Doctor Fossil Read online

  Doctor Fossil’s injured expression slowly turned to a look of menace. His red eyes seemed to flash.

  ‘You may not be here to learn …’ he muttered, glaring at Matt. Without warning, he grabbed the front of Gomez’s tunic with his gloved hand, ‘… but you still need a lesson or two!’

  With astonishing ease, Fossil lifted the startled Keeper from the ground and flung him through the air.

  ‘Aaaaaahhh!’

  Gomez, wailing, collided with Matt and Roxie, bowling them over.

  With a roar, Doctor Fossil threw back his arms and head. His military shirt disappeared. Matt was shocked to see that the scientist’s exposed upper body was inhumanly lean and scrawny, and covered in lumpy ridged reptilian skin. A sphere of glowing amber, encircled by steel, was set deep in Fossil’s chest.

  The three friends watched in horror as streams of crackling energy began to pour from Fossil’s out-thrust chest. Like curving forks of lightning, they converged on the centre of the nearby excavation, where the fossilized dinosaur skeleton lay. As suddenly as they had begun, the energy streams cut out. A moment later, four living Eoraptors, like the ones that had chased the sand-surfer, emerged from the pit.

  Doctor Fossil greeted the appearance of the reanimated dinosaurs with a wild laugh. He lifted his gloved hand, holding it as if it were the head of a creature and his forearm its neck. As he twisted and flexed his glove, all four dinosaurs mimicked its movements exactly.

  ‘That’s it!’ raved Fossil. ‘Dance, my beauties!’

  Laughing madly, he broke into a funky disco-style dance, feet shuffling, knees knocking, hips swivelling. Every groovy move he made was copied precisely by all four Eoraptors.

  ‘The Doc’s controlling those dinos like puppets!’ cried Gomez.

  Matt and Roxie, getting to their feet, watched the dancing dinosaurs in disbelief. It would have been funny – if it wasn’t terrifying.

  ‘I could say you’re right,’ said Matt, helping Gomez up. ‘But I’d rather say – RUN!’

  As the three friends fled, Doctor Fossil stopped dancing and twisted his gloved hand in their direction. All four Eoraptors obediently turned their heads. Fossil let out another wild laugh.

  ‘Yes, run!’ he cried, as he sent his pack of predators after their prey. ‘But we’re gonna getcha …!’

  12

  A Surprise in Store

  Mrs Crumpepper’s eyesight wasn’t what it once had been – but with her spectacles on, she still knew a skateboard trail when she saw one.

  Keeping her eyes on the carpet and a firm grip on her umbrella and briefcase, she wheelie-heeled her way gracefully along the corridor. The skater trail came to an end outside a door marked ‘PRIVATE’. Mrs Crumpepper put her things down beside the wall, opened the door and peered inside.

  The cluttered storeroom was unoccupied, but from the faint smell of warm dust, Mrs Crumpepper guessed its light had been on only recently. She switched it on again now – and immediately noticed the open cardboard box that sat in a cleared space on the floor.

  That young man was in here not long ago, I’ll be bound, thought Mrs Crumpepper.

  She went to take a closer look at the open box – and let out a gasp of surprise. Memories flashed before her mind’s eye. She had helped Alfred Hatter pack away these film cans herself – many years ago, when they were childhood friends. They had been helping Alfred’s father, Samuel Hatter, on the fateful day on which he announced he was closing down Screen Two. At the time, neither she nor Alfred had known the reason. It was only later, when Alfred took over the running of the Coronet, that Samuel Hatter had shared his remarkable secret with his son – and years later still before Alfred had confided in Charlotte Crumpepper.

  She could still recall that strange conversation, during the final leg of their two-person expedition to Angel Falls. It was only because it had been Alfred that she’d believed a word of it.

  Mrs Crumpepper chuckled to herself. It was funny to think that her dear old friend’s grandson should be tied up with such everyday concerns as schoolwork. The boy had no idea of the huge responsibility he would one day inherit.

  Just you wait, young Matthew Hatter …

  Thoughts of her student brought Mrs Crumpepper back to the present.

  I must get on with tracking that young scallywag down.

  In her time, she had trailed everything from snow leopards to salamanders. She wasn’t about to let a thirteen-year-old boy give her the slip.

  As she went to switch off the storeroom light, Mrs Crumpepper thought she caught a glimpse of movement amid the clutter.

