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Petrol City
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Since GreenVille switched from using gas and oil to renewable energy (like solar and wind), it had become a beautiful place to live. There were some people in GreenVille though who weren’t happy with the changes. They wanted to go back to their old way of life when petrol ruled GreenVille.
Among these people were Petrol Pirate and Pol’ Tick Al. Petrol Pirate is a very rich business man who will do anything to make money. Pol’ Tick Al is a power-hungry congressman, who will do anything to have power. Although they didn’t like the changes in GreenVille, they couldn’t do anything about them because of GoGreen Man, the protector of GreenVille.
Things started looking up for them when Dr. Pollution came back to town. Knowing Dr. Pollution was a brilliant scientist, they united with him to try and bring down GreenVille and GoGreen Man.
On this day, Petrol Pirate was looking at his latest business idea. It was something that would bring him a lot of money; a huge shopping center in the middle of GreenVille called Petrol City. Since Pol’ Tick Al is a congressman in GreenVille, Petrol Pirate hopes he has some ideas to help all of GreenVille’s citizens fall in love with it. He needs their votes in order to build his shopping complex.
Petrol City will be a mall with more than just shops. It will be an entertainment mecca with an amusement park called the Petroland Theme Park. The theme park would have several attractions for children, including the Wilderness Refuge Oil Explorers Challenge, the Deep Sea Drill, and the Great Glacier Meltdown.
There would also be a lot of stores and restaurants including a specialty ice cream shop. The ice cream shop’s feature flavor would be licorice flavored "petrol" ice cream.
Since the people of GreenVille have to vote on whether or not to build it, Petrol Pirate was a little worried. He was making Petrol City look like the most wonderful, fun place to be so he knew the children in GreenVille wanted their parents to vote for it. But, he knew he was keeping big secrets from the citizens of GreenVille, secrets that could change their minds about it.
Petrol Pirate asked Pol’ Tick Al, “Do you think GreenVille will let us build Petrol City?” Petrol Pirate knew that he would have to build a new power plant, but if GreenVille found out they wouldn’t vote for his Petrol City. They didn’t want GreenVille polluted.
Pol’ Tick Al replied, “No, they wouldn’t vote for it if it came with a polluting power plant. But don’t worry, I have hidden the plans for a petro-gasonol power plant in the proposal. I make it so small a person would have to use a magnifying glass to see it. HAHAHA! Lots of people will like having everything together, especially the theme park, but won’t think about what makes it work. Besides, GreenVille needs Petrol City.”
“You’re right, Pol’ Tick Al,” Petrol Pirate replied. “Now we need to let Dr. Pollution know what we are doing.”
“Yes, I know. I already talked to him and he has promised to help us,” Pol’ Tick Al answered.
“Good! If Dr. Pollution helps us, we have nothing to worry about,” Petrol Pirate responded. He was relieved to know they had Dr. Pollution’s support. “When this plan gets approved by GreenVille’s citizens, I will make a big statue of you and your pet tick Poochie.”
Puffed up with pride, Pol’ Tick Al had a warning for him, “That’s great, but just make sure you keep an eye on GoGreen Man. He can’t get in our way!”
***
Meanwhile, at GoGreen Man’s office (he worked for the GreenVille Protection Agency), GoGreen Man was closely looking at Pol’ Tick Al’s proposed Petrol City. He was wondering how much energy the megaplex would need – it looked like it would need a lot of electricity.
“GreenVille doesn’t have enough electricity for this mall. What are Petrol Pirate and Pol’ Tick Al going to do about it?” he wondered. He shook his head knowing they had to be planning something more than just a shopping mall.
While looking a little closer into the details of the plan, GoGreen Man discovered some indecipherable (unable to read clearly) tiny type at the bottom of a page. “Hmmm, what is this? It’s not on any of the other pages.” Getting out his magnifying glass, he looked at it closer. “I knew it! Pol’ Tick Al and Petrol Pirate are up to no good. They have put in a hidden proposal. What does it say?...‘A new petro-gasonol power plant would be built along with Petrol City.’”
