It's odd how I can come up story ideas like this at 1 in the morning, huh?
In accordance with Cartoon Network FINALLY airing OK K.O. again on their timeline, I felt another K.O. fanfic would help celebrate the show's glorious return to the airwaves once again! Anywho, this story is meant to take place somewhere in Season Two (at least before Enid's P.O.I.N.T. Prep arc), and is to be something of a pseudo-sequel to S1's "Do You Have Anymore In The Back?", starring a certain villainous creature from said episode acting as this story's main antagonist.
In addition, this story was originally planned as a single chapter story, but after realizing how much stuff I'm writing in this story, I simply decided to divide it in chapters instead. It's probably not going to be too, too many chapters though (probably four, kinda like my other OK K.O. stories "Fragaria Fighter" and "Highway to the Danger Zone") so either way, I hope you all still enjoy the story in the end.
Anyways, enough chitter-chatter, let's get on with the story already!
OK K.O! Let's Be Heroes is owned by Ian Jones-Quartey and Cartoon Network. (I do not own any of its characters nor its properties. This is purely a non-profit fanfic made for fun.)
DOPPELGANGERS AMONG US
CHAPTER ONE: A FRACAS AT THE FRAME OUTLET
The full moon shone brightly over the sleepy area that was Lakewood Plaza Turbo that one crisp summer's night. The local stores and businesses have all closed down for the night, the lights around the parking lot have shut down, and there was nary a customer or a hero in sight. With only the lucid sounds of chirping crickets, hooting owls, and the occasional car passing by down the road, everything was peaceful and calm that starry night.
*CLANG! CLATTER!*
...well, mostly…
A loud, metallic clang resonated close by Mr. Gar's Bodega and Hero Supply, specifically coming from a small air vent that led to the back of the store. The grate cover on the vent began to rattle and clatter loudly and repeatedly, to the point where with one harsh bang, the cover was unhinged from the vent and fell to the ground with a dull clunk, leaving it open for anyone to enter.
Or in this case, open for someone to exit from.
Something then managed to slither its way out of the vent, gasping hoarsely as it was able to free itself from the tight, cramped space of the air vent. Soon, now allowed to freely move around, the creature slunk stealthily through the shadows, emerging from behind the bodega while making his way to the front parking lot.
The pitch-black darkness of the plaza gave the unknown creature the perfect technique to not be easily spotted, the only light to be seen being the creature's bright-yellow eyes. Soon, the creature reached the front of the bodega and waddled its way in the middle of the barren parking lot. It growled with silent rage, its strikingly-yellow eyes shining brightly from within the night.
"Grrr, finally! For far too long have I been cooped up in that blasted corner store," the mysterious being hissed venomously by himself, "Stuck alone in some lousy stockroom to fend myself for scraps of food, fending off boredom every day and night…"
It looked all around the plaza. The stores were all empty and dark, and the parking lot and quads were barren of any heroes or other people to hang around in at such late hours. Everything at the moment was quiet.
The creature smirked devilishly. Its chance to cause mischief has finally began.
"Time to have a little bit of fun…" it snickered lowly. It then spotted a certain store a few feet away that caught its attention.
'iFrame Outlet', the sign read.
The creature smirked to itself. It slithered towards the store and using its malleable shape, it managed to squeeze itself through the locked door and began scanning the store's darkened interior. Picture frames, glass cases, and photographs were lined across the store walls as far as the eye could see.
The creature looked around for a while until it spotted a certain framed photo from across the way. A photo of a cape-wearing skeleton and a bear with a pink t-shirt on hung on the far end of the store, a small golden plaque underneath it reading "EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH". The creature's smirk grew into a devious grin.
Slinking towards the photo, the creature looked closely at the picture with deep interest. Its gaze was especially fixated upon the bear as it scanned the grizzly employee. The creature smirked giddily, it was time to put its plan into motion.
"Let's see how this accursed plaza handles a bit of...double trouble…" the creature sniggered vehemently.
