Blue Third: The Cocoa War

By Brad Blake

The action-packed sequel to Blue Third - Citlalli and the Destroyer; Blue Third - The Cocoa War has Citlalli and her fellow Blue Third heroes caught in the crossfire of an epic battle for Earth and Mars. Having defeated the Destroyer and saved Earth from certain doom, the team is caught in events again and plunged ever deeper into their epic intergalactic adventure. Evil Doozies arrive, intent on owning cocoa and the Human race. Battles, chases and rescues ensue against monsters, alien armies and impossible odds. Along the way, Citlalli discovers time traveling and risks everything to return to her family 5,000 years into the past. Meanwhile, Fiberians are preparing Mars for colonization and familiar friends like Sklizz, Einlen and Thrix are back as the fate everyone's civilization is at stake against these Doozies. Fun, fast-paced, and continues the epic journeys for Citlalli, Heather, Estrella, Tyson, Lupe, David and Maddy. Oh yes, and Lucy the Basset hound. And what about The Destroyer?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brad Blake
• Release date: May 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476076874

Brad Blake

Cat Smith is an awarding-winning journalist who resides in Arizona with her young daughter, Brooklyn. When she isn't writing, Cat likes to watch her daughter's baseball games, hang out at the river and lake, catch a movie, travel to the mountains, volunteer with organizations within her home town and enjoy family time with her mom, Anne Z. Smith, on their ranch. The Blake's reside in Oatman, Arizona, an old western mining town that dates back to 1903 and has burros roaming freely in town. The two met when they were eight-years-old when their families became friends. The Blake's are high school sweethearts. They married in 2009 and own several family businesses in Oatman. Their love for animals is another big part of their lives. They couldn't imagine not having Walter or their four German Shepard's as their family members. They have a lot of help taking care of their animal village from their parents and other family members.

Book preview

MAIN CHARACTERS

Humans

Seven of the Blue Third:

Citlalli, Heather, Estrella, Lupe, Maddy, David, Tyson

Lucy (a Basset hound who thinks she’s human)

President of the United States

Vice President, Stan Wallace

Lisa, the V.P.’s Assistant

Clive, United Nations Usher

Paddy, Lupe’s Assistant/Chaperone

Aliens

Gelzians:

Sklizz, Arizza, Wizza

Uppsalians:

Einlen, Vorwin

Meemers:

Princess Pat, Curla

Plinns:

Dexly

Fiberians:

Thrix (the Mighty), Venix

Okyricks:

Kikikik

Doozies:

Supreme Doozy, Sliq, Cark, Smerk, Kahpoo

The Aztec empire welcomed the white-skinned beings,

who magically arrived on ships from across the ocean.

They believed Cortez and his fellow visitors

were the Gods from ancient Anahuac legend

who had promised to return someday.

It didn’t take long for this illusion to be shattered.

PART ONE

REMEMBERING

Heat and humidity held the promise of a torrential afternoon rainstorm in the Anahuac village. Sitting in the shade of a thatched hut was a young girl. Although the village was bustling with activity, she was feeling completely relaxed, nearly napping in the humid air.

The Anahuac girl was named Citlalli. As she dozed, her head nodded, and her mind drifted to the dreaded bonding with a village elder she thought of as Mean Old Fart. She bolted awake. Tears filled her eyes as she resumed using a sharp black obsidian blade to slice kernels from dried maize cobs.

Maize cobs, she thought, sniffling, is this called maize or is it corn? Corn...corn, now why do I know the word corn? We’ve always called this maize.

She stopped slicing with a deep sigh, a sob escaping.

What does it matter anyway, she thought bitterly, maize or corn, corn or maize...who gives a ziffik bling! Who gives a ziffik rim-blinging...!

Citlalli frowned. Bling? Ziffik? Rim-blinging? How do I know these strange words?

Her mind whirled with confusing thoughts and emotions.

Without realizing how, she found herself standing. She didn’t remember standing up. How very strange.

Citlalli gazed at the cloudless pink sky over her village. Where were the bright sun and clouds from a few moments ago? And why was the sky pink? Something strange was going on. She had a bad feeling; her stomach was doing summersaults. Something awful was going to happen.

Citlalli looked over and saw other village women packing zooey seeds into wicker baskets. They didn’t seem to notice anything wrong, just loading zooey and talking.