Shaking his head in disgust he said to himself, “This is not right! We have been protecting the environment in GreenVille for many years. If this power plant is built it will pollute it! I will be sure to let the people of GreenVille know about this hidden plan before they go vote.” GoGreen Man wrote letters to all of GreenVille’s citizens to warn them. He wanted them to have the truth before they voted for or against the proposal.
When he finished the letters, GoGreen Man took them to the post office. Unbeknownst to him, Petrol Pirate followed him. Petrol Pirate had been instructed to keep an eye on GoGreen Man (he was watching him). “GoGreen Man must have found something!” exclaimed Petrol Pirate, worrying about the plan failing.
After GoGreen Man left, Petrol Pirate went inside the post office and saw the stacks of letters to be mailed. When no one was looking, Petrol Pirate stole one of the letters and opened it.
Filled with dismay, he called Pol’ Tick Al and told him, “There’s a big problem! GoGreen Man found out about our plan! He’s sending letters to everyone in GreenVille telling them. What do we do now?”
“We need to get Dr. Pollution’s help, he will know what to do,” responded Pol’ Tick Al.
***
Dr. Pollution was working on a new invention in his lab – a virus! He was congratulating himself when Pol’ Tick Al and Petrol Pirate interrupted him.
“Dr. Pollution!” gasped Petrol Pirate. “GoGreen Man knows about the power plant! He’s…he’s…” Out of breath, he couldn’t continue.
“Well, what is it?” demanded Dr. Pollution, impatiently. Pol’ Tick Al took over and explained what was going on. He told Dr. Pollution they needed help to stop the letters.
Dr. Pollution just shrugged his shoulders, “Well, I guess we need to do something about that then, don’t we? HA! HA!” Laughing to himself, Dr. Pollution continued, “There’s a very simple solution to this problem. We can steal the letters from the post office tonight. They won’t be going out until tomorrow, so there’s nothing to worry about. I have the perfect machine for this mission, my b-dron. It’s a bad little nanodron that can sneak into the post office with no problem.” The bad nanodron is very small, about the size of your index finger.
Pol’ Tick Al commented, “That’s a good idea, Dr. Pollution. We have to make sure the citizens of GreenVille don’t find out about the petro-gasonol power plant until after Election Day.” But then he thought of another problem, “What if GoGreen Man goes to the TV station to announce it?”
“I know that’s not a problem,” responded Petrol Pirate with a grin. He looked very proud of himself. “I’ve already bought all the air time for the next two days in order to promote Petrol City.”
“HA! HA! That’s great, now there’s no way for GoGreen Man to reach every one in GreenVille by tomorrow,” Dr. Pollution chuckled.
***
Later that night the b-dron snuck into the post office and successfully stole and destroyed all the letters from GoGreen Man.
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***
The next day Hannah Heart, a close friend of GoGreen Man, decided to pay him a visit. She was curious to know what GoGreen Man thought about Petrol City. “Hi, GoGreen Man!” she called out.
GoGreen Man, who was checking the solar panels on his house, was glad to see her. “Hi, Hannah Heart!” he replied. “Did you get my letter today?”
“What letter?” she asked curiously.
“My letter about the plan hidden in the Petrol City proposal,” answered GoGreen Man.
Hannah Heart was aghast, “No, I didn’t receive anything from you. I checked my mailbox just before I came; I had mail but nothing from you. I wonder what happened to it.”
GoGreen Man was suspicious. It only took a day for mail to be delivered in GreenVille. What could have happened to his letters? He quickly called the post office to see if they had been delivered. The post office was in chaos because the letters had mysteriously disappeared overnight.
Since the citizens were supposed to vote the next day, there was no time to resend the letters. GoGreen Man had to think of a way to get the news out quickly. He went to GVTN to make an announcement. (GVTN is the TV station in GreenVille.)
Unfortunately, when he arrived he was greeted by Petrol Pirate. “Hi GoGreen Man,” snickered Petrol Pirate. “What brings you to the TV station? Do you have something important to announce?”
