To take place after Sunset Cruise Episode Four: Jeepers Creepers
~o.0.o~
Julie let out a sigh as she examined the kitchen's freezer, finding it completely empty.
"So, we're all out of food then, huh?"
DJ, who was standing behind her, nodded.
"Yeah. We have a few scraps, but we need to stock up."
"Didn't think we'd run out so fast," Julie sighed, "alright, look. I'll tell the captain to change his course. We'll stop off along the coast, and you can take a bus into the city to grab some food. Here."
Julie handed DJ a wad of money.
"Damn- isn't this a little much?" DJ asked.
"One of the perks of working for Milton. He's made so much money he has no problems throwing it around. Since there's a little extra, I'll call the contestants up, and you can see if they want anything."
"Gotcha," DJ nodded, "I'll go get ready."
Julie made her way out on deck, and walked over to the intercom.
"Attention everyone- please report on deck ASAP. Thank you."
A few minutes later, most of the contestants were all gathered on deck, a few still in their pajamas.
"What's going on?" Cody yawned, "It's still early."
"You better have a good reason for waking me up," Heather threatened.
"Well, Heather, if you'd just shut up a minute, I could get to explaining. As it turns out, we're mostly out of food, so I'm sending DJ out to go shopping."
Julie held up a clipboard.
"If there's anything specific you want, mark it down here. And... Another thing. Since you guys have been such good sports throughout five seasons of this show, I'll allow some of you to tag along and take a trip into the city with DJ. Anyone interested?"
"Yeah, why not?" Duncan smiled, "It'll be nice to get out and about for a change."
"I'd like to go too, if that's okay," Luna said.
"Count me in," Mordecai smirked, "this is a chance for me to pick up the new Sonic game?"
At this, Veronica started laughing.
"Oh god, you're going to get Sonic Boom? Nobody tell him."
"What?" Mordecai asked, "Confused, what's wrong with...?"
"Ahem. I'm interested in tagging along- this is a good chance to learn about the different cultures down here," Margo said.
"Oh! Oh! Explosivo wants to go!"
Deborah thought a moment and said, "I'd like to pick up one or two things too, if that's alright."
"And I better go with them," Justin smirked, "you know, make a public appearance, make the day of a couple fans."
"I'm sure," Julie mumbled, rolling her eyes.
Just then, DJ appeared.
"I'm all ready," he said, "got the list?"
"Yeah- here."
Julie handed DJ the clipboard after it was done being passed around, and said, "Also, Duncan, Justin and a few others wanted to come with you, if that's alright."
"Of course!" DJ smiled, "It'd be nice to have company."
"In that case, you guys have fun," Julie told them, "it looks like we're about to dock just outside Acapulco. Pick me up some chocolate, alright?"
"Will do, boss. See you in a bit."
~o.0.o~
While the DJ's group prepared to disembark, everyone else either went back to sleep, or went about their morning like normal.
Veronica, who was heading back to her room to play some Fallout 3, ended up bumping into Miri in the hallway.
"Oh, uh, hey!" Veronica greeted nervously, "What's up, Miri?"
"Oh, hi Veronica!" Miri said cheerfully, "I was just about to head down to the cargo hold. You know those animatronics Julie used as decorations from a couple nights ago? She was nice enough to let me tinker around with them."
"Oh yeah? What are you planning on doing with them?"
"I don't know, reprogram them to be my personal robo-butlers. But then again, it's been a while since I've watched robots duel to the death..."
"Wow- I was just going to go play some video games, but that sounds way cooler right now! Mind if I help out?"
"Of course not- come on!" Miri smiled.
The two girls headed down into the cargo hold, where they searched through various containers.
"Okay, Julie used animatronics of Freddy and Jason- shouldn't be too hard to find," Miri reasoned.
"Uh... Miri?" Veronica called, "I found something."
"What is it?"
Miri turned, and saw Veronica standing in front of three animatronics- but they weren't the ones Julie had used. One of them was a large, friendly-looking bear with a top hat and cane. The second was a blue rabbit with a bow-tie, as well as a curly mustache. Finally, there was a feminine-looking duck- or perhaps a chicken- wearing a cheerleader's outfit.
