RUGRATS: CRUSADE OF THE CRIMSON ROSEBUSH
Written by Christopher Rangel

ACT I: CRAWL

Stu Pickles was walking around the kitchen one night when there was a loud crash.
"What is happening?" he asked as he went to the living room. He looked around and saw that a whole bunch of furniture had been turned over, but there was no sign of life anywhere.
"Hello?" he said. "Anyone there?" He looked up and saw his father, Lou Pickles, pinned to the ceiling with knives, but no blood dripped down. Stu was out of breath, staggering backwards and unsure what to do. He screamed.

The ambulance left the next morning, and the children all gathered around the window to see their grandfather's final trip from home.
"HOly shit!" said Chuckie. "Someone killed the fuck out of your grandpa!"
"I know", said Tommy. He held his hand to the window. "And I won't rest until I know which one of you mother fucking thumb suckers did it!" He turned around to the rest of the children, his eyes filled with malice.
"Whoa man, you're not saying one of us did this!" exclaimed Phil.
"Yeah, that is stupid!" said Lil.
"I'll be damned if it wasn't one of you", said Tommy. He pulled a gun out of his diaper.
"Holy shit!" said Angelica. "Tommy, put that the fuck away! You are too young to use that! You are a baby!"
"I'm not just a baby!" said Tommy. "I'm a baby with a vendetta, and a motherfucking gun to cap you homies with!"
"Put the gun down", said Susie. "I know that youo know that none of us did this. Just put the gun down." Tommy's hands began to shake, then he dropped the gun and cried.
"I'm gonna kill the cock sucker that did this!" Tommy screamed.
"Shut the fuck up babies!" Screamed Didi. "I am trying to grieve over here! Hey, what is this?" Didi found a note on the table, read it, then slammed it back down and left the room crying.
"What the fuck was that about?" asked Angelica. "C'mon guys, let's go!" So Angelica unlocked the door to the babies play area and they made their way to the table. Using teamwork, Tommy made his way to the top of the table and read the note.
"I can't fucking read this", said Tommy, so he dropped the letter and it landed in Angelica's hand.
"I'm fucking done with this!" she read out loud. "You'd better fucking run, Stu, because I'm coming for you next! Love, Chas."
"Holy shit!" said Chuckie. "My dad killed your grandfather!" Tommy tackled Chuckie, taking a knife out of his diaper and holding it to Chuckie's throat.
"Alright, fuckin' Chuckie", said Tommy. "If you don't tell me where your stick-ass dad is, I'm gonna fucking open your pussy ass neck!"
"I don't know where my dad is!" yelled Chuckie.
"Holy fuck!" said Didi as she came into the room. She grabbed Tommy and took away the knife and made for the phone to put him in juvee or some shit.
"No, wait", said Stu as he entered the room, carrying another letter. "I have read this letter from dad. He's been training the children since birth for this very occasion; he knew something was up with Chas. These babies are trained warriors. This is what they must do. Put Tommy down." Didi put Tommy down and Stu made his way to his son. "Now listen here, son", said Stu. "Don't kill Chuckie; you must not kill the son for the sins of the father. You must kill the father. Now go. Find Charles Finster. Make me proud. Make Grandpa proud." He put the knife back in Tommy's hand. "I wish you luck on your journey. To find Charles, you must crawl until you can walk, and then walk until you're able to run. Then you will find him right in front of you."
So Stu kicked all of the kids out of the house (with the permission of everyone's parents, except for Chuckie's). To begin with they crawled to Chuckie's house. The door was ajar and they were able to make their way inside.
"Kimi!" Chuckie cried. "Kimi, can you hear me!?" They looked up and saw Kira, Chuckie's adopted mother, pinned to the ceiling with knives. Chuckie threw up.
"Holy fuck!" exclaimed Lil.
"This motherfucker gonna pay", said Tommy, keeping his hand near the gun in his diaper. "I guarantee it." They could hear crying coming from deeper in the house, so they went to check it out. They eventually stopped at the closet door.
"Kimi!" Tommy yelled at the door. "Kimi, its okay! Its us! It is your friends and not your crazy ass dad!"
The door opened and Kimi stumbled out, rubbing the tears from her eyes.
"Holy fuck, Chuck", said Kimi. "Your dad is a fucking lunatic and he killed my mom!"
"He's your dad as well!" Chuckie whined.
"No, he's not!" said Kimi. "Not anymore. My dad is back in Paris, or Japan, or dead, or wherever the fuck he is. He is not your dad. Not anymore."
"None of that matters", said Tommy. "What we need to do is find that cock sucker. Do you have any idea where he went next."
"He said he was going to your place to teach your dad a lesson."
"Yeah, we know", said Tommy. "It happened. We have to move on."
"I'm sorry", said Kimi.
"Me too", said Tommy, looking grimly into the distance. "But what's done is done, and all we can do is keep moving forward."
So they made their way outside. Kimi told her story, how she hid herself in the closet as Chas started to yell, and saw through the crack of the door as he stabbed Kira for the first time. She didn't look after that, and had no idea how he was able to get her onto the ceiling like that.
They stopped at the Pickles house to retrieve their loyal companion Spike from the yard.
"Spike will carry all the supplies we need on our quest", said Tommy, and with that they made their way from their familiar neighborhood.