GoGreen Man cautiously asked in return, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here checking on my TV shows and advertising – they’re all promoting Petrol City. You see, I’ve bought all the air time for today and tomorrow,” he replied.
Unwilling to take Petrol Pirate’s word for it, GoGreen Man went to see if he could make an announcement. Sure enough, Petrol Pirate had bought all programming (even the news!) and planned to feature the wonders of Petrol City.
GoGreen Man thought to himself, “Something is not right. I wish I could get to the bottom of this (figure it out), but I have to warn GreenVille’s citizens. They need to know about this. I need Professor Fusionstein’s help.” Off he went to see what Professor Fusionstein could suggest. Professor Fusionstein is a very famous scientist in GreenVille and a good friend of GoGreen Man’s.
Professor Fusionstein was always willing to help GoGreen Man and this day was no different. When he saw GoGreen Man he welcomed him, “Hi, GoGreen Man. It’s good to see you.”
“Professor Fusionstein,” said GoGreen Man. “Did you hear about Pol’ Tick Al’s Petrol City proposal?”
“Yes, I heard about it,” nodded Professor Fusionstein. “Aren’t the elections tomorrow to vote on it? I’m sure the people of GreenVille won’t vote for that kind of building.”
GoGreen Man disagreed, “We have a problem. I found a clause in tiny letters that the people of GreenVille don’t know about – he plans to build a petro-gasonol power plant. Not only that, Petrol Pirate has bought all the air time at GVTN and is running special programming to promote his Petrol City idea. It is misleading the people of GreenVille because he’s not telling what will really happen if this proposal passes.”
Professor Fusionstein agreed it was a problem and that everyone needed to be warned in order to make it a fair election. It wasn’t right that the citizens didn’t know the whole truth about Petrol City because if they did know, many of them certainly wouldn’t vote for it.
GoGreen Man continued, “I mailed some letters yesterday warning the citizens, but they mysteriously disappeared. That’s really why I’m here. Do you know of any way I can reach all of GreenVille before tomorrow’s election? As you know, we don’t have much time.”
“Hmmm,” pondered Professor Fusionstein. He brightened up, “Actually, it won’t be a problem! I have an excellent idea. My latest project has been to come up with a nighttime emergency system for GreenVille. I haven’t tested it, but tonight might be a good time.”
He went on to explain what it was and how it worked. “It’s called a solar projector and it projects a big picture in the sky at night. What’s great about it is that everyone in GreenVille can see the message or picture at the same time. That’s why it’s a nighttime emergency broadcast system.” He continued, “When it's night in GreenVille, the sunlight on the opposite side of the earth is reflected by satellite mirrors to other satellite mirrors until the light reaches the sky over GreenVille. At that time, the light projects a message on the ozone layer above GreenVille. It’s like watching a large screen TV. What do you think?”
GoGreen Man was impressed and relieved. “Sounds perfect! That’s exactly what I need to get the message out to GreenVille.”
***
Dr. Pollution and his followers were laughing at the news that GoGreen Man couldn’t find any airtime at GVTN. Petrol Pirate had called to tell Dr. Pollution and Pol’ Tick Al about it. “HA! HA! HA! HA! What can you do now, GoGreen Man? Tomorrow is the last day and everything will be finished,” Dr. Pollution gleefully laughed. “Building Petrol City is just the beginning of what we have planned for GreenVille.”
***
That night, the big topic of conversation during the evening meal in GreenVille was whether or not to vote for Petrol City. Some felt that GreenVille needed more attractions for family activities. Petrol City seemed like the answer with the indoor rides at the amusement park. The bonus was that it wouldn’t pollute GreenVille, according to Pol’ Tick Al. A lot of people, especially after all the TV shows showing the wonders of Petrol City, were beginning to think Petrol City was just what GreenVille needed. Petrol Pirate’s plan was working! More people were planning to vote for Petrol City than before.
