Chapter 3
With the mission to find a cure for his face problem, Binky observed at a table as Alan Powers examined a small amount of an antidote that was able to cure a previous sneezing frenzy, but too much of it caused the said problem. Now, all Alan had to do is study on what caused Binky's problematic face change. He looked through the microscope at a drop of the remaining antidote left in the vial.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "I found the answer I need to make a counter-antidote."
"Uhm." Binky wondered. "Does "counter-antidote" make it sound good or bad? Because antidotes do heal, but counter-antidotes get rid of the healing stuff, making the bad stuff come back?"
"Huh. I never thought of that."
"You can say it's an antidote for the antidote."
"I'd say an antidote for the over-used other antidote. Anyway, all the same. It will make your face all… Binky again." Alan proceeded to list down the ingredients in a notepad. "Now, all we need is a pinch of sodium chloride, a drop of hydrochloric acid, a teaspoon of palmitic acid and a mixture of strawberries, sugar and pectin. Surprisingly, all of that is here on this very table, except for the sodium chloride and the mixture. Binky, could you find some for me?"
"Okay." But Binky grew puzzled. "Do I get those from a chemistry shop or something?"
"No. it's relatively easy. You can find some in a kitchen, if there is one."
"Brain, just speak in English." complained Binky.
"What? Is it hard to find salt and strawberry jam in a kitchen?"
"Is it ever so hard for you to say it in the first place?! Sheesh." With a shrug and a grumpy face, Binky walked off to the kitchen to find some salt and jam. Alan returned to preparing the formation of the cure.
Meanwhile, two very bored kids sit idly against the wall. They did not bring anything to amuse themselves or each other, except that Fern did bring a novel of one of her classic favourites, Frankenstein's Monster. George on the hand, has pretty much nothing to do. All he had in his bag were school books and stationary; none of which seemed to be of any entertainment. Despite reading the novel being a fun idea, Fern was still feeling glum. What is there to do in a laboratory for the two of them?
"Sheesh. Even reading Frankenstein is a bore." said Fern. She rested her head on her palms after closing her book. George just sighed, complying with Fern's boredom.
"What is there to do around here? Science is not really my thing. Except for wood and trees and… more wood."
"I come up with science stuff for my stories. But Mr Smartypants over there just won't accept them because the mad science I put in them ain't real." She laid her head back against the wall. "Some stuff he gave us to do." she added with sarcasm.
"Man, I really wish there's more to do around here." said George. "I mean, for ordinary kids like us."
"Me too. And I really hope someone around here can help us get home. Mom and Dad might be worried sick right about now."
"Ditto with my parents too."
At the same time, there were the two genetically-enhanced lab mice, Pinky and the Brain, who were on their way to stop the kids of Elwood City from messing more of their inventions and…
"Hey! What do you mean, "their"? Pinky has the IQ of pompous security guard who couldn't even catch three crazy children."
Oops. Okay. Sorry.
…who were on their way to stop the kids of Elwood City from messing more of the Brain's inventions and find a way to get rid of them.
"Much better." said the Brain. They climbed atop another table opposite the one Alan was experimenting the antidote on. "Look at this, Pinky." Pinky scratched his chin.
"I know, Brain. I feel we could use a new set of pantyhose for the winter."
"No, Pinky. That kid. Look what he is doing to my antidote!" Brain was crossed for seeing that Alan was seemingly tampering with one of his genius creations. "We got to put an end to this." he demanded, slamming his fist onto his other palm. "Come, Pinky." The two quickly moved on.
Alan took a dropper and sucked up a bit of hydrochloric acid from a bottle. He then squeezed the rubbery end of the dropper to drop the acid into a petri dish.
"Good. Now I just need to add the palmitic fats. Binky should have found some of that salt and jam by now."
Later, Binky arrived with a shaker filled with salt.
"Ah, there's the salt." Soon, he made a puzzled face. "But, where's the jam?" Noticing a tiny red smudge on Binky's chin, it didn't take him long to realize where the jam was.
"Binky!" exclaimed Alan. "You ate the jam?!"
"Sorry." apologized Binky. "I couldn't help it. It looked so yummy and sweet." Alan groaned in utter disappointment.
"Great. Now how are we going to fix your face?" He took a few seconds to calm down, hoping for another way through. "No matter. I shall find an alternative ingredient. I'm sure an orange will do as a substitute. See if you can find one."
"You're enjoying this science stuff, aren't you?" asked a suspicious Binky. Perhaps Alan was getting a little too carried away with all the neat utensils and apparatuses in the lab tempting him to do stuff that he might already know.
