"Dexter's Laboratory" is copyright (C)1996 by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Cartoon Network. Pepsi is a registered trademark of PepsiCo, Inc. and the Pepsi-Cola Company.
I don't own "Dexter's Laboratory", I didn't make the characters, and I'm not trying to make money on this, so please don't sue me.
Inside the top secret laboratory of Dexter - Boy Genius... not just an ordinary day like any other. Dee Dee, Mee Mee, and Lee Lee occupy themselves with pushing anything button-shaped, pulling anything lever-shaped, and twisting anything knob-shaped. Mandark watches them nervously for a moment as warning lights flash and sirens begin to blare.
"Shouldn't you be doing something about that?" Mandark appears on the verge of bolting from the facility; contrary-wise, Dexter appears content to ignore them as he sits typing at one of the numerous terminals scattered around the lab.
A computer generated message comes across the P.A. system, "Current laboratory disruption at 20 percent."
"It is nothing. This lab is designed with Dee Dee in mind..."
"Current laboratory disruption at 45 percent." Smoke is slowing filling the air and Mandark coughs as he starts sweating.
Dexter still seems oblivious. "We have nothing to fear, even if there were a dozen Dee Dee's..."
"Current laboratory disruption at 64 percent; approaching danger levels."
Lights are now flickering, screens filling with static; the sirens take on a note of urgency, even if Dexter still does not. "When you have lived with Dee Dee as long as I have, you learn to take precautions..."
"Current laboratory disruption at 87 percent; implementation of emergency protocol alpha dictated." Maintenance 'bots are now scrambling around the lab frantically while Mandark slowly turns green.
Dexter swivels around in his chair, waving his fist threateningly. "Hey! You crazy girls! Stop that immediately! We have no time for these shenanigans; we are trying to save the world!
All three girls reluctantly drop the pieces of broken machinery they're holding and tromp up behind Dexter. Dee Dee props herself on top of his head. "Okay, genius boy. Let's hear your brilliant plan." She looks completely bored.
Dexter finishes his typing and the monitor displays several images. "We have very little time, so I had the robots working under computer control, building what we'd need." He points to each image in turn, "I already have my Dex-Bot and the Dee-Dee-Bot I constructed some time ago." The images of Dexter's main mecha and the Dee Dee shaped mecha highlight and then rotate on the screen. He frowns and thinks to himself, 'Note to self: remember to destroy Dee-Dee-Bot after successful completion of today's mission.'
Next pop up images of two more mecha shaped like Lee Lee and Mee Mee. "The robots have just finished work on the Lee-Lee-Bot and Mee-Mee-Bot..."
Both girls have the same reaction upon seeing the mecha that Dee Dee did when Dexter first made her giant robot.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Mandark, being closer to the two and not shielded as Dexter was by the leaning form of his sister, takes the full brunt of their scream. It was less painful than being jabbed by two cattle-prods... marginally.
The final image comes up as Dexter continues. "Finally, I have Mandark's robot, extrapolated from the half he built here when we saved the earth from the giant meteors."
Mandark recovers enough to go livid. "I always knew you were stealing my designs! I guess we've seen who the real genius is around here." He turns slightly, thinking to himself, 'Note to self: remember to destroy Dexter's lab after successful completion of today's mission.' He turns back to Dexter, "I don't seem to remember it happening exactly that way..."
Dexter continues smoothly, "The five of us will transport straight into the heart of the alien vessel; this will take nearly all the power available, so once the ship is disabled, we shall have to fly back using the hyper-jets." The feet of all displayed mecha flash briefly.
Mandark frowns as he considers the plan. "Do you think it's wise to bring - them - along? If just the two of us go, we'll be able to transport out and back; my calculations show this to be an imminently more superior plan to your own."
"The two of us would not have enough power to destroy the aliens; the girls must accompany us on this mission if it is to be successful." By this time, Dee Dee has fallen asleep leaning on Dexter's head. "Hey! Wake up!" He whips his wrench up to bonk Dee Dee on the head just as she jerks awake; the wrench misses her completely and Dexter knocks himself senseless.
