Akiko on the Planet Smoo (10 page)

Spuckler was the
next contestant. They didn't have to drag him out of the cage, though. He practically
volunteere
d. When the big fat guy came over to take him into the ring, it was Spuckler who ended up leading the way.

“Don't worry, pal,” Spuckler said to the man, sounding like someone who did this sort of thing for fun. “I know the drill.”

Having just seen Gax beat an opponent many times his size, Mr. Beeba and I were a little less nervous. Spuckler, after all, was a fairly tough-looking guy, and we were pretty sure he could handle whatever it was they would send out to fight him. No one had as much confidence in Spuckler as Spuckler himself, though.

“Relax, everybody,” he called back to us as he approached the center of the ring. “I ain't met one yet I couldn't lick!”

Again the giant steel doors slowly creaked open to reveal the dimly lit passage behind them. I strained to get a good look, half expecting another Shnum-Crusher to come out, claws waving in the air. But whoever it was who set up these fights had found a much more frightening opponent for Spuckler.

There was a low growling that clearly came from some kind of animal. At first all you could see was the snout. It was big and green and covered with smooth, shiny skin like a salamander's. Then slowly, bit by bit, the creature moved forward into the light until we could all see exactly what it was: a giant lizard, about fifty feet tall! It looked sort of like a
Tyrannosaurus rex
, except that its head was about twice the size of its body, and its teeth were . . . well, they were just plain
unbelievable
. I mean, this animal couldn't even shut its own mouth, that's how big its teeth were. It also had beady black eyes, pointy claws, and a long shimmering tail. But all you could see were those teeth, I swear.

“A d-dinosaur!” I gasped.

“Technically it's a
Jaggasaur,
Akiko,” Mr. Beeba corrected, “but I'm sure you have the right idea.”

Spuckler suddenly looked very small and harmless in comparison to the Jaggasaur. When the lizard creature saw him, it let out this incredibly loud roar that echoed all over the arena. The spectators cheered and whistled and just generally went crazy. They were looking forward to seeing Spuckler get gobbled up right there in front of them!

Spuckler turned around and started running away from the creature as fast as he could. It looked like he had lost his nerve and had decided to make a run for it. The Jaggasaur took off after him, and the crowd roared with glee. Though Spuckler was really quick and had gotten a pretty good head start, the monster lizard was closing in fast. Before long Spuckler was only a few feet ahead of the creature, who was snapping wildly at the air with his enormous teeth missing Spuckler by just a couple of inches.

Then I realized Spuckler wasn't running away at all. What he was doing was sprinting as fast as he could toward the wall of the arena. And when he got so close that he was only a few yards from the wall, he suddenly changed direction and trotted off to one side. The Jaggasaur, of course, was far too big and heavy to change direction that quickly, so he flew head long into the wall at about a hundred miles an hour! Chunks of the wall went flying, and the Jaggasaur flopped over onto the ground, leaving a big dent in the wall where he'd hit.

There was an astonished gasp from the crowd, followed by booing and hissing. Spuckler didn't seem to mind, though. He strutted around the ring with his hands up in the air, acting like they were cheering him on.

“Thank you, thank you!” he said as the crowd shouted even more angrily. “ 'Tweren't nothin'.”

By then the
Jaggasaur had recovered and began slowly creeping up behind Spuckler. Mr. Beeba and Gax and I tried to warn him by yelling and waving our hands, but he couldn't hear because of all the noise from the crowd. Spuckler had no idea the Jaggasaur was anywhere near him until the creature reached out and grabbed him around the waist with one of his outstretched claws.

Next thing we knew, Spuckler was being spun around in circles like a lasso. I was getting dizzy just looking at him. He must have gone around fifty or sixty times before the Jaggasaur let go, sending him soaring up into the sky like he'd been fired out of a cannon. We all just followed him with our eyes as he rose higher and higher into the air. He went up so high, in fact, that I thought he might fall somewhere outside the arena.