***
Everything changed when night finally came. Professor Fusionstein started up the solar projector. The first satellite from the other site of the earth was moved into position. It pointed to the next satellite and so on until they pointed to the satellite over GreenVille. Once everything was ready, Professor Fusionstein programmed the satellite to display, “Pol’ Tick Al has a secret plan. He will build a petro-gasonol power plant. It will pollute GreenVille.” This message was displayed over GreenVille in big letters on what looked like a huge screen TV in the sky.
Wonder and awe filled the faces of GreenVille’s citizens. That is, those who happened to be outside when the message was first displayed. Everyone was murmuring about what was going on and how the message could be in the sky. The phone lines in GreenVille were jammed with people calling each other about it.
Pretty soon, most of GreenVille was witnessing the dramatic show in the sky. Not only were the words lit up, they were blinking and flashing. The message was very difficult to miss!
When GreenVille read what was highlighted in the sky, most of the citizens were dismayed that they had been tricked. Many of them changed their minds because they didn’t like the fact that Pol’ Tick Al had tried to deceive them. They were not going to vote for the Petrol City project and have a petro-gasonol power plant.
***
Dr. Pollution and Pol’ Tick Al were furious when they saw the solar projector’s message.
“How did he do that?” Pol’ Tick Al fumed.
“I’m ruined!” wailed Petrol Pirate. He couldn’t see how there would be enough votes for Petrol City now.
“Be quiet, Petrol Pirate!” ordered Dr. Pollution. “Things are not as bad as you think. Trust me.” Ominously he continued, “This looks like something Professor Fusionstein would do. It’s a pretty good idea, but this is not the end. I have one more trick up my sleeve to make sure we win tomorrow.”
Curiously, Petrol Pirate asked, “What is it? What can be done that will save my Petrol City?”
“That, I will be glad to tell you,” Dr. Pollution answered. “I’m rather excited about it, although it’s untested right now. My new invention is called a sleeping virus. It’s a virus that people get by breathing it in. This virus puts people into a deep sleep,” Dr. Pollution triumphantly announced. “Tomorrow I will send my Gas Goon to those people who are close friends of GoGreen Man!” Gas Goon, made entirely out of gaseous materials, is one of Dr. Pollution’s inventions. He was a perfect choice because he can enter people’s houses anywhere. He slips through cracks in walls and windows.
“That’s a great idea!” laughed Pol’ Tick Al. “I know exactly who his friends are in GreenVille.”
Pol' Tick Al and Dr. Pollution agreed that the people who needed sleep the most were Hannah Heart, Water Woman, Roger Recycle and pretty much all of GoGreen Man's closest friends and supporters.
***
Election Day had finally arrived. All of GreenVille’s citizens were preparing to go to City Hall to vote on the Petrol City proposal. Among those citizens getting ready was Hannah Heart.
Hannah Heart hadn’t been a supporter of Petrol City anyway, but the fact that Pol’ Tick Al had tricked GreenVille upset her. As she was getting ready to go, Gas Goon slipped into her home. He was billowing behind her, without her knowledge…without any sound. Releasing the virus around Hannah Heart’s face, Gas Goon slowly floated back out of her house.
“Oohh! Where is that smell coming from? Is someone baking chocolate chip cookies?” She said to herself as she appreciatively sniffed the air. The rich scent of chocolate filled her nose and she closed her eyes while deeply breathing in the delicious smell.
Unfortunately for Hannah Heart as she did so, she inhaled the sleep virus. Because most people like the scent of chocolate, Dr. Pollution added it to make people take deep breaths - it would go to work faster that way!
Hannah Heart was getting sleepier and sleepier. She was so sleepy she had to take a short nap before going out.
***
While Hannah Heart was asleep in her home, GoGreen Man was waiting for his friends at GreenVille's City Hall. Everyone had planned to go vote together.
“What is going on? Where is everyone? It’s getting late and we need to go vote,” he said to himself. Knowing that Hannah Heart and her friends sometimes took a while to get ready, he just sat down to wait.
After several hours, and still no sign of his friends, GoGreen Man began to get worried. Taking his g-dron out of his pocket, he ordered it to go and quickly check on Hannah Heart. The g-dron is a good nanodron that Professor Fusionstein made for GoGreen Man. Very small, the size of your pinky finger it is easy to carry around and is similar to Dr. Pollution’s b-dron.
