Authors Note: I had this done 4 days ago….but then I got grounded xP (After you read this you will see why I now find this ironic)
I'll try to make a Thanksgiving special as well! (It'll be the sequel to this x) )
Takes place either prior, after or alternatively to 'In One Dimension'.
"…and only take the main roots, no back streets! Stay within sight of the building and if you ironically see Rodney, tell him to go-"
"I know!" Platyborg told him "Don't eat any unwrapped or open candy, don't eat any at all until I come back and you've checked it over three times, if I see a white van then duck into the bushes until it's gone, the same goes for a black one, don't go with any strangers, if someone asks me to come in; say no thank you, and if they try to make me, just scream the magic words and run away. You told me a million times!"
Doofenshmirtz scowled, crossing his arms "Wrong! I told you nine hundred and ninety nine times. Looks like we need to work on your math once you come back from trick or treating…"
The cyborg put his fake fangs in his mouth, adjusting his red and black cape, grabbing his pillowcase and heading towards the door. He turned back to the frowning dictator, a worried look trying to hide itself but failing horribly. Platyborg sighed "I'll be careful."
"I know you will, but…couldn't we wait another year? Maybe three? I could still go with you if you want-"
"Doof, I'm fine! I can do it!"
The man sighed, cracking a smile. "Alright…I know I'm overreacting just a little…"
Platyborg narrowed his eye "…You tried to bribe me with a new game system to stay home with you…"
"Alright, smarty-borg!" Doof glared, ushering him out the door "Go on, there won't be any candy left once we're through with this conversation."
The cyborg started making his way down the hallways to the elevator, the man calling a bunch of ridiculous warnings behind him. He slammed on the 'Door Close' button and Doofenshmirtz was cut off mid-warning as the automated doors closed, the box beginning to descend.
Platyborg sighed this time, stepping out of the elevator as it reached the lobby. A bright smile leapt its way onto his face, the thoughts of how much candy he'd get danced in his mind. He went to his first house and walked away after the sweet treats were dropped into his bag. He was so focused on the treats that he wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone taller, knocking him to the ground.
Carl took a sip of his soda, watching the monitors like he always did. He knew that watching children go trick or treating was- he had to admit -something a pedofile would do, but orders were orders. He continued to stare boredly at the screen and sighed when he took notice of something interesting as he watched the cyborg be ushered off route by those boys. A black van followed closely behind, and it was obvious who they were after, just waiting for the right opportunity to get its target alone.
The intern dialed Doofenshmirtz' number, hoping Platyborg would not give in to his better judgement and just go with the small strangers. It was times like these when stupidity paid off.
"A problem? Already?" Doof asked as if he were expecting it all night, and he was.
"I told you," Carl said through the phone "That van has been following you two for weeks."
"I've seen it but they didn't make any moves so I didn't act. They just followed, watching."
"See? I told you that letting him out by himself was a good idea. Our experiment worked completely as planned!"
"Yes, but now how I wanted it. I was kind of hoping they were after me."
The intern scoffed "Why? Sick of no attention? They're all after Platyborg, there's not one hit over you. Shouldn't you be happy that you're the one that isn't at risk here? I mean, what would we all do without you?"
Ignoring the question, the dictator said "I'll go get him while you keep monitoring."
Carl nodded, not caring that the man couldn't hear him as he hung up the phone. He had brought up the discussion on multiple occassions but never had he gotten any recognition to it or an answer. Doofenshmirtz either changed the subject or told him this: 'Some things are better left unknown, its just another backstory.'
The intern didn't understand how 'possibly getting yourself killed one day' could qualify as a backstory, but Doofenshmirtz was always complex...and fairly complicated to understand...
A triangular face stared back at him, but not smiling, no, this face was glaring. "Watch it chump! What are you even supposed to be, anyways?" Thaddeus scowled, his brother Thor right behind him. Thaddeus was dressed as an evil chemist and Thor was Frankenstein. They'd got the idea from another couple of chumps from last year.
Platyborg hesitated, frowning "I'm a vampire…I- I think…"
"You think?!"
"Yeah…"
The light haired boy started laughing, helping the cyborg to his feet "He thinks! Do you hear that, Thor? He thinks!" Thaddeus nudged his brother, and then turned to the cybernetic platypus "I like you, dude!" He slapped Platyborg on the back.
Platyborg stumbled from the force put into it "You- you do?"
"Yeah, yeah I do! Hey, you wanna come tricking with us?"
The cyborg looked confused "Don't you mean trick or treating?"
"No, no we don't" The boy smirked.
"I don't know…" Platyborg told him, thinking about what Doof told him about not going with strangers "I'm not supposed to go with strangers…"
"Who's a stranger?" Thaddeus started to usher him down the sidewalk "We're all friends here."
"We are?"
"Of course we are! Now come on! You'll have fun! I promise!"
"I will?" The cyborg stupidly asked. His only answer was being pushed further down the street and even further away from Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.
.
.
.
(Galaxina-the-Seedrian, I stole your line-breaker xD)
.
.
.
"I don't know about this…" Platyborg said, looking at the toilet paper in his hands along with the egg in his other hand.
"Don't be such a chump!" Thaddeus scolded him, after walking back to their 'hideout' and gathering some supplies, they met up with some other boys and they were now standing outside the home of Roger Doofenshmirtz, the former mayor of 2D Danville.
"I'm not!" The cyborg defended desperately.
"Then why're you so scared?"
"I'm not!" He repeated, getting offended.
