Chapter Twelve: Driven Out!

Tony worked through the night, and by 5:00 a.m. he had finished the first chapter of his planned graphic novel. It was about twenty pages long, and it was black and white. The lettering had been done Adobe Illustrator, and looked very professional. Tony woke Phillip up to show him.

"Take a look!" said Tony, as Phillip wiped his eyes.

"I thought it was going to be in color," said Phillip. "I even saw you do a couple of pages in color with Photoshop!"

"I decided to post the first version of chapter one in black and white, because coloring takes too long," said Tony. "Eventually, I'll go back and color each page with Photoshop and release a full color version, but for now it's all black and white."

"You should post this on the Internet," Phillip suggested.

"I already did!" said Tony. "It's available on the comic studio website, I uploaded it just before I woke you up."

Just then, at Lacey and Caitlin's motel room, an android arrived at the door and knocked. Lacey answered the door.

"I'm from temporal recon," said the android, "Tony has uploaded the first chapter of the comic to the website of the comic studio he works for, and he is guilty of several violations that could cause him to be in trouble with the law."

"Thank you for informing us!" said Lacey. By now, Caitlin had arrived next to her, rubbing her eyes.

"You should notify Tony's employer of Tony's violations as soon as the comic studio opens." said the android.

"Should I go down there in person, or should I do it over the phone?" Lacey asked.

"I would recommend a personal touch," said the android. "I think you should go down there in person."

When the android turned to leave, Lacey shut the door. "Let's take our showers, and get down there. Do you want to go with me?"

"Yes!" said Caitlin.

About an hour and a half later, Caitlin and Lacey stepped off a bus near the comic studio, a few minutes before it opened. Lacey saw Tony's boss unlock the door, so she approached him.

"Do you have an artist named Tony Oldman working for you?" Lacey asked.

"Yes, I do," said the boss. "Why?"

"I have evidence that Tony used a pirated copy of Adobe Illustrator to letter a good portion of a comic he uploaded to your website. As well as some other violations!"

"Really?" the boss replied, "I'll have to look into this!"

He ushered the girls inside, and went to the computer and turned it on. He examined the comic Tony had put together, and remarked, "It doesn't follow the story pattern of any comic I've ever seen! My comic studio could get heavily fined just for that!" The boss looked several pages into the comic, and saw the character Regan Dare leaping into some water on the planet Zeptar. "He has used an unauthorized sound effect here! What does 'Ker-Plash' mean?"

Lacey handed the boss the evidence the android had given her. "This is proof that the software he used was pirated!"

The boss got on the phone and called the police, when Tony arrived.

"The police have already been called," said the boss.

"For what?" Tony asked.

"Pirated software, unauthorized use of sound effects, and the story you wrote doesn't fit any known paradigm."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

The boss tossed him a binder. "This is a list of all the stories you are authorized to use. For example, a girl has powers, but she is shunned by her peers, then the popular kids trick her into becoming prom queen, and she exacts her revenge."

"That's the plot behind Carrie!" said Tony. "So all the stories you use have to follow a strict pattern?"

"You said you were a Kubert school graduate," said the boss, "you should've learned all of this! And can you explain this to me?" The boss showed Tony the 'Ker-Plash' sound effect.

"That's a sound effect!" said Tony.

"But it isn't a registered sound effect," said the boss.

Lacey and Caitlin came out from behind a file cabinet where they had been hiding, and Lacey said, "You should try to keep him here until the police arrive!"

Tony took one look at Lacey and Caitlin, and bolted from the comic studio. Lacey and Caitlin exited the comic studio, and ran to the sidewalk where they watched Tony run down the street and turn at the corner.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Caitlin asked.

"We want to drive him back to Dakadania," said Lacey, "those were our instructions."

Tony made it to a pay phone and called Bobby. Luckily, Bobby hadn't left for work yet.

"I saw Caitlin at the comic studio this morning!" said Tony. "My boss wants to have me arrested for using pirated software, and some other violations! We need to leave this world as soon as possible! I'm at the gas station around the corner from the comic studio, can you come get me?"

"I'm on my way!" said Bobby.

"I'll be hiding behind the dumpster!" said Tony.

When Bobby arrived, Tony jumped in, and Phillip was already in the back seat.

"Are we taking the flying saucer?" Phillip asked. "I brought the magic lamp, in case we need it!"

"I know of a dimensional nexus point a little bit further away than the one we came through to get here," said Tony. "But first, we need to figure out a way to get rid of the subcutaneous transponders we had injected into us!"

"If we wish for all of our transponders to disappear, we would waste a wish and we could still have another transponder injected into us," said Bobby. "How about we wish for a machine that could remove any transponder, so we could use it over and over again!"

"That's a great idea!" said Tony. "But you're going to have to do it Bobby, because me and Phillip have just about used up our wishes."

"No problem!" said Bobby. He took the magic lamp, rubbed it and wished for a device that could remove their transponders. When he made his wish, a device appeared, and Tony took it and waved it over his body.