Loading zooey? Where had she heard THAT word? They were packing cocoa seeds. Cocoa seeds from Theobroma trees. Wait, maybe they were zooey seeds.

Why were all her words so jumbled up?

Oh yes...yes, of course, now she remembered. All this jumbled word confusion must be excitement about her journey to the great plateau! She was leaving tomorrow with Father. They were going to deliver cocoa to the almighty god Tezcatlipoca, her people’s God of the Moon. The god that Citlalli had nicknamed Tez.

Hey, she thought, her mood brightening, on the journey I can speak with Father about Mean Old Fart. It’s a long trip to the plateau. Maybe I’ll have time to make him see reason. Perhaps there’s still hope to cancel the bonding. Maybe...

Citlalli smiled.

And then everything went quiet.

In an instant the noisy birds and animals in the surrounding jungle and her entire village had gone silent as the grave. She saw people moving around, talking and laughing, but couldn’t hear a thing. Wide-eyed, Citlalli slowly looked around. Nothing seemed amiss. Just complete utter silence.

She held her breath, the hair on her head tingling with breathless anticipation. Something was about to happen.

In a heartbeat a violent wind hit, howling with fury through the village. Citlalli crouched to cover her maize kernels as they blew everywhere. The wind was too strong. Dust, maize, and leaves swarmed; the air was filled with swirling debris. The wind’s roar grew unbearable as an enormous monstrous shadow passed overhead, blanketing their village in frightening darkness. Her people were screaming with fear and running into the jungle. Citlalli got to her feet and stared at a huge white disk hovering above their village. She immediately thought of Tez in his gigantic piece of the moon. Why was he here? Was he here for her?

She frowned into the slashing whirlwind with a sudden spark of knowledge; Citlalli knew, somehow she knew this was not a sliver of the moon. It did not come from Tez or any of their other almighty gods. Somehow...somehow she knew it was a spacecraft. A spacecraft! An interstellar alien spacecraft and it was here for her!

Citlalli froze, the wind raging around her, hoping the spacecraft wouldn’t notice her. She squinted as dust and debris swirled everywhere in a madcap whirlwind.

In an instant the wind stopped; leaves and dust swirled and floated down, settling as everything returned to eerie silence. The entire village had fled into the jungle. Citlalli stood all alone, abandoned in the center of her Anahuac village.

She looked up, panic gripping her heart; she was wishing the spacecraft away, praying it would leave...

A door began opening from directly above her, bright light shining out...

Citlalli? Hey, Citlalli...

She jerked awake in her airplane seat as her friend Tyson whispered and gently tapped her.

We’re almost to New York.

She felt light-headed, the terrifying memories of her dream lingering, the way dreams do when you’re awakened from a deep sleep. She settled back in her first-class window seat, looking out at a world of buildings far down below, a shining village as big as the world itself and beyond her wildest imagination.

As Citlalli marveled at the awesome and nearly incomprehensible sight of a twenty-first-century New York City, she cried, so quietly that no one could hear, thinking about her family and all that she had lost. Her mother, father, brother, sisters, and a life she had left behind more than five thousand years ago.

At that same moment in relative space-time, across the infinite and eternal universe, consciousness and awareness slowly returned to the god-like entity of pure evil energy vanquished by Citlalli. This being had been known throughout this tiny corner of the universe as the Destroyer, and its legacy of death and destruction across galaxy after galaxy had been absolute.

It had taken a miracle for Citlalli and the bite of a little Basset hound named Lucy to somehow cause the Destroyer’s instantaneous transformation...to whatever or wherever it was now.

Focusing its all-consuming rage on the immediate area surrounding it, there was nothing but blackness. And yet as pure energy it could feel the faintest distant heartbeat of the puny creature that had sent it here. How strange!

All was dark in the void, and the terrible mass of energy could think of nothing but destruction and death. Its reason for existence was to destroy. It would find a way to return to this endless cycle of annihilation. But first...FIRST, it would find this creature, this human called Citlalli, and inflict an eternity of endless pain.

The Destroyer’s last coherent thought had been of Citlalli and the bite of that nearly brainless animal called Lucy.

So, it began a search and quest—a journey to find these two carbon-based life forms that had somehow, some way, through trickery, deceit, magic, or some other terrible power, banished it to this unknown place. And when it found them...

