

### NIKKI POWERGLOVES

And the Power Council

### David Estes

Published by David Estes at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 David Estes

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to the real superheroes of the world,

those who save lives without capes, or masks, or hidden identities.

### Chapter One: Mr. Miyagi barks away the storm

"Checkmate! Whoop whoop!" Spencer yelled gleefully.

"You win again," Mrs. Nickerson said.

Nikki was watching TV while her best friend, Spencer, played chess with her mom. She was bored, but not because her friend was talking more to her mom than to her. She was bored because it had been two days since she had done anything amazing.

"I gotta get outta here," Nikki mumbled. A cartoon flashed across the screen, and although she was looking at the TV, she wasn't really seeing it. She was too busy thinking.

"What did you say, honey?" her mom asked.

Nikki turned her head. Her mom was looking at her strangely. She forgot that she had spoken. "Oh, nothing, Mom. I'm just bored, that's all."

Her mother grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry, dear. I guess I've been stealing Spencer away all afternoon."

"It's okay. It's not that. I think I just need to get out of the house," Nikki said.

Mrs. Nickerson laughed. "The rain doesn't seem like it will stop anytime soon, Nikks. You might just have to find a way to amuse yourself indoors."

Nikki groaned. _Ugh_. Rain, rain, and more rain. All day, all night. For two days straight it had poured down rain in Cragglyville. Nikki could have stopped it, could have made the sun come out again, but she and Spencer agreed that she shouldn't. The news reporters were saying how good the rain was for the farmers, how they really needed it. And Nikki didn't want to cause the farmers any trouble. Especially because one of the farmers was a close friend of hers, Farmer Miller.

But still, she was tempted to do something about it. Now that she was a superhero, Nikki wasn't used to having to wait so long for adventure. _Two days of rain is a long time_ , she thought. Surely it was enough for the farmers. Right?

As she considered stopping the rain, Nikki stared at her wrist. Tight against her skin was a thin, metal bracelet holding a single round, blue gem. _Her powerbracelet_. Any moment it could flash, calling her into action—Nikki Powergloves to the rescue! Instead, it just stared right back at her, as if it was saying, "Sorry, Nikki. Nobody needs your help today."

Spencer plopped down next to her on the couch. She glanced up at him, but not before he saw that she was staring at her bracelet.

Nikki said, "So...my mom beat you at chess one out of five today, huh?"

Spencer leaned toward her and whispered, "I let her win, but don't tell her." His eyes gleamed mischievously.

"I thought so," Nikki said, smiling for the first time in hours. _What would I do without Spencer?_ she asked herself. He had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. He had also been a genius for as long as she could remember. She was lucky to have him, especially now that she was a superhero. In her first week as a hero, she had battled against her arch nemesis, a boy villain who called himself Jimmy Powerboots. She might never have defeated him if not for Spencer's help. He was a good friend.

Motioning to Nikki's bracelet, Spencer said, "You hoping for an adventure today, Grasshopper?"

"Anything to get out of the house," Nikki said. "Are you sure it won't be sunny anytime soon?"

Spencer began humming to himself, his usual signal that he was thinking. After ten seconds, he said, "Well, the weather is very unpredictable, but I was looking at the radar earlier today, and it is showing rain for at least another couple of days."

Nikki groaned again. "I don't know if I'll last that long!"

Overhearing their conversation, Nikki's mom said, "Don't be so dramatic, Nikki. Why don't you kids just play a game while I start getting dinner ready?"

"Good idea!" Nikki said, grabbing Spencer's hand and pulling him off the couch, across the room, and up the stairs. Over her shoulder, she yelled, "Thanks, Mom! We'll play Monopoly or something in my room."

As soon as they were in her room, Nikki shut the door. A ball of fur stirred on the carpet in front of her. A low whine issued from the furry creature. "Sorry, Mr. Miyagi, I didn't mean to wake you," Nikki said. Nikki's dog licked his chops and then yawned as his eyes slowly opened. The gray Scottish terrier smiled sleepily when he saw Spencer, who promptly scratched him behind the ears.

"That's a good boy," Spencer said in a high-pitched voice. "Where are your games, Nikki?"

"For being a genius, you're kind of slow sometimes, Spence," Nikki said.

Spencer cocked his head to the side, confused, like he was trying to make sense of what Nikki had said. "You mean we didn't come up here to play Monopoly?" he said. He sounded disappointed.

"Nope. We're gonna fix this little weather problem."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

Nikki paused to think about it. Then she said, "Yes! It's a great idea! In fact, it's my duty because if I don't stop it soon this whole town might flood. I am just trying to help."

Spencer said, "Okay. If you say so, Bumble-Muppet."

Nikki laughed. Even though she was used to the way Spencer always called her funny names and yelled crazy things, he still managed to surprise her every now and then with a really silly one. "Bumble-Muppet?" she said.

Spencer shrugged. "It's a gift, what can I say?"

Nikki giggled. "Now, back to this little weather problem..."

She reached in her pocket and extracted a small box. Both Mr. Miyagi and Spencer watched her curiously. She placed the box on the carpet in the middle of her room, well away from the walls or furniture. Then she stood back and used a string attached to the lid to open the box. The tiny box, which was really a miniature chest, suddenly exploded outwards, ballooning in size until it was more than half as tall as Nikki.

Nikki was given the treasure chest earlier that summer. The giver was a strange talking creature that called itself a Weeble, but looked more like a cross between a beaver and a porcupine. When Nikki met the Weeble her life had changed forever, because inside the box was a more incredible prize than she could have possibly imagined.

With Spencer and her dog still watching her, Nikki reached inside the chest and removed two gloves. They looked rubbery and were colored black and yellow. A picture of a lightning bolt was etched on the palms. Nikki tugged the gloves onto each hand. As always, they fit perfectly.

Just in case her mom came into her room, Nikki pushed the heavy lid back onto the chest. As soon as it snapped into place, the magical chest began to bubble and then shrink, getting smaller and smaller until it was no taller than a quarter. Nikki pocketed the tiny box for safekeeping.

Scooting onto her bed, she crawled across to the window. Spencer followed and settled in on his knees, shoulder to shoulder with her. Mr. Miyagi leapt onto the bed and pushed his head between their hips, so he could see out into the yard. Lasers of rain fell from the sky, coating the plants, lawn furniture, and grass in wetness. The sky was dark, full of smoggy clouds that seemed intent on covering the blue skies forever or maybe even longer. Although it was the late afternoon, it felt like the dead of night.

Nikki concentrated. In her mind swirled images of the clouds moving away. She could picture a beam of sunlight bursting through the storm, providing a small measure of warmth and light. Then she pictured another sunbeam, and another, and another, until the sky was full of light, the sun shining brightly on the little town of Cragglyville.

Mr. Miyagi barked. Nikki looked at the sky. A final burst of rain poured from the heavens and then the storm began to slow. The clouds parted, moving impossibly in all directions. Mr. Miyagi kept barking at the sky, as if he wanted to chase the clouds away with his voice. The fat droplets of rain went on a diet and were soon thin and misty. Just before the rain stopped completely, a glorious burst of color arced across the sky! A perfect rainbow, full of reds and blues and yellows, streamed overhead.

"Wow!" Spencer said. "Jumpin' banana skins, that's incredible!"

Mr. Miyagi barked once more, as if to say, "I love rainbows!"

There was a knock at the door and then it opened. Nikki turned to see her mom enter the room. "What's all the fuss?" she asked. "I heard Mr. Miyagi barking."

Nikki smiled and said, "It was nothing, Mom. Mr. Miyagi was just barking away the storm." Mr. Miyagi wagged his tail and grinned proudly.

### Chapter Two: Spencer wears his underwear on his head

There was still a full hour before dinner would be ready and Nikki planned to take full advantage of it. As she and Spencer stepped outside, Nikki sighed when she felt the warmth of the sunshine on her face. A light breeze wafted in from the north, gently cooling everything in its path. The weather was perfect, but Nikki was not surprised. After all, she had made it that way.

Nikki said, "Want to go for a ride?"

Spencer's face lit up. "Do you really mean it? Yippee!"

"Is your mom home?" Nikki asked.

Spencer said, "No, she's working a double shift."

"Good. Let's go to your place so we can put on our disguises."

The pair walked down the block and entered Spencer's house through the side door, for which he had a key. The door led into a small, dark basement, which was littered with cardboard boxes and smelled like dust and cleaning products. Spencer reached up and pulled a string, turning on a lonely light bulb.

"Okay, let's hurry," Nikki said. "We don't have much time."

Nikki quickly opened the magical powerchest and pulled out a light blue glove. It had a picture of a bird on it. She was still wearing one of her black and yellow gloves to make sure the sun would keep shining. Next she dug out two pairs of shoes and some clothing. She handed Spencer his black sweatpants and a black t-shirt that said "Certified Genius" on it. A few days earlier, Spencer had insisted on having a disguise, too.

"What about my glasses?" he said.

"Oh, sorry," Nikki replied. Reaching back into the chest, she extracted a pair of dark sunglasses.

Spencer put them on first. "Thanks. Now close your eyes, Nikki."

"You first," she said.

Spencer clamped his eyes tightly shut beneath the sunglasses.

"No peeking," Nikki said sharply.

With practiced precision, she changed out of her shorts and t-shirt into the clothing she got from the powerchest. The new blue shorts were rimmed by a white stripe, which matched her blue and white tennis shoes. Her shirt was yellow, with a light blue picture of a glove on it, beneath her superhero initials, NP. Covering the rest of the shirt were various colored symbols, each of which represented another one of her many powers. The t-shirt design had been Spencer's idea. Lastly, she tied her brown ponytail around the front of her head, covering her eyes. She clipped the end of the ponytail behind her ear to hold it in place.

"Okay, you can open your eyes, Spence. Can you help me with my eye holes?"

She felt Spencer's hand touch her face and then she could see again, through holes that Spencer had burrowed in her ponytail. In each hole he inserted a small plastic circle. Nikki felt like she was looking through funny goggles, but she didn't mind. Sometimes superheroes had to make sacrifices to keep their identities a secret.

"Now your turn," Nikki said, closing her eyes.

She heard scuffling and shuffling, and then a minute later Spencer said, "Presto chango!" It's what he always said when he was finished putting on his costume.

Nikki opened her eyes and saw Spencer grinning at her, his mouth wide and full of teeth. His braces gleamed under the bright exposed light bulb. She grinned back at him. He looked funny wearing all black, especially because of the sunglasses. It was like he was a secret spy or something.

"Ready?" Nikki said, as she pushed her hand into the blue glove.

"I was born ready!" Spencer said.

They marched up the basement stairs and into the empty kitchen. As they passed through the tiled dining area, Nikki couldn't help but to remember how Jimmy Powerboots had looked the last time she had seen him. At the time, Nikki had thought she might have killed him when she used her powers to hit him in the head with a lightning bolt. His face had been as pale as a ghost. Nikki had cried, because she didn't want to hurt anyone, not even a villain. Eventually, however, Jimmy had woken up and Nikki had flown him far away, but only after taking his powerboots from him. Without them, he wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble.

Then, just a few days ago, he had called her with some news. Jimmy had a new friend named Peter Powerhats, and one of his powers was the ability to find lost powerchests. When Nikki and Spencer were out playing, Jimmy and Peter had snuck behind Nikki's house and retrieved Jimmy's powerboots from where Nikki had hidden them in the backyard.

Nikki shivered as she opened the back door, even though the air outside was warm and humid. She knew Jimmy would be coming back to Cragglyville to get his revenge, and he would probably bring his friend Peter with him. Nikki tried not to think about it. Right now, she just wanted to fly!

Nikki kneeled in the grass in Spencer's fenced-in backyard. "Hop on," she said.

Luckily, Spencer was smaller than Nikki, and she could easily give him a piggyback ride. For some reason, it was even easier when she was flying. On her back, he felt as light as a feather. Once she felt Spencer's legs around her waist and his arms around her neck, she yelled, "Lift off!" and sprang into the air.

Magically, gravity could not hold her, and instead of crashing back to the ground, her body continued upwards, as she rocketed through the air with Spencer hanging on tightly. "Wheeeee!" he screamed. Soon they were high above the earth, twisting and turning and flipping and spinning. After a few minutes of playing on the breeze, Nikki settled into a gentle cruise across the town. Far below them, Nikki spotted a little boy eating an ice cream cone. He saw them too and waved. Nikki waved back, but Spencer kept his hands tightly around her so he wouldn't fall off.

Nikki loved flying and she was good at it. She could dive close to the ground and then rise back up rapidly. She could dart and cut and duck and dive around trees and houses and anything else that got in her way. She could land as softly as a butterfly and take off as powerfully as a rocket ship. She could spin and twirl and flip in the air like an Olympic gymnast. Nikki felt like she was born to fly.

Nikki cruised over some of the surrounding farmland and then turned and headed back toward town. As she was about to enter Cragglyville, her powerbracelet began to glow, turning from silver to bright white. Someone needed her help!

She flew over Cragglyville, scanning the streets.

The little boy who had been eating the ice cream was still there, but he was surrounded by two other boys. One of them had stolen his half-eaten ice cream cone and smashed it on the sidewalk. The other one was holding his arms and laughing. From high in the air, Nikki couldn't see who they were.

"Bullies!" Spencer yelped. "We've got to help him!"

Nikki nodded and started to dive for the ground, but then stopped when she saw one of the local shop owners emerge from his store and start yelling at the two bullies. The man was tall and strong. Hovering in the air, Nikki watched to see whether the bullies would leave the boy alone now that an adult had gotten involved.

To her surprise, one of the boy's suddenly began to grow bigger, until he was as tall and strong as the shop owner. If that wasn't amazing enough, the boy then grew even bigger, becoming a giant in mere seconds. He towered over the shop owner, making him look like a midget in comparison. It was then that Nikki noticed he was wearing a mask.

Nikki swooped in to get a closer look and her breath caught in her throat when she saw who the other boy was. Wearing a black cape, black mask, and mismatched boots—one blue and one yellow—there was no mistaking the identity of the boy: _Jimmy Powerboots was back in Cragglyville_. And he had brought company. The hulking boy beside him had to be Peter Powerhats. The giant was wearing a neon-green baseball cap, which, based on his name, had to be the source of his power.

Before Nikki could get any closer, Peter the Giant had grabbed the shop owner with one big hand and was shaking him. The little boy had wisely run away and was cowering behind a nearby mailbox.

Peter carried the man over to a yellow fire hydrant on the sidewalk, setting him down onto it. Next, Jimmy pointed a finger at the hydrant. Nikki could see him laughing as he did it. The hydrant burst open, sending a mountain of water high into the air. The shop owner went flying, carried upwards by the power of the water. Luckily, he was able to grab a tree branch as he flew past, clutching the bark like a lifeline. He hung on for dear life, his feet dangling helplessly in the empty air. Nikki knew she had to do something fast or he would fall and break his legs.

Staying out of Jimmy's field of vision, Nikki flew over a building and into an alley, where she lowered Spencer onto his feet. "Stay here," she said.

"No, I need to help you, I'm your sidekick," Spencer said seriously.

"Spence, I don't have time for this. It's too dangerous for you." Without another word, she jumped in the air and raced off. She whipped over the building and shot toward the tree, where the poor man was still hanging on for dear life.

As she passed by the leafy branches she grabbed the big man by the waist and pulled him free. Seconds later he was back on the ground, safe and sound but very scared. "Thank you, Nikki, thank you," he said, while trying to catch his breath.

"No time to talk," Nikki said. She turned around to see Jimmy and Peter staring at her, laughing.

"I knew you'd come," Jimmy said. "You could never stay away from someone in trouble." He started to walk toward her. Peter followed after him, his giant legs looking more like tree trunks than the stubby legs of a nine-year-old boy.

Nikki knew she was in trouble. She was outnumbered two to one, and she only had her flying glove and her weather glove. With Jimmy and Peter moving toward her, she didn't have time to open her powerchest to access any of her other powers. She didn't think being able to fly and control the weather would be enough to stop them. Her mind was racing as she tried to think what to do. "Think, think, think," she said to herself. _If only Spencer was here_ , she thought. He would know what to do.

That's when she heard a crazy sound. "Boogey-woogey-woogey-woogey!" a voice yelled from around the corner. And then he was there, a black streak running toward Jimmy and Peter. It was Spencer. But his disguise looked different. There was something on his head. Something white. Something cotton.

Underwear.

Spencer was wearing white underwear on his head. Not boxers or briefs, but tighty-whities. His face looked crazy, his eyes bugged out and his mouth twisted like he was completely out of his mind. His tongue wagged from his lips like an old hound dog.

"Argabargargabargargabarga!" he roared.

Jimmy and Peter turned away from Nikki, their eyes wide with terror as the strange pipsqueak of a boy charged them, displaying his private clothing like a crown atop his head.

Nikki's first instinct was to fly to Spencer and grab him before he got himself hurt. But then she realized what he was doing. He was distracting them. He had given her one chance to defeat them, and she couldn't waste it.

While Jimmy and Peter were looking the other way, Nikki reached in her pocket and retrieved her powerchest. Moments later it was open and she was sifting through the rubbery powergloves, trying to decide which ones to use. Quickly making a decision, she ripped off her light blue and black/yellow gloves and threw them in the chest. Then she snatched two other gloves, one gray and one white. The white glove had a snowflake on it and the other had no picture at all. She put them on.

The moment the gray glove covered her hand, she disappeared. She wasn't gone from Cragglyville, but she had become invisible.

A raindrop splashed onto her face. Nikki craned her head to look at the sky, which had darkened, as pregnant black rainclouds moved overhead. The sun, which was only able to shine on Cragglyville while Nikki was wearing her weather glove, was now hidden behind towers of stormy pillows. Another raindrop beat on Nikki's cheek. And then another. And another. One dripped into her eye, temporarily blurring her vision. She was about to get very wet. But that didn't matter—she needed to save Spencer.

Nikki surveyed the scene in front of her. Spencer had reached Peter Powerhats first and was swinging his small fists at him, trying to punch him in the knees, but Peter had extended one of his long arms and was holding Spencer's head, keeping him far enough away that he couldn't reach him. Jimmy was laughing and kept spraying Spencer with water from the fire hydrant, using only his finger to direct the water at her genius sidekick.

Nikki sprang into action just as the heavens exploded, cascading torrents of rain onto the streets. In seconds she was drenched, her invisible clothes sticking to her invisible skin as the rain lashed at her invisible arms and hands. But Nikki didn't let it stop her. She raced toward where Spencer was being abused by Peter, splashing through puddles and soaking her socks and shoes. When she was ten steps away she aimed her white glove at him. A beam of whiteness spouted from her glove, coating the giant villain from head to toe in a block of ice.

Spencer gawked at the ice sculpture in front of him. "Great work, Nikks!" he yelled, whirling around to find her. Of course, he couldn't see her. Because no one could see her. Because she was invisible.

Jimmy, who was dripping with water, ran over to Peter's frozen body, and reached out to touch him. Nikki took aim with her finger again—she was going to freeze Jimmy, too. But right when the white laser shot from her glove, Jimmy and Peter disappeared. They were gone, like magic. It was as if they had never been there. The ice beam collided harmlessly with a mailbox, instantly turning it to ice. Nikki and Spencer were left alone in the street, as fat raindrops pelted them from above.

"Wowsers!" Spencer yelled. "If monkeys had wings it wouldn't be cooler than what you just did! Where are you anyway?"

Remembering she was still invisible, Nikki pried off her gray glove. She appeared. "I'm here, Spence."

Spencer walked to her, hopping over small puddles that got in his way. When he reached her, he put a wet arm around her and said, "Good job, Nikki. You did great."

Nikki smiled. "Thanks, Spence. But I couldn't have done it without you. That was some entrance!" She giggled when she looked at his head. A pair of sopping wet white underwear clung to his hair like a swim cap. "Where on earth did you get the underwear? You couldn't possibly have had time to take them off and then put all your clothes back on."

Spencer flashed a toothy smile. "I had them in my pocket, just in case. You never know when you are going to need a fresh pair!"

Nikki laughed and hugged her friend. "So much for our sunny day. Let's get home and dry off."

### Chapter Three: Mr. Miyagi sees a ghost

After flying Spencer home to get cleaned up, Nikki snuck into her own backyard. While hiding behind a bush, she put away one of her flying gloves and donned one of her invisibility gloves again. She didn't want her mom to see her wearing her Nikki Powergloves outfit when she came into the house.

Instead, she flew up to her bedroom window, which she always kept unlocked. She slid the window open and crawled through the frame. As she squirmed across the bed, her clothes made a squishing sound on the bedspread. She was drenched!

She heard a low growl from the other side of the bed. Nikki said, "Shhh, Mr. Miyagi. It's just me, Nikki." Her dog continued to growl. He was confused at hearing noises but not being able to see who was making them.

"Okay, okay. I'll take off my invisibility glove, just let me get a towel first." Mr. Miyagi started to bark but Nikki ignored him. She opened her closet and found a big white towel. She put it over her head and started to dry off her hair and face. When she turned around, Mr. Miyagi had stopped barking and his eyes were wide with fear. With a frightened _yelp!_ he turned and ran from the room, his tail between his legs.

Nikki frowned. "What's gotten into that dog?" she asked herself. When she turned to close her closet, she saw herself in the mirror on the back of the door. She started to laugh when she saw what she looked like. "No wonder Mr. Miyagi ran away like that," Nikki said out loud. "He thought I was a ghost!" In the mirror all she could see was the white towel, which was floating above her invisible body while she dried off.

Still giggling, Nikki finished drying off and then removed both gloves and returned them to the powerchest. She changed into dry clothes and scampered down the stairs. The mouthwatering smell of hot homemade chicken soup wafted from below.

"Hi, Mom," Nikki said, entering the kitchen.

Mrs. Nickerson shrieked. "For heaven's sake, Nikki, you almost gave me a heart attack! I didn't think anyone was home. How did you sneak past me?"

"Sorry, I just slipped through the front door a few minutes ago. I didn't want to bother you since I was all wet. The sunny day didn't last very long."

"That's okay, dear. I was getting worried when I heard the rain again, I'm just glad you're home safe."

"Of course. I was just down the road at Spencer's. Can he come over for dinner? His mom is working late at the hospital."

"Yes, honey, of course he can."

"Thanks, Mom, it smells great." Mrs. Nickerson smiled just as the doorbell rang.

Nikki said, "I'll get it. It's probably Spencer."

Nikki opened the door to find her best friend smiling on the doorstep under a big green umbrella. Nikki glanced at his head—no underwear. "Glad to see you figured out how to dress yourself properly."

Spencer laughed. "Hey, don't knock it until you try it, Ice-Woman."

Nikki grinned. "Come on in. My mom's almost done with dinner."

"Great!" Spencer said.

Nikki let her friend pass and was about to close the door when she heard a blast from a car horn. She peeked out the door, half-expecting to see Jimmy Powerboots and Peter Powerhats driving across the lawn in a giant monster truck, ready to smash Nikki into little crumbs, barely big enough for a mouse to eat.

Instead, all she saw was her dad pulling his car into the driveway, waving to her.

She waved back and held the door for him. Using his work satchel as a covering for his head, he slammed the car door and ran up the front walk and through the door. "Hey, Nikks," he said energetically. Seeing Spencer, he added, "Hey there, Spence."

"Hi, Dad," Nikki said.

"Hi, Mr. Nickerson," Spencer said.

"It's raining cats and dogs out there, kids. I hope you haven't been too bored inside all day."

"We're okay," said Nikki. "We got some fresh air when the sun came out for a few minutes in the afternoon."

"Yeah, that was weird. It didn't last long though. I heard there was a disturbance in town today."

"Really?" Nikki said, pretending to be shocked.

"What kind of disturbance?" Spencer asked, playing along.

"I'll tell you all about it during dinner."

