Gecko Gladiator (7 page)

Happily, they had been scurrying across the ceiling just above the FLUMPYWUMPY display. A round, shallow, plastic container rather like a large wading pool stood up on six sturdy legs at table height. It was filled with hundreds of Flumpywumpies … strange fluff-filled, glittery creatures that were all the rage among girls at school right now. If you pulled a string on a Flumpywumpy's back, it would gurgle, “Flumpywumpy wuvvs you!”

Danny and Josh hit the Flumpywumpies at great velocity, sending a shower of them into the air and over the edge of the display. Several of them told Josh and Danny they “wuvved” them—in spite of the crushing and the throwing.

“Quick!” Josh hissed, scrambling through a multicolored cascade of Flumpwumpies and onto the floor. But as soon as he spoke, he knew something was wrong. His voice was all high and chirrupy—and his vision was astoundingly good. He could see all the detail of the My Tiny Horseys, half an aisle away. “Uh-oh!” he said, turning around to look at Danny. Danny was brushing several Flumpywumpies off his jeans and kicking more back under the display. Right up to his waist, he was back to normal. But above his waist he was still a gecko. Boy sized, but with gecko arms, hands, and fingers. He had a gecko chest and a gecko head covered in gleaming scales of shiny pink, with two dark, bulbous, orblike eyes.

Danny turned and saw Josh a second later. “Oops,” he squeaked. He glanced into a mirror in the nearby Barbie display and then over to Josh
again, feeling panic rise in his chest. “We've got to get out of here!”

There was a lot of noise over by the exit. Far, far too many people were around. Loads of little girls in sparkly dresses and tiaras were piling through the doors. Oh no, remembered Danny. The Damsels' Party! But worse, off to their left, Danny could now see the security guard stalking along the top row of toy aisles. They were looking left and right, obviously searching for him and Danny. He might just recognize their jeans and running shoes! “We're just going to have to make a run for it!” he squawked at his brother. And the pair of them set off, making for the doors.

They expected screaming. A lot of it. Danny was hoping the fear and horror would mean the girls would just run away as they approached, clearing their path to the outside world. And true—there was a lot of squealing as they ran up to the doorway. But not the kind they expected. There were about fifteen or sixteen girls and half a dozen moms with them, along with a Princessland entertainer, dressed as a court jester, waving a
stick with bells and being determinedly jolly. And as soon as the girls and their moms saw Josh and Danny, both still half-boy, half-gecko, they squealed … with DELIGHT!

“Dragons! Oh look! They've got us DRAGONS!” squealed the damsels. And they fell upon Josh and Danny as if they were a basket of free Diddly DeeDees, giggling and cooing and stroking their heads.

“Amazing costumes!” one of the moms said. “So lifelike!”

Josh and Danny were appalled. They were surrounded by a crowd of damsels who were now pulling at their arms and dragging them across to the party area. This was a space right in the middle of Princessland, with lots of little glittery chairs laid out in a circle. Inside the circle was an assortment of girly fun—a large dolls' house, a small fabric tent shaped like a pink castle, dozens of My Tiny Horseys pulling along pumpkin-shaped coaches with princess dolls in them, a hair-braiding table, a bracelet-making corner, and a face-painting stand … all laid out for a party.

“Wait!” called a shrill voice. “I know what we're going to do!” It was a girl with curly red hair, topped with a silver tiara, wearing a white frock with pink roses stitched all over it.

“Melissa, sweetheart!” cooed her mom, just behind her. “We're going to make bracelets and have face painting and hair braiding.”

“NO!” shouted Melissa. “It's MY party and I say we have a dragon FIGHT!”

The rest of the girls whooped with excitement.

“And this is MY dragon!” Melissa threw her arms around Danny. “Because he's PINK! And that's my favorite color! Who's on my PINK dragon side?!”

Several girls shrieked with approval and got behind Melissa, ready to cheer on the pink dragon.

Another girl with long dark hair and a red dress claimed Josh. “OK—I'll have the spotty dragon!” she sang—and the rest of the girls ran to be on her side.

“My team against Lucy's team!” declared Melissa, as the Princessland entertainer and the moms stood by helplessly. “Our dragons will FIGHT TO THE DEATH!”

Josh and Danny stared at her. They were in Princessland, standing in between two crowds of damsels—and the damsels, with their rosebud dresses and tiaras and shiny ballet shoes … wanted them to FIGHT TO THE DEATH?! Danny felt a grudging admiration rise through him. These girls weren't all bad, he decided.

“Darling … that seems a bit … violent,” simpered Melissa's mother.

“Yes, it DOES, doesn't it?” Melissa picked up a long baton from a nearby majorettes twirling sticks display. “Here you are,
Pink
Dragon! Go beat up the spotty dragon!”

A high-pitched roar of approval went up, drowning out the Princessland entertainer's protest. Then the dark-haired girl seized another twirling baton and handed it to Josh. “Bash his brains in, Spotty Dragon!” she urged. The batons were long, silvery sticks with heavy, sparkly balls
on either end. As Josh and Danny took one each, they realized these could actually do quite a bit of damage.

“We've got to get out of here!” hissed Josh, glancing all around for an escape route. But they were surrounded by girls—many of them linking arms as they stood whooping and cheering.

“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” goaded Melissa.

“Ah come on,” grinned Danny, gripping his baton and holding it out between both reptilian fists. “We might as well give them a show …”

“TO THE DEATH!!!” Danny shrieked as he ran at Josh, holding the baton like a mace. It came out a bit high-pitched and chirrupy.

Josh sighed and sidestepped his brother at the last second. But Danny was expecting that, and he swooped his baton to the left, whacking Josh in the middle of his scaly chest. There was a roar of approval from Melissa's team.

“Gah! Right! You ASKED for it!” squeaked Josh, spinning around and bringing his own baton up to whack Danny on the arm. Lucy's team gave a shrill cry of approval and started chanting “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Danny let off an angry chirp as the heavy, rounded end of Josh's baton connected with his elbow—and he swung his baton around and
thwacked his brother on the ribs.

Then Josh got really angry and bit him. Hard. On the shoulder.

“Yeeeow!” screeched Danny. “That's dirty fighting!”

“Oh yeah?!” grinned Josh, leaping from left to right as his brother tried to land another baton thump on him. “So, what are you going to do about it, Pinkie?!”

Danny let out a cry of rage and threw himself on Josh, snapping his sharp teeth down hard on the back of Josh's neck. Around them, the damsels were in a frenzy of cheering and chanting. And the moms were now trying to shout them down. The Princessland entertainer was waving his little jester's stick around and calling for calm.

Josh shook Danny off and then jumped onto his brother's chest. He snapped his own sharp teeth on Danny's shoulder. A moment later, they were rolling across the party circle floor, knocking over the friendship bracelets stand and sending an avalanche of beads across the tiles.