"Maybe." Alan gave a firm answer. Binky walked back to the kitchen to get an orange.
The duo of lab mice were at the feet of the table Alan was at. The Brain began to devise his plan to get rid of the four children before more harm can be done.
"Right." he said. "Now all we have to do is to find some way to completely prevent that boy from meddling with the lab's equipment."
"And how are we going to do that, Brain?" asked Pinky.
"Simple, Pinky. We will sabotage his experiment. We take whatever ingredients we have there and mess up the process. Therefore, the imminent aftermath will produce a disastrous amount of pure chaos and utter harm. Then, the boy would have no choice but succumb to discouragement and eventually give up on whatever he's doing."
"Egad! Brilliant, Brain! How on Earth did you come with these things?"
"Superior intellect, Pinky. Something that'll take you forever to master." The Brain said in seemingly cold blood, but proved to be of no hurt for Pinky.
"Oh goody! Narf!" Pinky clapped his hands, taking whatever the Brain said as a compliment. Ignoring Pinky's stupidity for now, the Brain took out a line and fishing hook from his pocket and toss it up like a lasso. It hooked onto the edge of the table as the Brain then pulled the line to ensure its grip. He then readied to climb up the table via the line. However, Pinky aimlessly grabbed on first, pushing aside the Brain. Although annoyed, the Brain kept his composure for now and let Pinky ascend before going up himself.
Alan grabbed a bottle of palmitic acid and took out the cap, taking a teaspoon and scooped up a bit of it. Putting the bottle back on the table, he accidentally dropped the cap and it rolled on its side.
"Oops." It rolled and rolled across the table surface.
Pinky and the Brain were about halfway to the edge of the table.
"Pinky, go up and see if the coast is clear." ordered the Brain.
"Oh! Are we going to the beach now, Brain?"
"If my hands were not grabbing this line, I would hurt you." Pinky reached the top to see if it was safe to move on. Suddenly, the moment he laid eyes on the surface of the table, trouble came rolling towards him.
"Um, Brain?" asked Pinky. "Do bottle caps roll?"
"Why yes, Pinky. Given that they're on their sides but they won't roll quite long to the thinness of the cap. Why?"
"Um…"
THUD! The bottle cap knocked Pinky on the nose. It was nothing much of a pain, but it was enough to push Pinky off the edge.
"WHOA-WAHHHH!" As Pinky fell, the Brain looked up and, to his horror, screamed at the sight of Pinky coming down on him.
"YAAARRRGGGHH!" With the Brain being hit by Pinky's back, the two mice fell off back to the floor on their behinds. Pinky landed on top of Brain; a rather painful but typical experience for him. The cap fell on Pinky's stomach.
"DOOH!" It then bounced off him and travelled under a fire extinguisher. And then, all is silent. The two mice laid quietly on the floor, still reeling from the fall.
Alan poured the palmitic acid into a crucible before putting it over a tripod stand. He then placed a Bunsen burner below the crucible and turned the collar to release flammable gas. Next he lit a match and carefully held it near the mouth of the barrel, forming a small flame. The flame slowly heated the crucible from underneath, heating up the palmitic acid inside. While that was being taken care of, Alan went to look for the cap that had fallen. He found it under the fire extinguisher and walked towards it. It looked like an easy and short walk, if only he could see what was on the floor. Or rather who.
SPLAT! The two mice were flattened by the relatively giant foot sole of Alan's shoe. And the boy did not even look down to see them. As the foot moved off, Pinky was seen, flat. There was little guess to where the Brain was. But then, he came out of the flatten Pinky. His head popped up, seeing stars.
"Now, I know how the characters of the WB Kids feel…" he dizzly mumbled. "…when they decided to broadcast Pokemon in the channel…" He dropped back down, knocked out.
Time passed. The rodent duo were now on top of a shelf high in the room, overlooking where Alan was about to mix up the heated palmitic acid with the hydrochloric acid in the petri dish. Brain was holding onto a rope that stretched from the ceiling.
"Plan B, Pinky." said the Brain. "I shall now try and drop this pen ink…" He took a dropper of black pen ink. "…. into the palmitic acid and it shall disrupt the process." Brain readied the rope for the swing. After tugging the rope to make sure it is secure, he tipped over the edge of the shelf and swung forward, heading right towards Alan's experimenting. He readied the dropper and made the calculations necessary to drop one drop of ink on the petri dish. He was a hundred percent sure that he would be able to pull this off without any difficulty. But one thing can easily tip the scales against pure logic.,,
… pure luck.
Alan took a large pair of tweezers to pick up the super-hot crucible with the palmitic acid. Doing so, the Brain came swinging in, too late to drop one in the crucible. Instead, the ink drop made a small blot on the table.