The g-dron flew to Hannah Heart's home, where it discovered her asleep on her couch. It tried to make noise to wake her up, but she just slept on. Not able to wake her up, the g-dron hurried back to GoGreen Man to give him the news.
GoGreen Man was shocked! How could Hannah Heart be asleep? The future of GreenVille was at stake, but so far none of his friends showed up to vote. But it was too late to do anything now, the time to vote was almost over. Disappointed, he went in by himself.
That night, GVTN's news announced that the Petrol City plan had won by a few votes. That meant victory for Pol' Tick Al (and of course, Dr. Pollution and Petrol Pirate!).
GoGreen Man was very sad because he was worried about what would happen to GreenVille. He thought and thought about the fact that all his friends didn't show up to vote - and he still hadn't heard from them. He decided to find out what happened.
GoGreen Man went to see his friends and they were all just waking up! When he asked them what happened, they all said the last thing they remembered was a wonderful, rich chocolate smell. They were surprised to find out it was already night time and that the election was over.
GoGreen Man was suspicious because they all had the same story of smelling chocolate before getting tired and falling asleep. Taking Hannah Heart to Professor Fusionstein, GoGreen Man wanted to see if he could figure out what happened. He wanted to know why she fell asleep.
***
“Hi, GoGreen Man. What can I do for you tonight? Is something wrong?” Professor Fusionstein asked.
“Yes,” said GoGreen Man. “Something strange happened to many of my friends in GreenVille today. Did you hear the results of the election?”
Shaking his head, Professor Fusionstein sadly answered, “I was very disappointed and surprised that GreenVille decided to allow that building. It will pollute GreenVille!”
“That’s why I’m here,” said GoGreen Man. “Many of my friends were getting ready to go vote when they smelled a rich, chocolate scent in their homes. Afterwards, they became very sleepy and slept the entire day – missing the election. What could cause this?” questioned GoGreen Man.
“Hmmm, that’s interesting,” pondered Professor Fusionstein. “For everyone to have the same scent and the same results after smelling the chocolate, it is very unusual. We need to check it out.”
Unfortunately for Hannah Heart, Professor Fusionstein needed something from her. Something most people don't like to give. He needed to get some blood!
After getting the blood sample, Professor Fusionstein looked at it under the microscope. He was shocked by what he saw. It was a completely new, never seen before, virus!
The style of the virus, though, was familiar. He thought it looked like Dr. Pollution's work. You see, Dr. Pollution used to work with vaccinations and viruses. He was in virusology (the study of viruses).
“What did you find, Professor Fusionstein?” asked GoGreen Man.
Professor Fusionstein replied, “It is definitely Dr. Pollution’s work. I am positive this is his doing because I am familiar with his work. His is a genius in the field of viruses.” He paused to check his notes and then continued, “This specific virus affects a person’s sleep.” He went on to explain it in detail.
“Oh, Professor Fusionstein, that’s too hard to me to understand!” said Hannah Heart with a confused look on her face. “All I know is, I fell asleep and that’s what the virus made me do. But, I’m worried about the election. Since Petrol City got enough votes, what are we going to do?” worried Hannah Heart.
GoGreen Man shook his head, “If we don’t have proof Dr. Pollution used the sleeping virus, then we can’t do anything about the election. But, if we can prove he made everyone fall asleep, maybe King Nature will GreenVille vote again. Only King Nature, as the ruler of GreenVille, can do that.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Professor Fusionstein nodding his head.
GoGreen Man left to go to Dr. Pollution’s lab.
***
When GoGreen Man arrived at Dr. Pollution’s lab, he knew couldn't just walk in there. Besides, Trashinator 2000 was guarding the door. GoGreen Man didn’t want to cause a commotion because Dr. Pollution would know his secret location had been found.
Instead, GoGreen Man thought a better idea would be to send in something small. He pulled g-dron out of his pocket, attached a tiny g-cam to it (good camera that records) and sent it in. What this did was allow him to stay safe outside while watching the g-cam.