  No. Just my old eyes playing up again.

  She closed the door behind her. Retrieving her umbrella and briefcase, she noticed that the briefcase had come unfastened. Once it was safely rebuckled, she scooted off to continue her search for Matt.

  In the dark, silent storeroom, a pair of eyes shone brightly. Marlon, crouching beneath a pile of junk, breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the sheaf of papers he had managed to snatch from Mrs Crumpepper’s briefcase – her home tuition worksheets – and chittered cheerfully. Phase One of Operation Crumpepper had gone smoothly. Marlon hoped that swiping the old lady’s notes would buy Matt some time. Now he just had to dispose of the evidence.

  With another sigh, the little Tasmanian devil tore off a scrap of worksheet, shoved it in his mouth and began to chew. He swallowed, belched loudly, then pulled a face. Maths even tasted horrible.

  13

  Eoraptor Scrap

  Mrs Crumpepper wasn’t the only one on Matt’s trail. Far away, in another dimension, a pack of four ferocious dinosaurs were after him. He, Roxie and Gomez were running for their lives across Relic Gorge, with Doctor Fossil’s reanimated Eoraptors snapping at their heels.

  Running away came naturally to Gomez. But it wasn’t Roxie’s style. She preferred to stand her ground. Even as she ran, she was preparing to defend herself. She reached over her shoulder for her staff, and swiftly extended it to its full length.

  The lead Eoraptor pounced – but Roxie was ready for it. She leapt high, twirled around and brought her staff whipping through the air.

  ‘Take that!’

  As Roxie’s staff blow struck the Eoraptor, it changed from a creature of solid flesh to a flickering, translucent blue hologram. A moment later, it disappeared.

  With the speed of a ninja, Roxie took a fierce swipe at a second dinosaur. Like the first, it turned into a hologram, then vanished.

  Matt, too, was putting up a fight. As the dinosaur tailing him sprang, he made a last minute dive for a shovel lying nearby. He grabbed it, forward-rolled and came up facing his leaping attacker. A mighty whack from the shovel made the Eoraptor dematerialize in mid-air.

  Gomez was faring less well. The fourth dinosaur had cornered him against a stack of packing crates. The terrified Keeper was trying, rather feebly, to fend it off with a broom.

  ‘Shoo! Go away! Shoo!’

  The Eoraptor swallowed the head of the broom in one monster bite.

  ‘Aargh!’

  Gomez, paralysed with fear, clutched one end of the broom handle helplessly as the dinosaur quickly munched its way along it from the other. Having devoured Gomez’s only method of defence, it pounced …

  … and dissolved into thin air as Matt, coming to the rescue in the nick of time, clobbered it hard with his shovel.

  ‘Bullseye!’ grinned Matt. A moment later, however, his smile, like the dinosaur, had vanished.

  Doctor Fossil was spectating from the platform of rock on which his specimen tables stood. He was clearly having fun.

  ‘Fools!’ he shrieked, red eyes gleaming. ‘I’ve got more!’

  Once again, he flung out his arms and threw back his head. Crackling streams of white energy burst from his chest. Moments later, four more live Eoraptors sprang from the excavation pit.

  With a theatrical gesture of his gloved hand, Doctor Fossil sent the reanimated dinosaurs after Matt, Gomez and Roxie.

&nbs
p; ‘C’mon!’ yelled Matt. ‘The buggy!’

  He sprinted over to the dune buggy, leapt into the driver’s seat and hit the ignition. The vehicle’s giant propeller whirred into life. As Roxie and Gomez piled into the back seats, Matt took a firm grip on the steering wheel, and floored the accelerator. The buggy shot forward, the blast from its propeller spraying dust and sand at the advancing dinosaurs.

  Swerving round rocks and specimen crates, Matt drove flat out towards a gap in the gorge’s high rock wall. The dune buggy hurtled into a narrow crevasse, with Matt clinging grimly to its controls.

  ‘We’re not losing them!’ wailed Gomez.

  Matt glanced anxiously in his wing mirror. The chasing Eoraptors were only metres behind.

  ‘Man, those critters are fast!’

  ‘Too bad it’s not dark,’ moaned Gomez. ‘They have terrible night vision.’

  Matt’s face lit up. ‘Good idea, Gomez!’

