Rise and Shine

by R. J. Ross

  “You are absolutely NOT keeping that,” she says to Skye.

  “It’s mine, now!” Skye says. “Let’s go hunt down the rest of the plant monsters!”

  “YAY!” Ariel says. “That makes us the PLANT BUSTERS!”

  “You’re not keeping it!” Doris yells as the two race away. “I absolutely forbid it!”

  “And then let’s visit the Hall and freeze Century and pose him in funny poses!” Skye goes on.

  Doris pauses. “You can have it for today,” she decides, reluctantly.

  Jimmi looks at the plants that they’d left frozen, and calls the black suits. “We need a pick-up. Wear the rubber suits, por favor,” she says. “You’re going to need them.”

  ***

  The ground is rumbling. I can almost see the tectonic plates moving under the surface. We’re in the middle of nowhere, Texas—well, I don’t think they really call it “nowhere” but it’s pretty empty. The only thing to see for miles around is grass, and that grass is rapidly dying. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

  “Is this the place?” Dad asks me.

  “It’s one of the places,” I say, walking barefoot across the ground. “It’s getting bigger.”

  “How are we going to get it to come up?” Dad asks. “Or do you plan on going down?”

  “We need to get it to come up,” I say, frowning for a moment. “Um, can you get off the ground for a bit, Pop?” I ask.

  “Sure,” he says, jumping into the air. His eyes start to glow, again.

  “Really?” I say. “You’re really going to film this?”

  “I didn’t get the exploding guinea pig on film, and your mother still hasn’t forgiven me,” he says. “She’s started cleaning up the Petleaves closer to home, if you were wondering.”

  “Poor Mom,” I mutter before taking a deep breath and lifting one leg. I slam my foot down on the ground. Dad lets out a low whistle as a gaping hole appears in the ground. It’s probably twenty feet wide by thirty feet long, and deep… deeper than I’d planned, actually.

  “I had to build a few robots and it took five minutes to make a hole like that,” Dad compliments me. “Are you sure you’re not going villain?”

  “I’m digging up a rat, Pop,” I say, irritated to find him filming me again. “Either it comes to me, or I go to it.” There’s a grumbling sound in the hole, and I poke my head in, trying to see what’s happening. Sure, that’s silly. I should be using my powers. “Oh crap,” I say, backing up quickly and even taking to the air, just as the largest Petleaf I’ve ever seen shoots out of the hole, and keeps coming.

  “What do you call that one? Petzilla?” Dad asks, backing up as the monster rises high into the air. “Or does ‘Pet Kong’ sound better?”

  “Why not Oversized Weed?” I ask. “I don’t deserve to be the only one stuck with a stupid name, you know!”

  “There’s nothing wrong with the name…” he snorts, not able to keep a straight face, “Sunshine,” he finishes.

  “You LAUGHED just now,” I point out.

  “Sunshine makes plants grow,” he goes on, bursting out laughing.

  “Now you’re not even pretending to be serious!” I accuse him. The Petleaf King is almost fully out of the hole by now. He’s got to be over a hundred feet tall, maybe a hundred fifty. I don’t exactly have a measuring tape long enough to know for sure. “And you have no right to laugh, your name is straight from the eighties!”

  “Shouldn’t you be focusing on the monster you’ve got to slay, Sunshine?” he asks, still grinning, and filming. “Besides, Century might have made it official, but Maximum is the one that named you.”

  “Remind me to get revenge for that,” I say, just as the Petleaf starts to move. It jerks, spasming strangely, and I watch in confusion as a limb comes out of its side. “Does that look like a—” before I can finish the question, a gigantic, leafy hand shoots out, far faster than I expected, and grabs me.

  “Pet Kong, it is, then,” I hear Dad say as I’m hauled up high. I try to glare at him, but I’m distracted as a plane shimmers into sight, flying around the head of the Petleaf, “complete with the planes! Oh, we need a skyscraper, don’t we?” he says, still filming.

  “SUNNY!” Adanna yells as the door of the plane opens and she waves at me. “Skye and the girls are coming with something that should freeze it! Do you need some help?”

  “Does it LOOK like I need some help?” I say, only to realize I have no time for sarcasm. I’m not that good at it, either, because she looks like she’s actually thinking it out.

