The Seventh Voyage of Temperance (The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance Book 7) by Ichabod Temperance

alight! Instigating a light fuel feed to my forward flippers, immediately followed with a sparked, … ignition! Check! My front feet are alight and holding a steady flame! Okay, okay, I’m calm. I have my breathing under control. I have my balance. Increasing fuel feed on all limbs. I’m up! So far so good, the hover is holding. A little more feed gets me up high enough that I can see over my ornamental, yet functionally protective barrier wall so that I may witness my tubby and gooey interloper.
    There he is! Hah, hah, hah! He has three, tiny, little humans with him; as if they will help him to face me! Hah! I shall destroy Gumibara, and eat his human friends for brunch!
    ---
    “Gee, Mr. Gumibara sir, maybe your friend doesn’t want to come out and see us?”
    “RRRRAWR!!! Nonsense! When Gumibara comes knocking, you had better open the door. Protect your frail, puny, human ears as I call out the inferior monsters name once again. If he does not respond, I break in and drag him out!”
    “I say, thank you so much for the warning Mr. Gumibara. If I may add, though, before you exert yourself unnecessarily, I do detect an unusual sound, seemingly in response to the repeated calling of your island companion’s name.”
    “I hear it too, Miss Plumtartt. It reminds me of that time you and I visited an active blast furnace. Remember how those big steam engines would send a roaring wind in a screaming howl of destructive power?”
    “Yes, Mr. Temperance, I do think you have quite nailed the quality of the aural assault. If I am not very much mistaken, the source of the maelstrom is rising above that hillside.”
    “Hot Chocolate Sundaes in July, look at that, Miss Plumtartt! It’s a giant sea turtle! When I say giant, I mean, it is really gigantic! That tortoise must be fifty feet across!”
    “It is not the creature’s size that is so impressive, Mr. Temperance, as the creature’s uncanny ability and method of flight! Am I mistaken, or does that reptile maintain altitude by means of firing rocket jets of flame from the center of its four, flippered, feet?”
    “Yes Ma’am, Miss Plumtartt Ma’am, that monster has made a vertical take-off and is now hovering in place. That is a wondrous sight to see something in flight like that. Verily, as it stalls, I don’t think I have ever seen anything hairier.”
    “RRRRAWR!!! I want to speak to you, fly-boy! You have been summoned by the Great Gumibara! Kneel before me, knave! RRRRAWR!!!”
    “You must be insane, Gumibara. All that candy has gone to your head! I kneel to no man, and to no beast! I am the greatest super-monster of all time! I am, . . . TiTaupKamaro! GRONK!!!
    “Please Mr. TiTaupKamaro, sir, we need your help...”
    “RRRRAWR!!! Be quiet, Icky, I have changed my mind! I no longer see any need in suffering this inferior super-monster to join our sacred quest! Go away, TiTaupKamaro, and come along, puny humans, I knew this was a bad idea all along. We’ll find another way to defeat the evil Professor Lionelstein.”
    “GRONK!!! Not so fast, Gumibara! I shall teach you a lesson in manners, first! Now is the time in which I totally beat you once and for all! Not only that, but I shall enjoy devouring your mercenary human army as well! It’s munchie time, baby, oh yeah! GRONK!!!”
    “We better get out of the way, y’all, this tremendous turtle and towering teddy are fixin’ to tussle in a titanic throw-down!”
    “Quite so, Mr. Temperance. Gumibara is pointedly marching back and forth in a challenging little dance as he gets a sugar rush roiling within himself. I say, Gumibara is actually glowing with a low, menacing, light that simmers with a burning malice. This does not bode well for TiTaupKamaro.”
    ~stomp, stomp, stomp.~
    ~skippity~hoppity~stomp!~
    ~stomp, stomp, stomp.~
    ~skippity~hoppity~stomp!~
    “Though your meat”
    “is not sweet,”
    “Your defeat”
    “makes it a treat.”
    “I’ll force you to sniff”
    “my stinky