A few minutes later they were settled around the dinner table, slurping down spoonfuls of chicken noodle soup. Mr. Miyagi was crunching dog biscuits out of a bone shaped bowl in the corner of the kitchen. Nikki was watching him curiously. Every few seconds he would jerk his head from side to side, as if he expected something to sneak up on him. He was probably worried about the ghost. Nikki giggled.

Spencer said, "Mr. Nickerson—what happened in town today? You said there was some sort of a disturbance?"

"Ah, yes. I had almost forgotten. There were a couple of boys terrorizing the town. The police think one of them was that kid who was vandalizing the town a few weeks ago. And he brought another boy with him. Witnesses said they have strange powers. One of the kids supposedly grew to be ten feet tall and attacked Mr. Davis at the hardware store. I don't know how much of it I believe though. The whole thing seems a little farfetched."

"Did anyone try to stop them?" Nikki asked innocently. She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear what her dad had heard.

"Again, I am just going off of what the witnesses said, but apparently Nikki Powergloves showed up and stopped them from doing too much damage. All they managed to do before she stopped them was to steal a little kid's ice cream cone and damage a fire hydrant."

Mrs. Nickerson shook her head. "I still can't believe there is a little girl flying around town playing superhero. It's crazy!"

"I think it's really cool," Spencer said, winking at Nikki.

"It's dangerous, is what it is," Nikki's mom said. "I mean, where are her parents anyway? She could get hurt or killed. And who are these weird boys that can do incredible things? Someone has to be playing a big prank on Cragglyville."

"I don't know..." Nikki said. "I think it seems pretty real."

### Chapter Four: No more Mr. Nice Guy

"I.....hate.....Nikki Powergloves," Jimmy said between clenched teeth.

He was in an old abandoned warehouse with a hair dryer on full blast. The Giant Peter Powerhats was still stuck in a frozen block of ice, although it was beginning to melt into a cold puddle on the cement floor.

Jimmy was mad, very mad. Nikki had beaten him again. He was tired of losing. Losing was for losers. And Jimmy was no loser.

He just needed a new plan. But first he needed to unfreeze Peter. And so he moved the hair dryer up and down, up and down, warming the ice. As Jimmy worked, a crack formed in the ice near Peter's arm. The fractured tentacle moved down and then split in five different directions, each growing bigger and bigger. Jimmy backed away.

With a loud roar, Peter burst from the ice block, spraying bits and chunks of ice all over the place. "ARGH!" he yelled again. "It was really, really cold in there." His skin was blue and he was shivering.

Jimmy handed him a fleece blanket. "Here, warm up," Jimmy said.

Peter took the blanket from him, but it was way too small. He looked more like an ogre than a boy, towering five feet over Jimmy's head. If he had had only one eye in the center of his forehead and a giant spiked club, he might have been a Cyclops from myth and legend. Peter raised a giant hand to his head and removed his neon-green hat. Instantly, he began to shrink. His muscles stopped bulging, his arms and legs thinned and shortened, and he returned to his normal size.

He was a boy once more. Even while regular size, he was a giant to Jimmy. Peter stood almost a foot taller and outweighed Jimmy by thirty pounds. He was a big kid. Played basketball for his elementary school team. He was good. The star of the team. Jimmy smiled. He was glad to have him on his side.

Wrapped in the blanket, Peter said, "That girl made us look really stupid!"

"I know, Peter. I told you she was good. But I didn't think she was that good. We underestimated her. But we won't next time. We have to be smarter, stronger, faster. We will get our revenge, Peter. Next time we won't take it easy on her, won't be so nice. No more Mr. Nice Guy."

### Chapter Five: Following the purple clouds

Nikki was worried. Although she was happy that she and Spencer had been able to defeat Jimmy again, she knew it wouldn't be the last time she saw him. She knew he and Peter would return. It was good to have Spencer on her side, but regardless of how smart her genius best friend was, he was no match for the powers of Jimmy and Peter. She needed more help. Help from a superhero. It was time to contact the others. As she lay in bed, she thought about the last few days.

Earlier that week, after Jimmy had called her and told her he had recovered his powerboots from where she had hidden them, Nikki had received a text message from a strange girl. The girl said her name was Samantha Powerbelts. She also said there were other kids like Nikki, good kids, kids with superpowers, who would come to help her, but she hadn't heard from them since. And now she needed their help. She couldn't wait any longer.

So she typed a text message back to Samantha. It said:

Samantha Powerbelts—are you there?

A moment later, she got a reply:

Yes, Nikki.

_I need your help_ , Nikki typed.

_I know_ , Samantha replied. _Follow the purple clouds._

Nikki didn't understand what Samantha meant. What purple clouds? Nikki had never seen a purple cloud in her life. Not really. Occasionally at sunset the clouds turned pinkish and purplely, but they weren't really those colors, it was just an effect caused by the sun.

_What do you mean?_ Nikki asked.

For two hours, Nikki lay in bed, unable to sleep, waiting for Samantha to reply, but she never did. Finally, Nikki drifted off to sleep.

She awoke seven hours later. A thin ray of sun pierced her window and fell on her cheek. The rain had gone, once more giving way to the heat of summer. Nikki gazed out her window at a collection of puffy white clouds bobbing across the sky. White, white, white, _purple?_ When Nikki saw the odd purple cloud amidst the other white ones, she rubbed her eyes, trying to chase the sleep out of them.

When she pulled her fists away from her face, the purple cloud was still there. She wasn't dreaming. Nikki opened her window wide open and poked her head out to get a better look. Not only was the cloud really, truly purple—a magnificent hue that shimmered under the reflection of the sun—but it wasn't unique. Nikki could see a half dozen other purple clouds moving away into the distance, as if they painted a trail for Nikki to follow.

"Follow the purple clouds," Nikki murmured. It's what Samantha had told her to do. She didn't understand at the time. She had planned to tell Spencer this morning, because maybe it was a code that he would be able to crack. But it wasn't a code. She was literally supposed to follow clouds that were the color purple. That's how she would find Samantha Powerbelts. "Amazing," Nikki said.

She had to tell Spencer immediately.

Nikki told her mom she would have breakfast at Spencer's, and then made her way to his front door. He answered after the first knock. "Hi there, Cheese-Doodle!" he said.

"Hi, Spence," Nikki said.

"Come on in," he said. "I'll make you some breakfast." Spencer's idea of _making breakfast_ was to pour a bowl of Chocolate Covered Sugar Wheats with some milk. But Nikki didn't mind. It was a really tasty cereal.

After crunching a few bites of cereal, Spencer said, "What's with the purple clouds?"

Nikki giggled. "I didn't know if you saw them."

"I saw them and was so curious that I did some research on purple clouds and couldn't find any scientific reason for them being over Cragglyville, so I thought you had to be involved. Have you been playing with your weather gloves?"

"Nope, guess again."

Spencer hummed for two minutes and then said, "I have no clue. Wasabi!"

Nikki laughed. She wondered what wasabi had to do with purple clouds, but decided not to ask. "I communicated with Samantha Powerbelts over text message last night. She told me to follow the purple clouds, and then today some of the clouds are purple. Weird, huh?"

"Cool, it's like the _Wizard of Oz_ ," Spencer said.

Nikki frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know, 'Follow the yellow brick road', like the munchkins told Dorothy. Except in our case, it's follow the purple cloud road. But it's not really a road. Where do you think it leads?"

"I dunno. Maybe to Samantha's house or something."

Now it was Spencer who frowned. "Come on, it's gotta be cooler than that. Maybe it will take us to a secret laboratory under the ocean. Or it could take us to a space ship that will transport us to a colony on Mars."

Nikki smiled. Spencer had a very big imagination. "Maybe," she said. "Do you want to come with me?"

Spencer grinned from ear to ear. "I was hoping you would ask that. What's our cover story going to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"We need to tell our parents something or they might worry and call the cops to look for us."

Nikki said, "I hadn't thought about that. You think it will take more than a day?"

"Maybe," Spencer said. "But we should be ready just in case."

Nikki nodded. "Okay. How about we pull the old switch trick. I say I'm sleeping over your house, and you say you're sleeping over mine."

"Genius! All systems GO!!" Spencer yelled. Nikki couldn't help but to laugh at her friend's crazy antics.

After finishing their cereal, they changed into their superhero costumes. Nikki wore one light blue flying glove and one purple super-strength glove. They went in the backyard and Spencer clambered onto Nikki's back. With her super-strength glove on, she was easily able to hold his weight. Nikki leapt into the air and shot upwards, toward the first purple cloud. Spencer yelled, "Rock star!!"

As they burst through the cloud, misty purple vapors swirled all around them. They emerged on the other side of the cloud and rose above it. Above the clouds, the sun warmed her skin. Nikki paused, hovering in the air to get her bearings. The next purple cloud was about a mile away to the east. She turned toward it and raced off.

As they flew, they talked, shouting over the rush of the wind, which howled through their hair and clothes. Nikki said, "How do you think she turned the clouds purple?"

"Must be one of her powers. Seems like a strange power to have, being able to change the color of things. It came in handy here though."

They passed the second purple cloud and headed for the third. Nikki gazed into the distance and could see at least a dozen more purple clouds leading her away from Cragglyville. The third and fourth purple clouds came and went. A flock of birds emerged from beneath the clouds, moving in perfect formation in the same direction as they were going. Nikki changed her course and fell into formation behind them.

"You're one of the birds!" Spencer yelled.

Slowly, Nikki flew through the formation, making her way to the front. Eventually, she was leading the birds. They were good sports and played along with it. When she turned, they turned. If she dipped, they dipped. Nikki laughed, having fun playing follow-the-leader with the birds. After a few minutes she decided to leave them behind. She sped up, easily pulling away from them.

"Sayonara, suckers!" Spencer yelled.

After an hour, they were still flying and there was no end to the purple clouds in sight. Spencer was getting bored so he started to annoy Nikki by asking, "Are we there yet?" every five minutes.

"Finally she said, "We're not there, Spence! I don't know if we'll ever be there!"

They were approaching a massive purple cloud that hung over a large mountain. As they got closer, Nikki noticed that the cloud wasn't only purple. Although it was purple on the top and around the edges, it had a second layer of red. The third layer was green. There were splotches of other colors too, like yellow and blue and silver.

When they reached the cloud, Nikki stopped, pausing to survey the air around them. To the north, south and east there were only blue skies or white clouds. No purple clouds anywhere. Back west, from where they had come, she could see the trail of purple clouds that led back to Cragglyville.

"It seems to be the end of the road," Spencer commented.

"Where do you think we go now?" Nikki asked.

"There's only one way to go," Spencer said. "Through the multi-colored cloud below us."

### Chapter Six: Villains, villains, and more villains!

Jimmy and Peter were sitting on the roof of the warehouse watching the clouds drift by. Jimmy was still angry. Still wanted revenge. But how? Peter was a good friend, big and strong, but not too smart. He wasn't good at coming up with the plans. Jimmy wished he had a smart friend like Nikki did. Like Spencer Quick, the twerpy little genius.

While Jimmy was wondering where he could find a kid genius, a beam of blinding sunlight burst through a crack in the clouds. Jimmy and Peter raised their hands to shield their eyes. When they felt that the light was no longer in their faces, they rubbed their eyes and blinked a few times, trying to wash away the dark spots that clouded their vision.

They heard a girl's voice say, "Hiya, fellas."

Startled, Jimmy rocked backwards, tumbling from his sitting position and onto his back. The concrete roof was hard and bruised his skin. His first thought was that Nikki Powergloves had found his secret hideout. As his vision cleared, he peeked over his knees.

Standing in front of him was a girl, but not Nikki. She was Asian in appearance, with narrow eyes and powdery white skin. She wore a bright yellow skirt with a print of a sun on it. One of her hands was on her hip and the other hung loosely at her side. Despite the fact that she had spoken, Jimmy and Peter just stared at her.

She said, "I'm Naomi."

Finally, Jimmy found his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to find you, silly," she said. "You're Jimmy Powerboots, aren't you?"

Jimmy's head was spinning. She knew who he was? But how? Why would she be looking for him? And how did she appear out of nowhere, just after the sun flashed in their eyes?

As if she had read his mind, Naomi said, "I travel on sunbeams. I get my power from my skirts." She ran her hand over the picture of the sun on her skirt.

Jimmy understood. She was like him, like Peter, like Nikki. A kid with powers. But was she a friend or foe? He needed to find out.

"Do you know Nikki Powergloves?" Jimmy asked.

"Ha!" Naomi scoffed. "I know of her, but I can't say we've been formally introduced, although I hope to meet her soon."

Jimmy could tell from her tone of voice that she wasn't looking to be friends with Nikki. That was good. Maybe she would be his friend. He didn't have many friends.

Jimmy said, "I can introduce you to her next time I see her."

"And when will that be?" Naomi asked.

"As soon as we can come up with a plan to crush her."

"Good. I can help with that. Plans are my specialty."

Jimmy liked Naomi already. He could tell she was smart. Definitely smarter than Peter, and maybe even smarter than him. She could help him—that much he knew.

"What do you suggest?" Jimmy asked.

The right side of Naomi's lip turned up and her eyebrows narrowed in a cross between a frown and a smile. "We just need a really strong and powerful attack dog to get her to come out of hiding."

Peter spoke for the first time. He said, "I'm really strong and powerful."

Naomi laughed. "How predictable," she said. "But you're exactly right, Peter. I was thinking you would make the perfect attack dog. You'll go to Cragglyville first, and Jimmy and I will be right behind you. How's that sound?"

Jimmy grinned. "Perfect," he said.

Peter looked at Jimmy and then at Naomi. "Good.......I think," he said.

Naomi laughed again. "Don't think, Peter. Leave the thinking to Jimmy and I. Okay, then it's agreed. Operation Attack Dog begins immediately."

Jimmy couldn't stop grinning. With two other friends, Nikki wouldn't stand a chance. He would finally be victorious!

### Chapter Seven: The world's coolest slide

Colors swirled all around them. As soon as one color flashed before their eyes, the next color would appear. Pinks and blues and greens and yellows. Turquoise and fuchsia and burnt umber and sea green. There was blue-green and green-blue. Then macaroni yellow and lavender. It was like all the colors from Nikki's old box of crayons had fallen into a mixer and were being churned ceaselessly around them. It was beautiful, but terrifying, too, because they couldn't see which way was up and which was down.

And then suddenly they were out of the colorful misting cloud and headed for the peak of the mountain. They were going to crash!

Nikki used every brain cell in her head, every thought, every bit of intelligence, to tell her flying gloves to STOP! It worked and her body jerked to a stop in midair, ten feet above the tip of the mountain. Spencer, who was clinging to her back, was thrown head first over Nikki's head. He lost his grip around her neck and fell headlong toward the rocky cliffs below. "Augh!" he yelled

Without thinking, Nikki dashed after him, grabbing his shirt from behind and stopping his fall. "Gotcha!" she proclaimed.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," Spencer said, trying to catch his breath.

"You okay, Spence?"

She could see Spencer's head nod silently. Very slowly, Nikki lowered herself and Spencer to the tip top of the mountain peak. Nikki looked around the area for a clue as to where to go next, while Spencer slumped on the ground, breathing heavily. His face was as white as if he had seen a ghost.

They had landed on a small, circular area at the highest point on the mountain. On all sides, the elevation fell away sharply. An accidental trip could lead to a fall onto jagged cliffs. Above Nikki, the rainbow of foggy colors continued to swirl. As Nikki scanned her surroundings, something caught her eye. The ground was rocky and rough, but she noticed a smooth circle near the center of the area.

She glanced at Spencer. He was pulling himself to his feet. She put her arm around him. "Are you okay?" she said.

Spencer looked at her, his eyes wide and innocent. "You saved my life, Nikki."

"It's no big deal. We will probably save each other a lot of times before this is all over. That's what friends are for."

Spencer said, "I'll be the best sidekick ever, I promise! Wickety wickety woo!!"

"I know you will, Spence. Now follow me, I think I found something." Nikki approached the center of the mountain peak and knelt down. She ran her hand along the smooth circle she had noticed. It was cold and shiny and felt like it was made of metal.

Spencer squatted next to her. "What do you think it is?" Nikki asked?

"My guess is that it's a way into the mountain, but I don't see a door, or a handle, or even a latch. Maybe it's only used as an exit and can only be opened from the inside."

"Used as an exit by who?"

"The power kids, of course. You know, Samantha Powerbelts and anyone else she is friends with."

Nikki nodded. It was all starting to come together. If there really were other kids like her, it only made sense that they would have a secret place to meet. But inside a mountain? Could Spencer be right?

While Spencer was thinking, a loud voice suddenly snapped, "Who goes there!?"

Nikki flinched and snaked her head around, looking for the person who had spoken. There was no one but her and Spencer.

"Weird," Spencer said. "You'd better answer them or they might shoot us with poison darts or stun guns or something."

Not knowing what to say, Nikki said, "Who...who are you?"

"It is my job to ask the questions," the voice said tiredly. It seemed to be coming out of the metal hatch.

"Oh, sorry," Nikki said. "I'm Nikki Powergloves and this is my friend...I mean, my sidekick, Spencer, certified genius."

Spencer beamed when Nikki called him her sidekick.

"What's the password?" the voice asked.

_Password?_ Nikki thought. No one said anything about a password. She looked at Spencer, hoping he would miraculously have the answer. He shrugged. Nikki tried to think of all the potential passwords, but the list was too long, and what if she got it wrong? Was Spencer right? Would they be blown up by rockets or shot by lasers?

Not knowing the right answer, Nikki decided to be honest. "I wasn't given any password," she said timidly.

"That's correct," the voice said. "You may enter."

Nikki's face lit up into a smile. Spencer said, "Very clever. The password is that there isn't a password. Even I wouldn't have thought of that!"

"I didn't really think of it, I was just being honest."

Suddenly, the hatch sprang open, revealing a gaping, black hole. Their heads touching, Nikki and Spencer peered into the gloomy hole, trying to see any signs of life. Nothing. There were no lights, no sounds, and most certainly nothing to see.

"Do you think we're supposed to go in there?" Nikki asked uncertainly.

Before Spencer could answer, the voice said, "Please remove your powergloves and jump into the hole."

"I guess so," Spencer said. "You first, you're the superhero, I'm just the sidekick."

For the first time since she had found the powergloves, Nikki wished she were the sidekick. But she knew Spencer was right. She had to be the leader if she wanted to be the superhero. After removing her powergloves and returning them to the powerchest for safekeeping, Nikki sat down and hung her feet over the side of the hole.

"Here goes nothing," she said. "Follow right after me, sidekick."

Nikki plugged her nose as if she was jumping into a swimming pool and then swung over the edge, allowing herself to fall into the hole. Her stomach lurched as she felt gravity sucking her downwards into the blackness. Her legs whipped forward and her head was thrown back as the tunnel curved forward , pinning her to the smooth metal piping. It felt like she was at the playground going down the slide, except it was much steeper, much faster, and much, much more fun. Leaving her fears behind, Nikki started to enjoy the ride, as she twisted and turned and slid down the most amazing slide she had even been on. "Woohoo!" she yelled.

Behind her, she heard "Yeehaw!!" Spencer had evidently followed her down the hole and was enjoying his ride too.

Suddenly, colors blazed all around her. Every color imaginable was displayed on the walls of the metal piping, creating various shapes and figures, which moved as if they were alive. A brown bear with a big belly rolled past her on a red, yellow and white beach ball. A pretty blue bird flew up and down and side to side. An orange sail boat floated past her, riding turquoise waves. The whole experience was amazing and seemed to last for hours.

Nikki looked between her feet and saw a circle of light approaching. _The end of the slide_ , she thought. She tensed up, trying to get control of her flailing arms and legs before she got to the circle of light. Rushing into the light, Nikki was suddenly airborne and, despite her efforts, her body flipped and spun as she fell from the pipe. She landed on her side on something that was as soft as a thousand feathers, cushioning her fall. She didn't bounce or even settle on the surface; instead, she sank deep into it. The snuggly material felt wonderful on her skin.

She turned over and looked up, where she could see the end of the dark pipe high above her. Then she saw Spencer emerge from the slide headfirst. He yelled, "Cowabunga!" and landed next to her, sinking down just as she had.

And then they both started laughing and couldn't stop. The thrill of the ride and the colorful pictures and the soft landing was like laughing gas, making them snicker and then chuckle and then chortle and then guffaw. When they finally stopped laughing, they looked at each other, still smiling. "That was awesome, Pippy-Longstocking!" Spencer said.

Nikki nodded and tried to pull herself to her feet. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to stand up. Spencer tried too, and had the same problem.

They heard a buzzing sound and then they saw a huge metal claw moving overtop of them. "I'm guessing that's for us," Spencer said.

The claw stopped directly over Nikki and then fell toward her, its pincers opening up on the way down. It scooped underneath her and lifted her away from her friend. After a few minutes, it lowered her to the ground to the side of the giant cushion. Then it moved up and away and returned quickly with Spencer.

Nikki looked around her but there wasn't much to see. They were in a huge cylindrical room with the giant cushion and the strange claw machine. No one else was there. A massive arched door stood at the far side of the room.

Nikki started to walk toward the door with Spencer following her. Before they could reach it, however, the door opened grandly, spilling bright orange light through the opening. A girl stood in the doorway, taller than Nikki but not by much. She had blond, curly hair and a mischievous smile. But the first thing Nikki noticed about her was her bright, multi-colored belt.

She immediately knew who it was: _Samantha Powerbelts_.

"Hi, Nikki. Hi, Spencer," the girl said. "Welcome to the Power City."

### Chapter Eight: The super-secret Power City

The girl beckoned to Nikki and Spencer to follow her through the giant doorway. Then she turned her back on them and began walking. Nikki jogged to catch up, and then fell into stride next to her. Spencer trailed behind

Nikki said, "You're Samantha, right? Samantha Powerbelts?"

"What gave me away?" Samantha said, laughing. "Was it the crazy-looking belt?"

Nikki smiled. "I guess so. What power does that belt give you, anyway?" Nikki motioned to the multi-colored belt that adorned Samantha's waist.

"Haven't you guessed yet?" Samantha said.

From behind them, Spencer said, "You can change the color of things and paint moving pictures of things."

Samantha grinned. "You are smart, sidekick. Just like we've been told."

"He's a certified genius," Nikki said. "So the purple clouds were made by you?"

"Not the clouds themselves, but yes, I colored them purple. I could have colored all of them purple if I wanted to, but then you wouldn't have known which way to go. I added the goofy moving paintings you saw while you were going down the slide, too. I wanted to make your first ride down the Pipe as awesome as possible."

Nikki said, "It most definitely was. It was probably the most fun I have ever had, and that includes flying."

"Yeah," Spencer agreed. "It was crazy-awesome-cool, kerplunk! Wazaa!"

"You are odd," Samantha said, turning her head to look back at Spencer.

"So I've been told," Spencer said.

"That's why I like him," Nikki said defensively.

"Oh, don't worry, Nikki. It wasn't an insult. We are all odd, in our own ways. I think Spencer will fit in here very well."

"And where is here?" Nikki said.

"A small mountain not too far from Cragglyville. It's called Phantom's Peak, because the clouds above it swirl around at night and look like ghosts."

Nikki nodded. "You welcomed us to the Power City. What exactly does that mean?"

"Good question," Samantha said. "Within this mountain we have managed to build a small city. Well, actually one of the other power kids managed to build it. You'll meet him later, but one of his powers is the ability to build anything. Everything you will see today is his work."

Nikki was so focused on the many questions she had for Samantha that she had forgotten to look around her. They had entered a giant atrium. It looked like something out of _Star Wars_ , with futuristic-looking machines moving throughout the area, carrying gleaming metal parts. Robots mounted on wheels rolled across the floor, buzzing and beeping and flashing. The ceiling rose high above them and was curved into a dome. Bright orange and yellow lights shone from above, casting a glow over the room that felt like candlelight. There were dozens of passages shooting off from the atrium.

