Chapter Seventeen: The Power Council vs. the Power Outlaws
Butterflies were dancing and fluttering and flying about. Nikki couldn’t see the colorful beauties. She couldn’t see them because they were in her stomach. Partly because she was nervous, and partly because she was excited.
She was back in Cragglyville. It seemed like she had been gone for weeks, but in Cragglyville time she had returned on the same day she had left. In fact, it was only three o’clock in the afternoon.
The sun rose high above her, past its peak but still shining bright and hot. A dribble of sweat eased off her forehead and into her eye, temporarily blurring her vision. She wiped her face with her sleeve and blinked a few times. She was alone. Sort of. She knew her friends were out there somewhere, but she couldn’t see them.
After they had finished talking to the monkey’s uncle, Nikki had thanked him and they had left the Power City. Using her super-strength and flying ability, Nikki had flown Spencer back to Cragglyville. The purple cloud trail was still there to guide them. But this time they weren’t flying alone. Freddy had changed into his black and yellow socks and turned into a tiny bumblebee. He flew next to them, his wings buzzing as he zipped along. On the other side, Mike had ridden his hovercraft, like he had when they fought against the giant Weeble. The wind caused his orange scarf to flap around his shoulders. On the back of his hovercraft rode Freddy’s sidekick, Chilly. As a bumblebee, Freddy was too small to carry her, so Mike was helping out. Nikki was also carrying Dexter, because Samantha had no easy way to transport him. It was no big deal, because with her super-strength, he and Spencer felt as light as a feather on her back. Samantha had run along the ground underneath them. She was wearing her peach belt again, the one she had used to grow four arms. Except this time she had used it to grow four more legs. With six legs in total, she was able to run incredibly fast, and kept up with her flying friends all the way to Cragglyville.
When they reached Cragglyville, they split up, all of them. In five minutes they would meet on Main Street, ready to fight the villains.
So now Nikki was alone. She was hiding behind an old wooden barn on a farm on the outskirts of town. The barn was painted red, but the paint was chipped and cracked and dirty.
Nikki had her powerchest open and was thinking about which gloves to use for the mission. She was staring at her hands. She was still wearing one purple glove and one blue. Super-strength and flying. It was a pretty good combination. Being able to fly and lift heavy things would be useful. Many of her other powergloves would be useful, too, but she could only choose two, so she stuck with purple and blue. She had to trust herself, like the monkey’s uncle had said.
After shrinking her powerchest and putting it back in her pocket, she took off, bursting from the ground like a rocket ship. She soared over the farm and into town. She didn’t care if Jimmy or Naomi saw her coming. They were expecting her anyway.
When she passed over Main Street, the scene shocked her. It was even worse than it had looked on the television. There were loads of people stuck to the road, their feet trapped together by stone. The buildings had been smashed and abused; there was broken glass and other debris everywhere.
The trapped people were shouting and yelling for help, but the rest of the town was staying away. They were probably scared of getting attacked, too. Afraid of the villains. Afraid of being trapped in stone. Probably waiting for Nikki to save the day. Scanning the street, Nikki looked for her dad, but couldn’t spot him amongst all the other people. She would have to get closer.
She decreased her altitude and came in for a landing. So far she hadn’t spotted any of the villains. She also hadn’t spotted any of her friends. They were probably hiding in the shadows. She landed in the middle of the road, next to a fireman. He was wearing his fireman’s helmet and a thick yellow-brown coat. He looked hot.
A look of surprise crossed his face. “Nikki Powergloves?” he said. “Thank goodness you’re here! This big, crazy kid wearing a gray hat came out of nowhere. I don’t know how he did it, but he had powers. He did this to us.” Nikki looked at the man’s feet, where he was pointing. He was stuck in a big stone block. It wasn’t going to be easy to get him out, even with her super-strength. She needed to defeat the villains first.
“I know,” Nikki said. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
She turned and was about to go looking for her dad when she heard a long, loud laugh. It was more like a cackle, the sort of laugh you would expect from a witch’s mouth, like the green witch who wore a pointy black hat in The Wizard of Oz.
Nikki whirled around in a circle, trying to find the source of the evil laugh. She spotted Naomi’s blue skirt before she saw her face. When Nikki did look at her face, she saw a smiling girl, but she didn’t look happy or nice. The smile looked mean, somehow. It was an angry smile. Nikki knew the girl wanted to hurt her. Suddenly Nikki became angry, too. How dare this girl, who she didn’t even know, come to her town and do bad things to her friends and family. She has to be stopped!
As Nikki walked toward Naomi, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye: a flash of pink skin, big and coming toward her. She tried to duck but it was too late. Something hit her hard. She felt her body flying through the air. She crash landed when she hit something that felt like a brick wall. But it wasn’t. It was a person. A person whose feet were encased in stone.
