Chapter Eleven: Don’t feed the Weebles after midnight!
“Weebleville!?” Nikki exclaimed. “What do you mean?”
“You’re about to find out,” Samantha replied. Abruptly, the fiery tunnel banked sharply to the right and a heavy wooden door blocked their path. A sign above the door was written in shaky handwriting. It read: Welcome to Weebleville.
Freddy and Mike each grabbed a metal ring on one of the doors and heaved backwards. The door shuddered, and then with a groaning creeeeaaak! slowly began to open in a wide arc. The sound of carnival music carried through the doors on a light breeze that wafted out. As the doors swung open, a sliver of light widened until it was a beam, and then a full path of brightness spilled out from the space beyond.
Nikki looked at Samantha, and she nodded for her to move forward. Spencer walked side by side with her. When the light hit her eyes she was temporarily blinded, but then her vision adjusted, gradually coming into focus. What she saw amazed her.
A magnificent cavern of remarkable proportions stood before her. It was so big she couldn’t see the roof or the sides. “It’s ginormous!” Spencer said.
Nikki nodded, staring silently, in awe of the bustling city in front of her eyes. There was activity everywhere she looked. Weebles, Weebles, and more Weebles ran and jumped and flipped and rolled and laughed and flew through the air like acrobats. The roly-poly animals had spiny bristles covering their entire bodies like porcupines. But then they also had wide, flat tails like beavers. Despite their roundish appearance, the Weebles moved with incredible speed and agility.
Nikki remembered the first time she had seen a Weeble in the forest near her house. She had run from it, becoming scared when it flashed its sharp teeth. Watching them playing and frolicking now, Nikki wondered why she had ever feared such funny looking creatures. But how is it possible? she wondered. How could so many Weebles be in one place?
Before she could turn to ask Samantha the question, one of the Weebles rolled past and shouted, “Hey, kid! You comin’ in or are you gonna stand there lettin’ in a draft? Shut the door, will ya!?” The furry mammal had a strong New York accent. Nikki had almost forgotten the animals could talk.
“Stop givin’ Nikki a hard time, will ya, Moe,” Nikki heard Samantha say from behind her. She had mimicked his abrasive accent.
Spencer said, “Why do they have New York accents?” Spencer had been to New York many times to visit his dad and grandma. He was very accustomed to hearing the different variations of the local accent.
Samantha shrugged. “None of us know. Perhaps they’re from New York.”
Spencer laughed. “Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right answer.”
Nikki watched as one of the Weebles jumped from the top of one of the many houses that lined the silvery city streets. Four other Weebles ran underneath him, each carrying the corner of a blanket. When the flying Weeble hit the tightly pulled blanket, he bounced high in the air, springing forward as if he was on a trampoline. The other Weebles continued running forward, catching him again, and bouncing him forward once more. The continued on down the road until they were out of sight.
“How did they get here?” Nikki murmured.
“Honestly,” Samantha said, “we have no idea. They just showed up on our doorstep one day. How they found our secret Power City, we may never know. Of course, we let them in and Mike built them a place to live. They named it Weebleville.”
“Weird,” Spencer said. “I’ve seen a lot of nutty stuff in the last couple of weeks, but this one takes the cake! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!”
“Come on, let’s go for a walk through the city,” Samantha suggested.
The group of five began to slowly pick their way through the many streets and houses. Everywhere Nikki looked, the Weebles were doing something funny. She started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop. Soon the rest of the kids were laughing, too. One Weeble swung on a rope attached to a light pole and splatted into a wall. After falling to the ground, he shook himself off and did it again! Another group of Weebles were covered in honey and were racing down the street yelling, “Honey-covered Weebles for sale!” There were hang-gliding Weebles and bungee-jumping Weebles. Some Weebles walked on stilts and some bounced on pogo-sticks. Regardless of what they were doing, the Weebles seemed to be having fun. The loud carnival music blared loudly in all parts of the city.
Nikki noticed that some of the Weebles were different colors, rather than the standard brownish hue that painted most of them. She spotted an orange Weeble that was doing cartwheels. Others she saw were green, blue, or white.