When Nikki saw the many tunnels, she asked, "How long will this tour take? We have to be back in time for dinner or our parents will worry. We might be able to buy an extra day by telling them we are staying over each other's houses, but that's probably the best we can do."

Samantha stopped walking and faced Nikki. Spencer caught up and stood on one side. Samantha said, "You don't have to worry about time here. It moves differently than the rest of the world. A week here is only a day out there. There will be plenty of time for your tour."

"But how?" Nikki asked.

"It's another power that one of us has. You'll meet him later, too."

"Wow," Nikki marveled. "How many of you are there?"

"Actually, only three of us right now, plus sidekicks, but we're hoping you'll be the fourth. But we can talk about all that later. You still have much to see!"

Samantha led them across the wide open space. Nikki and Spencer watched in awe as dozens of robots and machines performed various tasks, like building new robots and machines. Nikki could tell that Spencer was in heaven. His eyes were wide and he couldn't stop smiling. His head bobbed around, like a buoy on the waves, as he tried to take in the many sights. He loved anything to do with robots and one day wanted to become a robotics engineer.

They passed out of the room and into a narrow tunnel. The tunnel was sheened in gold plating from floor to ceiling. "This is the gold tunnel," Samantha noted. "Each tunnel is named based on how it looks. We also have the diamond tunnel, the chalk tunnel, the flannel tunnel, and many others."

"Wakka wakka!" Spencer exclaimed.

"That means, 'awesome!'" Nikki translated.

Samantha laughed. "I like the enthusiasm. We think it's pretty awesome too."

They turned right, down a tunnel lined with rosebushes. The roses were bright red and beautiful.

Spencer said, "Let me guess, the rose tunnel?"

"You got it," Samantha said.

As they passed through the flowery tube, Nikki's thoughts turned to her grandpa. He had had a rose garden before he died. Suddenly, sadness welled up inside of her. She missed Grandpa Bernard so much. He had been her dear friend. If he was still alive, she would have told him everything. About her powers, the Weeble, Jimmy Powerboots, the Power City, everything. And he would have kept her secret. She could always trust him. A single tear slipped from her eye. She brushed it away quickly, hoping Samantha wouldn't notice. Superheroes weren't supposed to cry.

They exited the rose tunnel, which spilled out into a large room. The room was carpeted and had bedroom furniture—like bunk beds, dressers, and nightstands—along the walls. Most of the beds were perfectly made and looked like they had never been slept in. Several of the bunks, however, looked as if they had been slept in recently; their covers were wrinkled and their pillows dented. They had been made quickly, like someone had just haphazardly thrown the covers over them.

"Do you sleep here?" Nikki asked.

"Yes," Samantha said. "All the good power kids do. At least the ones we know about." She glanced at Spencer. "Their sidekicks do, too."

"But don't your parents get worried about you?" Nikki asked.

"Remember what I told you about how time moves differently in the Power City?"

Nikki nodded. "Yeah, time is much slower outside of here."

"Right. We can spend a few days in here and our parents won't even notice. So we can spend a lot of our time here and only have to go home once every three or four days."

"Cool," Nikki whispered.

Samantha walked over to one of the perfectly made beds. She put a hand on it. "Who wants the top bunk?" she asked.

"Yippee!" Spencer yelled. "I'll take it!"

Nikki didn't argue. She knew Spencer had always wished for a younger brother so they could have bunk beds. She put her arm around him. Spencer grinned a toothy, braces-filled smile.

Samantha said, "We'll come back here later, when we're all tired. But now it's time for you to meet the Power Council."

"Wicked," Spencer said.

### Chapter Nine: Cragglyville turns into Swiss cheese

Jimmy laughed loudly and evilly. Naomi's plan was perfect.

First, she had asked Peter to show her all of his powers. The cannonball trick was her favorite. When Peter wore his black hat he was able to transform into a cannonball. Once in cannonball form, he could do pretty much anything. Or destroy pretty much anything.

Naomi said, "Peter, it's time for you to pay another visit to Cragglyville. Put holes in everything. That will get Nikki's attention."

Peter grinned wickedly and said, "Consider it done."

While Peter put his black hat on, Jimmy stuck his feet into his yellow boots. Naomi went into the bathroom and came out five minutes later wearing a green skirt in place of her yellow one. Jimmy wondered what power it would give her. But he didn't ask. He wanted to be surprised later.

"Ready?" Naomi asked.

"Ready," Jimmy and Peter said at the same time. With Jimmy's yellow boots, he was able to teleport anywhere in the world. If he was touching someone else, they would teleport with him. He called them his "half-here, half-there" boots. He put his right hand on Naomi's shoulder and his left hand on Peter's. Then they disappeared.

When they reappeared they were in Cragglyville and the sun was shining. It was much better than being in the middle of a thunderstorm like the last time they had been there. They were in a deserted alley behind a dumpster. It was where Jimmy always teleported when he went to Cragglyville. No one could see them there.

Naomi took charge. "Peter—it's time for you to do your cannonball thing. Jimmy and I will watch from the shadows and when Nikki shows up, we'll come out and fight her together."

Peter nodded. Suddenly his entire body turned deep black, like someone had painted him with dark chocolate. He collapsed in a puddle of dark liquid. Seconds later, the liquid formed into a ball. It looked like a bowling ball, but without the three finger holes. But Jimmy knew he hadn't formed into a bowling bowl.

He was a cannonball!

Peter the Cannonball rolled down the alley, headed for Main Street. Jimmy and Naomi chased after him and watched from the shadows as he smashed a hole through a mailbox before rumbling out onto the street. Torn and shredded letters from the mailbox flew into the air like confetti, before flitting to the ground, covering the sidewalk like snow.

A man yelled, "What is that thing?!"

A woman standing on the sidewalk screamed as Peter crashed through the side of her parked car, leaving a gaping hole in both doors. Next the cannonball levitated and then shot through the air, colliding with a large tree trunk. The oak tree split in half and collapsed across the road.

Despite all the damage he had already done, Peter wasn't finished yet. He bounced back and forth down Main Street, crossing the road and barreling into buildings and shop windows on both sides. Bricks crumbled, glass shattered, wood splintered. Eventually, Jimmy saw Peter rolling back up the street toward them. He turned left at the alley and Jimmy followed him back behind the dumpster, where he morphed back into a boy. Naomi waited at the end of the alley.

Peter was panting from all his hard work. As he tried to catch his breath, he said, "Any...sign...of Nikki...yet?"

Jimmy shook his head. "Not yet. But she will come. She has to."

Naomi ran up to them. "Congratulations, Peter. You have officially turned Cragglyville into Swiss cheese. There are holes in everything!"

### Chapter Ten: The powers of the Power Council

After leaving the bunk room, Samantha led Nikki and Spencer down three more halls. One was glass on all sides. Behind the glass was water with colorful fish swimming all over the place. It was called the aquarium tunnel. The second tunnel was covered in lush green grass and was appropriately named the grassy tunnel. The final tunnel was made from old car parts, like fenders, car doors, headlights, and exhaust pipes. Its name: the junkyard tunnel.

When they left the junkyard tunnel, they entered a large, colorful room. Lights of all colors brightened the space. Beautiful pictures of kids doing amazing things covered the walls. As Nikki scanned each image, she saw a picture of a boy who was made out of rubber, bouncing around. Another drawing showed a girl with six arms and four legs. She looked a lot like Samantha. The third picture Nikki noticed was a dark-skinned boy who was hovering in the air as if he could fly. Nikki wondered if he had her same flying ability.

As Nikki was pondering her question, Spencer said, "Check it out, Barnacle-Bill! You're on the wall too!"

While pondering how Spencer thought of the name _Barnacle-Bill_ , Nikki spun around and followed his gaze to another wall. Sure enough, there was a life-size painting of her flying through the air in full superhero costume. "But how?" Nikki said.

Samantha smiled and said, "As soon as we found out about you, we added your picture to our walls. It can stay there if you decide to become a member of our team."

"What team?" Nikki asked, still gawking at her picture on the wall. She felt like a movie star.

"It's time for you to meet the Power Council," Samantha replied. "Come on in, guys."

A door at the far end of the room opened and two boys marched in. The one in front had dark skin and short dark hair. He was chubby, his belly protruding well out in front of his feet. He had big cheeks and wore a huge smile. As he walked, his skin and clothing changed color rapidly, taking on the same color as whatever wall he was passing by. Nikki could barely see him as he blended in with the background.

Behind the color-changing boy was a skinny kid with pale white skin and loads of freckles. He was licking a chocolate ice cream cone. And then he was taking a bite from a hamburger. And then he was munching on a piece of pizza. But they were all the same thing, somehow. The ice cream had magically changed into a hamburger and then into pizza. _Weird_ , Nikki thought.

As the boys approached, Samantha said, "Nikki, Spencer—meet Freddy Powersocks and Mike Powerscarves."

"Hi, Nikki Powergloves," Freddy said, his smile widening even further.

Nikki couldn't help but to smile at the big jolly boy. "Hi," she said, looking at his socks. One was camouflaged color, displaying various shades of green and brown, and the other was gold. The color of his skin and clothes had changed back to normal. "What do you call your color changing power?" she asked.

Freddy laughed. "I call the camouflaged sock my chameleon sock. I can look like anything I want to, so if I ever need to hide, no one will ever find me."

"Cool," Nikki said. "Very cool."

Spencer approached Mike Powerscarves. Nikki noticed Mike was wearing a green scarf with a picture of an ice cream cone on it.

Spencer said, "Hi, I'm Spencer, but you can call me Spence."

"Good to meet you," Mike said.

"How did you make the food change like that?" Spencer asked. He was eyeing the slice of pizza Mike was holding. Nikki's stomach growled. Seeing the food was making her hungry, too.

"This one is my food scarf," Mike replied, touching the fringe of his green scarf. "I can make any kind of food appear from thin air. It's not that useful against the bad guys, but it is pretty cool for parties! Do you want something to eat?"

"Oh yeah! I'll take some of that pepperoni pizza, it looks scrumdiddlyumptious!" Spencer exclaimed.

Mike's eyes widened in surprise at Spencer's reaction. Samantha laughed and said, "Meet Spencer. He's a goofball but I'm sure he'll fit in really well here. We should all have some lunch while we talk. Mike—can you whip us up a few pizzas? A mushroom, a pepperoni, and a cheese?"

Mike grinned. "No problem." Two seconds later, he said, "Lunch is served."

Next to them was a long table between two giant purple couches. The previously empty table was suddenly covered by three steaming pizzas. The air filled with the mouth-watering aroma of melted cheese, crispy crust, and cooked mushrooms and pepperoni.

Nikki gasped. "Amazing!" she said.

Spencer said, "Mike—I think you and I are going to become good friends."

The five kids sat on the couches, Nikki and Spencer on one side, and Samantha, Freddy, and Mike on the other. Freddy immediately changed color, turning purple to match the couch.

As Nikki and Spencer reached for a slice of pizza, Samantha said, "Mike, Freddy and I are the Power Council. Our mission is to protect people from any power kids who try to use their powers for evil."

"Like Jimmy and Peter?" Nikki asked.

"Exactly. Just like them. We know of one other power kid, a girl named Naomi Powerskirts, and we think she is going to be bad, too. We expect she will try to meet up with Jimmy and Peter. We want you to join the Power Council, that way we'll have four power kids and they'll only have three. With one more kid, we think we can defeat them."

While chewing on a bit of crust, Freddy said, "You'll join with us, won't you?"

"Of course!" Spencer yelled. "Won't we, Nikks?"

Nikki nodded. "Yes, of course we'll join. We'll do anything to stop those jerks."

"Awesome!" Mike said. "So even if they get Naomi, we will get a bigger advantage because Nikki's a 2X."

Nikki frowned. "What do you mean?"

Samantha explained. "Because some power kids get their powers from items that come in pairs, they can use two powers at once. Like you can put a blue glove on one hand and a purple on the other."

"Okay. So like I can fly while being super-strong at the same time?"

"Right. But someone like me, who gets their power from a single object, like my belts, can only use one power at a time. We call a kid like that a 1X."

Spencer said, "Okay, so Freddy's a 2X with his powersocks, and Mike's a 1X with his scarves."

Mike said, "Right. And Jimmy's a 2X with his boots, while Naomi and Peter are 1Xs with their skirts and hats."

"What about sidekicks?" Spencer asked.

"What do you want to know?" Samantha replied.

"I dunno. Do you all have them?"

"You can meet them later," Samantha said. "But to answer your question, Freddy and I have sidekicks, but Mike hasn't found one yet."

The conversation slowed and then suddenly a big red light flashed in the corner of the room and a loud alarm shrieked. Nikki slapped her hands over her ears and squinted. "What is that?" she shouted above the noise.

The noise stopped and Samantha said, "One of the bad power kids just did something bad. We'll get the report soon." She pointed to the ceiling.

Nikki looked up, but didn't see what Samantha was pointing at. Then a crack opened in the roof and a thin screen was lowered to eye level. On the screen were the words "Special Report". They flashed once and then disappeared. A news reporter appeared on the screen and began speaking. She said:

"I'm here in downtown Cragglyville where an attack of epic proportions has been carried out on our small city. Less than thirty minutes ago, what appeared to be a cannonball blasted through the Main Street commercial district, damaging buildings and stores."

With a wave of her arm, she motioned to the damage behind her. The camera panned across the street. A tree lay across the road, blocking hordes of angry drivers, who were honking their horns in annoyance. Bricks, wood, glass, and other rubble littered the streets. There were gaping holes in nearly every building. The reporter continued:

"The perpetrators have not been identified yet, but one witness claims she saw three kids hiding in an alley. One was wearing bright yellow boots. In the words of the witness, 'they were up to no good.' This is Channel 7 News bringing you up to the minute updates on the ongoing situation in Cragglyville."

When the report was over, the screen went black. Nikki's heart sank. She should have been there. She could have prevented it, could have helped to stop the bad power kids. "It's all my fault," she said, covering her face with her hands. Hot tears stung her cheeks. Spencer silently put an arm around her.

Samantha said, "Nikki, it's not your fault. It's Jimmy's and Peter's, and probably Naomi's, too. The reporter said the witness saw three kids, so either one of them got a sidekick or Naomi is with them now. You can't always stop them from doing bad things. We can only do our best. We are in this together, okay, Nikki?"

Nikki wiped the tears away with her hands. "I guess so. Can we go back to Cragglyville now?"

Samantha sighed. "I know you feel like you should go back right away, but I think we should wait. We still have a lot to show you, and remember, time moves faster here, so there will be plenty of time to get back and defeat them later."

Nikki's eyes locked with Spencer's. Every instinct in her body was telling her to put on her blue gloves and fly back home. People were counting on her. Her family, her friends, her town. Everyone. She didn't know what to say. Luckily, Spencer made the decision for her.

"I think she's right, Hoppin'-Hamster," he said. "We _will_ defeat them, but first we need to prepare."

"Hoppin' Hamster?" Mike said.

Samantha laughed, breaking the tension. "Don't try to make sense of it, Mike. It's just something Spencer does."

Mike shrugged.

After the news report, no one had an appetite, so the three power kids finished taking Nikki and Spencer on the tour. First they went to the training room, where members of the Power Council could practice using their powers without hurting anyone. Then they stopped by what Samantha called "the Lab", a facility where the sidekicks could invent ways to help the power kids. Spencer was disappointed that none of the sidekicks were there today, but Samantha promised they would be back the following day.

As they walked to the last stop on the tour, Spencer asked a million questions about Samantha's, Freddy's, and Mike's powers. "What's your coolest power?" Spencer asked Freddy.

"Hmmm, it's hard to pick just one," he said. "I like my chameleon power, and this gold clock allows me to make time in one place move at a different speed than time in another place. That's how I control the time in Power City to move faster than the rest of the world. But I also like my anti-gravity power and my ninja skills. But my favorite power of all is probably my ability to talk to animals."

Nikki stopped walking, her eyes widening in amazement. "You can talk to animals?"

"Sure," Freddy said, "but only when I'm wearing my white socks with black polka dots.

Nikki burst into a huge grin. "I love animals! I've always wanted to be able to speak to my dog."

"Yeah, it's a pretty cool power, but your ability to transform into animals is way cooler!"

"Thanks," Nikki said, blushing.

They began walking again and Spencer continued asking his questions about powers. They learned that Samantha could make inanimate objects come to life, like toys and statues and things. She could also grow more arms and legs, like Nikki had seen in the picture in the room with the purple couches. From Mike, they found out that his scarves could turn his body into rubber and also give him the ability to build almost anything. He had built all of the robots and machines in the Power City, as well as much of the city itself.

They also learned that each of the power kids have twelve powers, each of which are very different. Nikki was relieved that Jimmy didn't have more powers than she did.

When Spencer ran out of questions to ask about powers, Nikki said, "Where's the last stop on the tour?" They had been walking down a straight and narrow path called the fire tunnel for at least 20 minutes. Fiery torches hung on the walls to light the way.

Samantha said, "The last stop on the tour is Weebleville."

### Chapter Eleven: Don't feed the Weebles after midnight!

"Weebleville!?" Nikki exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"You're about to find out," Samantha replied. Abruptly, the fiery tunnel banked sharply to the right and a heavy wooden door blocked their path. A sign above the door was written in shaky handwriting. It read: _Welcome to Weebleville_.

Freddy and Mike each grabbed a metal ring on one of the doors and heaved backwards. The door shuddered, and then with a groaning _creeeeaaak!_ slowly began to open in a wide arc. The sound of carnival music carried through the doors on a light breeze that wafted out. As the doors swung open, a sliver of light widened until it was a beam, and then a full path of brightness spilled out from the space beyond.

Nikki looked at Samantha, and she nodded for her to move forward. Spencer walked side by side with her. When the light hit her eyes she was temporarily blinded, but then her vision adjusted, gradually coming into focus. What she saw amazed her.

A magnificent cavern of remarkable proportions stood before her. It was so big she couldn't see the roof or the sides. "It's ginormous!" Spencer said.

Nikki nodded, staring silently, in awe of the bustling city in front of her eyes. There was activity everywhere she looked. Weebles, Weebles, and more Weebles ran and jumped and flipped and rolled and laughed and flew through the air like acrobats. The roly-poly animals had spiny bristles covering their entire bodies like porcupines. But then they also had wide, flat tails like beavers. Despite their roundish appearance, the Weebles moved with incredible speed and agility.

Nikki remembered the first time she had seen a Weeble in the forest near her house. She had run from it, becoming scared when it flashed its sharp teeth. Watching them playing and frolicking now, Nikki wondered why she had ever feared such funny looking creatures. _But how is it possible?_ she wondered. How could so many Weebles be in one place?

Before she could turn to ask Samantha the question, one of the Weebles rolled past and shouted, "Hey, kid! You comin' in or are you gonna stand there lettin' in a draft? Shut the door, will ya!?" The furry mammal had a strong New York accent. Nikki had almost forgotten the animals could talk.

"Stop givin' Nikki a hard time, will ya, Moe," Nikki heard Samantha say from behind her. She had mimicked his abrasive accent.

Spencer said, "Why do they have New York accents?" Spencer had been to New York many times to visit his dad and grandma. He was very accustomed to hearing the different variations of the local accent.

Samantha shrugged. "None of us know. Perhaps they're from New York."

Spencer laughed. "Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right answer."

Nikki watched as one of the Weebles jumped from the top of one of the many houses that lined the silvery city streets. Four other Weebles ran underneath him, each carrying the corner of a blanket. When the flying Weeble hit the tightly pulled blanket, he bounced high in the air, springing forward as if he was on a trampoline. The other Weebles continued running forward, catching him again, and bouncing him forward once more. The continued on down the road until they were out of sight.

"How did they get here?" Nikki murmured.

"Honestly," Samantha said, "we have no idea. They just showed up on our doorstep one day. How they found our secret Power City, we may never know. Of course, we let them in and Mike built them a place to live. They named it Weebleville."

"Weird," Spencer said. "I've seen a lot of nutty stuff in the last couple of weeks, but this one takes the cake! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

"Come on, let's go for a walk through the city," Samantha suggested.

The group of five began to slowly pick their way through the many streets and houses. Everywhere Nikki looked, the Weebles were doing something funny. She started laughing and couldn't seem to stop. Soon the rest of the kids were laughing, too. One Weeble swung on a rope attached to a light pole and splatted into a wall. After falling to the ground, he shook himself off and did it again! Another group of Weebles were covered in honey and were racing down the street yelling, "Honey-covered Weebles for sale!" There were hang-gliding Weebles and bungee-jumping Weebles. Some Weebles walked on stilts and some bounced on pogo-sticks. Regardless of what they were doing, the Weebles seemed to be having fun. The loud carnival music blared loudly in all parts of the city.

Nikki noticed that some of the Weebles were different colors, rather than the standard brownish hue that painted most of them. She spotted an orange Weeble that was doing cartwheels. Others she saw were green, blue, or white.

"Why are some of them a different color?" Nikki asked.

Freddy said, "Who knows? They are strange creatures. We've asked them lots of questions about where they came from, why they are different colors, where they got the powerchests from, but they refuse to answer us. They are more interested in just having fun."

Samantha said, "You are allowed to come and visit Weebleville anytime you like, but there are a few rules you need to know about."

"Rules?" Spencer said. "What rules?"

"There are only three, so try to remember them. One: Do not try to pet the Weebles. They are not pets and do not like it when you treat them like they are. Plus, their prickles are really sharp, like a cactus. Two: Do not accuse them of lying. Weebles are not capable of telling a lie or even a fib. If they answer one of your questions, you know what they say is the truth."

_These rules are easy_ , Nikki thought. "What's the third rule?" she asked.

"The third and final rule is the most important. Never, under any circumstances, should you feed the Weebles after midnight. We give them food throughout the day and they eat it all right away. They'll eat pretty much anything, but should not be eating after midnight."

"Why not?" Spencer asked.

Samantha shrugged. "Sorry, but it is another thing we don't know the answer to."

"Then how do you know not to do it?" Nikki asked.

"When the Weebles arrived, they told us these three rules, and we have been following them ever since. We don't question them. Will you obey them?"

Nikki said, "Sure." She looked at Spencer.

He nodded. "Okay." Nikki didn't see that his fingers were crossed behind his back.

"Good. Now it's getting pretty late, we should get to bed soon."

Suddenly Nikki felt exhausted. Her mouth opened widely as she let out a big yawn. "Good idea," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"What time is it?" Spencer asked.

Mike glanced at his watch. "Nearly midnight."

"What?" Nikki said. "How is that possible?"

Freddy said. "It's because of my power to change the way time works in the Power City. Time moves a little faster and our bodies adjust to it. It's weird. I don't even know exactly how it works."

"But we can't go to bed without dinner," Spencer said.

"I'm not really hungry," Nikki commented.

"I'm starved! I could eat a stack of flapjacks a mile high! Gobble gobble!" Spencer exclaimed.

"That's surprising," Samantha said. "Usually we only need two meals while in the mountain. But that's okay, I'm sure Mike would be willing to whip something up for you, wouldn't you, Mike?"

"Of course," Mike said.

"Rock star!" Spencer yelled.

Nikki and Spencer once again followed the members of the Power Council through the streets of Weebleville. The Weebles were still playing, as if they never got tired or needed to sleep. A few of them were lighting one of the houses on fire while another was throwing pails of water on it to douse the flames. Another was wearing goggles and a helmet, and was zigzagging his motorcycle through the city. Nikki laughed when a group of ten or more Weebles, who were standing on each other's shoulders, toppled over and spilled onto the ground. Right away, they started building their Weeble-tower again.

They reached the enormous wooden door and Mike pushed it open. Over her shoulder, Nikki said, "Goodnight Weebleville. See you later."

A Weeble riding a unicycle and juggling bananas, pineapples, and grapefruits heard her, and replied, "Don't let the door hit your rear on the way out!"