"Drats!" He swung past the table to the other side of the room, moving in for another pass to refill the dropper. Fortunately for him, when he was about to come around back over the table, Alan turned around to check the heated acid. Without Alan realizing, the Brain safely passed him. He swung towards the shelf and landed safely. That's one oscillation with the swinging rope. When he arrived to Pinky, he handed him the dropper before swinging off a second time.
"Refill this, Pinky." he ordered. The Brain watched Alan closely while waiting for Pinky to get another drop of ink. Pinky reached the bottle of ink. But somehow, there was also a cup of water that Pinky took to drink with. In his confused mind, the Brain told him to refill the dropper. But did he tell him what to fill it with?
The Brain still eyed Alan from the shelf. He went on to believe that Alan was conducting a senseless waste of materials and work. He thought Alan did not know what he was even doing, just mixing things in carelessly like a toddler playing with new toys. He saw that Alan had put the crucible on the table and went for the hydrochloric acid. Seconds later, Pinky arrived with the dropper.
"Narf! Here you go." offered Pinky. The Brain took the dropper without paying attention to Pinky as his eyes were glued to the kid down below. He took off for another round. And thus, he prepared to drop another drop of ink into the crucible.
"Three…" counted the Brain.
"Two…"
"One…"
"Now!" BLOP! Success. The Brain was able to drop it into the palmitic acid. He swayed towards another shelf at the other end of the room to view his triumphant deed.
Alan put down the hydrochloric acid and reached towards the palmitic acid in the crucible, which had cooled off by then. Picking it up with his bare hands, he poured it into the hydrochloric acid, mixing them together to form a solution. Suddenly, something was happening in the new mixture. First, at the surface of the mixture, bubbles began to appear, popping up one by one. Then, in an instant, as more bubbles formed, the mixture was shaking and shaking until…
BAM! A small explosion occurred! The mixture splashed and spilled around the area. Luckily for Alan, he was able to shield himself under the table before the ensuing explosion. One drop of the mixture even made its way to Fern and George, who agitatedly avoided the incoming projectile as it went splat on the wall in between them. They watched as the mixture began to burn through the wall, creating a hole on it. They then stood up and looked at Alan; with fury in Fern's eyes and fear in George's.
"Alan Powers!" yelled Fern. "What were you doing?"
"You nearly got us killed!" added George, in panic.
"Sorry!" apologized Alan. "I think something went wrong with the formula."
"Well, next time, let us know when something happens." said a distressed Fern. "You know what, we're going to go somewhere else. Come on, George."
"One step ahead of you." The two walked out the lab. Alan felt a little regret, but more still, he began to taste defeat as he looked at his spoiled experiment.
"Great. Just great. Binky will be a living rockhead for the rest of his life." Meanwhile, up on the shelf, the mischievous mouse on the shelf was fortunate enough to not get hit by the acid mixture. He clenched his fist with success written on his face.
"Yes! My plan has come to fruition at last."
Alan rested his stressed head onto his palm as his elbow was on the table, whining in complete failure.
When he looked at the still intact dish, he took a closer look at the devastated mixture. He felt curious as to what had happened. Even though he failed to complete the fusion, at least he could discover something new as to what had went wrong. He carefully took the dish and placed it under the microscope/ He looked through the lens, hoping to find the answer to the recent disaster. Suddenly, in a twist of fate, there was no longer any sign of failure on his face. Instead, there was a smile! Alan took the petri dish and sprinkled the salt Binky gave him earlier. Again, he looked into the microscope. Another big smile on his face as he jumped up and cheered.
"Haha!" He jumped for joy. "Eureka! It still works!"
"What?!" exclaimed an equally, but agonizingly, surprised Brain. Alan could not stop leaping and leaping, elated by the miraculous turn of events.
"Not only does it work, it seems a bit of H2O found inside proved to be a catalyst, enhancing the power of the mixture. Perhaps it could turn Binky's face back to normal real quickly. Now all I have to do, is wait for that orange." Alan went to pick up whatever bits of the mixture was left around the lab.
The Brain, however, was really not happy.
"Water?" he curiously thought. "How did water end up in there? I could have sworn I had dropped the ink into..." Suddenly, his thoughts went towards a very concerning and frustrating possibility. "Unless…" He looked in the dropper to find dews of clear and transparent water inside the dropper. It didn't take him long to figure out how such a thing could happen. "That darn, idiotic associate of mine…" His rage began to build up. But as that happened, on the end of the shelf, the screws holding the shelf in place had a bit of the acid from the explosion. It was searing into the metallic screws until it could hold no more. The shelf swiftly dropped down on one end. The Brain realized too late as the now panicked mouse fell down to the floor again. "YYAAARRRRGGHHH!"
