Pol' Tick Al's Pet Tick Poochie Gets Mutated!
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After Dr. Pollution’s chemical DNA mutation plan for Hannah Heart failed, he was very disappointed. He even thought maybe his chemicals were bad, but the fact is that Hannah Heart’s heart was too pure for the chemicals to damage her the way Dr. Pollution wanted them to. In spite of this failure, Dr. Pollution refused to give up his DNA mutation plans. He would just have to find another way to do it and thought having a DNA decoding machine would be nice. With this in mind, he immediately started working on it.
Pol' Tick Al was waiting for Dr. Pollution and wondering what was holding him up. “He is always up to something. What is he doing? He's been quiet for a long time." he wondered to himself. So, he went inside Dr. Pollution's lab to see exactly what he was up to.
When he entered the lab, Dr. Pollution didn't even notice his arrival, he was so intent on his work. Pol' Tick Al, who had taken Poochie, his beloved pet tick, with him to the lab asked Dr. Pollution, "What are you doing? You were so focused you didn't even notice that I came in!" With a startled jump, Dr. Pollution whirled around to see him. "I am working on my DNA decoding machine. You see, if you switch around the DNA you can make something small into something big, thin to fat...the possibilities are endless! DNA is where information is stored and...Well, it's quite interesting!" Pol' Tick Al was curious, "Isn't it difficult?" Dr. Pollution laughed, "HAHAHA! Yes, it's difficult and that's why I love it! But, I’m the best scientist on the planet and I love difficult challenges – it’s my speciality. I'm on the verge of making a great discovery! This DNA decoding machine will analyze the DNA structure in your body and will make it like a map. After that the machine will decode the DNA and allow the strands to be altered."
While Pol’ Tick Al and Dr. Pollution were talking, Poochie, Pol' Tick Al's pet tick, sensed a wonderful heat source. He dropped down to the lab table and went to the source, which happened to be Dr. Pollution! He decided that Dr. Pollution would make a great meal and went to find the perfect place to burrow his head.
Will Dr. Pollution notice Poochie? Or will Poochie get the meal wants?
It must be said now that even Dr. Pollution does not like ticks, including Poochie. So, when he realized the tick was trying to bury its head under his skin he got angry and burst out, “How dare this tick try to get under my skin! It’s just a nasty, disease-carrying little pest! This disgusting little creature won’t bother anyone again, I’ll tell you that much!” As he said this, he plucked the tick off his skin and started to squish it. Pol' Tick Al, who believed his tick could do no wrong, even while sucking someone's blood, cried out, "No, Dr. Pollution! Please not Poochie! He's my favorite tick and best friend!" He was so upset, he started crying.
To understand Pol' Tick Al's relationship with his pet tick, you need to know about his childhood. When he was young, no one wanted to be his friend. Why? Because he always lied! No one ever knew when he was telling the truth. Not only would he lie, he would talk about other people and it didn't matter if what he said was true or not (that's gossip). For example, if someone did play with him and something got broken, he would blame the other child even if he was the one that broke it!
So at a young age Pol’ Tick Al decided that if kids didn't want to play with him his way, then he didn't need any friends. He started playing by himself, inventing new games for one person - breaking toys! One day, as he was outside trying to amuse himself, he saw something crawling up his arm. Pol' Tick Al started to smash it, because it was a tick, when he looked into its tiny, tiny eyes and had sympathy for it. It was unloved by people like he was, so he decided it would be his friend and pet. Pol' Tick Al even made up a song about his new friend, "Tickle, tickle Poochie. Tickle, tickle Poochie. Tickle, tickle Poochie, Poo-ooo-chie." He would sing that song every night to put Poochie to sleep. He even carried Poochie everywhere he went. (He couldn't have a dog -a real “poochie”- because even the dogs in the neighborhood wouldn't play with him.) As Pol' Tick Al played with Poochie, he made a promise to himself that he would get back at all the kids who wouldn't play with him. He would become a famous politician and they would all regret not being his friend.
