Author's Note: Yes people, it's finally here. A spinoff series that I hope to do some justice to, releasing it in the way that I personally feel it should have been released, and not the way it was released originally back in 2005 in the U.K. and in 2008 in the U.S. Also, a little bit of trivial information for you guys. The original spinoff series aired for the 4 Sundays in November of 2008, so it only makes sense for me to release my version exactly 7 years later, in November of 2015. However, while the pilot of the original series was a season 8 Rugrats episode, focusing around Angelica and Susie's first day of preschool, the first 2 chapters of this story, which will equal the imaginary season 10 two parter Rugrats special, will actually focus around test evaluations to get into preschool, rather than the first day, just to be different. Two episodes of Full House are being homage again for this, one of them, is pretty obvious by what I just mentioned, the other, you'll have to read this to find out, plus, well, if you don't get what I did here, I'll explain myself at the end of the second chapter. Now, let's get on, with the pilot, and the start, of this story!
Pre-School Daze (Reboot)
Summary: The way that spinoff series should have been done all along. That's right, we'll be taking a look at Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Zack, and for season 1 anyway, Jesse's days in preschool.
Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, his aunty Celeste, and any OC's you don't recognize, while Jesse is owned by Jesse Barrow-Stories, and Peter is owned by TCKing12. Any other characters that get introduced in later chapters that I don't own, I'll give credit to in an author's note at either the start or end of the chapter.
Chapter 1, The Test Part 1
Everyone was out on the Pickles front lawn, while Stu looked at Dana Barrow's motorcycle, and the adults were enjoying one another's company, while the toddlers were playing with a new toy that Jesse had recently gotten. A toy construction set, complete with hard hats, tools, and more.
"You know Laura, it's great that you two could get some time off work and come over to spend the day with us." Said Didi, as she handed Laura a glass of some lemonade.
"Thank you Didi. It's also nice that Stu agreed to look at Dana's harly with him, as we can't seem to figure out what's been going on. He's been having trouble with it ever since the last time he brought it to your house." Said Laura.
Over by the motorcycle, Stu figured out what was going on.
"Well, I think I found the problem. It's in your exhaust system. We also now know where Spike's been hiding his soft ball." Said Stu, as he pulled out a soft ball from beneath the front part of the motorcycle.
"Yuck!" Said Dana in disgust, as he stared at the dirty soft ball in Stu's hand, just as Spiffi came up and grabbed it out of his hand.
Just then, Celeste drove up in her driverless van, and walked over with Zack to where the moms were chatting.
"Oh, hi Celeste, the kids are playing right over there to your left." Said Didi, as Celeste took a seat on an empty chair next to Didi and Laura.
"You go have fun Zack." Said Celeste, as she kissed the top of his forehead, and Zack went off to play with his friends.
"So, where were you this morning?" Didi asked.
"We just got finished with Zack's test evaluation to get into The Woodberry Preschool." Said Celeste.
"I didn't know you were looking into preschools for Zack already." Said Laura.
"Awe, I figure we'll enter the pups into whatever school we see fit when the time's ready." Said Betty.
"Chaz and I have been meaning to look into preschools for Chuckie and Kimi, but between work at the Java Lava, and other things going on, it keeps slipping our minds." Said Kira.
"Well, you do realize that one of the most important things right now in your child's current stage of development is finding a good preschool, and The Woodberry School just happens to be an excellent preschool! At their preschool, they say that if you get your child on the right track now, they'll be on the fast track for life." Celeste explained to the other adults.
"Uh, um, oh, uh, yeah. Well, we're, sort of, at the um, pre, preschool stage." Said Stu, overhearing the conversation.
Over in the grass, Zack approached the other toddlers.
"Hi guys." Said Zack, as he picked up a hard hat, put it on, and joined the other toddlers.
"Why did you come so late Zack?" Tommy asked.
"Oh, I was busy taking a test to get into preschool." Zack replied.
"Preschool? It's time for us to go to preschool?" Chuckie asked in panic.
"Well I don't know about you Chuckie but my aunt is trying to get me into one of the bestest preschools around. And judging by what I heardid the growed ups talking about, preschool might not be that far away for you guys too." Said Zack, as the babies went back to hammering on the little toy wooden construction block.
Back over at where the adults were talking, they continued to chat with one another.
"Wow isn't that cute? The babies are really enjoying the construction set Dana and I got Jesse for his birthday." Said Laura.
"Yeah, they look like little construction workers." Said Kira.
"All they're missing is a little sippy cup sticking out of their diapers." Said Betty.
"So, about this preschool thing. I seriously think it's something you ought to look into. And in the meantime, you shouldn't let your kids get too far behind. You should work with them on letters, numbers, motor skills." Said Celeste.
"Oh yes, I believe I read something about that in Lipschitz about preparing for preschool." Said Didi.
