Captain Awesome Takes a Dive


Could time go any s-l-o-w-e-r? When would summer vacation ever get here!?

Eugene McGillicudy sat at his desk in Ms. Beasley’s class. His Super Dude Digital Command Watch counted down the remaining minutes.

What’s that?!

You’ve never heard of Super Dude, the greatest, most powerful superhero on several planets? The superhero who once defeated Mower Mouth, the big, mean-mouth Martian that devoured yards and soccer fields with its Mower Martian Mouth?

Without Super Dude’s comic books, Eugene would never have become Captain Awesome or formed the Sunnyview Superhero Squad with his best friend, Charlie Thomas Jones, also known as . . . Nacho Cheese Man!

Only six more minutes—three hundred sixty seconds!—stood between Eugene and Charlie’s seventy-one super summer days of fighting evil in Sunnyview. Not once would he have to hear things like his teacher saying, “Please take your seats.”

Eugene had even made a list of his summer plans:





DING-DING-ABING-BING!

THAT WAS THE BELL!

FINALLY! SUMMER! VACATION! HAD! OFFICIALLY! BEGUN!

Eugene rocketed to his cubby. “Let’s go, Charlie!”

Aside from putting evil on an asteroid prison orbiting the twin moons of See Ya Later, is there anything better than summer vacation? Eugene sure didn’t think so.

Charlie packed up his cheese containers from his cubby and stuffed them in his backpack. Nacho Cheese Man’s Dairy Defense couldn’t be left at school for the entire summer. There’s no telling what bad guys would do if they got their evil hands on the cheesy goodness of Hot Jalapeño Surprise or Titanic Taco Blast.



Plus the expiration dates were in July.

“See ya later, My! Me! Mine! Mere-DITH!” Eugene said and waved to Meredith Mooney.

Meredith stuck up her nose and stomped out of the class.



“No school, no homework, and no Meredith for a whole summer!” Charlie cheered. “I don’t know which one I’ll miss the least.”

Eugene picked up Turbo’s ball. After all, superheroes can’t go on patrol without their trusty hamster sidekicks. All three left the classroom.

It was time for one last school patrol!

Eugene and Charlie headed down the hall. Lockers were open, papers were scattered everywhere. It looked like Messypotamian, the slobby villain who never cleaned his room, had returned to mess up the school.



“Evil sounds from the cafeteria!” Charlie gasped.

The boys raced to the lunchroom, flung open the doors, and saw true evil.

The two boys dove for cover.

“It’s our old enemy, Dr. Yuck Spinach!” Eugene whispered.

“He must’ve escaped from Asteroid Prison and returned to continue his evil vegetable plans!”

“There’s only one way out of this veggie trap—” Eugene said. “A direct charge through Dr. Spinach’s Cafeteria Lair.”

“That’s insane!” Charlie gasped. “We will never make it! He’ll use his Okra Bombs and Asparagus Spears!”



“Yes. And his Parsnips of Doom, too,” Eugene replied. “But Super Dude never says never!”

It’s time for action!

“CHAAAAARGE!” he shouted and raced into the cafeteria!



Oops!

Eugene tripped over the doorway and flopped to the floor.

Turbo’s plastic ball flew from Eugene’s hands and rolled across the cafeteria floor . . . stopping at Dr. Spinach’s feet.

“EEEPS!” Charlie gasped in horror as Dr. Spinach turned to pick up Turbo.

“What have we here?” the evil chef of leafy green yuckiness growled.

Eugene and Charlie yanked their costumes from their backpacks.



“Don’t touch my sidekick!” Captain Awesome yelled in his evil-fighting voice.

“You shall not harm Turbo on this day, Dr. Yuck Spinach! Not if Captain Awesome and I, Nacho Cheese Man, have anything to say about it!” Nacho Cheese Man shouted in his evil-fighting voice as well. Then, the superhero friends leaped into action.