Fiction | Writing Prompts | Fantasy | Superhero
Top Team — Woof!
Can three mutated wannabe heroes find common cause?
This story is a response to Jonathon Sawyer’s Monday Mashup #10 challenge. More details below!
Whump!
Poofie slammed the door of his VW Beetle and bared his teeth. “Good to see you, Coop!” he barked.
Coop swivelled his head ninety degrees to get a better view, and then stalked closer to his old friend. Poofie was leaning back on the car, gently tossing the key in his paw.
Once a tall and athletic man, Poofie had been transformed at the time of the Progenitor Incident, and Coop couldn’t help but have his thoughts dragged back to that time whenever they saw one another. The day when everything changed. Some citizens got lucky, and kept their human form. Many died immediately, or soon after. But a few, like themselves, suffered bizarre mutations, taking on the characteristics of...
“Thanks for meeting me, bud,” drawled Poofie.
“Why did you want to meet?” asked Coop. Since his transformation, Coop found it hard to speak in flowing sentences. His words always sounded…
“There’s my guy,” said Poofie, interrupting the thought by thumping Coop across his feathered shoulder. “My teammate.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I’ve been thinking. We team up. We’re almost like superheroes now.”
“Poofie, I am a human pigeon. Shitting on people’s heads is not a superpower.”
“Ah, don’t put yourself down, Coop. You can fly, right.”
“Sort of. But, really, what is the benefit? And you look like a dog. I can not see how we can save anyone.”
“Criminals with hostages? Terrorists? Bank robbers? Man, we just run in, and whoosh! The baddies get the heck out of there.”
“That is… optimistic.”
Coop decided not to point out that Poofie was a rather unthreatening sort of dog-person, too.
Poofie had now ambled across the sidewalk and was staring further down the street, absently braiding a strand of his beautiful fluffy hair.
Coop swiveled his head again to stare closely at his old friend again. “And if they do not?”
“What’s that, bud?”
“Run away. The bad guys.”
“Ach, shush… Those’re just details, brother! We can work all that stuff out once we get up and running. Suits. Weapons. A base. A team name. C’mon, I wanna fight crime, and you have to be part of it, dude. You’ll be Pigeon Man. I’m Dog Man, of course… and then we have Camel Girl.”
“Camel… girl?”
“Yeah. Also known as Gillian MacSween. You haven’t met, but she’ll be here in a mo’, brother. Ahh… yeah — here she comes.”
Coop’s head swivelled again to see a camel-headed woman approaching.
It struck him that she was large. Very large, with shoulders that were at least five feet across, a double-humped back squeezed into a hoodie, and mighty hoofed feet emerging from her jeans. The ground seemed to shake as she walked.
“I am starting to see why this might work,” said Coop, “with some muscle on the team.“
“She’s no muscle,” scoffed Poofie, “Gill’s a mage. Expect a magical greeting for luck — it’s her thing. Hey, Gill!”
“Oh, Goddess, protect this star–punched Pomeranian,” incanted the camel-woman pompously, wiggling hands which were more human-looking than the rest of her anatomy. “And his pigeon pal. Does it deliver messages, or just observe the world from high up among the Gods, doing the birdly things that birds do? Shazook!!”
With this, Gill stopped, looking expectantly from one to the other of them with huge dark eyes.
Coop blinked. “Did something happen?”
Gillian-aka-Camel Girl frowned. “Magical protection, of course. You’re welcome.” She was now looking fierce; Coop wondered if Camel Girl was prone to spitting.
“Thanks, hun,” responded Poofie, now opening the door of his car. “Now, time to get moving, team! I have two possible secret bases to show you, with pretty decent long-term leases available.
“But we…” began Coop.
“Enough chit-chat, team,” Poofie barked. “It’s time to get in our temporary team vehicle.”
There was a moment of silence as Camel Girl looked at the vehicle, then at Coop and Poofie, then back again. “I’m not fitting in there,” she said at last.
“Obstacles ‘re made to be overcome, folks,” Poofie purred. “we can fold down the passenger seat — let you stretch out.”
There was another silence.
“So… I guess I’m flying, then,” sighed Coop.
“Yeah, man. And don’t shit on my beetle.”
Read on… part 2 is here!
Thanks for reading! Here are my scores:
Prompt #1: Write a story guest-starring my perfect Pomeranian pal, Poofie/Prompt #2: Write a story where the narrator is a pigeon... (I mashed these two up, but hopefully still get the 2pts!)Constraints:
A Volkswagon Beetle (1pt)
A needlessly long incantation for a simple magical effect (1pt; borrowing a little from the challenge wording itself 😉)
A camel (1pt)
A braid of hair (1pt)
A character needs to put a large thing into a smaller thing (camel into beetle; 2pts)
This table (1pt)Literary Device:
An example of Onomatopoeia (whump or whoosh – 5pts)TOTAL: 14Before you go, you can find more of my fiction here, as well as all of my advice and guidance on creative writing right here. Or avoid missing a thing by getting all my posts direct to your inbox. Do that here! 🧠 Thank you! 🌟