Case File #3 The Accidental Accomplice Read online

  By the time Glyker made his way around the stadium and down to the players’ exit, the Rabbids were long gone.

  CHAPTER 6:

  RIDE, RABBIDS, RIDE!

  The three Rabbids followed the strange redheaded creature out of the big place with the green field, laughing and mimicking her. “BWAH HA HA HA!”

  But when they got a couple of blocks away from the baseball stadium, Courtney turned around and faced them. She stood with her fists on her hips, looking determined.

  “Bwhuh?” said the Rabbid who seemed to be the leader. What did this weird Earth person want?

  “There,” Courtney said. “I saved you! You should be safe as long as you stay away from that awful man, Glyker! Do you think you can do that?”

  The Rabbids stared at her. They had no idea what she was saying. They talked among themselves, trying to figure out what was going on.

  The Rabbids agreed that Courtney was funny, but crazy, so they should probably get away from her. As they said this, they nodded.

  Courtney thought their nodding meant they agreed with her. “Good!” she said. “Just be careful! I’ve got to go home, but I’ll see you soon . . . I hope!”

  She ran off. The Rabbids watched her go. Then they looked around. Now what?

  Suddenly one of them pointed. “BWAH!” he shouted.

  The other two looked to see what he was pointing at. “Bwhooo . . . ,” they gasped.

  Shining in the afternoon sun was a long row of grocery shopping carts. They were parked in the cart area of a grocery store across the street.

  The Rabbids liked how the sun made the metal carts sparkle. They watched as a shopper rolled his empty cart into the long row and left it there. He got in his car and drove off.

  The leader gestured for the other two Rabbids to follow him. He ran across the street to the shopping carts. He didn’t know what he wanted the cart for, but he knew he wanted it.

  The three Rabbids grabbed the cart at the end and tugged on it with all their might. “BWUH! BWUH! BWUH!”

  It wouldn’t budge. It seemed to be stuck.

  The three Rabbids plopped down on the parking lot, discouraged. But then one of them spotted a shopper approaching with an empty cart. They could hear one of the wheels squeaking. Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

  Before the shopper could shove the cart in with the others, the Rabbids jumped in front of her cart holding up their hands. “BWAH!” the leader yelled.

  “YAAAH!!!” screamed the shopper, startled by the three invaders. She left her cart, ran to her car, jumped in, and peeled out of the parking lot.

  “Bwaaah,” said the leader, satisfied. He couldn’t reach all the way up to the cart’s handle, so he grabbed a bar near the bottom of the shopping cart and pushed. He started running around the parking lot, pushing the cart in front of him. “BWHEEEE!”

  The other two Rabbids watched their leader, jealous that he had one of the shiny things and they didn’t. Then one of them got an idea. He ran up to the cart, jumped up, grabbed the top edge, and hauled himself up into the cart. Now he was riding, and the leader hadn’t even noticed!

  “Bwah!” said the third Rabbid. What a great idea! He, too, dashed across the parking lot and leaped up into the cart. The two Rabbids in the cart giggled quietly, not wanting to let the leader know they were getting a free ride.

  “Bwhoo,” sighed the leader. It seemed to him that the cart was getting harder and harder to push. He’d been running with his arms stretched out in front of him, pushing the cart, looking straight down at the ground.

  Now he looked up. And saw the other two Rabbids riding in the cart.

  “BWAH!” he bellowed. “BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH!”

  He seemed to be ordering them to get out of the cart. They did, slowly and reluctantly. Then the leader clambered up into the cart and pointed at the other two. “BWAH BWAH BWAH!” he shouted.

  He wanted a ride.

  Soon the other two Rabbids were pushing the leader around the parking lot as fast as they could go. “BWHEEEEE!” the leader said, delighted.

  But it didn’t take very long before the two Rabbids grew tired of pushing the leader. All of them loved to ride, but none of them liked to push.

  They tried giving the cart a push and then jumping up onto it, so all three could ride, but they didn’t go very far.

  They were all sitting in the cart, arguing about who should push, when the leader spotted something nearby.