And with that said, the mysterious creature began glowing white, its shapeable body beginning to change form as the room was engulfed in an especially bright, white light, its glow being the only thing to shine brightly within the quiet and dark plaza. Soon, the light went away and just like that, the plaza was silent and pitch black once again as the night wore on peacefully once again.
Early the next morning, as the sun shone brightly in the cloudly yellow sky, the heroes of Lakewood Plaza were all soon getting ready to start another day of hard work. The parking lot was now full of cars, the stores were now opened up for the general public, and many employees were all clocking in to their respective stores to begin work, while other Lakewood citizens were heading out for some shopping and time to hang out with others.
And as of now, nobody seemed to have seen or notice anything about the mysterious creature that was lurking around the plaza last night.
Soon enough, a familiar purple battle van tore into the parking lot, screeching to a halt close by Gar's Bodega. The door slid open, revealing three certain heroes to hop out of the vehicle and head out to the bodega they all worked at.
"Whelp, another day, another migraine…" Enid groaned out, stretching her still-tired limbs.
"Oof, you said it…" agreed Radicles, locking up his van just as K.O. happily bounded out from the back behind him.
K.O., Enid, and Rad had just returned from having an early and quick breakfast up at a local fast food joint and were both now ready to get started on another tiresome work day. While Rad and Enid were looking and feeling quite tired and unready for another hectic work day, K.O. was naturally the only one of the trio to have a bright, sunny grin on his face as he skipped away towards the bodega with his friends.
"It's a shame Mr. Gar had to go to that hero expo in Battleburg today," K.O. commented casually, "and that he won't be back until later this afternoon...he's gonna miss out on another fun day of work…" Enid raised an eyebrow at K.O.'s bizarrely out-of-nowhere statement and groaned softly.
"K.O., what did I say about speaking purely in exposition dialogue?" Enid asked sternly. K.O. blushed embarrassingly.
"W-What? I'm just saying that the boss is at an expo today!" defended the hero-in-training worriedly, "I just think it'll be kinda weird without Mr. Gar around for most of the day today!" Rad scoffed and smirked confidently.
"Eh, I don't mind either way…" waved off Rad, "So long as there's nothing bad to disrupt our work today, he could be at that expo for days for all I care…"
"Pssh, yeah, I agree…" smirked Enid, "Would be nice to not have him breathin' down our necks while we're doing our work. Now, we can all have a chance to relax a bit today!" Her comment was met with relieved agreements between Radicles and K.O. as they all approached the bodega to unlock the front doors and to get ready for work.
A green sedan was then seen parking close by as well, with the driver then closing the car door and ready to head over to his place of work. K.O. beamed brightly and waved 'hello' to this familiar plaza worker in his usual friendly and excited fashion.
"Morning, Brandon!" he called out happily. Enid and Rad also greeted him with silent, but friendly hand waves. Brandon noticed the trio and returned the friendly gesture, albeit with a loud and tired yawn.
"Ohhh...mornin', guys!" he replied back as the three bodega workers retreated into their store to begin work, leaving the bear to get ready to start his own shift at his own store.
As we all know, Brandon works at a picture-frame store with his best friend, Real Magic Skeleton, and unfortunately, Brandon wasn't really considered a hard worker by any other means. Normally, he'd spend his work hours sleeping, eating, lazing about, or practicing his drumming skills while RMS would do the more important work in his place, much to the skeletal sage's chagrin. But still, the two were firm and friendly bros through and through, regardless of their different work ethics.
Brandon soon reached the iFrame Outlet store and stepped inside, yawning all the while as he spotted Real Magic Skeleton at the main register, too distracted by reading a magazine to notice his best bud's arrival.
"*Yawn* Mornin', Magi…" Brandon greeted sleepily as he walked past RMS and headed towards the break room..
"Morning, Brandon…" RMS greeted back, before suddenly after hearing Brandon's voice, his pupils shrank and he gasped out in surprise.
"Whah...wait a min...Br-Br-Brandon!?" squawked RMS in disbelief.