All five kids laughed. Mike closed the door with a _thud!_ and the music stopped. They were once again in the fire tunnel. Nikki yawned again. Turning to Spencer, she said, "Would you mind if I go straight to the bunk room? I'm exhausted!"

"Sure, Sleepy-Head. I'll grab a bite to eat with Mike and then be right in. Kapow!"

They headed down the tunnel together and then split off when Spencer went with Mike to find a place to have a snack. Nikki, Samantha, and Freddy continued on to the bunk room. When they arrived, Nikki slumped onto her bed. She said _goodnight_ to Samantha and Freddy, and then removed her shoes and pulled the bed sheets down. Still wearing her clothes from the day, she slipped under the covers and rested her head on the pillow.

Thoughts churned through her head. It had been one of the most incredible days of her life. And her life had been pretty incredible lately. She thought about the thrilling ride down the slide through the mountain; she thought about the hundreds of robots and machines constantly moving and building; she thought about Weebleville, and the kooky Weebles who played and did crazy things with seemingly endless energy.

Then she remembered what had happened in Cragglyville. The holes in everything! Jimmy, Peter and Naomi had to be stopped! She was glad she had the Power Council to help her.

Her thoughts began to get foggy as sleep approached. She was on the verge of drifting into dreamland when she heard the door open. She heard Spencer whisper, "Thanks, Mike, that was tasty!"

Without opening her eyes, Nikki tracked Spencer with her ears as he tiptoed across the room, scuffed his shoes off, and climbed the wooden ladder to the top bunk. Within minutes, she heard heavy breathing from above her. Spencer must have fallen asleep right away. Soon she could hear similar sounds of sleeping from the other three kids. Nikki was surprised she was the last to fall asleep, especially because she was so tired.

Once more, she felt her mind start to cross the threshold into the land of rest, but once again, she was jerked awake when she heard a noise, a rustling. It came from above her. _Rustle, rustle_. Then she heard the soft tap of a sock-covered foot on the top of the ladder. This time she half-opened one of her eyes to see what Spencer was doing. His small body passed her field of vision as he crept off of the ladder. What could he be doing? _Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom?_ she guessed. But something made Nikki think he was up to something. He was clearly trying to be as quiet as a mouse, as if he didn't want anyone to know he was leaving his bed.

He turned his back to her and Nikki opened both eyes so she could see him better in the darkness. His footsteps got quieter as he tiptoed away from her. She saw a brief flash of light as the door opened and closed noiselessly. Spencer had left the room.

Curious to see what her sidekick was up to, Nikki slipped out of bed and padded across the room. She didn't bother to wear her shoes. Just as she snuck through the door, she saw Spencer flit out of sight as the rose tunnel curved ahead of her. Nikki began to jog to make sure she didn't lose his trail. A few minutes later, she spotted him again when the tunnel curved to the right. She slowed to a fast walk, keeping him barely in her sight. She stuck close to the leaves of the rosebushes, so if he looked back she would have time to duck and hide.

She watched as Spencer turned right. Flickering red and orange light came from the tunnel he had entered. _It was the fire tunnel!_ She knew immediately where he was going: to see the Weebles again!

Nikki peeked around the corner and saw that Spencer was walking faster now, pulling away from her. She followed him, taking long strides in an effort to catch up. Fifteen minutes later they had reached the giant wooden doors and the sign for Weebleville. When Spencer reached for the metal door handle, Nikki crept closer, staying in the shadows between the wall torches. Spencer pulled hard, using all his body weight to open the heavy door. At first nothing happened and Nikki thought that maybe Spencer wouldn't be strong enough to get in. But then, slowly, inch by inch, the door crept open.

When the door was halfway open, Spencer released it and scampered across the threshold before it could close on him. Nikki reacted quickly, sprinting to the doorway and slipping through just as the door closed with a _crash!_

Spencer had already walked further into the city, where the carnival music was still playing loudly; the Weebles were still jumping and rolling and flipping and generally having a good time. _Do these guys ever sleep?_ Nikki wondered. Spencer approached one of the Weebles—it was green-colored with a massive tail. The green Weeble, who was busily throwing water balloons across the street at the windows on a house, stopped in mid-throw when it realized Spencer was coming toward her. Nikki knew it was a _her_ because of the tiny pink bows tied around clusters of its spiny fur.

Spencer held out his hand—there was something in his palm. _What is that?_ Nikki wondered. Then she realized what was happening. Despite the warnings from Samantha, Spencer was about to feed one of the Weebles after midnight! In his hand was a cookie, probably chocolate chip, his favorite. He most likely had Mike make it for him and then he had pocketed it. She should have known that he would try to break the rules, if only as an experiment, to know what would happen. Spencer hated not knowing something. Whenever he didn't know the answer to a question, he would think of nothing else until he found the answer. And in this case, the easiest way to find out was to break the rule and see what happened.

As Nikki started to run toward her friend, she yelled, "Nooo, Spencer, nooo!" He turned his head when she yelled, his eyes widening in surprise at seeing her. His hand started to jerk back, pulling the cookie away from the Weeble, but it was too late. The cookie was gone.

Spencer stared at his hand curiously, as if the cookie had magically disappeared. He looked at the Weeble and saw that it was staring at the tasty treat. It held the chocolaty disk with both paws, like it was using it to pray. Then the Weeble licked its lips.

Nikki stopped, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do anything. Suddenly realizing that it was being watched, the Weeble looked up and made eye contact with Nikki. With a gleam in its eyes, the Weeble flipped the cookie into the air and then leapt up and grabbed it in its mouth in one bite. The creature smacked its lips noisily as it chewed the sweet morsel. With a loud gulp, the Weeble swallowed the mashed cookie, sighing in contentment.

Nothing happened for ten seconds. The Weeble stared at Spencer. Spencer stared at the Weeble. Nikki stared at Spencer. Spencer stared at Nikki. The Weeble stared at Nikki. Nikki stared back at the Weeble. Nikki realized she had been holding her breath, and when nothing happened, she released the air in a long stream. "See," Spencer said. "They were worried about nothing."

Nikki was about to say that he still shouldn't have done it, when there was a loud gurgling noise. It had come from the Weeble. Spencer glanced at Nikki and then they both looked at the green ball of fur. The Weeble, who was already colored green, had become even greener and looked like she might throw up. Another loud gurgle. The Weeble's stomach rippled, as if its fur was the ocean, creating waves across an ocean of tummy.

"Uh oh," Spencer said.

Looking back, Spencer's two words were a major understatement. At the time they seemed appropriate. With a supersonic crunching sound, the Weeble suddenly began to grow. And grow. And grow. And growandgrowandgrow! Until it was bigger than Spencer, bigger than Nikki, and then eventually, bigger than anything around it. The green she-Weeble towered above the chimneys of the surrounding houses. Nikki stared in horror at the gigantic beast standing before her. Spencer, who was even closer to it, looked like he was about to pee his pants, or cry, or scream for his momma, or maybe do all three.

With a loud roar, the Weeble started to run through the city away from them, leaving Nikki and Spencer standing and gawking at it. Spencer ran to Nikki and said, "What do we do?"

"We need to tell Samantha."

"Okay, I'll get her." He ran to the door, pushing it hard and forcing it open.

When he was gone, Nikki tried to think what to do. In her mind, she ticked through each of her powergloves. Fire was no good, she would just burn the whole place down. Ice might slow the giant Weeble down, but it would break free eventually. She could stop time, but all that would do was delay the inevitable. _Being fast would come in handy_ , she thought. Combined with her super-strength she might be able to do something to stop it.

Acting quickly, Nikki expanded and opened her powerchest. Soon she was wearing one purple and one orange glove. Wasting no time, Nikki left her powerchest wide open in case she needed to use a different glove later, and ran into Weebleville. With her super-speed orange glove, she couldn't even see her legs they were moving so fast. She caught up to the mutated Weeble in ten seconds. It was kicking over houses and punching holes in windows. Large groups of regular sized Weebles were running from the beast screaming, "Run for your lives!" Other Weebles were standing and watching, some laughing, some crying.

Nikki ran between the Weeble's legs and got out in front of it. Then she stopped and looked back. Although it was very big, the Weeble was slow, swinging its arms and legs clumsily. Evidently its normal agility and speed were lost when it grew. Swiveling her head, Nikki tried to find something to use to stop it. She saw a row of light poles planted along the street. _Perfect_ , Nikki thought.

With the strength of many men, Nikki grabbed one of the tall metal poles with two hands and pulled. The heavy structure popped out of the sidewalk easily. Nikki rested it on the ground and moved on to the next pole. Like the first, she easily extracted it from the ground. She did the same with the third pole. One option was to use them as weapons, smashing them against the Weeble's knees and trying to injure it. But Nikki didn't want to hurt the poor creature. After all, it wasn't the Weeble's fault that Spencer had broken one of the rules and fed her after midnight.

Thinking fast, Nikki slid each pole across the street, lining them up, almost touching. She hoped the Weeble would lose its balance and fall when it stepped on the cylindrical rods. She hid behind the corner of a house and watched as the Weeble approached her trap. Three steps away, two steps, one. With a loud _thud!_ it tramped on all three light poles at the same time. They spun away from the beast, causing its front foot to slide forward away from its back foot. In a move that would have made a gymnast proud, the Weeble did a split, landing upright with each leg fully outstretched, but in opposite directions.

To Nikki's surprise, the Weeble let out what sounded like a stranged laugh, deep and throaty. "Hee hee hee!" it roared. It stood up and started to trudge down the road, smashing everything in sight.

Nikki's heart sank. _What can I do against such a large creature?_ she wondered.

That's when help arrived.

Mike flew past, cruising by on some sort of a hovercraft. Samantha and Freddy were sitting on the back of it. Nikki took off, running fast and staying directly under them. They reached the Weeble and Samantha leapt to the ground with Freddy right behind her. She was wearing a bright orange belt. Freddy had peach socks on, pulled high.

"I'm so glad you're here," Nikki said. "I don't know how to stop it!"

Samantha flashed a forced grin. "Don't worry. We've got a plan." She turned toward the back of the green Weeble and yelled, "Hey, Onion Breath! We need to talk to you!"

The Weeble stopped moving and slowly turned around. When it saw the kids, it charged, roaring as it lumbered toward them. It sounded like a stampeding elephant.

"Phase one!" Samantha yelled. "Surprise it, Freddy!"

Freddy raised his arm and then made a slapping motion at the air, as if he was swatting at a mosquito. To Nikki's surprise, the Weeble stopped and its head jerked to the side. It looked around, surprised by something. Freddy slapped the air again, this time to the other side. The Weeble's head snapped back the other way. Freddy looked at Nikki and grinned. "Distance slap. One of my powers."

"Cool," was all Nikki could think of to say.

Samantha said, "Phase two—ropes!" She outstretched both of her arms at the Weeble and yelled, "Rope power!" A thick rope shot from her fingertips, snaking toward the Weeble's feet. Still trying to figure out what had slapped it in the face, the Weeble was even more surprised to see the heavy rope springing toward it. It tried to turn to run away, but was too slow. The rope curled past its left foot, looping around it several times before moving on to the right foot and doing the same thing.

With its feet tethered together, the Weeble tripped and fell, smashing to the ground in a heap. The street shook from the impact. "Will that hold it?" Nikki asked.

"Not for long," Samantha replied. "I'll add some more rope so it can't get loose." She aimed her fingers again and several more coils of rope sprang out, crawling all over the creature and tying its arms together, and its arms to its legs, like an old-fashioned hog tie.

Mike landed next to them on his hovercraft. "Good job, guys," he said.

Nikki looked back down the road. The houses were destroyed. She looked at her feet. It was her fault. She had brought Spencer with her. "I'm sorry. I'll get Spencer and we'll leave right away."

Samantha said, "What? You're not going anywhere, Nikki."

Nikki looked up in surprise. "But after what we did you won't want us on the Power Council."

"Nonsense. It was a silly thing to do, but we know you guys didn't try to hurt anyone. We've thought about feeding the Weebles after midnight many times, too, but always chickened out. Spencer was just curious, that's all."

"But what about Weebleville? It's destroyed."

Samantha chuckled. "Mike will take care of it. He's pretty fast when he starts building. Should only take him a couple of hours. Plus, the Weebles destroy their city all the time. They are destructive little creatures."

Nikki took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She was relieved. She liked her new friends and didn't want to lose them. "You guys were amazing," Nikki said.

"Thanks, we've had a lot of practice with our powers. But we've seen you in action, too. You were incredible when you took care of the bomb Jimmy Powerboots had planted in the bank in Cragglyville."

Nikki's face flushed. _They knew all about her!_ Samantha put her arm around Nikki. She said, "Let's go back to bed. We all need to get some sleep. The ropes will hold the giant Weeble until the morning and then we can figure out what to do with her."

Nikki said, "I know one thing we won't be doing again anytime soon. Feeding a Weeble after midnight!"

### Chapter Twelve: Spencer's gadgets

They slept in the next day. When Nikki awoke she could hear Spencer snoring softly on the bunk above her. The previous night, he was really upset. Like Nikki, he thought he had ruined everything and that the Power Council would make them leave. He was so excited when he found out they would get to stay. "Hip hip hooray!" he had yelled.

Nikki swung her feet over the side of the bed. She gazed around the room. Freddy and Mike were asleep, tucked tightly under their covers. Samantha wasn't in her bed. Her pillow was rumpled and the bedspread had been tossed loosely over the bed. Nikki stood up and lifted her foot onto the bottom step of the bunk ladder. Climbing the ladder, she peeked over the top at her friend. He was breathing deeply, his bottom lip buzzing slightly with each exhalation. A small pool of drool had formed on his pillow to the side of his mouth.

"Spence!" Nikki whispered sharply. "Wake up, Spence!"

Her friend's eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. "What time is it?" he groaned.

"I don't know. Time is different in here anyways. It's time to wake up."

"Okay," Spencer said. Then, "I'm hungry."

"Maybe you should have eaten your cookie instead of giving it to the Weeble."

Spencer looked at her sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. I just had to know what would happen though."

"Did you learn your lesson?"

"Probably not," Spencer said honestly. "I mean, I won't be feeding the Weebles after midnight again, but I might do something similar, like break a rule just because I have to know something. I don't know why, but I just hate not knowing something, you know what I mean, Kemosabe?"

Nikki couldn't help but to let the corners of her lips curl into a smile. "Not really. But I know it's hard for you. It's part of what makes you a good sidekick though."

Spencer smiled and pulled the covers off of him. They climbed down the ladder and left Freddy and Mike sleeping in the bunk room. They went looking for Samantha. She was in the first place they looked, the room with the purple couches. She was having breakfast with two other kids. When Nikki entered the room, she looked up and said, "Hey there, Weeble-feeders."

At first Nikki thought she might be mad at them for what they did the night before, but then Samantha grinned and Nikki knew she was joking.

One of the kids, a short, Asian boy with thick glasses said, "Samantha told us all about it, way to go!" Then he stood up, extended his hand, and said, "I'm Dexter Chan, booby-trapper extraordinaire and Samantha's sidekick.

Spencer's eyes lit up and he reached in front of Nikki to shake Dexter's hand. "Spencer Quick, boy genius and Nikki's sidekick. Very nice to finally meet a fellow sidekick, yeehaw!"

"Hi, Spencer. I've been looking forward to meeting you, too," Dexter said, releasing his hand and shaking Nikki's.

Nikki was glad to see her friend so happy. She hoped he would make friends with the other sidekicks. The other kid sitting next to Samantha waved to them. She had long dark hair and deep, dark eyes. "Name's Chilly. Chilly Weathers," she said.

"Seriously?" Spencer said.

"That's what my momma called me," Chilly said.

"That's almost as bad as Nikki Nickerson," Spencer joked.

Nikki glared at him. "It's Nikki Powergloves in here," she said.

"Whatever you say, boss." Turning back to Chilly, Spencer asked, "So, what's your skill, Weather-Girl?"

"I'll show you." Chilly snapped her fingers and a puff of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, a white dove was sitting in her palm. "I'm an amateur magician," Chilly said. "And I'm Freddy's sidekick."

"Wow! Really good trick, Chilly!" Spencer said. "Can you make a bowl of Chocolate Covered Sugar Wheats appear for me?"

A voice from behind them said, "She can't, but I can!"

They turned and saw Mike holding a bowl of Spencer's favorite cereal. Spencer ran over and took it from him. He began to eat greedily and soon had a milk mustache below his nose. All the kids started laughing and Spencer said, "Milk—it does a body good!"

At Nikki's request, Mike whipped up some scrambled eggs and sausage. Freddy joined them halfway through breakfast, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Together, the power kids and sidekicks watched the news in Cragglyville. Even though an entire day had passed in the Power City, it was only lunchtime in Nikki's hometown. The police and town workers were still cleaning up the mess that Jimmy's crew of villains had made earlier that day. Nikki was relieved to find out that they hadn't attacked again.

After breakfast, Dexter said excitedly, "Spencer, you wanna go to the Lab with me and Chilly?"

Spencer jumped up and pumped his fist in the air while doing a tap dance with his feet. "Yeahyeahyeahyeah!" he yelled. "Let's go!"

When Dexter and Chilly stood up to lead Spencer from the room, Nikki started to follow them. "We've got other plans," Samantha said.

Nikki stopped. Watched Spencer leave. She wasn't used to doing different things than him. They usually did everything together. But if she was going to be a superhero, she needed to accept that sometimes Spencer would have to do sidekick things, while she did superhero things.

Once the sidekicks were gone, Nikki asked, "What are we going to do?"

Samantha said, "We've got to check on the Weeble. You know, the giant, colossal, angry beast from last night?"

"Right," Nikki said, remembering that they had left it tied up in Weebleville.

"All the power kids should be there just in case there's any trouble," Samantha said. Nikki nodded. It made sense. She would have to get used to doing things together with the Power Council. She was used to having to take care of any problems on her own. Like Jimmy and Peter. Suddenly, her heart soared: She would never have to fight the villains on her own ever again!

They made their way through a few tunnels and then into the fiery tube leading to Weebleville. When they pulled open the heavy door, Nikki half-expected the enormous Weeble to come barreling through, dragging Samantha's heavy ropes behind it.

Instead, she heard the same carnival music, saw the same Weebles running and dancing and playing. A mischievous-looking blue Weeble ran up to them, turned around, raised its butt in the air and blasted a fart at them. Laughing hysterically, it rolled away from them, back into the city.

Nikki smirked. "They are a strange bunch," she said.

"Try seeing them every day," Samantha said.

Taking long strides, Samantha led Nikki and the other two power kids into Weebleville, down the same road that Nikki had raced down the previous night. Every couple of minutes, Nikki craned her neck to look past Samantha, expecting to see the hulking shape of the tied up, sleeping Weeble—the green one that Spencer had fed after midnight.

They rounded a bend and Nikki gasped. The thick coils of rope that Samantha had shot at the Weeble were lying in the middle of the street in a tangled mess of knots and twists. The Weeble was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no!" Nikki cried. "She escaped!"

Samantha approached the coils slowly. "Hmmm," she mused. "I'm not sure that's what happened."

Nikki frowned. Was Samantha blind? She had to be able to see what Nikki was seeing. The massive Weeble was gone—only the ropes remained. "What?" Nikki said, scratching her head.

Then she heard it. The soft sound of muffled breathing. And she saw gentle movement under the ropes.

Samantha reached down and pried off a few loops of rope, and then exclaimed, "Gotcha!" as she darted her hand downwards. When she lifted her arm, she had a green Weeble clamped between her fingers. It had pink bows in its bristles. _The giant Weeble from the night before!_ Samantha was holding her just under the chin, in a spot that Nikki hadn't noticed before—there were no spikes, just soft fur.

The Weeble's eyes fluttered open and she blinked sleepily. Brown chocolate ringed her mouth. She licked her lips lazily and sighed, as if she could still taste the delicious cookie from the night before.

"She shrunk?" Nikki said.

"I guess so," Samantha said.

"Probably after she digested the cookie," Mike said.

"Or after she fell asleep," Freddy guessed.

"Maybe," Samantha said. "But in any case, she's back to normal. Everything's fine in Weebleville."

Nikki let out a sigh of relief. It could have been worse. Much worse. She imagined what would have happened if the Weeble had broken out of the cave. A giant, green creature rampaging down the highway, headed straight for Cragglyville, smashing cars and houses and fields full of vegetables. She sighed again.

The foursome left the Weeble by the ropes. As soon as Samantha set it back on the ground, it began giggling uncontrollably, like it had breathed in laughing gas. They heard it laughing during their entire walk back out of the city. _Crazy, loony Weebles!_ Nikki thought.

They went back to the purple couch room and settled in to wait for their sidekicks to finish with whatever it was they were doing. Nikki wanted to go find Spencer right away, to tell him the good news about the Weeble, but Samantha said it was better not to disturb the sidekicks when they were in The Lab.

Eventually, there was a knock at the door and a voice hollered, "Come join us in The Lab!" Nikki could tell it was Chilly. Nikki sprang up and ran to the door to open it. When she pulled it open, there was no one there. "Huh?" she said.

Mike said, "They like to surprise us."

"Oh," Nikki said, shrugging.

This time, Mike led the group down a short tunnel lined with bees' nests. The buzzing insects swirled around them, but didn't touch or sting them. Samantha said it was called the honeycomb tunnel and that the bees were not dangerous. Nikki was glad to hear it. She had been stung twice and she hated the way her skin puffed up!

After the honeycomb tunnel was the diamond tunnel. Brilliant diamonds of all shapes and sizes sparkled on the walls and ceiling. Nikki didn't know much about diamonds, but knew that they had to be worth lots of money. A lot more money than she had in her piggy bank, that's for sure.

They reached The Lab, and Mike turned around and said to Nikki, "Want to do the honors?"

Excitedly, Nikki reached for the door and pulled. Nothing happened. She pulled harder, straining against whatever force was holding the door closed. Thinking the door must require a push rather than a pull, Nikki leaned on it with both hands. Still no movement. It wouldn't budge. "I think it's locked," Nikki said.

Samantha smiled at her. She looked at Mike—he was smiling too. In her peripheral vision she could see Freddy's lip curled into a grin. Then she heard familiar humming further down the hall. Humming she had heard many times before. _Spencer!_

Her friend came around the bend and into view. He was humming to himself, the way he always did when he was thinking. "Need some help?" he asked Nikki.

Nikki shrugged. "Door's locked, so unless you have the key..." Nikki said.

"It's not locked," Spencer said. "Watch and learn, amigo."

Spencer raised his hand and Nikki noticed he was holding a canister of some sort. It looked like air freshener or bug spray or something. With a puff of awful-smelling fumes, he sprayed all around the doorframe, being careful to get into all of the cracks. Finished, he motioned to Nikki to try the door again. She sighed, not wanting to look stupid again when she couldn't open a simple door. How could spraying the door with stinky gas help to open it?

Gripping the handle firmly, she pulled as hard as she could and was shocked when her arm shot back and the door flew open. She almost fell over when the door collided with her hip, but Samantha was there to steady her.

"What the heck!" she said. "It was a trick, right? Someone unlocked it right before I opened it, didn't they?"

"Guess again, Tickle-Me-Nikki," Spencer said. "You have just witnessed the first thing I wanted to show you. I call it Sticky Situation Glue. I used it to seal the door. That's why you couldn't open it. The spray is the antidote, so to speak. It reverses the stickiness."

Chilly and Dexter popped out from behind a giant silver pot that had steam coming from its lid. "Surprise!" they said to together.

Then Chilly said, "The glue is Spencer's first invention. He came up with the idea on his own, and me and Dex helped him to create it and the spray."

Nikki turned to look at Spencer. He was beaming proudly. "What do you think?" he said.

"It's amazing, Spence. I wouldn't have any idea how to create anything, much less super-sticky glue! It should come in handy against the villains."

