Author's Note: Sorry for not getting this chapter released earlier, I fell asleep, planning to take a nap for an hour, which turned into four hours, then awoke hungry, so went and ate dinner, but now, here I am, to present a very long, but the final chapter of this story! I should warn you, some shocking things happen in this chapter, but regardless, I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 9, Aftermass and Apology
Location: Tommy Pickles home in Yucaipa, California, the evening of May 27, 2014
Everybody left the beach, and headed for their respective homes, except for Peter, who decided to spend time at Stu and Didi's home, helping to take care of Tommy, while he got over his cold and ear infection. Normally, this wouldn't have been a big deal, but after what Tommy had been through over the last few days, he was in for a challenging week ahead. When they got home, Didi took Tommy's temperature, to notice he had a high fever, but while Dr. Doofensmirtz promised not to harm Tommy or their friends again, Didi wasn't convinced that the hospital was the best place to send Tommy off to at this point, so she gave him a bath in some cold water, put some cold compresses to his head, and gave him his antibiotic, which at least made him drowsy, and by about 8:30 that evening, Tommy was fast asleep.
Overnight however, is when it all happened. While King Triton and Dr. Doofensmirtz had imprisoned the two evil shadows, they were still a harm to Tommy, both in the dream world, and while he suffered from a fever over the next few days, he also witnessed some helucinations. In the nightmare, Abbigale and evil Tommy, stared at Tommy in the face, with bright green and red evil glares in their eyes.
"Don't think you can escape us now." Said Abbigale.
"Oh yeah?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah! Come on Abbigale, let's get him." Said evil Tommy.
Tommy proceeded to kick and punch the shadows, but it was no use. They threw any number of superimposed attacks at him. Ice, fire, magnets, electrical beams, they even imprisoned Tommy in some tight metal forcefields, with nails sticking out in every which direction, causing Tommy to get punctured and start bleading every time he turned, trying to escape. Before Tommy knew it, he was drowning in a pool of his own blood, awakening from the dream, screaming in terror. His screams awoke Dil, who jumped out of his crib to see what was the matter.
"Tommy! What's wrong?" Dil asked.
"Night scare, night scare!" Cried Tommy.
"What happened?" Dil asked.
"It's too scary Dil, I can't tell you." Replied Tommy, as he let out a few sneezes and coughs.
"Come on Tommy, I'm your brother." Said Dil.
"No! Leave me alone!" Snapped Tommy, as he proceeded to pull the covers over his head.
But Dil didn't wish to leave his brother's side. He stood there by Tommy's bed, trying to pry the covers off of Tommy's face, hoping Tommy would go back to sleep, but Tommy was only getting more and more annoyed by the second.
"I said leave me alone! I don't feel good Dil, I just wanna be lefted alone!" Tommy snapped from beneath the covers.
"We didn't defeat those shadows, my brother's a monster, forever!" Dil thought to himself, as tears silently rolled down his cheeks, and the saddened one-year-old toddler, made his way back to his crib.
Tommy continued to have the nightmares for the next week, but if that wasn't enough to keep him awake, and tossing and turning all night, it only got worse during the day. He didn't see it in the faces of his brother or other toddlers his age, but boy did he see it when staring at his mommy, daddy, and Peter. Whenever they'd look Tommy in the eye, he didn't see the sweet, innocent faces of his parents and Peter, he saw the faces of Shadow Abbigale and Shadow Tommy staring back at him. It was even worse when it came time to give him that nasty tasting blue liquid, known as his antibiotic.
"Time to take your medicine sweetie, this will make you all better." Said Didi, in a sweet soothing voice, encouraging her son to take his medicine.
"There we go Champ, good job." Said Stu, as Tommy took the medicine.
But in Tommy's mind, here's what was going on.
Didi appeared as Shadow Abbigale, while Stu appeared as Shadow Tommy.
"Drink up, if you know what's good for you kid." Snapped Shadow Abbigale's voice.
"Don't be a baby, drink up, or we'll destroy you!" Snapped Shadow Tommy's voice.
Tommy, shaking in fear, drank up the blue liquid in the small cup his mom gave him, not wishing to be destroyed, even though this was all in his imagination.
"Tommy, you ok buddy?" Peter asked, noticing him in his booster seat at the kitchen table, shaking.
"No Peter, I'm not ok." Said Tommy in a sad tone of voice.
"Oh, why couldn't I just see everybody in the figures on Dilly's moble, or get a shot to take the illness away?" Tommy thought to himself, remembering back to when he got sick at his first slumber party with Angelica, only to see his family in the figures of what was his moble back then, which obviously, now days, had been handed down to his little brother, and then, thinking back to when he had the Gray Plague, which was finally cured once he was vaccinated against it.
"Come on Tommy, you can tell me anything." Said Peter, trying to comfort his friend, but Dil was in the room, and Tommy didn't wish to scare his brother anymore than he had over the past week.
"I can't tell you." Replied Tommy, burying his face in his hands.
Peter could tell Tommy just didn't want to talk, so he left him alone, figuring that eventually, Tommy would come around.
