3.05

Drakken Mudge was working overtime at the Electric Palace. He was a brown furred bear with an orange ear. He was too big for his work uniform, but that wasn’t from muscle.

He had agreed to take the close shift as things were financially tight at home and he needed every dollar he could get.

His dreams of becoming a professional sumo-wrestler were ending, nobody was taking him on. His finances given to him by his parents were going down the drain and there was pressure from his mother to go full time into work or to move back home.

Neither option was appealing, it meant he had failed.

Nobody had come into the store in the last hour and Drakken was starving. He had two hours to go on his shift and nobody else was working.

Drakken took one last look at the shop and darted into the crammed staff room at the back of the shop.

Drakken flicked through the cupboards and found an old kettle. Filled it up and turned it on. He poked his head back out of the room, but there were still no customers.

Drakken grabbed his noodle cup and emptied the flavouring. He was nervous now, so he took a few steps back into the shop and strained his ears to listen.

“Hello? Does anyone need help?” No one responded and so Drakken ducked back into the lunchroom. He poured the boiled water onto the noodles and grabbed the cup and stepped back out into the store.

Drakken made it all the way back to the circular counter in the middle of the store. Nobody had come into the shop, and with one last scan, Drakken started eating his noodles.

The harsh clanging of the business phone shattered the otherwise silent store.

“Hello, this is Electric Palace. My name’s Drakken, how can I help?”

“Why are you eating noodles on company time, Drakken?” the low gravelly voice of his boss pierced Drakken’s eardrum.

“I’m so sorry Ms. Marble, but I was so hungry. I’ve checked everywhere and there aren’t any customers. I just needed a pick me up.”

“If there’s nobody there, how come I can see someone over at the mobiles?” Drakken craned his neck, and he could in fact see somebody standing around the phone section.

“I’m sorry Ms. Marble, I’ll go to them right away. Please, don’t fire me.” Drakken heard a grizzled sigh and his boss hung up on him.

Drakken placed the cup of noodles on the bench and walked over to the customer. The customer was short and wore an oversized white lab coat.

“Good evening, is there anything I can help you with this evening?”

“No, not really. I’m fairly sure I have a better understanding than you do with anything in this shop.”

“Okay, if you say so. If you need help with anything, I’ll just be at the counter.” Drakken walked back over to his desk and eyed off the noodles. He knew he couldn’t have any more to eat as long as the customer was in the shop, and Ms. Marble would know.

Customers that came into the shop and claimed to know everything always annoyed Drakken. He was an electronic expert, he made sure to keep up with all the latest tech. It was the kind of attitude many customers brought into the store.

Suddenly, all the demo television sets turned off and the lights flickered and turned off. A pulsing blue light emanated from the direction of the customer.

Drakken flicked the torch function on his phone and made his way over to the customer.

“Hello, sir. Are you all right?” A cackling cacophony rose from where the customer was.

“Why of course I’m all right, I’m better than that. This store was exactly what my little invention here needed.” The customer turned around and standing just in front of him at about knee height was a battery. The battery had two small legs and arms and electricity arced and bounced around its body.

“Er, what’s going on?” Drakken put his hands above his head an took a few steps back.

“Nothing against you, kind worker, I’m just trying out my latest invention. You see, along with the simple, but perfectly designed mattress, the battery is one of the best inventions ever made. I wish it was something I could take credit for.”

“Take anything you want, please let me be.”

“However, I have perfected it.” The customer seemed to be ignoring Drakken. It seemed he wasn’t even talking to Drakken. Drakken continued to back away from the crazy customer.

“Yes, now I have the Mattress King and the Battery Bolt. But that won’t be enough to stop him. No, not enough at all. I’ve done my research, he’s a part of a team. No, I need more.” A maniacal tone echoed through the customer’s voice. It was rising to a fervour pitch.

Electricity arced and danced and shot out in all directions. Screens popped and exploded everywhere, and scorch marks ran across the roof of the shop.

Drakken leapt down behind the counter and tucked his knees up and concentrated on shallowing his breathing.

“Oh hello.” Drakken looked up and saw the mad inventor with the little battery standing there in front of him.

“Puh…please. I have another wrestling try out tomorrow. Take all the money from the tills. Please don’t hurt me.”

“I don’t plan to kill you. Just leave a message. Tell them Inventor Pete is back and he’ll make Mite suffer.”

Electricity shot forth and shocked Drakken. Within moments Drakken fainted, his fur singed. Inventor Pete left a small screwdriver at the scene and fled the store, cackling.

“Hey Hunter, just got a call from some friends, do you know of someone called Inventor Pete?” Michael asked. He and Hunter had taken the night off from training.

“Oh yeah. He was some guy Hummingbird, and I stopped a while back. He had a mattress robot, bit of a loser really. Why?”

“He attacked a worker at an electrical shop and the worker said he had a battery robot with him that could absorb and shoot electricity.”

“That’s not good.”

“And the worker said Inventor Pete is back and coming after you.” Michael looked a little concerned.

“So, I’ve got my first archenemy?”

“Looks that way.”