* * * * * * * *
Everyone looked up in surprise, hearing a sharp frantic tapping noise on the window above Elvis’s tank. Chimzen stood up and walked towards the window with a big smile on his face.
‘That must be Squidget; he sounds rather upset.’ Chimzen opened the latched window, and as he did so, a round ball of fur bounced in through it and collapsed smartly onto the floor. Frank and Philip jumped in fright, quite taken by the strange ball of fur. Chimzen roared with laughter, watching their puzzled reaction.
Lying on his back wearing a small black waistcoat was a small squirrel, a bit shaken up from the fall. Slowly standing on his hind legs, the squirrel dusted his little coat in a huff, looking quite cute with his almost human actions. Frank and Philip were seated in the centre of the round table, curiously peering over the edge. The squirrel sprang into the air and perched himself neatly on the end of the table, shaking his fluffy tail, completely unaware of the boys’ presence. Noticing the two hairy creatures seated on the table, the poor squirrel leaped into the air in fright, with his hair standing on end like a toilet brush. The frightened squirrel grabbed onto Chimzen’s leg, his little body trembling with fear. Chimzen couldn’t help but roll his head back and roar with laughter once again.
‘Never mind, Squidget, no one is going to hurt you. These are my friends, Philip and Frank.’ Chimzen leaned over, reaching for the frightened little creature, and carefully placed him on his shoulder. Once again the little squirrel rearranged his black waistcoat, staring curiously at the two monkeys seated on the table. Chimzen reached into his drawer and produced an acorn which he handed to the fuzzy creature. Squidget grabbed the nut eagerly, and started nibbling it like it was going to be snatched away from him at any moment.
‘Tell me Squidget, why do you seem so stressed today, my friend?’ Chimzen asked, stroking his furry head. The little squirrel gulped down the remains of the acorn, leaped down onto the floor, and dashed towards the bookshelves. He scuttled to the top, and seated himself on a large floating book.
‘Well you see master, I must warn you,’ the little squirrel chattered, waving his tiny paws in the air like a general giving frantic instructions during a war. ‘I have seen Mathias the treacherous hovering around these parts. I have no idea what he is up to, but I do know that he is planning some sort of an attack.’
Chimzen sat back in his desk chair with his hands tucked behind his head, always showing concern for the general wellbeing of all the little animals inhabiting the woods.
‘There is a very simple explanation for that, Squidget,’ he answered, tapping his fingers on the chair. He told Frank and Philip’s story to the flustered little squirrel, explaining the fact that Mathias would most probably stop at nothing to recapture them. The boys looked a bit worried; the thought of going back to Mathias’s den gave them the absolute creeps.
‘What if he catches me master?’ Squidget asked, waving his paws in the air while his little body shivered in fright.
‘Not to worry Squidget, I have formulated a very special ointment to assist all the little animals that inhabit these woods. Would you like to test it for me?’
‘Well, what does it do exactly?’ the squirrel asked, shyly placing his paws behind his back.
‘Come and sit on my lap; let’s see if it works,’ Chimzen said, patting his knees. Placing his hands carefully into the middle drawer, he produced a medium sized bottle containing thick red ointment. The squirrel crept down from the bookshelf and edged cautiously towards him.
‘Come on, I haven’t got all day now!’ the wizard exclaimed, still grinning from ear to ear.
Squidget timidly jumped up onto his lap, feeling a little uneasy. He knew he could trust Chimzen though, so he sat back in good faith.
Chimzen placed the red ointment on all four of Squidget’s little feet, softly caressing it into the pads. Then he very carefully placed the little squirrel on the floor. Squidget walked across the room on all fours like a five year old trying out roller blades for the first time.
‘Now Squidget, what I want you to do is take a small jump,’ Chimzen instructed, scratching his head. ‘Remember, only a small jump, Squidget.’