It continued like this for the next few days, until Tommy's fever finally broke, and the ear infection and cold were starting to go away, but even though Tommy's illness was starting to go away, the trauma of the events of the shadow attack remained with him, making Tommy feel miserable emotionally, not wanting to do anything. He even declined when Dil wanted to play, only convincing Dil to think that Tommy was still possessed with the evil shadow.
Location: Elderado Playground, June 1, 2014
Dil was growing bored, not to mentioned, too scared to be around his older brother, and Peter needed a break, but with the park destroyed, he wasn't sure where to take everybody's friends. So he contacted grandpa Lou, who told him about Elderado Playground, where he took Tommy and Chuckie to a while back. Peter got the directions from him, got Dil, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, Zack, Jesse, Bobby Generic, Bassem, and Courtney for the day, and took them to this playground. The only kid out of the bunch who recognized it was Chuckie. It all came together when Belenda approached them.
"Hi Chuckie." Said Belenda.
"Hi Belenda, long time no see. I see your hairs grew back too." Said Chuckie.
"Yeah, the Junkfood kid can't hurt me no more, so no more bubble gum." Said Belenda.
"Huh?" Phil asked.
Chuckie then realized that Belenda had never met the rest of the gang, so he introduced Belenda to Peter, Phil, Lil, his sister Kimi, Tommy's brother Dil, Zack, Jesse, Bobby, Bassem, and Courtney.
"It's nice to meet you all! But, where's Tommy anyway? I remember the lastest time I met him, he was a real tough ombrey." Said Belenda.
"You mean a real evil tough ombrey." Said Dil.
"What? You mean, he's mean? Like the Junkfood Kid?" Belenda asked in surprise.
"Worser." Chuckie muttered.
"I don't understand." Said Belenda.
Everyone went around, taking turns explaining to Belenda what they had recently witnessed with Tommy, temporarily turning evil, but Dil then went on to tell her that even after King Triton and that Doofensmirtz person got rid of the evil meanies that took over his olderer brother's body, Tommy continued to put up a fuss.
"I don't think those evil meanies were destroyed, I think everyone just pretended to make my brother nice again." Snapped Dil, crossing his arms, staring at Belenda, with an angry look on his face.
"Now Dil, your brother has been sick. You know he usually gets a bit cranky when he's sick. Remember when he had the Gray Plague? He and Chuckie had a fight? And then, when he was sick with a bad cold last fall, he pushed Angelica down the stairs, and caused her to get Amnesia? But he never really meant it. He always apologized in the end." Said Peter.
"Yeah well I don't think he's gonna be nice no more." Said Dil.
"I know, maybe we should do something to make Tommy happy." Suggested Kimi.
"Like what?" Chuckie asked.
"Well, why did you come to this playground today?" Belenda asked.
"Because Tommy burned the other park down." Said Chuckie.
"Hey! That gives me a brilliant idea!" Said Peter, with a twinkle in his eye.
"What Peter what? What? What?" Jesse asked, jumping up and down, really excited and eager to hear Peter's idea.
"What if I got all of the Disney characters together, and we rebuilt the old park and playground? Tommy would be so happy to see it fixed up again, that he'd become his old self again." Suggested Peter.
"You know the Disney characters?" Belenda asked in confusion.
"Yes I do! In fact, it was thanks to Tommy who helped me find the key back in 1994 to the portals that led to the different Disney worlds. We found it on one of our many adventures, and we've all been friends with them ever since!" Explained Peter.
"Oh wow! Neat!" Said Belenda, fascinated by Peter's story.
"So come you guys, let's go get all of the Disney characters together, and get started!" Said Kimi.
"It was great to see you again Chuckie, nice to meet you guys, tell Tommy I said hi, and good luck." Said Belenda, as she waved goodbye, and the gang left Elderado Playground, to begin their project of bringing the old park and playground back.
Peter though wasn't sure how dangerous it would be, having all of the young toddlers around all of the fancy construction equipment used to put the park and playground back together, so he dropped everybody off in Dil's backyard, while he saw to visiting all of the Disney worlds, and getting everyone to agree to come to Yucaipa, California, and help reconstruct the park.
While Peter, along with Mickey Mouse, Pooh, the Beast, Prince Eric, Simba, Quazzy Moto, Woody, Buzz, and all of the other Disney characters, got to work at rebuilding the playground, the toddlers went off to have a fun afternoon in Tommy and Dil's backyard. They got there, to find Tommy lying in the grass.
"Hey Tommy, how you doing?" Chuckie asked, lying on the grass beside Tommy.
"Fine." Tommy muttered, not all that interested in playing or doing anything.
"Come on guys, look, in the sky! Clouds!" Said Lil, as she lay on the ground, Phil, lying down next to her.
"They're just dumb old clouds." Muttered Tommy.
"Come on Tommy, you love clouds. You love them so much, you even wished your house was an airplane so you could fly in the clouds." Said Phil.
"You're mistaken Phil, I wished for a airplane, my house turned into one. I never wished for my house to turn into one, it just did." Snapped Tommy.
