The Adventures of the FancyCrazyHydrants - The Mission

by Baltazar Ray

  “This is real Hydra—so real,” said the awe-struck Pluggo.

  “We have to go back to Genoa and retrieve the rest of the disks. The right one will lead us to Fireeba. We also have to find Elvira. She mentioned a place called ‘Metro’ before we escaped.”

  Pluggo immediately summoned Veeda and her entourage and told them what he had learned from Hydra. There was a lot of excitement among the team, with a lot of quacking, chirping and flapping of wings.

  “Listen fellows. Now that you are all aware of our mission, we have to find that house where it all started. I remember that it was a green-colored house, and there was a blossoming cherry tree in a spacious backyard surrounded by a white picket fence. To save time, we are going to send our friendly sparrows, starlings, and seagulls to follow the stream and search for the house,” said Hydra.

  After getting their instructions from Hydra, the birds burst off in all directions like exploding fireworks. Hydra, Pluggo, and Veeda stayed behind and waited.

  “Whatever happened to Meet?" Hydra asked, still thinking about his experience with the sheriff.

  “I haven’t heard anything. I guess, he’ll just be a part of this mystery and we’ll soon find out, huh, Veeda?” Pluggo asked.

  “Quank! I’m sure Meet is around somewhere, whoever he is,” Veeda replied.

  Suddenly, a sparrow whisked by and said, “I found it! I found it!”

  The three of them faced the animated sparrow and Pluggo asked her to identify herself and what she had found.

  “Sir, my name is Maya. I found the green-colored house with a blossoming white cherry tree in the backyard. I found it myself!”

  Hydra noticed how different she was from the other sparrows with her distinctive gleaming brown and green feathers. Hydra couldn’t help but think that she could be a SyBird.

  Following the sparrow, Hydra, Pluggo, and Veeda went to see the house. Hydra thought that it might be the right one but he wasn’t sure. The door seemed different. He surveyed the stream next to the house and tried to recall what he saw when he was being chased by Sheriff Meet and his cohorts. He followed the length of the stream, carefully trying to recollect any landmark. He noticed where the stream curved and walked along the bank, followed by all his friends. But upon looking beyond…

  “Oh no!” Hydra said.

  No one had noticed it, but there they were—ten of them on the horizon, and they all looked the same. There were ten green houses with blossoming cherry trees, each with a spacious backyard surrounded by gleaming white picket fences.

  “What do we do now?” Veeda asked.

  “Well, I guess we have to do it the hard way. We have to check each house for clues. I don’t care if there are ten of these houses, we have to find that house!” Hydra exclaimed.

  The trio set off to inspect each house but they all looked the same, with a few minor differences. The houses followed the stream. There was a crowd of people in one of the house.

  “It looks like a party for children and dogs,” Pluggo said, clearly excited.

  Hydra thought of his own surprise birthday party, and he brightened up. This could be the house, he thought. He asked the other birds to stay behind by the stream. He didn’t want to attract too much attention.

  Hydra and Pluggo peered through the pickets while Veeda volunteered to stay by the stream and watch.

  There was a group of children playing with their party clothes on. They were running around with brightly colored balloons tied to their wrists. Even the dogs were all dressed up. There were all kinds of dogs—poodles, dachshunds, cocker spaniels, golden retrievers, bulldogs, terriers and labradors. Pluggo, watched with gleaming eyes.

  “Labradors—hey, could one of them be Grunt?” Pluggo asked, as he and Hydra rushed to take a closer look.

  There were two Labradors and Hydra couldn’t tell exactly what color they were.

  The party noise caused Hydra to remember the real reason that they were there. He nudged Pluggo to walk back towards the stream. He was fairly certain that this was the house they were looking for.

  “Woof! Woof! Woof!”

  Pluggo turned around and exclaimed, “It’s Grunt! Hey Hydra, it’s Grunt!”

  “Grunt! Grunt!” Hydra and Pluggo yelled in unison.

  “Woof! Woof! How are you guys?” Grunt said, wagging his tail— uncontrollably. He was drooling all over the place and licking Hydra and Pluggo from head to foot, clearly excited.

  “Stop it Grunt! Stop it. You’re drooling all over me!” Hydra yelled.