She stood up and shook herself off. The stone had cracked when she hit it. Crumbles of rock broke away from the man’s feet. With a grunt, he pulled one foot out, and then the other, as the cement released its grip. Inadvertently, she had saved one of the people!
She looked at the man’s face and realized—
The man was her father.
She nearly yelled out Dad! and jumped on him, hugging and kissing him. But she didn’t. She remembered that she was in disguise, a superhero with a secret identity.
Instead, she said, “Run away, sir. Get out of here. We’ll handle this.”
Mr. Nickerson looked at her quizzically, as if he was puzzling over something, but then shrugged and said, “Thank you,” and took off.
Nikki watched him go and then turned back to see what had hit her. Peter Powerhats was standing in the middle of the road—he was wearing a peach-colored hat. He looked like a normal kid, except for one thing. His hands were enormous! They hung from his arms like giant sledgehammers, balled into fists. He must have punched her with one of his massive fists. Nikki needed to be more careful. Jimmy was probably hiding somewhere, too.
Peter ran toward her, slinging one of his giant fists back in preparation to hit her again. Nikki knew it would be hard to get out of the way, but she tried anyway. She leapt skywards and watched as the fist changed trajectory, aimed at her legs. Nikki held her breath and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.
CRUNCH! Nikki heard an awful cracking noise that sounded like all of her bones were breaking. But it didn’t hurt. Weird, she thought. She must be in shock. Or numb. Or both.
She slowly opened one eye. What she saw amazed her. She was hovering in the air, untouched by Peter’s punch. In front of her was a huge tree, rising straight up from the center of Main Street. She had lived in Cragglyville her whole life and knew that there were no trees growing out of the middle of the road.
But this was no ordinary tree. It had arms like a person. Well, they were branches, but they looked like arms, with gnarled knots of wood for elbows and spindly creaking bark for fingers. The tree also had legs made of roots. It was as if the tree had pulled itself out of the ground and walked into Cragglyville, arriving just in time to stop Peter’s attack on Nikki.
One of the tree’s hands had blocked Peter’s punch and was gripping his giant hand tightly, squeezing. “AUGH!” he yelped.
Releasing his hand, the tree kicked at him, moving with impressive speed despite its size. Its roots thumped off his body and he sprawled headlong on the sidewalk. Nikki heard a scream from above her. She turned and saw Spencer stand
ing on the roof of one of the buildings, in full sidekick costume, his black sunglasses glinting in the sunlight. Although he looked small, he looked menacing, his teeth bared and his face tensed. He screamed again, something like, “Chitty chitty bang bang, chitty chitty bang!” and then he threw a jar off the building. Nikki followed the arcing object with her eyes; it was heading straight for Peter!
With the tinkle of breaking glass, the jar shattered on the pavement, releasing tiny black marbles around Peter’s fallen body. Peter, who looked like he was dizzy, tried to stand up and run, but it was too late. The marbles sprouted legs and scrambled onto his body. There had to be at least ten of them.
Peter freaked out.
He started dancing like a maniac, yelling and squealing in a high-pitched voice like a girl. It was like he was doing a Native American rain dance. He twisted and turned and jumped and skipped, all the while scratching at his stomach, legs and arms like he had a bad case of poison ivy. Two seconds later he stopped moving and fell over. Because his arms and legs were tied together. Hogtied. Just like Spencer had demonstrated on himself in The Lab.
Nikki looked up at Spencer, who was grinning on the roof. She gave him a thumb’s up sign. He pumped his fist in the air in celebration.
Dropping back to the ground, Nikki looked for Naomi. She was still standing where Nikki had left her. She wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, she was snarling, like a wild animal, her eyes red and angry. Nikki walked toward her and then stopped when she saw the tree walking in the same direction, its legs dangling roots and clumps of dirt. Nikki just stared at it, amazed by how gracefully it moved. Then she noticed something she hadn’t before. Sitting on one of the lower branches was Samantha. She was wearing a sparkling emerald-green belt. Nikki knew Samantha was controlling the tree. Surely Naomi will be no match for a tree, Nikki thought.
When the tree was within ten feet of the girl villain, Naomi’s skirt changed color, from blue to brown. Before Nikki could even begin to think about how she had changed her skirt’s color, Naomi pointed her finger at the tree. Gobs of brown sludge shot from her fingertip, instantly coating the tree’s legs and the street below it. Not sludge, Nikki realized, mud. As the mud hit the tree, its walking became slower and slower, until it stopped, completely stuck in the mud. And then the tree teetered, swaying in the wind, its leaves rustling gently.
“TIMBERRR!” Naomi yelled triumphantly. The tree fell over, landing with a thundering Crash! across the street, spilling Samantha off of her perch. She tumbled end over end through the mud. By the time she stopped rolling, she was brown from head to toe.