"Well, uh, watch this. Come here champ." Said Stu, as he ran out and picked up Tommy from where he was playing.
He brought his two-year-old son over to where the adults were congregated, and reached into a bucket of blocks, holding one up at Tommy's level.
"Ok son, what's this?" Stu asked, pointing his free hand to the block.
Tommy just stared up at the block, but he knew the adults wouldn't understand his answer, but he had to try.
"Block!" The other toddlers heard from across the yard.
"Bock." Is what came out of his mouth to the ears of the adults.
"See? That means block." Said Stu, as Tommy took the block from his father's hand, and went back to play with his friends.
Zack saw Tommy with the block.
"Hey Tommy, could I play with that block please?" Zack asked.
"Sure Zack!" Tommy replied, as he gave his friend the block.
Unknown to the other toddlers, what Zack said to Tommy, could also be understood by the adults.
"Wow! Zack talks good!" Exclaimed Stu.
Realizing this, Zack turned towards the adults.
"Zack talks well." Said Zack.
The other toddlers just stared at Zack in shock. In the time they had known him, they had no idea he was able to speak to the adults. They were so shocked, they were speechless, unsure of what to say next.
"Well Deed, maybe we should check out this preschool for Tommy." Said Stu.
"Oh I don't know Stu, maybe I'd better consult Lipschitz first.
Zack was so impressed, that he decided to be a show off, reciting the alphabet by singing the alphabet song.
" G, P." Sang Zack.
"And the sooner, the better." Said Stu to the other adults.
Later, the babies were all inside the playpen in Tommy and Dil's living room, still shocked, but finally able to speak to Zack again.
"Why didn't you tell us you could talk to growed ups Zack?" Chuckie asked.
"I don't know, but Chuckie, you can talk to them, can't you?" Zack asked.
"Well, yeah, sometimes." Chuckie stammered.
"Well, I only talked to my aunty when we were alone. Today was the firstest time I spoke up to any growed up other than her, at my test. They had to evaluate what I know. I couldn't lie to them, could I?" Zack asked the others.
"Yeah, but I think we're in trouble." Said Phil.
"Our mommies and daddies wanna test us." Said Lil.
"And I'm not all that good at talking to growed ups." Panicked Chuckie.
"Come on Chuckie, you're a great talker." Said Kimi.
"Yeah guys, we know we're really smart, I bet ya we'll do just fine on this test thing." Said Tommy.
Chuckie relaxed a little bit.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Said Chuckie.
The following morning, Angelica was dropped off at the Pickles house, as she waited for Taffy to stop by to take her to preschool. The other babies were all over for the day to play, when Angelica skipped up to the outside of the playpen.
"Hey babies, wanna hear my graduation song again?" Angelica asked.
"Uh, no." Said Dil, covering his ears.
The other babies followed and covered their ears, but Angelica proceeded to ignore this and start singing anyway.
The wheels on the bus went round and round, round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus went round and round, all through the town.
The wheels on the bus went…
Angelica stopped singing just as she heard the doorbell ring. Peter, who was over visiting, went to answer the door, revealing it was Taffy, who had arrived to take Angelica to preschool.
"Hey Angelica, Taffy is here to take you to school." Peter called to Angelica in the living room.
"Coming!" Called Angelica, as she went to meet Taffy at the door.
"Morning Taffy, wanna hear my graduation song?" Angelica asked.
"Angelica, you know that song about a bunch of wheels going round and round on the bus is, so, so, not cool." Said Taffy.
"It isn't?" Angelica asked, surprised.
Peter then turned to Angelica.
"Tell you what Angelica, why don't you wait and practice your graduation song in the car with the rest of the kids." Suggested Peter.
"Uh, thanks Peter." Said Taffy.
"No problem Taffy, it's your morning to drive car pool." Said Peter, as he ushered Taffy and Angelica out the door.
Later, both, Peter and Taffy came to preschool to pick Angelica up. They walked into Miss Weemer's classroom to find the kids practicing their song for graduation.
"Don't mind us, we're here early to pick up Angelica from preschool." Said Peter, as he was about to go sit over in the corner and watch.
"Yeah we'll be waiting over there." Said Taffy, as she went to join Peter, when Miss Weemer stopped them.
"Oh come on you two, there's always room in the circle for Taffy and Peter." Said Miss Weemer excitedly, as the class cheered.
"Oh I don't know. I guess, we can join you guys, you know, if you like a song about a bunch of wheels going round and round." Said Taffy.
"But I thought you said the song wasn't cool." Said Angelica.
"Ok, let's face it, your song is a loser." Said Taffy.
"Sadly, I agree with her." Said Peter.
"Well, perhaps you two could teach us a song that's a winner." Suggested Miss Weemer.
"I bet they don't know any cool songs." Said Clark.