"That's what sidekicks are for! Cockadoodledoo!" Spencer yelled.

"What's in the cauldron?" Nikki asked, pointing to the steaming pot.

Chilly laughed. "You make it sound like we are witches brewing up potions!"

Nikki giggled as she pictured Spencer wearing a pointy, black hat, chanting strange words as he stirred a boiling pot of bat wings, salamander tails, and hair from a unicorn's tail.

Spencer said, "The 'cauldron', as you put it, contains a big batch of Sticky Situation Glue. We'll give you a bottle of it to put in your utility belt, along with the spray."

"Utility belt?" Nikki said.

"Yeah," Spencer said. "All the other power kids wear them, right guys?"

Samantha, Freddy and Mike all nodded.

"Strapped to your belt will be all the gadgets that I make for you to help you fight the bad guys."

"Cool!" Nikki exclaimed. Suddenly, she was anxious to see what else Spencer had cooked up for her. "What else do you have so far?"

Spencer pumped his fist. "I was hoping you would ask that!"

He reached in his pocket and extracted a smooth object. It was about the size of an egg and shaped like one, too. The only difference was that it was green and had a hoop sticking off of one of the ends. Nikki's eyes widened as she realized what it looked like. "Is that a....grenade?" she asked.

Instead of answering, to Nikki's horror, he stuck a finger through the hoop and pulled the pin out and yelled, "Fire in the hole!" and then dropped the grenade.

Nikki knew it was too late to run, so instead she just watched the grenade clank off the floor and bounce twice before settling at their feet. While she waited to be blown to bits she wondered why Spencer had done it.

Then the grenade exploded.

It flared brightly for a moment and began spouting green and red and yellow mist from one end. It swirled around her ankles, up her torso, and finally around her head. Soon she couldn't see anything as the colorful gas covered the entire room. Reaching her arms in front of her like a zombie, she tried to find the door. "Ouch!" she exclaimed when she bumped into someone. She heard scuffling in at least four different directions as the power kids and their sidekicks tried to find the door.

She heard Chilly's exuberant voice say, "Got it!" and then a felt a whoosh of fresh air across her face. The mist was still heavy, but was not as thick as before. Nikki thought she could make out the outline of the door. She moved toward it and then broke through the fog, out of The Lab and into the tunnel. She could see again. Chilly was already out there, but Nikki was the second. Behind her, Spencer galloped out, laughing hard. The rest of the kids followed shortly after. Soon they were all laughing.

Nikki said, "You scared me, Spence! I thought you were going to blow us all up!"

Still grinning, Spencer said, "Now why would I do that, Cowgirl! Don't you trust me?"

Nikki felt silly. Of course she trusted him. She had known him her whole life. She said, "Of course I do, Spence, but after what happened with the Weebles last night..."

Spencer chuckled. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that!"

They all laughed again. They all had a case of the giggles. "What was that stuff, laughing gas?" Nikki asked.

"No," Spencer said. "Just a colorful smokescreen. I call it Rainbow Fog. I don't know why we are all laughing."

"Cool, we can definitely use Rainbow Fog against Jimmy and his friends."

"I have one more gadget to show you," Spencer said, "but we will need to wait for the Rainbow Fog to go away before we can use The Lab."

Dexter said, "No problem, watch this." The short Asian boy reached up and pressed a button on the wall outside of the room. Nikki hadn't noticed it before. There was a loud _whoosh!_ and the colorful mist in The Lab began to clear. It was like a huge vacuum had sucked it all up.

"Great!" Spencer exclaimed. "Let's go! Wakka wakka!" He led them back into the room. Once inside, he said, "I've saved the best for last, Nikki. I think you're really gonna like this one." He walked over to one of the lab stations and picked up a box. Removing the lid, he held it in his hand so Nikki could look inside.

Nikki peered into the tiny container. There were a dozen cherry-sized marbles. They were black and gold and shimmered under the bright lights in The Lab. "What are those?" Nikki asked.

"I'll show you," Spencer said. "But first I'll need a victim—I mean a volunteer."

Everyone in the room inched away from him, clearly afraid of what the marbles might do to them. Sighing, Spencer said, "I guess I'll have to use them on myself."

Before Nikki could object, Spencer had plucked a handful of the marbles from the box and dropped them at his feet. The small orbs landed with a _thud!_ They sounded much heavier than they looked. They didn't bounce or roll away; rather, they stuck to the floor, as if they had been dropped onto something sticky.

Spencer said, "Be very careful with these, Nikki, they go after whoever they land closest to!" While Spencer was warning her, Nikki was watching the orbs closely. Suddenly, they sprouted tiny legs and began scurrying around Spencer. He tried to run away from them, but they chased him....and caught him. The little marble-bug-things scurried up his legs and disappeared beneath his shorts.

"Ooh hoo hoo! That tickles!" Spencer said. A few of the bugs scurried out from his shorts, up his stomach, onto his shoulders and then down his arms. With a _slap!_ his hands were clamped against each other. Metal ropes sprang from the bugs and tied his hands together! The rest of the bugs scurried out of his shorts to his feet, which were spread wide apart. Like his hands, his feet were forced next to each other and tied up.

Spencer said, "And that's how you slow down a bad guy."

Nikki laughed. "Or a best friend who is annoying you!"

"You better not use my own inventions against me!" Spencer yelped.

"Just kidding, Spence. I think it's really cool. Nice work! Now how do we get them off of you?"

"Simple," Spence said, "just splash some water on them. For some reason they don't like that."

Chilly ran and got a cup of water and poured them on Spencer's hands and feet. The bugs let out a strange squealing noise and then the ropes disappeared back inside them and Spencer was free. The bugs dropped to the floor and their legs went into the marbles. Spencer scooped the orbs up and slipped them back into the box, and then gave a slight bow. "Voila!" he exclaimed. "That's the end of the show for today. I hope you all enjoyed seeing Spencer's Gadgets, presented by Spencer, certified genius. I would like to thank Dexter and Chilly for all their help!"

### Chapter Thirteen: Who's the toughest villain?

Jimmy was starting to get tired of being bossed around. Who does Naomi think she is? He was the leader of the villains! She had joined his gang, not the other way around. But now she was making all the decisions. She was smart, but he knew he was smarter. And stronger. She was yelling at him right now, but he wasn't listening. Instead he was thinking about how he was better than her.

Cocking his head to the side, he heard her say, "Where is Nikki?! She doesn't even care that we smashed up Cragglyville! Here's what we're gonna do next: Jimmy, you're gonna attack Town Hall, while Peter and I go after the rest of the town..."

"No!" Jimmy snapped.

Naomi's head jerked to look at him. Her eyes were black and piercing. "What?" she said, staring at him, a scowl forming on her face. She lifted her hands to her hips. For a second Jimmy was scared of her. But then he remembered that he was the boss.

"No," he said again. "You had your chance to come up with the plan, and it didn't work. I'm the leader of this gang and I will decide what we do."

Naomi laughed, but she didn't sound happy, like he had just made a funny joke—more like she was laughing at him. He didn't like being laughed at. He frowned.

Naomi said, "You think you're the boss?"

"I don't think—I know," Jimmy said. "I _am_ the boss."

"No way," Naomi said. "I'm smarter and tougher than both you and Peter put together."

Now it was Jimmy's turn to laugh. This girl was crazy! Between clenched teeth, Jimmy said, "Either you listen to what I say, or you can fight Nikki Powergloves by yourself."

Naomi grinned. Her face was all clenched and angry, but she was still somehow grinning. "I guess you would be too scared to challenge me then?"

Jimmy didn't understand what she meant. "What do you mean _challenge_?" he said.

"If you are really the toughest and the smartest, then I think you should be our leader. But I don't think you are, so I want to challenge you."

Jimmy thought about it for a minute. It sounded fair. "Okay," he said. "I accept the challenge."

"What about me?" Peter asked.

They both looked at him. Jimmy shrugged. Naomi said, "You can compete, too. Whoever wins is the leader."

"What are the rules?" Jimmy asked.

Naomi was grinning again. "There are no rules."

First, Jimmy teleported them to an out of the way place. A field nearby Cragglyville. Not farmland. It was just empty land, not owned by anyone. The three villains walked for a few minutes. Naomi scanned the countryside. Couldn't see any people. A few birds, maybe, but no people. She said, "Choose your weapons!"

Simultaneously, each villain reached into their pocket and extracted their powerchest. Jimmy was the first to get his open. Peter was second, Naomi was third. _I'm winning already_ , Jimmy thought.

Jimmy thought about it carefully before choosing his powerboots. He selected one white boot with a picture of five identical stick figures on it. The second boot he chose was black, with a picture of the ground with a big crack in it. He called the ability that the black one gave him a powerstomp. He had never used the white one in action before, but was really looking forward to trying it out on Naomi.

Happy with his selections, Jimmy closed the chest and watched it shrink down to bite size. After stuffing it back in his pocket, he shook off his shoes and stuck his feet into the boots, first the black and then the white. He glanced over at Peter, who was wearing a bright red hat with a picture of bull horns on it. Jimmy could guess what power Peter got from that hat. Naomi was wearing a blue skirt with a drawing of three other skirts on it. Jimmy had no idea what power it gave her.

As he gazed at her blue skirt wondering whether it made her fly or run fast or do any of the amazing things that Nikki could do, the skirt color suddenly changed rapidly, from pink to purple to gray to orange and then back to blue. _Weird_ , Jimmy thought. He tried to figure out what it meant, but couldn't figure it out.

With all the villains ready, Naomi said, "Ready, fight!" and the battle began.

Jimmy's first move was to use his white boot, the one with picture of five identical stick figures on it. He thought hard about what it would be like to have a twin brother, and then a third. A fourth...a fifth. When he looked around, he saw himself. Actually, he saw four of himself. His cloning boot had worked! Now there were five of him and only two opponents, Peter and Naomi. He liked his chances.

While he had been cloning himself, Peter had magically transformed into a raging, snarling bull. He stamped a massive hoof in the dirt, kicking up dust. Then he charged one of Jimmy's clones, who wasn't ready for the attack. The Jimmy was hit by the sharp horns and bucked high into the air, before crashing to the ground. He faded and then disappeared altogether.

Only four Jimmy's left.

Naomi's skirt had changed color again, this time to orange. There was a picture of a closed eye on it. Suddenly, she blinked sharply at one of Jimmy's clones and a blast of orange light shot from her eye. A laser! When she was wearing her orange skirt, she could blink lasers! Jimmy still had no idea how she changed the color of her skirt so quickly.

Anyway, she kept blinking out lasers at the Jimmy clone. Soon, the clone was singed black from the heat. He fell to the ground and then, like the first clone, fizzled and vanished.

Three Jimmy's left.

Jimmy was starting to worry. He was losing very quickly. Finally, he remembered his black boots. Each of the three remaining Jimmy's was wearing a black boot. At the same time, Jimmy and his two remaining clones raised a foot and smashed it to the earth. The ground shook and rumbled, like there was an earthquake. Three cracks formed and tore through the earth, heading straight for Peter the bull, who was charging at Jimmy again. It was too late for him to stop. One of his massive hooves landed where a crack had formed. The leg buckled and Peter fell, landing hard in the crack. Because he was so big, he got stuck in the chasm, pinned between the two sides. His head bucked and his legs kicked violently, but he couldn't get out. Jimmy had defeated Peter!

Jimmy whirled around to find Naomi. He spotted her standing away from him; she was now wearing a pink skirt with a gymnast on it. Jimmy was about to use his powerstomp again, but Naomi was faster. She leapt into action, flipping and doing handsprings, moving fast and acrobatically toward one of his clones. With a final spinning flip, she tackled the third clone, knocking him to the ground. He rolled a few feet and then slipped into one of the chasms that Jimmy had created with the powerstomp.

Only two Jimmy's left!

Frantically, the last two Jimmy's performed another synchronized powerstomp, aiming for Naomi's legs. Two huge cracks formed and ripped toward Naomi, but she was easily able to spring out of the way using her gymnastics skills. After doing a cartwheel, she landed on her feet and her skirt changed color once more, this time to green, with a picture of a weird-looking monster on it.

Jimmy stopped breathing as Naomi started to grow. Her legs got bigger, her arms got stronger. Then she turned green and her face turned into that of an ogre, covered in warts and patches of black hair. Her eyes bugged out and her mouth got wide and full of crooked teeth. "I'm gonna get you, Jimmy!" the Naomi-ogre bellowed.

She ran toward him and his clone, and he should have run, but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground. He couldn't seem to make them move. Jimmy felt his body being lifted off the ground as the ogre grabbed him and his clone around their waists using its massive, wart-covered hands. He felt himself being shaken and heard Naomi laugh deeply. "Har har har!" she roared. Jimmy didn't know what to do. There was nothing he could do. With a final grunt, Naomi smashed Jimmy into his clone and he felt himself falling to the ground. Lying on the ground, Jimmy could see his final clone next to him. The clone smiled at him as if to say, "It was a good fight, Jimmy, but we lost," and then he faded away, gone back to whatever magical place Jimmy had summoned him from.

Jimmy heard laughter, not deep and throaty like from the Naomi-ogre, but shrill and triumphant. He turned his head and saw Naomi standing over him, smiling. She said, "Who's the toughest villain, Jimmy?"

Jimmy knew he had been beaten, knew that Naomi was the toughest villain. The way she switched powers rapidly was amazing. She would be their leader, and he would accept that. With experience, one day Jimmy might be able to become the leader again, but for now, Naomi would lead.

"You are the toughest villain, Naomi. You are our leader," he said.

### Chapter Fourteen: Let the power games begin!

After Spencer showed Nikki his gadgets, Samantha said, "Now it's time for the power games."

"What are the power games?" Nikki asked.

"You'll see," Samantha said with a wink. She led the group out of The Lab and into the tunnel. While they walked, Nikki tried to figure out what Samantha meant by _power games_. She liked games, but somehow she didn't think it would be like playing Monopoly or Clue. Whatever they were going to be doing, she would have to use her powers.

Eventually, Samantha stopped at a small door. It was about half as tall as Nikki was. She remembered from the tour that the door opened into the training area. She wanted to look inside before, but Samantha had said she could see it later. Now it was later, she guessed.

Samantha opened the small door and then got on her stomach and crawled through. Following Samantha's example, Nikki wriggled her way through the door using only her elbows and knees. When she poked her head through the opening, she gasped. Amazing! It was the biggest room she had ever seen. Bigger than the Big Mart back in Cragglyville. Bigger than a football stadium. Humungous!

She got to her feet and looked around. There was cool equipment everywhere. There were giant robots walking around, electronic targets on the walls and ceilings, punching bags and conveyer belts, hoops and bells and obstacles and ropes and walls. It was incredible! She never imagined the training room would be this awesome. Getting more and more excited by the minute, Nikki didn't notice that Spencer had crawled into the room, too, and was standing next to her gawking at the room just like she was.

"It's....beautiful," he said.

"Sure is," Nikki said.

Smiling, Samantha said, "Okay. Now for the power games. The power games are a chance for all us power kids to practice our powers and abilities against each other in a safe environment. As you can see, there is padding almost everywhere, so you don't need to be afraid of falling down and getting hurt. It's a chance to experiment and train. There is only one rule: no sidekick assistance!"

Nikki's heart sank. She was hoping her and Spencer could be a team.

Samantha must have noticed the disappointment on Nikki's face, because she said, "Sorry, Nikki, but we all have to learn to use our powers without sidekick help, just in case they aren't around. However, they will be watching the power games from the seating area." She motioned over her shoulder to a stretch of bleachers with room for more than a hundred kids. Nikki wondered why there was so much space when there were only three sidekicks who would be watching.

Her question was answered when a round door opened behind the bleachers and a brown, furry creature rolled through. A Weeble! Then another ball of fur scampered in, this one gray. The Weeble parade continued, as Weeble after Weeble rolled, crawled, bounced, or dove through the door. Each one promptly moved up into the bleachers, taking their seats in an orderly fashion, like they had just come to watch a movie or a play. It was one of the oddest scenes Nikki had ever seen in her life.

"Hooray!" Spencer exclaimed. "We get to watch with the Weebles!" Suddenly Nikki was really nervous. She didn't know why. They were just kooky, talking animals. It didn't matter how well she performed in front of them. But for some reason she was nervous. It was as if she knew they would be judging her, critiquing her performance, checking to see how she stacked up against the other power kids.

While Nikki was still puzzling over the random appearance of the Weebles, Samantha yelled, "Let the power games begin!"

Nikki saw Chilly grab Spencer's hand and pull him over to the bleachers with Dexter right behind them. They took a seat in the front row. They were squished between two of the larger Weebles. Spencer had a big smile on his face. He gave Nikki a thumb's up sign.

_Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!_ Nikki heard three loud noises behind her and spun around to see what had caused the commotion. The other three power kids had already opened their powerchests, thrusting the heavy lids off in a hurry. _Oh no!_ Nikki thought. She needed to catch up. She quickly opened her own chest and sifted through the gloves. Without really thinking about it, she plucked out two gloves, one brown and one pink. The brown glove had a paw print on it, and etched on the pink glove was a tarot card.

She looked around, trying to find the other power kids. Samantha was fastening a peach belt around her waist. As soon as the belt was on, four new arms burst from her skin, two on each side. Samantha now had six arms!

Mike and Freddy were gone, so Nikki scanned the room, trying to find them amongst all the equipment. She spotted Mike quickly. He was whirling through the air like a human tornado. She only knew it was him because he was wearing a brown-striped scarf that was flapping around his body with each spin. He looked like the Tasmanian Devil from the cartoons she sometimes watched.

Freddy was harder to find, but eventually she saw him crouching behind a wall. She could barely make out the colors of his socks. One was green and the other was black. But there was something different about him. Something was covering his front and back. It almost looked like a green suit of armor. Nikki realized what it was: a turtle shell! He would be well-protected. Nikki wondered what power the other sock would give him.

While Nikki was watching Freddy, she felt herself being lifted into the air by at least three people. She looked down. It was only one person. But the one person had three sets of arms. Samantha was spinning Nikki above her head. "Augh!" Nikki screamed, getting dizzier by the minute.

Luckily, at that moment Nikki remembered that she was a power kid, too. And she was wearing a very powerful glove—the pink one with the tarot card. She closed her eyes and tried to think about what was about to happen to her—what _would_ happen to her...in the future. That was the power of the pink glove, being able to see the future. An image flashed into her mind: Samantha spinning her through the air and then throwing her across the room; Nikki crashing into the wall, falling to the floor, eliminated from the power games. She couldn't let it happen!

Nikki opened her eyes and knew that Samantha was about to throw her. But Nikki was ready for it. Right when Samantha Powerbelts launched her, Nikki used her brown glove to change. She changed into a cat, sort of. More than a cat, really. A lion! The biggest and strongest of all cats. And cats always landed on their feet. With a roar, Nikki the lion planted all four of her paws firmly on the wall and bounded off, springing back at Samantha. She landed on top of her, pinning all six of her arms to the floor.

"Say uncle!" Nikki tried to say, but instead she just roared loudly. Samantha seemed to get the message, however, and yelped, "Uncle, uncle, you win, Nikki!" Nikki heard a cheer from the bleachers. The Weebles were standing up, screaming and yelling and cheering. The three sidekicks were on their feet too, clapping and whistling. Spencer yelled, "Way to go, Mufasa!"

Nikki smiled a big, catlike smile and released her friend. Rearing up on her hind legs, Nikki looked around for Mike and Freddy. She found them locked in battle halfway across the room.

Mike was spinning toward Freddy, trying to suck him up like a tornado. Freddy was dancing around, moving faster than Nikki would have thought possible for a boy carrying the weight of a heavy, green turtle shell. He was flipping and kicking and karate-chopping around Mike, who couldn't seem to catch up with him. Mike charged him again, but Freddy was too fast. He spun out of the way and then kicked Mike the tornado from behind, knocking him to the floor. Mike stopped spinning, his brown-striped scarf coming to rest over his face. Freddy sat on top of Mike and Nikki could distinctly hear him say, "Uncle! You win, Freddy!"

Nikki knew it was down to her and Freddy. He was fast. He was smart. And he was protected by a turtle shell. But Nikki was a lion who could predict the future! She knew she could beat him.

Before Freddy had a chance to look for her, Nikki the lion closed her big, brown eyes and tried to think about how Freddy would try to defeat her. A picture entered her mind. It was as if she was watching a movie. She saw Freddy duck inside his turtle shell, pulling his arms, legs and head inside to protect himself. Nikki was prowling around him, waiting for him to come out. She got bored and sat on her haunches to wait. When she wasn't ready for it, Freddy sprang from his shell and leapt on her, using his ninja skills to kick and punch her until she fell onto her back. Freddy was the winner.

Nikki opened her eyes and cringed. She didn't want to lose that way. Knowing what she had to do, she took off, running toward Freddy, baring her teeth and growling. As expected, Freddy's trick was to pull himself inside his shell, so she couldn't hurt him. Like in her vision, Nikki prowled around him, but instead of sitting down next to him to wait for him to come out, she sat directly on top of his shell.

A few minutes passed and Nikki waited patiently. Finally, she felt a hand reach out of the shell, probing with its fingers. Freddy's hand. Leaping into action, Nikki the lion grabbed Freddy's hands between her two paws and pulled with all her might. "Eeek!" Freddy squealed. With a sharp _crack!_ Freddy popped from his shell, which had broken down the middle. Nikki towered over the chubby, dark-skinned boy, who was sweating and trembling.

"Okay, okay!" he said. "You win."

Nikki growled.

"Uncle, uncle, I said it, I said it!" Freddy screamed.

The section of bleachers with a hundred Weebles and the three sidekicks erupted again, with cheers, whistles, claps, and shouts of "Huzzah! Huzzah!" from Spencer. Still in lion form, Nikki bowed to her audience, a huge animal smile forming on her face.

Samantha, Mike and Freddy ran up, looking like they wanted to pat her on the back and congratulate her, but wary of touching her while she was still a lion. After letting out a final _Roar!_ Nikki changed back into herself and let her friends approach her.

"Well done, Nikki!" Samantha said, giving her a light hug.

Mike nodded in agreement, patting her on the back.

Freddy extended a hand and Nikki took it. As they shook hands, Freddy said, "I almost always beat these two with my combination of ninja and turtle shell. Really good job, Nikki."

Nikki smiled, excited and relieved that she had performed so well in her first power games.

### Chapter Fifteen: Cragglyville turns to stone

The villains had a leader. Naomi had beat Jimmy and Peter fair and square. Jimmy knew that. He hoped he could become leader later, but for now he would do what Naomi told him to do. She was telling him something right now, but he wasn't listening.

"Are you even listening to me?" Naomi said sternly. Her hands were on her hips again.

"Uh, yeah," Jimmy lied.

"Well then, what do you think of the plan?" Naomi asked.

Jimmy said, "Sounds great," although he didn't even know what the plan was.

"Okay, then let's do it."

Jimmy looked to Peter, who had changed back from a bull into a boy, for guidance on what they were supposed to do. Peter just stared at him stupidly.

"What are you waiting for?" Naomi snarled.

Jimmy was about to admit that he hadn't heard the plan, when Peter said, "I don't remember."

Naomi stomped her feet in frustration. "Idiot!" she growled. "The plan is simple. Peter will wear his gray hat, the one with the picture of the stones on it. Got it so far, Tweedle-Dumb?"

Peter shrugged. "I guess so."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just put on your gray hat now so you don't forget."

Jimmy was glad he wasn't the one looking stupid. He watched as Peter opened his powerchest and donned his gray hat.

"Good job, Petey!" Naomi said sarcastically. She clapped her hands mockingly. "Now we're gonna go back to Cragglyville and Peter's gonna use his powers to turn the whole town to stone, doesn't that sound like fun?"

Peter shrugged again. "I guess so," he repeated.

