: MOLE CREATURES AREN’T HUMAN!

  Jeanie and Ellie Mae suddenly appeared beside us. “Col, Di
, Jo, what are you three doing here?” Jeanie demanded.

  “Well, currently we’re stuck on your roof,” Di or Jo said.

  “And I’m threatening to hurt your hubby if Quazar with a z or an s doesn’t do what we ask,” Col told her.

  “But why are you here at all?” Jeanie asked. “You guys normally mind your own business, which is mining…”

  Col leaned over towards her, still not loosening his grasp on Don. “You people have caused strange vibes that are disturbing the earth. We want them stopped.”

  Jeanie took in Col’s words. “I am sure Don promised you that he would get to the bottom of this.”

  Col nodded. “Yes, he did, but we want reassurances….”

  “They want to take Ellie Mae for collateral,” Don said.

  “Oh, so not nice, guys,” Ellie Mae said. She shook her head. “I was going to invite you guys to my birthday party. But not anymore.”

  Col looked truly disappointed. “Look, Ellie, we weren’t planning to hurt you, but we know your family will work harder to get this problem solved if we have you in our custody.”

  Ellie Mae shook her head. “I get that, but it’s still not cool.”

  In a blink, Ellie Mae was gone. She appeared behind her Dad and Col. She touched her dad on the back. In a blink, Ellie Mae and Don were gone. The next thing I knew they were both standing safely behind me.

  “Oh, rocks! I forgot she could do that!” Col said.

  “Blast that fool!” Ellie Mae told me.

  I opened my palm, bombarding Col with bright light. So bright it even penetrated his dark glasses. Col smothered his eyes with his clawed hands and crumbled to the ground. “Bright light! Bright light! I hate it so, so much.”

  “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do now, mole men,” Jeanie said in her most official voice. “Ellie Mae is going to help you get down from the roof. Then the three of you are going back to your mole vehicle and you will return underground where you belong. You will let us do what we said we are going to do. We will stop whatever it is that is causing these strange vibes.”

  “And if you fail?” Di or Jo asked.

  “We will call you for help,” Jeanie said. She pointed at Don, Ellie Mae, and I. “But you’ve seen my family in action. We won’t fail.”

  Di and Jo nodded. “We agree.”

  Ellie Mae walked over to the roof. She grew until she was the size of the house.

  “Impressive,” Di or Jo said. “But how do your clothes grow with you!”

  “Nano stretch material,” she told them as she grabbed each of them in her hand. Ellie Mae lowered them to the ground.

  I walked over and helped Col up. “You ok, mole buddy?”

  Col looked at me. At least he turned his head towards me. Because of his thick-lensed black glasses, I would need Q-Vision to see his eyes. “I will be fine, one called Quazar,” he said.

  Jo and Di walked over to me and offered me their claws in friendship. “Grips in friendship,” they said. “You are one of the few humans who can stand our massive grips.”

  I shook their hand claws. “Thanks.”

  I almost told them that being a clone and all, I wasn’t totally human. But I guess that would have been wrong. I am a human, just one who has been made in a different way.

  QUAZAR NOTE: BEING MADE IN A LAB DOESN’T MEAN I’M NOT HUMAN!

  “Sorry about cutting your skin,” Di (I think) said.

  I turned my leg and showed him my wound. It had already closed and healed over. “No problem. My accelerated system heals way fast.”

  “Impressive,” he said. “We will make sure not to make an enemy of you in the future.”

  The three mole men turned to Don. “Doctor Don, we trust you will keep your promise.”

  Don gave them a polite bow. “Of course.”

  The three mole men smiled. “We will now give you the traditional fart of acceptance.” The three mole men bent over and farted.

  They waved their claws behind their behinds.

  They straightened. “We hope to hear good news soon!”

  They turned and walked towards their metal hotdog vehicle. They got in. The vehicle disappeared back into the ground. Of course, they left a gaping hole in the yard.

  “Maybe we can turn that into a swimming pool?” Ellie Mae offered.

  We laughed.

  Chapter 8

  Not a Normal Drive to School and Work

  The next morning, we all got into Don and Jeanie’s self-driving car and headed to Future Now. Jeanie sat alongside Don in the front seat while Ellie Mae and I sat in the back. The car was quite large and comfy. Plus, I thought it was cool how we could simply tell the car where to go and it just went there.

  “Okay, now what’s the plan?” Jeanie asked Don.

  “The plan is, I go and talk to Dr. Bobby. And see if he knows that his experiments seem to be causing some sort of dimensional rifts.”

  “What if it’s not Dr. Bobby doing this?” I asked.