"Yes they do. Taffy plays guitar and is in a band, and she knows lots of cool songs. And Peter knows the Disney characters, and you know they're always singing stuff in their movies." Said Angelica.
Clark then turned to Taffy and Peter.
"Ok wise guys, name one." Clark demanded.
"Turn up the Music." Taffy replied.
"Reflections." Said Peter.
"Never heard of them." Clark snapped.
"I think Miss Weemer has a point. If Taffy and Peter can teach us a cool song for our graduation show, then we should do it." Said Susie.
"Come on kids, what do you say?" Peter asked the class.
"Oh all right, but I'd better get the lead." Angelica demanded.
"I think Susie should get the lead, but we'll worry about that later. Come on kids, do you like this idea?" Peter asked the class.
The whole class clapped and cheered.
"Wonderful! Peter, Taffy, congratulations, you'll gonna be helping us with our graduation show." Said Miss Weemer, as Peter and Taffy smiled, shaking her hand, as the class let out another cheer.
Meanwhile, back at the Pickles house, all of the adults were sitting around the kitchen table, looking at applications for the Woodberry School.
"There's quite an extensive list of questions here." Said Kira, looking at the list.
"Well yeah! Letters, numbers, motor skills." Read aloud Howard as he looked at the various items to check off on the list.
"I don't know, are you sure this preschool is right for our kids? I mean, look at these questions!" Said Betty, as she turned to a later page in the application and showed it to the other adults. Howard looked at what Betty had in front of her.
"Describe the geometric shape most familiar to your offspring. I don't know what the answer is." Said Howard.
"I don't know what the question is." Said Laura.
Overhearing this, all of the babies who were playing in the living room, turned to one another.
"You guys, I think we're in trouble. Our mommies and daddies are trying to get us signed up to take this test, and they can't even figure out stuff about us." Cried Chuckie.
"Don't you worry Chuckie, we're gonna do fine, but just in case, what kind of stuff did they ask you at your test Zack?" Tommy asked.
"Well, why don't I show you. I'll be the testing proctor, that's the one who gives the test, while you guys are the students. We'll practice and see what you know." Suggested Zack.
"That's a great idea Zack!" Said Kimi excitedly.
Zack blushed and smiled at Kimi, then ran off and got several things, and brought them back to the group. Amongst the things he brought back, was a bucket full of different shaped blocks, a box of crayons, and some paper.
"Ok you guys, let's get started. I'm gonna ask each of you a question to see what you know. Now, I know I can understand you guys, but you should respond like you would to a growed up who can't." Instructed Zack, as the other toddlers listened intently to his directions.
"Ok Zack, we're ready for your firstest question." Said Tommy.
"Ok Tommy, I want you to reach into this box of crayons, and pull out the green crayon." Said Zack.
Tommy reached into the box of crayons, but he pulled out the purple one instead.
"Nice try Tommy, but I was looking for green, you know, the color of Reptar." Said Zack.
"Oh, sorry, I get my colors mixed up sometimes." Said Tommy, as he reached in and pulled out the green crayon.
They continued to go around the circle and Zack continued to ask questions. They finally got to the last part of the test, shapes.
"Ok Phil, can you show me what a triangle looks like?" Zack asked, holding the bucket of shapes in front of Phil, where he picked up a square.
"Ta da, a triangle." Said Phil, showing the square to the rest of the group.
"That's not a triangle Phillip, that's a square." Snapped Lil.
"No it's not Lillian." Argued Phil.
"Yes it is Phillip." Argued Lil.
"No it's not!" Argued Phil.
"Uh, sorry Phil, but your sister's right, it is a square." Said Zack.
"At the rate we're going, we're never gonna get into preschool." Said Chuckie.
Meanwhile, the dads had all moved down to the basement, while the moms and Zack's aunt were upstairs, fixing lunch for the toddlers, when Peter came downstairs, after dropping Angelica off at Susie's house to play after preschool. He had come over to work with Stu on an invention, when he found the dads, all looking at the Woodberry application.
"Hey Stu, I'm here to work with you on that Patti Pants Puppy project. What are you guys doing anyway?" Peter asked, as he took an empty seat at the table.
"Oh, we're just, looking over this application for the Woodberry school." Said Stu.
"Oh, looking into preschools for Tommy, Chuckie, Jesse, Kimi, Phil, and Lil?" Peter asked the other dads.
They all nodded their heads.
"Yeah but I don't know if Tommy is gonna get into this school, I mean, look at these questions!" Said Stu, showing the application to Peter.
"Evaluate the scope of your child's verbal skills." Read aloud Peter.
"Well?" Howard asked.
"Well, Chuckie did start talking back when we went to Paris." Said Chaz.
"Yeah but I'll admit, I don't hear him say much more than the word, 'No,' whenever we speak to him. And anything that comes out of Tommy's mouth sounds like jibberish." Said Stu.
