“So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get them!” Lin said.
“I have another idea. I’m not sure it will work, but if it does, we might be in for one exciting ride,” I said.
“I’m in!” Lin said.
“Don’t you want to hear my plan first?” I asked.
“Nope. As soon as you said ‘exciting ride’ I was ready to go,” Lin said.
“All right. Step one, make me big again. Step two, I’ll meet you, Zip-Zap, and Bruno at the bottom of the metal step,” I said.
“Okay. You stand under the Grow-Hose, and I’ll fire up the Expand-O-Matic,” Lin said, and a rumbly feeling stirred around inside me, because I knew we were off on another amazing adventure.
CHAPTER 9
GEARING UP AND HEADING OUT
Shrinking 86.274 times your size in less than five seconds is incredible, but if you ask me, growing 86.274 times bigger is even better. The icy, glittery feeling is replaced with a warm, sparkly feeling that makes the back of my head itch for some reason. And instead of the snowflake feeling, you feel like you are a firework and someone just lit your fuse!
We’d used the Shrink-A-Fier and the Expand-O-Matic every day since we met Professor Penrod, but this time was different. This was the first time I’d grown while Lin stayed small.
Lin came running out of the Fruity Stars Lab, waving her arms and jumping up and down. She was saying something, but I couldn’t quite hear what she said.
“What? I can’t hear you!” I shouted. Lin covered her ears and fell to her bottom. I guess my voice was super loud to her now that I was big, which made sense when I stopped to think about it.
Lin stood and started acting out a scene, playing the world’s smallest game of charades. She pointed to me and then to herself. She walked around, trying to act like she was huge, which was pretty funny being that she was smaller than a ladybug. Then she lowered her hand to the ground and made a “come here” motion. Then she made a walking motion with the fingers of her left hand, and used them to climb on her right hand, and I got it!
“Oh, you want a ride,” I said, and she covered her ears again. “Oh, sorry,” I whispered.
And it was a great idea. Why have Lin, Zip-Zap, and Bruno walk all the way to our meeting spot when I could just carry them? I bent down and placed my hand on the ground. Lin jumped on Zip-Zap’s back and drove him onto my hand. Bruno was busy tearing apart a red mushroom he’d found behind the Fruity Stars Lab. I very carefully lifted him up by his bony crest, then placed him in the palm of my hand.
Lin gave me the thumbs-up sign, and we were off. I held out my hand as I took three large steps, one over the hill next to the Fruity Stars Lab, one to cross the river and grassy plains, and the last one put me on the metal step in the old barn lab.
“How was that?” I whispered. But Lin was too busy laughing and cheering to reply. Her cheers sounded like the tiniest mouse in the world singing an opera.
I placed Lin and the Microsaurs in the grass below the step, then went on to phase two of my plan.
I rummaged around in Professor Penrod’s barn lab until I found a bottle of rubber glue. I opened the lid and gave it a sniff. It looked and smelled all right, and I thought it would totally do the trick. Then I went on to phase three, which was by far the riskiest of the steps. And it came with a theory. I wasn’t sure it would work, but my dad always says every good decision begins with a good theory. A question. An idea filled with wonder.
My wonder-filled idea was this: I knew that standing below the Shrinker-Sprinkler for five seconds would shrink you, and anything you carried, exactly 86.274 times smaller than your original size. But what would happen if you held it under the Shrinker-Sprinkler for less than five seconds? I did some calculations in my notebook, then gathered up the upgrade parts from The Bolt, which were still scattered on the floor next to the package that once held an egg and a pack of egg stealers. If my math was right, I needed to shrink the parts 43.137 times smaller, which should take exactly 2.5 seconds.
Lucky for me, I had already studied the plans for Professor Penrod’s Shrink-A-Fier and I knew exactly what to do. I just needed to adjust the timer and give it a try. I placed the car parts and the bottle of rubber glue on the metal step, adjusted the timer, then jumped on the step to trigger the Shrink-A-Fier. Just before the glittery CRPs fell on me, I jumped off the metal step and watched as the glue and RC car upgrades shrank exactly 43.137 times their original size.
