Dreadful Weather We're Having III

Drak crept through Dred's underground base.

'I don't know why I'm tip-toeing. This place is totally—' He cut himself off as he rounded the corner and found himself face-to-face with.

'Mummy-Man!'

Mummy-Man let out a growl and made a grab for him. Drak wondered if there were actually words in there or if he really was just mindless walking mummy. At that moment, though, it didn't matter. Thinking fast, Drak transformed into a mouse and darted past him. He slid under the closed door in his way.

'Ha! That's what I call just squeaking by!' He emerged on the other side of the door. 'That big bag of rags is probably still trying to figure out what happened.'

'But I'm not!'

Drak spun around. 'Vampira!'

'Exactly! And Vampira is not afraid of mice. In fact,' she transformed down into a cat, 'I'm very fond of rodents like you.'

Drak turned tail and ran. Vampira pounded with a meow. Drak quickly pulled ahead. Uh oh. The old cat-and-mouse game. And not a mouse hole in sight! He skidded to a stop as he ran out of room. Vampira stalked her way towards him, meowing again. But then Drak remembered the obvious solution.

He transformed again. 'Ha! Now I'm a horse of a different collar!'

Vampira jumped and fled.

'I mean, dog. You know what I mean.' Drak barked in his new dog form and took off after Vampira.

Vampira ducked into the storeroom.

'It's no use, you phoney feline!' Drak followed her. 'I've got you—whoop!'

Vampira transformed into an alligator and opened her mouth wide. Drak tried to come to a stop, but he had been going too fast. He ended up sailing right into her open mouth. She snapped her jaw shut. But Drak wasn't too worried about that. He transformed again, but he transformed into smoke this time.

'Very clever, Vampira.' As smoke, it was easy to slip out of her mouth. 'But not quite clever enough. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to outsmart me.'

It was only after he realised Fly-Man had sucked him into the vacuum cleaner.

:[

Frankie crept around the corridors. He found a door and peered in through a keyhole.

'I wonder if the Weather Machine is in here.'

He saw an eye staring back at him.

Frightened, he jumped back with a cry.

And fell right into a trap set by Mummy-Man.

:[

On the other side of the door, Howler stared through the keyhole.

An eye suddenly appeared.

'Boo!'

With a yelp of fright, Howler leapt back…right into a trap that Fly-Man had been waiting with.

:[

'Ah! They'll never recognise the world when my Weather Machine gets through mixing it up,' Dr. Dred announced.

Toad lifted the cards he'd been given and pulled out the top one. 'Uh…where should I put the Atlantic Desert, Dr. Dred?'

'Over the Atlantic Ocean, numskull!' Dr. Dred snapped. 'Where else?'

Toad put it where he was told. 'Ah! Executive thinking!'

'Oh, what fun!' Dr. Dred went over to the other labels, piled up on the table. He went through the labels. 'This will be the Sahara Ocean, and the Hawaiian Ice Caps.'

Toad hopped over. 'Uh, how about the Death Valley Canal?'

Dr. Dred glared at him. 'I will handle the world-warping, you web-footed weirdo.'

Toad pulled his head in.

'You just tend—Ah!' He turned as the rest of OGRE came in…with a package. 'The Drak Sack!'

'That's Pack!' Drak snapped.

'Whatever,' Toad said for him.

'Just in time!' Dr. Dred put a new label over the United States of America. 'I'm naming this spot in your honour: the Drak Pack Tar Pits. Very fitting, since you three really are the pits!'

It was entirely amusing to watch them struggle against Mummy-Man's bandages.

'Even now,' Dr. Dred said, 'my giant iceberg is approaching New York, and I must fly there to enjoy its imminent destruction.'

Mummy-Man put the Drak Pack down, but it wasn't like they were going anywhere.

Now came the fun bit: Dr. Dred could inform them of their fate. Maybe he'd even see some fear out of Drak. 'And since I have no further need for this island, or you either for that matter, I shall destroy it with a tidal wave!'

While vampiric weaknesses did not affect Drak, Vampira had suggested a reason: human blood.

Human blood, though, meant human vulnerabilities.

Drak was just as susceptible to drowning as everyone else.

'Ta-ta, gentlemen!' Dr. Dred turned on his heel and led OGRE away.

Toad was a bit slow on the uptake though. 'Oh, a tidal wave! Can I stay and watch?' There was a pause. 'What am I saying? Let me out of here!'

He rushed to catch up to them.