SPLAT! The Brain fell flat, face first, on the hard floor. Pinky, who had observed the chaos, was worried sick of his partner. He rushed towards him down to the ground.
"Brain?" he called out. "You alright?" The Brain, with his face still stuck to the ground, raised his pointer finger and signalled Pinky to come closer to him. Then, the hand turned into a fist and…
WHACK! "Poit!" Pinky swayed dizzily from Brain's fist of fury.
"Plan C." The Brain was now on the floor near Alan's table. He had a bottle of cooking oil with him. Pinky opened the lid on top as ordered.
"Whoa!" he shouted as he fell from unscrewing the cap. The Brain then tipped the bottle down, spilling a stream of cooking oil down on the floor.
Alan stirred up the rest of the mixture with more salt and picked up the dish before pouring it all into a small bowl. He then walked over to see if Binky had found an orange from the kitchen, unaware of the slippery mess he was about to get into. His foot stepped on the slightly gooey oil and…
"WHOA!" Alan slipped across the oily floor as he could not control himself. He couldn't stop either, while trying his best to save his new creation from falling to the floor. Fortunately enough, the bowl was closed with a cover on top. However, his arm moved up and flung the bowl up in the air forward. Alan was spinning out of control, helpless to do anything about the mixture, while the Brain just watched on with glee.
As Alan slowed down, the bowl was about to make a steep dive down to the floor when…
THUD! When Alan stopped, he looked at his right hand to find that the bowl was on his hand. He opened the cover and was surprised to find that the mixture was still inside.
"Phew." He wiped his sweat from his fall. He was this close from destroying his prized creation. The Brain watched from behind the table in despair, grunting with frustration in his voice.
"Oh. Cheer up, Brain!" assured Pinky. "There's more where that came from!" He gave Brain a hard whack on the back, knocking him off to the oily floor. Sooner or later, the Brain had found himself caught in his own trap once again.
"Whoo-whoa. WAHH!" The Brain went, as he slipped uncontrollably. Then, in front of his eyes, to his horror, a drain grate, with empty spaces big enough for him to fall right in. "I feel a sense of horrible, agonizing pain coming to me." And he fell into the hole. "WWWARRRGGGGHHH!"
Pinky tried to follow him to catch up, only for him to fall into the same predicament.
"OOHH, WAAAAHHHH!" And thus, off to the hole with him as well…
Meanwhile, Binky was at the kitchen, still looking for a ripe orange. He checked the fridge twice. He checked the counters and cupboards. He even checked the little mouse hole on the base of the wall. So far, no orange. His face began to feel extra itchy as the swelling on his face intensified, causing him to scratch real badly.
"Gee, I better find that orange fast, or I'm going to be the laughing stock of the school." He continued his search, hoping to come across that round fruit.
Elsewhere, Fern and George were busy looking around another laboratory. Unlike the last one, this one had more machinery, gizmos, gadgets and mechanical inventions rather than chemical tools. They viewed each and every one of them closely and cautiously.
"Who do you think wants to gain from all of this?" asked George.
"If my hunch is correct and usually is…" explained Fern. "…these all seem like tools from some mad scientist who wants to take over the world or something." The assumption made both of them feel a little chilly in the inside. "Look at this one. Shaped like a gun, with rings around the barrel. You can tell it's some sort of ray gun."
"Or this?" George picked up what appeared to be an ordinary top hat, but had a red button on it. George pressed it and came a set of metallic, insect-like legs. Spooked out, he quickly dropped the hat. It then scurried off out of the room. Fern then looked at a large, headless robot in a tuxedo suit. She climbed up the ladder next to it to see if there was anything up on it. She found that the robot had a huge gaping hole with a control console inside. A very small one at that.
"I seem to notice that whoever wants to use this is a real… small fry. I mean, look at the size of these buttons and levers. You'd have to be as tiny as a mouse to use this thingamajig."
Speaking of mice, it was time for Plan D for the Brain. And this time, desperate times called for desperate measures. He walked up a metallic armour of a knight in his lab, entering inside of it through the face protector. Pinky was waiting outside on the shoulder of the armour, fiddling his toes.
"What'cha doin' in there, Brain?" he called out. "You findin' that golden tooth I lost last month?" The Brain emerged from the protector.