"Then stop whining and throw it!" Thaddeus commanded and then challenged "You know, unless you're too chicken…"
Platyborg narrowed his eye, staring at the boys he had met not even a half an hour ago. He felt the need to prove them all wrong, that he wasn't a chicken and that he could totally go through with this. What was happening my dear children, is known as 'peer pressure'. Did you ever feel like another kid was trying to get you to do something you didn't want to do? If so, you've felt peer pressure. Peer pressure is the influence exerted by a peer group, encouraging individuals to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors in order to conform to group norms.
The cyborg brought his hand back into a throwing position, staring between the house, the toilet paper, and the small group of boys. He thought more and dropped the items to the ground, suddenly realizing an important fact. "I don't even know you guys! I've never even seen any of you before in my life before right now. You were never even mentioned in any story until now! Why should I lower my humanity and goodwill just to do what you want?"
Thaddeus thought about this "Grab him!"
Before Platyborg knew it, two boys grabbed his wrists, holding him in place.
"Since he wants to be a little wise guy, let's teach him a lesson he'll never forget." The boy snapped his fingers and a fist was raised. The cyborg closed his eye to brace for the impact.
A throat was cleared making everyone turn around, Doofenshmirtz glared down at all of them.
Platyborg looked horrified, murmuring the man's name quietly "Doof?"
"Watcha Doin?" The dictator asked and all the boys gulped.
Thaddeus was now the one who hesitated "N-Nothing sir, we were just-"
"Put the cyborg down." He commanded.
Platyborg was released but Doofenshmirtz wasn't finished yet and he grabbed hold of Thaddeus collar, lifting the boy off the ground. "If you ever touch my cyborg again, I will personally see to it that my robots deal with you in a manner most unholy and quite frightening. Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes Dictator Doofenshmirtz, sir…"
"Good. Now beat it." The man dropped the boy and he ran with his friends, but not before issuing a promise of revenge.
"One day, a new mayor will be elected and there will be no one powerful to protect you next time!" Thaddeus told the cyborg "I'll be back! Watch your back, chump!" And then all the kids ran off into the full moon lit night.
Doofenshmirtz began walking back into the direction of the building and Platyborg ran to keep up with him.
"Doof?" The cyborg asked, both scared and confused by the man's silence. "Back there…w-why did you-"
The man turned around "I told you to be back home by 8 o'clock sharp. It is now 9:30 at night. Do you know how worried I was? Do you even care?"
"I- I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't mean to what? To go against my orders? To leave within sight of the building? To deliberately disobey me?"
Platyborg kept silent, looking down.
"When you didn't walk through that front door, I thought the worst. I thought something horrible happened to you, that you were horribly hurt somewhere by yourself with no one around to help you."
"I-I'm sorry…"
"No, you're not."
"I am! I'm sorry I didn't listen and I disobeyed you and made you worry! I promise, it won't ever happen again."
"Oh, I know it won't happen again." Doof reassured him, continuing their walking "Because you're not going trick or treat by yourself for a long time. You will either be accompanied by me or Vanessa, a Normbot if you're even allowed out at all after this and I don't want to hear any complaints because my decision is final."
Platyborg nodded "That's okay. I don't want to go trick or treating next year anyways."
"You don't?"
"No. I want to stay home so you could teach me how to be as scary as you were back there!" The cyborg was smiling and the man's angry aura melted away.
"You think I was scary?"
"Did you see how fast they ran? It was like 'whoosh'! I swear I thought I saw a cloud of smoke trail behind them!"
"I'm not that intimidating…"
"Uh-huh! I was even scared! That's how scary you were!" The animal bragged.
Doofenshmirtz scoffed, turning to look ahead so as not to show his smile. He knew he could never stay mad for long at the thing, but he needed to be the responsible one here so he kept trying. The cyborg just kept bragging about how awesome he was until he thought about something else.
"Hey Doof?"
"Hm?"
"Back there…did you, uh…did you see…?"
"Yes, yes I did."
Platyborg shut his mouth and the man continued.
"And you're grounded."
"But I didn't do it! That's got to count for something! I stood up to them!"
"Yes, yes you did, and I couldn't be more proud of you." The man told him. "But that's not why you're grounded, and it's not for disobeying me either."
"If not for any of that, then what am I grounded for?"
"You left the lid down again in the bathroom, how many times do I have to tell you to leave it up?"
"Nuh-uh! That's not why I'm grounded!" The cyborg defended.
"Yes it is, I just said it was."
"Whatever, I know that's not the real reason."
"And what makes you so sure?"
"Because that's stupid! If I were you, I'd ground myself for two weeks without phone, TV, electronics, extra privileges or contact to the outside world, AND I'd be grounded for not listening and nearly getting myself sucker punched."
"I'm glad you think so, because that's exactly what's going to happen. You're grounded for two weeks without phone, TV, electronics, extra privileges or contact to the outside world. You are grounded for those exact reasons and as soon as we get home you are going to your room to think about what you did tonight."
The cyborg sighed "I guess that's fair…" He kept walking.
Doofenshmirtz sighed as well, stopping right in front of the door to the building. He couldn't be the bad guy all the time "Tell you what, if you can answer this question then you're off the hook." He didn't wait for a response and asked "What do you do when a stranger walks up to you and tries to get you to go with them?"
Platyborg smiled before screaming in horror, the answer to the question. "STRANGER DANGER! I NEED AN ADULT! I NEED AN ADULT!"