The sun began to peek out after a long, exhausting night. The morning fog and dew glistened in the bright light. The mail had finally arrived that morning and, as always, Gromit was up bright and early to catch it. The morning newspaper had highlighted the tremendous capture from a day ago. "23 wolves captured by the brilliant Anti-Pesto!!" The paper seemed to gleam out these words in a quite prominent way. The person that had written this certainly had way too much pep. Wallace was already sitting at the table drawing away with an old blueprint. "I believe we could do something with that old glummy machine we had made, hmm?" Wallace asked. Gromit was a bit confused and gave Wallace the paper to temporarily distract him. He then took the blueprint away from Wallace and began to read it himself. He was stunned. Wallace was trying to reinvent the Effect-O-Matic. It was originally designed to be a machine that took the properties of an object to another. Wallace had changed to where if he were to connect himself to it, then connect it to the wolves, he would be able to give his cheese loving properties to the wolves.
Gromit had a bit of skepticism, however, he decided to be more positive towards the situation. Wallace was sipping his tea as he was reading the paper as Gromit returned the blueprints. "Not a bad idea huh, lad?" Wallace asked attentively. Gromit nodded in support, hopeful it wouldn't lead to failure. "Well, I do say that the press is getting awfully excited about us catching all these wolves." Wallace said as he was reading the headline on the paper. "I guess we should go check on the wolves then." Wallace then set the paper down and started to head towards the basement. Gromit then followed him shortly after he had left the room. Wallace then found out one of the wolves had escaped from his cage. "Oi! Get over here you scoundrel!" The wolf ran away from him as he said that. Wallace then reached for the wolf and had easily caught it. "Now listen here you tyke, how did you get out of there?" The wolf then bit Wallace in fear. "Youch!!!" Wallace yelped. Gromit became outraged then took the wolf off of Wallace's arm.
Gromit was quick to put a muzzle onto the wolf and put it in isolation. Wallace's arm had the bite indentations and had a reddish ring around it. He groaned in pain as Gromit went to get a bandage wrap from the bathroom. "Thanks lad." Wallace said as Gromit was wrapping the wound. The wolf in isolation had its head hanging low in sadness as the others giggled at him. "I'm fine lad. The little fellow was just scared, that's all." Wallace reassured him. They went back to the table and tried to enjoy the rest of the morning.
Ring, ring. The doorbell had sounded out as they lifted their heads up towards the direction of the door. "I'll get it lad." Wallace had gotten up and made his way to the door. He opened it with ease. He was face to face with a lady far too close for comfort. "Oh! I'm sorry, have I come at a bad time sir?" the woman said. "Oh no! You are fine m'lady. So, uh, can I help you with something?" Wallace said. "Yes, indeed! I have a slight problem with these miniature wolf things." "Well, everyone seems to have a problem with them these days. I...- I mean WE are Anti-Pesto." He looked towards Gromit as she looked back judgingly. Gromit waved back as a friendly response. "Well, I am Mrs. McAckrel, Mr. Anti-Pesto." "Oh please do call me Wallace ma'am." "Okay, so when can you two help me with my issue? It is quite dire, my husband can't stand these things much longer." "Husband?" "Yes, husband. He very much loves his giant mackerels. He's been breeding them for quite a while now. He would've been here to inform you two, but he is currently out of town at the moment." Mrs.McAckrel informed them. "Well ma'am, we will help you in just a mo', allow us to get dressed in uniform of course." he chuckled nervously. He closed the door as mechanical parts whirred and clicked. It was less than 3 seconds until he opened the door again to reveal them all ready to go. "Oh! How absurdly quick!" she exclaimed.
"Where is your street ma'am?" Wallace asked. "It's on the other side of town unfortunately. I had to walk because my husband has taken my car for his car is being repaired." "Don't mind that ma'am! We shall escort you home and some pests out of your way!" Gromit had opened the door for her. "Oh my, such a gentleman." She had made it in with no effort amd Gromit had closed the door. He then realized that there was no place to sit. So he opened the back of the van. and pulled up a hidden seat that had rested on the left side of the interior. He then very quickly put it in place and put on the seatbelt as Wallace was starting up the van. As usual, Wallace stepped on the gas, swerves out into the street with a wide turn. "Oh dear! We are going dreadfully fast!" Mrs. McAckrel squeaked. "Don't worry ma'am! We will be there in no time!" Wallace reassured her.