"No, Pinky." he answered, grumpily. "It's time we initiate "Plan D"! If sabotage can't work, then it shall be brute force. Now, Pinky. Come in. I need you to control this laser knight." Pinky walked right in as ordered, shutting the face protector as he went in…
"Oof!" …not knowing that he had clamped it down on the Brain's neck in the process. Fortunately, in a nonsense cartoon twist, Brain was alright after the protector lifted open and he went into the knight's helmet.
Inside, you would expect a hollow empty space for anyone's head to fit in. But this knight's helmet was completely the opposite. There was a control console inside the "brain" of the helmet. The Brain sat on a seat as he checked these controls.
"We shall use my Laser Knight to drive them out of the lab. Who doesn't cower in the sight of a mad knight swinging its laser sword here and there as they run for their pitiful lives? Pinky. Prepare to man the knight."
"Oh, Brain? Isn't this knight already a man?" Brain sneered at Pinky.
"Don't make me come over there and hurt you…" he threatened. Pinky ran down the torso. In that section, there were a set of pulleys and wires, all connected to a mouse wheel at the base. Pinky climbed onto that wheel. In front of him was a viewing glass that blended in well with the outer armour. Once done, he signalled Brain that he's ready. Cracking his fingers, the Brain began the operation by pushing a big red button in the middle of the console. The knight began to shake and shake, as if it was powered by a motor engine. Pinky ran away at the mouse wheel as fast as he could, generating some sort of electric power into the wires, causing the knight to function and move. Brain pulled levers and pressed more buttons to stabilize the knight's other features. Within a minute, with all the right calibrations, the knight started walking, lumbering right off its stand and heading towards its target.
Alan was heading for the kitchen to check on Binky, holding the mixture in his hand. He went into it and saw Binky still digging through the cupboards.
"Binky." called Alan. "What's taking so long?"
"I'm trying." answered Binky. "But it's just that no matter where I look, there's just no orange here or there. I've been searching for ages." Alan stared at Binky.
"You didn't eat an orange by any chance, did you?" Binky grew more annoyed.
"What? Seriously? It was bad enough I ate the jam, now you think I ate an orange?" His frustration intensified.
"It's rather plausible. You know, if you want your face back, you should just stop messing around and start being more responsible." And that hit the spot! He stopped whatever he was doing and stomped towards Alan, who immediately jumped at the sudden change of attitude.
"Oh. You think I'm messy, huh?" said Binky in a menacing way. "Well, I'll show you messy." Alan took careful steps backwards. Now he was in for it.
"Uh, l-let's not be violent. Okay? Let's j-just work this out… so we can…" Binky continued to march forward, fists clenched. Alan soon had his back against the wall as the bully of the school was about to show him a thing or two.
But then…
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
The tension soon stopped with the sounds of metallic clanks coming from the laboratory. Both boys looked at the door. Alan couldn't be sure, but he could've sworn the series of noises sounded like footsteps.
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
The clanks got louder and louder as Binky put aside his anger and let curiosity take over. Alan stood up and observed. Then, all of a sudden, a shiny metal leg came out of the door. The next second...
CLANK! Another metal foot appeared. And what was above the feet? A strongly-built armour of a knight. Alan and Binky looked on with caution. What was a knight doing walking into the hallway? It took a few more steps facing the wall in front of it. The two stared at it for a minute, wondering what would happen next. For now, there was a brief moment of silence.
"Uh, Brain?" whispered Binky. "Do knights walk like a zombie?"
"Um… I don't think so. That suit looks kinda flexible."
CREEK!
The knight's helmet suddenly turned at them! Both gasped in pure shock. Next, the knight's body turned the same direction towards them. The stare down continued for another minute. Slowly, Alan and Binky began to feel more and more agitated by the knight's presence as it stood there motionless.
"I think we should bolt, Brain." suggested Binky. "It's looking at us."
"Just stay still." said Alan, without moving a muscle. "As long as we stand still, maybe it'll pass off somewhere else." They did as was told. They dared to not even move. However…
CREEK!
The knight's arms extended forward. Alan and Binky jumped at the sudden move. Then, a step forward towards them. And then another. The knight slowly walked heading for them, as if it was about to catch them.
"Uh oh." said an alarmed Binky. "This is not good."
"Maybe I can try and communicate with it." At that moment, Alan tried to speak to the knight, hoping to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to this awkward meeting.
"Feareth not, brave knight." said Alan. "We cometh in peace." Binky stared at him.
"What in the world was that?"
"That was my best medieval English. Fern would know better."
"But she's not here which would mean…" Binky gulped. "We're so dead…" The knight stomped closer and closer.
"Nonsense. I'm pretty sure there's a more logical explanation to this matter." The knight lowered its head right in front of Alan's face. Alan could feel his heart pounding with pressure and his blood flowing to the max. He was turning as white as bone with fear. Above all, his brain began to cease all thinking.
