Chapter 2: The Perfect Solution

Chapter 2: The Perfect Solution

Having made a deal with his rival Swackhammer to recover his lost empire, Leghorn was attempting to get really drunk. He was sitting at his bar in his suite and had already consumed a few scotches and one or two shots of Absinth.

He was totally oblivious to the sound of his door being opened. Leghorn's personal assistant, secretary and long time friend, George L. Barnyard strode in quickly and stared in concern at his progressively drunk friend.

George Barnyard, or G.B. as he liked to be called, was a little younger than Leghorn though no one knew that. He was shorter and had long brown hair that, at the moment, was tied in a ponytail, had a curly moustache, brown eyes, and a bulbous nose. He was dressed in a white and brown suit, with a black tie and wearing a pair of brownish-black moccasins. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, G.B. is actually Barnyard Dog's descendant, but I'm sure that you already knew that from its description).

Leghorn couldn't have asked for a better friend. George could always be counted on to be by Leghorn's side and listen to all his problems, whatever they were. He was also well known for speaking his mind no matter how painful the truth might be.

He'd been asleep when the security chief of the Dome had awakened him and said there was trouble and to come quickly. He didn't tell George what was going on so now he was here watching his friend get drunk. Leghorn didn't look happy and he wondered what could have happened to him to send him on a drinking binge.

"Leghorn! What's happened that's so bad it has you drinking to excess?" He asked bluntly.

"Aahh, George, my problems, I say, problems are so bad and huge that even this here drink is not getting rid of them." Leghorn slurred bitterly as he poured himself a martini with a slice of lemon.

"Come on Leghorn, it can't be any worse than the time you lost the contract to drill that planet which was a huge diamond in the Nexus Galaxy. Why do you think that this, whatever it is, is bad enough to have you drinking as bad as that time?" He asked flatly as he took a seat next to his friend

"This is an end of the world thing, far worse, I say, far worse than losing that. This problem that I have surpasses everything that you and I both have faced in the past." Leghorn asserted unhappily.

"So tell me what this 'far worse' thing was. Perhaps I can advise you." George coaxed.

Leghorn sighed hopelessly, downed his drink and reached for another as he spilled the whole sorry mess. How he had struck a deal with Swackhammer while drunk. Then how his rival had brought a team in called the Monstrosity Crushers that succeeded in defeating both his teams at the same time and in losing the game, ended up losing his empire to Swackhammer. He told him how his rival had given him another chance at getting it all back.

"But, but, but… That's completely absurd! He can't do that to you, and besides the law would not allow something like this to happen." George sputtered in shock.

"Unfortunately, the Nerdluckian laws allow it." Leghorn said miserably, as he showed his friend the law article. "It's all there, G.B., every single word that will give Swackhammer my entire empire, the empire that my great-great-great grandfather started." He finished bitterly.

"But from what you told me, you still have a shot at keeping everything and collecting ten percent of Swackhammer's empire. So, why are you weeping about it? He might have won the first battle, but he didn't win the war yet. You just have to find a new and stronger team than the Hurricanes, my friend." George said positively.

"You don't understand, I say, understand… Those five players of Swackhammer's are probably the best and most vicious basketball players in the known Universe. The five of them made both the Glavatron Tridents and "my" Hurricanes fools of themselves. In a matter of two minutes, I say, minutes, they had beaten them, without breaking a sweat." Leghorn said, shaking his head. "Here, G.B., let me show you just what happened tonight."

Leghorn picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Choosing the option of seeing the game that had been recorded earlier, he flicked it on. The secretary was astonished and stunned with what he saw. He expected them to be good based on what Leghorn had said but he was unprepared for just how good they were. They were good, but not that good. He quickly understood why Leghorn was so upset with what happened.

"As you can see, there's no way I can find, I say, find any better players than those guys. Each and every one of those five has the strength, stamina, speed, swiftness and agility of twenty, I say, twenty players combined." Leghorn grunted as he turned off the TV. "If I could find a player who was able to face them in a basketball game, in a week, it would be a miracle. But to find, I say, find five players, that's purely impossible!"

"I have to admit that they all played quite well… I've never seen such players like them before." G.B. admitted quietly. "They have a certain style about them and I'm surprised that their team hasn't played in the IBA League before. They way I see it, you might have to have a team with super powers to defeat them." G.B. said thoughtfully, joking a little to try and cheer his friend up

Leghorn gaped at his friend. Those last words had given him an incredible idea but had he heard his friend correctly?