"How does this thing work?" Tony asked, and a read-out screen lit up, explaining how to use the device. "Oh, here's the instructions!" Tony carefully read the instructions, then located his transponder, somewhere below his neck. He pushed a button on the device, and removed the transponder, then threw the transponder out the window.

Meanwhile, Lacey and Caitlin were at the bus stop by the comic studio, and Caitlin was looking at the scanner that kept track of their captive's transponder signatures.

"Tony's transponder signal disappeared!" said Caitlin. She showed the scanner to Lacey. "How is that possible?"

"They must have figured out a way to use that lamp to remove their transponders," said Lacey. "The transponders are powered by their body heat, once they're removed, they become inactive. We can only hope that they will be driven back to Dakadania!"

"But if they return without their transponders, we'll never find them again!" said Caitlin.

Back in Bobby's car, Tony handed the device to Phillip. "You use the blue button to locate your transponder, then you use the red button to remove it!"

Phillip did as Tony instructed, and found and removed his transponder, and tossed it out the window.

Another blip on Caitlin's scanner disappeared. "Phillip's transponder signal is gone now, too!"

"We can't interfere with them or we'll fail on our mission," said Lacey. "Temporal recon said they must be driven back to Dakadania by events we set into motion. If we try to acquire them, they might use the lamp to escape, or worse, they might do something to us!"

"So what should we do?" Caitlin asked.

"Just wait and see what they do. If their flying vehicle enters Dakadania, we should be able to pick it up with scanners we have."

"But what if they wish for a cloaking device that can beat our scanners?" Caitlin asked. Lacey was quiet as she pondered this.

Meanwhile, Tony and Bobby were discussing this very issue. "Bobby, when we get back to your pad, you need to wish for a cloaking device that we can install on the flying saucer so it can beat any of the Dakadanian scanners!"

"What's your plan once we get back to Dakadania?" Bobby asked.

"I want to start a resistance movement, and rescue other humans from those giant brats!" said Tony. "With this transponder removal device, we should be able to help quite a few people! Are you coming with us?"

"I don't have a choice," said Bobby, "I've already helped you, the police are after you, and I could get arrested for what I've done for you already. I'm going back to Dakadania with you!"

"Bobby still has one wish after he wishes for the cloaking device," said Phillip. "What else should he wish for?"

"We need to figure out a way to really get back at them," said Bobby. "Tony, you created Dakadania, what do they really fear?"

"They don't want the people of earth to know that Dakadania exists," said Tony. "They want to keep it a secret."

"Give me that lamp!" said Bobby, as he pulled over to the side of the curb. "Tony, you said there were two of them at the comic studio?"

"Yes, Caitlin and an older girl," Tony replied.

"Lamp, for my second wish, I want Tony's flying saucer to be equipped with a cloaking device that can beat any detection device the Dakadanians use! For my final wish, I wish for Caitlin and her companion to return to normal Dakadanian size, so they're giants here on Earth!"

At that exact moment, Caitlin and Lacey expanded to their normal size, which is just under two hundred feet tall to normal-sized humans.

"What happened to us?" Caitlin asked.

"We've returned to normal size!" said Lacey. "They must've used the lamp again!"

"What should we do?" Caitlin asked.

"Let's try to intercept them before they reach the flying saucer! Do you know how to get to the property where Tony and Phillip were staying?"

"No!" Caitlin replied.

"Well, I do! Follow me!" said Lacey, and the two giant teenagers thundered off into the distance, toward Bobby's house.

Back in Bobby's car, Bobby started driving again. Phillip looked out the rear window and saw the giantesses.

"I see them!" said Phillip. "Step on it, Bobby! They're trying to reach your pad so they can destroy the saucer!"

"Can you get there before they do?" Tony asked.

"I can try!" said Bobby. "But by the time I get there I'll probably have broken a dozen laws and we'll probably have a million cop cars following us!"

"We're leaving this world any way!" said Tony. "We don't need to be worried about breaking the law!"

Bobby took that as an incentive to drive crazy. He weaved through traffic, and ran through every red light he came across. Sure enough, a police cruiser spotted him and followed in pursuit.

"It's a good thing your second wish was to have the cloaking device already installed in the flying saucer," said Tony, "because it doesn't look like we'll have the time to do anything but take off as soon as we get there!"

Meanwhile, the police car with it's flashing lights and siren made it easy for the giant-sized Caitlin and Lacey to identify.

"Look!" said Lacey, pointing at Bobby's blue Chevy Camaro. "Look! It's them! Just follow them!"

The girls wasted no time, and stomped on cars and structures if they got in their way. They hopped over traffic lights, but Bobby's car always seemed to stay the same distance ahead of them.

"It's going to fast!" said Caitlin. "We'll never catch up!"

"Don't speak too soon!" said Lacey, as she ripped a traffic light out of the ground, stood up, aimed, cocked it back, and threw it toward Bobby's Camaro. The debris landed in front of Bobby's car, causing him to slow down and swerve around it.

"They're catching up!" said Phillip from the back seat.