“Why are some of them a different color?” Nikki asked.
Freddy said, “Who knows? They are strange creatures. We’ve asked them lots of questions about where they came from, why they are different colors, where they got the powerchests from, but they refuse to answer us. They are more interested in just having fun.”
Samantha said, “You are allowed to come and visit Weebleville anytime you like, but there are a few rules you need to know about.”
“Rules?” Spencer said. “What rules?”
“There are only three, so try to remember them. One: Do not try to pet the Weebles. They are not pets and do not like it when you treat them like they are. Plus, their prickles are really sharp, like a cactus. Two: Do not accuse them of lying. Weebles are not capable of telling a lie or even a fib. If they answer one of your questions, you know what they say is the truth.”
These rules are easy, Nikki thought. “What’s the third rule?” she asked.
“The third and final rule is the most important. Never, under any circumstances, should you feed the Weebles after midnight. We give them food throughout the day and they eat it all right away. They’ll eat pretty much anything, but should not be eating after midnight.”
“Why not?” Spencer asked.
Samantha shrugged. “Sorry, but it is another thing we don’t know the answer to.”
“Then how do you know not to do it?” Nikki asked.
“When the Weebles arrived, they told us these three rules, and we have been following them ever since. We don’t question them. Will you obey them?”
Nikki said, “Sure.” She looked at Spencer.
He nodded. “Okay.” Nikki didn’t see that his fingers were crossed behind his back.
“Good. Now it’s getting pretty late, we should get to bed soon.”
Suddenly Nikki felt exhausted. Her mouth opened widely as she let out a big yawn. “Good idea,” she said, rubbing her eyes.
“What time is it?” Spencer asked.
Mike glanced at his watch. “Nearly midnight.”
“What?” Nikki said. “How is that possible?”
Freddy said. “It’s because of my power to change the way time works in the Power City. Time moves a little faster and our bodies adjust to it. It’s weird. I don’t even know exactly how it works.”
“But we can’t go to bed without dinner,” Spencer said.
“I’m not really hungry,” Nikki commented.
“I’m starved! I could eat a stack of flapjacks a mile high! Gobble gobble!” Spencer exclaimed.
“That’s surprising,” Samantha said. “Usually we only need two meals while in the mountain. But that’s okay, I’m sure Mike would be willing to whip something up for you, wouldn’t you, Mike?”
“Of course,” Mike said.
“Rock star!” Spencer yelled.
Nikki and Spencer once again followed the members of the Power Council through the streets of Weebleville. The Weebles were still playing, as if they never got tired or needed to sleep. A few of them were lighting one of the houses on fire while another was throwing pails of water on it to douse the flames. Another was wearing goggles and a helmet, and was zigzagging his motorcycle through the city. Nikki laughed when a group of ten or more Weebles, who were standing on each other’s shoulders, toppled over and spilled onto the ground. Right away, they started building their Weeble-tower again.
They r
eached the enormous wooden door and Mike pushed it open. Over her shoulder, Nikki said, “Goodnight Weebleville. See you later.”
A Weeble riding a unicycle and juggling bananas, pineapples, and grapefruits heard her, and replied, “Don’t let the door hit your rear on the way out!”
All five kids laughed. Mike closed the door with a thud! and the music stopped. They were once again in the fire tunnel. Nikki yawned again. Turning to Spencer, she said, “Would you mind if I go straight to the bunk room? I’m exhausted!”
“Sure, Sleepy-Head. I’ll grab a bite to eat with Mike and then be right in. Kapow!”
They headed down the tunnel together and then split off when Spencer went with Mike to find a place to have a snack. Nikki, Samantha, and Freddy continued on to the bunk room. When they arrived, Nikki slumped onto her bed. She said goodnight to Samantha and Freddy, and then removed her shoes and pulled the bed sheets down. Still wearing her clothes from the day, she slipped under the covers and rested her head on the pillow.
Thoughts churned through her head. It had been one of the most incredible days of her life. And her life had been pretty incredible lately. She thought about the thrilling ride down the slide through the mountain; she thought about the hundreds of robots and machines constantly moving and building; she thought about Weebleville, and the kooky Weebles who played and did crazy things with seemingly endless energy.
