Mr. Toad's 2nd Wild Ride
For those who may not have read it, this is a sequel to my past story, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, in which Lance gave Todd driving lessons, ending in a crash landing on Fred's farm.
Lance continued to stare in horror at the condition of his jeep. It was dented all over, all tires went flat when they hit the mine, and the paint was barely there. Fred's and his grandfather had inspected it, and said it was fixable. Fred had volunteered to fix it himself. Said it would give him something to do. Though in the meanwhile, they were waiting for Scott to pick them up. Since he didn't have any family besides his brother, Scott, Kurt, Rogue, and Evan were the only older teens that were staying in the mansion. The professor insisted that the new mutants stay year round. Just thinking of new mutants made Lance look over at Bobby and Sam. Sam was working on showing Todd how to drive the tractor. Fred was looking over Lance's jeep, with Bobby keeping an eye on things. Every time Bobby saw that Todd was about to run into something, Fred simply yanked on the huge chain tied to his waist, and pull the tractor back onto a safe path. Fred's grandparent's were kind enough. Made Lance wonder why Fred had gotten mixed up with the monster truck rally and Mystique. Guess that'd be a tale for another day. Lance noticed a cloud of dust heading down the long dirt road, and soon recognized Scott's red car. The car parked in front of the house, and Scott and Kurt climbed out. "Man, how did you guys end up this far away from Bayville?" asked Scott, who just then noticed the condition of the jeep. "Never mind, I don't want to know." Kurt was staring at the tractor. "Uh, I know I'm new to this , but is a tractor supposed to be driven on it's back wheels only?" he asked, stunned and amazed. This caused not only Scott and Lance to turn in surprise, but Fred and Bobby. Sure enough, there was Todd, tearing up a field in an old John Deer tractor, driving it on the two back wheels only, with Sam dangling from the back, holding on for dear life. "BLOB! GET TOAD TO STOP THIS!" he yelled. Fred just stood there, staring. "Well, what do we do?" asked Bobby. "I dunno.... I never knew you could pop a wheelie on a tractor," mumbled the amazed teen. Lance sighed and focused his powers on the field, sending out a mini tremor, causing the tractor lose its balance, and fall back on all four tires. This also caused Todd to be thrown from the drivers seat, and onto the back of a pig. The startled pig started to buck and run wild, with Todd holding on for dear life. "Hey! Help me out man! I ain't ever driven a pig before yo! Where's the steering wheel?!" yelled Todd, gripping onto the pig, as it ran through the mud. Scott turned to Lance. "He is not getting into my car unless you hose him off first." Lance nodded, and all three teens went to go help Fred and Bobby catch a very scared pig.
About an four hours later, the teens were back at the mansion, very muddy and tired. "Whoa, what happened to you guys?" asked Kitty, running down the steps. "Let's just say, Todd can drive a pig a whole lot better than a car," muttered Lance, as he sat down on the steps. Kitty sat next to him. "This may be a bad time, but since you mention the walking swamp creature, what are you gonna do about him when we leave? There is no way he's coming with us," said Kitty. Lance buried his head in his hands. "I don't know. God this is giving a headache worse than the one I head when we got back from Asteroid M," groaned Lance. Unfortunately for Lance, Scott walked up. "As usual Alvers, you got yourself in a mess you can't fix." Lance growled and got up in Scott's face. "Careful Summers. This day has not been a good one, and right now self control is in a very limited stock." The two teens stood glaring at each other, till Kitty stepped between them. "Lance, you better go take a shower, we leave in four hours." Lance continued to glare at Scott, then turned away, and went inside to take a shower.
Todd was laying on a couch in one of the many open rooms. He was feeling really bad. He had heard Kitty and Lance talking. Sure it wasn't like he was going to be tossed out on the streets again. He'll just go back to the Brotherhood house. Though, that's what he didn't want to do. The house he'd be going back to would be empty, cold and unfriendly. He didn't want to be alone, not again. Even if only temporarily. Todd grabbed a pillow and hugged it close to his chest. He knew asking to stay at the mansion was out of the question, and it was clear that he wasn't going with Lance and Kitty. He couldn't go back to the farm with Fred, not after the tractor/pig incident. Tabitha and Pietro were thousands of miles away. As Todd sat there, he even wished that Mystique was still around. Sure she'd probably be really mean to him, but at least he wouldn't be alone. Todd gripped onto the pillow harder, trying to fight back tears. If he wasn't such a mess up or freak, he could probably have friends or even a family to visit right now, but instead he had no one but himself.
