LarryBoy, Versus the Volcano Read online

  “EVERYONE is just as important as the other in God’s eyes. And I don’t have a neck,” Larryboy pointed out.

  “That’s the spirit!” Archie beamed.

  Then Larryboy recited the words from the Superhero Handbook: “Don’t be proud. Be willing to be a friend of people who aren’t considered important. Don’t think you are better than others.”

  With that, Larryboy dashed to the center of the inferno, knowing full well that he might be giving up his only hope of escape.

  CHAPTER 18

  TARZAN OF THE VEGGIES

  Burning-hot chili was everywhere. In fact, once Larryboy got past the beach, the edge of the jungle was as far as he could go. The entire jungle floor was covered with chili. There was no way to get past the hot liquid to the resort, where the other superheroes were trapped.

  Unless …

  “Tarzan, eat your heart out!” Larryboy yelled.

  Larryboy used his supersuction ears to leap from branch to branch in the tropical rain forest. “AHHHH-U-AHHHHH-U-AHHHHH-U … ACK!” he coughed as he tried to do the Tarzan yell, nearly choking on smoke gushing out of the volcano.

  At the resort, Larryboy located the Larrymobile, but he found it covered in a thick layer of melted cheese.

  “Drat,” the caped cucumber said.

  “Need some help?” said a voice.

  Larryboy looked up to see Lemon Twist. Behind her were his old pals, the Scarlet Tomato, Electro-Melon, and Sweet Potato.

  “Sorry we acted like we were more important than ya’ll this week,” said Sweet Potato, with Electro-Melon and Lemon Twist nodding in agreement.

  “The same-a here,” added the Scarlet Tomato.

  “I guess it’s easy to think you’re better than others. But the fact is, we’re not,” added Electro-Melon.

  “Thanks,” said Larryboy. “But we don’t have much time. Can you guys help me get this cheese off the Larrymobile?”

  “My uncle Guido could-a probably eat all of that-a cheese,” said the Scarlet Tomato. “But he’s-a on a low-fat diet now, and my-a aunt Laverne wouldn’t-a let him even look at this-a much cheese-a. He tries-a to raid the refrigerator every night, which is why—”

  “Sorry, S.T., but we don’t have time to hear about it,” said Lemon Twist. Without another word, the twisting lemon powered up her tornado winds and literally blew the cheese off of the Larrymobile.

  “Thanks, Lemon Twist,” said Larryboy. “Now, here’s my plan …”

  Twenty minutes later, Larryboy and the other 133 superheroes were crowded onto one of the last remaining pieces of island not covered with hot chili or cheese. Wearing scuba gear borrowed from the resort’s sport shop, the superheroes were connected to the Larrymobile by 133 water-ski ropes.

  “Can the Larrymobile pull this many water-skiers at the same time?” asked Sweet Potato.

  “Time to find out,” said Electro-Melon.

  Larryboy pushed a yellow button on his control panel, and the Larrymobile instantly transformed into the Larryboat. The purple speedboat tore off across the burning chili with 133 superheroes trailing behind—each one trying to water-ski on chili without getting their ropes tangled or their costumes fried.

  Larryboy raced straight for the ocean. As he did, the entire island began to snap, crackle, and pop. The chili was so hot that it ate away at the water skis. But just before the Larryboat and the skiers became completely cooked, they reached the cool, refreshing water of the ocean.

  At the edge of the sea, Larryboy pushed the orange button, and the Larrymobile changed from a boat to a submarine. Diving beneath the surface of the sea, the Larrysubmarine continued to pull the water-skiers along. Only they were now underwater skiers using their scuba gear.

  As the Larrysubmarine raced through the underwater hole in the force field, Superhero Island sank into the sea and completely vanished from sight.

  It was gone. KAPUT!

  It was almost as if Superhero Island had never even existed.

  CHAPTER 19

  SOMETHING’S R.O.T.T.E.N.

  Three days later, back in Bumblyburg, in a secret hideout beneath the Bumble Hotel, one of the most dastardly meetings of all time was being held. It was the monthly meeting of that exclusive but diabolical club known as R.O.T.T.E.N. —the League of Really Ornery and Terribly Tacky Evildoers who are very Naughty.