"Um... Those weren't there when we came in," Miri said nervously.
"But they are animatronics," Veronica pointed out, "and we can't find the other ones- maybe Julie meant for you to have these instead?"
"I'm not sure," Miri frowned, "I think she would have told me, but... Hmm, maybe she won't mind. Here, help me bring these back to my room."
~o.0.o~
"Well," DJ smiled, "here we are."
The contestants had just arrived at the city, and were just now getting off the bus.
"Finally- where's the game store?" Mordecai asked.
"Why don't you check this?" Margo suggested, handing him a map.
Mordecai snatched it up, and quickly poured over it.
"What- but this is in- I can't read this!"
"Alright everyone, listen up," DJ announced, "it's ten o'clock right now. The next bus back leaves in two hours, so meet me here by then. I'm gonna go find the store- if anyone wants to come with, feel free."
Everyone began to split up into groups- DJ, Justin, Duncan and Luna in one, Deborah, Margo and Izzy in another, with Mordecai going off on his own in the hopes of finding a video game store.
"So, you have any real idea where we're going?" Duncan asked.
"Well, I mean... we have to find a food store. That shouldn't be too hard," DJ shrugged, "besides, we can always ask someone for help."
"Right. Which of us speaks fluent Spanish again?" Justin frowned.
"...okay, point taken," DJ muttered, "I guess maybe we should have brought Alejandro."
"Um, why are all these people staring at us?" Luna asked.
The others looked around, and saw crowds had begun to gather on the streets, pointing and whispering.
"Heh. It's only natural they'd catch on that a famous movie star was in their city," Justin smiled, "they'll probably be lining up for autographs-"
"Dude, you were in TWO movies," Duncan told him, "and only one was a starring role. I'm not sure that counts as-"
"Hey, those were good movies," Jusin snapped, "especially Revenge of the Explosions 2: The Reckoning. Critics cried when my character was killed off!"
Justin smiled, and turned to the crowd.
"Hola! Do you guys want an autograph?" He asked.
The crowd didn't respond, but continued talking amongst themselves in rather annoyed tones, casting the group mean glares.
"They don't seem happy," Luna whimpered.
"Riiight," DJ gulped, "let's just keep going."
~o.0.o~
Mordecai began to grow more and more frustrated as he wandered the streets, unable to find a single store. Exasperated, he finally walked into a bar, seeking help.
The inside of the bar was rather dimly lit, covered in neon signs and television sets. It was sparsely populated, given the time of day, but that didn't stop nearly every single patron from giving Mordecai strange looks. One of them, who seemed to speak fluent english, cast an amused glance over.
"Hola. Aren't you a little young to be here, friend?" He asked.
"I'm not here for you crappy drinks," Mordecai scoffed, "I'm just looking for a game store."
The man smiled, and nodded.
"Game store, eh? There have been many recent releases. Perhaps you're looking for Shadows of Mordor? Borderlands? I know- you're looking for Supwr Smash Brothers, aren't you?"
"Actually, I'm looking for Sonic Boom," Mordecai smirked.
There was a collective gasp, and everyone went silent. The man who had been speaking to Mordecai stood up and glared.
"I think it's time for you to leave."
"Leave?" Mordecai demanded, "Just tell me where I can find-"
"We don't talk about Sonic Boom around here," the man growled, taking a menacing step forward.
"U-um... Um..." Mordecai stammered, frozen in place, "I just-"
The next thing Mordecai knew, he was ejected from the bar, and thrown into the street.
"Fine!" He shouted, "I'll show you! I'll show all of you!"
Mordecai picked himself up, and sniffled a little.
"Jerks..."
When he turned around, there were two men in black standing behind him. Before Mordecai could say a word, one of the men gestured to him.
"That's the one that's been asking about Sonic Boom."
Mordecai felt something hit him in the back of the head, and he was dragged off, unconscious.