  “I think you can handle it,” she says, finally. “Your dad seems to think so, as well.”

  “It’s the size of a mountain!” I say, struggling in the hold. The problem is, if I tear it apart I’ll just have little ones on top of this massive beast. It might actually be better that it’s all in one piece, right?

  “Clear out any towns nearby,” I say as the Petleaf climbs fully out of the hole. It’s looking more and more like a human, I realize, a bit distracted as I look up and see a distinct head and neck. This reminds me of something… “Oh,” I say. “Oh crap…” That seems to be the word of the day. “Not good, not good. Clay?” I ask.

  The head turns, looking at me, well, sort of. It doesn’t have any eyes. “Is this proof enough that Penski helped me?” I hear him ask from all around.

  “Is that all you wanted?” I ask.

  “I don’t have that good of control over this thing,” he says. “It’s too big and my core is too small. So if I try to eat you, nephew, well, you’ll understand, right?” Even as he’s asking this, the hand holding me lifts, bringing me to a gaping mouth.

  “Yeah, no, I don’t think I want that,” I say, struggling in the hold. I bring my feet up, shoving against his thumb and pressing against his fingers with my back. I hear twigs snapping and the hold on me loosens. I shoot out of his grip, flying in front of his face. “And for the last time, I am SKYSTEP’S NEPHEW, NOT YOURS!” I bellow before racing straight into the still open mouth and right through the back of his head. It throws him off balance, but it’s not enough to kill him.

  “Shouldn’t you be helping?” I hear Adanna say. I ignore it, flying up high and then turning, dropping straight down into his head, feet-first. The Petleaf loses his balance, falling in slow motion towards the ground. He puts his arms out, trying to catch himself.

  “I will go clear the surrounding area,” I hear Voltdrain say. “It is a shame that I will not see the rest of the fight.” I feel a rush of wind and glance over, seeing that he’s already gone.

  “Is anyone except me taking this seriously?” I demand as I fly straight up again.

  “You’re a Superior,” they all say.

  “If it gets out of control, I’ll help,” Dad says. There are now drones flying in the air, surrounding us. “I think I want one of these. It’s the best training you’ve had since—well… that’s not good,” he says, making me look over.

  A fleet of tanks are heading in our direction. “No! Wait!” I yell as they get closer. “The weight—” the ground trembles, and I let out a yelp as the tanks start falling through the thin crust of land that the Petleaf had left.

  “I’m on it!” Dad says.

  “We’re coming!” Skye says over my commlink. “We’re almost there, and we have the foamy stuff! Just hold on.”

  “It’s not me that needs to hold on,” I say, only to be grabbed by the monster Petleaf, again. “Clay, I told you to stop grabbing me!” I grab the hand and rip it off, knowing that it’ll make another Petleaf, but not caring. I can deal with the little ones. It’s this huge one that’s unwieldy. There’s a problem, I realize as I look down at myself. “This one has spores.”

  “What?” Dad asks.

  “This one has spores. If we don’t get rid of it quickly, we’re going to have a complete infestation!” I say. “We need to burn it, but if we do, it’ll spread too quickly…”

  “Sunny!” I hear Grandma say from the commlink. “K
eep it occupied! We are coming with your new pet!”

  “Pet?” I repeat, looking around. “If it’s a Petleaf, I don’t want it!”

  “It’s not a Petleaf,” Grandpa says with a hint of amusement. “Look to your left.”

  I turn, seeing a glowing, plant-like spaceship heading for me. “That’s my pet?” I say, stunned. “Yeah, I dunno, that looks a bit difficult to walk on a leash.” I grunt as the Petleaf I’m fighting slams into me, and engulfs me in leaves, trying to eat me. “Never mind, I’ll take it,” I say, jerking and struggling for a bit before I get a good hold on a branch and pull on his energy. There’s too much, even for me. I need to put it back into the planet, sort of like how Voltdrain saps the energy off of a power plant. That means I need to go down, I decide, and since getting out of here seems like a pain, I’ll just go straight down through the Petleaf.

  I flip, and shoot downward, ripping through the Petleaf all the way down.

  ***

  “Pop,” Nico says, “you could kill it, right?”