  The most infamous villains in all of Veggiedom were there, including Awful Alvin and his sidekick Lampy, Outback Jack, the Emperor, the Alchemist and Mother Pearl, Greta Von Gruesome, and the Iceberg and his Snow Peas.

  The mysterious rock was also there. In fact, this creature was in the process of asking to be admitted as a new member of the R.O.T.T.E.N. Club. And that wasn’t easy. You had to be a really rotten vegetable.

  Which raised a good question. Should they let a rock monster join a club for vegetables only?

  “So I lured all of the superheroes to my island by playing up to their pride,” the boulder explained in his speech to the League Membership Committee. “I told the superheroes they should spend their vacation on an exclusive island specially designed for the best of the best—themselves! They bought it—hook, line, and sinker!”

  The R.O.T.T.E.N. committee members nodded, smiled, and snickered.

  “But how did you handle that meddling cucumber Larryboy?” asked Mother Pearl.

  “That was easy,” said the rock. “I separated Larryboy from the other heroes by sending him to the Second Class beach—a beach for superheroes without special powers. I figured he couldn’t cause trouble if he was cut off from the others.”

  The villains exchanged smiles of approval.

  “Once the superheroes were at my resort, I triggered a force field that trapped them on the island. And then I set off a volcanic eruption that would’ve made Mount Vesuvius seem like a picnic. Now I am happy to announce that over 130 superheroes have all been destroyed!”

  A gasp arose from the villains on the R.O.T.T.E.N. committee.

  “I was wondering where all of the superheroes were hiding the past week,” said Awful Alvin. “This is cause for a celebration! Dance with me, Lampy!”

  “Does that mean I’m evil enough for your organization?” the rock asked proudly. “Can a boulder join the rancid ranks of R.O.T.T.E.N.?”

  The Emperor, a small but powerful cherry tomato, banged a gavel on the table. “Anyone who can do what you have just done deserves to be a member of R.O.T.T.E.N.—even if you are a rock. All in favor of making him a member give an evil cackle.”

  Every single villain responded with an evil cackle.

  The Emperor banged his gavel once again. “It’s unanimous. Rocky, you are the newest member of the exclusive R.O.T.T.E.N. Club. Bring out the food, and let’s party!”

  From a back room, a tall waiter wheeled out a huge platter of food covered with a silver lid.

  “A toast to the end of all superheroes!” shouted the Emperor, holding up his glass of soda.

  “And a toast to the ARREST of all supervillains!” came another voice. However, this voice came from under the lid of the food platter.

  The waiter lifted the lid, revealing none other than LARRYBOY. The plunger-headed hero raised a piece of toast in the air and then sprang into action. He fired a plunger at the boulder, while superheroes poured into the room from all sides.

  Some superheroes crashed through the ceiling, sliding down on ropes. Others popped out of closets. Still others leaped out of the air duct vents in the walls.

  “I thought you said you destroyed every superhero?” Iceberg shouted at the rock.

  “I did!” blasted back the boulder. “You have to believe me!”

  “Why should anyone believe you?” declared Larryboy. “You aren’t even who you say you are.”

  Then, in the most dramatic moment of all, Larryboy used one of his supersuction ears to reveal that the rock monster was simply wearing a costume. Yanking off the costume was a stunning surprise!

  Inside was none other than Chili Pepper.


  CHAPTER 20

  A PICTURE-PERFECT POSTCARD ENDING

  The raid on R.O.T.T.E.N. set the record for the largest number of supervillain arrests in a single day.

  To celebrate a few weeks later, Tourist-Man invited all of the superheroes to his home to watch his slide show of vacation pictures. Over 100 superheroes gathered to watch his slides. Roughly 80 of them, however, were sound asleep.

  “How can Tourist-Man make this vacation seem boring?” Vicki whispered.

  “I don’t know. Just his special talent, I guess,” Larry the Janitor said.

  The vacation on Superhero Island had included defusing bombs, surfing on hot lava-chili, being hurled out of an erupting volcano, and escaping through an underwater passage. But somehow, some way, Tourist-Man’s slides were still dreadfully dull.

  “And this is me buttoning my shirt,” he said, showing a photo of his Hawaiian shirt. “And this is a close-up of the button. And here’s …”

  “By the way, where’s Larryboy?” asked Vicki when the slide show mercifully came to an end.