Without any further ado the little squirrel jumped. Much to his surprise, the alarmed creature launched straight up and almost slammed into the ceiling. His little heart almost jumped into his throat, as he wasn’t quite expecting such an intense reaction to the red cream. Squidget stretched his legs out as he plunged downwards, as if he was trying to apply brakes. He landed smartly on his hind legs, and bounced on the floor in a series of jolts, until he eventually slowed to a standstill. He sat on the floor looking half dazed; the sudden power in his spring had completely overwhelmed the poor creature.
‘Wow that was amazing! Now you can call me super squirrel!’ he shouted, completely overjoyed. Chimzen sat back in his chair clutching his face, while the rest of his body shook with laughter.
‘Once you have adjusted to the power in your spring, I doubt very much that Mathias is going to come anywhere near you!’ Chimzen cried, now clutching his sides to try and contain the fit of laughter. The boys were also virtually wetting themselves when they saw Squidget launch to the roof. As for the trio, they were hopping up and down on the desk in the corner, chuckling their balls off. Even Elvis was standing on his little platform, gills flapping with deep laugher. I guess you had to see the squirrel in action yourself to appreciate the humour. Calling Squidget, Chimzen opened the tree house door.
‘Come here my furry friend, let’s all watch you fly.’
Squidget dragged himself unsteadily towards the open door, afraid of taking off at any moment.
‘This could be dangerous,’ he stammered, taking a cautious hop out of the door. Squidget was off like a turbo charged spring, bouncing up and down through the trees, shrieking his little lungs out in excitement. The rest of the group watched with big smiles as he disappeared through the trees.
Chimzen slowly closed the door, still grinning from ear to ear, and looking very pleased with the success of his magic jumping ointment.
* * * * * * * *
‘Oh well, time to consider more serious matters,’ he said, plonking himself back into his chair, taking a deep breath.
‘Firstly, I will have to create some kind of magical protection around my tree house to prevent Mathias from causing any damage while we are away. It seems that he is on the warpath, and I’m certainly not taking any chances.’ Chimzen turned to face his desk and paged carefully through his book of wizardry. The Malco trio suddenly came alive, springing up from where they lay and hovering over their master’s head. Chimzen flipped through the pages in the big black book, squinting his eyes as if in need of a pair of spectacles.
‘Ah, here we go!’ he announced, running his fingers over the relevant lines. He got up from his desk chair and positioned himself next to the round table in the centre of the room.
‘Malco trio, please take your places!’ he said firmly, pointing his potent stick upwards and waving it in a slow circular motion. The trio knew the procedure all too well and shot through the little window Squidget had entered earlier, chuckling as they spun along. The three balls lined up in a triangular formation directly above the little tree house, sensing the power of Chimzen’s staff as they spun into position.
Chimzen waved his staff in wider circles to prepare the Malcos for the protection procedure. Then he chanted words from his magic book:
‘Das tre bales hev dat krag ad di mes keem,
The three balls have the power as it may seem,
Do tovect ma tre hus tif u daser keem,
To protect my house with a laser beam,
Das teng vi sef, das teng vi rigt,
I swing you left, I swing you right,
lest mas heft hover ke u horce te jite,
Let my great power be a force of light,
De sority vate en seture,
Security safe and secure,
Gast de dief esto sag kuck,
Blast the thief into soft manure.’
As Chimzen chanted the words of the spell of protection, he continued waving his powerful staff in a circular motion, and the Malco trio started spinning faster and faster. Soon they were spinning at an incredible speed, while projecting beams of red light at one another. Surrounding the tree house, they slowly moved up and down its full height. Gradually they increased their speed, until eventually what looked like a long tubular triangle was formed, surrounding Chimzen’s home. The trio moved away from the tree house once the spell had been completed, and the long red laser triangle still remained perfectly intact. No one would dare come near the deadly security system, unless they had a death wish. Fortunately all of Chimzen’s animal friends had been warned about the red triangle shield, so there wouldn’t be any instances of cremated birds or squirrels to have to worry about.