“Perfect!” I shouted. There’s almost nothing I love as much as having a theory work the first time. I carefully lowered the preshrunk parts and the glue on the grass next to Lin, Zip-Zap, and Bruno, then I put the timer back to five seconds and shrank myself for the second time that day.
By the time I climbed down from the metal step, I could see that Lin was way ahead of me. She was using the glue to stick the Sonic-Earth Shaker part to Bruno’s rump.
I ran to join them. “So, do you think it will work?”
“For sure.” The bottle of glue was almost as big as Lin, and she had a big boogery lump of rubber muck stuck in her hair. “And you were right. This is going to be a heck of a fun ride. We’re totally going to teach those oviraptors a lesson they won’t soon forget. But there’s a problem, Danny. A big one,” she said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I’m going to need these upgrades to teach someone else a lesson in less than three hours. Remember? Icky Vicky goes down at four forty-five,” she said.
“Don’t worry. We’re just testing these out for now. We’ll have plenty of time to attach them back onto The Bolt before the race,” I said.
“We better, or I’m in big trouble,” Lin said.
I lifted up the Goo-Cannon to test its weight. It was heavy, but I thought I could carry it while riding Bruno. Lin dunked the back end of the Grappling-Grabber in the glue, then stuck it to her shirt. She plucked a few pieces of grass and started weaving a belt. Before I was able to convince Zip-Zap that gluing a Slap-Clapper to his back was a good idea, Lin had tied her new grass belt around the Grappling- Grabber and her waist and pulled it tight.
“Hey, Danny. I bet we look totally cool right now,” Lin said.
“Heck, yes, we do. Wait. I have one last idea before we go,” I said. I set a timer on my phone, then wedged it in a flower as tall as my dad. “Quick. Come over here and say cheese!”
We looked ready for battle, which was good because there was no telling how hungry the oviraptors would be by the time we found them.
“Let’s go rescue that egg!” I said. With the Goo-Cannon in my arms, I ran and jumped on Bruno’s back, stuffing myself between his crest and the Sonic-Earth Shaker glued to his butt.
Lin whooped, then hurdled onto Zip-Zap and headed straight for the Fruity Stars Lab.
“Boy, Bruno. That girl could get lost in a one-room house,” I said, and I can’t say for sure, but I swear my three-horned friend laughed at my joke.
CHAPTER 10
TRACKING DOWN TROUBLE
By the time Lin discovered she was going in the wrong direction, Bruno and I had made our way through the grass fields that stretched out below the big metal step. She caught up to us as we arrived at a boggy swamp. Bruno seemed right at home in the gooey mud and black water, but Zip-Zap did not enjoy it at all.
Eventually the ground dried up and we made our way to a thick, overgrown jungle full of mushrooms the size of trees, and moss so thick and green it looked like frosting.
“We’re catching up to them,” I said as I checked my GPS tracker. “We’ll be in Maze Canyon as soon as we get out of this mushroom forest. We should meet up with Honk-Honk and the oviraptors there.”
“And the egg,” Lin said.
“Right. And the egg,” I said.
“Then let’s hurry!” Lin said. She cheered on Zip-Zap, and her springy Microsaur spurted forward, jumped on the soft top of a smaller mushroom, then trampolined high into the air.
Bruno trampled on, smooshing moss between
his big, wide toes. Before long the soft green earth turned to sand the color of a sunset. Bright orangish-red rocks stood up on the landscape, and cactus plants dotted the area like nature’s pincushions.
The sand in front of us was covered in footprints. One set of large Honk-Honk prints, followed by a pack of three-toed tiny-raptor prints. I couldn’t see Lin, but I could see Zip-Zap’s large prints in the sand as well.
I pulled up the GPS to take another look, but I didn’t need it because Honk-Honk HOOOONKED ahead in the red rock canyons and I knew exactly where to go.
“DANNY! I found them!” Lin yelled, her voice echoing on the large rock walls, and I nudged Bruno to run as fast as he could.
We entered Maze Canyon, and the tall rock walls seemed to reach up and touch the sky. The canyon twisted and turned, making it impossible to see what was around the next corner. It was easy to tell why Professor Penrod had given it the name Maze Canyon. If it weren’t for the footprints in the sandy floor, it would be easy to get lost.