  “Parts of it at a time, yes,” Superior says. “But if I do that, the world will find out about me still being alive. As entertaining as that seems, I’ve gotten accustomed to retired life. Plus, this will establish Sunny in his rightful place.”

  “Then get rid of the spores. We don’t want more of these things growing on our planet.”

  “I’m on it,” Superior says. A hole in the side of the space ship opens a second later, and another “Nico” appears overhead and floats in the air, holding his hands out to the ground.

  “They’re going to know you’re not me,” Nico complains as he pulls another tank out of the hole in the ground and carries it to the nearest solid ground. Pan, wearing his “Black Cat” uniform, drops down and starts picking up tanks, as well. Adanna follows, helping people climb out of the hole.

  “It’s the only illusion I have that’s in uniform,” Superior says as light spreads out all around him.

  “Is Sunny going to be okay?” Adanna asks Nico, glancing over worriedly at the monster that’s swaying unnaturally. “I know I told him he could handle it, but…” She grabs the hand of a soldier, pulling him out. They’re just trying to get out of the tanks, by now.

  “Everyone regroup and shoot down that monster!” a soldier calls out.

  “Sir! What if it hits the supers? Sir!” another asks.

  “Aim at the parts where the supers aren’t, soldier!” the one in charge replies.

  “We’re HEEERRREE!” Skystep calls out. “We’ve got more of this super fun foamy stuff coming, too!”

  “Skystep, this is no place for you—” the soldiers start out, only to stop as she lets out a happy squeal and throws herself at the second “Technico” that no one’s been bold enough to ask about.

  “Is Mommy here, too?” Skye asks.

  “She’s in Sunny’s ship,” he replies. “Can I see that?” She hands him the pressure washer without a second thought, racing over to the space ship and knocking on the side. A hole open and she goes inside, leaving the soldiers below to just stare in wonder.

  “Technico, is… is she going to cause problems?”

  “Skystep is fine,” Nico says. “Dor—Jersey, get over here, would you? These things are hard to hold onto.”

  “Yeah, I’m coming,” Doris says, her monster form growing a foot larger before she jumps into the hole.

  “Where’s Sunny?” Ariel asks, peeking down into the hole and looking around. “Kitty cat! Hi!” she says, waving happily at Adanna.

  “Um, hi?” Adanna says.

  “Are your brothers here? I’ve got a new coloring book for them!”

  “Ooooh,” Adanna says, understanding the greeting now. “No, we left them at home.” She stops, her head turning to look at the plant monster as she hears something. Her dad is already looking that way. “It’s off-balance. Everyone, get out of here, quickly!” she yells, grabbing and throwing the soldiers, much to their surprise. “Run for it!”

  “I’m on it!” Technico says, putting down the tank he’s holding and taking to the air to try and stop the Petleaf from falling on top of them all. “Sunny, are you there?” he asks over the commlink.

  There’s no reply, except static.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I hear a crackling sound, and look down, staring blankly at the mud that covers my commlink. I’m standing at the center of the Petleaf’s base, my feet just barely touching the ground as I try to drain the energy from the monster. It keeps trying to take MY energy, in return, so even though I’m not really moving, I’m in the biggest battle of my life.

  “Why are you doing this, kid?” Clay asks me. “You know as well as I do that you’re still young enough for this to kill you.”

  “It’s not going to,” I say, through gritted teeth. “You’re the one dying.”

  “This is just a piece of me,” he says. “I’m supposed to be a planet somewhere, but we all know how that turned out.”

  “Do you want to be a planet?” I ask.

  “It’s what I’m supposed to be. I don’t know if I want to, or not, but since when has that mattered?”

  “People can choose what they want to be,” I point out. “I’m not going to be a super hero.”

  “Are you really that dense?” he asks after a surprised pause. “What do you think you’re doing right this instant, kid?”

  “How do you become a planet?” I ask only to stop as I feel the Petleaf taking the upper hand. I clench my fists and pull at the energy as hard as I can. Parts of it are turning brown, but almost as quickly as I pull the energy out, it’s pulling it back in from me and the ground around us. The longer I take, the more likely the soil will be damaged irreparably. I have to do something else. This isn’t working. If I could just—

  “I collect rocks, dirt, and space debris to myself and form a body out of it, after that I set up an atmosphere,” he says, not noticing my problem. “And then, I don’t know, I find a nice little orbit somewhere to live in and maybe hack into whatever signals are coming off the nearest, life-bearing planets. A guy’s got to have some form of entertainment.”