They were zipping through the streets to make it to her house. Wallace accidentally ran over a rather large pothole. This caused Gromit to fly out of his seat and the other cages in the bacm to lift up then clatter back down. "Ooh! Bumpy ride! Sorry lad!" Wallace shouted to Gromit. Gromit shook out of his daze and gave Wallace a look that could've said "Watch where you are going you old codger!" Mrs. McAckrel shouted a little bit as the van hit the ground. "Are you alright madam? And are we almost near your residence?" "Oh! There is my home right there!" she said. She then pointed at her home then Wallace swerved to it, again, almost hitting the curb. Gromit then got out first and escorted her out of the van. She then led them to her backyard. There were lots of these wolves running around the yard everywhere. "Heavens above!" Wallace exclaimed. "There is no time to waste then, go ahead and get it started lad!" Gromit nodded and ran to the back of the van once again. "What is he doing?" she asked. "Don't worry madam! We are inventing a better setup to catch these wolves." The machine was hidden under the mess of cages. Gromit then pressed a button as the machine launched towards him.
It had latched onto Gromit as the invention was finishing it's set up. "This is one of me inventions Mrs. McAckrel! This will surely help round up your little wolves." Wallace then went behind Gromit and flicked a switch, causing the machine to grow several limbs. Extending claws began to reach for the wolves. The claws could only pick up a few at a time until putting them into cages.
It had only been a few minutes until they had finally rounded up all of the wolves and prepared them for their new home. "Thank you so much gentlemen! I don't know what I could've done without your help." Mrs. McAckrel said to them. "It is no problem ma'am! We are always here to assist you!" Wallace replied. A car then pulled in rather quickly. A man had come out of it. "Oh! This would be my husband." she said showing them her husband. "Ello." he replied in a deep, grim voice. He was a tall gentleman with flat black hair and a pair of eyeglasses distinguishing his look. Gromit noticed that his shoes were sopping wet as if he had walked through a creek the whole day. He was also hyperfixated on a piece of paper. "I suppose you gentlemen are awaiting payment for ridding me of those filthy mongrels?" he said not even looking at them. "Oh! N-no! You don't have to but tips are greatly appreciated sir." Wallace stammered. Mr. McAckrel then gave him £7. "Ah! That is far too generous sir!" "Don't thank me. I pride meself on me family heritage. And these pests are the only thing standing in my way to victory in the competition."
Wallace was a bit forbode on this topic, so he smiled and walked away with nothing else to say. Gromit took the machine off of himself and returned it in the back of the van. "Her husband is quite a strange chap eh, lad?" Wallace whispered as Gromit made it back to his spot in the van. "Many thanks gentlemen!" Mrs. McAckrel shouted as they drove away. She then looked at her husband that only rolled his eyes at her. The van seemed faster heading home than heading to the McAckrel residence. The potholes, luckily, were on the other side of the road. Some residents were tending to their large outdoor aquariums. They waved to the duo as they had driven by then went back to work as if they hadn't passed by at all. "A job well done I suppose. How well does that Wolf-Grabber-500 work on you lad?" Gromit stretched his arms as if theh were sore. "Oh. It looks like I have to make the shoulder straps more comfortable for longer periods then?" Gromit nodded as usual.
They had unloaded all of the wolves and set them in the basement as usual. Wallace was overlooking the blueprint again and began to work on an individual part for it. Gromit sat back in his chair and noticed a slight breeze coming from behind him. He turned and realized that the window was wide open. It was not open when they had left that morning. Gromit shut it then realized that the carpet was wet. The wet carpet stains led to Wallace's blueprints. Gromit took the blueprints then reread them. "Oi! Gromit I need that!" Wallace shouted as he snatched it back from Gromit. They were not sabotaged by the intruder thankfully. Maybe he thought that there was nothing valuable here and decided to not take anything. Unless that valuable was cheese of course.
The day seemed to fly by and it was just enough time for the machine to be tested. "Gromit! Come down here lad! I have something to show you!" Wallace shouted from the basement. Gromit heard him however, he was in a bit of a bind. He was holding his and Wallace's tea and a poached herring. He put the herring in the oven to keep it warm and set the tea back down then went to check on Wallace. As he walked down the stairs, he was a little dumbfounded at what he was looking at. "Quite lovely eh, lad? I have finally finished the old rusty thing. I introduce the Mind-Swapper-2.0!" Wallace said as he was standing beside the invention.
