LarryBoy in the Attack of Outback Jack / VeggieTales Read online

  LARRYBOY™

  IN THE ATTACK OF OUTBACK JACK

  WRITTEN BY

  DOUG PETERSON

  ILLUSTRATED BY

  MICHAEL MOORE

  BASED ON THE HIT VIDEO SERIES: LARRYBOY

  CREATED BY PHIL VISCHER

  SERIES ADAPTED BY TOM BANCROFT

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  1. THEY CAME FROM THE SEA

  2. THE KING OF CHAOS

  3. BEE-WARE!

  4. A SNAKE IN THE FACE

  5. GUMMYBOY!

  6. THE BALLOON BANDITS

  7. PRUNEMAN

  8. THAT’S THE PITS

  9. A STICKY SITUATION

  10. IT GETS EVEN STICKIER

  11. CLUES ANO CONNECTIONS

  12. LASERS ANO LIGHTNING ANO LINT, OH MY!

  13. A BLAST FROM THE PAST

  14. WHALLOPING WALLABEES!

  15. THE CROCS TAKE OVER

  16. UN-BEE-LIEVABLE

  17. THE SANDS OF TIME

  18. POP! GOES THE WEASELS

  19. THE GOLDEN YEARS

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Share Your Thoughts

  CHAPTER 1

  THEY CAME FROM THE SEA

  It started with screams.

  Lots of screaming. Then the swimmers at Bumbly Bay Beach started running, scrambling for shore.

  Was it a shark attack? A monster? A deranged beach ball? Mutant lifeguards running in slow motion?

  No! It was worse.

  Much worse.

  It was a kiwi fruit.

  A crazed kiwi was driving his jeep right across Bumbly Bay like a motorboat. The amphibious jeep sliced through the water, scattering swimmers, and then roared out onto the beach, swerving wildly to avoid sunbathers.

  Behind the wheel was none other than that dastardly driver, Outback Jack. And in the seat next to him was his evil sidekick, Jackie, who was busily reading a best-selling book, The Doofus’ Guide to Treasure Hunting.

  “Oy, love! We made it!” boomed Outback Jack, who was as much Australian as kangaroos and crocodiles. He wore a khaki shirt and bush hat and talked with the gleeful excitement of a little kid.

  “G’day, Bumblyburg!” Outback Jack shouted, as the jeep veered onto a street. “Outback Jack’s the name, and fortune hunting’s me game!” Throwing his head back, he roared with laughter.

  “Hmmmm—that’s the last time I let you drive us across the ocean,” said Outback Jack’s evil sidekick from behind her book. “Look what it’s done to my hair!”

  She lowered her book, revealing the most sinister sidekick in the long history of sinister sidekicks. She was hideous. She was shocking. She was …

  A sock puppet?

  Yes, it’s true. Outback Jack’s sidekick was none other than Jackie, the Sock Puppet. But she wasn’t just any old sock puppet plucked warm from the dryer. She looked like a crocodile with a pink pillbox hat.

  Outback Jack had a very special relationship with the sock puppet perched on his right hand. He spoke to her, and she spoke back. (But truth be told, Outback did all of Jackie’s talking for her, speaking in a very high-pitched voice.)

  This kiwi had clearly spent too much time alone in the outback.

  “We’re going to be the richest blokes in the world once we steal the legendary Treasure of Bumblyburg,” grinned Outback, as he made a sharp right turn and nearly ran over two gourds.

  “We’ll show ‘em, Jack,” said the puppet. “We’re going to steal the treasure, and then we’ll … AHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

  The crocodile sock puppet stared straight ahead, open-mouthed with terror. The jeep was about to plow over Ma Mushroom. The little old lady had stepped off the curb and right into traffic, while casually licking her three-scoop ice cream cone.

  SCREEEEEEEECHHH!

  Outback Jack slammed on the brakes just in time. The jeep came to a skidding, squealing stop—inches before flattening Ma Mushroom.

  Outback Jack couldn’t help but stare at Ma Mushroom as the little old lady strolled in front of him, still licking her ice cream. In an excited whisper, he said, “Blimey! It’s a flat-out Granny Crossing!”