The Sun was falling. It was getting cold. They stopped at a nearby Inn with a bar attached. They stumbled into the bar. Tommy tapped Chuckie on the shoulder, meaning for him to begin asking questions to the adults.
"Where are we?" asked Chuckie.
"You're a little young to be here, now aren't you?" said the man.
"Cut the shit and tell us where we are!" exclaimed Chuckie, on edge.
"Ha! I like it! You've got spirit, kid. You're in none other than Winchester Nevada, the toughest neck of the toughest woods, and you're talking to the toughest of the tough, Ryu, the Street Fighter Champion. I..." then he stopped as soon as he saw Kimi. "Holy shit. Kimi."
"Do I know you?" asked Kimi.
"I'm your father", said Ryu, a tear coming to his eye. Kimi began to cry. "Hey, if you kids need somewhere to stay, you can come over to my place. Any friend of Kimi's is a friend of mine." So they went to Ryu's dojo.
"It's not much", said Ryu as he opened the door. "But its home. I can put some sleeping bags down on the fighting ground. Make yourselves at home and all that shit." He went over to the kitchen and began to prepare some tea. He brought some out for everyone and they all drank the tea.
"Kira got back in touch with me a few months ago, but she's been silent for the past few days. And you guys are an awful long way away from home. Is everything alright?"
"Kira's dead", said Chuckie. "My dad killed her."
"Chas? Shit. I knew I could sense something evil within him. I thought it was just my imagination. I should have listened to Lou..." He looked at Tommy. "Hey, wait, Lou trained you guys, didn't he?"
"Yes", said Tommy. "He was the best warrior, until Chuckie's dad killed him."
"Motherfucker", said Ryu. He breathed in deep, then exhaled. "Don't worry, I know you guys can attain vengeance. Ultimately, you must face the Chas... the Finster... alone. That is your burden. But it will be my burden to make sure you're ready. To make sure you learn to walk, and afterwards to run. Now, babies, show me what you got!" He drew fighting pose and so did all the babies and children. They had an epic Kung-Fu match with chops and kicks everywhere. The babies played the offensive, and Ryu the defensive, to gauge their abilities. The babies landed expertly trained punches and kicks at Ryu, ultimately knocking him down.
"Not bad", said Ryu. "For a mob. Anyways, you can keep this place as your home base, and tomorrow you can begin looking for leads on the Finster's whereabouts. For now, rest. You've got a long crusade ahead of you."
They slept in the dojo, except for Tommy. He tried to fall asleep but could not. In the middle of the night he heard some loud banging sounds coming from Ryu's room. He got up and went to investigate, peeking through the crack in the door to see what was going on. He saw Ryu held against the wall by a couple goons, with a man in a black leather jacket wielding a baseball bat wraped in barbed wire standing in front of him.
"You'll nver get away with this, Negan", said Ryu.
"Really?" said Negan, twirling his bat around. "Cause I think I already have!" A third goon punched Ryu in the gut. Tommy assembled his friends and made for the room.
"Hey asshole!" said Tommy. Negan turned around, amused.
"Ha!" he said. "You runts are going nowhere. Saviors! Take care of them!" Negan jumped out of the window and his goons approached the kids.
Chuckie looked at Tommy.
"You ready for this?"
"Time to kick some ass".
The three Saviors jumped at the babies, but they jumped out of the way. Immediately Angelica, the oldest and most trained of the group, jumped onto one of their shoulders and snaped the guys fuckin' neck. The other two guys looked at each other in horror, but then turned to continue the fight. One of them sparred one on one with Tommy, until Tommy bopped him in the nose, sending him staggering backwards, then he pulled the knife from his diaper and leaped and slit the guy's throat. The third guy started to scream.
"No, please, don't kill me! I can tell you anything you want to know!"
"Where's the Finster?" Tommy asked, pointing his bloody knife in the man's face.
"I... I don't know..."
"Then die!"
"Wait!" yelled Phil. "We can still ask him another question."
"Very well", said Tommy. "Where is your base?"
"Its right under the bar, The Faint of Hearts."
"You'll take us there tomorrow."
"Oh... oh, shit." Ryu bound him with rope and spent the rest of the night vigilant, watching over him.
No one could sleep well that night. Tommy could see Chuckie shaking as he tried to fall asleep. Tommy crawled over to him.
"Hey Chuckie, everything alright?"
"My dad is a monster", said Chuckie. "Does that make me a monster as well?"
"No Chuckie", said Tommy. "You are not a monster. You're a baby. A good baby. We'll take your dad down, don't worry about it."
"Okay", said Chuckie. "If you say so. But we can't even find him!"
"Don't worry", said Tommy. "We will find him. We don't know where he is now, but we'll find out. We have a lead. Tomorrow, we make for The Faint of Hearts."

Negan entered the dimly lit command room.
"Sorry I'm late", said Negan. "We got held up a bit at the dojo, but my guys should have taken care of it by now." He looked to the table, around which sat a whole bunch of shady looking people, including Master Xehanort, Wilson Fisk (The Kingpin), Wilhelm Ryan, and Rufus Shinra. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, stood up. He looked around the table with a quiet sense of pride, then faced Negan.
"We've received word from the Finster. He's ready to move forward with the plan. Have you recovered the Protajewel?"
Negan gave a brief laugh, then reached into his pocket with a smile on his face. He held up a round, shining red jewel.
"Is this the stone you're looking for?"

TO BE CONTINUED