~o.0.o~
Back on the boat, Veronica was walking around, quietly observing Miri's too as the redhead worked on one of the animatronics. Miri's room was a lot different than everyone else's. Sure, everyone had personalized their space; Justin had hung up posters of the movies he was in, Cody had various tv and movie memorabilia organized everywhere, and Veronica herself had lined her shelves with games- as well as various action figures of her favorite game characters. Miri, however, had papers everywhere, test tubes and beakers filled with unknown liquids, as well as lab equipment scattered around. There was one thing, however, that made Veronica smile- the pointer from the oujia board they had used.
"These robots are... Really weird," Miri commented.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, I mean, they seem pretty old, but on the other hand the tech inside them seems pretty advanced," Miri frowned, tweeting around with the wires inside, "I haven't seen half of this stuff before outside of books an documentaries."
Veronica walked over, and examined one of the robots- the chicken. Despite not being alive- hell with that, not even activated- it seemed to stare back at her.
"Echh. Creepy," Veronica muttered.
"Right?" Miri nodded.
As soon as Veronica turned to walk away, the robot suddenly turned on.
"Hey there, kids!" The chicken called cheerfully, "Let's eat!"
"Um, Veronica? Did you...?"
"I didn't touch it!"
"Okay," a voice said, "what the hell is going on here?"
The two girls turned, and saw Noah standing in the doorway.
"I'm just passing through, minding my own business when I hear you two talking about science and robots-" Noah gestured to the animatronics, "-and then I see this nonsense."
"What's your favorite pizza?" The chicken asked, "Mine's extra cheese!"
"And why is that duck dressed like a cheerleader?" Noah asked.
"Hey, we found it this way," Veronica shrugged.
"Of course you did," Noah sighed.
"So... Um... You want to help us reprogram these and mess around with Quinn?" Veronica asked.
"...yeah, alright," Noah nodded.
~o.0.o~
"Izzy sure is taking a long time," Margo huffed as she looked out to the street, "she said she'd be back by now."
Deborah checked her watch and said, "It's been nearly an hour now. I have I have no idea what the hold up could be. I was just hoping to get some baking supplies, if I had known it would have taken this long..."
At that moment, a car came to a skidding halt in front of them. The front window rolled down, and Izzy poked her head out.
"Sorry that took so long guys! Hop in!"
The two girls did as instructed, both getting into the back seat.
"This is a really nice car," Deborah observed, a bit wary, "where did you get this?"
"I borrowed it!" Izzy said cheerfully, slamming the gas pedal.
Margo and Deborah let out a yelp as the car came to a roaring start, Izzy cruising down the road at an uncomfortable speed.
"So, where to, friends of mine?" Izzy asked.
"I wa just hoping to pick up some supplies," Deborah gulped, "y'know, for cooking."
"And I was hoping to see some sights," Margo said nervously.
"Scenic route it is!" Izzy cheered.
The three sped along the road in silence for a few minutes, before sirens could be heard in the distance.
Margo let out a nervous chuckle.
"Must have been an accident."
In response, Izzy adjusted her rear view mirror, and began to speed up a little.
"Izzy, what are you doing?" Deborah asked, alarmed.
"Other than avoiding a diplomatic incident? You two should be thanking me!"
"Oh no," Deborah groaned, "this car is stolen- YOU STOLE THIS CAR!"
"Well, what IS stealing, really?" Izzy asked, "I mean, sure, you could SAY I stole it, but I fully intended to give it bag, AND throw in a bag of churros to boot. If anything, I end up on the short end of the stick!"
"And we're all about to end up in jail!" Margo shouted.
"Relax- this isn't my first time at the rodeo," Izzy smiled, "now, get ready; we're about to go off that ramp.
"Wait, whaAAAAAAAAAA-"
~o.0.o~
"Are they still out there?" Luna asked.
"Yep," Duncan sighed, "looks like it."
The group had finally made it to the store, and were at the check out counter. What was unnerving them was the mass of people outside, staring in at them.
"Why won't they leave?" Luna frowned, "Are- are those pitchforks?"
"Okay, that settles it. I'm going out to talk to them," Duncan muttered.
"Hey, wait!"
Duncan stormed outside, Luna following close behind.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Duncan demanded.