"Great, let's go," Naomi said.

Like they had earlier in the day, they held hands and Jimmy used his yellow boots to teleport them behind the dumpster in Cragglyville. They crept to the end of the alley.

The streets were a flurry of activity. Police officers had blocked off Main Street with yellow emergency tape. The townspeople were crowded against the tape, trying to get a look at the destruction Peter had caused while he was a cannonball. Construction workers were busy trying to repair the damage to the surrounding buildings.

Naomi grinned at Jimmy. "Perfect," she said. Jimmy grinned back. At least they agreed on something. Attacking Cragglyville was fun.

Naomi gave Peter a push in the back. "Showtime," she said.

Peter stumbled onto the sidewalk. No one noticed him as he approached the crowds. They were too busy gawking. Jimmy watched as Peter muscled his way between the onlookers, pushing his way to the front. He ducked under the yellow tape. A burly policeman raised a hand and said, "Sorry, kid, no pedestrians past this point."

"We'll see about that," Peter said. He pointed a finger at the policeman's feet. Gooey, grayish liquid shot from his fingertip.

The crowd gasped as the policeman's feet were covered by the sludge. "What the—" the man said, looking down at his feet. Seconds later, his legs were encased in a solid stone block from the knees down. He tried to move, but couldn't. Jimmy held a hand over his face to stifle a laugh. _Nice one, Peter!_ he thought.

Peter sauntered past the policeman. Two policewomen and another policeman moved in front of him, but he quickly covered their feet in stone, too. They were stuck like a truck in the muck. Some people in the crowd started to run away from Main Street, but Peter aimed a finger at each of them and soon they were covered in gray slime. Moments later they were encased in stone!

Jimmy and Naomi were practically squealing with laughter. Peter was incredible!

Out of the corner of his eye, Jimmy saw a man striding down the sidewalk toward Peter. Something about the way the man was walking made Jimmy pay attention to him. Peter's back was to the man. He had to warn his friend!

Just when Jimmy was about to shout to Peter, he paused, as he recognized the man. It was Nikki Powergloves's father! He watched as the man reached in his belt and pulled something out: a gun! It didn't look like the type of gun that a police officer used, but was more futuristic, with a shiny, steel handle and a long barrel. Peter was in big trouble!

Jimmy yelled, "Peter, behind you!"

Nikki's father jerked his head to the side and his eyes locked on Jimmy's. His stare penetrated Jimmy and made him shiver. The man didn't look like your average father in a small, farm town. He looked intense, menacing, capable. But capable of what?

At the same time, Peter turned around sharply and saw Nikki's dad looking at Jimmy. Without hesitation, Jimmy's big friend aimed a finger at Mr. Nickerson and splatted gray ooze all over his legs. In less time than it takes to swallow a piece of gum, he was cemented to the ground, like the rest of Cragglyville. He was still holding his gun tightly in his hand, but then he looked at it and tucked it firmly into his pants and covered it with his shirt.

Peter looked around at what he had done. People were yelling and arguing everywhere. They were all stuck. All angry. Most scared. But not Nikki's dad. He just continued to stare at Jimmy.

Peter walked back to the alley and said, "How'd I do?"

Jimmy was about to say that he had done very well, but then remembered that Naomi was their leader. He looked at her.

She said, "You did well, Peter. Very well." She smiled evilly. "If that doesn't get Nikki's attention, I don't know what will."

Jimmy said, "What next?"

"Now we wait," Naomi said.

### Chapter Sixteen: The monkey's uncle

Nikki was excited. She had won the power games! After it was over, the Weebles had spilled from the bleachers, many of them approaching to congratulate her. One of them said, "You done good, kid," to which Nikki replied, "Thank you, Mr. Weeble, sir." Another one said, "Nikki Nikki, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind! Hey Nikki! Hey Nikki!" Nikki didn't know how to respond to that, so she just laughed.

But the strangest remark came from a chalk-white Weeble with a small nose and deep blue eyes. She had yellow and blue ribbons in her bristles and spoke in a high voice. She said, "Based on your performance today, Nikki, I am moving you up two spots in the rankings, to number two."

Nikki cocked her head to the side, trying to make sense of what the Weeble had said. "Rankings? What rankings?" she said.

Instead of answering, the Weeble just giggled and rolled away. Samantha had overheard the conversation. She said, "They are always talking about the rankings, but we don't know what they mean. It's probably just nonsense, most of what they say is."

"I don't know..." Nikki mused.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned, she saw a toothy grin flash just before a pair of arms wrapped her up in a hug. "You did it, Super-Star!" Spencer exclaimed. He lowered his voice and said, "Don't tell the others I said this, but I think I am working for the best superhero."

Nikki beamed. "Thanks, Spence. And I most definitely have the best sidekick. You're inventions were amazing."

Spencer blushed. "Uh, thanks. I hope they help."

Changing the subject, Nikki said, "Can I talk to you in private, Spence?"

Spencer nodded and looked around, trying to find a place for them to go. There were Weebles everywhere. He pulled Nikki by the arm, away from the mass of fur and bristles. Ducking around a high wall, Spence said, "What's up, Snicker-Doodle?"

Nikki told him what the odd, white Weeble had said to her. She also told him that Samantha thought it was probably just nonsense.

Spencer looked at the ceiling and began to hum a tune. After sixty seconds, he lowered his gaze and said, "I agree with you, I think there's something to it. The Weebles are definitely strange, but we can't forget that they're the ones who gave the power kids their powers. They must work for someone, Nikki."

"But who?" Nikki said.

"I dunno, but we need to find out if we are ever going to get to the bottom of this mystery."

Just as Nikki nodded, an alarm shrieked and red lights began flashing throughout the training arena. _Oh no!_ she thought. Immediately she knew something bad had happened in Cragglyville again.

Nikki and Spencer rushed out from their hiding spot and chased after the power kids, who were already crawling through the small door. Magically, the Weebles were gone. There had been more than a hundred there just a minute ago.

Minutes later, the Power Council spilled into the room with the purple couches and took their seats. The screen had already descended from the ceiling. The same reporter from Cragglyville appeared in color. She said:

"The strange events in Cragglyville have continued into the early afternoon, as a strange boy entered the disaster zone and, according to witnesses, started turning the citizens of our small town to stone. As remarkable as it sounds, we have camera footage that confirms the eye-witness accounts."

The screen flashed to video of downtown Cragglyville. First the screen displayed the damage from earlier in the day by the cannonball, and then moved forward to the creation of the disaster zone and the repair effort. Finally, the screen switched to a shocking picture of a police officer. He was squirming and twisting and turning, trying to escape the rocky prison that held him to the ground. It was as if he had stepped into a block of wet cement and then let it dry around him.

"Oh my gosh," Nikki whispered. "Poor guy." Spencer looked at her and nodded, and then reached over and gently held her hand.

Nikki gasped as the camera panned to the side to reveal at least a dozen other people cemented to Main Street. She recognized a few faces. Ms. Waverley from the library. Mr. Phelps from the post office. But none of them were as frightening as the next face she saw.

She froze. "No, no, no, no, no!" she cried. "Oh, please, no!"

Her father gazed into the camera. He looked tired, but his face was free of stress. He even managed a slight smile before the camera moved on and away from him.

Nikki couldn't stop the tears from coming. Damaging buildings and mailboxes was one thing, but attacking the people of Cragglyville, including her father? It was too much for her to handle. Spencer put an arm around her and squeezed. She allowed herself to be comforted, to be held by her friend.

Samantha was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Nikki. So sorry. Don't worry, we will go back to Cragglyville to rescue your father, to rescue everyone."

Nikki looked at her new friend and then sat up, wiping the tears from her face. She knew that now was not the time to be a child. Now was the time to be a superhero. "Can we go right away?" Nikki asked.

Samantha said, "Yes, let's go now."

Freddy said, "There's one more thing we should do first."

Nikki frowned. She didn't want to do anything else. Didn't want to see any more Weebles, any more gadgets, any more tunnels. She just wanted to defeat Jimmy and the other villains. Be home with her family. Be a kid.

Samantha said, "Freddy's right. There is someone who can help us. We should talk to him first. It will only take a couple of minutes."

Nikki knew she had to trust her new friends. After all, it wasn't just her and Spencer anymore. They were part of a team. Members of the Power Council. She nodded.

"Who are we going to talk to?" Spencer asked.

Freddy smiled. "The monkey's uncle."

Spencer laughed. "Come on, who are we really gonna talk to?"

"You'll see," Freddy said.

Freddy led them from the room and down three or four different tunnels. Nikki barely even noticed where they were going or what tunnels they were in. Maybe one had pine needles on the ground and pine cones on the walls. She couldn't really remember. She was too worried about her dad.

Abruptly, they stopped in a very normal-looking tunnel with rocky walls and a high ceiling. Nikki didn't think there was anything special about this tunnel. There were no diamonds, or flowers, or fiery torches. It was just a boring, old tunnel. Or so she thought.

Freddy rubbed his hand along the crumbly wall, like a blind man trying to feel his way along. Nikki had no idea what he was doing. There was no door, no opening, no gate: just a bare, rock wall.

But then something magical happened.

Freddy pulled the rock wall to the side, as if it was merely a piece of cloth, like drapes on a window. Behind it, Nikki saw a flickering light dancing and bobbing through the dark.

Spencer said what Nikki was thinking. "How'd you do that?"

"Magic," Chilly said.

Spencer chuckled. "Leave it to the amateur magician to give _that_ answer."

Freddy said, "It was just an illusion. Most of the wall is rock, but there was a curtain covering a gap. Samantha used her painting skills to make it blend in."

"Simple," Spencer noted, "but very cool."

Freddy slipped through the gap in the wall. The rest of the kids followed. When Nikki passed through the short tunnel, she saw that Samantha, Mike and Freddy were already sitting in a semi-circle, their sidekicks next to them. A small fire blazed in front of them, casting its warmth throughout the cave. Beyond the fire, was a large, stone slab. Nikki couldn't believe what was sitting atop the slab. She rubbed her eyes, pinched herself, even lightly slapped her own face, but the thing was still sitting there, its legs crossed in front, its arms at its sides, meditation-style with its palms open. A monkey.

It was big, but not as large as a gorilla. More like the orangutans Nikki had seen at the zoo when her class went there on a science field trip. Both she and Spencer had thought Freddy was joking when he said they were going to see _the monkey's uncle_ , but now it appeared he was serious. And the monkey was supposed to help them? What could a monkey possibly be able to do for them? Peel a banana? Throw poop at them?

Nikki glanced at Freddy and saw that he was pulling on a pair of socks. They were white with black polka dots. At first Nikki thought his feet might just be cold, but then she remembered that Freddy got his powers from his socks. And when she had first met Freddy, he had told her that one of his favorite powers was his ability to talk to animals. That must be what the polka dot socks would allow him to do: talk to the monkey!

Samantha motioned to Nikki and Spencer to sit down. They sat cross-legged next to each other, knees touching. Never one to be subtle, Spencer said, "How do you know he's the monkey's uncle?"

Nikki slapped a hand to her mouth to muffle her laugh. She didn't want the monkey to think she was laughing at him.

Smiling, Samantha said, "Because he told us when he arrived." Spencer shrugged. Nikki could tell he wanted to ask about ten more questions, but he managed to hold his tongue.

Gazing across the fluttering tentacles of flame, Nikki looked at the monkey. He looked old, with wispy gray hair on his head and arms. He also looked wise, like he had lived a thousand lifetimes and was smarter because of it. And he was looking back at Nikki, observing her, too. She wondered what he was thinking about her.

She heard a monkey noise from her left: _eee eee ooh ooh aah aah_ , it said. _Another monkey!_ she thought. When she turned to see where the new monkey had come from, she realized that the high-pitched monkey sounds were coming from Freddy. The monkey's uncle answered him with _ooh uh oh, eee uh oh eee_. They were talking to each other.

The monkey chatter continued for a few minutes and then Freddy spoke as a human. He said, "I told him about what is happening in Cragglyville and that we have come to seek his advice. I also told him who you are, Nikki, and that you are from Cragglyville. He wants to speak directly to you. He says he has some advice for you."

Nikki cocked her head to the side, confused. _Talk directly to the monkey?_ But she couldn't speak monkey; it sounded like gibberish to her. She turned to face the monkey and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Monkey's Uncle, but I'll need Freddy to translate."

Freddy made a couple of grunting noises and Nikki knew he was telling the monkey what she had said. The monkey responded with some grunts of his own, and Freddy said, "The monkey's uncle says he thinks you're mistaken and that the brown glove you're wearing should be able to help you out."

Nikki looked down at her hands. She didn't even realize that she was still wearing the powergloves. _The brown glove—of course!_ Using it, she could transform into various animals, including _monkeys_. Then she could speak like them, hear like them, understand them.

Suddenly Spencer started laughing and slapping his knees. He was pointing at her. She tried to ask him why he was laughing, but it came out as _ooh ooh aah aah!_ She sounded...she sounded...well, she sounded like a monkey! Nikki looked down at her arms and gasped when she saw what they looked like. Her pink skin had become dark and leathery. Dark brown hair covered them. Her legs were covered in the dark fur, too. While she had been thinking about her brown powerglove, she had accidentally transformed into a monkey.

She looked at Spencer and made a face. A monkey face. He began laughing even harder, and then Nikki started laughing too, a high-pitched _ee ee ee ee!_ Nikki felt full of energy, like she could run and jump and swing from the trees all day. And she had a sudden craving for bananas. She wished she could peel back the yellow skin of a banana and devour the soft fruit.

As if sensing her desire, the monkey's uncle reached behind the rock he was sitting on and plucked out a banana he had been hiding. He tossed it over the fire. With incredible reflexes, Nikki's leg leapt up and she caught it...with her foot! Nikki tittered in delight. She had never caught something with her toes before. As a human girl, her feet were good for walking, running and kicking, but not for catching. But as a monkey, her feet felt as dexterous as her hands, able to grasp objects with ease.

Using both her hands and feet, she made quick work of unpeeling the banana, and then gobbled it down in only three bites. Delicious! Never had a banana tasted so good to her. As a human she liked bananas, but never loved them. Not the way she loved chocolate cake or pizza, or any of her other favorite foods. But now the banana was tastier than anything she had ever eaten. Amazing!

Upon finishing the banana, she turned her attention back to the monkey's uncle and said, "Thank you, Monkey's Uncle." It came out as _ihh ihh ohh ohh oooooooh!_ but Nikki understood exactly what she was saying.

The wise, old monkey on the stone platform said, "You're very welcome, Nikki Powergloves, I've been waiting for you to come to me." Nikki could understand exactly what he was saying! She heard Freddy speaking human, translating the conversation for the rest of the power kids and sidekicks.

"But how do you know who I am?" Nikki asked.

The monkey's uncle said, "I know many things, Nikki. Do not ask me such trivial questions, for they do not matter. Ask me what is in your heart." He reached behind him again and Nikki's heart leapt; she was hoping he was going to give her another banana. Instead he extracted a pair of glasses. The frames were dark and thick. He put them on. Nikki had never seen a monkey wear glasses, but clearly this was no ordinary monkey. The glasses made him look even wiser. Like her math teacher, Mr. Kennedy.

Nikki thought about what the monkey had just said. _Ask me what is in your heart._ While her body was here, in the Power City, she knew her heart was back in Cragglyville with her dad, who was stuck on Main Street. Nikki knew what she had to ask. "How do we defeat Jimmy and his gang?" she said.

The glasses-wearing monkey gazed at Nikki thoughtfully. "It is the question I knew you would ask me. I can tell you two things that might help. The first thing you don't know. The second thing you already know, but you forget sometimes. Which would you like to hear first?"

Nikki thought for a minute and then said, "The second thing—the thing I already know."

The monkey's uncle nodded and said, "To defeat the villains and save Cragglyville, you must trust your new friends, trust your sidekick, Spencer, but most importantly, you must trust yourself. You are a superhero, Nikki! You don't need my advice. You are capable of nearly anything."

When she heard his words, Nikki's heart soared! She could hear Freddy translating the monkey's words for the others, but she was too excited to pay any attention. The wise, old monkey's uncle thought she could beat the villains! All of her doubts and fears suddenly disappeared, and were replaced with confidence. Then she remembered that the monkey had something else to tell her.

Nikki said, "Thank you, Mr. Monkey's Uncle, that really helped. What was the first thing you were going to tell me, the thing I don't already know?"

The monkey said, "You asked how to defeat Jimmy's gang. Well, I just wanted you to know that it's not _Jimmy's_ gang anymore, it's Naomi Powerskirts's gang. She's taken over as the leader. I don't know what it means, but just thought you should know."

Nikki's eyes opened wide. _What?_ Ever since she had met the Weeble, found her powerchest, and become Nikki Powergloves, Jimmy had been her arch nemesis. _Now he was second best?_ But she knew the monkey's uncle was right, that like the Weebles, he was incapable of telling a lie. And his words scared her a little. Because she had defeated Jimmy before and knew she could beat him again. But she had never defeated Naomi Powerskirts. In fact, she had never even met her. And that scared her.

As if sensing her fear, Spencer reached out and grasped her monkey hand. He squeezed her fingers tightly. She turned and looked at him. He was smiling at her. Freddy had already translated the monkey's words for Spencer, and yet he was smiling. He wasn't scared. She knew he would be with her every step of the way. She turned to the left and saw that the rest of her friends were smiling at her, too. Samantha and Freddy and Mike—and Dexter and Chilly, too. Their smiles told her that they would be there with her, fighting against the villains. She was not alone. Would never be alone again. Her heart soared and she wasn't scared anymore.

In a flash, she changed back into a human girl again. Back into Nikki Nickerson. _No, back into Nikki Powergloves, the superhero!_

### Chapter Seventeen: The Power Council vs. the Power Outlaws

Butterflies were dancing and fluttering and flying about. Nikki couldn't see the colorful beauties. She couldn't see them because they were in her stomach. Partly because she was nervous, and partly because she was excited.

She was back in Cragglyville. It seemed like she had been gone for weeks, but in Cragglyville time she had returned on the same day she had left. In fact, it was only three o'clock in the afternoon.

The sun rose high above her, past its peak but still shining bright and hot. A dribble of sweat eased off her forehead and into her eye, temporarily blurring her vision. She wiped her face with her sleeve and blinked a few times. She was alone. Sort of. She knew her friends were out there somewhere, but she couldn't see them.

After they had finished talking to the monkey's uncle, Nikki had thanked him and they had left the Power City. Using her super-strength and flying ability, Nikki had flown Spencer back to Cragglyville. The purple cloud trail was still there to guide them. But this time they weren't flying alone. Freddy had changed into his black and yellow socks and turned into a tiny bumblebee. He flew next to them, his wings buzzing as he zipped along. On the other side, Mike had ridden his hovercraft, like he had when they fought against the giant Weeble. The wind caused his orange scarf to flap around his shoulders. On the back of his hovercraft rode Freddy's sidekick, Chilly. As a bumblebee, Freddy was too small to carry her, so Mike was helping out. Nikki was also carrying Dexter, because Samantha had no easy way to transport him. It was no big deal, because with her super-strength, he and Spencer felt as light as a feather on her back. Samantha had run along the ground underneath them. She was wearing her peach belt again, the one she had used to grow four arms. Except this time she had used it to grow four more legs. With six legs in total, she was able to run incredibly fast, and kept up with her flying friends all the way to Cragglyville.

When they reached Cragglyville, they split up, all of them. In five minutes they would meet on Main Street, ready to fight the villains.

So now Nikki was alone. She was hiding behind an old wooden barn on a farm on the outskirts of town. The barn was painted red, but the paint was chipped and cracked and dirty.

Nikki had her powerchest open and was thinking about which gloves to use for the mission. She was staring at her hands. She was still wearing one purple glove and one blue. Super-strength and flying. It was a pretty good combination. Being able to fly and lift heavy things would be useful. Many of her other powergloves would be useful, too, but she could only choose two, so she stuck with purple and blue. She had to trust herself, like the monkey's uncle had said.

After shrinking her powerchest and putting it back in her pocket, she took off, bursting from the ground like a rocket ship. She soared over the farm and into town. She didn't care if Jimmy or Naomi saw her coming. They were expecting her anyway.

When she passed over Main Street, the scene shocked her. It was even worse than it had looked on the television. There were loads of people stuck to the road, their feet trapped together by stone. The buildings had been smashed and abused; there was broken glass and other debris everywhere.

The trapped people were shouting and yelling for help, but the rest of the town was staying away. They were probably scared of getting attacked, too. Afraid of the villains. Afraid of being trapped in stone. Probably waiting for Nikki to save the day. Scanning the street, Nikki looked for her dad, but couldn't spot him amongst all the other people. She would have to get closer.

She decreased her altitude and came in for a landing. So far she hadn't spotted any of the villains. She also hadn't spotted any of her friends. They were probably hiding in the shadows. She landed in the middle of the road, next to a fireman. He was wearing his fireman's helmet and a thick yellow-brown coat. He looked hot.

A look of surprise crossed his face. "Nikki Powergloves?" he said. "Thank goodness you're here! This big, crazy kid wearing a gray hat came out of nowhere. I don't know how he did it, but he had powers. He did this to us." Nikki looked at the man's feet, where he was pointing. He was stuck in a big stone block. It wasn't going to be easy to get him out, even with her super-strength. She needed to defeat the villains first.

"I know," Nikki said. "Don't worry, you're safe now."

She turned and was about to go looking for her dad when she heard a long, loud laugh. It was more like a cackle, the sort of laugh you would expect from a witch's mouth, like the green witch who wore a pointy black hat in _The Wizard of Oz_.

Nikki whirled around in a circle, trying to find the source of the evil laugh. She spotted Naomi's blue skirt before she saw her face. When Nikki did look at her face, she saw a smiling girl, but she didn't look happy or nice. The smile looked mean, somehow. It was an angry smile. Nikki knew the girl wanted to hurt her. Suddenly Nikki became angry, too. How dare this girl, who she didn't even know, come to her town and do bad things to her friends and family. She has to be stopped!

As Nikki walked toward Naomi, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye: a flash of pink skin, big and coming toward her. She tried to duck but it was too late. Something hit her hard. She felt her body flying through the air. She crash landed when she hit something that felt like a brick wall. But it wasn't. It was a person. A person whose feet were encased in stone.

She stood up and shook herself off. The stone had cracked when she hit it. Crumbles of rock broke away from the man's feet. With a grunt, he pulled one foot out, and then the other, as the cement released its grip. Inadvertently, she had saved one of the people!

She looked at the man's face and realized—

The man was her father.

She nearly yelled out _Dad!_ and jumped on him, hugging and kissing him. But she didn't. She remembered that she was in disguise, a superhero with a secret identity.

Instead, she said, "Run away, sir. Get out of here. We'll handle this."

Mr. Nickerson looked at her quizzically, as if he was puzzling over something, but then shrugged and said, "Thank you," and took off.

Nikki watched him go and then turned back to see what had hit her. Peter Powerhats was standing in the middle of the road—he was wearing a peach-colored hat. He looked like a normal kid, except for one thing. His hands were enormous! They hung from his arms like giant sledgehammers, balled into fists. He must have punched her with one of his massive fists. Nikki needed to be more careful. Jimmy was probably hiding somewhere, too.

Peter ran toward her, slinging one of his giant fists back in preparation to hit her again. Nikki knew it would be hard to get out of the way, but she tried anyway. She leapt skywards and watched as the fist changed trajectory, aimed at her legs. Nikki held her breath and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

_CRUNCH!_ Nikki heard an awful cracking noise that sounded like all of her bones were breaking. But it didn't hurt. _Weird_ , she thought. She must be in shock. Or numb. Or both.

She slowly opened one eye. What she saw amazed her. She was hovering in the air, untouched by Peter's punch. In front of her was a huge tree, rising straight up from the center of Main Street. She had lived in Cragglyville her whole life and knew that there were no trees growing out of the middle of the road.

