5 Attack of the Icky Bugs

CHAPTER Five Attack of the iCKY Bugs Sssss! The giant bugs hissed angrily at Neal. Their thick, pointed tongues lashed up at him. "If one of those things licks me, I'm going to lose the lunch I never ate!" Neal shouted. The bugs were hairy beetles about four feet long. Their hard brown shells gleamed like armor. "Gross!" said Eric, ducking behind a tree. "Eew!" said Keeah, jumping down beside him. The bugs flicked their fuzzy legs at Neal and Julie. Their feelers twitched, and their tongues stuck out angrily.

第五章讨厌的虫子的攻击大虫子对尼尔发出愤怒的嘶嘶声。 他们又粗又尖的舌头向他吐了出来。 “如果这些东西中的任何一个舔了我，我就会失去我从未吃过的午餐！”Neal喊道。 这些虫子是有毛的甲虫，大约四英尺长。 它们坚硬的棕色外壳像盔甲一样闪闪发光。 “恶心！”埃里克说着，躲到一棵树后面。 “哎呀！”基娅说着，跳到了他身边。 虫子用毛茸茸的腿朝尼尔和朱莉弹了弹。 它们的触角抽搐着，舌头愤怒地伸出来。

"All I did was look at a rock," Neal said. "It was an egg!" Julie shouted, pointing to a nearby pile of round pink eggs. "One of their eggs! And you didn't look, you touched!" Neal shrugged. "So how do you say 'I'm sorry' in bug language?" "If they even have a language," Max said. "The horrible creatures!" Sssss! The bugs hissed and edged even closer.

“我只是看着一块石头，”尼尔说。 “是一只蛋！”朱莉指着附近一堆粉红色的圆蛋喊道。 “他们的一个蛋！”你没有看，你碰了！”Neal耸耸肩。 “那么，用虫子的语言怎么说‘对不起’呢？”“如果他们有自己的语言的话，”马克斯说。 “那些可怕的家伙！”Sssss !虫子发出嘶嘶声，更靠近了。

Keeah turned to Eric and Max. "I'm going to try a spell. If it works, it will scare the bugs for a few seconds. Then you two can help Neal and Julie escape." "We will do it!" Max promised. Keeah crossed her fingers. "Right, if I concentrate on something simple…" Eric peered around the tree. "On the count of three, you guys run, okay?" "How about on the count of one?" Neal asked. "Very funny," Eric said. "One…" Keeah jumped up. She pointed her hands at the bugs. "Two…" said Eric. Keeah narrowed her eyes. "Tomba—snooka—jeeba—" "…three!" Eric shouted. "Three!" said Keeah. "No, wait! I mean floo!" Too late. Neal and Julie were already leaping off the rock when—ka-bam!—a bolt of bright green light shot from Keeah's hands. The air filled with smoke. The bugs shrieked—eeee!— and disappeared into the jungle. Julie leaped over to the princess. "Keeah, you did it! Your incredible spell worked!" Keeah stared at her hands. "I guess so…." Eric tried to wave away the smoke. "Where's Neal?"

基娅转向埃里克和马克斯。 “我要试着施个咒语。 如果成功了，它会吓到虫子几秒钟。 然后你们俩可以帮助尼尔和朱莉逃跑。” “我们会做到的！”马克斯承诺。 基娅交叉着手指。 “好吧，如果我把注意力集中在一件简单的事情上……” “我数到三，你们就跑，好吗？”“我数到一怎么样？”Neal问道。 “很有趣，”埃里克说。“一……”姬娅跳了起来。 她用手指着虫子。 “两个……”埃里克说。姬娅眯起眼睛。 “Tomba-snooka-jeeba——”“……三!”埃里克喊道。 “三个！”基娅说。“不,等等!我是说滚！”太迟了。 尼尔和朱莉已经从岩石上跳下来了，砰的一声！一道明亮的绿光从基娅的手中射出。 空气中充满了烟雾。 虫子尖叫着！——然后消失在丛林里。 朱莉跳到公主身边。 “啊，你做到了！”你那不可思议的咒语起作用了！”姬娅盯着自己的手。 “我想是的....”埃里克试图挥开烟。 “Neal在哪儿?”