It was a rather large device that seemed to take over the span of the entire basement. It almost looked like 2 beauty salon chairs interconnected with a coin machine. Each chair seemed like it each had its own batch of spaghetti coming out and attached to the main panel. On one of the chairs, there was a group of at least 10-11 wolves sitting inside a glass container. A few of them were staring at Wallace as the others looked at Gromit. Wallace then walked up to the empty chair and sat in it. "It is almost entirely lunar powered so we don't have to worry about the bills being higher. A copper saved, is a copper earned right lad?" Gromit agreed. He pressed a button on it that allowed a pair of panels to violently move out of the chair. This scared Gromit for a second as it was unexpected. The moon was shining on these panels and reflecting it to itself. "Well, what are you waiting for? Push the lever to on." Hesitating, once more, Gromit pushed the lever to on. A steel dome went over the container of wolves then went over top of Wallace, showing only half of his nose and his mouth. "Now press the red button beside the lever." The button was flashing red and said pulse, like a blender. Gromit pressed it and a surge of electricity came from the main panel to the other chairs. Wallace sat there as still as a statue for the first pulse. "Press it again lad!" Gromit was calm because of the results so he pressed it again. The pulse ran through again but Wallace reacted. "Youch!" he said as he jumped a little bit. Gromit was about to shut it down. "No! N-no lad! We only need 2 more pulses! Continue please." Gromit slowly pushed the button again. Wallace was now experiencing more pain but now the wolves inside the container were howling. The wolves outside the container were staring at Wallace. "Just one more lad! Do it!" Gromit pushed it for the final time. Wallace then got up and started to scream in agony and the wolves in the container were howling louder. Wallace's screaming and the howling had synced up and almost made it seem as if he were howling too. He was then trying to get the steel helmet off. Gromit thought that this was enough and shut the machine off, interrupting the 4th cycle.
Gromit then got the cylinder off of his head. "Thanks again lad." Then a hiss of steam came from the cylinder that the wolves were in. The entire glass container was full of steam. It then opened slowly with all of the steam seeming to rush out. The wolves inside then ran out and went towards the fish. "Ah, it didn't work. I suppose cutting off the 4th cycle must've disrupted the process. Oh! Wait lad! Look!" There was still a wolf inside of it. It was shaking like a leaf inside the container and was looking around nervously. This was the wolf that had bitten Wallace earlier. Wallace then picked him up and set him on his lap. "Give us a fish." Gromit handed him a sardine. Wallace offered the fish to the wolf. It sniffed it, then refused by pushing it away. "It worked!" Wallace whispered under his breath. "Well, not very efficient, but it seemed to get the basic idea huh, lad? We shall call him Flipper from now on. Now, time to get onto supper eh?" Wallace said as he went upstairs. Gromit looked at the shivering wolf once again before going up the stairs.
Wallace was sitting in his chair, waiting for his share of dinner. Gromit had walked in setting his tea and plate down in front of him. "All of that did make me quite famished. I hope you had prepared a very hearty helping of-" Gromit unveiled the bit of herring he had prepared. He decided to not give Wallace a big piece because he figured he might not eat it. "Oh! Herring! L-lovely lad! Thanks! I see you do want me to have a bit of brain food. Better for me to have ideas I see." Gromit went to sit sit down, only to notice Wallace licking his fingers. He was already finished with his herring? "Oh uh- Is there any more lad?" Gromit then got up and cut a bit more for him. Wallace smiled as he picked up his fork, only to drop it on the plate and use his hands to pick it up. Wallace ate the fish as if it were a normal slice of cheese. He then licked his lips then used a napkin. Gromit thought that Wallace wasn't feeling well due to that scene. "Ah! Where are me manners? I'm sorry lad, but that was a smashing supper." Wallace then got up and went to the living room, taking his tea with him.
Gromit walked in and went towards his chair. Wallace was changing channels and found a cheese documentary. "Oh lad!" Wallace exclaimed. "I had almost forgot what I have gotten for you in the mail today. Here you are." Wallace had handed Gromit a brown packaging box. Gromit then opened it and found a red collar. There was a fancy engraving of a "G" on it. "That collar is very special. Lady Tottington wanted you to have it because of the favors we had done for her earlier this month. I would say quite a lovely gift from the mail." Gromit then turned his back facing Wallace as he had helped him put it on. "Is it snug enough?" Wallace asked as he was tightening his collar. Gromit nodded once he got to the point where a finger could fit through. "There you are then. You can go back to crocheting lad."
The clock had then read 10:00. "Well time to hit the sack then lad." Wallace yawned. Gromit went ahead and began to shut off the lights. Wallace seemed to hobble up the stairs, almost struggling. Gromit came to assist him. "I'm fine lad. I am just a bit tired is all." Gromit still followed him to his room anyways. Wallace's room lit up with little glow in the dark stars across the celing. Gromit then shut the door and lights for him. Gromit then went into his room and gathered underneath his covers. "Good night Gromit! See you in the morning!" Gromit then stayed up in the dark for a while. Is Wallace really going to be okay? This thought raced through his head until he finally fell asleep.
A cage then clattered onto the ground in the basement. The other wolves began to look at it with glowing yellow eyes and growl. The cage rattled and thrashed on the ground as it was struggling to break out. A few wolves then began to yip and bark at it as it had broken free from the cage. It then stood on it's hind legs and howl. This caused all of the wolves to howl along with it. The beast then stopped and looked towards the basement steps. It then walked past the framed picture of Wallace and Gromit hanging on the wall, its long claws dragging against the wall and the frame.