  Gomez looked blank. ‘What idea?’

  By way of reply, Matt slammed the steering wheel hard to the left. The buggy skidded round, till it was facing the crevasse’s rock wall. Directly ahead was the boarded-up entrance of an old mining tunnel. As Matt headed straight for it at full speed, both Roxie and Gomez cried out.

  ‘Whoa!’

  The buggy smashed through the rotten planks and went bouncing wildly along the unlit tunnel beyond. Gomez, glancing back, gave a cry of delight.

  ‘Look – they’re afraid of the dark!’

  The four Eoraptors had come to a halt at the mouth of the tunnel. They were chirruping and screeching in protest, clearly unwilling to enter the dingy passage, where their eyesight would fail.

  Smiling, Matt eased off on the speed. For now, at least, they were out of danger. He flicked on the buggy’s headlamps, and concentrated on the route ahead.

  14

  A Trap is Set

  ‘How will you stop them, My Lord?’ squeaked Craw.

  The little gargoyle hung in the air beside Tenoroc, flapping his tiny wings frantically. He had been following the action in Relic Gorge, relayed in the glimmering orb of the Triple Sphere, over Tenoroc’s shoulder. He was eagerly awaiting his master’s next move.

  Discovering that Matt Hatter was once again in play in the Multiverse and meddling in his schemes, had driven Tenoroc into a wild fury. Craw, however, liked nothing better than watching his master take on a Hatter Hero. There was little other entertainment in the dreary dead-end dimension of the Sky Prison.

  ‘With a little twist, Craw,’ hissed Tenoroc, smiling sinisterly. He raised a hand, and a small hexagonal disc floated up into his underling’s view. With a twirl of one long bony finger, Tenoroc set it spinning where it hovered.

  Craw giggled with wicked delight. The silver-edged disc was one of Tenoroc’s Spatter Traps. They were always a treat …

  Tenoroc’s Traps relied on his ability to manipulate space and matter. He had the power to create a bubble of unreality, concealed within normal reality. Once inside a Trap, Tenoroc’s prey would face hazards invisible to the naked eye, including creatures as weird and wonderful – and deadly – as Tenoroc’s evil imagination could produce.

  Tenoroc would have given anything to deal with the Hatter boy in person. But as long as he was trapped in the Sky Prison, that was not to be. He consoled himself with the thought that watching his young enemy perish in a Trap would be the next best thing.

  He lowered the floating Trap disc into the socket in the top of the Triple Sphere. The disc flared with light. The trio of spikes at each end of the Sphere swung together to form a point. Slowly, the entire device began to turn, like a top.

  Still giggling with anticipation, Craw plonked himself down on the table beside the Triple Sphere. As it spun faster, he began a funny little dance around it.

  ‘Ha, ha, ha … tee, hee, hee!’ tittered the gargoyle, twirling about.

  Cloudbursts of red and blue energy exploded in the Triple Sphere’s upper and lower orbs. As the colours trickled into the central orb and combined, the Sphere spun faster still. It began to spiral around the rock table on which it stood – and collided with the giddy, prancing Craw. With a squeal of dismay, the gargoyle went flying.

  Tenoroc ignored his unlucky underling. His eyes were fixed on the Triple Sphere’s eerie glare. With another wicked grin, he snarled the command that would activate the Trap.

  ‘Shifting space and matter …’

  15

  The Hornets’ Nest

  As he drove the dune buggy further along the mining tunnel, Matt had no idea what might lie in the darkness ahead. But giant sunflowers were certainly a surprise.

  ‘Weird!’ said Roxie, as the buggy’s headlamps lit the big yellow-and-brown blooms lining both sides of the passage.

  ‘Flowers don’t grow in the dark …’ said Gomez.

  Matt was quickest to see the only explanation.

  ‘Spatter Trap!’ he cried. ‘It’s Tenoroc!’

  Even from his prison, Tenoroc had the ability to manipulate space and matter. Thanks to his weakened powers, however, his Traps weren’t always perfectly concealed. A telltale glitch – such as the improbable sunflowers – was a sure sign he had been messing with reality.

  And if Tenoroc had created a Trap, there was only one way Matt was going to find a way through it. He needed to see the hidden dimension.

  ‘Going Multivision!’