Dr. Pollution, who had managed to not squash the tick, had it in a test tube. He really wanted to do away with it, when he realized it would be perfect thing to test his new machine on. He laughed to himself while trying to figure out a way to get Pol' Tick Al to agree. "Pol' Tick Al, I understand how important little Poochie is to you. It's so sad that you don't have a bigger pet. Wouldn't it be nice if you could walk Poochie, have a bed for Poochie and all the other things people with bigger pets do?" Pol' Tick Al didn't want to hurt Poochie's feelings, so he whispered to Dr. Pollution, "I love Poochie, but it would be great if he could do a few tricks." That's all Dr. Pollution needed to get Pol' Tick Al's approval for what he wanted to do. "Yes, Poochie is a wonderful pet for you, but I can use this machine to alter his DNA and make him bigger! The coding for his size can be changed, add some protein (to “feed” it) and there you have it! Your new and improved, bigger and better pet Poochie!”
Pol’ Tick Al was still not sure Dr. Pollution could do it, “Are you sure it’s okay? Poochie won’t get hurt?” Another thing you need to know about Dr. Pollution is that for his science and experiments lying is always okay. Dr. Pollution assured Pol’ Tick Al, “Of course Poochie will be okay. This is a simple procedure, but you don’t need to worry yourself about it. If it will make you feel better, just stand here and watch me do it.”
With his mind set at ease, Pol’ Tick Al was getting excited about having a real pet. Of course he, and Dr. Pollution, didn’t think about the problems a large tick would cause, but that comes later.
Since this was Dr. Pollution's first time using his DNA decoder machine, he was a little nervous but also excited to test his machine. To be honest, he didn’t really care if something bad happened to Poochie anyway. When Dr. Pollution put Poochie into the mutation machine, it started working as expected, analyzing and processing the DNA coding that made Poochie small.
Pol' Tick Al watched with mixed feelings and apprehension when Dr. Pollution excitedly pointed out the DNA strands that made Poochie small. I’ll remove these and replace them with altered strands from a dog.” Dr. Pollution activated the conversion program in his machine to start the process of changing the DNA and added the protein, along with a few other secret materials.
As expected, the tick was changing in size – it was getting bigger and bigger. Pol’ Tick Al was getting excited, “Look, look at Poochie!" Dr. Pollution smugly replied, “I told you I could do it. Of course it’s going to work; I am the most brilliant man ever!”
What Dr. Pollution didn't calculate, was that DNA is very sensitive. Meaning, there was more to it than just changing a code here and there. When Poochie grew to the size of a dog, Dr. Pollution thought the process was over, but…Poochie didn’t stop growing! Dr. Pollution quickly stopped the program, but now Poochie’s own cells were absorbing the proteins. Poochie’s size was getting bigger and bigger, actually it was out of control. Pol' Tick Al was worried, "Dr. Pollution, stop! I don't want Poochie bigger than me!! I only wanted him big enough to play with and hold!" Dr. Pollution had enough to worry about without listening to Pol' Tick Al getting hysterical over his silly tick. He quickly unplugged the DNA decoding machine to try and stop Poochie's mutation, but it was too late.
What will happen to Poochie? Will he continue to grow? Is there something Dr. Pollution can do? What will Pol’ Tick Al do?
Poochie was no longer small. He was a huge, smart, fast and strong tick that was uncontrollable! When the machine had stopped, the tick started to move. Poochie needed food, he had been hungry before the mutation but now that his body was huge he was starving!
Dr. Pollution had in his lab a huge, mad and very hungry tick. Poochie looked at Dr. Pollution, his original meal and Dr. Pollution looked at Poochie. He could see Poochie was going to go after him. At the same time Pol’ Tick Al got involved. "Come here, Poochie! Come to your friend!" cried Pol' Tick Al. But instead of coming as a pet, Poochie look at him as a host. What kind of host? One from whom he gets blood! Dr. Pollution screamed, "Run away! He doesn't think he's your pet - he wants your blood!" Pol' Tick Al adamantly refused to believe Dr. Pollution, “No! He’s my favorite pet, Poochie! He wouldn’t hurt me.”
At that moment, Poochie broke the glass to Dr. Pollution’s inner lab with a loud crash. Shrieking, Pol’ Tick Al refused to leave, “Poochie! What are you doing, Poochie?! You are my friend! Come to me!” Realizing Pol’ Tick Al wouldn’t leave Poochie, Dr. Pollution grabbed him and dragged him out of the lab into his dungeon for them to hide.