But this was no ordinary tree. It had arms like a person. Well, they were branches, but they looked like arms, with gnarled knots of wood for elbows and spindly creaking bark for fingers. The tree also had legs made of roots. It was as if the tree had pulled itself out of the ground and walked into Cragglyville, arriving just in time to stop Peter's attack on Nikki.

One of the tree's hands had blocked Peter's punch and was gripping his giant hand tightly, squeezing. "AUGH!" he yelped.

Releasing his hand, the tree kicked at him, moving with impressive speed despite its size. Its roots thumped off his body and he sprawled headlong on the sidewalk. Nikki heard a scream from above her. She turned and saw Spencer standing on the roof of one of the buildings, in full sidekick costume, his black sunglasses glinting in the sunlight. Although he looked small, he looked menacing, his teeth bared and his face tensed. He screamed again, something like, "Chitty chitty bang bang, chitty chitty bang!" and then he threw a jar off the building. Nikki followed the arcing object with her eyes; it was heading straight for Peter!

With the tinkle of breaking glass, the jar shattered on the pavement, releasing tiny black marbles around Peter's fallen body. Peter, who looked like he was dizzy, tried to stand up and run, but it was too late. The marbles sprouted legs and scrambled onto his body. There had to be at least ten of them.

Peter freaked out.

He started dancing like a maniac, yelling and squealing in a high-pitched voice like a girl. It was like he was doing a Native American rain dance. He twisted and turned and jumped and skipped, all the while scratching at his stomach, legs and arms like he had a bad case of poison ivy. Two seconds later he stopped moving and fell over. Because his arms and legs were tied together. Hogtied. Just like Spencer had demonstrated on himself in The Lab.

Nikki looked up at Spencer, who was grinning on the roof. She gave him a thumb's up sign. He pumped his fist in the air in celebration.

Dropping back to the ground, Nikki looked for Naomi. She was still standing where Nikki had left her. She wasn't smiling anymore. Instead, she was snarling, like a wild animal, her eyes red and angry. Nikki walked toward her and then stopped when she saw the tree walking in the same direction, its legs dangling roots and clumps of dirt. Nikki just stared at it, amazed by how gracefully it moved. Then she noticed something she hadn't before. Sitting on one of the lower branches was Samantha. She was wearing a sparkling emerald-green belt. Nikki knew Samantha was controlling the tree. _Surely Naomi will be no match for a tree_ , Nikki thought.

When the tree was within ten feet of the girl villain, Naomi's skirt changed color, from blue to brown. Before Nikki could even begin to think about how she had changed her skirt's color, Naomi pointed her finger at the tree. Gobs of brown sludge shot from her fingertip, instantly coating the tree's legs and the street below it. _Not sludge_ , Nikki realized, _mud_. As the mud hit the tree, its walking became slower and slower, until it stopped, completely stuck in the mud. And then the tree teetered, swaying in the wind, its leaves rustling gently.

"TIMBERRR!" Naomi yelled triumphantly. The tree fell over, landing with a thundering _Crash!_ across the street, spilling Samantha off of her perch. She tumbled end over end through the mud. By the time she stopped rolling, she was brown from head to toe.

"Yeah!" Naomi yelled. "No one messes with the Power Outlaws!"

_The Power Outlaws?_ Nikki thought. Apparently since Naomi had taken over the villains, she had come up with a name for them. It was the Power Council vs. the Power Outlaws.

Nikki wanted to go after Naomi, but she was still worried about Jimmy. With Samantha stuck in the mud, she would have to rely on Mike and Freddy to fight Naomi while she looked for Jimmy. Nikki looked around and then crossed the street. She walked backwards, keeping her eyes on Naomi at all times. Naomi started to walk toward her, but then Freddy Powersocks arrived on the scene. Like during the power games, he was protected by a hard, green turtle shell. One of his socks was green. Nikki hadn't seen him wearing the other sock before. It was brown and thick and covered with a layer of brown fuzz, almost like animal fur.

As Freddy approached, Naomi said, "Back off, Sock Boy. This is between Nikki and me."

Freddy shrugged. "Sorry to spoil your party," he said, "but I'm afraid you're messing with my friend." His words made Nikki feel warm inside. It was good to be part of a team.

Freddy snapped his fingers and suddenly he was surrounded by little brown creatures with curly tails and paws that looked more like hands. Monkeys! At least twenty of them, spitting and hissing.

As if a horde of angry monkeys wasn't enough firepower, Mike arrived on the scene, too, wearing a red and white polka-dot scarf. He glared at Naomi and then snapped his fingers, just like Freddy had. No monkeys this time. Instead, Mike exploded into about ten pieces. At first Nikki was shocked, but then she noticed that each piece of Mike had transformed into a smaller Mike. There was a whole army of little Mikes! Each Mike leapt onto one of the monkey's backs, and then they charged Naomi.

While Nikki watched her friends fighting Naomi, she continued to scan the street, looking for Jimmy. She didn't see him anywhere. And then suddenly he was next to her, having walked directly through the brick wall at her back. She had forgotten he even had that power!

Before she could even think what to do, he grabbed her and pushed her into the street. She tripped on the curb and skidded across the cement. When she stopped, Nikki felt her leg burning. She looked at it and saw that it was scraped and blood was starting to form amidst the stone and dirt from the road. Glancing back at Jimmy, she saw he was pointing his finger at a light pole. Somehow she knew what he was going to do.

Leaping to her feet, Nikki watched as the light pole tore from the cement and then shot toward her. Using her super-strength, Nikki easily caught the pole and dropped it to the ground. Jimmy seemed surprised, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping, but then he recovered and pointed at a bigger object: a parked car. At first the car didn't move. But then it quivered, bouncing on its rubber tires for a moment before rocketing through the air at Nikki. Wearing her purple glove she was strong, very strong, but not _that_ strong. The car hit her going a hundred miles an hour and knocked her backwards. She flew through the air, and would have smashed into a building if she hadn't used her flying ability to slow down in midair. Even still, she was so tired from trying to catch the flying car that she fell to the ground and lay there for a moment, breathing heavily.

She saw Jimmy's feet approaching.

He was almost on top of her, but she was too tired to stand up. She heard him laughing at her. He had won, or so Nikki thought.

Then he tripped. He looked clumsy, like his own foot had gotten in his way, causing him to fall. Nikki heard more laughter, but this time she knew it wasn't Jimmy. It was high-pitched giggling. _Hee hee hee hee!_ She craned her neck to find the source. Dexter was peeking out from behind a nearby mailbox, laughing his head off. Of course! The booby-trapper extraordinaire must have set a trap to make Jimmy fall! Then Nikki heard a loud splash, like a water balloon had been thrown close to her. She heard another _splash!_ Nikki saw the water burst next to where Jimmy had fallen. An oozing trickle of liquid pooled underneath him.

He tried to stand up. Couldn't.

Tried again. Some invisible force was holding him down.

"What the heck?" Jimmy muttered. "Stuck? I'm stuck!" he yelped, trying to squirm and break free from the ground. Nikki knew immediately what held him. She looked up at the roof where she had last seen Spencer, where he had thrown the robot marble bugs at Peter. He was up there again, smiling from ear to ear.

He yelled, "Sticky Situation Glue! Never leave home without it!"

Nikki beamed at her friend. "Thanks, Spence!" she shouted.

Spencer pointed across the street. "You better help the other guys," he said.

Turning to follow his gaze, Nikki assessed the situation. It wasn't good.

Naomi's skirt had changed to orange, and she was winking both eyes, one after the other. Each time she winked, a colored laser beam would shoot from her eye. She was knocking the mini-Mikes off the monkeys, one by one. Each Mike would tumble off and then roll across the pavement, black and singed like they had been burned by the lasers.

It didn't stop the monkeys, however. They continued to leap and twirl and spin, dodging the lasers and getting closer to Naomi.

When the last mini-Mike was knocked off, Naomi's skirt changed color once more, from orange to black. There were green polka-dots across the bottom.

The monkeys were charging hard, ready to leap on Naomi, scratch her, bite her, knock her down, but then Naomi used her next power. Directly in front of her, a huge plant began growing. Its stalk ripped through the asphalt like a tree trunk, except it was green and looked more like an asparagus stalk. As it grew taller and taller it sprouted vine-like tentacles that shot in every direction.

The monkeys stopped short of the strange plant. They pointed at it and tittered to each other, trying to decide what to do. They decided to attack the plant. As they ran toward it, however, the vines grabbed their little arms and legs and wrapped them up, holding them in the air so they couldn't move. When Freddy tried to run over to save them, he was grabbed by three even bigger vines, which wrapped around him, turtle shell and all, suspending him in midair.

With Samantha bogged in the mud, the mini-Mikes burnt by the lasers, and Freddy trapped by the vines, Nikki was the only member of the Power Council left. Peter Powerhats was tied up by Spencer's gadget. Jimmy Powerboots had been tripped and glued by Dexter and Spencer's tricks. It was Nikki and Naomi left.

At first Nikki felt scared, but then she got angry. Angry that Naomi had hurt her friends; angry that Naomi thought she could just push innocent people around; angry that Naomi wanted to hurt Nikki for no reason. She gritted her teeth and flew toward Naomi, who had stepped out from behind the giant monkey-grabbing plant.

Naomi's skirt changed to turquoise.

Nikki knew something bad was about to happen, so she swerved. It was lucky she did, because as soon as Naomi's skirt changed color, a flock of pigeons appeared above Nikki and dive-bombed her. Their sharp beaks barely missed her as she did a barrel roll to the left, away from them. The pigeons were fast, faster than normal pigeons for sure. They chased Nikki across the sky, trying to peck at her feet.

Normally Nikki wouldn't be scared of a few pigeons, especially because she had super-strength, but somehow she knew these pigeons could hurt her. As she twisted away from the pigeons across the sky, she saw Spencer waving his arms over his head, trying to get her attention. She dove for the top of the building he was standing on and saw him pull a pin out of a green egg. She knew instantly what it was.

As she passed by the roof, bright colored vapors were pouring from the egg, which was really a grenade, filling the air with a deep mist. Nikki barely made it past Spencer before the fog completely covered him. Nikki knew he was trying to give her time to get away from the pigeons. They flew into the fog, but didn't fly out right away. Clearly they had gotten confused and were probably flying around in circles inside the artificial cloud.

Not wasting any time, Nikki changed course and soared toward Naomi. Naomi wasn't ready for her.

She stood there gawking at Nikki, probably wondering how she could have escaped her pigeons. Nikki barreled into her, knocking Naomi off her feet and sending her sprawling. Using her super-strength, Nikki held her down, flat against the cement. "We win," Nikki said.

Naomi's face flashed with anger, but there was defeat in her eyes. Nikki thought she was about to surrender but then saw Naomi's eyes flit past her and light up, like she was seeing something that was coming to help her. At first Nikki thought it was a trick, but then she heard Spencer yell, "Incoming!"

Nikki rolled just in time, as the pigeons swarmed down in a flurry of beating wind and flapping feathers. She started to run for cover, but the pigeons were right on top of her. She was in big trouble.

Right when she thought it was over, she heard a gentle cooing sound. _Cawkoo, cawkoo!_ Nikki thought she should keep running, but for some reason she stopped to see what had made the sound. The pigeons stopped chasing her, too, landing on the street and bobbing their heads. In a million years Nikki could never have guessed what she was about to see.

Chilly Weathers walked down the street, her hand covered by a silk scarf. Her other hand was behind her back. The cooing was coming from the scarf. She shook her hand, and the silk scarf fell away. Underneath was a dove, bright-white and shining under the sun. It was cooing gently, beautifully.

The pigeons seemed mesmerized, unable to take their eyes off the dove. As Chilly approached them, she extended her dove hand to them. The pigeons stayed still, watching her. With a sudden lunge, Chilly slung her other hand from behind her back and tossed a net across the flock of pigeons. They took off, trying to fly away, but were too late. They got stuck in the netting, which jammed their wings and legs in its tightly-knitted ropes.

Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. Then she remembered Naomi. She started to run toward her, but Naomi was already on her way out. Her skirt had changed to yellow and a beam of light had descended from the sky, enveloping her in its glow. Nikki was blinded for a second and then when she could see again, Naomi was gone. There were two more beams of light, where Peter and Jimmy were stuck, and then they disappeared, too.

The Power Outlaws had escaped!

### Chapter Eighteen: Rebuilding Cragglyville

The cleanup crews were milling about on Main Street. They had soon realized that they weren't needed because Mike was wearing his gray scarf, the one with the hammer on it, which basically meant he could handle all the rebuilding on his own using his powers. Each time he repaired one of the crumbling buildings, the crowd cheered and yelled, "Go, Mike Powerscarves, go!" Of course, Spencer had leaked the full names of the new power kids to a reporter and now the names Samantha Powerbelts, Freddy Powersocks, and Mike Powerscarves were becoming as commonplace as Nikki Powergloves around town.

Nikki gazed at the sunset. The sky looked beautiful, full of reds and oranges and purples. It was like the sky was smiling upon Cragglyville, helping them rebuild. She was still wearing her braid over her eyes and the other members of the Power Council were wearing masks. After all, they still had secret identities to maintain. The sidekicks had changed out of their sidekick outfits so they could wander through town without being noticed.

"Good thing we have Mike," Samantha said.

Nikki pulled her attention away from the sky to look at her friend.

Samantha said, "Because of all the damage."

Nikki nodded. She scanned Main Street. Although Mike had repaired the damage to most of the buildings, the town was still a mess. The odd tentacle-covered plant that Naomi had created was wilted and lay slumped across the pavement. It had left a huge hole in the street where it had emerged from the ground. The massive tree that Samantha had controlled was covering half a block, its branches and leaves scattered along the sidewalk and road. There was mud everywhere. More than one of the police officers had stepped in the Sticky Situation Glue. Each time Nikki would have to use Spencer's spray to unstick them. It was truly a big mess. But Mike was fixing it all. He was rebuilding Cragglyville, piece by piece.

Rescuing the people stuck in stone was difficult, too, but Nikki had been able to help with it. Using her super-strength she was able to smash the stones away chip by chip, being careful not to injure any of the people. Most of the victims were either at home, at the Cragglyville Hospital, or watching the rest of the cleanup efforts. Nikki was glad she could help them.

Nikki's dad was nowhere to be found. Samantha said he had probably gone home, but Nikki didn't think so. Something about the way he had looked at her when she told him to run away made her think he would be back.

Excitement continued to bubble through her, as Nikki and her friends talked about what had happened. They had defeated the Power Outlaws fair and square. The only disappointment for Nikki was that the villains had escaped again. She knew they would be back. If not in Cragglyville then in some other poor, unsuspecting town. But Nikki and the rest of the Power Council would be there to fight them.

Nikki smiled as she watched Spencer run from reporter to reporter, answering questions and giving them information. He was pretending to be an eye-witness to the events. But Nikki knew he was much more than just some witness. He had been heroic. He had saved her more than once during the fight. She couldn't have done it without him. She desperately wanted to talk to him, to tell him how proud she was to have him as her sidekick. But she would have to wait.

An hour later, the town of Cragglyville had been cleaned up and rebuilt, with the help of the Power Council. The mayor of Cragglyville had already started planning a celebration in the power kids' honor.

Nikki knew that she and Spencer would be expected home soon. She approached Samantha. "I have to get home," she said.

Samantha nodded. "I know, but we need to talk tonight. Can you and Spencer get away for a few hours?"

Nikki thought about it. "Maybe," she said. "We can tell our parents we are watching TV at each other's houses. Where should we meet you?"

"We'll stick around Cragglyville until then. Meet us here at seven."

Nikki checked her watch. It was almost six already. "We'll do our best," she said. "Have Chilly or Dexter tell Spencer. I can't be seen with him. Not while I'm Nikki Powergloves. My parents might get suspicious."

Samantha agreed to tell Spencer. With no time to spare, Nikki took off into the sky. As she exploded away from Cragglyville, she heard cheers and claps from the crowd. Someone yelled, "We love you, Nikki Powergloves!"

Nikki laughed. For just a moment, her life was going perfectly. With the wind at her back, she turned and headed toward her house.

### Chapter Nineteen: A member of the Power Council is captured by aliens?

Nikki's dad had acted strangely during dinner. He told Nikki and her mom what had happened in Cragglyville and how Nikki Powergloves had saved him. But he didn't seem that excited by it. Or that thankful to Nikki Powergloves, which worried Nikki. Because she was Nikki Powergloves. And she wanted her dad to like her both as a daughter and as a superhero.

Luckily, Nikki had been able to eat fast. Her parents gave her permission to go over to Spencer's afterwards. Nikki met him on the street. He ran up and hugged her when he saw her.

"You were amazing today, Fly-Girl!" Spencer said. The way you dodged those pigeons was incredible."

"Thanks, Spence. But you were the true star sidekick. All of your gadgets worked perfectly!"

Spencer couldn't hide his pride. His face was practically glowing. "You really think so, Nikks?"

"Absolutely," Nikki confirmed. Spencer beamed.

"I can't wait to talk to the others about it," Spencer said.

"Me, too," Nikki replied. "Let's go."

Spencer led Nikki behind his house. His mom was working at the hospital so they were able to change into their costumes behind the privacy of his backyard fence. Once they were ready, Spencer hopped on Nikki's back and she took off into the dark, night sky. They were ten minutes late by the time they got to Cragglyville.

Samantha and the rest of the Power Council were already waiting on Main Street. Cragglyville seemed quiet after all the action that had occurred during the day.

Samantha smiled as they landed. "We were getting worried," she said.

Spencer cracked a smile. "You didn't think a couple of parents could stop us after what we did today, did you?"

Samantha chuckled. "I guess not."

Mike said, "Where can we go to talk things over?"

Nikki shrugged, looked at Spencer. Spencer said, "How about the parking lot behind the shopping center? It's closed and no one will be there."

They all agreed and Spencer led the way behind a large building that was only two blocks away. They found a grassy spot on one of the parking islands to sit down. It was all smiles as they joked and laughed about how they had defeated the pathetic villains. Nikki was enjoying spending time with her friends. She didn't want to think about what would happen when the villains came back.

Samantha stood up. Nikki and the rest of the Power Council looked at her. She looked strong, capable. She was born to be a leader. Nikki was glad she was the unspoken leader of the Power Council. Samantha said, "Today we won because we worked as a team, all together, both superheroes and sidekicks equally. I am proud to call you my friends, my teammates." Despite the darkness, Samantha's face was shining. "There will be a next time. The villains will be back. But we will be ready."

Samantha stopped abruptly and cocked one ear to the side, as if she was listening to something. Nikki couldn't hear anything. She wondered what Samantha was doing.

Bright floodlights burst from the heavens, blinding Nikki as she gazed skywards. Nikki slapped a hand over her face, trying to protect her eyes. She was seeing spots. _Where had the light come from? And what was that noise?_ Nikki was suddenly aware of a loud, churning sound, like a giant blender mashing up big hunks of fruit to make a smoothie.

"Ahhhhh!" she heard Samantha yell. Nikki's heart sank. Samantha had been standing up, exposed. Someone—or something—had attacked her. Nikki had to save her!

Despite still not being able to see, Nikki leapt in the air, feeling the wind buffet her hair as she flew blindly into the night. She decided to risk opening her eyes, and when she did, she could see again. The bright lights were gone.

Looking down at the parking lot, she scanned her circle of friends, who had flung themselves to the ground, trying to hide from the bright lights. There were Mike and Freddy, Chilly and Dexter, and Spencer, of course. Someone was missing. Samantha! She had screamed because someone had grabbed her, kidnapped her! Nikki bobbed her head around her, looking for the source of the bright light and the churning sound. There was nothing. The night was dark and empty and quiet. Like it had been before.

Nikki left her friends and did a few laps around the town, searching, searching. Samantha was gone.

Nikki flew back to her friends, who were waiting where she had left them. She landed in the middle of them. They looked at her expectantly. No one spoke, but she knew they were all asking the question _Did you find her?_ Nikki shook her head. She had failed.

Nikki sat down and pulled her legs underneath her. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Dexter said, "Do you think we'll be able to get Samantha back from the aliens?"

Nikki looked at the small boy. He looked sad, like he might cry, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes watery. Dexter was Samantha's sidekick. She didn't know what to tell him. She had no idea where she had been taken, who had taken her.

Spencer spoke for Nikki. "We'll get her back, I know we will." Nikki looked at her best friend, thankful for his optimism. He smiled at her. Then he said, "But first we need to figure out who took her. Why do you think it was aliens, Dexter?"

Nikki hadn't even realized Dexter had suggested it was aliens. A month earlier and she wouldn't have even considered the possibility that aliens had abducted a friend, but now Nikki thought Dexter could be right.

"Because of the bright lights," Dexter said. "Aliens always use beams of light to abduct people, don't they?"

Spencer hummed softly to himself. "I don't know. If I had to guess, I would say it was the government. They probably think we have some kind of new technology that allows us to do all these amazing things, and they want to get their hands on it."

Nikki thought about it. A government conspiracy was possible, but there was just one problem. "But how did they disappear so quickly?" Nikki said. "It was like they were there one minute and gone the next. No one could have done that except aliens, or maybe other kids like us, with powers."

"You could be right, Nikki. But I still think it was a secret government organization. There are lots of them and they have incredibly advanced technology that average citizens don't even know about. They probably used some kind of stealth equipment to sneak in, grab her, and then sneak back out. The bright lights were probably just a distraction and a way of tricking us into thinking it was aliens."

Nikki looked at Spencer. He was so convincing. And he was a genius, after all. This was like one of his puzzles, or a chess match, or a school test. And he always did well at those. She needed to trust him.

"Okay, we'll follow up the government idea first. Then the alien theory."

### Chapter Twenty: Power kids have to stick together

Nikki had spent most of the last week in the Power City with Spencer and her friends. Making plans. Only two days had passed in Cragglyville. Nikki went home for dinner each of those two days. She slept at home. But she also slept in the bunkroom in the mountain. It was weird, like she was living two different lives. She was, sort of. Nikki Nickerson the normal girl and Nikki Powergloves the superhero.

While Nikki knew Naomi and Jimmy and Peter would be back, she tried not to think about them. Her focus was on rescuing Samantha.

Somehow Nikki had become the new leader of the Power Council. Or at least the leader until they rescued Samantha. Nikki didn't want to be the leader, but she knew she had to be. Freddy and Mike were really good superheroes, but they were so used to Samantha making the decisions that they didn't know how. None of the sidekicks could be the leader—it needed to be a superhero. So Nikki was the only one left.

She had assigned the sidekicks to do research. For hours they had been trolling through mountains of information on the internet, trying to find out about government organizations. They also looked for news stories about suspicious kidnappings.

While the sidekicks researched, Nikki, Freddy and Mike practiced using their powers. Nikki learned that amongst the other powers she already knew about, like his ninja skills and turtle shell, Freddy could impersonate voices and read people's thoughts, too. Besides turning into rubber and spinning like a tornado, Mike could grow a huge dinosaur tail and also drive any type of vehicle, from a monster truck to a space shuttle to a motorcycle and everything in between.

They were practicing using their skills now, in the training room, when Spencer burst through the small door. "I think we found a lead! Huzzah!" he yelled.

All three power kids froze. Nikki said, "Tell us, Spence."

After he told her, Nikki called a conference in the room with the purple couches. When all the superheroes and sidekicks were seated, Nikki spoke. She was nervous, but also excited. Because finally they could try to rescue Samantha. She said:

"Members of the Power Council, it is time to save our friend, Samantha Powerbelts!" Spencer and Dexter clapped wildly. "Thanks to the sidekicks, we now know about at least two other power kids that might have been kidnapped by a secret government organization called STING—the Superior Technology & Information Needs Group. They have an office located in my hometown, Cragglyville. That's where we will start our search.