  As Matt gave the activation command, the Multivision Specs wiped back over his eyes. His view dissolved in a twisting swirl of colours, and was replaced by a true view of the Trap terrain.

  ‘Hang on!’ cried Matt, as the buggy suddenly dropped, then bounced wildly. He fought to keep control. ‘Whoa! What is this place?’

  The buggy was moving along a wide brown tunnel. Its floor and walls included patches of yellow, made up of interlocking hexagonal cells, so thin they were translucent. Matt steered around some, worried that they wouldn’t hold the buggy’s weight – then swerved the other way to avoid a stream of golden goop dribbling from above. The sticky goo – was it honey? – was leaking from lots of places along the tunnel’s ceiling.

  ‘L-Looks like a giant wasp’s nest!’ said Gomez nervously.

  Matt spotted something up ahead, approaching fast.

  ‘Incoming!’

  A huge flying creature, with a yellow-and-black segmented body and transparent wings, was zooming towards them. As it approached, a second creature came into view further along the tunnel, then a third.

  ‘They’re massive!’ cried Matt. ‘And what kind of wasp has a scaly head like that?’

  As the first of the creatures drew near, it suddenly became visible to Roxie and Gomez, too.

  ‘Dragon Hornets!’ yelled Gomez, terrified.

  Then the Hornet was upon them. It made a grab for the dune buggy’s roof-bars with its six multi-jointed legs, but Matt managed to steer clear. He dodged the second Hornet, too. But as he concentrated on avoiding a downpour of goop, the third giant insect swooped.

  ‘Maaaaatttt!’

  Roxie and Gomez cried out as the buggy was lifted clear of the tunnel’s floor. There was nothing Matt could do.

  ‘Rox!’ he yelled. ‘Swat that bug!’

  The feisty Tracker sprang into action. She drew her staff, extended it and took a fierce swipe at the Hornet’s armoured head. The blow was enough to make the creature release its grip. The dune buggy tumbled through the air in a stomach-churning somersault.

  ‘Aaaaaaahhhhh!’

  As the buggy’s wheels slammed back on to the tunnel floor, Matt managed to regain control just in time to dodge the next hazard. More Dragon Hornets came swooping past.

  ‘Matt – get us outta here!’ cried Roxie.

  Matt didn’t need telling. The sooner they were clear of this multi-dimensional mayhem, the better. And something he half-remembered about wasps’ nests had just flashed across his mind.

  ‘If my hunch is right,’ he muttered, ‘this nest is made of paper!’

  There wa
s only one way to test his theory. As a dead end loomed up ahead, Matt floored the buggy’s accelerator, and headed straight for it …

  16

  An Empty Cell

  One moment the rock wall of the crevasse looked as solid as … well … rock. The next, part of it began to ripple and stretch, like a thick-skinned bubble.

  The dune buggy burst from Tenoroc’s hidden Trap, back into normal space. It landed on the rocky ground, and skidded to a halt. Matt’s plan to bust out of the Dragon Hornets’ paper nest had worked.

  Roxie, in her back seat, pulled a face as she plucked bits of honeycombed nest wall from her clothing.

  ‘Yuk! Who’s smart idea was the detour?’

  Gomez looked defensive. ‘At least we lost the ’raptors!’

  ‘Let’s hope we didn’t lose Fossil,’ said Matt, frowning. ‘Now we know the double-crossing Doc is in league with Tenoroc, his days are numbered. I’m taking him down, for Grandpa’s sake …’

  Matt’s quest to clean up the Multiverse was driven by his determination to free his grandfather, Alfred Hatter, from the prison dimension in which he was trapped. To do so meant capturing the Super Villains Tenoroc still had under his control. By locking them away in the Villain Vault – a unique prison dimension contained within The Interactive Chronicles of Action and Adventure – Matt could shift the balance of power between Tenoroc and his grandfather, in Alfred’s favour. If he could lock them all away, Matt hoped he could give his grandfather enough strength to break free.

  ‘How does that creep do it, anyway?’ asked Roxie. ‘Bring dinos back to life, I mean?’

  Matt reached into his backpack and pulled out the Chronicles. As he opened the book, light blazed from within it. As always, its spread pages automatically displayed the exact content Matt wanted to view – in this instance, the Villain Vault. The left-hand page showed a movie poster for Doctor Fossil. The barred Vault cell on the opposite page was empty.