"That's my name, don't wear it out…" replied Brandon with another yawn, unaware of RMS' sudden shock. The skeleton then high-jumped away from the register counter and landed in front of Brandon before the bear could retreat into the break room. Brandon reeled back in surprise upon seeing RMS spontaneously appear before him.
"GAHH! RMS, what the heck are ya doing!?" Brandon cried out.
"BRANDON-WHERE-THE-HECK-DID-YOU-COME-FROM-I THOUGHT-YOU-WERE-IN-THE-" RMS babbled crazily, his arms a-flailing as Brandon grabbed him by the shoulders, cutting off his sentence.
"Magi, Magi, calm down!" Brandon eased down RMS gently, the skeleton in question finally managing to calm himself down, even though he still looked quite rattled throughout.
"Brandon, why on Earth were you outside?" RMS asked more civilly, "You were just in Sir iFrame's office a few minutes ago!"
Brandon tilted his head in confusion and let go of his skeletal friend. "Dude, how could be in the boss' office already if I just got here? I haven't even clocked in yet!" Now it was RMS' turn to be greatly baffled by all this.
"B-B-But you were already here, dude!" he countered, "You've actually been here before I was!"
Brandon snorted back a laugh and wrapped a friendly arm around RMS's shoulders. "Heh, please, Magi. When have I ever been to work on time?" But still, RMS was too confused and shocked by this sudden occurrence to listen carefully.
"I'm serious, Brandon! A few minutes ago, you were helping to clean out the manager's office for him!" explained RMS. Unfortunately, Brandon simply rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Pssh, yeah, sure I did, RMS…" Brandon assured jokingly, his playful sarcasm not enough to quell poor RMS' frazzled emotions. But before either one of them could say or do anything more, another voice rang out from a nearby office room.
"Oh, Brandon, what a courteous offer for you to clean my office! My desk hasn't looked this clean in decades!"
"Aw, it was a pleasure, boss! No trouble at all!"
RMS and Brandon looked on in pure, unadulterated shock upon hearing those two voices, especially seeing as one of those voices turned out to be Brandon's own voice! Soon, stepping out of the office was Sir eFram iFrame, the picture-framed manager of the iFrame store and, much to the horror of the store's other two employees, also appeared Brandon himself!
A real-life, walking, talking second copy of Brandon that looked and sounded exactly like the original Brandon!
Real Magic Skeleton and the original Brandon simply stood there, jaws hitting the floor in utter stupefaction and horror, too shocked to even try and attempt to speak as Sir iFrame simply kept singing the Brandon copy's praises for cleaning his office to notice the bizarre scenario that was going on now. However, it wasn't along until Sir iFrame noticed his other employees nearby and grinned.
"Ah, greetings, Real Magic Skeleton! Greetings, Brandon!" he smiled happily at his employees, giving the petrified duo a friendly wave.
At first, Sir iFrame was completely unaware of what was transpiring at the moment, but however after taking one look upon seeing a shell-shocked Brandon close by the register and then looking at the second Brandon right next to him, the wide grin on his face slowly twisted in realization from happiness to complete and total bewilderment and nervousness.
"Uhhhh…what, uh...what the bloody devil is going on here?" iFrame asked nervously to no one in particular, as beads of sweat began trickling down his body, thus leaving messy streaks on his artwork. RMS and Brandon still weren't able to answer back in shock, and even the second Brandon right beside Sir iFrame was beginning to look nervous and suspicious.
Seconds ticked by without a single word between the four before the original Brandon carefully, but bravely walked up to the Brandon copy, the latter beginning to sweat nervously from having this genuine version of the bear-themed hero strolling right up to him. Soon, the original Brandon was a few mere feet away from the copy's face.
The copy grimaced and reeled back in confusion as Brandon began studying the doppelganger's features up close. From the nose to his eyes and to his ears, this Brandon lookalike didn't seem anymore different than the O.G. Brandon! The bear in question was beside himself with hushed amazement, rather than being creeped out or baffled.