"Um… or… maybe not… RUN!" And off they went! Screaming with all their voices could take, the two dashed off across the hallway. The knight stood its ground as it watched them ran for their dear lives away from it.
Inside the knight, a satisfied lab mouse was watching the entire action take place from the comfort of his control chair. He slammed his right fist on his left palm in victory.
"Yes!" exclaimed the Brain. "My plan is working perfectly. The seeds of victory are starting to blossom the moment I planted them." While the Brain was gloating, Pinky was still tied to the strings.
"Egad, Brain!" he shouted. "We've done it at last!" But the Brain was far from finished.
"Not yet, Pinky. We need to make sure they don't return. For this to work, I need to chase them out of the lab altogether. Keep this knight moving, Pinky. We must take the charge!" Pinky complied and continued his job to give the knight a little more mouse-power, while the Brain managed the controls for the laser sword; the very same one that nearly sliced George earlier. A bright laser blade extended out of a sword with a bright red flash. Pinky made a running start for the knight as it made a dash for the two boys.
Back in the lab, Alan and Binky ran in and stopped to look for a place to hide. They slid towards and hid behind a table. They crouched down hoping to lose the rampaging knight coming from outside. The two stood extra still, listening for the metallic footsteps the knight made when walking. They also took the moment to catch their breath from their getaway. Never before have the two been in such panic since the time when Fern used to pull a ruse on Alan about giant worms invading Elwood City. The intelligent boy peeked over the side of the table and looked at the exit, seeing a humanoid shadow on the floor. The knight outside was getting closer as the clanking sounds of its feet landing on the floor got louder and clearer each step it took. Alan placed his finger on his lips, signalling Binky to remain silent. He'll need to think of something to deal with that knight before it could deal with them. But a nervous wreck named Binky was shivering in fear that the shivering noises he made were not helping Alan. He turned to him crossly.
"Do you mind?" he said. "I'm trying to save our hides here."
"Sorry." apologized Binky. "Anxiety is kicking in. And I can't stop it."
"And it's a wonder you're a Tough Customer." Just then, the conversation was interrupted by the sound of a very loud clang coming from behind Alan. He noticed Binky's face all terrified and shocked, despite its distortion. "Please don't tell me…" Turning his head around…
"AAAHHHH!" Both screamed at the top of their voices to find the face of the knight staring down at them from point blank range. They ran off in different directions from their hiding spot as the knight raised its energy sword and slashed the table in half. Inside the knight, the Brain was adjusting to the controls after the strike.
"Drats." he complained. Binky made a run around the lab, flailing his arms all over while screaming. The knight saw him and went to chase after him. "Get back here, you overgrown bulldog!" The knight stomped and stomped trying to catch the surprisingly nimble Binky. Alan ran towards another table and hid behind it. He watched as Binky tried to shake off the knight. Completely still and while hiding, he thought he needed to find a way to help Binky before something worse than a face problem befalls upon him.
Binky was still running around tables and chairs, but the knight was still hot on its heels. It was just within striking distance of the boy and raised its sword again for another slash.
And WHAM! It struck, but barely missed him. It went for another swing of the sword. Again, the lethal blade didn't hit its target. The attacks continued as the running prolonged, but not one slash even scratched Binky.
"You are twice the size of the other meddling kids. How is this boy dodging all my moves?"
In the meantime, Alan looked around for something to stop, or at least distract the knight, and drive its attention away from Binky. Then, just when he looked at the table he was hiding behind, he found what appeared to be a cylindrical canister with a safety pin locked in a smaller cylinder on top. The words that made up its label had given Alan a sense of hope and showed that it can be of use to handle the situation:
"M84 FLASHBANG"
"Binky!" called out Alan. "Find cover! Now!"
"Are you kidding me?!" yelled Binky in a panic. "Did you see what this guy can do?! He could tear up a tank!"
"Just hide! And close your eyes and cover your ears!" Binky quickly looked around while running and avoiding the knight's furious sword. Afterwards, he found a pillar support at one end of the lab. He stopped to turn for it. The Brain sought the opportunity to strike again and swung at him. Binky instinctively made a roll away from the danger as the blade smashed onto the floor, making a long crack on it. Binky ran for the pillar and did as was told by Alan. He sat down facing away from the knight, shutting his eyes and blocking his ears with his fingers.
Alan pulled the pin of the flashbang grenade and tossed it in front of the knight. The grenade skipped a few steps before coming to a stop.
The Brain was trying to get his knight's sword unstuck from the crack. But as he was about to break loose…
BANG!