A man appeared at the front of the group, glaring Duncan down.
"You are from Camp TV, yes?"
"That's right," Duncan nodded.
"And Camp TV is owned by one Patrick Milton," the man scoffed, "the very same man who came in years ago, shooting a movie here. A movie that, instead of cgi, featured real explosions and accidents. A movie that ended up wrecking half our city and sinking our economy."
"I heard about that," Luna nodded.
"Look man, I'm sorry to hear that," Duncan told him, "Milton is an asshole, sure, but we didn't have anything to do with that."
"No," the man agreed, "however, Camp TV has become a very valuable asset to him. And it would be a shame if something were to happen to its stars."
The crowd began to March forward as Justin and DJ came out of the store, multiple carts of groceries in tow.
"Okay!" DJ cheered, "We've got the- WHY IS THERE AN ANGRY MOB?"
"Just run!" Duncan shouted, turning and sprinting off.
"Duncan!" DJ shouted, "Don't you leave me with these groceries, man!"
~o.0.o~
"Wake him up."
Mordecai let out a groan as a bright light was flashed into his eyes. He shook his head, and looked around the room he was in. He was tied to a chair in front of a wooden table, and a man was pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Mordecai Baxter," the man said, slamming a file down on the table, "I heard you were looking for government property. Dangerous government property."
"Wha... What?" Mordecai stammered, "I just wanted to play Sonic Boom! It's a videogame, that's all-"
The man laughed.
"Sonic Boom? Sonic Boom isn't a videogame. Did you know that six months before release, half of the development company quit their jobs?"
"What?" Mordecai whimpered.
"Did you ALSO know since the release of Sonic Boom, the rates of job loss, violence, deforestation, and wild fires has gone up?"
"I just want to play Sonic-"
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE SONIC BOOM!"
The man slammed his fists down on the table, and straightened his tie.
"You're a reality star now. Influential. If people hear you've been playing this game, they'll want to play, too. Only one problem. It isn't a game- it's a weapon. It was never meant to hit shelves back home in America. We wanted to use it for national security."
"Can you just let me go?" Mordecai groaned.
"We'll let you go," the man agreed, "but first... Here."
The man slid Mordecai a controller, and turned on a tv across the room.
"First, I'd like you to understand the magnitude of what this game has done."
To Mordecai's surprise, the game popped up on the screen, and he smiled.
"So... I can play?"
"Oh, you can play," the man nodded, "you can play."
Mordecai smirked, and took the controller. Hitting start, he began to relax- until the game actually started.
"Wait a second," Mordecai frowned, "these graphics... the acting... and this level design!"
As the game went on, his cries began to grow more and more frantic.
"Oh god, the lag! The terrible gameplay! What... Who wrote this? This is terrible writing? Why was this made? WHYYYYYYY?"
"You're not going to tell a soul about this game, are you?" The man in black asked.
"No! I promise I'll never mention it again!"
"Poor bastard. Get him out of here."
~o.0.o~
Miri, Veronica, and Noah snickered as they waited outside Quinn's door, the three animatronics in tow.
"Okay," Miri said, "I've got the rabbit hooked up to this remote controller here. So I'll have him walk inside, and scare the pants off of Quinn. For science."
Miri began to fiddle around with the controller, and the bunny slowly lurched forward, and slammed open Quinn's door. The bunny walked inside, and a loud shriek was heard. Veronica held a hand to her mouth, and began snickering.
"Heh heh, yeah. Take that, you jerk."
"Okay, okay, we've had our fun," Miri said, "I really should bring that thing back out here."
Miri began to use the controller again- but instead of the robot coming back outside, there was another scream.
"That should have worked!" Miri gasped.
Veronica craned her head into the room, jaw immediately dropping.
"WHY DOES IT HAVE A KNIFE?" Veronica exclaimed, "WHO GAVE IT A KNIFE?"
"What?!" Miri panicked.
The three looked into the room to see Quinn baked into a corner, the bunny brandishing a large knife in front of her.
"No! Bad robot!" Miri shouted, "Very bad!"