“Heavens!” Mr. Beeba cried, following the curve of Spuckler's skyward path. “He's going to land right on top of
us
!”

Sure enough, Spuckler came crashing down onto the roof of our cage, nearly crushing it as he bounced off and landed on the ground nearby. I think the cage actually broke his fall a little. But he was still in pretty bad shape. He lay flat on his back and showed no sign of moving. The crowd cheered wildly.

“Spuckler!” I called out to him. “Are you okay?”

“That you, Gax?” he asked, squinting at the air. “C'mon, boy, take them Bropka steaks off the grill. . . .” His eyes had this weird dizzy look, like he was half-asleep or something.

“Bropka steaks?” I asked, turning to Mr. Beeba. “What's he talking about? He's not making any sense!”

“Well,
that's
nothing new, Akiko,” he replied. “The problem is he's no longer in any condition to fight!”

“Fight?” Spuckler asked, slowly coming out of his grogginess. Suddenly he blinked and seemed very alert.

“Fight!” he repeated, jumping to his feet.

The Jaggasaur, annoyed to find that his opponent was not dead, turned to face Spuckler and growled menacingly. The crowd was buzzing with excitement. I think they knew that this next round was going to be the last and that whoever walked away from it would be the winner. Maybe Spuckler knew this too, because he leaned forward and braced himself with both legs, as if he were prepared to give his all.

“Okay, Jaggs,” he muttered, already having come up with a nickname for the creature. “Let's see what you got.”

The Jaggasaur opened his mouth as if to roar loudly, but instead a blast of fire shot out of his mouth and hit the ground a foot or two from where Spuckler stood. Spuckler leaped out of the way just in time and landed flat on his back. For the first time a look of fear came over his face.

“A
fire-breathin'
Jaggasaur?” he said in disbelief. “This ain't my
day
.”

The Jaggasaur must have had a pretty good supply of fire in him, because he kept shooting flames out all over the place. Spuckler ran from one place to the next, but everywhere he fled the Jaggasaur followed with another burst of flames. Finally he had Spuckler surrounded by a ring of fire. The roar of the crowd grew louder.

I felt sure that Spuckler was in very real trouble.

“He's . . . He's going to be burned alive!” I cried.

“Poor man. It's a shame to see this happen to him after such a valiant effort,” Mr. Beeba said, as if Spuckler were already dead and gone. I couldn't believe he was taking the whole thing so calmly.

“Aren't you going to
do
anything?” I shouted at him.

“Now, d-don't get me wrong, Akiko,” he stammered, a bit startled by the tone of my voice. “I hate to see Spuckler go. He's a very dear friend of mine, you see. But we must take full account of the
risks
involved before we do anything too . . . er . . .
risky
.”

I could see that Mr. Beeba wasn't going to be any help.

Meanwhile the flames were getting closer and closer to Spuckler. Sweat was pouring down his face, and it looked as if he'd completely run out of strength. It was a terrible thing to see, and I found myself wishing yet again that I'd never agreed to come on this adventure. If I'd known things were going to get this bad I'd have definitely stayed home, safely tucked under the covers of my bed!

Suddenly I noticed
Poog staring at me. He had this funny look in his eyes, and he'd moved up really close to my face so that I could hardly see anything but him. Then something really weird happened. Poog never opened his mouth, but I swear he
said
something to me. I know it sounds pretty crazy, but I think he said the word
yes
.

And that's when I knew what I had to do.

When Spuckler had fallen on top of the cage, its bars had bent a little, leaving a much bigger gap between some of the bars than there had been before. And there was just enough space for me to squeeze through.

“Akiko!” Mr. Beeba cried, trying his best to yank me back into the cage. “What's gotten into you?”

I pulled away from him.

“I'm going to put an end to this nonsense,” I heard myself saying. And the funny thing is, I really meant it. Suddenly I felt very sure that there was no more time to sit around worrying about what would happen next. I had to take charge of things.