"Yeeargh!" The Brain screamed as a sudden flash of white light blinded him and his ear were deafened by the effects of the blowout.
"WAAARGHH!" Pinky was also unable to save himself from the explosion as well. With the two beings incapable of controlling the knight, the relatively giant machine began to tilt to the front and fell to the ground hard. The crash was just as painful as the inner pains in their eyes and ears.
Alan waited for a minute and then peeked over the table to see whether the coast was clear. When it was, he smiled to see the fallen knight incapacitated on the ground. He came out over and walked to Binky. He walked around the pillar and saw Binky crouching down, eyes still shut and ears plugged by his fingers. Alan tapped him on the shoulder.
"Um, Binky?"
"YAAAHHHH!" Binky screamed, which also gave Alan a fright. He held his chest and took a few gasps to relieve himself from the sudden tapping of his shoulder. "Why did you do that?" He finally calmed down after a few seconds.
"Sorry. But hey, at least we took down the knight. If I'm not mistaken, if it was affected by that flashbang, then that must mean someone is in that suit."
"But who would want to slice us in half?"
"That's what I want to find out." Alan thought of unmasking the "knight" within the armour, much to Binky's reluctance.
A minute has passed since the flashbang affected their plans. The Brain was the first to recover, finding that his knight was on floor level through the viewing glass. He rubbed his head, and then his eyes and lastly he whacked his ear multiple times to recover from all the after-effects, all before shaking his head vigorously.
"Ooohhh… Pinky!" he soon yelled. "How many times must I tell you? No more collecting M84 Flashbangs from military bases every time we infiltrate them!"
Pinky was also feeling woozy from the blast. He shook his head rapidly.
"Zooorrrtttt... Sorry, Brain." he apologized. "But the bangs were all enlightening. I couldn't resist." The Brain cracked his fingers again and pulled a few levers. He was not about to give up now.
"A mere flashbang will not stop us now. Pinky, get this thing moving."
"Aye!" Pinky's limbs returned to the mouse wheel and ran again, working to get the knight back up. However, little did they know, that there was a small amount of damage done to the mouse wheel that was damaged during the fall; a loose screw holding the wheel onto its stand. Oblivious to this, the two mice worked on anyway.
Outside, Alan and Binky were slowly approaching the downed knight. Alan extended his hand towards the knight, ready to remove its helmet and reveal the true identity from within. Then...
DONG CLANG!
The two gasped to find the knight had shaken once. Next, its arms slammed to the ground. Then, it pushed its body back up with its limbs. Alan and Binky were not taking it easy this time.
"Um, Brain?" said Binky. "You did say the flashbang does blind people?"
"Y-yes. The effects are temporary. So, he can get back up any time. And it looks like that time is now..." The knight was now standing upright as it looked down at them menacingly. Alan gulped. "And now it's the time for us to..."
"...RUN!" Then, Alan and Binky were once again being chased by the now more threatening warrior. It ran after them with full speed as it tried to catch them. The Brain inside was getting more restless in his attempt to chase them out of the lab and resume his plans for world domination. This time there was not much time to stop and think of a new plan. All they have to do now is run and improvise. The knight kept on slashing and swinging its sword, but none of the attacks hit the two of them. The Brain continued to press and pull this and that while Pinky kept on running and running in the wheel. But as time passed on, the loose screw on the wheel was slowly making its way out of the hole.
But the chase went on regardless. Unfortunately, Alan and Binky were starting to lose energy and were slowing down each passing second. When they knew they could run no more, they had to stop somewhere and catch their breath. With no time to spare, they hurriedly chose to stop at a corner. The knight was able to come to a stop and powered up its sword.
"Perfect." praised the Brain. "Now all I have to do is give one more scare and it should knock them out cold. Then, I can carry them off and ship them to who knows where!" The knight inched closer and closer. The two boys were getting more and more anxious by the moment. It raised its arm up in the air ready to "strike" at them with one final blow. Alan and Binky, with no hope remaining, closed the eyes and braced for the blade's deadly strike. Things seem to be going well for the Brain. Finally, a plan has been done successfully to Brain's benefit.
However, there's just one problem. Luck can change when you least expect it.
Pinky was still running and running, but his tiredness became more evident after running the wheel for about five minutes without stop. However, unknown to him, the loose screw of the wheel was now out a little more. But after a few more spins of the wheel, it finally came loose! The wheel could not hold on any longer as it suddenly came loose itself too!
"WHOA! WAAAAHAHHHAAA!" Pinky found himself being flung out of the wheel as it flew off the stand. With this, the wires that were connected to the wheel had become all wound up with the sudden absence of the wheel. And this set off a chain reaction of malfunctions inside the knight. The Brain was enjoying his moment when suddenly, the entire interior shook violently, rocking him roughly.