Then she remembered what had happened in Cragglyville. The holes in everything! Jimmy, Peter and Naomi had to be stopped! She was glad she had the Power Council to help her.
Her thoughts began to get foggy as sleep approached. She was on the verge of drifting into dreamland when she heard the door open. She heard Spencer whisper, “Thanks, Mike, that was tasty!”
Without opening her eyes, Nikki tracked Spencer with her ears as he tiptoed across the room, scuffed his shoes off, and climbed the wooden ladder to the top bunk. Within minutes, she heard heavy breathing from above her. Spencer must have fallen asleep right away. Soon she could hear similar sounds of sleeping from the other three kids. Nikki was surprised she was the last to fall asleep, especially because she was so tired.
Once more, she felt her mind start to cross the threshold into the land of rest, but once again, she was jerked awake when she heard a noise, a rustling. It came from above her. Rustle, rustle. Then she heard the soft tap of a sock-covered foot on the top of the ladder. This time she half-opened one of her eyes to see what Spencer was doing. His small body passed her field of vision as he crept off of the ladder. What could he be doing? Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom? she guessed. But something made Nikki think he was up to something. He was clearly trying to be as quiet as a mouse, as if he didn’t want anyone to know he was leaving his bed.
He turned his back to her and Nikki opened both eyes so she could see him better in the darkness. His footsteps got quieter as he tiptoed away from her. She saw a brief flash of light as the door opened and closed noiselessly. Spencer had left the room.
Curious to see what her sidekick was up to, Nikki slipped out of bed and padded across the room. She didn’t bother to wear her shoes. Just as she snuck through the door, she saw Spencer flit out of sight as the rose tunnel curved ahead of her. Nikki began to jog to make sure she didn’t lose his trail. A few minutes later, she spotted him again when the tunnel curved to the right. She slowed to a fast walk, keeping him barely in her sight. She stuck close to the leaves of the rosebushes, so if he looked back she would have time to duck and hide.
She watched as Spencer turned right. Flickering red and orange light came from the tunnel he had entered. It was the fire tunnel! She knew immediately where he was going: to see the Weebles again!
Nikki peeked around the corner and saw that Spencer was walking faster now, pulling away from her. She followed him, taking long strides in an effort to catch up. Fifteen minutes later they had reached the giant wooden doors and the sign for Weebleville. When Spencer reached for the metal door handle, Nikki crept closer, staying in the shadows between the wall torches. Spencer pulled hard, using all his body weight to open the heavy door. At first nothing happened and Nikki thought that maybe Spencer wouldn’t be strong enough to get in. But then, slowly, inch by inch, the door crept open.
When the door was halfway open, Spencer released it and scampered across the threshold before it could close on him. Nikki reacted quickly, sprinting to the doorway and slipping through just as the door closed with a crash!
Spencer had already walked further into the city, where the carnival music was still playing loudly; the Weebles were still jumping and rolling and flipping and generally having a good time. Do these guys ever sleep? Nikki wondered. Spencer approached one of the Weebles—it was green-colored with a massive tail. The green Weeble, who was busily throwing water balloons across the street at the windows on a house, stopped in mid-throw when it realized Spencer was coming toward her. Nikki knew it was a her because of the tiny pink bows tied around clusters of its spiny fur.
Spencer held out his hand—there was something in his palm. What is that? Nikki wondered. Then she realized what was happening. Despite the warnings from Samantha, Spencer was about to feed one of the Weebles after midnight! In his hand was a cookie, probably chocolate chip, his favorite. He most likely had Mike make it for him and then he had pocketed it. She should have known that he would try to break the rules, if only as an experiment, to know what would happen. Spencer hated not knowing something. Whenever he didn’t know the answer to a question, he would think of nothing else until he found the answer. And in this case, the easiest way to find out was to break the rule and see what happened.
As Nikki started to run toward her friend, she yelled, “Nooo, Spencer, nooo!” He turned his head when she yelled, his eyes widening in surprise at seeing her. His hand started to jerk back, pulling the cookie away from the Weeble, but it was too late. The cookie was gone.
