Sparkplug and Talon : The Original Adventure

 Sparkplug and Talon

The Original Adventure

Thomas Plex, known much better as Tom, was swinging on the swing when the sliding glass door on the back of his house opened up.

Tom’s sister Sally stood in the doorway. She put a cupped hand beside her mouth and called out one word. “WAFFLES!”

Tom leaped off the swing and dashed toward the door. Waffles were his favorite breakfast and today his mom had made berry sauce and homemade syrup while Tom had bought whipped cream.

The scent that greeted Tom was magnificent.

Two plates of steaming waffles rested on the table, one of which, Sally was neatly picking up with her fork and putting them in her mouth.

Tom slid into his seat and started stabbing at his waffles and shoving them into his mouth.

“You’re butchering it,” Sally exclaimed.

“I’m not going to get cold waffles when it comes to seconds,” Tom declared.

Sally cocked an eyebrow. “There’s something called a microwave that heats things up again.”

Tom smirked. “That makes them softer.”

Sally groaned. “Mom went to her book club.”

“Can you pass the whipped cream?”

Tom clutched the whipped cream to his chest and gasped theatrically. “This is mine.”

Sally’s eyes went wide. “You’re joking, right? You’re going to hog all of that.”

Tom smiled and shook the can before flipping it over his waffles and pushing the tip over.

The whipped cream was soon a spiraling mountain, it started tipping and still Tom didn’t stop.

“Tom,” Sally warned. “It’s going to fall onto the table.”

“You just don’t want me to use all of it,” Tom argued.

The mountain of cream continued to grow until it loomed over the edge of the plate and plopped onto the table.

Sally rolled her eyes. “Told ya.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tom grumbled. “You’d be a more enjoyable little sister if you weren’t such a smart alec.”

It took Sally a moment to realize what Tom had said but when she realized, her jaw clenched and she closed her eyes tightly. It was obvious she was holding back a sob.

Tom scoffed. His sister was such a sissy.

Sally jumped off her seat and dashed up the stairs, her shoulders shaking.

Tom snagged a wet rag and wiped up the whipped cream and then finished his waffles. He walked up the stairs and knocked on Sally’s door. “Can I finish your waffles?”

The door opened quickly and Sally glared at him. “I wouldn’t let you eat my apple core,” she answered coldly.

“Ouch,” Tom winced. “What if I said I was sorry for calling you a smart alec?”

“If you meant it, I would allow you to eat my waffles,” Sally allowed.

“Well there goes that dream,” Tom muttered.

Sally shoved the door and it slammed shut.

Tom shrugged and walked back to his swing. He pumped his legs and was soon flying several yards above the green ground.

Tom threw himself off the swing at the apex of his flight and pretended to fly. He closed his eyes and flinched as he waited for the ground to hit his legs.

But nothing happened.

Tom opened his eyes and gasped. He wasn’t entirely pretending. He really was flying. As soon as the realization hit, the ground came rushing up to meet Tom, who focused on flying and stopped falling close enough to the ground for a blade of grass to tickle his nose.

As Tom focused he realized that, for the first time that day, the gentle breeze had disappeared into a strong gale that knocked the tree branches together. A bird started flying in loops, and a squirrel crossed his eyes. It appeared like the perfect time for something out of the ordinary to happen. And now here Tom was, flying like a superhero.

Suddenly there was a deafening roar from Tom’s house as if a lion had stepped on a nail.

Tom flapped his arms but nothing happened. He then remembered that in a book he’d once read it said that magical flying was more a mind thing than a physical thing.

Tom focused on going high into the sky and rocketed off. He barrel rolled and dove toward the house. Opening the door he cried. “Sally! I can fly.”

A small bird whipped around the corner and streaked toward Tom’s face before turning in a tight circle around Tom.

Tom gaped as the bird landed on his head, jumped onto the ground, and turned into his little sister.

“You don’t say,” Sally grinned. When Tom didn’t answer from shock she exclaimed. “This is amazing. I was just sitting in my room when I tried yelling because I was so mad at you, I still am by the way, and I turned into a cougar. When I tried a different animal I got this. I can also do a monkey, a peregrine falcon, and a dolphin.”

“I wonder if I can do anything else,” Tom wondered aloud.

“Only time can tell,” Sally said wisely.

Tom rolled his eyes and levitated a few inches into the air. He zoomed out of the open window and into the air, making sure that he wasn’t seen by anyone.

A peregrine falcon zipped out the same window and started tailing Tom, keeping with in a few yards of his feet.

Tom landed, stumbling slightly before righting himself and smiling as Sally changed back into her normal self. “I can’t believe this,” Tom enthused. “We’re superheroes.”