  It was a street. But not a flat, boring street. It was a street that sloped sharply downhill. And the hill kept going down for several blocks.

  “Bwah!” the leader exclaimed, delighted.

  He explained his idea to the other two Rabbids.

  They thought it was an excellent idea.

  CHAPTER 7:

  HEY, THAT LOOKS FUN!

  “BWHEEEE!!!” the Rabbids screamed as they zoomed down the long hill in the shopping cart. Cars, bicyclists, and pedestrians had to veer and leap to get out of their way.

  HONK! “HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!”

  At the bottom of the big hill, they reached the edge of a city park. The cart jumped the curb and kept right on going straight into the park.

  CRASH!!! The shopping cart slammed into a huge sycamore tree, sending the three Rabbids flying. They tumbled through the grass and came to a stop, groaning.

  But the leader stopped groaning almost immediately, because he’d seen something amazing. A young guy with some kind of hard shell on his head had been sliding along, and then he’d just disappeared!

  The Rabbids crept forward to investigate.

  They heard a strange sound, kind of like a low growl, only smoother.

  Finally, they saw what had happened to the young guy with the hard shell on his head. He rolled up out of a hole in the ground on a board with wheels. Then he rolled back down into the hole again.

  The Rabbids had found a skateboarding park. The sound they’d heard was the sound of skateboard wheels on concrete.

  “Bwaaaah . . . ,” they said, amazed by the wondrous sight.

  The three creatures crawled around a hedge near the skateboarding bowl, which looked like a deep, curved swimming pool without any water in it. They watched as skateboarders dropped down into the bowl on their boards, zoomed across the concrete, rode up the side of the bowl, and flew above the edge. Sometimes they reached down and grabbed their skateboards as they soared through the air.

  Lying on their tummies under the bushes, the Rabbids watched the skateboarders, fascinated.

  Ding ding! Ding ding!

  An ice-cream vendor pushed his cart along a sidewalk near the skateboarding bowl. As his cart rolled along, bells rang, letting everyone know the ice-cream man had arrived.

  “Break time!” yelled one of the skateboarders. He jumped off his board and ran toward the ice-cream guy. So did the other two skateboarders.

  Which left three unattended skateboards by the big concrete bowl. . . .

  CHAPTER 8:

  RABBIDS ON BOARDS

  Agent Glyker sat in his crummy car writing up notes from his encounter with the Rabbids at the baseball stadium.

  AGENT GLYKER’S NOTES

  • Rabbids seem to be attracted to public events with large crowds. Perhaps they want an audience for their message to Earth. Whatever that is.

  • Rabbids have somehow managed to attract followers, like Courtney.

  • When you throw trash at a Rabbid, it doesn’t mind. It just picks up the trash and plays with it.

  Glyker was considering erasing this last item, since it didn’t seem all that useful, when his cell phone rang. He looked at the screen.

  Director Stern.

  Should he ignore the call? Let it go to voice mail? Or answer and get it over with?

  He decided to get it over with. He pressed a button on the phone, and before he could finish saying, “Glyker, Secret Agent Second Class,” his uncle was bellowing at him.

  “GLYKER! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE
DOING OUT THERE? I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO CATCH A RABBID!” Stern shouted.

  “You did, Uncle Jim—I mean, Director Stern,” Glyker stammered.

  “THEN WHY AM I GETTING REPORTS OF RABBIDS AT THE BASEBALL STADIUM? RABBIDS RIDING SHOPPING CARTS? RABBIDS IN THE SKATEBOARDING PARK?!”

  “Skateboarding park?” Glyker answered, excited at this new piece of information. “I’m on my way!”

  “BUT I’M NOT DONE YELLING AT—”

  Glyker hung up, started his crummy old car (on the third try), and drove to the city’s skateboarding park.

  Glyker parked his car, jumped out, and ran toward the concrete bowl. Three young skateboarders slouched up to him. “Are you the dude who’s going to get our skateboards back from those stupid Rabbids?” they drawled.

