The Great Powers Outage (17 page)

“Let's eat at that new place on the fifth floor—La Dolce Deli,” Tadpole suggested. “I've heard their Marzi-Pan Pizza is fantastic.”

“Can't we go to the Peppermint Patio?” pleaded Plasma Girl. “They serve delicious peppermint tea!”

She could tell from our expressions she wasn't going to get far with that idea.

“How about Mother Treacle's Kandy Kitchen?” Stench suggested. “Their Peanut Butter Pot Pie in a milk chocolate crust is fantastic—and healthy! I've had dozens of them.”

“Healthy?!” Plasma Girl shot back. “They're probably the cause of you being the size you are.”

Plasma Girl immediately realized she shouldn't have made a comment like that. Stench was just big—he wasn't fat. But, nevertheless, his expression fell like a butterscotch soufflé.

“Maybe they have had an effect,” he mumbled into his chest.

Cause and effect. There were those two words again. Suddenly an idea struck me as if I'd been hit by . . . well . . . a meteor.

“You guys,” I said, turning to my other teammates as the excitement rose in my voice, “I think I know how we can come up with a billion dollars.”

“It better not involve selling anything door-to-door,” Tadpole announced.

“No,” I said. “In fact, it may have just dropped right out of the sky.”

“Are you crazy?” asked Stench. “A billion dollars?”

“Remember how I said that every effect has a cause? Well, just look at the Carbunkle Mountains down there,” I said pointing to the sculpted blocks of chocolate that represented the enormous mountain range encircling Superopolis.

“We all saw how a meteor hit the surface of the planet with such force that it thrust up the entire Carbunkle range,” I pointed out.

“No kidding!” Stench said, clearly impressed. “But what's that got to do with getting us a billion dollars?”

“A lot of times meteorites are made out of incredibly valuable materials,” I said. “They can be gold, they can be jewels, they can be copper or platinum or a combination of all of the above.”

“Or they can just be made out of rock,” Tadpole pointed out.

“What have we got to lose?” I asked. “Let's check it out.”

“But what happened to the meteorite?” Hal asked.

“Just look,” I replied. “You can see the path the meteor must have taken. It clearly made impact first at the spot where Superopolis Harbor now lies.”

“He's right,” Tadpole agreed. “Look how round the harbor is.”

“And then it plunged straight down where the Greenway sits now,” I continued. The Greenway was the tree-lined strip of land that separated the eastbound and westbound lanes of Colossal Way. “Along the way, the meteor barreled into the land, forcing the Carbunkle Mountains up and up and up.”

“So it must have come to a stop at the base of the mountains,” concluded Plasma Girl.

And there our eyes all came to rest on it—the smooth, sloping mound that sat smack in the middle of Telomere Park at the very base of the mountain range. It was a location we had become very familiar with over the past couple of weeks.

“Crater Hill,” I muttered. “That's it! Right below the water tower that Professor Brain-Drain had converted into his time machine. The meteorite is buried beneath Crater Hill.”

I knew I was right, and my friends all nodded their heads.

“I think we've found our treasure meteorite. We just have to go get it.”

“But how, O Boy,” Tadpole asked. “It's buried who knows
how
deep.”

“It could take forever to dig down to it,” Plasma Girl agreed.

“Who said anything about digging?” I said.

With growing concern, my friends followed the direction of my eyes as they moved north along the base of the Carbunkle Mountains and finally came to rest on the entrance to the mysterious Carlsbark Caverns.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Land Beneath the Ground

The next day, the Carbunkle Mountains towered above us as my friends and I stood before the rocky opening that led to the shadowy Carlsbark Caverns. I had a feeling that if there was any way to see what lurked beneath Crater Hill, exploring these caverns would be our best chance.

“Tell us again why we've come here?” Tadpole said with an annoyance that only partly hid his growing nervousness.

“We're here to test my hypothesis,” I stated once again.

“Is that like a hippopotamus?” Hal asked.

“It's more like a theory,” I said, “just harder to pronounce.”