"What's with you anyway?" Zack asked.
"Nothing." Tommy snapped.
"Come on guys, let's play the cloud game anyway, maybe it will cheer Tommy up." Suggested Kimi, as everybody lay in the grass, and stared at the clouds for several minutes, imagining different things in the clouds.
"I see an ice cream cone!" Said Jesse.
"I see Captain Squash!" Said Bobby.
"I see Super Thing!" Said Kimi.
"I see an alium!" Said Dil.
"Ooooh!" Said everyone except Tommy.
"I see Reptar!" Said Phil.
"You always see Reptar Phillip. I see Robosnails!" Said Lil.
"I see a giant rocket ship!" Said Bassem.
"I see a snow queen, just like the snow queen in the magical Winter Wonderland!" Said Courtney.
"Well I see fish, swimming happily through the sky!" Said Zack.
"I see a nice, soft, safe teddy bear like WahWah! What do you see Tommy?" Chuckie asked, turning his gaze away from the clouds, to stare at his best friend.
But when Tommy looked at the sky, all he could see was the face of the evil Shadow Tommy, and a pair of evil red eyes staring at him. Not wanting anybody else to know, or see him shaking in fear, in particular, Dil or Chuckie, Tommy got up from his spot in the grass, and ran inside the house, where he ran up to his room, and hid beneath the blankets on his bed. He disappeared so quickly, that nobody had a chance to try to stop him.
"Where did Tommy go you guys?" Kimi asked.
"He disappeardid." Replied Chuckie.
"I tolded you, my brother don't like us no more." Said Dil.
Nobody was interested in watching the clouds anymore, so they got out the green and blue star ball and started rolling it around to one another in the grass.
"Remember when Tommy went to the nextest yard to get this ball back?" Phil asked.
"Please, don't remind me!" Shouted Chuckie.
"Yeah, I miss Tommy." Said Lil.
"Me too Lil, me too." Said Zack.
Everyone started crying, when Peter arrived.
"Hey kids, why are you crying?" Peter asked.
"We miss Tommy." Said Bobby.
"Well, I don't think you're gonna miss him for long, I've got a really neat surprise to show all of you." Said Peter.
But before Peter could announce his big news to the rugrats, everyone's parents had shown up to pick them up and take them all home.
The following day, Peter took everyone except Tommy to the newly built playground, to show them what he and the Disney characters, had worked so hard on the previous day. The kids were so happy, that everybody played in the park all day long. They couldn't wait until the following day, when they'd be going to Tommy's mommy's surprise graduation party, to tell Tommy of the exciting news. But Phil, Lil, and Dil were all having second thoughts.
"I don't know guys, Tommy's changed." Said Phil.
"Yeah, I don't think Tommy's the same person no more." Said Lil.
"Yeah, when those evil meanies were inside of him, they broked my brother." Said Dil.
"Guys, you've got it all wrong, it's all in your imagination." Said Peter.
But the toddlers weren't buying it. They were all convinced that Tommy was a changed kid forever, and that he'd never get any better.
Location: Stu and Didi's backyard, June 3, 2014
It was the morning of Didi's surprise party, and the parents were all inside, getting things ready, while Didi went off for the day to her favorite health spa, The International House of Mud, only this time, she went alone, she didn't dare invite her mother again, not after how much she hated going there at Mother's Day over a year ago.
Everyone was in the backyard, trying to get Tommy to come play with them.
"Come on Tommy, let's go on an adventure." Said Zack.
"No! I'm never going on any adventures no more!" Snapped Tommy.
Everyone gasp.
"But why not Tommy? You use to love going on adventures." Said Jesse.
"Because, well, because, the lastest time I went on one with you guys, I, I…" But Tommy couldn't finish his sentence, he broke down crying, as he had a flashback to the last adventure they all took together. Escaping in Zack's aunt's driverless van to try to get to Tommy's mommy's college graduation, only to get lost in a forrest, where Tommy passed out on a hill, nearly got eaten by a wolf, and then, got knocked unconscious and wounded in a raging river.
"I'm sorry about what happened on our lastest adventure, but we're in your backyard, nothing bad can happen this time." Said Zack, trying to put a comforting arm on Tommy's shoulder, but Tommy jurked away.
"No! Just leave me alone!" Snapped Tommy, as he ran off, and curled up, his back against the tree in the backyard.
"See? I tolded you my brother wasn't the same anymore. That he's broked." Said Dil.
"Come on guys, let's have an adventure anyway. I'm Okie Dokie Jones." Said Zack, as he led the gang through the backyard on an adventure.
"Maybe we should go back." Said Phil.
"Yeah! Let's go back." Added Lil.
"No! We can't go back now you guys, Okie Dokie Jones, never goes back." Said Zack.
"I remember when I use to pretend to be him." Tommy thought to himself, as he overheard his friends on their imaginary adventure across the yard. He was just about to change his mind, and go join them, when he overheard Dil say something that totally shocked him.
"Stop acting like my brother Zack." Snapped Dil.
"I was only trying to cheer you up." Said Zack.