  Don glanced over his shoulder at me. “From what you told me about these slimes and from what I gather from the mole men, these are inter-dimensional beings. Therefore, Dr. Bobby’s project is the one most likely to be causing such problems.”

  “Okay, why do we call a grown man, Dr. Bobby?” Ellie Mae asked.

  Don shrugged. “He says that Dr. Bob was his late dad’s name, and his name is Bobby.””

  I noticed a slight increase in the speed of the car.

  “Car, why did you speed up?” I asked.

  “I have not sped up,” the car responded.

  “You have,” I insisted.

  “Have not,” the car responded. I swear it sounded angry.

  “I feel a slight change in speed,” I insisted.

  “My sensors inform me that I am moving at a very safe and steady 55 miles per hour,” the car insisted.

  Don looked at the speedometer. “It says 55,” Don told me.

  “We’re going faster. I can feel it!” I said.

  “No, we are not,” the car said. “Look, kid, I get it. You are only human. You have no idea about the difference between 55 and 65…”

  The car sped up noticeably. “Okay, now you really are going faster!” I said.

  “My speed sensors still say I am moving at a nice safe 55 miles per hour,” the car said.

  “I feel it too!” Ellie Mae said.

  The car sped up even faster. The momentum jerked Don and Jeanie’s heads back against the seat.

  “Car, what’s going on?” Don said.

  The car made a sudden turn and bounced off the main road. It steered its way onto a dirt road that I had never noticed before.

  “Car, what are you doing?” Don asked.

  “Just going to work the way I always do,” the car said. It started humming.

  “Why are you humming the theme to Night Rider?” Jeanie asked.

  “I am not!” the car said. “I am remaining totally silent. You must be mistaken, silly humans.”

  The car started to accelerate faster. I noticed it was heading for a big tree at the end of the dirt road.

  “Car, stop!” Don ordered.

  “I cannot and I do not wish too,” the car said.

  Turning to Ellie Mae, I said, “Teleport your parents and yourself out of here!”

  Ellie Mae trembled. “I can’t use my teleporting powers when I’m moving like this It’s too dangerous. I might reappear inside the tree or worse.”

  I lifted my arms up and blasted my way out through the roof of the car. I flew over the top of the car and zoomed ahead. I had to think fast. I could try to stop the car, but the force of me stopping it could do even more damage than if I allowed it to hit the tree.

  QUAZAR NOTE: WHEN UR SUPER YOU CAN CAUSE DAMAGE WHEN TRYING TO HELP!

  This called for a less damaging approach. I ran at top Q-speed. I opened the back door. I pulled Ellie Mae out of her seat. I placed her gently by the side of the dirt road. I shot back to the car.

  “Get
Jeanie out of here next!” Don ordered.

  I ripped off the passenger front door. I took Jeanie from the seat and left her by the side of the road.

  Zooming back to the car, I ripped off the driver’s side front door. I pulled Don from the seat. I took him safely to the side of the road.

  We watched as the car rammed towards the tree and then stopped. The car skidded to a halt mere inches from the tree.

  The car threw itself into reverse and raced towards us.

  “Fine! I’ll just run you over then!” the car screamed. Only now the voice wasn’t cold and electronic. According to Don, it was the voice of Dr. Vile.

  I jumped in front of Don. The car hit me at greater than top speed. The car shattered into millions of pieces. I turned and shielded Don with my body from the red-hot debris raining down on us.

  Once it stopped raining car pieces, I stood up, shaking the spare parts off me. “You okay?” I asked Don.

  “I am, thanks to you!” he touched me on the arm. “Son.”

  Ellie Mae and Jeanie ran over and hugged me. I may be the strongest teen boy on the planet, but wow, my heart almost melted in such a good way.

  “Thanks,” they both said.

  “No problem,” I told them.

  “It appears Dr. Vile got your message, Adam,” Ellie Mae told me.

  “Why would he try to do that?” I asked. “He must realize a car crash wouldn’t hurt me…”

  Don looked me in the eyes. “Not physically, but Eddie is smart. He realizes that you understand you may be physically powerful. But mentally, you aren’t all that different from a normal human.”

  “So it wasn’t me he was after, it was you guys,” I sighed.

  “Yes,” Jeanie said. “He knows that if he hurts us, he hurts you mentally and that will weaken you. Maybe even get you to let your guard down.”

  “I’m afraid your feelings for us make you more vulnerable,” Don said.

  QUAZAR NOTE: HAVING FEELINGS IS WORTH MAKING ME VULNERABLE!

  I shook my head. “Actually, for the first time since I’ve known you, you are wrong,” I told Don. “My feelings towards you people, my family, make me stronger!”