Loonakids: Nightmare in Acmetropolis

Chapter 1

Kelly Coyote lay in her bed. She tossed and turned, trying to get some sleep. She couldn't do it with this nightmare rushing through her head:

She was surrounded entirely in darkness. She took one step and saw a flash and then an image:

A dead body with no eyes.

She whimpered silently and then took another step:

Her mother, Sophie Coyote, screaming in pain.

Every step she took showed another disturbing image, each one frightening her the same. She tried to stop walking but it didn't work. Finally she saw own death and screamed.

She woke up. She looked at her alarm clock. 5:31 am. There was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep.

Kelly was in her father, Tech's lab that afternoon, explaining her dream to him as he tried to put together his latest device.

"…And I couldn't even wake up until I saw my own death and screamed."

"Do you think it was the Whisperers?"

"No, I couldn't hear any voices."

"Well, what if-" Tech didn't say anymore before he crossed the wrong wires and electrocute himself, leaving a pile of ashes. He regenerated. "I hate my life. I hate my life. I-"

"Dad!"

"Right, sorry." Tech got up. "You know, your mom's gonna freak if she hears about this."

"I know. That's why I came to you first."

"I wonder if your powers were kicking in and your subconscious was warning you, somehow, about your next mission."

"And what would associate a dead body with no eyes with a Ghost piercing a cat with a dagger?"

"Uh…2 different villains?"

Rev Runner then zoomed in. "Guys-I-think-I-found-something-for-you-I-was-looking-around-the-internet…"

"Rev…" Kelly started.

"…and-I-think-that-it-might-be-an-interesting-case-for-you-guys-and…"

"Rev!"

"…maybe-you-could-even-get-to-"

"REV!" both coyotes shouted.

"Sorry."

"Now start over," Kelly suggested, "And slow down."

"Well…I found a case for you guys…I-told-the-others-already-get-in-here." He zoomed off.

Kelly looked at her dad, shrugged and went into the living room to meet with the rest of the group.

"OK, Rev," Benny Bunny said, "what do you got?" Rev handed him a stack of paper. Benny looked at them. "15 disappearances?"

"In-the-same-week."

Nadine Bunny, Benny's older sister, looked at one of them and then picked up another. "I'll admit that the time span is interesting, but these people have absolutely nothing in common."

Kelly went over and looked at one. "Not personality-wise or in occupation, but check out the behavior from the week before each disappearance."

Lucy Bunny, Nadine and Benny's youngest sister, looked at the one Kelly was holding. "Strange dreams…isolating themselves…random bursts of different emotions and/or sentences and phrases with no meaning…"

"Sure sounds weird to me," Lexi Bunny, Nadine, Benny, and Lucy's mom.

"Then maybe we should go investigate," said Jack Duck.

"Don't think so," Sarah Coyote, Tech and Sophie's second daughter, grabbing the papers from Nadine and Kelly, "They all disappeared from different parts of the planet. This guy disappeared from Acme Australia, this one from Acme France, this one was…eaten by a penguin?"

Rev grabbed that one. "Sorry. That-doesn't-go-in-here."

"OK…" Michael Coyote, Sarah and Kelly's little brother, "Who disappeared nearest?"

Sarah took a closer look at them. "Oh, this one vanished from just down the street."

"OK, let's go there." Michael jumped up.

"Uh, aren't we forgetting something?" Ryan Coyote, the eldest boy of the coyote litter.

Kelly looked down and realized that they still had to change into their uniforms. "Right, almost forgot."

Each of the 9 kids hit a button on their watches and they were immediately in a black-and-(insert color here) uniforms. Nadine was in pink, Benny in yellow, Lucy in brown, Robert Runner in red, Jack in orange, Kelly in silver, Ryan in green, Sarah in blue, and Michael in purple.

"Now we can go." Kelly led her family out.

They made their way to the house where the disappearance had occurred.

Sarah screamed and knocked the door off its hinges. She could faintly hear a crash and a cat screeching. "Sorry! Didn't mean to do that!"

Ryan groaned and walked in. He looked around. The place was fine. There was no sign of a struggle, no blood, no…wait a minute… Ryan went over to the desk and tried to open the drawer. It was locked. "Michael."

Michael came up. His eyes glowed purple as he turned into bear. He swiped his claw against the locked and the drawer flew open. He turned back.

Jack came up and looked inside. There was a glowing purple diamond on a black chain inside. His eyes glowed orange and the diamond lifted up.

"Good idea, Jack," said Ryan, "We probably shouldn't touch that thing until we know what it is." He dragged Jack off, and thus took the diamond with him.

Daniella Runner, Robert's mom, examined the diamond, still not letting Jack drop it.

"Can you hurry it up?" Jack asked (his eyes had stopped glowing but the diamond still had an orange shimmer around it), "I'm starting to get a headache."

"Fine." Daniella put on a glove and pinched the chain with her thumb and forefinger, allowing Jack to finally drop his power…and faint. "No one touch this thing until we know what it is. I've actually seen touching a diamond kill a guy." She walked off.

Jack got up. "That sure makes me feel better."

Kelly led the rest of the team in. "That was it. There was nothing else suspicious at the house." She sat down. "Looks like we have a mystery on our hands."