"Oh yeah? Well don't even bother. If anything, I hate that kid my mommy and daddy had before I came along. If anything, I wish, I wish, well I wish that, my brother Tommy had never been borndid." Said Dil.
Everyone gasp.
"You don't mean that, do you?" Chuckie asked.
"Yeah, I do." Said Dil.
"Come on Dil, I don't particularly care for my older brother Derek, he's always calling me a dweeb, we've had to share a room ever since we moved here and I met you guys, and he is always saying stuff to scare me, like back when I got my tonsels out, he scared me by telling me they were going to have to cut them out, but I'd never wish he had never been born." Said Bobby.
"Oh sure you would, just watch, my wish is gonna come true." Said Dil, as he ran into the house and hid under the living room couch, the rest of the gang, following him into the living room, hoping to get Dil to come out, with no luck.
Tommy, still leaning against the tree in the backyard, heard everything that was going on, as he closed his eyes.
"So, Dilly wishes I had never been borndid eh? Hmmm, I wonder what it would have been like, if I had never been borndid at all." Tommy thought to himself, as he closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
"Hey!" A voice called, startling Tommy awake. He looked around, to see himself, still in his backyard, now nearly deserted, except for one person. It looked just like Tommy, only he was wearing a pair of dark blue jean shorts, an orange and blue striped shirt, and had a pair of blue and yellow wings on his back.
"Who are you?" Tommy asked.
"I'm your guardian angel." Replied the Tommy with wings.
"Oh yeah? Where were you when I was evil-fied?" Tommy asked.
"I don't work like that Tommy, and besides, those shadows tried to destroy me, but I just escaped to Heaven, where they couldn't get me cuz they're gonna rot in Hell, the place where meanies go." Explained Tommy's Angel.
"Well, why are you here then?" Tommy asked.
"I am here, to grant you a wish. Come on Tommy, what do you want?" Angel Tommy asked.
"I don't have any wishes. I Just wanna make my brother Dilly's wish come true." Said Tommy.
"And what's that?" Angel Tommy asked.
"I wish I had never been borndid." Said Tommy.
All of the sudden, a cloud of gray smoke filled the air, and disappeared.
"What was that?" Tommy asked.
"That was your wish being granted." Said Angel Tommy.
"You mean Dilly's wish." Said Tommy.
"Yeah, Dilly's wish, whatever." Said Angel Tommy.
"So, are you saying, I was never borndid?" Tommy asked.
"Yep? Come on, I'll show you everything." Said Angel Tommy, as he hopped into a Reptar car, and beckoned Tommy to join in the car next to him.
"Hey! This looks like the same car we used when my friends and I went to Tokyo and saved Reptar." Said Tommy.
"Maybe it is, but Tommy, I should warn you, this new world isn't very pretty." Said Angel Tommy, as he started up the Reptar car, and they headed through Yucaipa, California, to see what was different.
They went inside Tommy's house, where they saw Tommy's grandpa Lou, trying to talk, but without much success, because he had no teeth.
"Why can't my grandpa talk?" Tommy asked.
"I guess cuz nobody rescued his teeth when they went missing at the park that day after Spike took them." Said Angel Tommy.
Then, they flew out of Tommy's house and went to Chuckie's house, where they saw that Chaz was all alone.
"Where's Chuckie?" Tommy asked.
"Well, you know how Chuckie is a scaredy cat? Well, without you around, Chuckie became scared of everything. He got so scared after his mommy disappeardid, that Chuckie, eventually disappeardided too." Explained Angel Tommy.
But Tommy noticed that Kira was there, without Kimi.
"But wait, Chuckie gotted a new mommy, but, where's Kimi?" Tommy asked.
"Well, you know how when you guys went to Paris, you helped Chuckie take that Reptar robot to the big church, and stop Chuckie's daddy from marrying Coco? Well, he married Kira, but only because Chaz went to Paris on his own to find love, and met Kira, but Coco was caught for kidnapping Kimi. The police cop tried to save Kimi, but it was too late." Explained Angel Tommy.
"You mean?" Tommy asked.
"Yep, Kimi gotted hurted, and didn't ever see her mommy ever again, so all her mommy's got left are the memories, which she tells stories to to Angelica." Explained Angel Tommy.
"So Angelica still exists?" Tommy asked.
"Yep, but it's not very pretty. Come on, I'll show you." Said Angel Tommy.
They went back to the street where Tommy, Phil, Lil and Susie all live. Susie was there, happily playing with Angelica. They ended up becoming good friends, but when Didi found out she was going to have a miscarriage, and never had Tommy, Betty, who was also expecting, decided to not have any kids either. So she got an abortion, and Phil and Lil were never born. But there was Angelica, playing with Susie and her doll Cynthia.
Then, Tommy overheard Angelica talking with Susie about Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil.
"Wait a second Angel Tommy, if I and my friends don't exist, why is Angelica talking about us?" Tommy asked.
"Angelica made all of you guys up." Said Angel Tommy.
"Really? Why?" Tommy asked.
"Because she was lonely, with nobody to play with." Said Angel Tommy.
"But Angelica is always calling us dumb babies." Said Tommy.