"What did you just say, G.B.?" He asked, holding his breath.

"Ahh… what… you mean about how that team played? Well, I said they were excellent players and…" G.B. started to say in confusion before Leghorn interrupted him.

"No, no, no… Not that, after, I say, after that… About my team!" Leghorn exclaimed.

"Uh… well, I said you might need a team with super powers to beat those guys but I was just kidding, Leghorn." G.B. said wondering what was going through his friend's mind.

"That's it! That's exactly what I need to beat Swackhammer's team! I need a team of players, I say, players that have super powers!" Leghorn said excitedly. "With a super powered team, those Monstrosity Crushers, wouldn't have a chance, I say, a chance to win. Don't you see G.B? You are a genius! It's brilliant…" Leghorn was going on.

"But, what are you talking about? Where would you find a team with super powers, Leghorn?! I think you've already drunk a little too much, for your own good…" G.B. said in concern as he watched his friend, now on his feet and gesticulating wildly with his arms and shouting how brilliant he was.

"I may have been drinking but I'm not so drunk, I say, not so drunk that I couldn't have had such a brilliant idea. I know just where to recruit the perfect team." He said with a huge smile.

Still doubtful about what his friend was going on about, G.B. asked, "Okay, so where is this perfect team and who are they?"

"Why, G.B. they are none other than the Guardian of the Universe. I'll ask the Loonatics Extreme to help me. After all that's what they do, I say, what they do is fight injustice and protect the innocent as well as helping those in need. And in this case, I've been cheated and I'm about to, I say, about to be robbed… So I think that at least I have to give them a try!" He said, still excited.

G.B. waved his head negatively and grabbed the paper with the Nerdluckian laws, and almost shoved it in front of Leghorn's face.

"But according to the laws of the Nerdluck justice system, what Swackhammer did is legal. So, you don't have any kind of real reason to ask them to help you…" G.B. insisted.

"I don't care!! I'm about to lose, I say, lose my empire, and I'm not going to stand here, doing nothing, and waiting for the inevitable, G.B.!" Leghorn shouted, as he took the paper from his secretary's hands and ripped it in two, throwing it away. "I'm going to ask them for their help and that's final! Get me, I say, get me a direct line with their headquarters in Blanc, on the double!" He demanded impatiently.

G.B. sighed. He knew when Leghorn had an idea, nothing, not even the most powerful force in the Universe, would be able to make him change his mind about it. So, he just nodded affirmatively and went to the conference room and tried to get a connection to Blanc as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, on Blanc, specifically in the Loonatics Extreme Headquarters, the different members of the team were spending their free time doing mundane things, like doing laundry, chores, hobbies, or working out.

Duck chose to try on some of the outfits he'd ordered from different stores and asking his friend, Pinkster, his opinion on each one.

Though he knew Ace was resistant to the idea, Duck firmly believed they needed to change the look of the team just as they had changed its name. He felt they needed something with more character now that they were the Guardians of the known Universe. He firmly believed they need to update their outfits.

"So, what do you think, Pinkster, old buddy?" Duck asked his friend as he tried an outfit that made him look like a silly version of their old enemy Massive.

"I-I-I do believe that outfit makes you… makes you… makes you… It d-d-doesn't suit y-y-you well." Pinkster said carefully, trying hard not to laugh.

"Hmm… Maybe you're right. This suit doesn't show my best side… Well, what about that one over there?!" Duck asked as he pointed to a costume that was on top of his bed.

"T-T-That one makes you l-l-look like a c-c-clown… R-R-Remember that you y-y-yourself d-d-decided to put it a-a-aside?" Pinkster reminded him.

"Oh, you're right… it's not a costume that I would like to use in battle." Duck conceded.

While Pinkster had to put up with Duck's ideas for new costumes, Ace was in the living room, practicing yoga, which made him feel in touch with everything around him. Slam and Sylth were in another part of the living area, watching one of the many movies they had rented for the weekend. With a huge bowl of popcorn and Jumbo-sized sodas, the two of them had everything they needed to spend a quiet afternoon in front of the TV. There was only one problem… Slam was eating all the popcorn in the bowl and Sylth had to make sure he left some for himself.