“Come on, Bruno, old boy. Let’s catch up,” I said. Bruno was panting pretty hard and I could tell he was ready for a rest, but I knew it would take more than a little run through the Microterium to wear out this tiny-ceratops.
We squeezed through a narrow spot where the canyon walls rubbed Bruno’s wide crest on both sides, then the canyon opened up to an area so big you could easily hold a soccer tournament in the flat, sandy space. But there were no soccer games that day, only Honk-Honk being chased by a pack of tiny-raptors, who were being chased by Lin and Zip-Zap.
“Get as close as you can,” I shouted to Lin as I grabbed my smartphone and launched the SpyZoom app. It was hard to see the screen as I bounced along on Bruno’s back. I scrolled through the test upgrades menu and found the controls for the Slap-Clapper.
“Sic ’em, Zip-Zap!” Lin yelled. Zip-Zap lowered his head, pointed his beak toward the raptor pack, and let out a loud CAAAAW!
Zip-Zap stretched out his neck, then took a big bite, chomping his jaws down on a mouthful of oviraptor tail feathers. He whipped the little guy right out of the running, flinging it out into the sandy desert, where it flopped head over claws until it rolled to a stop.
It was so much fun to watch Zip-Zap make his way up into the pack that I almost forgot to do my job. When Zip-Zap caught up to the middle of the pack, I tapped the button to extend the Slap-Clapper hands. Mechanical arms reached out on either side of Zip-Zap, but the big birdlike Microsaur didn’t slow down one bit.
“Fire, Danny! FIRE!” Lin shouted, giddy with excitement.
I launched the right hand first, and it swung down low and slapped an oviraptor right out of the pack. It rolled into a cactus patch, then jumped straight up into the air, its rear end full of spiky cactus needles. Then I unloaded the left hand. It swooped down in front of Zip-Zap, plowing two of the hungry critters right over, where they toppled and rolled before they came up spitting mouthfuls of sand.The pack of ten oviraptors was down to six.
“Direct hit!” Lin shouted. She waved her arms up and down, and Zip-Zap copied her and the two took flight for a few seconds. Watching Lin ride Zip-Zap was like watching two really good dancers glide across the dance floor. Lin held on to Zip-Zap, no problem, but the Slap-Clapper had had enough. The glue just wasn’t strong enough, and it slipped from his back, where it fell, half buried in the sand.
“Danny!” Lin shouted. “We’re going to need that!”
“It’s okay. We still have plenty of upgrades!” I shouted back.
Bruno and I were falling behind, his tree-trunk-shaped legs unable to keep up with the other Microsaurs. Then I saw a shortcut that had excellent goo potential written all over it. The wide canyon we were running in was narrowing to a dead end. Two large rocks shaped like overgrown marshmallows were soon going to force the herd of running Microsaurs to take a sharp turn. I cranked Bruno to the left, knowing that if we hurried we could cut them off and maybe stop a few more of the tiny-raptors.
There was only one thing in our way: a wall of prickly cacti. Bruno wasn’t the fastest runner in the Microterium, but he sure was good at smashing things. I wasn’t too excited about riding a Microsaur through a cactus field, but I knew the prickly plants wouldn’t slow Bruno down.
He lowered his head, and I ducked behind his hard crest just in time. Bruno trampled through the cacti, sending cactus parts flying everywhere and not getting one scratch on him. Or on me!
The plan worked great, and I slid from Bruno’s back and came to a stop at the edge of a small ravine in the canyon floor. Sure enough, just as I had thought, Honk-Honk rounded the corner around the two marshmallow-shaped rocks and sprinted down the little slot canyon. Six snappy Microsaurs chased after her, yanking at the hammock ropes that held the egg in place.
Lin was catching up to Honk-Honk, passing the Microsaurs one by one. She was in the middle of the pack when I yelled for her to “DUCK!”
Lin obeyed just as I tapped a button to launch a stream of black, sludgy goo out of the Goo-Cannon. It squirted over her head and splattered all over the four slowest oviraptors. The tiny-raptors were covered in gooey gunk, and soon they were so glopped down that they stopped and started immediately trying to clean one another off.