I stepped out into the arena and started walking over to where the Jaggasaur was standing. When Spuckler saw what I was doing, he was just as surprised as Mr. Beeba.

“Get back in that cage, Akiko!” he shouted from behind the flames. “This ain't no place for a little girl like you! You'll get yourself killed!”

“Don't worry, Spuckler!” I shouted, not even bothering to turn my head. “I know what I'm doing!” And so I kept walking and walking, all the way across the arena, until I was just a few yards from where the Jaggasaur stood. There was a lot of confusion in the stands. People just couldn't believe I was doing what I was doing. Looking back, I can hardly believe it myself.

Oddly enough, the Jaggasaur just stood there staring down at me. Small puffs of smoke were coming out of his mouth as he breathed in and out, but otherwise he was perfectly still. I guess monsters of that size aren't used to little girls walking up to them, so he just stood there with this puzzled expression on his face.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” I shouted up at the creature. “Who do you think you are, bullying a scrawny little man like that? Why don't you pick on someone your
own
size!”

The spectators were astonished. They chattered among themselves, trying to figure out who I was and what I was doing. As for the Jaggasaur, he suddenly became very tame, like a dog who had just been given a good scolding. He sat down on his hind legs and let out another small puff of smoke.

Just then two big guys snuck up behind me to stop me from interrupting the fight. I heard their footsteps and turned around to face them. They were both pretty tough looking and could have very easily just picked me up and carried me away. I don't know what it was that happened to me just then. I guess I figured I had nothing to lose, so I might as well show these guys how angry I really was.

“Don't touch me or you'll be sorry!” I shouted. It must have looked pretty ridiculous, a little girl like me telling those two guys they'd be sorry. In fact, all they did was sort of chuckle and keep walking toward me, which only made me angrier. I clenched my fists, closed my eyes, and yelled at them as loudly as I possibly could.

“
Look
, I don't have time to mess
around
with you crazy people! I've got a
prince
to rescue! I've got to find
Alia Rellapor
and . . .”

Boy, did they jump when they heard
that
! They turned to each other and spoke nervously in their own language.

“
Hssf fssfss gsf hss
Alia Rellapor?” asked one.

“
Gssfs
Alia Rellapor
hssfss ssfs
!” replied the other.

They were suddenly like a couple of terrified schoolboys. It didn't take me long to figure out what was frightening them.

“Yeah,” I said, “
Alia Rellapor
!”

They jumped back like they'd seen a ghost. So I said it again, this time sort of sticking my hands in front of me like a couple of claws.

“Alia Rellapor! Alia Rellapor!”

They slowly backed away from me, then turned around and took off running. Before long the whole arena was buzzing with the name. As tough as all these people looked, they were terrified of the name Alia Rellapor. Many of them got up out of their seats and started dashing for the exits. Pretty soon the crowds were out of control, and people were crawling all over each other to get out of the stadium.

The noise of the crowd rose to a feverish pitch. A number of spectators fell out of the stands and landed only a few yards from the Jaggasaur. Taking them for new opponents, the monstrous lizard lurched forward and started chasing them around the arena. A whole troop of men came out to try to control the Jaggasaur. They frantically tossed ropes and chains over the monster, finally tying him up enough so that they could drag him back out of the stadium.

And then there I was, alone in the middle of the arena, still trying to figure out how to save Spuckler from the ring of fire that surrounded him. Oddly, I noticed that my feet were getting wet. Suddenly water was pouring all over the ground in every direction. It was like a miracle! The flames around Spuckler fizzled out in a matter of seconds, making a loud hissing sound and sending huge clouds of white smoke into the air. I ran over to make sure Spuckler was all right. There he lay, flat on his back, soaked to the skin with water.

“Spuckler! Did you get burned?”

“Naw, 'Kiko,” he said with a smile. “I came pretty darn close, though!”

