New Kid Catastrophes: 1 (TJ and the Time Stumblers) (18 page)

Soon, dozens of the little mice were running around, and every one of them was

as they raced toward Chad for a major cheese feast.

TJ spun toward Hesper and shouted, “Turn off the power!”

And sweet, lovely Hesper screeched back, “I don’t know how! I didn’t make this stupid thing!”

Meanwhile, everybody in the gym was screaming, running for their lives, and busy having a heart attack or two.

Everyone but Doug.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Worst of all Worsts

TIME TRAVEL LOG:

Malibu, California, October 14—supplemental

Begin Transmission:

Oops . . .

End Transmission

“Augh!”

Doug ripped down the giant mirror surfboard and raced toward the circle of Wendells that were closing in on Chad. TJ couldn’t believe her eyes. It was like he was a superhero the way he leaped into the center of things.

Of course they began firing at him, but each time they

their lasers, he blocked the beams with the surfboard. Not only blocked them but used the mirror to reflect the beams right back at them, which explains the

of him blowing up the little critters and sending them to that big cheese fondue party in the sky.

(Actually, he didn’t kill them; he just made them unconscious in an
I don’t think they’ll be waking up anytime soon
kind of way.)

In fact, he was doing such a good job that it looked like the catastrophe would soon be over . . . except for the part of Tuna and Herby wanting to help.

“Quick!” Tuna shouted. “Employ the Enlarge-o Beam!”

“What?” Herby yelled.

“On the kitten. Increase its size so it will attack the mice.”

“Good thinking,” Herby said. He pulled out what looked like a paper clip and pointed it at Killer, who was still in TJ’s arms.

This time she was smart enough to drop the mechanical kitten.

Unfortunately, Herby wasn’t smart enough to use the right setting. Instead of the usual 4.5 setting for
NORMAL BIG
, he cranked it all the way up to 9.5 for
ULTRA BIG!
A beam shot from the paper clip with yet another strange

sound until, suddenly, Killer was twice her size.

Better make that four times her size.

All right, she just kept getting bigger, okay? In fact, before you could say, “Will these guys ever learn?” Killer was the size of a semitruck (without the cool mud flaps and air horn).

And she wanted to play.

Unfortunately there were no balls of yarn or chew toys. But there were plenty of chew bleachers . . . chew science projects . . . and a chew news reporter.

Carefully, the reporter backed away from her. “Nice kitty-kitty,” he said.

nice kitty-kitty roared. Then she took a playful swat at him. Well, playful for her. For him, it was more like a giant battering ram that

knocked him completely across the gym.

TJ spun around to Tuna and shouted, “Do something!”

But Tuna was too busy shouting at Herby, who was too busy fumbling with the paper clip.

“The Acme Thought Broadcaster!” Herby yelled. “We’ll talk with her mind through the Acme Thought Broadcaster!”

“She’s a robot!” Tuna shouted. “She doesn’t have a mind!”

But Herby wasn’t about to be confused with facts. He reached for the ballpoint pen and fired the eerie blue beam. Unfortunately, he missed the cat and hit Doug’s mirror surfboard. Not a problem, except it reflected off the surfboard and landed squarely on Hesper Breakahart. Suddenly they heard,
“Oh, my hair, I think it’s out of place, is my nose too shiny, I think my lips are drying, where’s that stupid makeup lady with the hairy armpits . . . ?”

Now, for those of you keeping track, we have:

—one hysterical TV star

—one chunk of Chad Cheddar Cheese

—one hero using a mirror surfboard to fight off

—a bunch of mice with laser beams strapped to their heads

—and one very cute mechanical kitty on a not-very-cute mechanical rampage

And now you can add that the room was filled with a loud