"Huh? What?" Dee Dee looks around confused. She notices Dexter on the floor unconscious and gives him a light kick; "You can sleep later, Dorkster. We've got a world to save!"
Lee Lee and Mee Mee move up on either side. "You mean...?"
Dee Dee grins and nods. "Suit up!"
All three run for the lifts that will carry them to the cockpits of the giant robots, all the while struggling into the spiffy neoprene suits that mecha pilots favor. Mandark shrugs and walks towards his own robot. This was going to be a long mission.
Eventually, all five mecha were standing on a metallic grid in one section of the lab; the scanning mechanism in the ceiling above them started to cycle to higher brilliance. The computer's voice came over the communication channel, "please enter coordinates for transfer sequence..." Dexter stared at his console a moment, then turned a bright shade of red.
Mandark was sitting in his cockpit, looking like someone just ran over his dog, when Dexter's voice came over the speaker.
"Mandark... did your laser , um, happen to have an inertial laser-gyro alignment tracker?"
"Of course! What good is a 300 megawatt gas-dynamic laser without the ability to tell where it's aimed?" He sounded totally disgusted.
"Yeah. Um. Would you happen to know, um, just where it was aimed when you shot the aliens?"
"But of course! I am after all the world's greatest genius scientist." A smile slowly crossed his face as he stopped to consider the importance of Dexter's questions. "Oh, ho! I get it! You don't have any idea where we're going!"
"That is not important right now! Just give me the coordinates; the transporter's almost in it's final sequence."
Mandark's smile just grew. "Not until you say, 'All hail Mandark! The greatest genius in the world!'."
Dexter sputtered. "What! We don't have time for this!"
Mandark was practically singing, "Not until you say it!"
Dead silence filled the channel for almost a minute when finally some vague mumbling came across.
Mandark just pushed the save button on his console. "Don't worry old pal, I'll just have that enhanced and amplified later." He keyed the coordinates into his system and sent them to the computer.
"Coordinates locked, final sequence engaged." One final burst of light and all five robots disappeared from the lab.
Far out in space, a cruiser for an advanced race of warriors still held position directly over Huber Elementary. Deep inside, a flash of light heralded the appearance of five giant robots.
Dexter keyed the other four robots on the communications link. "You girls stay here and watch for the aliens. Mandark and I will find and disable the main control room." He moved off down one of the corridors, Mandark's mecha trailing him slightly.
After fighting sentries and automatic laser-turrets through several corridors and intersections, Mandark finally stopped. "Just where do you think you are going? My instrumentation clearly indicates that the main control room is back the other direction!"
Dexter paused. "What, are you crazy? Did you not hear me tell the girls to stay put and watch for the aliens?"
Mandark thought about it a moment...
Elsewhere, aliens run in blind panic as three giant robots are running berserk through the main engineering decks. They seem to be doing gymnastic routines with generators for pommel horses and plasma conduits for parallel bars. They switch to ballet routines, the jumps and catches taking them through several walls of equipment, the higher jumps punching through several floors. More than two thirds the main systems are already switched to their third redundant backup as the destruction continues unabated.
Mandark stopped thinking about it. "My instrumentation clearly indicates an air-lock about three hundred more yards the direction we are currently headed."
Dexter and Mandark eventually find themselves opposite an airlock in the hull of the vessel. Dexter checks several monitors showing the status of the girl's rampage. "The girls are very nearly finished destroying the alien vessel."
'Just like my poor lab.' Mandark thinks, remembering Dee Dee's first visit.
"We must break the access code to the airlock and send the homing signal to the girl's robots so that we may escape. This will go faster if we link systems and run the code breaker in parallel."
"Very well, Dexter. How do link the systems?"
The Dex-Bot extends a finger towards Mandark's robot. "Just pull my finger."