“Yeah!” Naomi yelled. “No one messes with the Power Outlaws!”
The Power Outlaws? Nikki thought. Apparently since Naomi had taken over the villains, she had come up with a name for them. It was the Power Council vs. the Power Outlaws.
Nikki wanted to go after Naomi, but she was still worried about Jimmy. With Samantha stuck in the mud, she would have to rely on Mike and Freddy to fight Naomi while she looked for Jimmy. Nikki looked around and then crossed the street. She walked backwards, keeping her eyes on Naomi at all times. Naomi started to walk toward her, but then Freddy Powersocks arrived on the scene. Like during the power games, he was protected by a hard, green turtle shell. One of his socks was green. Nikki hadn’t seen him wearing the other sock before. It was brown and thick and covered with a layer of brown fuzz, almost like animal fur.
As Freddy approached, Naomi said, “Back off, Sock Boy. This is between Nikki and me.”
Freddy shrugged. “Sorry to spoil your party,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’re messing with my friend.” His words made Nikki feel warm inside. It was good to be part of a team.
Freddy snapped his fingers and suddenly he was surrounded by little brown creatures with curly tails and paws that looked more like hands. Monkeys! At least twenty of them, spitting and hissing.
As if a horde of angry monkeys wasn’t enough firepower, Mike arrived on the scene, too, wearing a red and white polka-dot scarf. He glared at Naomi and then snapped his fingers, just like Freddy had. No monkeys this time. Instead, Mike exploded into about ten pieces. At first Nikki was shocked, but then she noticed that each piece of Mike had transformed into a smaller Mike. There was a whole army of little Mikes! Each Mike leapt onto one of the monkey’s backs, and then they charged Naomi.
While Nikki watched her friends fighting Naomi, she continued to scan the street, looking for Jimmy. She didn’t see him anywhere. And then suddenly he was next to her, having walked directly through the brick wall at her back. She had forgotten he even had that power!
Before she could even think what to do, he grabbed her and pushed her into the street. She tripped on the curb and skidded across the cement. When she stopped, Nikki felt her leg burning. She looked at it and saw that it was scraped and blood was starting to form amidst the stone and dirt from the road. Glancing back at Jimmy, she saw he was pointing his finger at a light pole. Somehow she knew what he was going to do.
Leaping to her feet, Nikki watched as the light pole tore from the cement and then shot toward her. Using her super-strength, Nikki easily caught the pole and dropped it to the ground. Jimmy seemed surprised, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping, but then he recovered and pointed at a bigger object: a parked car. At first the car didn’t move. But then it quivered, bouncing on its rubber tires for a moment before rocketing through the air at Nikki. Wearing her purple glove she was strong, very strong, but not that strong. The car hit her going a hundred miles an hour and knocked her backwards. She flew through the air, and would have smashed into a building if she hadn’t used her flying ability to slow down in midair. Even still, she was so tired from trying to catch the flying car that she fell to the ground and lay there for a moment, breathing heavily.
She saw Jimmy’s feet approaching.
He was almost on top of her, but she was too tired to stand up. She heard him laughing at her. He had won, or so Nikki thought.
Then he tripped. He looked clumsy, like his own foot had gotten in his way, causing him to fall. Nikki heard more laughter, but this time she knew it wasn’t Jimmy. It was high-pitched giggling. Hee hee hee hee! She craned her neck to find the source. Dexter was peeking out from behind a nearby mailbox, laughing his head off. Of course! The booby-trapper extraordinaire must have set a trap to make Jimmy fall! Then Nikki heard a loud splash, like a water balloon had been thrown close to her. She heard another splash! Nikki saw the water burst next to where Jimmy had fallen. An oozing trickle of liquid pooled underneath him.
He tried to stand up. Couldn’t.
Tried again. Some invisible force was holding him down.
“What the heck?” Jimmy muttered. “Stuck? I’m stuck!” he yelped, trying to squirm and break free from the ground. Nikki knew immediately what held him. She looked up at the roof where she had last seen Spencer, where he had thrown the robot marble bugs at Peter. He was up there again, smiling from ear to ear.
He yelled, “Sticky Situation Glue! Never leave home without it!”
Nikki beamed at her friend. “Thanks, Spence!” she shouted.
Spencer pointed across the street. “You better help the other guys,” he said.
Turning to follow his gaze, Nikki assessed the situation. It wasn’t good.
Naomi’s skirt had changed to orange, and she was winking both eyes, one after the other. Each time she winked, a colored laser beam would shoot from her eye. She was knocking the mini-Mikes off the monkeys, one by one. Each Mike would tumble off and then roll across the pavement, black and singed like they had been burned by the lasers.