  “Gee, that’s a good question.”

  Vicki had invited Larry the Janitor to be her escort to the party, since they never did get a chance to finish their picnic together. So our cucumber hero came as Larry, not Larryboy.

  At first, Tourist-Man wasn’t going to let Larry the Janitor come to the party, since–after all–he wasn’t a superhero. But then Tourist-Man remembered what it was like to be left out. So he welcomed Larry with open arms (or at least he would’ve if he had arms).

  “Larryboy’s not here. So I guess you’re just stuck with me—an unimportant janitor,” Larry said to Vicki.

  “Unimportant janitor? How can you say that? EVERYONE is important in God’s eyes,” Vicki responded. And then she gave him a big grin. “Besides, you’re just the way I like you.”

  Larry the Janitor beamed.

  At that moment, Sweet Potato leaned over and said, “Hey, I never did hear how ya’ll figured out that Chili Pepper disguised himself as a rock.”

  “It was his breath,” Vicki said. “Larryboy realized that Chili Pepper’s bad breath was just like the dangerously spicy breath of the mysterious rock.”

  “But why did Chili Pepper even need a disguise?” asked Sweet Potato.

  “Because Chili desperately wanted to become a member of R.O.T.T.E.N.,” interjected Bob the Tomato.

  “That’s right,” said Vicki. “Bob and I discovered that about a year ago, Chili Pepper tried to join the R.O.T.T.E.N. Club, but they wouldn’t let him in. They said he wasn’t evil enough to join their club. Being left out like that, he felt really rejected.”

  “So Chili Pepper came up with the boulder disguise and devised the most evil plot he could think of—destroying almost every superhero in the world with something he loved the most,” said Bob. “If that didn’t get him into the R.O.T.T.E.N. Club, nothing would.”

  “His plot had one other advantage,” added Vicki. “Chili thought that Coconut would ruin his chances of making it into the R.O.T.T.E.N. Club. So he decided to ditch Coconut by disguising himself as a rock and abandoning his sidekick on the island.”

  “The disguise also gave him a secret identity to use while he was stealing scuba gear and other supplies for his resort,” Bob noted.

  “Diabolical,” gasped Sweet Potato. “I wonder what ever happened to Coconut.”

  Good question.

  For an answer, let’s go to the other side of Bumblyburg, where Chili Pepper was locked away in the Jail for the Criminally Snobby. On this particular day, one of the prison guards had brought him a particularly odd postcard.

  “Mail for Chili Pepper!” announced the guard, sneaking a peek at the postcard.

  “Give that to me,” Chili Pepper snarled, snatching it from the guard. Burning with curiosity, Chili flipped over the postcard, and this is what he read:

  Dear Chili:

  Weather is good. Wish you were here. I just wanted to give you my great news. When Superhero Island sank into the ocean, I SURVIVED!

  When the island sank, I climbed onto a giant dinner roll and drifted at sea for a week before being picked up by a ship. So don’t worry, I’ll be waiting for you when you get out of jail. See you soon!

  Your sidekick and faithful friend, Coconut

  Coconut was back? Chili Pepper couldn’t believe it. His eyes bulged. Steam came out of his ears. He turned red in the face. And then …

  “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

  Chili Pepper exploded in anger. He flipped his lid.

  You might even say he erupted.

  THE END

  ZONDERKIDZ

  Larryboy Versus the Volcano!

  Copyright © 2004 Big Idea, Inc. VEGGIETALES®, character names, likenesses and other indicia are trademarks of Big Idea, Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

  EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-42433-8

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Peterson, Doug.

  Larry versus the volcano/by Doug Peterson. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Larryboy takes a vacation on a volcanic island for superheroes and learns a lesson about including others when he is excluded by his favorite superhero buddies like Lemon Twist and Electro-Melon.

  ISBN 978-0-310-70728-8

  [1. Heroes — Fiction. 2. Vacations — Fiction. 3. Christian life — Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.P44334Lap 2004

  [Fic] — dc22

  2004000251

  * * *

  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.

  Written: Doug Peterson

  Editor: Cindy Kenney

  Cover and interior illustrations: Michael Moore

  Cover design and art direction: Paul Conrad, Karen Poth

  * * *

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