The g-dron was able to sneak past Trashinator 2000 into Dr. Pollution’s home. Inside, Dr. Pollution had a lab in which he did his dirty work.
Today was GoGreen Man's lucky day! Dr. Pollution, Pol' Tick Al and Petrol Pirate were having a huge Petrol City celebration. They were having so much fun playing ‘throw the beaker on the picture’, they didn't pay attention to the little g-dron with a g-cam flitting around the lab. Their game involved throwing chemical filled beakers at pictures of prominent GreenVille citizens, i.e. GoGreen Man, Professor Fusionstein, etc.
Since no one was watching, the g-dron had no trouble finding Dr. Pollution's formula for the sleeping virus (with chocolate scent!). Although this was a great find, GoGreen Man really needed more evidence, but how could he get it?
Just then, he noticed on the g-cam that the beaker game had ended and Dr. Pollution was about to make a speech. GoGreen Man had the g-dron record Dr. Pollution to see and hear what he had to say.
“This is a great day for all of us, and Petrol City. We have sacrificed our lives for GreenVille too long. Because of GreenVille’s renewable energy rules and recycling requirements, life is no fun. That is about to change now. We will go back to our old ways when petrol ruled the town. We had enough energy and life was good. Isn’t that right?” yelled Dr. Pollution. The house erupted in cheers; his followers were in complete agreement.
With his hands out and pressing down in a sign of silence, Dr. Pollution continued, “My followers, I am the smartest scientist in the world. If you follow me, I will give you what you want.”
Petrol Pirate shouted out, “Yeah! Without Dr. Pollution I would have never been able to get Petrol City. He created a sleeping virus that prevented GoGreen Man’s followers from going to vote!” Again, everyone cheered.
GoGreen Man was outside recording everything. He knew he had enough evidence to give to King Nature. Just as he was to order the g-dron to leave, Dr. Pollution spotted the tiny robot.
“What is that thing? That is not my nanodron!” he bellowed. Everyone turned to look in the direction he was pointing. “Go get it! Step on it!” The whole house shook as everyone tried to stomp on the g-dron.
GoGreen Man quickly left the site with his evidence – he did not want to get caught and he had everything he needed. He went directly to Green Castle, where King Nature lived.
When King Nature, the righteous and fair ruler of GreenVille, saw what Dr. Pollution had done, he shook his head in disappointment. “GoGreen Man, you did a good job. Without your help GreenVille would be in trouble with the Petrol City megaplex. Tomorrow I will reschedule the election for another time.”
The next day GVTN’s breaking news was about a re-vote on Petrol City. They announced King Nature had set a new date for the election because the first one was illegal.
***
Dr. Pollution was furious. Pol’ Tick Al and Petrol Pirate rushed in saying, “What happened? How did they find out?”
“That little nanodron that snuck in last night apparently recorded us,” grumbled Dr. Pollution.
Again, Petrol Pirate was wailing about how much money he’d invested in Petrol City, “What will I do? I will never have my Petrol City. It was such a perfect shopping center for GreenVille. I invested so much money into it and now I’ll never get it back.”
“That’s enough, Petrol Pirate,” said a very irritated Dr. Pollution. “Don’t worry, we’ll get back at GoGreen Man. This time he blocked our plans, but it won’t happen again.”
***
Several days later, when Election Day finally arrived, there were a lot of police helping GoGreen Man make sure it was a fair election. It went without any problems. The results came out. The citizens of GreenVille had decided that Petrol City was not wanted in GreenVille. Many citizens who had voted for Petrol City before, despite the pollution it would bring, had enough.
It was a huge victory for GoGreen Man. The citizens had learned a very important lesson. Instead of just listening to the advertisements and believing them, they realized they need to do their own research. Because GoGreen Man researched Petrol City, the truth about the power plant came out. The citizens of GreenVille were very thankful to GoGreen Man and appreciated how much he cared for them.
But this is not over for Dr. Pollution. He will come back with something else. What will he do next?
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