They would pay. Oh yes, they would pay with pitiless, merciless pain for all eternity.

OKYRICKS

Coincidentally, at the same time on a planet in a far corner of Earth’s own Milky Way galaxy, a tiny shivering Pikubu was scared to death. There were many large unblinking eyes surrounding and staring at it. Raising its small trunk, the Pikubu let out a stuttering wheeze of submission and peed on the matter displacement platform.

The Okyrick time travel temporality engineers stared at the tiny Pikubu, knowing they had yet to displace a living creature...at least not alive.

The time travel test began and they leaned closer, peering at the Pikubu.

Blink.

The shaking Pikubu was gone. No shimmer or sound or anything. It was there, and then gone, along with the pee.

If the Pikubu had been sent successfully into the past, it should be carried through the lab door in moments and hopefully still alive. Expectations were low, since they had yet to achieve a successful test.

Moments later a pee-splattered Okyrick walked in carrying the tiny, shaking Pikubu in its arms, healthy and fresh from its journey into the past. Amazingly all its body parts seemed to be where they were supposed to be.

The universal fabric of time is within our grasp, said the Okyrick science leader named Kikikik, nothing can stop us now! Begin the transfer of everything to our secure location at Scradle’s core.

DOOZIES

Not too far away in that same corner of the Milky Way Galaxy was another race of beings called Doozies. Fate had just brought Doozies news that would change the galaxy forever and impact the lives of every human being on Earth.

Out in the empty void of space, far from any star, a Doozy communications buoy passed along news about zooey to a remote outpost of the vast Doozy Empire. This buoy monitored the endless space chatter of primitive back-galaxy worlds, including one calling itself Earth. The news was forwarded to Doozy Military Command on their home planet of Yerti.

You can’t see Yerti from Earth, and its own sun is nothing special, but astronomers would point in the general vicinity of Ursa Major.

It so happened that Doozies had been visiting Earth for centuries. They were the small pasty-white aliens shown in stories and movies, with a hairless body, thin arms and legs, and a large head with two eyes and holes where their nose and ears should be. Clothing might be used for special ceremonies or for defense in battle, but rarely otherwise. Male and female seemed to have the same featureless thin white body. These were the aliens people described after abductions; the aliens that supposedly crashed at Roswell; the aliens in all those movies; the aliens supposedly witnessed by humans all around the world, over and over, down through the centuries. They were usually reported as friendly, but not always. There were some stories relating dissections, mutilations, and outright disappearances.

Funny thing though: many of these stories had been true, especially those concerning experimentation and operations being performed on abductees. The Doozies loved cutting open and examining alien physiology, and then surgically repairing and sending the helpless creatures back without evidence of tampering. Doozies used Earth and other primitive worlds for piloting practice and alien anatomy studies. The only rule was returning the natives unharmed and unmarked. Like a human throwing a clueless fish back in the water. Of course there were always troublemakers, and no one could ever figure out who had been mutilating cows.

Today Yerti’s top leaders in military, espionage, and security were being raked over hot Doozy rectal burners. They were being addressed by the absolute ruler of the Doozy Empire, the Supreme Doozy. He was unloading on them with both laser cannons.

Gelzians! Uppsalians! And I’ve never even heard of Meemerians!

The all-powerful Supreme Doozy was furious, pacing and shouting angrily. And now you tell me these disgustingly hairy humans...these solar-system-chained ignorant primitives have had zooey all this time...RIGHT UNDER OUR AIRHOLES!

Both of his black eyes shrank to pinpricks. His livid green tinge remained as he spoke in a deadly whisper sending shivers up the alien rectums of each Doozy, I want that zooey. We could’ve taken Earth at any time for thousands of years, but now...NOW, he paused, eyes closing, taking a deep breath, these worthless humans should be crawling, groveling, and begging for Doozy help. I want them squealing and howling for our help.

But Supreme Doozy, said a sweating subordinate with a twitching eye, what about these alien friends of Earth?

I don’t care! We’ll crush anyone who stands in our way. This treasure is rightfully ours. This is our galaxy. We’ll crush any Earth-hugging alien scum.

He paused, green forehead veins throbbing. No one dared speak with the Supreme Doozy in this green-veined pulsing state.

Zooey belongs to Doozy. If these human vermin turn to other races...we’ll exterminate all of them.