Just as he thought he was going to lose it and cry, a voice made him jump. "Who the heck let you in here you little swamp thing," growled Rogue, standing there with Risty. Todd quickly through the pillow across the room, and tried to get some composure. "Uh, um, no one. I was with Lance. Don't worry, I won't be here long. I guess once Lance takes off, I'll head back to the boarding house. The big, empty, lonely boarding house. All alone..." trailed off Todd, his depression becoming a little obvious. "You mean, those others are actually going to let you stay in that big home on your own?" asked Risty, who was horrified at the thought. There was alot of secrets she left behind hidden in that house when she had been Mystique. Todd shrugged and headed towards the door. "No choice really. Beats the streets yo," he muttered. Risty pushed Todd into a chair. "Why the rush? I'm sure if Rogue talked with the Professor, he'd let you stay," suggested Risty, smiling a little too tightly. Both Todd and Rogue stared at her. "WHAT?!" the both exclaimed after a few seconds. Risty sighed, knowing how stupid her idea was. Todd shrugged and got up. "Thanks anyways, but what sucks the most is I'm gonna end up being alone on Spring Break," sighed the depressed young teen. Just then Bobby, Sam, Jubilee, and Jamie popped their heads in. "Whoa, wait Todd. Did we just here right? You have a giant house, a giant EMPTY house, on Spring Break. One that's way out in the middle of no where's, and thanks to the many disturbances, no cop dares go near? AND YOUR NOT THROWING A PARY?!" they all exclaimed. The thought instantly made Todd grin. "Hey! You guys are right. Can't be alone when ya got half the teens in town in your house," he said, starting to hop up and down happily.
Todd and the other new mutants spent the next three hours planning out things. Naturally, no one was telling Lance. No one dared to breath a word of it to Scott. That meant excluding Kurt and Evan. The only ones who were in on it were the new mutants and Rogue. Rogue actually wanted nothing to do with it, but Risty insisted that they both help. "Hey Toad! Come on man, I'm gonna drop ya off at home before we leave!" yelled Lance. To be more exact, Scott was dropping him off, since Lance's jeep was still wrecked at Fred's farm. Todd quickly hopped off. He was in hurry to get back. He had a lot of stuff to swipe.
After a very silent and tense car ride up to the boarding house, Todd stood in the trashed living room. "Well, we're gonna need lots of room. But where do I put all this stuff?" he asked out loud. He thought for a second before an idea struck him. "The basement!" he yelled. He started moving the smaller things into the basement. But got real stumped when it came to moving the couch. It wasn't your average couch. It had a reinforced steel frame, strong enough to hold up Fred. One of the very few gifts from Magneto. Todd tried lifting it, tried pushing, and even tried kicking. This resulted in a very stubbed toe. Todd hopped on one foot, hissing in pain. He was about to resort to setting the couch on fire, when the door bell rang. Todd limped over to the door, and the other mutants from the institute were there. "Hey man. We thought we'd come over and help ya out. We knew ya would need all the help you could get to fix up this place," said Bobby, as he lead the rest of the kids into the house. "Uh, ok. I was trying to move the couch, but it's impossible yo," muttered Todd. "Ha, nothing is impossible for the Ice Man," said Bobby, grinning. He made an ice slide from the couch to the door way of the basement. "Ok, now we need to give it a big push. Cannonball, your up," ordered Bobby. Sam readied himself, then used is mutant power to rush the couch, only resulting in him knocking himself out cold. Bobby and Todd stood over him. "Um, ok new plan. How about if we all push real hard?" suggested Todd. Everyone agreed and they all started pushing on the couch, getting no where. "No use man, we don't have enough people," groaned Todd, as he stood next to Ray, pushing the couch. Just then Jamie's eyes lit up. He started pinching himself, creating plenty of copies of himself. They all joined in, and finally, they budged the couch, and sent it sliding towards the door, but the momentum of the push made it fly right over the stairs, and out the opposite wall. Everyone stood standing, staring at the huge whole in the wall. Todd hopped over to a closet and pulled out a giant black tarp. "Don't worry, this happens at least twice a month."