"W-what? Whoa-WAARRGGGGHHH!" It was a complete mess in there as the two mice were helplessly sent flying here and there inside the knight.
Outside, the two boys were still closing their eyes. When they opened them, they soon found that a stroke of luck hit them. The knight was shaking vigorously like it was on a sugar rush. It jolted and fizzed as it shook and shook out of control. It could not get a hold of its arms anymore as it wiggled and jiggled violently.
Pinky and the Brain were at the mercy of the malfunctioning machine as they flew here and there inside, crashing into the walls.
The havoc continued on for another minute until, finally, an arm fell off onto the floor. And then the other one dropped. Gradually, the knight started to fall apart as piece by piece broke off and dropped to the ground. Among the falling pieces were the two battered lab mice.
"WWWHHOOOAAA!" They yelled in unison. Next, they crashed into the pile of debris and wires on the floor while the rest fell onto them. The knight was now a crumbling piece of junk and scrap. The torso of the knight became the last piece to fall. After that, it was all over. Pinky and the Brain were both buried underneath the debris while Alan and Binky watched astonishingly as the sudden turn of events occurred right in front of them. Then, the room fell silent as the clanging and crashing noises all came to a halt. Alan and Binky looked at each other.
"What… just happened?" asked Binky.
"I… don't know." responded an equally baffled Alan.
"Huh… That's a first."
"I'm afraid, you're right."
At the other lab, unknown to the disaster that nearly befallen their two friends, Fern and George have stumbled upon another curious invention. It was a cashier machine, but instead of numbers, there were a set of fewer buttons on the bottom and a big screen on top of them. Above where the screen showing the amount of cash would be, there was pair of what looked like radar dishes pointing in opposite directions. Fern picked it up and both of them looked at it with curiosity.
"What do you think this one does?" asked Fern.
"Looks like some sort of money making device." suggested George. "Maybe it transforms anything into paper money. Like dollars, yen, rupees…"
"I get it. I get it." Fern looked at one of the buttons, wondering if something should happen if she pressed it. "Let's see what this does." George looked really concerned the next moment.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Relax, George. I'm sure it'll be fine." Fern expressed her eagerness to try. And that's when she was confident enough to go ahead and placed her finger on the button. She pressed it down and waited for something to happen. The next second, the machine began to vibrate. Fern and George watched as the device vibrated more and more. Then, the dishes on top electrified as an orb of energy formed on each tip of the pointers. They started to feel worried. Just then, one of the dishes turned and pointed right at Fern.
"Huh?" The next thing you know it, the charged energy orb soon shot out as a beam… and hit her! "AAAAHHHH!" she shrieked. After she was shot, Fern soon fell to the floor, unconscious. The device fell next to her, still active. George wanted to scream as well when suddenly…
"Uh oh…" The second dish aimed at him and… "YYYAAAAHHHH!" George was shot as well! Like Fern, he also dropped down to the ground, knocked out cold. The machine shook a bit more before finally deactivating. The two bodies of the children lay down, eyes and completely motionless, apart from the signs of breathing. There was a moment of silence afterwards as Fern and George remained unconscious.
Meanwhile, after being chased by a mad knight and having been saved by sheer luck, Alan and Binky were still standing at the corner, watching closely at the fallen wreckage of the knight. Alan soon walked up to it to investigate what had happened to it. The knight completely shattered to pieces seemed to give him a more puzzling theory.
"What are you doing, Brain? Get back here." warned Binky. "What if something smaller comes for you?"
"Relax, Binky." said Alan. "Look at this. This knight just broke up into pieces and there is no living man wearing it." He looked deeper into the remains. He soon picked up the knight's dented helmet. Looking inside it, he found what appeared to be a tiny control console. "And look here. This looks like some sort of… controls or something. But why is it this small?"
"Yeah. You need to be like tiny as mice to pilot that thing." And that got Alan thinking. Could there be something, or someone, small enough to man these controls? He dug into the knight's remains again in search for an answer. He picked up piece by piece; from the metal plating to the snapped wires. And soon, finally, he stopped digging.
"What the…" he said after gasping in shock and disbelief.
"What?!" cried Binky, feeling frightened. "What is it?" Alan couldn't even make out what he saw. His mouth still agape, staring at what he found. In fact, he actually found the answer he was searching for. He found the pilot of the knight. Or for the matter, two very tiny pilots.
"Binky." called Alan. "You're not going to believe this… but…
…I think I just found the pilots here."
To be Continued…