"Before we begin, I just want to say how much Spencer and I have enjoyed our time with you. We already think of you as close friends. No matter what happens during our mission to save Samantha, we must always remember one thing. We have to stick together, to help each other, to support each other, no matter what. Power kids have to stick together!" she shouted.

All the kids cheered. Spencer stuck two fingers between his teeth and whistled loudly. Freddy and Mike high-fived. There was excitement in the air.

Nikki was ready for her next adventure.

THE END (of this Adventure)

Hero Card

Hidden Identity: Nikki Powergloves

Birth Name: Nikki Nickerson

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 2 inches

Weight: 67 pounds

Sidekick: Spencer Quick, certified genius

Known Allies: Samantha Powerbelts, Freddy Powersocks, Michael Powerscarves

Source of Power: Gloves

Powers

Glove Color---Glove Picture---Power

White---Snowflake---Create ice

Red---Flame---Create fire

Light-blue---Bird---Fly

Black & Yellow---Lightning bolt---Control the weather

Green---Leaf---Super-grow plants

Purple---Muscly arm making a fist---Super-strength

Orange---Shoes---Super-speed

Gray---No picture---Invisibility

Brown---Paw print---Transform into an animal

Pink---Tarot card---See the future

Gold---Clock---Freeze or slow down time

Peach---Two identical stick figures---Transform into someone else

Hero Card

Hero Name: Samantha Powerbelts

Birth Name: Samantha Jane McKinley

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 6 inches

Weight: 77 pounds

Sidekick: Dexter Chan, excellent booby-trapper

Known Allies: Nikki Powergloves, Freddy Powersocks, Michael Powerscarves

Source of Power: Belts

Powers

Belt Color---Belt Picture---Power

Brown---Dancing teddy bear---Make objects come to life

Peach---Girl with six arms---Ability to grow more arms and legs

Multi-colored---Paintbrush---Temporarily change objects' color

Silver---Shield---Create a dome of protection

Gold---Key---Open any door or lock

Bright red---Smile---Make people laugh uncontrollably

White---Gum---Shoot sticky stuff from fingers

Blue---Snorkel---Breathe underwater

Orange---Rope---Shoot ropes from hands

Clear---Diamonds---Turn rocks to jewels

Green---Walking trees---Make trees come alive

Yellow---Spider---Climb walls like a spider

Hero Card

Hero Name: Freddy Powersocks

Birth Name: Frederick Nixon

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 5 inches

Weight: 95 pounds

Sidekick: Chilly Weathers, amateur magician

Known Allies: Nikki Powergloves, Samantha Powerbelts, Michael Powerscarves

Source of Power: Socks

Powers

Sock Color---Sock Picture---Power

White with black polka dots---Dog barking at a boy---Ability to speak to animals

Gray---Astronaut---Anti-gravity

Camouflage---Chameleon---Camouflage himself or objects

Gold---Wristwatch---Change rates of time in places

Black---Nunchucks---Ninja skills

Peach---Girl slapping a boy---Distance slap

Pink---Brain---Read people's thoughts

Brown---Shovel---Dig huge tunnels

Black and yellow---Bumblebee---Turn into a bumblebee

Purple---Microphone---Impersonate voices

Green---Turtle shell---Grow protective shell

Fuzzy brown---Monkey---Control a horde of monkeys

Hero Card

Hero Name: Mike Powerscarves

Birth Name: Michael Jones

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 2 inches

Weight: 67 pounds

Sidekick: None

Known Allies: Nikki Powergloves, Samantha Powerbelts, Freddy Powersocks

Source of Power: Scarves

Powers

Scarf Color---Scarf Picture---Power

Black---Car tire---Ability to turn body to rubber

Blue and Gold striped---Tall pole---Leap high into the air

Gray---Hammer---Ability to build anything

Green---Ice cream cone---Create food from thin air

Brown-striped---Tornado---Spin fast like a tornado

Red and Yellow polka dots---10 stick figures---Break up into 10 little Mike's

Black and White---Magnifying glass---Turn sideways and disappear

All colors checkered---Plus sign---Boost other kids' powers

White---Steering wheel---Drive any kind of vehicle

Brown and Black checkered---Minus sign---Decrease other kids' powers

Orange---Hovercraft---Ride a hovercraft

Green and red polka dots---Dinosaur tail---Grow a long dinosaur tail

Villain Card

Hidden Identity: Jimmy Powerboots (previously known as Jimmy- Boy Wonder)

Birth Name: Timothy Jonathan Sykes (nicknamed Jimmy)

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 1 inch

Weight: 65 pounds

Sidekick: unknown

Known Allies: Peter Powerhats, Naomi Powerskirts

Source of Power: Boots

Powers

Boot Color---Boot Picture---Power

Black---Cracked ground---Powerstomp

Purple---One leg on each side of a wall---Walk through walls

Orange---Floating banana---Move objects with his mind

Red---Boots with flames---Rocket boots

White---5 identical stick figures---Clone himself

Yellow---Half-boy here, half-boy there---Teleport

Blue---Wall of water---Control water

Brown---Big ear---Super-senses

Green---Computer---Computer hacking

Red/Blue/Yellow---Wires---Skills with electronics

Gray---Yellow pages---Find anyone in world

Gold & Black checkered---Clock---Speed up time

Villain Card

Villain Name: Peter Powerhats

Birth Name: Peter Hurley

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 10 inches

Weight: 100 pounds

Sidekick: unknown

Known Allies: Jimmy Powerboots, Naomi Powerskirts

Source of Power: Hats

Powers

Hat Color---Hat Picture---Power

Bright---Gold Powerchest---Ability to find lost powerchests

Neon Green---Strong Man---Grow big and strong

Black---Cannonball---Turn into a cannon ball

Gray---Stones---Make stones form on things

Red---Bull horns---Transform into a raging bull

Peach---Big hand---Grow big hands

Blue---Big wheels---Drive a monster truck

Orange---Mouth and fire---Burp fireballs

Green---Fingers holding nose---Stinky farts

Purple---Strawberry jelly---Turn body into jelly

Brown---Porcupine---Body covered in prickly spines

Clear---Tears---Make people cry

Villain Card

Villain Name: Naomi Powerskirts

Birth Name: Naomi Lee

Age: 9

Height: 4 feet, 0 inches

Weight: 55 pounds

Sidekick: unknown

Known Allies: Jimmy Powerboots, Peter Powerhats

Source of Power: Skirts

Powers

Skirt Color---Skirt Picture---Power

Yellow---Sun---Travel on beams of light

Green---Ogre---Turn into an ugly monster

Blue---Three skirts---Change powers rapidly

Black---Light bulb---Control electricity

Brown---Mud---Create gobs of mud

Pink---Gymnast---Gymnastics skills

Purple---Mirror---Mix up the world

Gray---Foot on water---Walk on anything (water,etc)

Orange---Closed eye---Laser-winks

Pink and Black striped---Skateboard---Skateboarding skills

Black with green polka dots---Plant with arms---Grow fighting plants

Turquoise---Pigeon---Use a flock of attack pigeons

###

Keep reading for a peek into David Estes's exciting third book in the Nikki Powergloves adventure, _Nikki Powergloves and the Power Trappers_.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the awesome and amazing kids out there who make the world such a fun place to live in. _Nikki Powergloves_ is for you!

As always a special thanks to Nicole Passante and Karla Calzada at shareAread. Without you, my books wouldn't be read by nearly as many kids and their parents.

Of course, thanks to my incredible team of kid beta readers and their moms, who were _Nikki Powergloves'_ first fans! So thank you to D'vora Gelfond and her niece Maia Farina, Adriana Noriega and her son Jordan, Brooke Del Vecchio and her son Anthony, Laurie Love and her daughter Ericka, and Gabriela Racine and her son Carlos.

A huge thanks to my cover artists/designers at Winkipop Designs, who have given _Nikki Powergloves_ the coolest covers I could possibly ask for.

Discover other books by David Estes available through the author's official website:

http://davidestesbooks.blogspot.com

or through select online retailers.

Children's Books by David Estes

The Nikki Powergloves Adventures:

Nikki Powergloves- A Hero is Born

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Council

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Trappers

Nikki Powergloves and the Great Adventure

Nikki Powergloves vs. the Power Outlaws

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Giver

Young Adult Novels by David Estes

Strings (A SciFi Pinocchio retelling)

The Dwellers Saga:

Book One—The Moon Dwellers

Book Two—The Star Dwellers

Book Three—The Sun Dwellers

Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

The Country Saga (A Dwellers Saga sister series):

Book One—Fire Country

Book Two—Ice Country

Book Three—Water & Storm Country

Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

Salem's Revenge:

Book One—Brew

Book Two—Boil

Book Three—Burn

The Slip Trilogy:

Book One—Slip

Book Two—Grip

Book Three—Flip

The Evolution Trilogy:

Book One—Angel Evolution

Book Two—Demon Evolution

Book Three—Archangel Evolution

Connect with David Estes Online

 David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite

Facebook

Blog/website

About the Author

David Estes was born in El Paso, Texas but moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was very young. He grew up in Pittsburgh and then went to Penn State for college. Eventually he moved to Sydney, Australia where he met his wife and soul mate, Adele, who he's now been happily married to for more than two years.

A reader all his life, David began writing novels for the children's and YA markets in 2010, and has completed 21 novels, 19 of which have been published. In June of 2012, David became a fulltime writer and is now travelling the world with Adele while he writes books, and she writes and takes photographs.

David gleans inspiration from all sorts of crazy places, like watching random people do entertaining things, dreams (which he jots copious notes about immediately after waking up), and even from thin air sometimes!

David's a writer with OCD, a love of dancing and singing (but only when no one is looking or listening), a mad-skilled ping-pong player, an obsessive Goodreads group member, and prefers writing at the swimming pool to writing at a table. He loves responding to e-mails, Facebook messages, Tweets, blog comments, and Goodreads comments from his readers, all of whom he considers to be his friends.

SNEAK PEAK

NIKKI POWERGLOVES AND THE POWER TRAPPERS

Available now!

### Chapter One: Stakeout

They had done their research. Well, mostly Spencer, Nikki's sidekick, had done the research. He knew everything that had ever been said about STING in newspapers or magazines or on TV. Which wasn't much. Apparently STING was a very mysterious organization. No one really seemed to know what they did. STING stood for the Superior Technology & Information Needs Group. From what Spencer had told her, Nikki knew it was a government agency that had been linked to the disappearance of at least two power kids.

And that was important. Because Nikki's friend had been kidnapped. And her friend was a power kid, too. Nikki had only met Samantha Powerbelts a week earlier, but already they were close friends. Nikki would do anything to help her. And now Samantha needed Nikki's help.

Nikki and her other friends, who called themselves the Power Council, had made plans to get Samantha back. They didn't know for sure who had kidnapped her, but their biggest suspect was STING.

Nikki and Spencer were on a stakeout, which meant they were watching and waiting. Watching the building where STING was located. Waiting for something to happen...or someone to come out...or something. So far they had been watching and waiting for an hour and nothing had happened. Not a single door or window had opened; not a noise had been made; not even a strange smell had wafted from the building. Thinking back, Nikki couldn't even remember a bird flying past the building.

When Nikki and Spencer had first begun the stakeout, she had felt like a spy. Spencer was wearing his dark sunglasses, dark pants, and the dark shirt that said _Boy Genius_ on the front. Even though an hour had passed without event, he was flashing his toothy, braces-filled smile. He seemed to be loving every minute of the stakeout even though nothing was happening. But Nikki was getting bored.

Nikki looked up at the clear, sunny sky. There wasn't even a lonely cloud passing by to catch her attention. If there was a cloud, at least she could try and see pictures in it. Like maybe the fluffy, white pillow would look like a grizzly bear. Or a scarecrow. Or something else funny, like a clown or a singing hamster...

Instead, there was nothing in the sky except the sun. Which was pretty typical for summer in Cragglyville. It was hot and dry. Despite the heat, Nikki wasn't sweating. They were hiding across the street from the STING building. No one could see them, Nikki was sure of it. Because they were high in the uppermost branches of a tree, and Nikki was invisible. Spencer wasn't, but his dark clothes would make him hard to spot from the street. Plus, no one was looking at the top of the tree. Why would they?

Nikki glanced down at the gloves she was wearing. She couldn't see them, because they were invisible, just like her. But she could picture them in her mind. They weren't winter gloves, like the kind you would wear while playing in the snow, warm and soft and lumpy. Rather, her gloves were smooth and rubbery, like the kind her mom might use when cleaning the bathroom. One was blue. It had a picture of a bird on it. It had helped her and Spencer get to the top of the tree. Because when she was wearing the blue, bird glove, she was able to fly! And Nikki was good at flying. It was almost as if she had been born to fly.

The second glove didn't match the first. It was gray, with no picture on it. It was her invisibility glove, and when she wore it no one could see her. She couldn't even see herself. She had ten other pairs of gloves, too, but they were tucked away safely inside her magical treasure chest. Each glove gave her a different power.

While Nikki was thinking about her gloves, Spencer whispered, "Look! Something's happening."

Nikki's head jerked to the side so she could see the STING building again. Although the building was still quiet, Spencer was right, something _was_ happening. From high in the tree, they could see the roof of the building, which was shaped like a giant dome, smooth and round. A hole had opened in the dome and was getting wider. If she wasn't looking right at it, she might not even notice it. Nikki was glad she had Spencer to help her with these kinds of things. He was good at stakeouts. He was a good sidekick, too. The best.

They watched as the hole in the roof got bigger and bigger. Nikki was tempted to fly over and slip through the hole. She was invisible, after all. No one would see her. She really wanted to know what was in that building. What was STING hiding?

As if sensing what she wanted to do, Spencer reached out and held Nikki's arm. "Wait, Eager-Beaver. Be patient," he said. Nikki's invisible lips curled into an invisible smile. She had no idea how he had read her mind. Or how he had grabbed her invisible arm.

She turned her attention back to the STING building. The dome was completely gone now, having slid back to reveal an open, circular roof. On the roof was a helicopter. But not just any helicopter. It was huge and black and looked dangerous. Mounted on the sides were giant spotlights. Its silver blades were starting to spin—they looked sharp and powerful.

"The lights!" Spencer hissed. "Remember the lights?"

Nikki remembered alright. On the night that Samantha was kidnapped, there was a loud noise from above, and then bright lights had blinded them. It had to be the helicopter! When the lights went out, Samantha was gone.

"They've got her," Nikki said.

Spencer nodded seriously. "Should we try to get inside the building?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Nikki said. "I think we should follow the helicopter. What if they're going to go capture another power kid? We have to try to save them."

Spencer's eyes lit up. "Wickety wickety woo woo!" he exclaimed.

Nikki giggled. She never got tired of Spencer's funny sayings and noises. In this case she knew what Spencer meant. He agreed with her.

The helicopter's blades were spinning so fast that Nikki could barely see them. The sound of the engine was so loud that Nikki had to put her hands over her ears. With a slight lurch, the helicopter lifted off the roof and angled away from the building. Nikki tried to locate the pilot but the glass cockpit was tinted black. The pilot could see out, but she couldn't see in.

She watched as the helicopter sped away from them, away from Cragglyville. "They're getting away, honk honk!" Spencer yelled.

"Nothing can fly faster than me!" Nikki yelled back. "Hop on, sidekick!"

Spencer grinned and then patted at the air to try to locate Nikki's invisible body. She reached and grabbed his hand and pulled it to her shoulder. Spencer climbed onto her back and yelled, "All systems go, Captain-Kangaroo!"

Nikki took off like a rocket.

In seconds she was high above the earth. Everything looked miniature, like the world was just a bunch of toys. The big trees in the forests surrounding Cragglyville were as small as weeds. The automobiles lining the streets looked like Matchbox cars. The people were tiny, like the Lilliputians from _Gulliver's Travels_. Nikki knew that nothing had really gotten smaller, but just looked that way because she was so high up.

As she flew, she was careful to steer well away from a big jet airliner that was carrying passengers across the country. Even though she knew she could outrun the plane if she had to, she didn't want to frighten the pilot by suddenly appearing outside of his window.

Nikki kept the helicopter in her sights, but didn't get too close, as she didn't want them to know they were being followed. They flew together for a long time—the helicopter in front and Nikki and Spencer trailing behind. Finally, the helicopter slowed.

A big, gray shape appeared on the horizon. "Is that...?" Nikki said, trailing off.

"It is!" Spencer said, reading her mind again. "It's Phantom's Peak!"

Nikki hadn't really been paying attention to what direction they were flying, but now she realized that the entire time they had been heading for her favorite mountain. Phantom's Peak was the location of the secret hideout used by the Power Council. Inside the mountain was an amazing place called the Power City. It's also where Nikki and Spencer had first met Samantha Powergloves and the rest of the good power kids and their sidekicks.

And the helicopter was heading right for the mountain! As they approached, gray clouds swirled around the peak, making it look as if there were giant ghosts haunting the jagged cliffs.

"They've discovered the Power City!" Nikki exclaimed.

"Maybe not," Spencer said. "They might go right past it."

Nikki knew he was right but wasn't about to take that chance. The rest of the Power Council was inside the Power City, waiting for Nikki and Spencer to return from their stakeout of STING headquarters. If the people in the STING helicopter found them, they would try to kidnap them, just like Samantha. She had to do something!

With a burst of speed, Nikki took off toward the helicopter, which was getting closer and closer to the mountain. As she flew, she pried off her gray invisibility glove and shoved it into her pocket. Suddenly she could see her hands and arms again. "Welcome back," Spencer said.

"Thanks," Nikki mumbled. She was concentrating on the helicopter. If she got too close to the blades, they would cut her to bits. Spencer, too. So she dropped her altitude and came up from below the flying vehicle, where the landing gear was.

When she got close enough, she grabbed one of the landing skids and pulled herself up. Spencer was still on her back, hanging on for dear life. For once she wished he wasn't with her—for his own safety. From back to front, she tiptoed along a shelf on the side of the helicopter, until she was next to the tinted window. She reached up and rapped hard on the glass. _Crack, crack, crack!_

The helicopter swerved, but it didn't matter. Nikki was already gone. She had leapt into the air and was speeding away. She outstretched her arms and tried to gain speed. She heard the helicopter engine roar. It was chasing her!

### Chapter Two: The Flying Chainsaw Chipmunk

The wind rushed through Nikki's hair. Spencer yelled, "Faster! Faster!"

Nikki knew the helicopter was gaining on them, but that was okay. If she escaped too easily, the STING team might go back to the mountain. She didn't want that. She needed to lead them far, far away.

Nikki twisted her head to look back. The sleek, black helicopter was whirring and churning behind her, like an evil monster tearing through the sky, searching for children to eat. And it especially liked kids with powers, like Nikki. But she wasn't worried, or scared. Because she had a trick up her sleeve. One that would guarantee her escape from the flying hunk of metal.

When the helicopter got close, she dove for the ground. The copter dipped, chasing after her. It was remarkably agile for such a large vehicle. When it dipped, however, she cut sharply to the left, circling around behind it. Nikki thought for sure that the pilot would be confused, unsure of how to pursue her.

Instead, to her amazement, the copter stopped instantly, and then swung around to face her. The tinted black window looked like a giant eye, staring at her and Spencer, gleaming in the sun. Nikki expected the pilot to propel the copter toward her again. But he didn't.

With an awkward lurch, the helicopter swept to the side, facing a different direction and leaving its side door angled toward Nikki.

The door slid open.

A man wearing dark green army pants and a dark gray tank top peered out. She couldn't see his face because he wore a helmet with a dark visor. He was huge. His arms were like steel poles, bulging with rock hard muscles. His chest was the size of a boulder and looked like bullets would bounce off of it. He was Superman, except bigger, and stronger.

Then Nikki noticed his gun.

It was big and black. With two handles. Despite the man's size he had to use two hands to hold it. Nikki knew he would shoot at them. So she faked like she was going to fly to the left and then flew to the right. A perfect fake. The man didn't expect it. Luckily. Because just as Nikki turned to the side, the man fired the gun.

Nikki had expected an ear-splitting _BOOM!_ as the cannon-like weapon exploded from close range. However, it was remarkably silent. All she heard was a whizzing sound and then a _poof!_ Something tickled the bottom of her leg as she dove away. She looked back to see what had almost hit her. Her eyes detected movement below her.

A thick net was hurtling toward the ground. A net designed to catch someone. Like a power kid, for instance. It was probably the same net that had caught Samantha. The net stopped falling and began moving back up toward the helicopter. It was connected to the big, black gun. He was reeling it back in, like a fisherman pulling in his fishing line. Nikki knew he would try to catch her again. It was time to use her trick—the one she was saving for the right time. Now was definitely the right time.

She reached in her pocket and extracted the gray glove. The man wouldn't be able to shoot at someone he couldn't see. But then she fumbled the glove. She had never dropped one of her powergloves like that before. It skipped off her fingers and dropped like a rock toward the ground, falling much faster than she expected it to.

The man fired the gun again. _Whizzzzzzz!_

Nikki closed her eyes and waited for the spider web of ropes to entangle her.

She heard a faint buzzing sound. A voice yelled from above her. "Flying Chainsaw Chipmunk!" the voice said. It was Spencer. In the heat of the fight against the black STING helicopter, she had forgotten that Spencer still clung to her back.

She didn't feel anything. No ropes. No net. Nothing. Except Spencer on her back.

She opened her eyes slowly. The man was still in the copter doorway. With the gun. But the net wasn't hanging from it anymore. The ropes had been shredded, cut away from the gun. They twirled and twisted as they fell to the earth. _What saved us?_ Nikki wondered.

Then she saw it. Something small, arms extended, flaps of skin filled with air, gliding around her. She felt like the thing was defending her. But what was it?

She saw Spencer's hand appear in front of her face. It was cupped slightly, like he was holding something. His hand was empty. "Return to me," Spencer said. Nikki wondered what he meant.

She watched as the flying thing came closer and closer until she could see what it was: A chipmunk, brown with white and black stripes, soared toward her. Its tiny arms were connected to its legs by leathery flaps of skin. The flaps caught the wind and allowed it to fly. Nikki had heard of flying squirrels before, but never flying chipmunks.

The chipmunk was right in front of Nikki now, so close she could have touched it. It swooped in and landed gracefully on Spencer's cupped hand. "Do you like it?" Spencer asked.

"What is it?" Nikki said.

"One of my gadgets. Dexter helped me build it yesterday while you and the power kids were planning the stakeout. I call it Flying Chainsaw Chipmunk."

Nikki stared at the cute little chipmunk. She said, "I understand _Flying_ and _Chipmunk_ , but what do you mean by _Chainsaw_?"

Spencer chuckled. "Open up, Chippy, and show Aunty Nikki your teeth." The adorable chipmunk grinned and flashed his teeth. Except they weren't really teeth. With a _bzzzzzz!_ each "tooth" began to spin rapidly. Each had sharp claws that looked like they could cut through metal. They looked like miniature chainsaws. Suddenly, everything clicked for Nikki. The net had been about to capture them, and then it was shredded, falling to the earth. The little chipmunk's chainsaw teeth had saved them. Spencer had saved them, like he had many times before, with his gadgets.

Nikki was about to thank her friend and tell him what an awesome sidekick he was, when she heard a loud whirring on her right. And then a loud whirring on her left. The sounds were just like the loud whirring sound that the black helicopter was making in front of them.

She glanced to each side, one after the other. Two more black helicopters had arrived. And each had a door open with a masked man with a big gun. A gun with a net. To catch her. She was nearly surrounded. Her only way out was to spin and zoom back. Then she heard it. A fourth whirring sound, from directly behind her. A fourth helicopter. Now she was surrounded.

Even Spencer's Flying Chainsaw Chipmunk wouldn't be able to cut them out of four nets. With a sharp _twang!_ the first net was fired. _Twang, twang, twang!_ Three more nets were fired.

Nikki knew she would be caught.