"Listen up, Slam… The popcorn in the bowl isn't just for you, you know? You have to share it." He said firmly as he tried to take the bowl from the Tasmanian Devil's hands. "Your mother never told you that you that it's rude not to share what you have with other people?"

"Blrlaghalaghll… But I love popcorn!" Slam said pouting a bit.

"Well, I love popcorn, too, but you don't see me here shoving all of it down my mouth all by myself like you are, do you?" He asked as he placed the bowl on a small table in front of them.

Slam looked at his friend and team mate, a bit shamefaced. He took only a handful of popcorn from the bowl and tried hard to restrain himself.

Across the room, Ace had cracked an eye open and listened to the semi-argument for some moments, wondering if he needed to referee but was pleased when Slam managed to control himself and that Sylth relented and let him have the bowl knowing he could simply go get himself another one.

"That was very good Slam. Thank you. Here you take this one and I'll just make myself another one. Sorry I was so abrupt but I wanted you to see how selfish you were acting. Anyway, hold the movie while I get another bowl." Sylth said as he got up and made for the kitchen.

Slam smiled, shyly pleased as he took the bowl and dug in. Ace smiled and closed his eye again and returned to his meditation and Yoga.

Meanwhile, His Feathered Majesty, The Royal Tweetums was busy in a special room located near the top of the Loonatics Extreme Tower. The room was fairly good sized and held a conference table with all the things needed to hold meetings in it. This allowed Tweetums to meet with his advisors and conduct the business of taking care of his kingdom.

Since he'd become a part of the Loonatics Extreme, Tweetums divided his time between his duties as leader and ruler of Blanc and his job as a member of the team. Right now, he was talking to his advisers about increasing the size of Blanc's space armada and how to go about it. His advisers were using the hologram capabilities of the room to display models of the present ships in the armada so that he could determine what needed upgrading.

"As you can see, your Majesty, the space armada must be increased by at least fifty percent, so that we will not be caught unprepared should another invasion come our way again. At the present time, we are sadly undermanned and outgunned by most of the other alien races near us." One of his advisors said gravely.

"I truly understand your concerns, but disagree with your solution. You know that I and the Loonatics Extreme will be perfectly capable of protecting our beautiful world from those that would harm her as well as the rest of this little old Universe. With that fact in mind, I feel the armada requires only a twenty percent upgrade… Starting with an update of their armaments and going on to upgrading their engines." Tweetums said thoughtfully as he studied the hologram diagrams.

"As you wish, Your Majesty, so it will be done. Now, the next thing on the agenda is…" The head advisor began to move on to other business.

While Tweetums dealt with the demands of running a kingdom, Rev and Swift were competing against each other to see who was faster. Rev, as usual, was quite happy to have someone to race against, especially when Swift was as fast as the roadrunner himself.

They had decided to race in the south of the planet, where there were a lot of canyons, which were perfect for them to race through to test agility as well. Swift and Rev felt at home in those canyons, for they reminded them of the places where they had grown up.

"I hope you are ready to see me win this race, Swift, because I don't intend to lose, you know? When it comes to running in canyons, mountain trails and other rock formations, you're talking to the master! I mean, I could do this, even with my eyes shut! Or even better, I could do this with my eyes shut and running backwards while drinking a mint and strawberry squishy!" Rev declared as they prepared to take off.

"I don't think so, Rev. Back when I was in Mexicool, I was considered by the people of mi villa as the fastest mouse in a 200 mile radius, mi amigo. And now that I have super speed, I will show you that they were not wrong when they called me that." Swift said with a smile of confidence. "To bad Tech stayed in his lab… It would be divertido to have someone to comment our race."

"Well, you know how Tech is. When he's in the middle of something, he forgets about everything, including the time for lunch, which reminds me, I haven't had lunch yet either. It's not good for my health, or anyone's health to skip such a meal, which right after breakfast, is the most important meal of the day… Of course, we can always count on the brunch, which is a mixture between breakfast and lunch, but it's not what I could call a meal… So, what do you say, when we finish this race we head back to headquarters to eat? I'm starving!" Rev said excitedly.

Swift just laughed and nodded. They took off at the same time, flying away from headquarters for the south.

As for the girls, they all decided to spend their leisure time by doing things they had never tried or had time to experiment with. Lexi chose to practice her ability to control plant life. Mimi and Patricia decided to expand their artistic horizons.

Lexi had gone to visit the Palace's Greenhouse, because Tweetums told her that it was quite beautiful. It would be the perfect place for someone to get in touch with nature itself.