Fortunately, it wasn’t far to his dungeon. They barely made it down when Poochie came crashing through the door behind them. Frantically, Dr. Pollution slammed the strong wrought-iron door shut behind him and locked the door. With loud, inhuman shrieks (actually - loud, untick-like shrieks) Poochie pounded and pounded on the door. The door shuddered under its weight and strength, but it continued to hold. Poochie could feel himself getting weaker, so he left to find another blood host. He was very hungry and needed food quickly.
When they were safely locked in the dungeon and Poochie had left, Pol' Tick Al rounded on Dr. Pollution. "What did you do to my precious pet? Why is he a monster now? Did you do that on purpose? I should have never listened to you. You don't care about Poochie. We need to go find him and bring him back..." and he went on and on and on in a furious rant.
Dr. Pollution was trying to field off Pol' Tick Al's accusations and questions. He didn't know any more than Pol' Tick Al did as to what had happened to the silly tick. All he knew was that he wasn't going to try and get it back to normal. Of course he wouldn't say that to Pol Tick Al, so he just replied, "I'll find a solution and bring Poochie back to you. Just trust me." Pol' Tick Al was sobbing by now (embarrassed to be doing so, but unable to stop) and begging for Dr. Pollution's help, “Please bring my Poochie back to me. He’s all I have…”
Meanwhile, Poochie was desperately searching for food using all his senses. There were no big heat sources and no carbon dioxide….yes! He found a suitable host.
In GreenVille, farmers let their cows out to graze in the wide open fields. It makes for happier cows and better milk. Anyway, Poochie found a cow under a very big tree. Poochie thought this was great! You see, ticks drop or latch on when something brushes up against them, so that’s what Poochie was trying to do, drop down to the cow from the tree! Unfortunately for Poochie, he was almost as big as the cow but he didn’t realize it! When he climbed onto the branch (old habits are hard to break!), it broke! That was enough to scare the cow away.
By this time, Poochie didn't care if he dropped or ran after the cow, but he wanted its blood! He could pick up the heat (and carbon dioxide) from the cow and it made him even hungrier! As Poochie was chasing the cow, which was running scared, the farmer happened to look in the field. He was astounded by what he saw – all of his cows were running from something. It looked like a huge insect robot! Whatever it was, he didn’t like it bothering his cows so he called the GreenVille police and told them what he saw. When the police arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They had no idea what it was, but they didn’t want it entering downtown GreenVille, especially since this field was so close to the city. They put up barricades to block its departure from the field. The police also called in the Animal Protection Agency (APA) and GoGreen Man because it looked like a huge creature. They didn’t know what it was, they just knew they needed help!
When the APA arrived, the police were already shooting at Poochie. It made Poochie very angry, so he turned away from the cows and headed toward them. The APA tried to shoot Poochie with tranquilizer darts to put him to sleep, but his shell was too hard and they wouldn’t penetrate! It sounded like a hailstorm with all the pings from the darts hitting Poochie’s shell.
GoGreen Man arrived while this was going on and was amazed at what he saw. A giant tick (that’s what it looked like to him) was running loose in the field! Since the tick going after the officers, he had no time to think of anything but his solar sun shield (which was fortunately fully charged!). Normally a fully charged sun shield will knock several bad guys to the ground. With Poochie, it just stunned him momentarily and temporarily blinded him. (That shows how strong Poochie has become!) Fortunately, it was enough to save the officers from Poochie’s attack.
Poochie, unhappy with his latest experience of being zapped, changed his direction to target GoGreen Man.
Unlike the average person, GoGreen Man was not afraid of this monster tick. When the tick approached fast, GoGreen Man flipped himself up on the tick’s neck. He though the neck would be the best place to try and break the tick because it’s a weak place. This would have worked if Poochie were a little smaller, but he was too strong and his head wouldn’t break off. Poochie was extremely angry now and tried to flip GoGreen Man off his back, but GoGreen Man wouldn’t move! Since GoGreen Man was bothering him, Poochie decided to find high ground in defense.