"Woah…" Brandon awed with the impressed stupor of a stoner, "it's like I'm lookin' in a mirror...radical…"
RMS gawked upon seeing his best friend seeming so nonchalant upon seeing an exact clone of himself right in front of him! None of them knew what exactly this Brandon lookalike was or why it was here, so why was the real Brandon taking this so well!? Even Sir iFrame was at a loss for words upon watching this scene unfold as RMS tried gaining Brandon's attention.
"Brandon, you big dummy, get away from that thing!" the panicked RMS hissed quietly from afar, but still whispering loudly enough for Brandon to hear, "Who knows who...or what that thing really is!?" Brandon scoffed dismissively.
"Oh, please, Magi...what's the worst that could hap-"
But before Brandon could finish that self-assured comment, the worst actually did happened...
Suddenly, the Brandon copy began changing its own skin color. The light brown and pink colors Brandon wore all turned into a bright shade of mauve, engulfing the entire body completely, skin and clothes and all. Then, the face began shifting from Brandon's own facial features into its own horrifying expression, being a jack-o'-lantern-esque face, complete with bright yellow eyes and a malicious, sharp-toothed grin.
RMS, Sir iFrame, and the original Brandon stared slack-jawed in sheer terror at the sight of the Brandon copy's unexpected transformation. And their dazed stupor was the perfect opportunity for the morphable creature to cause a bit of trouble.
It jumped away from the three workers, with RMS finally breaking away from his shock to notice what this odd being was doing.
"Hey! Wait right there!" he ordered, reaching out to grab the creature, but in the process of doing so, he accidently tripped on his cape, falling flat on the ground so hard that his skull popped from its socket and rolled about on the floor. The creature snickered as it landed away from the trio. RMS' head rolled close by the creature's foot, whom then picked up the skull and gave him a mischievous sneer, much to RMS' fright.
"Oh, please, you clumsy skeleton." it chortled with a raspy, devious voice, "You think you can try and handle a mimic? HA! Mimics are the most trickiest of all magical creatures! We can turn into anything we want in the blink of an eye!"
It then roughly tossed RMS' decapitated head straight at Sir iFrame's flat stomach (causing the poor picture frame to double over in pain) as it rubbed its hands together, giggling to itself.
"Observe!" Soon, the mimic changed from its Brandon-like shape into something completely different. Going from a humanoid form to something more industrial, RMS, Brandon, and Sir iFrame were both amazed and horrified to see the mimic now turn into a lawnmower!
And a rather nasty and demented-looking lawnmower at that!
With that done, the mimic's new form began to rev loudly. Flames spat out from the exhaust and the mimic began cackling like a psychopath. It's laughs only grew louder and more crazed as it drove all around the store at high speeds. It based against store shelves, knocked over items off of tables, smashed and ran over fallen picture frames, and shredded up any piece of paper or photograph on the ground. It even managed to literally drive on the walls as well, defying physics as it chewed away and ran over the two giant portraits of Real Magic Skeleton and Brandon hung up on one end of the store!
RMS and Brandon nearly choked on their own tongues from the sight of it all. Sir iFrame was most shocked and distraught indeed.
"MY STOCK! MY MERCHANDISE! MY SURPLUS!" Sir iFrame shrieked in terror, he was feeling very faint. By now, the mimic had managed to shred and smash up almost everything in the outlet store, leaving behind such a terrible mess.
RMS quickly managed to magically piece together his head back onto his body and growled in irritation. Gathering all his bravery, he decided to confront this mimic and get it to stop its reign of destruction.
He stepped out and glared down at the mimic, just as it began to drive down from the walls and ceiling and back on firm, flat ground again, still in its lawnmower form. The mimic noticed the skeleton boldly asserting himself in front of it and revved its engine threateningly. Fumes and flames roared from its engine block, but Real Magic Skeleton still didn't back down.