"Maybe she is, but it's thanks to you, her cousin, and your friends, that she has somebody to play with, even if she is mean to you guys." Said Angel Tommy.
"Hey! Angelica! It's me, your cousin Tommy! I do exist!" Shouted Tommy, but Angelica couldn't hear him, because he didn't exist.
"She can't hear you, you don't exist." Said Angel Tommy.
"Oh yeah." Said Tommy with a sigh.
As they continued to look around, they saw so many other things were different. Zack, Jesse, Bassem, Courtney, and Bobby Generic, didn't know one another, because Tommy didn't exist, Peter didn't know the Disney characters, because Tommy never helped him find the key to the Disney worlds back in 1994, and kids were afraid to play with toys, because the Mr. Friend dolls were running a muck in the Toy Palace, because Tommy and his friends had never destroyed them that one afternoon in the backyard.
Then, they caught a glimpse of Elderado Playground, where Prudence was terrorizing all of the kids, because Tommy had never stood up to her, convincing her to play nice with the other babies. Then, at the park, the Mcnulty boys were angry at Teddy, because they thought he broke the Mcnulty ball.
"But why do they think that?" Tommy asked.
"Well, do you remember that ordeal? You may have been blamed for the breaking, till you went and found Gabriel getting him to confess, but in this case, Gabriel escaped, but you weren't there to be tricked, and Gabriel was never found, so the Mcnulty brothers think their littlererist brother did the breaking, and won't play with him no more." Explained Angel Tommy.
"Well, they can always watch Reptar, he's everyone's hero, isn't he?" Tommy asked.
"Uh, you might wanna hold that thought." Said Angel Tommy.
They flew into Tommy's house, where on the TV screen, was a giant Reptar robot, destroying all of Tokyo.
"But why is Reptar doing that?" Tommy asked.
"I guess because you and your friends never went to Tokyo to free the real Reptar from prison after evil scientist Angelica trapped him. Now that robot Reptar has destroyed Tokyo, Angelica got all of the toys in the world, along with her imaginary friends, and Susie." Explained Angel Tommy.
"So because I didn't exist, Reptar's now naughty?" Tommy asked.
"Yep." Angel Tommy replied.
Tommy looked around, to see that Spike wasn't there.
"Hey, where's Spike?" Tommy asked.
"He ran away, and because you weren't around, your mommy and daddy never bothered to find him, so he ended up in the care of that Square Mordorn guy, and who knows where he is now." Explained Angel Tommy.
Then, they looked out the window to find Hubert, not even bothering to stop at the house.
"Hey! Why doesn't Hubert stop here? Don't my mommy and daddy feed him cans of monster food?" Tommy asked.
"Well, when they agreed to only put out one little can of monster food, Hubert stopped eating here." Said Angel Tommy.
Then, Tommy saw his daddy come in the door.
"Well, I'm home from another day of yacking on the phone about lard." Griped Stu, as he slumped down in an easy chair.
"I thought my daddy built toys." Said Tommy.
"Well? Remember when you didn't want him to go to work at a job? Well, you weren't here to stop him from going to that job with that fishing net, so, bye bye Pickles Toys." Said Angel Tommy.
Then, Tommy spotted his mom, all depressed, and confused.
"What's wrong with my mommy?" Tommy asked.
"You weren't here to help her find her place in the sun at that TV studio place, nor were you here to help teach her students how to change diapies, so your mommy losted her job, and has nothing to do, cuz when she had Lipchitz over for dinner, he never had to watch you and Chuckie, thus, retiring, early, so your mommy is at a loss of how to raise her one and only child, Dil." Explained Angel Tommy.
"You mean, Dilly was born?" Tommy asked.
"Yep, but you may not like what you're about to see." Said Angel Tommy.
They went over to the playpen, where Angelica was angry that Dil wasn't doing anything she wanted him to do, so she started hitting Dil hard on the head.
"No! Stop! Stop hurting Dilly!" Shouted Tommy, but it was no use. Angelica couldn't hear him because he didn't exist, so she continued to beat Dil on the head, making him cry. Stu came over, and stopped Angelica from hurting Dil, but it was too late.
"Yay! Dilly is going to be ok." Said Tommy.
"I wouldn't say that Tommy." Said Angel Tommy, as he pulled out what looked like Peter's time machine, pressed some buttons, and Tommy and Angel Tommy, went ten years into the future.
Here, they found Dil, talking about nothing but aliens, and sitting in a classroom surrounded by other kids who also suffered from problems. Some of them were in wheelchairs, while others were eating from feeding tubes, and others, were lying on the floor, dressed in grown up diapers.
"What is this place?" Tommy asked.
"A special needs classroom. Angelica hurt Dil so bad, that he ended up with permanent brain damage when he got olderer." Said Angel Tommy.
Then, they flew into a school cafeteria, where they found thirteen-year-old Angelica, all by herself, talking to her imaginary friends, and crying.
"What's going on Angel Tommy?" Tommy asked.
"Angelica is sad, so sad and lonely in fact, because she never had anybody to hang out with, that she's about to do something you may not like." Said Angel Tommy.
