About halfway between the Qwai Gate and the edge of the forest, Cameron David, also known as the costumed hero Knightshade, prepared for the first ever game of Bowling with Uuughh with the four young men: Jaime Smith, Roger’s and Mary’s son, Mike Wrenolds, Amy’s son, Trevor Jackson, James’s son, and Mark, a friend of the boys who had, the previous year, accidentally learned Mary’s secret identity as Velocity Girl, but who had been a staunch ally of the Pocket Protectors.

“Are we ready yet?” asked Uuughh.

“C’mon, big guy,” Cameron teased. “Don’t tell me you’re tired. I know you don’t get tired.”

“No, I’m not tired”, the giant replied. “Just bored.”

Cameron smiled. “The boys are playing ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock’ to see who goes first. I think they’re almost done.”

Cameron examined the sling that Uuughh’s huge form rested in. Cameron had made it himself with his powers. Cameron David, like Velocity Girl, Upbeat, William Savant, and Uuughh himself, as well as other members of Earth’s human population who possessed strange and unusual powers, was a Whirlwind Child. In the 1960’s, there had been secret experiments that had altered the DNA of young volunteers of child-bearing age, volunteers who had been kept oblivious to the true nature of the experiments. Ironically, the experiments had been discontinued not because they had been exposed and stopped at the time on moral and legal grounds, but rather because they had been deemed a failure. At the time, back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, none of the experimental subjects, nor any of their offspring, exhibited the traits that the Project Whirlwind scientists had been looking for. Thus, Project Whirlwind was stopped. However, a generation later, children were born who grew up to be Velocity Girl, Knightshade, Uuughh, Upbeat, the Savant, and many, many more. Some of the Whirlwind Children, like the ones who were members of today’s Pocket Protectors, used their powers to help others. Some used their abilities selfishly or even criminally.

“Ok, Mike goes first.” The boys came back from their game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” they had been having off in the trees.

“Great!” Cameron smiled as he finished inspecting the giant sling that would soon propel the purple giant Uuughh at the game’s target. The matter from which the sling was composed was black, an ebony so light-absorbent that it was hard for the human eye to find the edges of the fabric. It was cool, but not uncomfortably cold, to the touch. The genetically anomalous teacher smiled at his handiwork. This was going to be fun indeed. Uuughh, as the living bowling/wrecking ball, should enjoy it most of all, he thought.

Cameron’s particular Whirlwind Child power was to be a bridge between universes to an alternate universe that Cameron called, when he described it to others, the Dark Place. Different Whirlwind Children each had a triggering event in their lives that activated their unique genetic makeup. Often, the powers or altered body structures that resulted from the activation of Whirlwind Genes were related in some way to the nature of the triggering event. In Cameron’s case, it had been a case of depression so egregious that it had altered his body’s biochemistry radically enough to activate his Whirlwind Genes, connecting him to not merely a “dark place” psychologically, but an actual Dark Place.

As a toddler, the purple giant now known as Uuughh had looked like a normal little boy. Tragically, an earthquake had collapsed Uuughh’s family home. Though Uuughh’s parents and sibling had been killed, Uuughh’s Whirlwind genes had activated, transforming him into the giant, complete with super-strength and miraculous invulnerability, that he had been ever since. Uuughh was able to walk himself out of the wreckage of the family home, but not able to save his family.

Other Whirlwind Children had similar stories. James, who would become Upbeat, whose powers were musical in nature, had become an activated Whirlwind Child upon attending his first symphony, as the vibrations of the string section of the orchestra literally vibrated his DNA. Mary, who would become Velocity Girl, had been being chased with nowhere left to run except across water when she had been activated.

“All right, Mike,” Cameron instructed. “Here’s the deal. Slowly guide Uuughh so that you aim him for the shot that you want to take. You have to guide him slowly, because if both of his feet leave the ground at the same time, he’s gone and that’s your shot and your turn, whether you meant it or not.”

“Got it.” Even though Mike had heard and responded to Cameron, his eyes were down the playing field, already mentally lining up a shot to knock down as much of the target as possible.

“Ok. Let’s do this.” Cameron stepped back to let Mike line up his shot.

*******

The flowers of the Yellow Fields, though long-stemmed, were not especially tall. Nevertheless, to the trio of p’ckit dragons having their own picnic away from the humans, the large blossoms and wide leaves of the ubiquitous flora created a veritable canopy, blocking out the Sun almost entirely. The tiny creatures laughed, ate, drank, and frolicked.

 “Thanks so much for sharing the food, Uncle Smerd.” Melody, a blue female dragon sporting a red crest styled like a human girl’s ponytail addressed a purple male p’ckit dragon as she alternated between sips through a straw from a Yowzah chocolate drink bottle that was bigger than she was, and bites of a Golden Brick creme-filled snack cake that wasn’t much smaller.

“Well,” her Uncle Smerd replied, beaming with pride, “I’ve been saving these for a really special occasion. They are an exceptionally good batch.”

Roxxie, Smerd’s paramour, sporting a pink crest that contrasted with her yellow body, read the label on the box from which the Golden Brick snack cakes had come. “Best if used by January 16, 2029. That’s great! Yummy!”

Suddenly, Melody’s eyes fixed on something behind Roxxie. She snorted out chocolate drink through her cute little dragon nose. “Roxxie, look out!”

One of the yellow flowers had begun to move like a snake and had begun to wrap itself around her uncle’s girlfriend. Other flowers around them began to move as well.

“What’s going on?” cried Smerd as he fluttered his wings and leapt to Roxxie’s aid. He released his claws and began cutting her free. Once Roxxie was free, all three p’ckit dragons flapped their wings, abandoned their picnic, and took to the air.

Rising above the tops of the flowers, they could see that the entire Yellow Fields area was having an earthquake. Then, there was a roar from beneath them. Flapping their wings even harder to gain more altitude as quickly as possible to get away from the thing, the three tiny dragons looked straight down into the terrifying gullet of a large creature as it emerged from the ground. The creature was the exact shade of yellow as the flowers of the Yellow Fields.