It didn’t stop the monkeys, however. They continued to leap and twirl and spin, dodging the lasers and getting closer to Naomi.
When the last mini-Mike was knocked off, Naomi’s skirt changed color once more, from orange to black. There were green polka-dots across the bottom.
The monkeys were charging hard, ready to leap on Naomi, scratch her, bite her, knock
her down, but then Naomi used her next power. Directly in front of her, a huge plant began growing. Its stalk ripped through the asphalt like a tree trunk, except it was green and looked more like an asparagus stalk. As it grew taller and taller it sprouted vine-like tentacles that shot in every direction.
The monkeys stopped short of the strange plant. They pointed at it and tittered to each other, trying to decide what to do. They decided to attack the plant. As they ran toward it, however, the vines grabbed their little arms and legs and wrapped them up, holding them in the air so they couldn’t move. When Freddy tried to run over to save them, he was grabbed by three even bigger vines, which wrapped around him, turtle shell and all, suspending him in midair.
With Samantha bogged in the mud, the mini-Mikes burnt by the lasers, and Freddy trapped by the vines, Nikki was the only member of the Power Council left. Peter Powerhats was tied up by Spencer’s gadget. Jimmy Powerboots had been tripped and glued by Dexter and Spencer’s tricks. It was Nikki and Naomi left.
At first Nikki felt scared, but then she got angry. Angry that Naomi had hurt her friends; angry that Naomi thought she could just push innocent people around; angry that Naomi wanted to hurt Nikki for no reason. She gritted her teeth and flew toward Naomi, who had stepped out from behind the giant monkey-grabbing plant.
Naomi’s skirt changed to turquoise.
Nikki knew something bad was about to happen, so she swerved. It was lucky she did, because as soon as Naomi’s skirt changed color, a flock of pigeons appeared above Nikki and dive-bombed her. Their sharp beaks barely missed her as she did a barrel roll to the left, away from them. The pigeons were fast, faster than normal pigeons for sure. They chased Nikki across the sky, trying to peck at her feet.
Normally Nikki wouldn’t be scared of a few pigeons, especially because she had super-strength, but somehow she knew these pigeons could hurt her. As she twisted away from the pigeons across the sky, she saw Spencer waving his arms over his head, trying to get her attention. She dove for the top of the building he was standing on and saw him pull a pin out of a green egg. She knew instantly what it was.
As she passed by the roof, bright colored vapors were pouring from the egg, which was really a grenade, filling the air with a deep mist. Nikki barely made it past Spencer before the fog completely covered him. Nikki knew he was trying to give her time to get away from the pigeons. They flew into the fog, but didn’t fly out right away. Clearly they had gotten confused and were probably flying around in circles inside the artificial cloud.
Not wasting any time, Nikki changed course and soared toward Naomi. Naomi wasn’t ready for her.
She stood there gawking at Nikki, probably wondering how she could have escaped her pigeons. Nikki barreled into her, knocking Naomi off her feet and sending her sprawling. Using her super-strength, Nikki held her down, flat against the cement. “We win,” Nikki said.
Naomi’s face flashed with anger, but there was defeat in her eyes. Nikki thought she was about to surrender but then saw Naomi’s eyes flit past her and light up, like she was seeing something that was coming to help her. At first Nikki thought it was a trick, but then she heard Spencer yell, “Incoming!”
Nikki rolled just in time, as the pigeons swarmed down in a flurry of beating wind and flapping feathers. She started to run for cover, but the pigeons were right on top of her. She was in big trouble.
Right when she thought it was over, she heard a gentle cooing sound. Cawkoo, cawkoo! Nikki thought she should keep running, but for some reason she stopped to see what had made the sound. The pigeons stopped chasing her, too, landing on the street and bobbing their heads. In a million years Nikki could never have guessed what she was about to see.
Chilly Weathers walked down the street, her hand covered by a silk scarf. Her other hand was behind her back. The cooing was coming from the scarf. She shook her hand, and the silk scarf fell away. Underneath was a dove, bright-white and shining under the sun. It was cooing gently, beautifully.
The pigeons seemed mesmerized, unable to take their eyes off the dove. As Chilly approached them, she extended her dove hand to them. The pigeons stayed still, watching her. With a sudden lunge, Chilly slung her other hand from behind her back and tossed a net across the flock of pigeons. They took off, trying to fly away, but were too late. They got stuck in the netting, which jammed their wings and legs in its tightly-knitted ropes.
Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. Then she remembered Naomi. She started to run toward her, but Naomi was already on her way out. Her skirt had changed to yellow and a beam of light had descended from the sky, enveloping her in its glow. Nikki was blinded for a second and then when she could see again, Naomi was gone. There were two more beams of light, where Peter and Jimmy were stuck, and then they disappeared, too.
The Power Outlaws had escaped!