Spencer stared at his hand curiously, as if the cookie had magically disappeared. He looked at the Weeble and saw that it was staring at the tasty treat. It held the chocolaty disk with both paws, like it was using it to pray. Then the Weeble licked its lips.
Nikki stopped, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Suddenly realizing that it was being watched, the Weeble looked up and made eye contact with Nikki. With a gleam in its eyes, the Weeble flipped the cookie into the air and then leapt up and grabbed it in its mouth in one bite. The creature smacked its lips noisily as it chewed the sweet morsel. With a loud gulp, the Weeble swallowed the mashed cookie, sighing in contentment.
Nothing happened for ten seconds. The Weeble stared at Spencer. Spencer stared at the Weeble. Nikki stared at Spencer. Spencer stared at Nikki. The Weeble stared at Nikki. Nikki stared back at the Weeble. Nikki realized she had been holding her breath, and when nothing happened, she released the air in a long stream. “See,” Spencer said. “They were worried about nothing.”
Nikki was about to say that he still shouldn’t have done it, when there was a loud gurgling noise. It had come from the Weeble. Spencer glanced at Nikki and then they both looked at the green ball of fur. The Weeble, who was already colored green, had become even greener and looked like she might throw up. Another loud gurgle. The Weeble’s stomach rippled, as if its fur was the ocean, creating waves across an ocean of tummy.
“Uh oh,” Spencer said.
Looking back, Spencer’s two words were a major understatement. At the time they seemed appropriate. With a supersonic crunching sound, the Weeble suddenly began to grow. And grow. And grow. And growandgrowandgrow! Until it was bigger than Spencer, bigger than Nikki, and then eventually, bigger than anything around it. The green she-Weeble towered above the chimneys of the surrounding houses. Nikki stared in horror at the gigantic beast standing before her. Spencer, who was even closer to it, looked like he was about to pee his pants, or cry, or scream for his momma, or maybe do all three.
With a loud roar, the Weeble started to run through the city
away from them, leaving Nikki and Spencer standing and gawking at it. Spencer ran to Nikki and said, “What do we do?”
“We need to tell Samantha.”
“Okay, I’ll get her.” He ran to the door, pushing it hard and forcing it open.
When he was gone, Nikki tried to think what to do. In her mind, she ticked through each of her powergloves. Fire was no good, she would just burn the whole place down. Ice might slow the giant Weeble down, but it would break free eventually. She could stop time, but all that would do was delay the inevitable. Being fast would come in handy, she thought. Combined with her super-strength she might be able to do something to stop it.
Acting quickly, Nikki expanded and opened her powerchest. Soon she was wearing one purple and one orange glove. Wasting no time, Nikki left her powerchest wide open in case she needed to use a different glove later, and ran into Weebleville. With her super-speed orange glove, she couldn’t even see her legs they were moving so fast. She caught up to the mutated Weeble in ten seconds. It was kicking over houses and punching holes in windows. Large groups of regular sized Weebles were running from the beast screaming, “Run for your lives!” Other Weebles were standing and watching, some laughing, some crying.
Nikki ran between the Weeble’s legs and got out in front of it. Then she stopped and looked back. Although it was very big, the Weeble was slow, swinging its arms and legs clumsily. Evidently its normal agility and speed were lost when it grew. Swiveling her head, Nikki tried to find something to use to stop it. She saw a row of light poles planted along the street. Perfect, Nikki thought.
With the strength of many men, Nikki grabbed one of the tall metal poles with two hands and pulled. The heavy structure popped out of the sidewalk easily. Nikki rested it on the ground and moved on to the next pole. Like the first, she easily extracted it from the ground. She did the same with the third pole. One option was to use them as weapons, smashing them against the Weeble’s knees and trying to injure it. But Nikki didn’t want to hurt the poor creature. After all, it wasn’t the Weeble’s fault that Spencer had broken one of the rules and fed her after midnight.