The two of them huddled together in a corner, as they watched Angelica pull a needle out of her pocket, poke herself in the arm, and collapse to the ground.
"What happened?" Tommy asked.
"Your cousin just killed herself, at the age of thirteen." Said Angel Tommy.
"That's it!" Snapped Tommy.
"What do you mean?" Angel Tommy asked.
"I don't like not never being borndid. Without me, grandpa doesn't have his teeth. Without me, Spike ran away. Without me, Hubert doesn't get enough monster food to eat. Without me, none of my friends exist. Without me, Peter doesn't know the Disney characters, and has nothing but the people of his Confederate kingdom to play with. Without me, Dil gotted hurted, without me, Reptar is naughty. Without me, Mr. Freend ruined toys for babies everywhere. Without me, the Junkfood Kid ruined the playground and the Mcnulty boys don't like their littlererist brother cuz they think he ruined their ball. And without me, my daddy works at an awful job, my mommy is sad, and my cousin never grew up. I have to go home. I have to go on adventures. It's obvious that I'm everybody's hero, and I'm not gonna disappear just cuz some evil shadows keep trying to make me, even in my dreams and imagination. Angel Tommy, let me go home." Shouted Tommy.
Just then, a puff of gray smoke filled the sky and disappeared, but as soon as it disappeared, three faces appeared, that Tommy was hoping he wouldn't have to see.
"If you wanna go home, you'll have to get past us." Snapped Shadow Abbigale.
"Don't think you're gonna get far." Said Shadow Tommy.
"Yeah, we have super powers, but according to the Watcher of Dreams, you won't have yours for another ten years. So good luck, cuz you don't have a chance. Ha ha ha." Scoffed Nightmare.
There were Tommy and Angel Tommy, face to face with Shadow Abbigale, Shadow Tommy, and Nightmare, ready to destroy the two-year-old toddler and his angel counterpart.
All of the sudden, Abbigale shot blasts of ice at them, while evil Tommy shot fireballs and magnets at them. Tommy and Angel Tommy dodged every one, but they were starting to grow tired.
"I don't think I'm gonna make it." Said Tommy.
"Allow me, after all, an angel's gotta do, what an angel's gotta do." Said Angel Tommy.
"Don't think you'll get off that easily." Said Nightmare, as he made several more copies of himself, appear in the sky, and an erupting volcano, appear beneath them, nearly choking Tommy and his guardian angel.
Just then, Zack appeared off to the side, reaching his hand out.
"Tommy, grab my hand. Tommy, it's me, Zack!" Said Zack.
"But I thought you guys didn't like to play with me no more." Said Tommy.
"Maybe you've changed, but don't we all change as we get olderer? I'm not gonna stop being your friend, no matter what changes you're going through. Now come on!" Said Zack.
But before Tommy could grab Zack's hand, the volcano surrounded him, and Tommy got swept away by the lava.
Zack wasn't going to let these three evil villans, destroy his friends. He took a deep breath, and started sneezing, coughing, and finally, threw up all over the three villans.
"Eeewww!" Said Shadow Abbigale, as she disappeared into a portal, covered in vomit, that carried her back to her current time of 2037.
Shadow Tommy started to cry.
"Wait up kid you're dripping everywhere!" Scoffed Nightmare, as he chased after Shadow Tommy, now dripping in vomit. Then, Zack took another deep breath, let out a huge sneeze, and Shadow Tommy and Nightmare vanished, into a cloud of black smoke.
"Thanks for fighting those guys." Said Tommy.
"You're welcome Tommy, now, let's get out of here." Said Zack.
But while Zack managed to destroy the three evil villans, he was not successful at getting rid of the lava that surrounded Tommy. He tried to swim out of the lava, with no success, continuing to sink deeper into the lava, only drowning.
"Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!" Zack shouted, as Tommy continued to drown in the lava. Ironically, the calling of Tommy's name in Zack's voice continued, as Tommy awoke from the dream, which turned into a nightmare in the end, to return to his backyard, still against the tree, with Zack staring at him in the face.
"Tommy! You're awake!" Shouted Zack with a smile.
"Oh, Zachary, it's you." Said Tommy with a smile, hugging his friend.
"You ok Tommy?" Zack asked.
Tommy looked around, to see that Zack was the only one present.
"No Zack, I'm not ok. Those Shadow peoples have been giving me night scares and appearing everywhere ever since I gotted sick and we were at the beach that day." Explained Tommy, as he started to cry.
"Now Tommy, you don't have to worry, it was all just a dream, and those shadows can't hurt us no more." Said Zack.
This got Tommy to calm down and smile.
"You mean it Zack?" Tommy asked.
"Yep, and, you're not sick no more, right?" Zack asked.
"No, I'm all better, I just, couldn't say anything, cuz I was worried I'd scare Dil and Chuckie even more than they were already ascared." Said Tommy.
"Now Tommy, no matter how brave or scared we might get, we're your friends. You can tell us anything. Don't ever hide from us. You promise?" Said Zack, holding out his pinky.