“Bull’s-eye!” I shouted. “Come on, Bruno! We’ve got this now!”
I had used every ounce of the goo, so I dropped the Goo-Cannon in the sand. I made a mental note to come back and get it later. Bruno ran to me and I jumped on without him needing to slow down.
Lin and I caught up to Honk-Honk in a winding canyon, but the last two oviraptors got lost in the twisting canyon and fell behind. We yelled at Honk-Honk to stop, but she kept on running, until the worst possible thing happened. We found a dead end.
Honk-Honk stopped, sucking in big, deep puffs of air. The hammock that was holding the egg on her back was a total mess. Long strands of yellow rope dangled all around, and it seemed like the only thing holding it on was the yarn Lin had tied to her helmet.
Sitting on Bruno’s back, I listened carefully for signs of the oviraptors, but aside from a lot of heavy breathing, the canyon was silent.
“Do you think they gave up?” Lin asked.
“I doubt it. I don’t think they are the giving-up type,” I said.
Something growled and I looked at Lin with my eyes wide.
“Don’t worry. It was my stomach. I’m starving,” she said, but that wasn’t all it was. I heard the growl again, followed by the clicking sound that was really starting to get on my nerves.
CHAPTER 11
CORNERED
Two very unhappy, snarling tiny-raptors crept around the canyon bend. Their heads were held low, and their arms were stretched out. I recognized the leader of the pack, the biggest oviraptor, with its wide crest and blue tongue. They stepped out into the sun and stared at us. Then things went from bad to mega-bad.
“Uh-oh, Danny. We’re outnumbered,” Lin said as four oviraptors covered in black goo joined the pack.
Honk-Honk started to fidget, rubbing her back against the rock cliff wall. The ropes that held the egg in place were about to come loose. “It’s all right, Honk-Honk. Everything is going to be fine,” I said, although I didn’t believe it myself. I knew we were trapped.
A raptor with a rear end filled with cactus needles squawked as it ran around the corner, followed by two others who had met the Slap-Clapper just minutes ago, and they did NOT look pleased.
“We have to do something, Danny!” Lin shouted. She held her skateboard in front of her like a shield.
I was getting worried, too, but we only had two upgrades left. “I have an idea, but…” I said.
“But what? Are you worried about the race? I’d rather have that egg safe than have enough upgrades to beat Vicky. Use it, Danny. Teach these guys a lesson,” Lin said.
The Sonic-Earth Shaker was still glued to Bruno, and I tossed Lin my phone. The last of the tiny-raptor pack snuck around the corner. Its tail feathers were missing and it stared
at Zip-Zap, looking ready for revenge.
“When I say fire, hit the button labeled S-ES, then cover your ears,” I said.
There was a large pile of rocks stacked on top of the cliff edge between us and the oviraptors. I wasn’t sure the sound waves from the Sonic-Earth Shaker would be enough to bust them free, but I knew it was our only chance. I turned Bruno around, aiming his rump and the Sonic-Earth Shaker at the base of the rocks, and yelled.
“FIRE!”
Lin hit the button and the upgrade BOOOOOMED, sending out a pulse of sound so strong it knocked me back ten feet. Bruno didn’t budge as sand blew through the air, creating a curtain of dry, reddish-brown dust between us and the tiny-raptors. For a moment I couldn’t hear anything except my heartbeat. Then I heard Lin, Zip-Zap, Bruno, and Honk-Honk celebrating.
I stood and shook my head, sand pouring down from my hair. I saw why they were cheering. The Sonic-Earth Shaker worked perfectly! Not only had it brought down the stack of rocks, but it had blasted a hole in the canyon wall so big it would be easy for us to escape. The dead end was dead no more, and there was a pile of rubble between us and the oviraptors that would keep them away for good. We were finally safe.
“Did you see that? What a great shot, Bruno!” Lin said. She ran over and gave Bruno a kiss right on the nose, and he grinned. My ears were ringing and I was as hungry as a pack of oviraptors. I looked at Honk-Honk. She looked happy as she rested in the deep, warm sand. I was ready to sit and have some lunch and enjoy our victory, but something was missing.
Microsaurs--Tiny-Raptor Pack Attack Page 4