Chimzen returned his staff to his side and explained to the boys exactly what he had done. They weren’t really amazed or even surprised for that matter; they were becoming quite accustomed to all of these events concerning magic. The Malco balls created several fiery sparks as they zipped through the red laser shield, and flew into the room through the little window, heading straight for the little planets that hovered above the round table. They appeared as though they were steaming from the incredible heat endured outside, and the boys were quite shocked by the trail of smoke that followed in after them.
‘Wow! Those balls are really smoking Frank!’
‘My goodness, they sure can take the heat!’
‘Well done Malcos,’ Chimzen said, smiling proudly, ‘it seems as though we no longer need to worry about Mathias or any of his destructive schemes; the tree house will be well protected now.’ Chimzen looked sternly at the boys, while tapping his staff on the floor.
‘This is it then! We had better be on our way!’ he announced. ‘Are you boys quite sure that you want to do this?’
Philip stared at Frank, feeling a little bit nervous.
‘Well we most certainly don’t wish to be monkeys for the rest of our lives, so let’s go,’ Frank replied, looking at Philip for a response. Philip looked down and nodded slowly, only hoping he wouldn’t regret his decision later on.
‘Okay, it’s decided then, let’s be off,’ Chimzen said, walking over to his desk. ‘Let me gather a few things together then we can prepare for the launch.’ Chimzen reached into his top drawer and grabbed a little black book along with a few other odds and ends. He asked the boys to stand back to back with him in a triangular formation just below the revolving green planet. The Malcos zipped around the three to gain an exact teleport position.
‘Make sure you take us to an open field, Malcos, and not anywhere near a dangerous forest,’ Chimzen addressed the trio, holding the two boys firmly behind him.
‘Most certainly master! We will take the utmost care!’ Zen exclaimed, spinning towards the round green planet above the table. Zet and Zip formed a straight line behind Zen, who was pressed hard up against the floating green ball. Chimzen raised his staff towards the little planet, and began to chant his magic:
‘Dre jitle sales das kin op!
Three little balls that spin on!
fan dasses go klamet Floran!
Gain access to planet Floran!’
The Malco trio started to glow fiery hot, until they smouldered into darkened bronze. The dark bronze balls glowed like a fluorescent light, and finally turned to solid gold. The little green planet transformed from a solid ball into a floating green liquid goo. Shortly afterwards the three gold balls merged with the little oozing planet and promptly disappeared. The three were left behind standing for quite some time. Chimzen waited patiently, knowing well that the Malcos had a fair amount of space travelling to do before they would arrive on land.
Finally it happened. Frank and Philip had knots in their stomachs as they watched themselves slowly disappear. Shortly afterwards all three vanished into thin air, and the room was left strangely empty, except for Elvis, of course!
Chapter 9
After some time spent chasing the Malco trio, Mathias realized that he was wasting his time. To catch them would be like catching a bullet fired from a gun. He was absolutely furious, knowing very well that his cousin had just stolen his prize monkeys. He only wished that he had thought twice about trying to catch them, and had rather returned to the cage where the boys were tied up.
‘How dare you do this to me Chimzen, you good for nothing fool,’ he muttered, hovering closer to the tree house with his baggy blue jeans flapping in the breeze. ‘There go all my hard work and preparations down the drain.’
The wizard held his chin, plotting evil things as he gazed up and down the tall pepper tree abode. ‘That blasted cousin of mine; I will make sure he pays for what he has done! He’s nothing but a common thief!’
Squidget perched near the tree house and watched him approach. The little squirrel sat trembling on a branch and closed his little jacket tightly around himself. A big smile lit Mathias’s face while he absent-mindedley smeared yellow goo onto his jeans. He had just come up with the most incredibly wicked idea. Without hovering for a moment longer, he flew back to his hole, chuckling like a devil.
He feared Chimzen’s awesome power and very seldom ever pursued any of his wicked plans, knowing that he could live to regret it. This time he didn’t care though; he was completely irrational. Chimzen would have to pay for stealing from him. He slapped the pistol down on the table in the entrance hall and rushed down the passage with his lamp. Once he had returned the flying jeans to the room on the left, he checked quickly to see if the boys were actually gone. ‘Damn you Chimzen! You will pay for this!’ he roared, seeing the empty cage. Fumbling in his pocket for a moment, he withdrew his bunch of keys and turned to face the large steel door on his right.