GoGreen Man didn’t want this thing in GreenVille, so he tried his best to get it to detour outside the city. Poochie was just too strong (and stubborn) for him to change his direction. Poochie knew what he wanted and was determined to find it. At this point, he’d given up finding food. He just wanted to get rid of GoGreen Man and go to a place high above the ground.
Fortunately, GoGreen Man was able to stay on the tick while it lumbered into GreenVIlle.
While GoGreen Man was on Poochie, the police had sounded the alarms in GreenVille. The TV and radio station were sending out emergency notices telling people to stay inside their homes and buildings. Most importantly, people were told not to enter downtown GreenVille. This of course, made everyone want to look out their windows and in general created a lot of chaos.
As Poochie approached the downtown area, he saw a very tall building (GreenVille's City Hall). At this point, all Poochie wanted to do was run away from GoGreen Man and go to a high place. The police were still in pursuit (but not shooting because of GoGreen Man).
Desperate, Poochie climbed the building closest to him and dropped off of it with GoGreen Man clinging to his back. It was a nerve wracking experience for GoGreen Man, one he didn’t care to have repeated. Although Poochie was used to dropping from high places, GoGreen Man surely wasn’t!
Since the drop didn’t shake off GoGreen Man, Poochie went in search of something higher. He saw City Hall, the tallest building in GreenVille.
At this point GoGreen Man realized Poochie’s intentions (to drop onto the ground from the top of City Hall) and jumped off of him. Poochie continued to scale the side of City Hall.
GoGreen Man was determined to keep the tick on City Hall and ordered the police to surround the building to make sure Poochie couldn't escape. It was late afternoon when even Professor Fusionstein arrived on the scene.
GreenVille was in chaos, especially City Hall with everyone running away and screaming. The police were now going through City Hall telling everyone to evacuate the building and GVTN was on the scene filming the events. When Dr. Pollution saw the panic he created, he laughed to himself, without disturbing Pol’ Tick Al. He realized that though the DNA mutation hadn’t turn out the way he planned, the tick was causing a lot of confusion in GreenVille. His plan had worked out after all, even better than he’d imagined! Pol' Tick Al, on the other hand, was worried his precious pet tick Poochie would get hurt. "Dr. Pollution, please find a solution to bring back Poochie. I know he didn't really want to hurt me," pleaded Pol' Tick Al. “Maybe I should go to City Hall and talk to him.” “No!” Dr. Pollution burst out. He calmed down and reason????????? If you go there then everyone will know you are behind this and you don’t want that, do you? Dr. Pollution didn't even pretend to listen to him, he just didn't care what happened to that nasty tick.
Back at City Hall, Professor Fusionstein was analyzing the creature. When he had first heard the news, he found it hard to believe that an overgrown tick was running around GreenVille. It was impossible. He just knew that because it was so huge, it had to be something else, but he was wrong. It was a tick, a huge tick.
GoGreen Man was curious, "Do you have any idea what to do to get rid of this thing? City Hall is surrounded so it cannot escape right now, but pretty soon it will be dark. I'm worried it will be hard to contain the tick once the sun sets. It will probably try to escape in the darkness."
That’s exactly what Poochie was planning. At this point, all Poochie wanted was to be left alone. He didn’t like all the people chasing him and hitting him with things (the tranquilizer darts). Poochie especially didn’t like it when GoGreen Man was on his back, so as he was on top of City Hall, he looked around for the best way to escape.
Down below, Professor Fusionstein was thinking. Suddenly he burst out, "Guinea fowl." "What?" asked GoGreen Man. "Guinea fowl," repeated Professor Fusionstein, "are natural predators for ticks. BUT, I don't think they'll come after this one, it's too big.” “That’s true,” said GoGreen Man. “What do you think about using the solar projector? If we can find a film of guinea fowl, then we could project it in the sky.” Professor Fusionstein was excited, “That’s right! That’s a great idea and I would hazard a guess it would scare the tick.” GoGreen Man and Professor Fusionstein agreed that if the APA brought a large cage, like for an elephant, they could trap this tick inside it. They also agreed that the cage would need to be covered, so the tick would think it was a safe place to hide from the guinea fowl.