The bunny turned and looked at Miri, giving Quinn just enough time to rush out of her room and down the hall. The bunny slowly walked out of the room, and peered at the three.
"What's going on?" Noah demanded, "I thought you said you could control this thing!"
"T-this must be a malfunction!" Miri cried.
"This is some malfunction!" Noah exclaimed.
"Everybody RUN!" Veronica shouted, grabbing Miri's hand and speeding down the hall. Noah quickly followed suit, with the animatronic giving chase. When the three rounded the corner, however, they found the other two animatronics blocking their path.
Veronica sighed.
"Well, SHIT!"
~o.0.o~
"This isn't happening!" Deborah groaned as she looked out the car window, watching the police slowly begin to catch up, "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening-"
"Get it together!" Izzy snapped, "You'd think this was the first car chase you'd ever been in!"
"This IS the first car chase I've been in! NORMAL PEOPLE DO NOT GET INTO CAR CHASES!"
"Oh," Izzy frowned. After a second, genuinely trying to be courteous, she added, "Should I go slower?"
"No! Then the police are going to- why did you have to steal he car in the first place?!"
"Okay, I'm not condoning the theft of a vehicle," Margo gulped, "but maybe we should just think of a way out of this first?"
Izzy scanned the environment, and smiled.
"A-HA! I got this, guys!"
Izzy made a very abrupt turn, and sped down an alley, splashing mud onto a civilian in the process.
"Ugh! I can't believe Ricardo got mud all of his new shirt!" The passerby exclaimed.
Izzy sped through the alley, managing to finally lose the police.
"Woo!" The redhead cheered, "That was fun, right guys?"
"NO!"
"Eh, you'll tell your kids about this someday," Izzy shrugged, "well, we might as well catch up with the others."
~o.0.o~
When Mordecai finally came to, he found himself face down on the sidewalk, a crowd of people staring at him.
"Ugh..." He groaned, "What happened?"
Mordecai slowly got to his feet, and rubbed his temples. His head was pounding, and he could hear what sounded like shouting in the distance.
"What the-"
Mordecai turned, and saw DJ, Duncan, Justin and Luna frantically pushing shopping carts as they outran an angry horde. Upon seeing Mordecai, DJ shouted, "GET BACK TO THE BOAT!"
Mordecai blinked, and then immediately turned and started sprinting. He didn't know what was happening, and he didn't care. All he knew was that enough had happened to him that day, and he just wanted to get back to the boat.
After several minutes, he finally made it to the boat, and ran on to the deck. Julie was calmly drinking a cup of coffee while several other contestants (Cody, Heather, Mark, Bridgette and Alejandro) hung around.
"Go! We need to get out of here!" Mordecai panted.
"I would, but DJ is still out for- why is there an angry mob headed for my boat?" Julie demanded.
DJ and company finally arrived, shopping carts still in tow.
"We're here," he choked out, "we need to leave!"
"We're down three people, and what the HELL is going on here?"
"No... No time to explain," Duncan gulped, "I- oh crap."
The mob had finally caught up.
"This is it!" One of them shouted, "CAPTURE THEM!"
~o.0.o~
"Oh, this is ghastly! You call this a Beef Wellington? This is RAW!"
Lucky and Johnny sat in the former's room, eating lunch as they watched Kitchen Nightmares.
"So... What? You watch this for the cooking? I didn't think you liked handling food," Johnny frowned.
"Nah. Mostly I just like watching Ramsay yell at people," Lucky smiled, taking a swig of whiskey.
"You really should ease up on that. No wonder you and Cass got along so well."
"Yeah, well- wait, you hear that?"
The two listened for a moment, indeed hearing a commotion from the hallway.
Lucky got up and walked over to the door, slowly opening it.
"THEY'RE ALIVE!" Veronica shouted as she ran past the door, "EVERYBODY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
Lucky watched as she, Noah, and Miri ran past, a robotic bunny and a robotic bear in hot pursuit. A third animatronic, the chicken, stopped in front if the doorway, and stared at Lucky.
"...want some pizza?" It asked.
Lucky took a drink, and shut the door.