"Well then there's the answer! Our kids speak two languages, English and Jibberish." Said Howard.
"I agree whole heartedly." Said Dana.
"I can't believe I'm doing this, but if we want our kids to go to school, looks like we're gonna have to give our kids an edge." Said Stu.
"Come on Stu, are you sure this is really necessary? Maybe you should rethink this whole, preschool idea." Said Peter.
"Come on Peter, we need to at least try. Besides, I'm Tommy's dad. If I don't lie for him, who will." Said Stu.
"And I want my kids to get a good education too." Said Howard.
"Ok, it's your kids, I was only trying to help." Said Peter.
The adults went about filling out the application, marking off the bilingual checkbox, and making up answers to the questions they had no clue as to what the answers would be.
Back upstairs, the babies were all seated around the table, eating their lunch.
"I'm worried about this test you guys." Said Chuckie in between bites of his sandwich.
"Chuckie, all you gotta do is be yourself at this test. They just wanna see what you know already, so they know what we still need to learn when we go to school." Explained Zack.
"Easy for you to say, you can already talk to growed ups. You can already read your letters and numbers. Me? I don't know nothing." Said Chuckie.
"Oh sure you do Chuckie, you put your blocks away by size, color, and shape, and you showed us what an A looked like when we needed to go find one for my mommy. So, I think you're smarter than you think. We all are." Said Tommy.
"I don't know Tommy, you don't even know the difference between purple and green." Said Phil.
"Well you thought a square was a triangle!" Yelled Lil.
"Guys, we're only babies, we don't know everything yet. That's why we're gonna go to school. Just, show them what you know, and don't pretend to know something when you don't know something." Said Kimi.
"Good advice Kimi. Yeah, just, be yourselves. Oh, but Phil and Lil, don't show up at the preschool test covered in mud." Said Zack.
"But I do my bestest when I'm all covered in mud." Said Phil.
"Maybe so, but you'll get a better mark if you show up clean." Said Zack.
"Oh, ok." Phil replied, as he stared down at his sandwich, a bit unsure if he could face this test.
Several days passed, as Angelica's preschool class continued to get ready for their graduation show, and the adults sent in the applications for the Woodberry School. The toddlers more or less, put the test out of their minds, until the day when the Woodberry School called the parents back. Didi received the call, and went down to the basement to tell Stu what she had heard.
"Stu, guess what?" Didi asked.
"What?" Stu replied, as he looked up from screwing a leg into a doll's body.
"The Woodberry School just called. You must have done an excellent job with that application, as they're interested in meeting Tommy." Said Didi.
"Wow really? That's great!" Said Stu excitedly.
"Yeah and they can meet with us this afternoon for an interview and a test to evaluate his abilities. I'm gonna go give Tommy a bath, somehow he seems smarter when he's clean. Plus, he was playing out in the backyard with the dogs, I'd at least like him to smell clean for this if nothing else." Said Didi, as she went back upstairs to get him ready.
Chaz, Kira, Betty, Howard, Laura and Dana all got calls back too, and everyone's interviews and evaluations would be that afternoon.
To save on parking spaces, they all decided to go together in one van to the interview. Stu though, was a bit worried.
"Something wrong Stu?" Chaz asked.
"Guys, what are we gonna do? I mean, we lied through our teeth on that thing and said our kids are geniuses." Said Stu with a panic.
"Well, Betty is just finishing up giving the twins a bath now. I only hope getting them clean helps." Said Howard.
"Yeah, me too." Stu muttered, as the moms and kids came out, and piled into the van.
On the way to the school, the babies all sat in their car seats, Chuckie, looking the most nervous.
"Well you guys, today's the day, and just member what Zack toldid us. Just, show them what we know, and we'll be fine." Said Tommy to the rest of the babies.
And this, ends part 1. So, what will happen at the interview and evaluation? We'll find out, in part 2, so please, do stay tuned!
Author's Note: The part where Tommy was getting purple and green mixed up, I took from 2 Rugrats episodes. He did this in, 'Autumn Leaves,' when he tried to color the leaves with a purple crayon, only to be reminded by Chuckie that green is the color leaves should be when they're healthy, and then, in the episode, 'Bow Wow Wedding Vows,' at the very beginning of the episode when they're admiring spring time in the backyard, Tommy comments on how everything looks so purple, when Kimi reminds him that he meant to say green, and he admits that he gets his colors mixed up sometimes. But back in 'At the Movies,' when he tells the other babies about Reptar, he told them that it was a big green dinosaur, so he knows the difference between green and purple, he just, doesn't always remember them, unless something he knows is a certain color comes to mind. Hince, why I had Zack give him the Reptar hint during their mock test. Anyway, I'll be back with part 2 shortly, and we'll see what happens.