  Glyker squared his shoulders. “I sure am,” he said. “Glyker, Secret Agent Second—”

  “We’re superupset,” interrupted one of the skateboarders, looking not at all upset. In fact, he looked as though he were ready for a nap. “They took our boards, man!”

  “Did you try to take them back?” Glyker asked.

  The skateboarder looked puzzled. “You mean, do something? Like, violent? Not cool, bro.”

  “Whatever,” said another skateboarder. “Just get our boards back. We’re gonna go get something to eat. I’m starving.”

  He finished his ice-cream cone and walked away. The other two followed him, staring at their cell phones. One of them posted a Tweet about the Rabbids stealing his skateboard at the park, and some secret agent dude coming to help.

  From the concrete bowl, Glyker could hear the Rabbids whooping and laughing. “BWOO! BWHEE! BWAAAH! HA HA!”

  He didn’t want to scare them off, so Glyker got down on his stomach and crawled through the grass toward the bowl.

  When he reached the edge, he peered in.

  The Rabbids were riding the skateboards around the inside of the concrete bowl, having a great time. One sat on his skateboard. Another lay on his back. The third lay on his stomach, pushing the ground with his hands. Occasionally they crashed right into each other, but they didn’t seem to mind. It made them laugh even harder.

  “BWAH HA HA HA HA!”

  “This is terrible,” Glyker thought to himself. “They’re not wearing helmets! Or kneepads! Or elbow pads! Or anything!”

  Slowly and carefully, Glyker pulled the Stopomizer out of his pocket. (He really wished he had some kind of a cool holster to carry it in. Maybe the kind that went under your armpit. Although that might be uncomfortable. The Stopomizer was kind of bulky.)

  “Concentrate!” he thought. “Stop thinking about holsters!”

  Just as he was deciding that the Rabbid lying on his back would make the best target, Glyker heard a familiar voice.

  A horribly familiar voice.

  “THERE YOU ARE, RABBIDS!” Courtney squealed. “I’M COMING!”

  Courtney had seen the skateboarder’s Tweet. She glided up to the edge of the bowl wearing in-line skates. She only hesitated for a moment, then dropped down into the bowl.

  “WHEEE!” she yelled.

  As they whipped around the bottom of the bowl, the Rabbids stared at Courtney. The redheaded creature from the place with the green field. They were getting tired of being bothered by her.

  The leader barked a command to his two fellow invaders. “Bwah-bwah. Bwah!”

  The three Rabbids jumped off their skateboards and ran toward Courtney. She frowned. “I told you guys to stay away from that agent! And now he’s somewhere around here!”

  Agent Glyker really wanted to use the Stopomizer on the Rabbids, but unfortunately, Courtney had skated right in between him and the invaders.

  Two of the Rabbids grabbed Courtney’s hands, while the third one got behind her and pushed.

  “Hey!” she said, surprised. “What are you doing?”

  Running as fast as they could, the Rabbids took Courtney up a ramp and out of the concrete bowl. Then they kept on going. “Where are we going?” she asked nervously.

  The Rabbids just kept on pulling and pushing Courtney, who seemed to finally realize that Rabbids weren’t all that cute and cuddly after all.

  “HELP!” Courtney screamed.

  CHAPTER 9:

  THEY’LL DRIVE YOU CRAZY

  Courtney had no idea where the Rabbids were taking her.

  But they didn’t either. Their plan hadn’t gone beyond “grab her and take her away somewhere so she’ll stop bugging us.”

  So they just kept running through the park. And Courtney kept screaming.

  “HALT!” Glyker yelled as he leaped onto the sidewalk in front of them. He’d managed to cut straight across when the sidewalk took a big curve. So now he was blocking the Rabbids.

  And he was pointing the Stopomizer right at them.

  “Bwah?” said the leader, puzzled.

  “I SAID HALT!” Glyker repeated as the Rabbids moved slowly forward.