“We won’t be superheroes until we’re heroes,” Sally pointed out.

Tom nodded. “Let’s find a crime to stop.”

Sally turned into a peregrine falcon and took off into the air. She flew away from Tom toward the city.

Tom decided to wait for his sister and did his best superhero pose. He put one arm by his side and the other by his head. He pointed at his house and zoomed off the ground and toward the side of the house. As he slowed enough to stop, both hands dropped to his sides and suddenly there was a sizzling pop below him.

Tom looked down and found that there was a small, black, smoking ring in the grass.

Tom landed on his feet and stared at the grass. He slowly raised his finger at the sky and twitched his wrist muscle.

A string of blue lightning streaked into the air before disappearing.

Tom caught his breath. He could do more than fly. He could shoot lightning.

A peregrine falcon dove toward the ground before turning into a cougar and landing softly.

“Sally,” Tom said. “Look at this.” He pointed at the sky and flexed his hand. Blue lightning erupted from his fingertip and into the air.

The cougar turned into a Sally and exclaimed. “That’s awesome, but there’s a runaway train that’s about to crash into another!”

Tom wasted no time. “Where?”

“By the train station. If it crashes it will be close enough to kill everyone at the station along with on the train.”

Tom shot into the air and over the fence. He turned toward the train station and zoomed away.

Soon a peregrine falcon caught up to Tom and in unison they scanned the ground.

Suddenly Sally gave a shriek and dove toward a massive train flying down the tracks.

Tom inverted and streaked down toward it too. Then he stopped in his tracks. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t do anything to stop a train.

From the looks of it Sally had come to the same thought.

Then an idea hit Tom, he flexed his wrist muscle and a fountain of lightning shot out from his finger. It latched onto the top of the train.

Tom flew around the speeding train until there was a rope made of lightning around the train. He landed on the roof of the train as he whistled, causing Sally to dart over.

“I need you to turn into a cougar. I’ll help you. I’ll tie this rope around both of us. It doesn’t have much lightning power so nothing bad will happen to us. We’ll land on the drag behind the train and pull. Hopefully it will slow the train down.”

Sally instantly turned into a massive golden cougar. She thumped onto the roof and allowed Tom to tie the rope around them.

Tom took a breath. “On three. One, two, three.”

The two jumped off the train and landed on the drag. Tom and Sally braced their feet and started sliding down the track. Tom could literally feel the souls of his shoes being destroyed.

Sally gave a frustrated growl and took a strong step forward. Then she took another, and another.

Tom could actually feel the train slow.

Encouraged, Sally gave a massive step and heaved forward.

The train slowed quite a bit and Tom decided that cougar Sally was definitely stronger than a normal cougar.

Tom lifted into the air and flew forward as fast as he could.

The combined force of the cougar and the flying human was enough to slow the train an incredible amount.

“Pull on three,” Tom ordered. “One, two, three.”

They yanked on the rope and the train screeched to a stop.

Cougar Sally changed into a human. She was covered with sweat and looked ready to pass out. “That'll give the other train enough room to stop.”

The two siblings flew away to their house. When they landed Sally turned from a swift to a human. She held out her hand. “I know I’m a bit of a wuss, and a smart alec. I’m working on it.”

Tom shook his head. “I never should have said that. I’m working on not being a jerk.” He clasped Sally’s hand with his own and shook it.

Sally grinned. “Now we’re superheroes.”

Tom shook his head seriously. “If we’re superheroes we need superhero names for our missions.”

“True,” Sally agreed. She thought for a moment. “I’m going to be Talon.”

“That’s a cool name!” Tom exclaimed. “I’ll be Sparkplug.”

“Perfect,” Sally gushed.

The two walked into their house and up to their rooms.

When Tom opened his room, laying on his bed was a lightning blue smart watch. Curious, Tom strapped on the watch and pressed one of the buttons.

The screen of the watch came to life and spoke in a masculine voice. “Hello, I must scan you to design your suit.”

Tom’s eyes went wide and a small red bean of light traced over him out of the watch. Tom’s body shape appeared on the face of the watch and suddenly, Tom wasn’t wearing his T-shirt and shorts. He was in a suit like spiderman's but it was electric blue and had a yellow lightning bolt on the right shoulder.

Sally burst into the room. She was wearing a suit that reminded Tom of Black Widow’s from The Avengers. The biggest differences were that it was the same color as a mountain lion’s fur and it was missing the symbol in the middle.

“Someone realized we were superheroes,” Tom said.

Before Sally could answer both watches buzzed and the siblings looked down. Their watches read the same thing: MISSION. This is a mission for both of you. In the corner of the screen was a GPS coordinates.

Sally looked up. “Let’s go,” she said.