The Yellow Tornado
The rainy season was long over and GreenVille was enjoying the warmth of summer. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful in GreenVille but, in DoomsVille, Dr. Pollution was ready to launch his latest attack. Angrily muttering to himself, he said, “I will no longer have mercy for GreenVille. My attacks have been too mild. This time, I will sweep away GreenVille and everyone in it. I’m not even going to use Petrol Pirate or Pol’ Tick Al. I don’t need them. This is something I’ve been waiting to do for a very, long time.”
Dr. Pollution brought out Gas Goon and told him what he would be doing. “You have performed many tasks for me perfectly. This time, I have planned an enormous feat for you. It will be the highlight of your existence!” Gas Goon answered with a whooshing sound. Dr. Pollution continued, “The sun is baking the Yellow Desert on the other side of the mountains and I will use that dry yellow dust to make a huge dust storm.”
Dr. Pollution sat back and thought about the beauty of his plan. With a cheerful sigh, he continued talking, “You will be a part of that vicious dust storm as a tornado. We will use the energy of the dust storm to create a tornado and you will go in and control where it goes. You will whip around GreenVille destroying everything in your path. The dust will burn their eyes, make them cough and…well, if they survive they’ll be miserable! HAHAHAHAHA!” Dr. Pollution evilly laughed.
***
In GreenVille, Hannah Heart was on her way to visit Professor Fusionstein. She was checking on him to make sure he was okay, plus she was running out of her RNA pills.
“Oh, it’s good to see you Hannah Heart! You wouldn’t believe what I’m studying about the wind. Do you want to hear about how wind works?” Professor Fusionstein asked.
“Sure! I’d love to hear what you have to say,” replied Hannah Heart.
Professor Fusionstein started his explanation, “This is how wind is created, when the sun hits the ground, the air heats up and rises. That empty space needs to be filled, so cooler air moves in to fill it. It’s like a constant cycle. So, not only does the sun create solar energy, it creates wind energy. That’s why summer usually has more extreme weather – the sun is very strong.”
Hannah Heart was impressed, “You make it more interesting than my science teacher did when I was in school!”
Professor Fustionstein suddenly remembered he hadn’t asked Hannah why she came by. “I’m sorry, Hannah Heart, I got carried away with what I was studying and forgot to ask you what you needed!”
Hannah Heart laughed and reassured him, “Its okay Professor Fusionstein. I like to visit your lab because you always teach me something new! What I came for though was to get more RNA pills and to make sure you were doing fine.”
They laughed and went off to get her pills refilled.
***
Pol’ Tick Al was bored. He was sitting in a congressional meeting that was lasting too long. His mind was wandering, thinking about things he needed to do when he suddenly realized it had been a while since he’d heard from Dr. Pollution. Pol’ Tick Al wondered what he was up to, especially since GreenVille was so quiet. He decided it was time to check in with him.
***
The phone rang and rang and rang, but Dr. Pollution didn’t answer. Pol’ Tick Al tried again. This time Dr. Pollution answered on the tenth ring, sounding very irritated, “Why are you calling me?”
Pol’ Tick Al wasn’t used to being talked to like that, especially by Dr. Pollution. He cautiously asked, “Do you need help with anything? … Is there something I can do?”
Dr. Pollution answered dismissively, “No, I will take care of it.” As an afterthought, he added, “GreenVille will soon be completely wiped out. You will need to find a safe place to hide.”
Pol’ Tick Al didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean, ‘wiped out’? Will my house be destroyed, too,” asked Pol’ Tick Al.
“Pretty soon a tornado will rip through GreenVille destroying everything in it,” replied Dr. Pollution, ignoring Pol’ Tick Al’s concern. “Once everything is destroyed, I can rebuild it my way.
Knowing he couldn’t stop it if it happened, but still not liking the idea, Pol’ Tick Al quit arguing. Plus, he didn’t really think Dr. Pollution would really go through with his destructive plans.
***
The Yellow Desert, named after the dry, yellow dirt, was the only desert on the entire island. This land was dry because rain clouds in GreenVille were blocked by the mountains and hardly ever made it over. From time to time, wind storms were created in this desert because of the dry heat.
***
Dr. Pollution couldn’t have picked a better summer. The desert was dry and very dusty. He programmed his satellite to direct the sun’s rays to the desert so he could start his revenge on GreenVille. In no time, the wind was created and continued to grow stronger and stronger. Gas Goon started twisting himself until he was in the shape of a tornado, absorbing the wind and dust. Dr. Pollution was thrilled - everything was going according to plan. “You’re doing a great job, Gas Goon! Now I need you to head toward the mountain so we can get through the valley.” As Gas Goon whirled away in a spinning cyclone of dust, Dr. Pollution watched.