He stared down the entire room of Doozy military leaders and snarled, I know we have patrols in the area near their Earth. You fools are always messing around in that part of the galaxy. There isn’t a moment to lose. He spoke in a terrifying whisper, Now...get out of my sight.

A few minutes later a remote Doozy spacecraft called the Geedoo was continuing its boring space patrol and receiving an urgent transmission from Yerti.

The Geedoo’s commander, Sliq, listened on his private channel then turning to his subordinates with a nasty pumpkin smile stretching across his white hairless alien face.

This lousy galactic patrol is finally paying off, said Sliq. You’ve heard legends about that ridiculously expensive delicacy called zooey?

The subordinates nodded.

Remember a few months ago when we buzzed that planet Earth with the hairy species calling itself human?

The subordinates all nodded again.

Well, guess who’s had zooey all this time? Can you believe it? All this time, zooey...with those filthy hairy creatures on that miserable little planet called Earth.

He let his underlings think about that for a moment.

The Supreme Doozy himself demands action, and being closest we have the honor.

All four Doozies looked at one another, excited.

Orders are explicit and the timing is now. We’ll arrive at Earth shortly. Once there we’ll move fast. I don’t want anyone stealing this glory. He paused. Now, get out.

Sliq grabbed one subordinate by his thin neck and whispered into his tiny ear-hole, Make me a small, disguised, and fully charged radon bomb with a timer delay of one minute Earth time. I want it ready by the time we reach Earth.

SUPERSTARS

Saving Earth and the human race from annihilation and extermination by a cannibalistic race of monsters and their terrible god-like master the Destroyer will tend to make you international and intergalactic heroes.

Heather, David, Lupe, Tyson, Maddy, Estrella, and Citlalli had become overnight household names on Earth and throughout this corner of the universe.

Arriving from Mexico, they were landing in New York for a globally televised awards ceremony at the United Nations. None of them yet appreciated how much their lives had changed. Well, except for Citlalli, whose life had already been shattered, leaping into the future and leaving behind her family and world of ancient Cemanahuac.

Unlike celebrities who crave stardom and then whine when paparazzi or fans make life tough, the heroic Blue Third Seven never asked to be intergalactic superstars. They’d only been back a couple of weeks, and most of that time had been spent in secure isolation. Only Lucy the Basset hound had returned home to her family in Canada, a very confused but very happy to be home international canine hero.

Funny thing about people though: not everyone considered these kids, friendly aliens, and little dog heroes. The two aliens now on Earth included a crocodile-like Uppsalian named Einlen and a gray-haired grandmotherly Gelzian named Arizza. They had shocked the world with their appearance alongside the kids.

Some saw the kids as government pawns and the aliens as fakes, making up the whole story about saving Earth and the entire galaxy. And there were an endless variety of theories, ideas, and explanations flying around.

Some religions thought Judgment Day was here at last, while others saw Einlen’s crocodile-like appearance as the Devil, with Lucy as its Imp, and Arizza as an Angel.

Doomsday cults sprang up in days, convinced that an invasion by hungry and unstoppable Kreyon armadas was imminent. They watched the skies, preaching the end of the world, and waiting for the end.

A few even accused Lucy of being a cleverly disguised evil mastermind.

Of course many of these religions and cults were simply stirring fear and hatred in order to squeeze money from the unsuspecting and gullible people who believed them. Some things would never change.

Books were being written and movies were on the drawing board.

In spite of all this, most people believed the kids and their story of abductions, space chases, miracle escapes, all kinds of aliens, zips, blingers, battles with undead armies of skeletons and zombies, and the final battle between Citlalli, Lucy, and the Destroyer. They were the saviors of Earth and the human race and countless other civilizations that had been at the mercy of this Destroyer. They were truly intergalactic superstars.

Rumors ran wild about how close Earth had come to annihilation by these Kreyons and the Destroyer. Most of these rumors were based in truth. Earth had been on the edge of total obliteration. If not for the seven kids...

And then there was cocoa. The news that cocoa, or zooey as it was known throughout the universe, was introducing Earth to unbelievably profitable space trade, had piqued the interest of many.

As always when enormous wealth and planetary power are at stake, people, governments, countries, and entire continents began arguing. This time it was about ownership and control of Zooey. The desire for power, wealth, and control threatened to upset Earth’s apple cart. Natural human greed was rearing