"Mfffmm!" the Mumbler interrupted.
"Zabana," the jungle prince declared as he moved to block their path."Oh, yeah?" the mob member retorted.
"Slime," came the answer of the sand-covered one who now stood next to Zabana.
"Oh, yeah," the mob member agreed.
"Roger!" Delores laughed.
"Delores!" He laughed back.
"But Dr. Dread!" Louie insisted.
"Mfffffmmmmmmm!" the Mumbler interrupted.
"Yip! Arf!" Dwight elucidated.
"Say," Roger asked, "isn"t that Dwight the Wonder Dog?"
"Everybody knows Dwight-" Officer O"Clanrahan began.
"Oh, Roger," Delores whispered sweetly.
"Oh, Delores," was Roger"s husky reply.
"But really!" Louie jumped up and down. "Doctor Dread!"
"Where?" Roger asked.
"Hey, Roger-Dodger!" Brian called as he trotted up.
"Are we glad to see you!" Frankie added as he tagged along.
"Under!" Louie pointed down.
"Under?" Roger asked. He looked down at the remains of his boat.
"The Cowabunga-munga!" Brian called.
"Any minute now!" Frankie added.
"The Cowabunga-munga?" Delores asked.
"Oh, Delores." Roger shrugged.
"Oh, Roger," Delores replied.
"DOCTOR DREAD!" Louie screamed.
"Oh, that"s right." Roger shook his head. "Under?"
"The boat!" Louie explained. "When you appeared!""Under the boat?" Roger asked in disbelief.
"Hit right on snakeskin target," Zabana added admiringly.
"Couldna done better myshelf!" Doc admitted.
"Yip! Arf! Yip!" Dwight cheered.
"Is he dead?" Roger asked, frowning at the bits of charred wood beneath him. As usual when he traveled with the Captain Crusader Decoder Ring, he had brought his most immediate recent surroundings along with him. But he couldn"t see Doctor Dread at all.
"Unfortunately, no." Delores shook her head. "You can"t kill a supervillain that easily."
""Mfffffffffffffmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" the Mumbler interrupted once again.
"Yip, yip, bark!" Dwight insisted.
"Oh!" Louie remarked. "Is that what he wants to do?"
KABOOM! the air exploded.
"What was that?" Brian worried.
"More blue smoke?" Frankie joined in.
"Ah hahahaha! Ah hahahaha!" a new voice laughed.
"Menge the Merciless?" Delores asked.
The smoke cleared.
It was more than Menge.
"What are you doing here, worm?" yet another voice added.
"Gripes!" Big Louie yelled. "It"s my sister!"
"My, it"s-Roger, isn"t it?" Bertha asked coyly.
"Roger?" Delores questioned.
"" Delores!"" Roger insisted.
"I"m so glad you"re still here," Bertha cooed.
"Gee, Bertha," Louie interrupted. "Have you turned a new leaf?""Quiet, worm! No, I was afraid Roger would have met his death before I had a chance to use him!" She regarded her prey with half-closed eyes as she made grasping motions with her hands.
"Don"t forget about me," another voice stated flatly.
"Professhor Peril!" Doc managed.
"With Mort the Killer Robot!" Officer O"Clanrahan observed.
"Yip! Arf! Bark!" Dwight added.
"And Diablo," Louie explained, "the Gorilla with the Mind of a Man!"
"Thank you for the introduction," Peril replied brusquely. "This is, of course, your doom."
"Give or take fifteen minutes spent behind a nearby sand dune," Bertha added lasciviously.
"Ah hahahaha!" Menge the Merciless added for good measure. "Ah hahahaha!"
"Roger!" Delores called, a new determination in her voic- "Delores!" he agreed, putting an arm around her shoulder and hugging her tight.
"I don"t think any of this-" Frankie began.
"-is going to happen," Brian added. "Especially with the Cowabunga-munga-"
"-a few minutes away?" Frankie completed the thought. "I do know what is-"
"-going to happen, though," Brian picked up on it. "Yeah!"