  “Would this Petleaf be a good start?” I ask.

  “What?”

  “Would this thing we’re in right now be a good start for a planet?” I ask, an idea forming in my mind. “We’d have to do something about keeping the spores from traveling, but if it could be some sort of symbiotic relationship, wouldn’t it be better for everyone?”

  “Wait, what? You mean it?”

  “Dad?” I say, tapping on my commlink.

  “Sorry, give me a second,” Clay says as the mud covering my bracelet moves. “Go on. Tell him your idea.”

  “You blocked my communication?” I ask. “Never mind, I don’t have time for that. Dad? This is too big. Can you tell the Hall that I absolutely HAVE to get it off my planet, or we won’t have one? Grandma? I need the space ship sooner than I thought I would.”

  “Got it, Sunshine,” Dad says.

  “I am coming, my solnyshko!” Grandma says.

  “I’m going to need the rest of my core,” Clay says.

  “After we get this life sucking jerk off of my planet,” I say, shooting up straight through the Petleaf and into the sky. “Let’s see if I can make it a little more planet shaped,” I say, holding out my hands.

  “I’ll give you a hand,” Clay says. The Petleaf starts to shift again, growing smaller, and rounder.

  “What are you doing, Sunny?” Dad asks.

  “I’m making a planet,” I say. “No, WE’RE making a planet,” I say. “Dad, I want the rest of Clay’s core.”

  “What?” he asks.

  “We’re doing what Skye wanted to do a while back,” I explain, most of my focus on the task at hand. “We’re shipping Clay off planet. This is going to be his starter kit, so to say. I’m going to need some help setting it up, though, because we don’t want the spores traveling off planet.”

  “Will it work?” Adanna asks.


  “I don’t know,” I admit. “But I’m getting this jerk off of my planet.”

  “If you send it up like it is, it’ll burn up in the atmosphere,” Grandpa says. “Use this. That mad scientist kid did a good job on it.” He tosses me a power washer, and I look at it.

  “Is this enough?” I ask.

  “Just use it,” Grandpa says. “I’ll do the rest.”

  “Got it,” I say, turning and starting to spray the miniature planet. As planets go, it’s way too small, but from what Clay said, I think he’ll be able to work with it. Either way, I need to get him off planet before he remembers his whole revenge against Penski thing. It’s bad enough that I accidentally brought Walter Colleck into all of this. I look up as I feel the sun blocked.

  “Hiiii, Sunny!” Skye says, coming through the floor of the space ship. “I like your ship. So… what are we doing?”

  “We’re turning this thing and Clay into a tiny planet and launching him into space,” I say.

  “That sounds AWESOME,” she says, excitedly. “I can throw them!”

  “We’re going to use the space ship to do it,” I say. The foam that I’m spraying is expanding. I glance over at Grandpa, who doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything, just floating there. “Thanks,” I say.

  “You’ve done well,” he says. “I’m proud that you carry my name.”

  I give him a sheepish smile. “Thanks,” I say, again. “I am, too.” The Petleaf jerks, slightly, trying to pull away from the freezing foam. It’s quickly jerked back by Clay.

  “Before I’m sent out,” I hear Clay say. “Richard Penski is the one that created me.” I groan, seeing the soldiers reacting, and the head calling someone. “That’s Penski, spelled pee, eee, en, es, kay, eye.” He even starts to rattle off the address. I finish freezing him before he’s gotten it all out, but it’s too late. They’re working quickly.

  “He’s not the one that created the Petleaves,” Dad says to me, “but…”

  “But?” I say.

  “It won’t hurt to pin a bit of the blame on him, now will it? He DID create the bigger, Clay-controlled version.”

  I decide to keep my mouth shut. Just about that time, I glance down in the hole that the tanks had fallen in, and see two extremely dirty, bedraggled people coming into the light. The large, heavy-set man wearing glasses falls to his hands and knees.