“So where's all this water coming from?” I asked.

“I'm not sure,” he replied, sitting up. He shielded his eyes from the sun and gazed across the arena. “But I think I'm lookin' at him right now!”

Following Spuckler's lead, I looked over and saw Mr. Beeba standing knee-deep in water near the inner wall of the arena. With both his hands, he clenched this big steering wheel that controlled the flow of water into the stadium. Just a few feet away from him was a huge opening in the wall with water gushing out of it like a waterfall. I guess it was normally used for washing the ring out after really messy fights, but thanks to Mr. Beeba it turned out to be the perfect fire extinguisher. Spuckler and I just stood there blinking for a minute. After all, Mr. Beeba was the last person we'd have expected to save the day!

“Look,” Mr. Beeba shouted impatiently, “are you two going to just stand there or are you going to help me turn this thing back off?”

We both ran over to help him out. It wasn't easy, but among the three of us we managed to shut off the water.

“Well, thank ya, Beebs,” Spuckler said, shaking Mr. Beeba's hand enthusiastically. “If it weren't for you, I'd be as overcooked as a batter-fried bug-burger!”

“That's very touching, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba replied uncomfortably. “Can we get this tender moment over with as quickly as possible?”

I couldn't resist teasing Mr. Beeba a little about his act of bravery.

“I'm surprised to see you outside the cage, Mr. Beeba. Isn't it too
risky
?”

“It certainly
is
, Akiko,” Mr. Beeba replied, clearly enjoying this chance to play the hero. “Rather
dashing
of me, don't you think?”

We all went back over to the cage to make sure that Gax and Poog were okay. Gax was very relieved that his master had survived his battle with the Jaggasaur.

“
I'M VERY GLAD THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, SIR,
” Gax said. “
I DON'T KNOW HOW I'D CARRY ON WITHOUT YOU.
”

“Don't worry, little buddy,” Spuckler replied, patting Gax on his helmet as if he were a dog. “I'll always be here for ya when ya need me.”

Meanwhile I was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on and why everyone had become so scared when I said the name Alia Rellapor.

“I don't get it,” I said to Mr. Beeba. “Do they think I work for Alia Rellapor or something?”

“It's better than that, Akiko,” he replied with a grin. “They think you
are
Alia Rellapor.”

“What?” I gasped. “But . . . but
why
?”

“Well, there's the outlandish clothing you're wearing, for one thing,” Mr. Beeba said, gesturing at my T-shirt and blue jeans.

Frankly, I thought Mr. Beeba's clothes were a whole lot weirder than mine, but I guess it all depends on what planet you're from.

“Fact is,” Spuckler explained, “these guys have never even
seen
Alia Rellapor. They've just heard all the stories about her.”

“That's right,” Mr. Beeba continued, “and now they're afraid you're going to destroy them all in an act of vengeance!”

“Destroy them all?” I couldn't believe they were really serious about this. “I'm only in the
fourth grade
, for cryin' out loud!”

“All you gotta do is play the part, Akiko,” Spuckler assured me with a smile. “Keep lookin' angry. It's scary when you're angry.”

“Really?” I asked. This actually made me happy, for some reason.

“Most definitely,” Mr. Beeba agreed.

A minute later four big, husky men came out carrying a platform with four chairs on it. With great politeness they invited us to sit in the chairs, which we did. Then they lifted the platform onto their shoulders and carried us out of the arena like royalty. There was hushed silence among the people we passed as they carried us out of the main gates of the stadium. All this special treatment got me to wondering about Alia Rellapor. If tough people like this were scared of her, I concluded, she must be one nasty lady.

Still, I was very relieved to be out of the stadium, and I had the feeling that things were going to go well. While the four men carried us through the streets of the Sky Cove, I got a chance to talk to Poog, who was floating just a few feet from my head. Though I wasn't sure whether he could understand me or not, I wanted to at least
try
to show my appreciation.