"You're right Zack, I shouldn't have runned and hided like that. I'm sorry, and I promise if something is bothering me from now on, I'll tell you guys." Said Tommy, shaking Zack's pinky with his own.
"Good. Now come on, Peter's gots a surprise for you!" Said Zack, leading Tommy to the Reptar wagon, where Peter was waiting for them.
"Hey buddy, did you have a good nap?" Peter asked.
Tommy told Peter of his nightmare, and told him the same thing he told Zack.
"Now Tommy, we can't expect you to be brave all of the time." Said Peter.
"You can't?" Tommy asked.
"No, heck, even I was scared last week." Said Peter.
"But you never get scared." Said Tommy.
"I was scared for you Tommhy. When you were evil-fied, I was scared you were going to hurt us, and the world. That's why I stuck by your side. That's why I kept you safe in the Confederacy till you managed to escape. And that's why I never gave up on you. You're our friend Tommy, even if you were mean for a time, you're our friend, and nothing in this whole wide world, will keep me, or the rest of us, away from you." Said Peter.
Tommy couldn't think of anything to say, so he just gave Peter a huge hug, and closed his eyes.
"Good, your eyes are closed, now keep them closed, till I tell you to open them." Said Peter.
"Ok." Said Tommy.
Peter pulled the Reptar wagon down the street, with Tommy and Zack riding in the wagon. Finally, when they approached the park, Peter had Tommy open his eyes, and Tommy, couldn't believe what he saw.
"Hey! I thought this place was broked." Said Tommy.
"It was, but now you see what a friend I am to you. The Disney characters and I all felt bad that you felt bad about what you did, so we got together, and rebuilt the playground.
"Oh wow! Thanks!" Said Tommy, giving Peter another hug.
"You're welcome my friend. After all, you've been there for us, we had to do something nice for you." Said Peter.
So everybody played in the park for a couple of hours, until Peter realized it was time to get back to Tommy's house for the big surprise party for his mom. On the way back, Zack apologized to Tommy for all of the trouble he caused them on their last adventure together. Tommy accepted his apology, and they were friends again.
They got back to Tommy's house, where Tommy found all of his friends in the living room.
"Hey guys, I'm sorry." Said Tommy.
"For what?" Bobby asked.
"For everything." Said Tommy.
"Oh Tommy, we knows it wasn't your fault." Said Courtney.
"Yeah, that Dr. Doofensmirtz guy wasn't very nice." Said Bassem.
"We forgive you, right guys?" Jesse asked.
"Yeah, just, never play with matches again and destroy my glasses, please?" Chuckie pleaded.
"I promise Chuckie, after all, how could I hurt my bestest friend in the whole wide world." Said Tommy.
"Well, glad that's over." Said Lil.
"But what about Dil?" Kimi asked.
"What about Dil?" Tommy asked.
The gang went on to tell Tommy that Dil was still hiding under the couch, and refused to come out.
"I'm Dilly's olderer brother, I'll handle this." Said Tommy, as he ran over to the couch.
"Dil! It's me, Tommy!" Said Tommy.
"I'm not coming out, I don't like you no more." Said Dil.
"But Dil! Really! It's me! You can come out now! I won't hurt you." Said Tommy.
"Prove it to me." Said Dil.
Tommy took a deep breath and sighed. He wasn't sure what else to do. So he crawled under the couch next to his brother, and tried to rest a comforting arm around Dil's shoulder, but Dil just squirmed away.
"Just leave me alone!" Shouted Dil.
"Dil, don't you know I'd never hurt you?" Tommy asked.
"No Tommy, you're a monster, you even told me a while back I'm a bad naughty brother and that I'd never get any better. Well, after lastest week, I believe you." Said Dil.
"Dil, I never meant that." Said Tommy.
"Yeah say that now." Griped Dil.
The two brothers lay there beneath the couch for several minutes in silence, till Tommy got his brilliant idea. He thought back to that day at the beach, when Dil sang that song that got the Shadows to stop controlling Tommy's body, and then, it hit Tommy what he had to do. He opened his mouth, and started to sing.
You make me like you if you knew I was gonna... I was gonna.
You make me hug you even and I didn't really wanna cause you ate a nanna.
Sometimes you make me happy, sometimes you make me sad.
And sometimes, Dilly, you make me really mad!
But even when you gots a stinky diapee,
you're still a little brother that I care for.
I guess you make me love you! Ooh-hoo!
After Tommy finished singing, Dil realized that Tommy wasn't pretending to be nice. It really was his nicer, older brother. Only an older brother who really cared about him would sing a song like that, and so, Dil crawled out from beneath the couch, Tommy following close behind, and as soon as they were out from beneath the couch, Dil smiled, and gave Tommy the biggest hug he had ever given him in his short little life.
"It's great to have my brother back. I'm sorry I wished you had never been borndid." Said Dil.
"It's ok Dilly, I'm sorry if I didn't wanna play or do anything. I just, had a really bad dream and didn't wanna scare you or Chuckie or any of the rest of you guys, but now I know I shouldn't hide from my friends, and I'll be there for you guys, just like I always have been, and always will be." Said Tommy, as he gave all of his friends a hug.