***
Meanwhile, in the GreenVille weather lab, the meteorologists were watching something peculiar on their radar screen. “What is that? It looks like a tornado, but it’s coming from the Yellow Desert. … That can’t be because there isn’t enough moisture in the air there. What’s going on?” (Tornadoes can’t be created without moisture.) What really alarmed the meteorologists was that they didn’t know what it was, but it moved. So they thought they’d better notify Professor Fusionstein and GoGreen Man to have them check it out.
When Professor Fusionstein heard about this weather anomaly he asked them, “What are you talking about? It’s abnormal for a tornado to be in the desert.” He actually thought it was a wind storm with a dust devil in it since those weren’t uncommon, especially at this time of the year. The only way he could be sure was to have someone look at it with their own eyes.
GoGreen Man quickly went to the mountains to investigate when he heard the news from Professor Fusionstein. It had been too quiet in GreenVille, so he was expecting something to happen – just not this! When he crossed over the mountains, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Before him was a giant tornado! The tornado was yellow from all the dust it had picked up. As he watched the tornado rumble across the desert, he called Professor Fusionstein and told him what he was seeing.
Professor Fusionstein was intrigued as to how the tornado was created in the desert. “I would understand if it was a sand storm or dust devil, but this is the pressure and strength of a strong tornado! They just don’t happen in the desert, there isn’t enough moisture in the air.” It was a puzzle he was going to have to put together. “If the tornado is coming over the mountain, it will probably lose power and break up.”
Although it’s not impossible for tornadoes to go over mountains, it just doesn’t happen that often. Professor Fusionstein thought when the tornado reached the mountain it would disappear. It was what Professor Fusionstein hoped, but it was not going to happen because Dr. Pollution had already planned for it.
***
Dr. Pollution had already thought about crossing over the mountains, which was one of the reasons why he put Gas Goon in the tornado. Gas Goon’s orders were to take the tornado in the direction he wanted it to go. He was not going to take his tornado over the top of the mountains; he was going to guide it through the lower valley areas. Not only would the tornado stay together, it would get stronger from the winds in the valley!
That’s exactly what happened – it was a well, thought-out plan. The tornado reached the valley and became stronger than ever. It was ripping up trees and basically destroying everything in its path.
***
GoGreen Man updated Professor Fusionstein on the where the tornado was going. When Professor Fusionstein heard the tornado went out of its normal path to go through the valley, he became suspicious. Nothing was happening according to the laws of nature. The way the tornado was moving, made it appear like someone was driving it – as a car would be driven. But, how it was being controlled was a big question.
The most important thing in Professor Fusionsteins mind was to make sure the tornado didn’t hit downtown GreenVille. If the tornado made it downtown, it was so powerful he knew all the buildings would be destroyed and the whole area would be buried under dust from desert.
The first thing he did, after realizing where the tornado was being directed, was call to get the emergency weather siren set off. He wanted GreenVille’s citizens to know there was a tornado, and it was possibly heading straight toward them.
As the sirens went off there was a flurry of activity at GVTN. The reporters were all trying to get the story of the tornado to broadcast live updates. It was decided there would be people placed at different areas around GreenVille to give up to the minute information.
Professor Fusionstein was determined to find a way to divert (change the direction of) the tornado. It could not destroy GreenVille, he wouldn’t allow it to. As he hunkered down in his lab, listening to the shrieking alarms going off, he started devising a plan.
***
Petrol Pirate also heard the alarms. He didn’t know what was going on, so he called Dr. Pollution because it seemed like something he would do. But Dr. Pollution didn’t answer, so Petrol Pirate called Pol’ Tick Al to see if he knew anything.
Pol’ Tick Al told him it was Dr. Pollution’s creation and that no one was safe. Dr. Pollution was intent on destroying all of GreenVille so he could rebuild it. He explained that even Dr. Pollution’s followers had to hide.
“Nooo! I don’t want to lose all the businesses my father and grandfather worked hard for. Why didn’t you stop him?” moaned Petrol Pirate.
Pol’ Tick Al, was slightly ashamed, “I couldn’t stop him, but I also didn’t believe he would do it! How was I supposed to know he’d really carry out his plan to destroy everything?”
“What are we going to do?” asked Petrol Pirate. He didn’t like not knowing what was going on.
“I’m going to hide in my underground shelter. Even if there is an emergency meeting, I’m not going to go. I think things are going to get really bad,” worried Pol’ Tick Al.
If even Pol’ Tick Al was hiding, then there really was no hope. GreenVille’s citizens had no idea what was in store for them. Some people started taking shelter when they heard the alarms going off, but others were thrill-seekers who wanted to watch what was happening.
The majority of GreenVille just didn’t know what to do and were rushing around in confusion. It was an extremely dangerous situation because no one had a clue what was coming toward them. No one had any idea that Dr. Pollution was behind this attack from nature.....