  Outback Jack crawled onto the hood of the jeep for a closer look. “Look how slow she moves,” he gawked. “This is incredible! I’ve never seen a granny up close like this. They must be a very endangered species.”

  “Um … pardon us,” Jackie the Sock Puppet crooned to Ma Mushroom in the sweetest tone. Then, in a voice that could shatter rock, she added, “But could you please move it, sister!”

  Jackie’s yell was so loud that the force lifted Ma Mushroom off her feet and blew her backward. Her ice cream cone flew out of her hand and landed on the head of a cucumber standing on the corner. As for Ma Mushroom, she landed upside down in a nearby trashcan.

  “‘At’s tellin’ the old toadstool, Jackie!” laughed Outback Jack. Then he put the jeep in gear and tore off, leaving the smell of burned rubber hanging in the air.

  “Whippersnapper!” Ma Mushroom called after him from inside the can.

  Meanwhile, the cucumber on whose head the cone had landed, paused to lick the ice cream streaming down his face. “My favorite flavor—vanilla cheese crunch!”

  Yes, you guessed it! That cucumber was none other than Larry the Cucumber, and standing beside him was his trusted manservant, Archibald. (Larry calls him “Archie” for short.)

  “I don’t like the looks of this, Master Lawrence,” said Archie.

  “You’re right. Vanilla cheese crunch stains easily,” said Larry. “Do you think you can get it out of my shirt?” “No, I mean that crazy kiwi,” Archie clarified. “I think he’s up to no good.”

  “Oh, right. That too,” Larry agreed as he tossed aside the ice cream cone. “This looks like a job for Larryboy!”

  Larry whistled for a taxi, which came screeching to the curb. He flung open the door and leaped inside. With tires spinning like an Indy 500 racecar, the taxi sped ahead for … well … just about three feet. Then it came to another screeching halt, and the back door sprang open again.

  Out leaped the caped cucumber. The defender of victimized vegetables. The purple, plunger-headed protector of.

  “We get the point,” urged Archie. It was Larryboy!

  “I AM THAT HERO!” Larryboy shouted as he hopped off in hot pursuit of Outback Jack.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE KING OF CHAOS

  Wherever Outback Jack went, chaos followed, and pandemonium was about to descend on Bumblyburg.

  Outback drove his jeep straight to the offices of the Daily Bumble newspaper—and I do mean straight. If there was a building in his path, he drove right through it, scattering shoppers, pulverizing mannequins, and wreaking havoc along the way.

  As the crazy kiwi and his sock puppet pulled up to the newspaper building, Outback hopped onto his jet-powered, boomerang-shaped glider. Riding the boomerang like a flying skateboard, he soared right through the open window of Bob the Tomato’s office on the top floor.

  “WHAAAAA …?” said Bob, diving for cover. With madcap glee, Outback Jack began to tear apart the offices of the Daily Bumble and made a monstrous mess as he hunted for information about the infamous Treasure of Bumblyburg.

  “Hey! You can’t do that!” shouted Bob, the newspaper editor.

  “Try to stop me, tomato-face!”

  Rifling through Bob’s file cabinet, Outback Jack flung papers in the air. Bob scurried around trying to catch them as they rained down upon his office.

  But Larryboy was right behind him!

  Our superhero had used his fruit-
seeking radar to track the crazed kiwi right to Bob’s office—although all he had to do was follow the trail of destruction. He raced through the door and skidded to a halt as he struck a heroic pose.

  “Halt, you evil ice-cream-cone-wrecking, file-snatchers!” Larryboy announced.

  “I’ll handle this,” whispered Jackie into Outback’s ear. Then she turned toward Larryboy and batted her big, beautiful eyelashes. “My, my, but you’re a dashing cucumber,” she smiled coyly. “You know, I was just saying to my friend Jack that toilet plungers are the one fashion accessory you don’t see enough of these days.”

  Larryboy grinned at the compliment. “Oh … well, they’re not only good looking, but they’re practical as …” Larryboy paused and scowled. Pointing a plunger in Outback’s direction, he proclaimed, “Flattery won’t help you escape the long plunger of the law.”

  “Perhaps not, mate, but this will!” Outback said as he aimed Jackie at Larryboy’s purple noggin.

  You see, Jackie is more than Outback’s silly sidekick sock puppet. She is also The Power Glove of Doom! Inside her pretty pink hat are some of the most deadly weapons known to veggies.