  Grunt stepped back but kept his tail wagging at ninety miles an hour.

  “Oh, Grunt! What a small world! You look great in your bandana,” Pluggo said.

  “Oh yes, but this is no ordinary bandana. I can change its color any time I want,” Grunt said as he proudly changed the color of the bandana from white to red.

  “That’s a cool trick Grunt. Cool trick!” Pluggo said excitedly. "How did you do that?"

  “What are you guys up to?” Are you still on a mission? Would you like to come to the party and play with the kids?”

  “I’m sorry Grunt. It’s a long story. We’re on our way to look for something,” Hydra said.

  “Your mission, huh? Can I help?”

  “What about your party?” Hydra said, impressed with Grunt’s offer.

  “Don’t worry about the party. I go to parties all the time. And besides, I know they won’t even miss me—there are a lot of dogs there already. And my boss is used to me disappearing for days! C’mon! Let’s go!” Grunt yelled as he headed for the stream—his tail wagging wildly, like it was brushing the sky. Hydra and Pluggo couldn't help but laugh and just stared at each other in disbelief. They also noticed the 'slit' at the back of Grunt’s head.

  The three of them headed down stream and met up with Veeda and their other friends. Hydra gathered everyone around and introduced Grunt. He then gave them new instructions concerning their mission.

  “I have a strong feeling that this is the place where it all happened. Let’s scour the stream and look for that special boulder. There is a hole behind that boulder that will lead us to Genoa,” Hydra said.

  Grunt was the first to jump into the water. The rest of them quickly joined him.

  The water was a bit murky, and they bumped into each other as they began poking around in every corner, looking for the lone boulder that could lead them to Genoa. After searching for an hour, they came up empty handed. They already checked all of the houses on each side of the stream. Hydra was convinced that the house where they had met Grunt was the house in his dream.

  After a few hours they gave up and lay wet and exhausted on the bank. Grunt looked sullen with his wet bandana dangling by his neck. It was now colored green.

  “Hydra, you have to think harder. We might be at the wrong place,” Pluggo said.

  “Yeah, why don’t you just fly out again and crash into this stream? Maybe it will come back to you,” Veeda said, jokingly.

  Hydra stood up.

  “I know you were joking but that really is a smart idea!”

  “Oh, yeah? But I was only kidding!” Veeda exclaimed.

  "The craziest idea might be the best idea," Pluggo chided Veeda and gave her a wink.

  Hydra was desperate enough to take any suggestion, no matter how foolish it was. He began pacing with his head bowed as if he expected the answer to come from the ground.

  “Go for it, Hydra!” Pluggo cheered.

  “Yeah, go for it,” Grunt said, his tail wagging.

  “Err… you have nothing to lose,” Veeda said, clearly proud of her suggestion.

  “Go for it! We’ll be here for you,” Maya added, reassuringly.

  Hydra looked at all of them and bowed his head once again and continued pacing.

  After much thought he paused and clenched his eyes shut and concentrated.

  There was a long silence.

  They noticed Hydra's skin morphed like it was starting to boil. They were all wide-eyed watchi
ng Hydra's transformation.

  Hydra's body started to plump up and steam began escaping from his seams. Everyone watched closely and began to back-step as Hydra expanded. The ground started to tremble from the impending explosion…

  “KA-BLOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHH!”

  Hydra soared straight up, hundreds of feet in the air. Then he started to spin and spiral downwards. Like a large panorama before him, he saw all of the green houses, the blossoming cherry trees, the white picket fences, the stream, and all his friends below watching him fall. He felt weird being in the limelight, but he was also dizzy from all the spinning. He aimed directly for the stream as he plummeted. It was like falling in slow motion… one hundred feet… fifty feet… twenty-five feet…

  “SPLASSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHH!”

  Hydra hit the water, and the rest of the gang quickly jumped in to check on him. They pulled him right away to dry land and tried to revive him.

  “Hydra!”

  “Hydra!”

  “Hydra!” pleaded Pluggo.

  There was no response. Pluggo felt crushed and saddened. He shouldn’t have let Hydra do the stupid stunt. Grunt started to whimper, his ears and tail hung low. Veeda had that guilt look since she suggested the idea.

  “I found the boulder! I found the boulder!” Maya came screaming.