"Now, you listen here, you!" RMS stated as dominantly as he can be, snapping a finger right at the mimic, "You stop this mess right now, or I'll have to-"
*VROOOOOM!*
The mimic didn't bother to let RMS finish his spiel as it revved its engine once again, until it suddenly drove forwards, right in the path of RMS! And from the looks of it, the mimic wasn't planning on stopping. RMS quickly noticed the mimic's motive and let out a startled shriek, jumping up and into Brandon's arms before the mimic could run him over and shred him to bits.
After that narrow dodge, the mimic just continue to drive forward until it reached the store's front entrance, stopping for a quick moment to give the group one last, little taunt.
"Toodle-loo, punks! It's been a ripping good time, but I've got a whole plaza to terrorize now!" it vowed, cackling and then roaring back out of the store until the sound of laughter and a vrooming engine soon faded away in the distance. Dust and smoke from its engine kicked up everywhere.
By now, the mimic had left the scene and was now running loose elsewhere in Lakewood Plaza Turbo. Sir iFrame, Brandon, and Real Magic Skeleton was all left behind, too frozen in fear to speak and too horrified to know what actually just happened. A couple of seconds ticked away until Brandon finally broke the tense silence.
"B-Bro? ...W-Was I trippin' or d-did you see what I s-saw?" Brandon asked feebly to his best friend. RMS gave him a spaced-out and numb nod.
"I think we both saw what just happened, dude…" he replied timidly, "That thing we just saw was a mimic…"
Brandon shivered in confusion. "A mimic!? Wh-Why the heck would one be here at Lakewood!?" he proclaimed. RMS frowned deeply.
"I'm not sure, Brandon…" he admitted, "but with that thing having just tore up our store in a mere minute, who knows what it'll do to an entire shopping plaza?"
Just then, RMS' statement hit both of the two heroes like an incoming freight train. They both knew mimics were devious, fast-footed, and sneaky creatures, even when they weren't using their transformation abilities. On top of that, this particular mimic seems to be quite violent in his actions, so it wouldn't just be the plaza that's in danger, it would also be the heroes, workers, and innocent bystanders who go to this plaza that'd also be in danger as well!
RMS and Brandon shuddered and looked back at each other. One quick look into each other's eyes was enough to prove that they may need some extra assistance in successfully catching this mimic before more trouble can befall upon Lakewood Plaza. They had to warn somebody or at least get some extra help to fight or capture this mimic.
And of course, they knew the three heroes that may help them out as they both booked it straight out the front door.
"RAD! ENID! K.O.! WE NEED HELP!" They both hollered out desperately. But just as they left, RMS realized they were leaving behind a cluttered and half-destroyed store and their stunned, confused boss in their wake. He quickly poked his head back in the store and sheepishly gave Sir iFrame a shy smile.
"Uh, d-don't worry, boss! We'll help clean up the mess later! P-Promise!" he assured quickly before chasing after Brandon, their destination being Gar's Bodega. "Brandon! Wait for me!" he called out, giving chase once more.
Sir iFrame, meanwhile, was too beside himself with complete and total dread. His store and supplies was an utter wreck thanks to a troublesome mimic and he wasn't sure what to do, especially now that his two and only employees had now just galavanted off to stop this creature. Now, the iFrame Outlet was quiet, mostly empty, and rather messy, leaving only a flustered store manager in its wake.
All the poor picture-framed man could do was stare silently, hopelessly and frightfully off into space...
*CLUNK!*
...until he fell flat down right on the ground on his back and immediately slipped into unconsciousness, too dazed to even comprehend on what just happened.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Whelp, there's the first chapter for ya. Basically, I'm hoping to make this fic as a way to incorporate other heroes into trying to fight this mimic instead of it just being K.O., Enid, and Rad. RMS and Brandon will be joining the trio throughout the story and so will a few more other heroes along the way to help stop this mimic!
Since I've written a great chunk of this story as a massive one-off, expect Chapter Two arrive in a couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled for that! Thanks for reading and let's all try and keep supporting OK K.O. so that CN can still air it again! :D
~Thunderbyrd