:[

This was decidedly not good.

A tidal wave would kill all three of them, no question.

'Hm,' Drak mused. 'We seem to have a problem.'

'I'll say we do,' Frankie said.

'Yeah,' Howler added. 'That tidal wave.'

'I don't care about the tidal wave,' Frankie declared. 'My nose itches! And I can't scratch it!'

With that, he gave such a sneeze that the bandages tying them down were ripped apart.

Frankie rubbed his nose. 'That feels good!'

'All right,' Drak said. 'Let's get moving before Dred puts the freeze on New York!'

:[

'Yeow!' Howler exclaimed as they flew up behind Dred's Dredgible and finally saw the massive iceberg. 'Nothing can stop that monstrosity!'

'New York is-a done for!' Frankie declared.

'Don't be too sure,' Drak said. 'We can do it if…' and he laid out his plan.

Howler nearly laughed when he heard Drak's plan. 'That has to be the most immature idea you've ever had!' he declared. 'Let's do it!'

Drak grinned and pulled up alongside where Toad was standing by himself. None of the others were looking, and nobody paid any attention to the green mutant at any rate. So, setting the Drakster on autopilot, Drak turned and started making faces: sticking his tongue out and waving his hands.

Toad turned to Dr. Dred and Drak got ready to move if need be.

There was no need to bother.

Dred shoved him away and dismissed him.

So, as Drak planned, Toad decided to deal with it himself.

Toad went to the laser gun and started taking aim at them. Drak immediately started weaving about in the air. The math shot through his head as he worked. Whoever said that geometry was useless? He only stayed still just long enough for Toad to think he got a clear shot and then…he dived out of the way.

Toad shot.

The iceberg was destroyed.

Drak flew up and grinned when he saw the rest of OGRE start to chase after the little green mutant.

Drak landed the Drakster on top of the Dredgible. 'On the double, Pack! Come on! We've gotta get that Weather Machine!'

The three of them ran down and slipped into the Dredgible.

This time, Drak knew where to look for it.

It was completely unattended.

'Now, to destroy this diabolical—' Drak was cut off by Howler.

'Uh oh! Look!'

'Everybody hide!' Drak ordered.

The three of them ducked down behind the Weather Machine.

OGRE ran past, still chasing Toad.

'They're gone,' Frankie said.

Drak leaned over the main control panel. He quickly yanked it open and began rewiring it. In all honestly, it didn't take him long. Dr. Dred might've wanted to look into screws at a later date. It would take Drak longer and he would've run a higher risk of getting caught. But Drak rewired it and pushed the panel back into place in no time.

'There! Wait'll old Rain-in-the-Face tries to use his Weather Machine now!' Drak led the Pack out of the Dredgible again, and back into the Drakster.

'I got a feeling Dred's in for some stormy weather,' Frankie quipped as they took off again.

'We'll soon find out.' Drak nodded.

Howler drove back around and pulled up alongside the Dredgible again.

Dr. Dred had finally caught Toad.

'Your mother has webbed feet!' Drak hollered as Howler and Frankie made the faces this time.

'See, Dr. Dred?' Toad asked. 'See? The Drak Pack! They made faces at me! Just like I told you.'

Dred dropped him. 'So that's it! The meddling Drak Pack, is it?' He headed for the main control. 'Well, we'll just see how they like a taste of some heavy weather!'

Drak waited.

Soon, a blizzard started up over the Dredgible.

And only the Dredgible.

Dred's blimp was soon being weighted down by a thick layer of snow.

Drak heard the distinctive sound of a teapot breaking. He and Howler quickly swapped seats.

'My magnificent machine!' Dred waited. 'What went wrong?'

'It's an inside job, Dr. Dred,' Drak said. 'Or hadn't you noticed?'

'Someday I'll get you for this, Drak!' Dred bellowed.

Toad re-emerged with an umbrella. 'Some sunny day, please, Dr. Dred.'

Dred swatted him with a fly swat.

The Drak Pack laughed as Drak drove them back home.

:[

Jess thought she'd been in the attic for hours.

She tucked the last book under her arm and headed outside to read in the sunlight. As she stepped outside, she paused and looked around.

'What's with all the slush?' she asked.

'Have you seriously been inside all this time?' her mother demanded from the kitchen window.

Jess looked over her shoulder and grinned.


AN: Sorry if any of this is a bit weird. I'm in the process of swapping computers and moving all my files from one to the other.