He slotted a large key into the rusty keyhole with trembling hands, and finally jerked it open after applying considerable force. The door creaked ajar like an old safe, releasing a pungent odour. It was filled with rows of shelves on either side that reached up to the mouldy ceiling. Standing on the shelves was a large display of glass bottles of all different shapes and sizes, each one, no doubt, filled with some kind of disgusting evil. He stepped into the room and walked to the far right hand corner.
‘Where can it be?’ he pondered, running a filthy fingernail across the dusty labels. ‘I’m sure I put it here to keep safe for a rainy day!’ After a short period of muttering, complaining and searching, he stumbled across what he was looking for.
‘Ah, there you are!’ he exclaimed, snatching the dusty bottle and examining it closely to see if he had the correct one. The dusty label read: “Sizing Agent”.
‘Ah ha! This is the one!’ he announced with glee, displaying a mouth of filthy teeth. The bottle contained a murky slimy green liquid, like something taken from the bottom of an old stagnant pond. He locked the large steel door and marched off to the table in the entrance hall.
Taking an empty jar from the table in the corner, he emptied the yellow goo from his pistol.
‘I think I will save this for another day, when I finally get to catch those blasted balls,’ he muttered, placing the jar to one side of the table. The yellow goo together with a simple spell could dissolve the trio into nothing. The only problem was; he was finding them impossible to catch.
The evil wizard opened the jar of sizing agent and very carefully filled the pistol with the green slime. Then he took it up the ladder with him and squirted it a few times while carefully adjusting the nozzle to a fine green mist.
‘There we go, my gun’s ready; now all I need is suitable subject matter,’ he said, inspecting the revolving tip with childlike satisfaction. What on earth can this wicked man be up to?
He returned to his table and triumphantly slapped the pistol down. Then he grabbed a medium sized flask complete with lid from the table corner and hastily climbed the exit ladder, almost dropping the flask lid in excitement as he walked out
into the open. He scanned the ground carefully while pacing forward and shuffling the leaves from left to right with his smelly shoe, desperately in search of something. After a few minutes he suddenly dropped down on all fours like a father playing horsey-horsey with his small son, and started fumbling through the soil with his hands. At last, he found exactly what he was looking for.
‘I knew that wouldn’t take very long!’ he announced with glee, running his grubby fingers through the sand. ‘In the flask you go, yes, all of you; come along!’
Mathias had just stumbled across an ant nest and was busy scooping thousands of ordinary little black garden ants into his glass container. Standing up onto his feet he carefully twisted the glass lid back in place with his filthy hand, confining almost an entire ant nest.
‘Now for the final stage of my plan,’ he chuckled, marching back to his underground dungeon.
He sat at his corner worktable with the lamp shining brightly on his left, while he flipped through his large book of dark magic in search of spells of destruction. He started to feel frustrated after some time, unable to find exactly what he was looking for.
‘Aha, here we go!’ he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together with glee. ‘I knew you were here somewhere!’ He remained seated for a while, reciting the spell in preparation for his wicked plan. ‘Okay, I think I’m finally ready,’ he said, scanning across the page one last time.
He rushed off to fetch his flying jeans, reciting the spell under his breath as he went. When he was dressed he grabbed the sealed flask of ants and the pistol filled with green sludge. He quickly glanced over the room one more time, making sure he had everything necessary for his treacherous mission, and disappeared out into the open.
* * * * * * * *
The wizard flew through the air with his jeans flapping wildly in the breeze, and shortly arrived outside the pepper tree abode. Gazing up its length, he noticed the red laser force field surrounding it.
‘Oh, I see my beloved cousin has his tree house protection shield activated. What use is that going to be to him now, I wonder?’ he sniggered, hovering halfway up, laughing and shaking his head at the same time. ‘When I’m finished here he won’t have a home left to protect. At least there’s no one at home now, which means I can continue in peace.’