Thinking fast, Nikki slid each pole across the street, lining them up, almost touching. She hoped the Weeble would lose its balance and fall when it stepped on the cylindrical rods. She hid behind the corner of a house and watched as the Weeble approached her trap. Three steps away, two steps, one. With a loud thud! it tramped on all three light poles at the same time. They spun away from the beast, causing its front foot to slide forward away from its back foot. In a move that would have made a gymnast proud, the Weeble did a split, landing upright with each leg fully outstretched, but in opposite directions.
To Nikki’s surprise, the Weeble let out what sounded like a stranged laugh, deep and throaty. “Hee hee hee!” it roared. It stood up and started to trudge down the road, smashing everything in sight.
Nikki’s heart sank. What can I do against such a large creature? she wondered.
That’s when help arrived.
Mike flew past, cruising by on some sort of a hovercraft. Samantha and Freddy were sitting on the back of it. Nikki took off, running fast and staying directly under them. They reached the Weeble and Samantha leapt to the ground with Freddy right behind her. She was wearing a bright orange belt. Freddy had peach socks on, pulled high.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Nikki said. “I don’t know how to stop it!”
Samantha flashed a forced grin. “Don’t worry. We’ve got a plan.” She turned toward the back of the green Weeble and yelled, “Hey, Onion Breath! We need to talk to you!”
The Weeble stopped moving and slowly turned around. When it saw the kids, it charged, roaring as it lumbered toward them. It sounded like a stampeding elephant.
“Phase one!” Samantha yelled. “Surprise it, Freddy!”
Freddy raised his arm and then made a slapping motion at the air, as if he was swatting at a mosquito. To Nikki’s surprise, the Weeble stopped and its head jerked to the side. It looked around, surprised by something. Freddy slapped the air again, this time to the other side. The Weeble’s head snapped back the other way. Freddy looked at Nikki and grinned. “Distance slap. One of my powers.”
“Cool,” was all Nikki could think of to say.
Samantha said, “Phase two—ropes!” She outstretched both of her arms at the Weeble and yelled, “Rope power!” A thick rope shot from her fingertips, snaking toward the Weeble’s feet. Still trying to figure out what had slapped it in the face, the Weeble was even more surprised to see the heavy rope springing toward it. It tried to turn to run away, but was too slow. The rope curled past its left foot, looping around it several times before moving on to the right foot and doing the same thing.
With its feet tethered together, the Weeble tripped and fell, smashing to the ground in a heap. The street shook from the impact. “Will that hold it?” Nikki asked.
“Not for long,” Samantha replied. “I’ll add some more rope so it can’t get loose.” She aimed her fingers again and several more coils of rope sprang out, crawling all over the creature and tying its arms together, and its arms to its legs, like an old-fashioned hog tie.
Mike landed next to them on his hovercraft. “Good job, guys,” he said.
Nikki looked back down the road. The houses were destroyed. She looked at her feet. It was her fault. She had brought Spencer with her. “I’m sorry. I’ll get Spencer and we’ll leave right away.”
Samantha said, “What? You’re not going anywhere, Nikki.”
Nikki looked up in surprise. “But after what we did you won’t want us on the Power Council.”
“Nonsense. It was a silly thing to do, but we know you guys didn’t try to hurt anyone. We’ve thought about feeding the Weebles after midnight many times, too, but always chickened out. Spencer was just curious, that’s all.”
“But what about Weebleville? It’s destroyed.”
Samantha chuckled. “Mike will take care of it. He’s pretty fast when he starts building. Should only take him a couple of hours. Plus, the Weebles destroy their city all the time. They are destructive little creatures.”
Nikki took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She was relieved. She liked her new friends and didn’t want to lose them. “You guys were amazing,” Nikki said.
“Thanks, we’ve had a lot of practice with our powers. But we’ve seen you in action, too. You were incredible when you took care of the bomb Jimmy Powerboots had planted in the bank in Cragglyville.”
Nikki’s face flushed. They knew all about her! Samantha put her arm around Nikki. She said, “Let’s go back to bed. We all need to get some sleep. The ropes will hold the giant Weeble until the morning and then we can figure out what to do with her.”
Nikki said, “I know one thing we won’t be doing again anytime soon. Feeding a Weeble after midnight!”