Hours later, they had the house cleared, and set up for a party. Plenty of food, a good stereo, and about three kegs. Not to mention various bottles of liquor. "Man Todd, where'd you guys get the liquor?" asked Jubilee, a little surprised. Todd shrugged. "It's left over from Mystique. She sorta had a drinking problem." That's when a soda can hit Todd in the back of the head. "Oops, sorry. It slipped," mumbled Risty, as she and Rogue set out chips and soda.
Around eleven, the party was well out of hand. The jocks had shown up, led by Duncan. They had pirated the kegs, and were doing their own drinking games, and monopolized the music selections. Though, everyone still danced and had fun, except for Todd. He was sitting outside, on the side of the house. True, he wasn't alone, but now with a crowd here, he was basically invisible. Alone in a crowd. That's when Todd noticed Duncan going to his car, and watched him grab a case of beer, then head back, without locking his car. An evil grin crossed Todd's face, and he quickly hopped over to the car. He started to hot wire the car, but quickly found Duncan's secret hiding place for the keys, the ignition. Todd shrugged and started the car, put it in drive, and hit the highway. "What the....? Why is the car moving?" asked Risty, as she and on of the football players sat up from the backseat. Todd jumped a little and turned his head. "What are you guys doing back there?!" he asked, a little shocked. "Uh, nothing..." Risty muttered, blushing. "Hey, your that little slime ball Tolensky! Ah man, Duncan is gonna love the fact that I'm gonna cream you for stealing his car," growled the jock, as he lunged for Todd. Todd screamed and turned the wheel sharply, knocking the jock off balance, causing him to whack his head on the window, knocking him out. "Way to go you little Toad! It's been forever since I last had a date. Why I outta knock your little head in!" screamed Risty. Todd looked over, a puzzled look on his face. "You know, you really do remind me of someone," he muttered, still driving. Risty was about to reply, when she noticed a car pulling up on them fast.
It was Duncan in a friends car. They were tailing Todd fast. "Ah man, I'm dead," moaned Todd, as he hit the gas. Luckily for him, Duncan had made it so his car went faster than legally allowed. Todd sped ahead of the upcoming car, but he was still being tailed closely. "Just pull over, they won't beat that badly," suggested Risty. Todd shook his head. "No way. The only reason these guys haven't killed me is cuz I always had Fred to watch my back. Unless I shake these guys, I'm screwed." Just then an idea hit him. He hit the brakes. The car behind them swerved to avoid hitting them. Todd used this chance to do a 180 and peeling out, speeding back towards the house. In the process, he clipped the other vehicle, sending it spinning out of control, and into a nearby house.
Principal Kelly had just sat himself down, and was about to enjoy an evening of T.V. and coffee, when a sports car crashed in through the wall behind him. Duncan and another jock both crawled out of the car, collapsing on the ground. When they looked up they saw a very angry, coffee covered Kelly. "Maybe we need to have a talk about under age drinking with the Police Chief again Mr. Mathews," he growled, just as Duncan passed out.
Back in the other car, Todd and Risty were laughing. "You sent those goons right into Kelly's house," she laughed. She looked forward, and saw the house coming up quickly. "Uh, Todd we're not being chased anymore. You can slow down and go back to the party," she muttered, staring right ahead. Todd was pushing the brake down flat, and nothing was happening. "Oh weak yo. I think that little move I pulled back there killed the brakes," moaned Todd. Both he and Risty screamed as the car hit a bump in the road, sending the car air born.
The party was winding down, the beer was gone, and the food was eaten. Everyone was about to leave when they heard a loud screaming, and sudden crash that shook the house. Everyone rushed up stairs, to find Duncan's car sticking in through the wall. Todd was gripping the wheel tightly. Risty stared straight forward, whiter than usual. Todd stuck his head out the window, and grinned a little at the crowd. "Uh, party's over?" he said weakly, as Risty passed out.