CHAPTER 2

Shrinker Clinker

Ellie rushed out the door as soon as school ended. She couldn’t wait to ask her parents about hamster sitting over the weekend. She also couldn’t wait to get away from Dex and his pesky paper plane.

At home, Ellie tossed her backpack on the kitchen chair. “Mom and Dad, your hero is here!” she called.

Four happy feet ran up to her. “Ruff, ruff!” Super Fluffy, Ellie’s stuffed-animal-turned-real-life dog, barked a greeting. A toy dangled from his mouth.

“What are you playing with, Fluffster?” Ellie looked closer at the toy, and her jaw dropped. “Hey, give that back. It’s my Rubberband Dude action figure!”

She pulled at the doll, but Super Fluffy pulled back. Soon they were caught up in a superhero tug of war. Rubberband Dude stretched like saltwater taffy until — SNAP! — the doll snapped in half.

Super Fluffy dropped his half and retreated through the doorway of Mom and Dad’s laboratory.

“Poor Rubberband Dude,” Ellie said, picking up the broken piece. “You’re no match for Super Fluffy. Or should I say, Destructo Dog?” She set the pieces next to her backpack, then followed her pup downstairs.

Super Fluffy ran ahead of Ellie as she flew into the lab. It was an extraordinary place. There was a library with books about stardust and a refrigerator full of fruits, vegetables, and fungi. A long countertop stretched down the middle of the room. It held rows of colorful liquids in containers. On a large whiteboard, numbers and letters had been written down. Then, after a second thought, they’d been scribbled out.

Then there were Mom and Dad’s inventions. Like art in a museum, they were on display in the Gadget Gallery. There was the Ultra Magnifier, which could show the freckles on a flea. There was the Ultra Echo-Echo-Echo, which could make a sound travel for miles.

Ellie’s parents were super-genius scientists who used their smarts for good. They had built the inventions for B.R.A.I.N., a group that caught evildoers.

It took brainpower to make a gadget, but it also took noise — lots and lots of noise. In the lab, there was always something dripping, honking, or exploding. Today was noisier than usual. Beakers bubbled. Formulas fizzed.

Suddenly, from the far end of the room, there came a … C-C-C-CLINK!

Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good, Ellie thought. She flew past the Gadget Gallery and peeked around the corner.

In the lab’s testing station, two new inventions lay flat on the ground. They were round like Squeak’s hamster wheel but big enough to fit on Ellie’s bike. Spokes connected to a large platform in the center.

One of the inventions was flickering oddly. Ellie’s parents were staring hard at it through the visors of their Ultra Safety Suits, which they wore whenever they were testing a gadget. They looked confused. Their heads popped up as Ellie skipped into the station.

“I heard something strange,” Ellie said. “It kind of sounded like a tap-dancing robo-beast.”

“Unfortunately, it was the Ultra Shrinker,” Mom said, pointing to the flickering gadget. “It’s not working as well as the Ultra Grower.” She nodded to the gadget that sat next to the shrinker.

“There must be a bug in it,” Dad added, scratching his head.

Blinking on her X-ray vision, Ellie scanned the Ultra Shrinker. She searched for creepy-crawly insects, but her eye beams only revealed a bunch of microchips.

“I don’t see any bugs,” she said. “No ladybugs, stinkbugs, bedbugs, June bugs —”

Dad chuckled. “A computer bug, I mean. It’s a virus that infects a computer. It must’ve made one of the microchips sick.”

“Maybe you could give it some noodle soup?” Ellie suggested. She cracked herself up.

“If only it were that easy,” Dad said. “But there are one hundred and eleven microchips in there. It’s hard to tell which one is sick. The Ultra Shrinker is supposed to shrink objects, but sometimes it just makes an awful clinking noise.”

“Can you show me?” Ellie asked.

“Sure.” Mom opened the glass door of the station and disappeared. She came back with a cherry from the laboratory fridge and set it on the Ultra Grower’s platform.

A moment later, the gadget flashed like a camera. Suddenly, the cherry got bigger … and bigger … and bigger …

When the cherry finally stopped growing, it was as big as a beach ball.

“Cuckoo bananas!” Ellie cried. “You’d need a supersized appetite to eat that!”

“Now we can try the Ultra Shrinker.” Mom picked up the cherry and placed it on the shrinker.

Seconds passed, but nothing happened. Super Fluffy sniffed the invention, when suddenly, there came a … C-C-C-CLINK!

“Yikes! That does sound awful,” Ellie said.

Mom nodded. “That’s not the worst part. Both of these inventions are due at B.R.A.I.N. headquarters by Monday. That’s one week away! It will be tough to fix the shrinker in time.” She let out a noisy sigh. “We have a big job ahead of us.”

A big job! Ellie thought. That reminded her to ask about hamster sitting.

“Mom? Dad?” she began. “Miss Little needs someone to watch our class hamster this weekend, and I was picked. Can I?” Ellie clasped her hands together. “Pretty please … with a supersized cherry on top?”

Ellie’s parents exchanged worried looks.

“I’m not sure, sweetie,” Mom said. “If you’re taking care of the hamster, then who will watch Super Fluffy?”

“Ruff, ruff!” Over by the Gadget Gallery, Super Fluffy barked excitedly at a large lizard tank.

Inside the tank was Cyclops, the Ultras’ giant, one-eyed iguana. Cyclops was busy enjoying his new hobby — crocheting. He had crocheted slippers, a hat, a stuffed owl, and a tail warmer. He was now finishing a Christmas sweater.

A strand of sweater yarn dangled close to the ground. With his tail wagging, Super Fluffy snapped up the strand. He took off running across the lab. Cyclops’s eye popped open as his crocheted creation began to unravel.

Lightning-quick, Ellie bolted ahead of Super Fluffy. After turning invisible, she ducked into his path. Super Fluffy ran straight into her arms.

“Rrrr?” The pup watched curiously as the string seemed to free itself from his mouth.

Holding the string, Ellie reappeared. “I’ve stopped you now, Destructo Dog.”

Ellie gathered the rest of the unraveled yarn while Super Fluffy whimpered behind her. “I’m sorry, Cy,” she said, returning a mess of red and green to the lizard’s tank. “Super Fluffy only wanted to play. He didn’t mean to ruin your sweater.”

Cyclops hissed at Ellie’s pup. Then he started a new Christmas sweater.

“Yesterday, Super Fluffy played in the flower bed,” Mom said. “He dug up the gladiolas.”

“And the day before that, he was fetching his ball in the lab,” Dad added. “He spilled animal-print formula on one of my lab coats. Now the coat looks like a spotted hyena!”

He sighed at the coat, then turned back to Ellie. “Super Fluffy needs your attention, or else he can get into mischief. It will be hard to look after him with another pet around.”

“I’ll keep Super Fluffy out of trouble,” Ellie told her parents. “He’s easier to stop than a sludge monster, and I took care of that last week.”

“I suppose so …” Dad said.

“Besides, he’ll be on his best behavior for our guest.” Ellie raised her eyebrow at Super Fluffy. “You’ll behave for Squeak. Won’t you, Fluffster?”

Super Fluffy looked up innocently.

“Well …” Mom made a face. It was the same face she made when a formula was about to go KA-BOOM! “OK,” she said at last. “But we’re counting on you to take care of everything.”

Ellie poked the sky with her finger. “Have no fear. The mighty pet sitter is here!”