The chicken sighed, and knocked on the door.
~o.0.o~
The two animatronics finally cornered Miri, Veronica, and Noah into one of the bathroom's, causing them to back into the wall.
"Great- what now?" Noah groaned.
Veronica looked around the room.
"Oh. Duh."
Veronica turned on one of the nearby sinks, and with some effort managed to break off the faucet, causing a stream of water to burst out, drenching the animatronics- and causing them to short circuit. Veronica smiled, and turned the water off.
"Well, that was something," Noah muttered, "thanks for almost getting me killed."
"I'm sorry," Miri sighed, "I have no idea what went wrong!"
Priscylla, who was watching from the contro room, smiled.
"Oh, I might have an idea."
~o.0.o~
Back on deck, Julie was glaring at the angry mob that was forming around her boat.
"Okay. Someone better have a very good, very detailed explanation as to why this is happening."
"Revenge, that's why!" The leader of the horde shouted, "Revenge for what Milton-"
There was the sound of a revving engine, and out of nowhere Izzy came speeding down the road towards the crowd. Panicked, the mob dispersed, with the redhead and her two companions exiting the vehicle. Izzy flailed around a tire iron menacingly at the crowd. Although it on its own obviously wasn't a big deal, the crazed look in her eye caused everyone to back off.
"Diablo Rojo! Diablo Rojo!" One of the people shouted.
"These people know you?" Margo asked.
"Who knows? I mean, I get up to SOOO much stuff wen in not on this show, it's hard to keep track of. Someone WAS going to write a story about it, but-"
"Never mind that, get on the boat!" Justin shouted.
"Oh, right!"
The three hurried on to the deck, and Julie motioned to the captain to get going, the preparations quickly being made. Within minutes, the boat was pulling say from the dock.
"Than you for that, DJ," Julie nodded, "do you have my chocolate?"
DJ nodded, and handed her the bar of candy.
"Thank you. Now, if you could start putting that away, that would be great, thanks."
DJ let out a groan, and began wheeling the food away.
"Well, I'm not going to ask what happened, because frankly I don't need the stress," Julie shrugged, "so go relax and have lunch."
Everyone began to go their separate ways, with Deborah heaving a sigh and looking at Margo.
"Well, that was something."
"I know, right?" Izzy cheered, popping up between them, "I can't wait 'til the next shopping trip!"
At this, Deborah. Fainted.
"...huh," Izzy frowned, "what's HER problem?"
~o.0.o~
"You AREN'T a chef! Get out of this kitchen!"
Lucky, Johnny, and the chicken sat around the TV, slowly eating pizza.
"So... This is good pizza," Lucky commented.
"I know!" Chica, the robot said happily, "It's my favorite!"
Chica turnes, and went back to watching TV as Lucky and Johnny exchanged glances.
"...yeah, Lucky? I'm gonna be needin' a drink of that."
(A/N: finally, the first Off the Air. I'm sorry updating took so long, life has been pretty hectic for me. I had to go through getting used to my job, a trip to the hospital, and today I'm actually moving to a new place. It's been pretty damn stressful, but I'm glad I finally have this done, and I sorry if it wasn't quite up to expectations- I promise the next chapter will be better. I was originally planning on releasing this alongside episode five of the main story, but SOOOO much about the episode changed- and I'm not talking about reworking the episode so that the events of this were referenced. So many twists and turns are dropped, especially near the end, that I'm still planning it out. The next episode is almost all about the bad guys, so prepare to see your favorite heroes get repeatedly screwed over. Since this is taking so long, I'm actually going to make an offer I don't usually extend to the public. If you're interested, PM me, and I'll send you a sneak peak sometime today or tomorrow, depending on when I'm available.
Anyway, most of the references this epiaode, especially the animatronics should be rather obvious. I definitely think it got a little wacky and over the top at times, especially with Sonic Boom, but is like to point out that Cody was literally mugged by a bear in season two- so if this is where you draw your lines, I don't know what to tell you.
Anyway, hope you all had a good read- I'll update as soon as I'm settled in, and feel free to take me up on my offer!)