"And we'll be there for you, and for each other." Said Peter.
Everyone agreed to this, and was happy to be friends once again. Later that afternoon, they attended Didi's surprise graduation party, and had a blast. After the party was over, before everyone went home, Zack asked Tommy a question.
"Hey Tommy?" Zack asked.
"What." Replied Tommy.
"Are we gonna go on adventures again?" Zack asked.
"Sure! But only in the backyard, and with our toys, no more playing with the grown ups toys." Said Tommy.
"Don't worry Tommy, I promise to never play with my aunty's driverless van, ever again." Said Zack.
"Good, cuz that was scary." Said Chuckie.
"You think all of our adventures are scary." Said Jesse.
"Yeah well, some of them are more scarier than others." Said Chuckie.
"I like the ones where we make it back in one piece." Said Phil.
"And none of us get broked and turndid into Angelica." Said Lil.
Then, they caught a glimpse of Peter drawing something on a sketch pad.
"What are you drawing Peter?" Bobby asked.
"My latest invention. I call it, the Turn-Everything-Nice-Inator." Said Peter.
"Neat!" Said Phil.
"But what does it do?" Lil asked.
"Just the opposite of what the Turn-Everything-Evil-Inator does, my invention, will make people be nice." Explained Peter.
"Um, uh, Peter, when you make it, is the firstest person you're gonna use that device on gonna be Angelica?" Chuckie asked.
Everyone had a good laugh, as it suddenly hit Peter and Dil, that they had some stuff to return to Tommy.
"I almost forgot! Here Tommy, I believe this belongs to you." Said Peter, pulling Tommy's plastic screwdriver out of the pocket in his gray confederate uniform, and handing it to him.
"Thanks Peter." Said Tommy, stashing his screwdriver away in his shorts pocket.
"You're welcome buddy, you've earned it back." Said Peter with a smile.
Just then, Dil came up to Tommy, and pulled something out of his diaper.
"And I have something for my favoritest brother. Here." Said Dil, handing the pocket watch to Tommy.
"My sponsitility! Oh thanks Dilly!" Said Tommy with a smile, as he took it from Dil, and stashed it in his other pocket.
"You're welcome, bestest big brother ever." Said Dil.
Just then, everyone's parents came around, to scoop up all of the toddlers, and take them home.
That night, Tommy and Dil were in their bedroom, getting ready to go to sleep.
"Tommy?" Asked Dil.
"Yes Dil?" Asked Tommy.
"I'm glad you're my brother." Said Dil.
"Me too Dil, me too." Said Tommy, as he yawned, and went to sleep, where he slept peacefully for the first time in a while, with no more nightmares, and Dil even had a peaceful night's sleep, as he too slept peacefully, with no nightmares, or Tommy, waking him up because he was screaming in terror from one of his nightmares.
And this, ends the story, of The Healing.
Author's Note: I apologize if that chapter was super long, but if you made it this far, I really hope you enjoyed that story. I must admit, I found this story to be a challenge to write, because making my all time favorite rugrat character, evil, wasn't easy for me to do, but I'm glad I never gave up on the challenge, and to those of you who read and reviewed this story, I thank you for doing so, it means a lot. Also, what did you think of all of the references to earlier Rugrats episodes throughout this story? Did you also notice some references to some Bobby's World episodes and fan fic stories I've published over time as well? I'll be honest, I can't remember if there was a Bobby's World episode where Bobby wished his brother Derek had never been born, but that might have made a good episode. And what about the songs in chapter 8? Did you notice where they came from? Did you notice what Dil sang to Tommy was a parody of a song that Tommy sang to Dil in an actual Rugrats episode? And the song that Bobby sang? Remember that song from the episode, The Music, from season 3? Not to be confused with another episode of Bobby's World called Bobby, the Musical. I debated having him sing a song from that episode, but I really liked the song the traffic cop sang to Bobby in The Music episode, so went with it, what I could remember of the song anyway. And, in this last chapter, did you notice when I pulled a spoof of Chuckie's Wonderful Life, only doing it with Tommy's Wonderful Life, how when Tommy didn't exist in that dream, the rugrat theory, with a few twists, existed? And noticed how Tommy sang the original song to Dil to get Dil to see it was the real him near the end of the chapter? And what did you think of Dr. Lepetomaine being Dr. Doofensmirtz's psychiatrist? And that Dr. Doofensmirtz used his Turn-Everything-Evil-Inator on him. Pretty interesting, eh? And, like that Tommy helped Peter at one time, find the key to the portal where the Disney characters came from? That's obviously a story for another day, and maybe, TCKing12 can release that one, but I thought that would be interesting to learn. And finally, as always, I'm nowhere near done with releasing more great Rugrats fan fic stories for your entertainment. There'll be plenty more of them, coming soon, and I promise, not to make anymore of our favorite babies, evil. If anything, maybe Peter can invent the Turn-Everything-Nice-Inator, and make Angelica nice, you think? Well again, that's a story, for another day.