Mandark stares a second. "You have got to be kidding." He shrugs and grabs the extended digit and pulls. Immediately, data flood the monitors on one side of the cockpit as the systems work on the access code to the airlock.
Meanwhile, Dexter checks on the girl's progress. 'Perfect; now to bring them here.' He makes contact with their robots. "That is quite enough; Mandark and I have located an airlock so we may exit this doomed vessel."
Dee Dee's image pops up in Dexter's HUD (heads-up-display). "Now why would we want to go to your stinky old airlock? We're having fun."
Dexter fumes a second. "Now listen, you! We have to go and I order you to come to this airlock immediately!"
The image in the HUD disappears, but none of the three robots appear to be headed their direction. Dexter sits in his cockpit fuming, then a small smile spreads across his face.
"Did I say airlock? I meant to say, um, kitchen! Yeah! And my - they sure have a lot of candy here!"
Three images pop up in Dexter's HUD. "Candy???!!!" Just as quick, the images are gone. The computer on Dexter's mecha now flashes a message.
"Warning! Hyper-jets activated in enclosed environment. Structural integrity of vessel compromised."
Dexter stares at the monitor showing the utter devastation left behind the girls as they jet through corridors using hyper-jets meant for rapid travel outside.
"Um, Mandark? We do not have much time. We must get that access code, and fast!"
Mandark's mecha releases the Dex-Bot's finger. "This is ridiculous! We'll never get out of here using your feeble code cracking computations. As usual, it's up to Mandark, World's Greatest Genius, to save the day!" At that, a 300 gigawatt gas-dynamic laser cannon deploys from the mecha's shoulder.
"No, Mandark! The structural integrity of the vessel has been too severely compromised! You'll destroy us all!"
The two giant robots now begin struggling with the cannon.
The three girls show up in their mecha. Dee Dee looks at Dexter and Mandark struggling over the laser cannon. "Hmm. This seems vaguely familiar."
"Let go of my cannon!"
"You fool! You'll screw things up again!"
All of a sudden, the cannon discharges, burning through the hull and out into space.
Mandark smirks at Dexter, "See? Once more I have proved my superior science skills!"
Meanwhile, farther out in space, a platform for a more advanced race of warriors holds position, quite coincidentally, directly along a line between the space cruiser and Huber Elementary. The alien warlord is holding a valuable artifact which just happens to look like a really bad tea pot.
"Finally! The Post-Hyrfluvian Container is mine! With this, I can control all sentient beings and rule the known universe!"
Still quite coincidentally, Mandark's laser beam strikes the artificial environment inertial compensator. The whole platform lurches and he drops the pot, which shatters most spectacularly.
Words are insufficient to describe the look on the warlord's face. "The Post-Hyrfluvian Container!!!" As he considers the pieces scattered across the floor, his body begins to shake and energy begins to shimmer into view around him. He storms into the main control room for the platform and swats a technician away from one of the consoles. After poking the keys for a moment, an evil smile begins to form. He punches a few more buttons.
Meanwhile, Dexter, Mandark, Dee Dee, Lee Lee, and Mee Mee have exited the vessel and are currently jetting back towards earth. Dexter and Mandark are still arguing heatedly on the com link when a telepathic message shocks everyone into a stunned silence.
"Attention miserable genetic refuse - your pathetic attempt to destroy us has only earned you the agonized death you so rightly deserve! You will all suffer greatly, then die! The vessel responsible for the attack is now being disposed of, but our righteous anger will only be exhausted when all the scum in this galaxy has been cleansed from existence!"
At that, the cruiser behind our heroes suddenly became a rapidly expanding cloud of incandescent gas.
Dexter considers the telepathic message and the destroyed ship. "Well, that could have been better. We'd best get back to the lab and see what we can do to avert the upcoming apocalypse."
Dee Dee's voice comes over his com link, "It's too late, Dexter."
"Huh?"
"My soda's no longer cold." The sadness in her voice was plain to all.
It's probably best that Dexter's reply went unheard.
That's it for chapter 2; maybe next time they'll get it right...
maybe.