They both shouted the next sentence together: "It"s time for a song!"
This time, things were so confused that Bix Bale and the Belltones were well into their three-chord progression before there were any threats to their continued existence. By then, of course, it was far too late. With guitar, ba.s.s, and drum once again singing across the sand, the spell of the surfing world had taken hold.
This time, Frankie started the song: "Roger"s back and he"s our fave "Cause it"s almost time for the great big wave!
He"ll be the king of all our turf When he shows he can really surf!""
This was followed by the usual "heys," "nanny-nannies," and drumbeats. Roger tried not to listen. It was difficult, though, with all those people dancing around him.
Delores certainly looked stunning in that spangled evening dress, but then, he was sure she"d look good in anything. Some of the others looked a little stranger as they fell under the music"s spell. Doctor Dread was moving around with a sort of snakeskin shimmy, while Bertha, still eyeing Roger, was performing something that appeared to be a particularly violent form of the polka. Officer O"Clanrahan was doing the waltz, while Dwight, on his hind legs, was waltzing along. Everyone was swirling around him to that relentless surfing beat. But Roger couldn"t let himself be seduced by the jangly rock and roll. He had to talk to Delores, tell her about the Plotmaster, save the Cineverse, and that was just for starters! But he knew, if he let his concentration waver for an instant, he too would be caught up in the music, on his way to face the largest wave that ever was!
Brian took the next verse: "Roger hasn"t got a thing to fear; He"ll be the surfer of the year!
So everybody now stand and cheer; The Cowabunga-munga is almost here!"
"Hey!" everybody yelled. Roger frowned. Something was different about the dancers.
For a moment, he thought they weren"t moving as much as before. But then he realized the real difference-he was dancing along with them! No! He tried to stop, to force himself free of the music"s spell. But how could you just sit there when they were playing surf guitar?
Frankie got the next verse: "Some guys leave this big wave alone, They say it"s a good way to break a bone; A wave so fierce that away they"re blown, But Roger will handle it on his own."
Hey! Yeah, he was really dancing now, and with Delores, the cutest bunny on the beach! Roger didn"t know when he"d felt this happy. He wanted to do something big, something important!
Brian"s singing gave him an idea.
"Some guys on the wave they will not glide.
They claim one that size is suicide!
They say they"d rather face cyanide, But Roger"s going to take this wave in stride."
"Hey!" Roger shouted along with everybody else. What a good idea!
Why was he standing around on this beach, worrying about stupid things like the Cineverse?It was time to go out and catch that wave!
^ ^ 16 ^ ^
"FLAMING DEATH GOES TO THE SEASh.o.r.e!".
Now where had Roger put his surfboard? For the life of him, he couldn"t remember.
"Hey, Roger-Dodger, the time has come!" Brian shouted.
"Yeah, man!" Frankie agreed. "It"s time to face the Cowabunga-munga!""
"Yeah!" Roger laughed, almost drunk with the challenge. "It"s time to ride me a wave!"
"Hey, guys!" A rather pale and underfed surfer in snakeskin swimming trunks trotted toward them through the sand. "I"ve got Roger"s device-er, I mean-we"ve got Roger"s board, man!"
"My board!" Roger exclaimed. So that"s what happened to it! "Well, hey guys! Bring it here!"
"Okay, kids!" the snakeskin-suited surfer called. "Let"s make the scene with the board!"
Nothing happened. All the surfers and beach bunnies stood around and looked at each other.
"Professor! Menge!" the sickly surfer yelled. "I mean- er-where are you guys?"
"We"re back here!" a curt voice called from the rear of the crowd. "Do you want the device?"
"Yeah, sure!" This new surfer seemed to be sweating an awful lot for someone standing so close to the sea breezes. "That"s what I said. Bring the board!"
"The what?" the other voice asked.
"The board!" the new surfer repeated. "The surfboard! Roger"s surfboard!"
There was no reply.
"The device!" the surfer yelled.