Chapter 2


From his secret lair's endless supply of security cameras and monitors that he was using to spy on Chuck and the gang (with the gang not noticing there was a drone flying above them), Justin waited patiently for his glowing ball to do its dirty deed and erase the memories of the gang. What startled him, however, was the fact that the ball was making a weird buzzing noise. "What?" he exclaimed. "I didn't tell it to do that! What could have happened? Did somebody switch the ball on me? That's impossible; I'm all alone! I don't think I got the formula all wrong, did I?" He continued to ponder this problem and all possibilities while he kept on watching. He also held on to Pasqually's cookbook for dear life.


"Chuck E., why is that thing buzzing?" Munch asked worryingly as the band tried to hide behind various points in the room they were in.

"And why is it speeding up the buzzing?" Helen added.

"I'm praying that I'm wrong, but it looks to me like it's a bomb about to explode!" Chuck replied.

"Explode?!" the others all exclaimed in unison. The band tried to make a run for it at this point, but there was nowhere to go. "I don't understand it!" Pasqually put in. "It's bad enough I lost my cookbook, even if I can make pizzas without it, but that same joker has gone one step further and locked all the doors!"

"And the keys are gone as well!" Jasper added.

"Then what are we going to do?" Munch asked. "You know me and my love for pizza! I don't want to be eating salad! Well, actually, I do like salad. I like lots of things. I'm just in a pizza mood most of the time."

"That's not important now, Munch!" Chuck replied. "What's important is that nobody gets hurt when this thing blows up! That is, if it's going to blow up!"

"Looks like it; it's flashing!" Helen gasped. "If you don't mind me saying so, here's the Top 10 countdown!"

"I get what you mean."


"10..." Justin counted down as his ball began to flash bright red. "9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...and, action!" He laughed his evil laugh as the ball exploded, but the explosion didn't cause any damage to the room, its props and items, or any of the band members. Then the laughter suddenly turned to panic. "What? No! No! NO! NO! HOW CAN THIS BE?" he screamed. "It's the wrong ball!" Indeed, somebody had switched glowing balls on him without being noticed. He frantically looked at all security footage, but there was no evidence that anybody had broken in, and there was no footage of the glowing balls getting switched. "Where did I go wrong?" he wailed. "Where did it all go wrong?"


"Hey; we lucked out, boss!" Jasper called as soon as the coast was clear, even though the room was getting filled with smoke. "I think it was only a smoke grenade."

"But that doesn't make sense," Chuck replied. "Why would somebody steal the cookbook of Pasqually's and then use a smoke grenade?"

"I don't know," said Pasqually, "but it is very irritating, immature, and not at all nice. But this is not the first time my cookbook has been stolen." Then the chef had a flash of insight. "Hey!" he said. "You don't suppose it was that crazy weasel again, do you?" (Nobody could figure out Justin was a beaver.)

"I thought he was a gopher," Chuck replied, "but if you mean that creepy Justin guy, it was him last time. I wouldn't be surprised if was again. Whoops!" Only then did the exploding ball's lights go into effect, for the smoke that came out of the explosion was colored. The band had tried to shoo away the smoke, but it wasn't helping. It just gave them all uncomfortable feelings.

"Chuck E., I'm beginning to feel a bit weird," Munch called.

"So am I," said Jasper. "It's like it's...uh...I don't know."

"Like it's doing what?"

"Uh...enhancing us?"

"Enhancing us?"

"Yeah, just a weird hunch. But do these kinds of smoke grenades produce other smoke grenades?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"There's another one right there!"

"Look out!" The band tried to dive for cover again, but the explosion of the second ball only produced more smoke and led to a bunch of coughing fits.


In his lair, Justin was still baffled over the scene. "I didn't get the formula wrong, but I can't prove somebody switched balls on me. That was supposed to erase their memories, not enhance their abilities and give them stupid costumes! This is horrible! And I can't prove who the joker is either!" Then he turned around and said to himself, "But at least I still have the cookbook. I'll have all the pizza recipes people will pay me for, and I'll be the one to rake in the dough. Dough! Pizza humor! And that's just one more way I can conquer the world! I just hope those guys don't intervene." He turned back to the monitors and saw what he didn't want to see. "Especially now! AUGH!" He let out a scream of despair.


On stage in the performance room, the second wave of smoke was also flashing colors and making it hard to see, but it did lead to Munch accidentally knocking a few things over that fortunately weren't breakable. One was a memento that Chuck treasured deeply, so he decided to make a dive for it. When the smoke cleared, the band could see that he caught it, but he wasn't falling down. He was airborne! Not to mention he was now wearing a superhero's costume of green and yellow.

"Yikes!" Pasqually gasped. "Chuck E., look out! You're floating away!"

"Am I floating?" Chuck replied. "Yikes! I'm defying gravity!"

"And you suddenly are wearing a hero's tights and a cape, too," Jasper put in. "My hunch was right!"

"It sure was," Helen added. "That ball didn't do whatever it was supposed to do; it turned Chuck into a superhero!"

"Well, that explains the crazy costume I'm suddenly wearing," Chuck commented. "But wait for a minute. Can I really fly?" He took another jump in mid-air, and discovered it was true. "WHOA!" he exclaimed. "This is awesome! I can fly!" He flew around for a bit as the others watched in awe but with delight. He eventually brought himself back to earth, led the group outside, and discovered another enhanced ability of his by picking up a car with one hand. "And it looks like I'm super strong, too!" he announced. "This is great! It's weird, but it's great!"

"Do you suppose the rest of us have superpowers, too?" Munch asked.

"If you do, I don't know what they are, but I wouldn't be surprised," Chuck replied. "That colored smoke got to all of us, not just me."


By this point, Justin was banging his head on the computer. He just couldn't figure out what was going on. Who or what pulled the old switcheroo on him? Why did he steal Pasqually's cookbook a second time? And did anybody ever figure out what his plots were for world domination, or if he even planned ahead? Or was he acting on impulse? Nobody knew for certain, but one thing was sure: it created a whole new act for our favorite singing mouse.


TO BE CONTINUED

Chuck E. Cheese, Helen Henny, Pasqually, Mr. Munch, Jasper T. Jowls, and Justin (Beaver) © Chuck E. Cheese's Pizzeria and Games and everybody else who owns the rights