  BRZZZZT! Glyker fired the Stopomizer, planning to hit one of the Rabbids in front.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

  Because just as Glyker pulled the Stopomizer’s trigger, the Rabbids shoved Courtney forward, right at Glyker. The Stopomizer’s ray hit Courtney, and she immediately froze like a statue. She wasn’t cold or icy, she just completely stopped moving.

  The Rabbids immediately let go of her and ran. As she fell toward the sidewalk, Glyker jumped forward and caught her.

  When he looked up, the Rabbids were gone.

  “Now what?” Glyker thought. “I can’t just leave her here like this.”

  Luckily, though Courtney was completely stopped, the wheels on her skates weren’t. They still turned. Glyker found he could carefully push her ahead of him as he made his way along the sidewalk. He figured he’d roll her back to his car and then figure out what to do with her.

  Except that when he reached the parking lot, his car wasn’t there.

  Still holding up Courtney, Glyker looked around wildly. Down the street, he saw his car, stopping and starting, weaving and zig-zagging.

  There was a Rabbid at the wheel.

  CHAPTER 10:

  STOP THAT RABBID!

  Inside Glyker’s car, one Rabbid was on the floor, pushing the pedals. He hit the brakes as often as he hit the gas, so the car kept stopping and starting.

  The other two Rabbids were standing on the seat, turning the steering wheel. Each one of them wanted to steer. They kept jerking the wheel in different directions, so the car was swerving all over the road.

  All three were yelling at each other. “BWAH! BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH!”

  Glyker wanted to run after his car. But he couldn’t leave Courtney. He had to grab her arms and keep rolling him behind her as he tried to catch up with the car.

  Luckily for Glyker, the car stopped about as often as it went forward, so he was able to catch up with it in a couple of blocks.

  “Pull over!” he yelled. “Stop the car! Get out! That’s my car!”

  The Rabbids had no idea what he was saying. They just stared at him.

  They didn’t notice the huge truck coming from the other direction.

  HONK! HONK! The truck driver, Gus, was blasting his horn, warning the car to get out of the middle of the road. “Wait a minute,” he said to himself, staring at the car. “Is that car being driven by . . . RABBIDS?!” HONNNNNKKKK!

  At the last possible second, the car swerved over to the side of the road. It bumped over the curb and stopped.

  Agent Glyker ran up to the car (still dragging Courtney) and yanked open the door. He aimed his Stopomizer right at the closest Rabbid.

  The Rabbid put up his hands, looking scared.

  Glyker hesitated just long enough for . . . a hand to reach around from behind him and grab the Stopomizer!

  Courtney had come unstopped. “What are you DOING?!” she yelled at Glyker. She didn’t seem to remember anything that had happened since Glyker had accidentally used the Stopomizer on her.


  “Courtney, give me that!” Glyker said. “Right now!” He reached for the gadget. “My Stopomizer is not a toy. It’s meant for trained professionals, like myself. . . .” Glyker puffed out his chest a little bit as he spoke.

  But Courtney wasn’t impressed. And neither were the Rabbids.

  “Oh, you want this thing back?” she asked Glyker. “Well, too bad! I think it’s time you learned what it’s like to be chased around by a maniac with a Stopomizer or whatever you call it!”

  Courtney ran around the car, reached in through the other door, and handed the Stopomizer to one of the Rabbids.

  “Bwoooooh!” he said, delighted.

  Horrified, Glyker carefully stretched his hand toward the Rabbid with the Stopomizer. “Come on, little guy,” he coaxed gently. “Give it to me. Please.”

  The Rabbid looked at Glyker, confused. Then he looked at the Stopomizer. “Bwuh? Bwah?” he said.

  “Hand it to me,” Glyker said, reaching a little closer. Then . . .

  BRZZZZZZT!

  When Agent Glyker became unstopped, all he saw was Courtney. No Rabbids.

  “Are you all right?” Courtney asked. “You were, like, completely stopped.”

  “I’m fine,” Glyker said. “Where are the Rabbids?”

  Courtney pointed up into the sky. “They’re gone. A spaceship came. They got in it and left. And they took your whatchamacallit with them. I guess you were right about them. Sorry I didn’t really listen to you before.”