Gecko Gladiator (8 page)

Josh and Danny were having the times of their lives. They had never fought like this before. They'd scrapped often enough, of course—they were brothers. But a really full-on FIGHT like this? Never!

If Josh hadn't spotted the security guard and the store manager running toward the cacophony, things might have gotten more serious. But seeing Mr. Butch and the square-faced guard helped him remember who he was. And who Danny was and what they had been trying to do when they got caught up in the Damsels' Party. ESCAPE! That's what!

Josh rolled into the pink castle-shaped tent, dragging Danny with him. He hoped desperately that he wasn't about to make things even worse. Out of sight of the baying damsels, he pulled the S.W.I.T.C.H. spray out of his pocket for the third time. He squirted a bit at Danny and then at himself.

Outside, the security guard was already pushing through all the screaming damsels and making for the doorway to the pink tent castle. He looked furious. He'd had more strife in one afternoon
in Princessland than he'd ever had working with juvenile delinquents …

But then he slid on a slick of friendship bracelet beads and shot across the floor. He shot into the face-paint stand. A large pot landed on his nose, daubing him with glittery yellow. All the damsels burst into fits of uncontrollable giggling.

He struggled onto his knees and crawled toward the tent, growling with fury. But when he tore open the curtains at the tent doorway, he was once again confronted with nothing. Nobody there at all!

“What is GOING ON?!!” he wailed, sinking back down to the floor. “I've been working too hard,” he told himself as his forehead thumped onto the floor. An orange flumpywumpy slid down his face. “I wuvv you!” it told him. He didn't notice the leopard-skin and pink geckos shimmying up over his shoulder and shooting out of the castle tent window.

There was a pillar near the pink castle. In fact, the structure had been tied up against it for extra stability. Danny and Josh shot up the pillar so fast that they were nothing more than a blur to anyone watching—and nobody was watching. They were far too interested in seeing whether the big security guard was going to stop crying and come back out of the pink castle.

Danny and Josh got outside the store in less than a minute and then shot into some shrubs that grew alongside it. They sat, motionless, waiting to S.W.I.T.C.H. back again. For several minutes, they said nothing. Danny licked his eyeballs once or twice. But other than that, they just kept still.

Finally, Danny spoke. “That was … kind of weird.” The scales on his shoulder were sore and bruised, even though he'd S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back down to gecko size. The back of Josh's neck was also covered in teeth marks. “Sorry, Josh. I really didn't mean to bite you that hard.”

“Yes, you did,” Josh said. “But so did I. Don't feel too bad—we couldn't help it.”

“What do you mean?” Danny asked. He was feeling very guilty about the great glee with which he had attacked his twin just ten minutes ago.

“We're both geckos, and we're both male,” explained Josh. “Female geckos can get along fine together. But male geckos can't. They're really territorial. And they quite often fight to the death.”

Danny gulped.

“It's just as well that security guard came along,” Josh said. “I might've bitten your head off.”

Danny smirked. “I'd like to see you try …”

“DON'T!” Josh waved his gecko hand at Danny. “Seriously! DON'T! We mustn't let that happen again. How will I explain it to Mom? She'll ask where are you, and I'll have to say I bit your head off. She won't like it, you know.”

“She'll be fine—because I will have bitten YOUR head off!” snarled Danny, getting up onto all four feet and baring his teeth.

FFFFFFFFOOOFFF!

And then he was crouched on his hands and knees with his head poking up out of the bushes, still baring his teeth. Josh was doing the same. Fortunately, they were both boy-shaped again. Completely, this time.

“Phew!” sighed Josh. “That was close. Come on—let's go home. I've had enough excitement for one day.”

Danny nodded, getting to his feet and looking around, embarrassed.

They dusted themselves off, noticing that there was still bits of blood on their boy skin and some little bite marks. Then they set out for home.

“WAIT!”

They froze, getting ready to run. Someone was skipping out of Princessland after them.

“WAIT!”

It was Melissa, waving two party bags. “The lady in Princessland said you two were our dragons!” she puffed, as she reached them. “You were so COOL! She said you must have these spare party bags. Here you go! Thanks for the fight!”

And then she was gone, leaving them with the bags.

Danny and Josh turned and ran.

When they got home, they sank gratefully onto the grass in their front garden. Danny started foraging through his party bag. “Cake!” he announced, pulling out a large golden wedge of spongecake topped with thick, pink icing. Josh found one too, and they both stuffed the cake into their mouths, super hungry after all the excitement.

“What else?” murmured Danny, digging into the bag again. “Bracelet—eurgh!” He chucked a stretchy beaded bracelet onto the grass. “Diddly DeeDee! Oh no! I never want to see another Diddly DeeDee!” He chucked that on top of the bracelet. “Jelly beans! Woohoo! Kazoo … not bad. And …” Then he stopped, puzzled. At the bottom of the bag was a bit of wadded-up notepaper.

“Jo-osh …” he said.

Josh had been going through his bag too, finding all the same things … and now … he too had some wadded-up paper.

What made them both go very quiet and still
was the familiar spiky writing. They opened up the notes and saw they were exactly the same. Each read:

HELLO AGAIN, JOSH AND DANNY.

AMAZING ESCAPE!

YOU ARE BOTH SO WORTHY

OF THE DESTINY THAT

AWAITS YOU …

DARE YOU SEEK IT?

Danny gulped and stared at Josh. “The Mystery Marble Sender!” he whispered. “They must have been right there in Princessland—watching us!”

“I know,” breathed Josh, glancing all around them. “They could be here now!” He shivered.

They read the next bit of their notes. The bit that always came next … the clue.

DON'T BLOW OR SUCK—HUM IF YOU CAN.

AND IF YOU CAN'T—YOU WIN!

“What?” Danny stared at the note. “What kind of a clue is that?”

But Josh was smiling. “An easy one. Which is just as well, because I'm not doing anything else good. No more adventures! I need a break!”

“You've just turned into your own granny,” observed Danny. But he knew what Josh meant. They needed a break from weirdness for a while.

Josh picked up both the kazoos. “Here you go,” he said, handing one to Danny. It was a good quality one, chunky and made of metal. “Blow in it, and it won't work. Sucking on it won't work either.”