"Here I am!" he yelled from behind them. Julie and Eric turned around. Neal wasn't standing there. The only thing there was the pile of bug eggs. "I hear him," Julie said, "but I don't see him." "Hey, I'm right here!" Neal shouted again. The pile of pink eggs moved. Out from underneath the pile popped a brown bug twice the size of a football. It had a hard, shiny shell, six thin legs with fuzz on them, three orange eyes, and two feelers sticking out from its head. It was like all the other bugs only smaller. A baby bug. Eric staggered back. "Neal, is that… you?" The brown bug scuttled across the pile of eggs and looked up at them. "Boy," the bug said in Neal's voice, "Keeah's spell made you sort of big, didn't it?" Eric gulped. "The spell went wrong, all right," he began. "But… well, um, Neal, it's like, I mean—" "You're a bug!" Julie shouted. "An icky icky bug!" "The spider part of me resents that!" said Max. "Oh, what have I done?" Keeah said. "Neal, I am so sorry!" Neal rubbed his front legs together. Then he saw them and jumped. "Oh, man! This is not good. Change me back, Keeah. Change me back now!"

“我来了！”他在他们身后喊道。 朱莉和埃里克转过身来。 尼尔没有站在那里。 那里唯一的东西就是一堆虫卵。 “我听到了他的声音，”朱莉说，“但我看不见他。” “嘿，我就在这里！”尼尔又喊了一声。 那堆粉红色的蛋动了。 从那堆东西下面蹦出一只有足球两倍大的棕色虫子。 它有坚硬闪亮的外壳，六条细细的腿，上面长着绒毛，三只橙色的眼睛，头上伸出两根触角。 它和其他虫子一样，只是更小。 一只小臭虫。埃里克踉跄着退了回去。 “尼尔，那是……你吗？”那只棕色的小虫子爬过那堆卵，抬头看着它们。 “孩子，”小虫子用尼尔的声音说，“姬娅的咒语让你变大了，不是吗？”埃里克一饮而尽。 “咒语出了问题，没错。”他开始说。 “但是……嗯，尼尔，这就像，我的意思是——”“你是个虫子！”朱莉喊道。 “一只讨厌的讨厌的虫子！”“我身上蜘蛛的那部分很讨厌！”麦克斯说。 “哦，我做了什么？”Keeah说。 “尼尔，我很抱歉！”尼尔摩擦着他的前腿。 然后他看到了他们，跳了下去。 “哦,男人!这可不太好。 把我变回去，基娅。现在就把我变回去！”

The princess stared at her fingertips and then back at Neal. "You didn't answer right away!" Neal said. "You're supposed to say, 'Sure, Neal!' and do your zapping thing, and I'm me again." Neal closed his three eyes. "I'm ready. Go." Keeah's own eyes welled up with tears. "I'm afraid to try." Neal's fuzzy legs began to quiver, and his feelers twitched. "It's all a dream. It's all a dream. It's all a—hey, what's that?" Suddenly he flicked his tongue at Julie's head. "Eeeeeew!" she gasped, jerking backward. "Sorry. There was a fly near you," Neal said. "At least it looked like a fly. It was yellow with bright green wings. Anyway, I missed it." "What you saw was a Droonian seafly," Max said. Suddenly Neal rubbed his legs together, making a strange, high-pitched sound. Eric made a face. "Stop being such a bug." "Shhh!" Neal hissed. He tilted his head and went still. "Say that again, please." Eric blinked. "I said, stop being such a—" "Not you!" Neal snapped. "The fly!"

公主盯着自己的指尖，然后又盯着尼尔。 “你没有马上回答！”Neal说。 “你应该说，‘当然，尼尔！’然后做你的电击动作，我就又变回我了。” 尼尔闭上了他的三只眼睛。 “我准备好了。走吧。”姬娅自己的眼里也噙满了泪水。 “我不敢尝试。”尼尔毛茸茸的腿开始颤抖，他的触角也在抽搐。 “这一切都是梦。这一切都是梦。 都是——嘿，那是什么？”突然，他用舌头舔了舔朱莉的头。 “噫噫！”她喘着气说，猛地往后一跳。 “对不起。你附近有一只苍蝇，”尼尔说。 “至少它看起来像一只苍蝇。 它是黄色的，翅膀是亮绿色的。 不管怎样，我想念它。”“你看到的是一只德鲁尼海鸟。”麦克斯说。 突然，尼尔摩擦着他的腿，发出一种奇怪的、尖锐的声音。 埃里克做了个鬼脸。“别犯傻了。” “嘘!”尼尔发出嘘嘘的声音。他歪着头不动了。 “请再说一遍。”Eric眨了眨眼睛。 “我说了，别这样——”“不是你！”Neal厉声说。 “飞!”