Despicable Me by Annie Auerbach, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio Read Free Book Online Page A

of Gru’s space suit pockets.
    Stepping into the hatch, Gru sits in his seat in the cockpit and fastens his seat belt. Dr. Nefario appears on a video monitor. “Opening launch bay doors,” he tells Gru.
    KA-CHONG!
A slit of sunlight appears through the cockpit window as massive hangar doors open overhead. Dr. Nefario begins the countdown on the video monitor.
    “Commencing launch sequence, and we are good to go in T-minus ten seconds. Ten… nine… eight… seven…”
    The rocket rumbles, and smoke whirls all around the engines.
    “Six… five… four… three… two… one!”
    Lifting off, the rocket soars into the air. Downon the ground in Gru’s backyard stands a surprising spectator: Vector! Gru’s nemesis immediately pulls out his Squid Launcher, aims it at the rocket, and fires.
    SPLAAAT!
The squid connects with the rocket and sticks to it. It is attached to a line, which is attached to Vector. The line quickly takes up slack and
whoosh
! Vector is yanked into the sky after the rocket.
    The rocket tears through the sky toward space with Vector still attached. He climbs up the line to the rocket and looks through the window. “Boo-yah!” he says, startling Gru.
    Once Gru recovers from his shock, he pushes down the toaster button on the control panel. Now the whole rocket is electrically charged.
    “Aaaaiiigghhh!” screams Vector as he is blown off the rocket. He falls through the air, heading straight for the ground far below. Is this the end for Vector?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    “But he pinkie
promised!”
    —Agnes

    Vector plummets back toward Earth. Then he remembers he’s wearing a flight suit! He pulls a ripcord, and sails unfurl on either side of his suit, making him look like a flying squirrel. A very large, very ugly flying squirrel. The wind catches the sails, and Vector soars across the sky.
    “Oh, yeah!” he shouts triumphantly. “Once again, the mighty Vector—”
    SPLAT!
He smacks right into an electrical tower. Stunned, Vector slides to the ground.

    Gru’s rocket begins to glow, burning hotter as it reaches the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Gru holds on for dear life as the rocket violently shakes and rumbles. The view through the cockpit window changes from blue to purple tothe blackness of space. Suddenly the shaking stops, and everything is still. Gru looks out the window at the moon in the starry distance. He smiles.
    He maneuvers his rocket closer and powers down the engines. The ship silently hovers above the lunar surface. Gru pushes a button, and doors open. He holds the Shrink Ray in his hands and faces the enormous moon. Gru can’t believe how large it actually is. But it won’t be large for long!
    ZZZZZZEEEET!
A bolt of energy fires from the Shrink Ray and engulfs the moon. Then slowly it begins to shrink. Gru reaches out to grab the tiny moon. It’s the size of a baseball!
    “Ha! I’ve got it! I’ve got the moon!” he shouts. Not bogged down by gravity, Gru does a flip and floats around jubilantly in his space suit. Then his mood shifts and his smile fades. Somehow,having the moon isn’t as satisfying as he thought it would be. Silently floating in the vastness of space, Gru feels small and alone.
    Just then, something drifts out of his pocket. It’s the ticket to the dance recital. Gru stares at it and feels overwhelmed. He really wants to see the girls. He checks his watch. “I can make it,” he says with determination.
    Back on Earth, the changes are immediate. Without the moon, surfers suddenly lose their waves. A werewolf howling at the moon changes back to a man.
    Worse, however, is what happens in the lab. Dr. Nefario watches the rocket on his monitor and then turns to see the tiny minion that had suffered a blast from the Shrink Ray begin to grow! Within seconds the minion returns to its normal size! Uh-oh!
    “Wait a minute. How…?” Dr. Nefario starts. He runs to a door and opens it. He sees thatthe spaceship Vector shrunk is now back to its original size,