  The other ducks began pacing and flapping their wings at the surface of the stream. Pluggo and Grunt perked up at the activity. But they turned their attention back to Hydra just as his eyes flickered and he started to spit water. He sat up and coughed violently.

  * *

  Hydra opened his eyes and saw all his friends looking at him. Pluggo motioned for them to back off and give Hydra some room to breathe. Hydra managed to sit up and smile.

  “Let’s go check the boulder,” Hydra said.

  Everyone cheered wildly, “YEAHHHHHHH!” They all applauded and gave each other high-fives.

  CHAPTER 16

  Déjà vu, Genoa, Déjà vu

  THE BOULDER LOOKED EXACTLY as it was in Hydra’s dream. It was so real, he felt a chill when he remembered the sheriff’s cohorts running after him.

  "Everyone, please listen up! Here's what we're going to do," Hydra yelled as he looked everyone in the eye.

  * *

  Hydra explained to his friends that they all had a role to play. Hydra and Pluggo would go down and retrieve the disks, Grunt was to stay behind and keep watch by the bank, Veeda and the ducks would guard the entire length of the stream, and Maya and the other birds were to keep watch from the sky. They were to warn each other of any impending danger.

  Hydra quickly swam around the boulder, following and recounting his steps. He sat behind it in the same position as he had done before. And as he expected, he sank through the hole in the mud.

  Pluggo followed Hydra through the hole as planned. Hydra pulled him the rest of the way but Pluggo resisted and struggled.

  “Hey Pluggo, I know I’m covered with mud, but it’s okay, it’s only me,” Hydra said reassuringly.

  “Whew! You scared me there for a second, Hydra. I thought you were some kind of a sea monster.”

  Once they were both free, they swam around, carefully examining their surroundings. Hydra was trying to recall where SF1 had taken him before. If only he could find him it would be a lot easier to find Genoa. It was hard for him to get his bearings with all the distractions and the different scenery—The rock formations, colorful vegetations and the varieties of fish around. Pluggo, on the other hand, was fascinated with the surroundings. You could see the gleam in his eyes.

  Soon, a school of curious fish swarmed around Hydra and Pluggo. Hydra knew that the fish would soon be nipping at them so he told Pluggo to swim faster.

  Hydra was fully focused, recalling the path to the cave. Sensing he found it, he swam up to the surface, followed closely by Pluggo.

  “SPLAASSSSSSSHHHH! SPLAASSSSSSSHHHH!”

  “Whoa! Is this it?” asked Pluggo, as he looked around at the fake surroundings.

  “This is it Pluggo, we found it. Let’s get going. We should hurry up, there’s no more time to waste.”

  Hydra and Pluggo rose from the water and climbed the bank. They shook their bodies to dry themselves. Hydra led the way, walking quietly towards the cave. He told Pluggo to be quiet and communicate through thoughts and signals. He suspected that the sheriff and his cohorts could be around somewhere.

  They walked cautiously deeper into the cave. If Sheriff Meet were here, he would have shown up by now. He could be watching from the monitors above the counter, Hydra thought.

  Hydra and Pluggo groped around in the dark until Hydra spotted the room with its faint flickering light. He motioned Pluggo to hurry up but not to make any noise. He peeked through the crack of the open door. Déjà vu, Hydra, déjà vu, thought Hydra. No one seemed to be around, not a single shadow, certainly not Elvira.

  Hydra quickly scanned the aging computer monitors sitting on the desk to see if anyone might be around as cameras scanned each corner of Genoa. The first monitor showed the bank where they had come out of the water. The second monitor displayed the length of the bank, and the three other monitors showed different parts of the cave. The old computer monitors would frequently flicker and turn hazy and it reminded Hydra that the monitors were really old.

  As soon as Hydra was certain that the area was clear, he approached the computer.

  “Watch the security monitors while I retrieve the disks,” whispered Hydra.

  Pluggo was still looking around the room as if he didn’t hear Hydra.

  Hydra sat down and put in the correct password. He still vividly remembered the words: n-o-s-e… s-m-e-l-l…

  Instead of taking the disk, Hydra tried to run it on the computer, thinking that he could find out the exact location of Fireeba right there.