LI'L HERO'S HANDBOOK

PLACES

CARLSBARK CAVERNS

Named for the distinct echoes they produce, the Carlsbark Caverns
can be accessed only through a single entrance found at the base of
the Carbunkle Mountains just north of Telomere Park. The small sections
explored thus far have revealed spectacular mineral formations
that are dazzling to behold. Even greater wonders—including caverns
as vast as three cubic acres—have yet to be discovered.

“And your theory has to do with Crater Hill,” Stench said, fishing for the answer.

“Exactly,” I responded. “Haven't any of you ever wondered how a hill got a name that makes no sense?”

“Wait a minute. A crater is the exact opposite of a hill,” Plasma Girl said as it dawned on her. “You're right, O Boy. That doesn't make any sense at all.”

“Unless it once
was
a crater,” I pointed out. “And the meteorite is still sitting in it causing the bulge that forms the hill.”

“And you think the meteorite could be worth how much?” Stench asked.

“Millions. Or even billions,” I said. “Or maybe nothing. But I do know it's the only shot we have of buying out AI and shutting down his Pseudo-Chip operation.”

“And you expect us to find it,” Tadpole said with a mildly annoyed look on his face.

“Do heroes turn away from a mission?” I asked.

“No,” Plasma Girl said with a sigh, “but couldn't a mission sometimes be going to a movie or just baking cookies or something?”

“People are losing their powers,” I said, “and this might be the only way to return them.”

I stuck out my right fist, thumb extended. Hal wrapped his right hand around my thumb and Plasma Girl did likewise with his. Stench and Tadpole completed the circle. We were a team.

“Let's go, Junior Leaguers!”

Before anyone could argue, I stepped into the Carlsbark Caverns. I got only about ten feet before the light from the outside began to fade. As the way before me dissolved into darkness, I hesitated.

“Hal, we didn't load you up on apple juice this morning for nothing,” I said.

A moment later, Halogen Boy illuminated himself, flooding the caverns with light. What we saw took our breaths away. Stalactites and stalagmites flecked with mica glistened and glittered as shimmering light bounced across cracks and crevices. From somewhere deep within the crevices hidden crystals erupted in jewel-like colors.

“Wow!” Stench and Tadpole said in unison. Plasma Girl and Halogen Boy were awed into silence.

This was the portion of the caverns that most people were familiar with. Every kid in Superopolis had been brought here on a school outing by the time they were in third grade. But this one easily accessible chamber was all that had ever really been explored. There were rumors that the Carlsbark Caverns wound their way through the entire range of the Carbunkle Mountains, and today I decided it was time for someone to see if it was true.

I plunged ahead and my teammates followed. Hal's light made it easy to pick a path, but Stench still managed to trip over an outcropping of stone and tumble onto the hard floor. Hitting the ground, he produced an all too familiar noise.

“Run for cover!” Tadpole yelled, as we scrambled to escape what we knew was coming. All that came, though, was another noise—a rougher, almost canine version of what Stench had produced.
WOOOFFT!
Followed by
wooft
,
wooft
,
wooft
. Finally fading out to a lessening series of
wooft
,
RUFF
,
wooft
,
RUFF
.
We were witnessing the famous barking echoes of Carlsbark Caverns. But all we cared about at the moment was avoiding the one unfortunate side effect of Stench's incredible strength.

Tentatively, I sniffed the air around me. To my surprise it smelled fine. My friends followed suit.

“The air is clear,” Hal said with more than a little surprise.

“It must have risen up instead of settling down,” Plasma Girl guessed.

“I hope it doesn't cause any of those stalactites to fall,” Tadpole commented.

“Hey, it wasn't
that
bad,” Stench protested.

The words were barely out of his mouth when we heard a rumbling noise high above us. For a moment I thought the ceiling actually
was
falling.

“Bats!!” Plasma Girl screamed before instantly reducing herself to a puddle of goo. As I dived for the ground I felt the first of the panic-stricken creatures brush against the back of my head. I noticed Plasma Girl in her goopy state slithering through a crack between some boulders. Then everything went dark.