  Outback pushed a button on the back of his puppet, and a tiny door popped open in the side of Jackie’s hat.

  Larryboy had no idea what was about to hit him.

  CHAPTER 3

  BEE-WARE!

  A tiny bee flew out of the open door in Jackie the Sock Puppet’s hat—flitting and flying and landing right on Larryboy’s nose.

  Larryboy stared at the bee, cross-eyed.

  “Why, it’s just a harmless little thing,” he said. “That’s what you think, mate,” chuckled Outback. “Larryboy, meet the Mega Jester-Bee!”

  This odd little bee aimed its stinger directly at Larryboy’s face and then fired a foul cloud of green gas. As the cloud of gas completely covered Larryboy’s face, the superhero went stiff as a board. When the cloud vanished, Larryboy was wearing a pair of gag glasses—complete with black horn rims and a fake nose and moustache.

  Even more terrifying, Larryboy launched into an uncontrollable, rapid-fire fit of joke-telling and laughter! “What do polar bears eat for breakfast?” Larryboy asked. “Ice Krispies!

  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What does a 2,000-pound mouse say to a cat? Here Kitty Kitty. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  What did the French fry say to …?”

  “Oh, now why’d you have to do that?” Jackie said to Outback. “He seemed harmless enough.”

  “Because we don’t need some vigilante veggie spoiling our plan, luv,” said Outback as he yanked out a file folder marked “Top Secret.” “This file is going to give us a clue to the whereabouts of the Bumblyburg Treasure.”

  “What goes Ha-Ha-Ha-Thump?” Larryboy asked, barely able to control his giggling. “A person laughing his head off! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  File in hand, Outback Jack hopped back onto his jet-powered, boomerang-shaped glider. Flames roared from its twin engines, and Outback shot out the window.

  But no one else at the Daily Bumble was laughing … except for Larryboy, that is.

  “What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?” he giggled as he cornered Bob the Tomato by the water-cooler. “A stick! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  “Help,” Bob squeaked. But, twenty minutes later …

  “What do you get when you cross a dinosaur with a pig?” Larryboy said, following Bob the Tomato around the newspaper offices. “Jurassic pork! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  “The horror,” winced Bob.

  And still fifteen minutes later.

  “How do you clean a tuba?” Larryboy asked as he chased Bob into the lunchroom. “With a tuba toothpaste! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” yelled Bob.

  CHAPTER 4

  A SNAKE IN THE FACE

  While Larryboy continued to torment Bob with an endless string of bad jokes, Outback Jack continued his own reign of terror.

  First, he flipped through the stolen file until he found the information he needed about the Treasure of Bumblyburg. Then he zoomed over to the Bumblyburg Clock Tower on his glider where he tied a rope to the clock face. Jackie latched onto the rope with her mouth and yanked at the clock with all of her might.

  “Pull, Jackie! Pull!” shouted Outback.

  Just as the clock was finally coming loose, a voice spoke from the roof of the Clock Tower: “Your time is up, Outback!”

  Outback and Jackie exchanged startled looks as they gazed at the tip-top of the tower. There, with his cape flapping gallantly in the breeze, stood Larryboy.

  “What ‘appened?” Outback asked.

  “Run out of jokes, Laffy-boy?” “It’s Larryboy!” the caped cucumber corrected. “Your laughing gas wore off a little sooner than you planned—thanks to the forty cups of water that the Bumblyburg staff threw in my face. But now the joke’s on you, Outback! Knock-knock.”

  “Who’s there?” said Outback, unable to resist a good knock-knock joke.

  “Alaska.”

  “Alaska who?”

  “Alaska one more time: Give up or you’re going to taste my plungers!”

  “He’s good,” Jackie noted.

  “But not good enough, luv!”

  With that, Jackie and Outback gave a mighty heave-ho, and the clock face cracked loose from the wall. Torn free, the clock dangled mid-air, connected to Outback’s glider by the sturdy rope.

  Quick as a cat, Larryboy fired a plunger.

  THONK!

  The plunger stuck fast to the clock face. Now the tug-of-war began, with Outback pulling on one end of his rope and Larryboy yanking on the other end with his plunger.