  Hydra did a search for Fireeba, and several pages of data came out of the printer. He quickly scanned the pages, trying to absorb everything. But he couldn’t find what he was looking for. Finally, he noticed several references to subways and trains and the name of Guerlin City and Mt. Caldera. He read the pages again, concentrating mightily.

  … THERE’S GOING TO BE YEARS OF PREPARATION, AND DOOMSDAY WILL BE ON NEW YEAR’S EVE IN GUERLIN CITY… IN CELEBRATION OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM…”

  Hydra’s eyes widened as Pluggo was reading over his shoulder.

  “Watch the security monitors,” Hydra reminded Pluggo.

  "Wait the minute!" Pluggo whispered.

  "Did you see anything?" Hydra stop on his tracks.

  "Uhh… never mind. I thought I saw something," Pluggo said. "These monitors are old."

  * *

  But just as Hydra pushed the button to release the disk, the door swung open and in came the sheriff, his cohorts, and the Sydogs.

  “GIT ‘IM!” screamed the sheriff, apparently not recognizing Pluggo.

  "Oh Pluggo, what did I tell you!" Hydra yelled. Hydra fumbled around and quickly scooped up the backpacks full of disks and other items from underneath the desk. He was frantically searching for the button that would let him and Pluggo escape through the floor. He found it and pushed hard but nothing happened. He pushed the second button and almost immediately he and Pluggo began to sink.

  But the hydrants and the dogs were closing in on them, when one huge fire hydrant grabbed Hydra by his nozzle while another hydrant grabbed Pluggo by his head.

  Hydra and Pluggo struggled to free themselves but the hydrants had a tight grip on them and would not let go—the hydrants slipped through the holes in the floor.

  “SWOOOOOMMMPPPP!"

  "SWOOOOOMMMPPPP!”

  CHAPTER 17

  Big Tur

  THE TRANSITION WAS BETTER THIS time, at least for Hydra. The hydrants fell from the sky and were strewn all over the stream. Hydra quickly pulled Pluggo to safety and signaled his friends that they have arrived. He geared up to fly up again to 'close' his dream—fearing havoc from Sheriff Meet and his cohorts in case they followe
d them.

  “KA-BLOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHH!”

  Hydra flew up in the air again and slowly dropped back into the stream. This time he did it with perfect precision and timing—like a flying trapeze. He didn’t even feel dizzy, and he was conscious the whole time. Practice makes perfect.

  “SPLASSSSSSSSSSSHHHHH!”

  “THUDDD!”

  Hydra stumbled into some kind of a hard metal object but he ignored it—he had to get to Pluggo first.

  “Pluggo! Pluggo! Wake up! We made it! We’ve got everything we need.”

  Pluggo slowly opened his eyes. “Hmm… are we back?”

  “We’re back, but we’re in a different part of the stream. The rest of the team will be here soon.”

  Maya arrived first, then Grunt and Veeda and all the other birds. Hydra asked them to scour the bottom of the stream for whatever metal objects they could find. Hydra felt good about his friends and how they were making his job so much easier.

  After a thorough search, Veeda approached Hydra and whispered something to him. His eyes widened, then he cleared his throat. Veeda had told him that there were three hydrants at the bottom of the stream. Two of them were close by while another was about a hundred feet away. Hydra thought that they might be the hydrants that had seized them as they escaped through the hole. Hydra finally called everyone to help him retrieve the hydrants.

  It was a struggle pulling the two fire hydrants to dry land. One was tall like Meet, ash-colored and heavy like Hydra, but taller. Hydra knew that this was the one that had held him as he escaped through the hole. The other fire hydrant was silver in color and of medium size— they both lay side-by-side unconscious. Hydra told his friends to keep an eye on them and to be ready in case they did something suspicious. Grunt stood hovering over the two unconscious hydrants, barking ferociously. He got tired eventually and sat down, and began whimpering.

  After some time, one of the unconscious hydrants started to move. He shifted from side to side still dazed from the ordeal. Hydra knew exactly how this hydrant felt as he had been through this situation before. The hydrant squinted his eyes as he was blinded by daylight. He had not seen real daylight for a long time.

  “Hey fella, are you alright? What’s your name?” Hydra asked.

  The hydrant finally opened his eyes.

  “Huh! Where… where am I?” the big hydrant asked.