Since moving to Blanc, Lexi had visited quite a few places, including Blanc's Botanical Gardens which were enormous, compared to Blanc's Palace Greenhouse. Although it was smaller, the royal greenhouse had some rare specimens that the Botanical Gardens did not have. It was not open to the public it was quiet inside. The perfect place to relax, while putting ones thoughts in order.

She had decided to use her powers to flourish a few species of orchids that had been brought from different parts of the Universe. Some of them were quite beautiful, but others were inexplicably strange, but quite gorgeous also.

"There… These are perfect." She murmured to herself as she grabbed a Klaukasian orchid and smelled its intense and almost hypnotic perfume. "Now, let's see if I can do anything with the Blancanians Daisies. The poor little ones have been so neglected by the gardeners that they are starting to fade away."

While Lexi tried to use her powers to save a few flowers, Mimi and Patricia spent their time to their art. They were out front of their headquarters right near the entrance.

Patricia had decided to paint a female version of the Colossus of Rhodes and was using her sister as her model. Mimi used her powers to become larger, more muscled and taller. She had never used her powers for something like this before, it was fun actually and she was enjoying the form she had taken because it made her feel stronger and more confident about herself.

"Try not to move, sis… It's not easy to sketch you if you keep moving like that!" Patricia admonished her sister as she tried to sketch her.

"Sorry… but it's not easy to stay still, you know? I'm not a statue… I'm a piece of living rubber, remember?" She giggled, laughing at her own joke.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know, but an artist as myself, needs to be inspired by static objects, and… Uh-oh, we've got trouble." Patricia said suddenly as their communicators began to beep furiously.

"Looks like we'll just have to finish our art work later, sis. Come on!" Mimi said as she turned back to her normal state and hurried inside the tower followed close behind by her sister.

It was just a matter of minutes before all of the Loonatics had gathered in the communications room. Tweetums, Rev and Swift were the last ones to show up, all because Tweetums had to get rid of his advisors, and Rev and Swift being on the other side of the planet when the call came. They all sat down at the holographic display table and waited for Ace to tell them what was going on.

"We are receiving a call from Acmetropolis, folks… It's from Mr. Leghorn himself. Tech, could you connect the call, please?" Ace asked inclining his head toward the coyote.

"Sure thing, Ace." Tech said as he pushed a button activating the holographic display. The holding image flashed into existence revealing an impatient Mr. Leghorn.

"Sorry we made you wait, Mr. Leghorn, but I never discuss anything without my entire team present." Ace told the image.

Leghorn looked over the newly enlarged team. He heard about them adding more members but it was his first time actually seeing them. He'd been on a business trip to the Orion Galaxy when the attack on Acmetropolis occurred by Queen Granicus. He'd only learned about it when he'd returned home. His attention was returned to the present when Ace spoke.

"So, how can we help you, Mr. Leghorn?"

"The problem, I say, problem I need to discuss with you is too important to be discussed through a holographic transmission… I was wondering, I say, wondering if you could come here to Acmetropolis, so we can discuss this personally?" He asked them.

"Sure thing, Mr. Leghorn. We can be there in half an hour." Ace said agreeably.

"Very well, I say, very well. My secretary and I will be waiting for you in the Acmetropolis World Dome. I'll see you in half an hour, my friends." Leghorn said warmly then signed off.

"I wonder what could be the problem that he wants to talk with us in person?" Lexi asked.

"He's probably going to propose a deal to use us as the face of a new product campaign!" Duck said with an odd look in his eyes.

"Riiiiiiiight… You keep dreaming, Duck." Mimi snorted, annoying Duck.

"Do you know him, personally, Ace?" Sylth asked, curious.

"Yeah, we do, Sylth. When Massive tried to steal the Basherball Championship Trophy from the World Dome in Acmetropolis, Leghorn was so happy to get the trophy back, that he gave us a lifetime supply of Chili-Gurt, which Slam ate in no time at all." Ace said in amusement, seeing Slam lick his lips remembering that day. "But you're right, Lexi… I wonder what he has to talk with us about?" Ace questioned, thoughtfully.

"There's only one way to find out that, amigos! We'll have to go to Acmetropolis." Swift said.

"You're absolutely right, Swift! What are we waiting for guys? Let's jet… Next stop, Acmetropolis!" Ace said getting up and heading for the hangar, followed by the others.