Although it was a great plan, they still needed to find something on guinea fowl. GoGreen Man knew that GVTN (GreenVille’s TV station) showed a lot of wildlife documentaries, so he went and asked the reporter covering the tick issue if they had anything on guinea fowl. The reporter was confused why GoGreen Man would be talking about guinea fowl when there was a giant tick on City Hall. GoGreen Man explained what they needed the clip for, so the reporter called the station. What a relief! They had on file a story about guinea fowl and were able to get it set to show on the solar projector. Professor Fusionstein was delighted that everything was working out.
The sun went down and the stage was set. A huge, covered cage had been set on the ground in front of City Hall. The solar projector was showing the guinea fowl. Not only was it in the sky, the people at GVTN were also making it look like it was going after Poochie!
When Poochie saw the huge bird, he became very agitated. In a desperate attempt to escape from the bird, Poochie frantically scuttled off the building looking for a safe place. Instinctually, he knew that bird wanted HIM and he wanted to get as far away from it as he could.
As he went down the building, Poochie saw the perfect hiding place. It was close, it was dark and it was small – the bird couldn’t find him in there! Poochie, as stealthily as he could, scooted over to a cave (the cage) and crawled inside. As soon as he got through the opening a loud clanging noise reverberated through his cave, scaring him. What was it? It was the cage door being slammed shut and locked behind him. The plan had worked perfectly!
The people of GreenVille (except Pol’ Tick Al) shouted with joy over GoGreen Man's success. Sounds of cheering could be heard all over as GreenVille’s citizens watched the latest developments on TV. Like they usually did, the citizens came out praising GoGreen Man and Professor Fusionstein.
Pol’ Tick Al was very worried about Poochie. On one hand, he was glad Poochie wasn’t hurt but on the other hand he was worried that he’d never see Poochie again. Turning to Dr. Pollution, he asked, “Can you help Poochie? Can you get him out of that cage? He must be so scared!” Disgusted with everything that happened, but not showing it to Pol’ Tick Al, Dr. Pollution assured him that he’d take care of Poochie. Dr. Pollution, without any intention of following through, promised he would find a cure for Poochie and he’d bring him back.
Professor Fusionstein and GoGreen Man talked about what to do with Poochie. They both agreed that they would do further testing the next day at the zoo. So, Poochie, still in his cage, was taken to the zoo. The zookeeper, instructed to keep Poochie in his cage, took him to a secure area in the zoo until GoGreen Man and Professor Fusionstein returned the following day.
Unbeknownst to everyone, something drastic was happening inside Poochie’s body. A critical process, unknown to everyone, had been missed in the DNA mutation. The result? Poochie’s cell structure was collapsing – kind of like a balloon leaking air – and he turning into a gelatin-like substance from the inside out. Because of Dr. Pollution’s reckless experiment, Poochie turned into a gelatinous blob.
Early the next morning, the zookeeper came by to check on Poochie. Alarmed, he made an emergency page to GoGreen Man and Professor Fusionstein. When they arrived, they were shocked to see Poochie missing. Well, he wasn’t actually missing he was a liquid, gelatinous blob in the cage. “What is that?!” exclaimed GoGreen Man. “I’m not sure, but I’ll have to take some back to my lab for testing. I will find out what happened,” replied Dr. Pollution.
About this time, Pol’ Tick Al stopped by to see Poochie, but of course he didn’t want anyone to know. No one besides Dr. Pollution and Pol’ Tick Al knew it was Poochie! He went to the cage and couldn’t believe what he saw. His beloved Poochie was not in the cage, there was only a gooey glob on the floor! He knew, without being told, that Poochie was gone forever. Pol’ Tick Al held in his sorrow and in his mind, blamed GoGreen Man for Poochie’s death.
On his way to Dr. Pollution’s lab, Pol’ Tick Al’s sorrow turned into fury! Instead of blaming Dr. Pollution, who had created the whole mess, he blamed GoGreen Man for caging his sweet Poochie. He knew he would never forgive GoGreen Man for doing this and decided to get back at him. Will Professor Fusionstein figure out where this tick came from? Will he trace it back to Dr. Pollution? Has Dr. Pollution learned his lesson with DNA mutation? What will Pol’ Tick Al do to GoGreen Man for revenge? Regardless of what happens or what is found out, peace reigns in GreenVille again….for now.