  Hovering just a few feet away, Outback thrust his sock puppet forward and once again, Jackie became The Power Glove of Doom.

  This time, however, Larryboy was ready. A flyswatter popped out of Larryboy’s superhero utility belt and whipped around like a fencing foil.

  “My radar-guided flyswatter will take care of your Mega Jester-Bee, Outback Jack!”

  “Yer blooming right, mate,” said Outback. “But it’ll only make me snake veeery mad.”

  “Snake?” Larryboy gulped. “Did you say snake?”

  Larryboy’s flyswatter wilted.

  “Larryboy, meet my pet rattlesnake,” Outback told him as the top of Jackie’s hat burst open like a spring-loaded gag-box and a real snake launched forward.

  The rattlesnake flew through the air in slow motion, jaws open wide, while Larryboy sprang into action. Pressing a button on his utility belt, he triggered a weapon specially designed to fight snakes.

  BOING!

  Out popped a cheese grater!

  “Wrong weapon, wrong weapon,” Larryboy grumbled. In a panic, he pushed another button. Out popped a set of measuring cups. Then an egg beater. A frying pan. Salt and pepper shakers.

  “I’m beginning to get the feeling I put on the wrong utility belt this morning,” Larryboy moaned.

  So, with the snake only inches from his face, Larryboy did what any superhero would do in this situation.

  He ran.

  Outback Jack could barely stop laughing long enough to yell, “G’day, mate!” to the fleeing cucumber. Then he and his sidekick sock puppet flew off in the opposite direction, blazing across the sky, dragging the clock face close behind.

  CHAPTER 5

  GUMMYBOY!

  Later that day …

  “I thought for sure that I set out my Larryboy Ultra-Defender Utility Belt this morning,” whispered Larryboy to the superhero in the seat beside him. “But I must have set out my Mother’s-Little-Helper Kitchen Utility Belt by mistake. It was very embarrassing.”

  “SHHHHHHH,” said the superhero next to him—a lemony hero known throughout the world as Lemon Twist.

  Larryboy and Lemon Twist were just two of the students in a pretty extraordinary class—the Superheroes 101 Class at Bumblyburg Community College. The classroom was packed with superheroes of all shapes, sizes, and varieties. These were the amazing veggies and fruits t
hat protected towns surrounding the entire Bumblyburg area.

  “Tonight, as you know, we are going on a field trip to visit the original superheroes who once defended your towns,” announced the class teacher, Bok Choy—a wise, old veggie. “We are going to visit the Bumblyburg Home for Retired Superheroes.”

  “Sounds like fun,” whispered Larryboy to Lemon Twist. “I love field trips.”

  Lemon Twist tried to ignore him.

  “Care for some Molar Madness?” Larryboy asked, leaning across the aisle. “It’s bubblegum.”

  “SSSSSSHHHH,” hissed Lemon Twist. “You know the rule—no gum or talking in class!”

  Larryboy paused in the middle of a chew. “Oh, drat. I forgot. I better stash my gum until the end of class.”

  Scooping the huge wad of gum out of his mouth, Larryboy looked around for a good place to put it and finally decided that the safest place was on his utility belt. Little did he know that he’d placed the gum directly over the hole of his high-pressure air pump. A handy device if you have to pump up the tires of the Larrymobile.

  “Please open your Superhero Handbook to Section 3, Paragraph 19, Line 32,” Bok Choy instructed. “Perhaps Larryboy will read it for us.”

  “I’d be delighted,” said Larryboy, picking up his Superhero Handbook. “Now, let’s see, where’s Section 3?” he added as he wildly flipped through his book.

  Bok Choy cleared his throat. “It comes right after Section 2.”

  “Oh, right. I knew that,” Larryboy grinned as he found the page. But in all of his moving about, he had accidentally bumped the trigger on the high-pressure air pump inside the back of his utility belt.

  The bubblegum began to inflate. It grew bigger and bigger and bigger.

  By the time Larryboy stood up, cleared his throat, and began reading, “Rise in the presence of the aged. Show respect for the elderly and revere your God!” the bubblegum bubble on his belt had become the size of a basketball. But Bok Choy didn’t notice because he had his back to the class as he wrote out the passage on the blackboard. Larryboy still hadn’t noticed either.