Chapter Nine: We're Gonna Need A Bigger Potato.

I turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. Pitch black greeted us, I looked at the others.

"R-r-r-ready?" I asked. They all nodded. Tom went ahead of us with his potato gun. I followed after him, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. Beth had hold of one of my hands and one of Hannah's. Lee and Art followed them. I looked to the right and it looked as if the aliens had been doing construction work or something. How did the adults not notice that? I seriously doubt the aliens were quiet about it!

"A g-g-giant gaping h-h-hole in the m-middle of the basement… T-t-that's not good." I said. I went ignored by everyone. Beth's grip on my hand tightened though. I looked back at her. Owwww! She ignored me.

"Do you want Monkey? He's good luck." Hannah asked her. Beth looked down at her and tried to act casual by giving her a smile…. Well it was actually more of a grimace.

"I'm fine." She said. She let go of my hand and I brought it up in front of my face and looked at it, flexing my fingers to get the feeling back into it. She was a lot stronger than she looked. There was a loud thump that made me jump and Beth snatched the stuffed animal from her little sister. I snickered. Not so tough now.

"Stay close." Tom said, I looked at him. Did he expect us to stray far?

"They could be anywhere." He added. We all nodded. I grabbed onto his shirt again. Beth snickered this time.

"Scared?" Beth asked. I shook my head but didn't look at her.

"W-w-why w-would I b-b-be?" I asked. She gave me a knowing look, I shrugged her off and we started walking again. Tom led us slowly to the hole. I remembered a flashlight that was on the table and reached over and grabbed it. I clicked it on and shined it towards the hole

"Good idea." Tom said as we walked. I nodded and shined the light down in the hole. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. The others gathered around me, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. I searched around the hole, but found no sign of Jake, which scared me. Maybe they took him with them? All of a sudden, something jerked and we all jumped I lost my footing and fell into the hole. I braced myself for the impact of dirt and stone, but it didn't come. Instead I fell onto something…. Warm? I bolted up and scrambled away from it as it moved. I coughed as I shined the flashlight on.. Jake! OMG JAKE!

"It's Jake!" I exclaimed. Oh thank the Lord he's okay!

"He's okay!" Art cried. I let out a sigh of relief and stood up. I looked up at Tom.

"How do we get him out of here?" I asked. I was shorter than the hole and a lot smaller than Jake.

"We'll help you. Just try and lift him up." Tom replied, kneeling down near the edge. The twins did the same as Beth and Hannah stood off to the side and watched.

"I'll try…" I replied. I leaned down and grabbed Jake's forearm and heaved him up into a sitting position.

"Ugh… You're heavy!" I groaned. He glared at me and I smiled back. After I got him to his feet, we tried to pull him up.

"1...2...3... HEAVE!" I shouted, pushing him up the side, while the twins and Tom pulled him up. God, they're weak!

"Put your back into it!" Tom groaned.

"I AM PUTTING MY BACK INTO IT!" I shouted.

"God Jake! What have you been eating?" I asked.

"1...2...3... PULL!" Tom yelled. I pushed again, but he didn't budge.

"A LITTLE HELP HERE JAKE!" I yelled. He gave me a look. I held my hands up.

"Never mind." I muttered. We all took a few seconds to breathe and got ready.

"1.…2.….3... PULL!" I shouted. I pushed with all my might.

"PULL LIKE A MAN TOM!" I exclaimed. He and the twins pulled one last time and Jake flew out of the hole. Dirt and dust rained down onto me, I started coughing and waving my hand. I leaned against the side of the hole and waited for it to stop. After it did, I looked around then stood up straight.

"Now someone help me out!" I said, straightening up and reaching up towards the edge. Tom chuckled and bent down and grabbed my arm. He heaved me out of the hole.

"What have you been eating?" Tom asked. I shot him a glare

"You're just weak!" I snappeed. He rolled his eye and we looked over at the twins and Jake. They had gotten Jake into a sitting position. We walked over and I bent down so I was eye level with him. I grabbed the edge of the tape. His eyes widened.

"Brace yourself." I said. He nodded and I yanked the tape from his face. He flinched and shook his head. Dirt fell, I coughed and waved away the dust. God... This sucks.

"S-s-sorry." I coughed out. He shook his head and looked at us.

"Those Jerkonians! They tied me up and dragged Snuggles outside. This vacation really sucks!" He exclaimed as the twins began to untie him. I laughed.

"You see the machine?" Tom asked. Jake nodded.

"Yeah. You were right. It came here years ago! Some idiot built this place smack on top of it!" He spat out.

"Guys! Guys, I found Ricky!" Beth called from the corner. I looked over to see her kneeling next to my unconscious cousin. How'd he land there? It was about 5 feet to the left of the stairs.

"He's waking up." She said, my cousin stirred and started to get up. He got up to his hands and knees and shook his head.

"Where the heck am I?" He groaned. He looked up and saw Beth and started freaking out. Tom walked over to them as I tried helping the others. These aliens sure knew how to tie knots...

"Oh baby! I'm so glad you're okay." Beth sighed. Rick scrambled away from her, but his feet kept getting caught in the net. I laughed. Finally he was free and ran towards the stairs.

"STOP!" He demanded Bethany. She took a step back.

"Okay, okay. I know it's been a really weird day! But you have to let me explain." She told him. He looked over at us then back at her.

"Okay.. Okay.. Explain to me why I keep blacking out! Why I'm bleeding! And why your grandma did a flying ninja kick on my face down the stairs!" He exclaimed. Beth looked at us and I nodded. He probably wouldn't believe her anyway, but it was worth a shot. She took a deep breath and looked at him.

"Well.. Um…. We're fighting um… Space aliens." She replied, getting straight to the point. He gaped at her for a minute. Beth nodded and went on.

"Yeah, yeah. They're small but dangerous and really, really scary!" She added. He shook his head.

"Oh no. No, of course. I believe you. Why wouldn't they be?" He replied sarcastically. God, he's such a douche bag…

"Bethany! Why do you want to waste our time playing hide and seek and kill the aliens with your stupid brother and your dumb little cousins." Ricky spat out, seeming to forget Hannah and I. This caught everyone else's attention and they all turned and glared at Ricky. I noticed they finally untied him. Beth glared at him too as she stepped closer to him.

"Don't talk about my family that way!" She said. He looked at her with an expression of pity.

"Well you don't have to worry about it anymore. Because were done." He muttered, he stepped back from her.

"I knew I should've stayed home and hooked up with Annie Filkins! She's smokin' hot and doesn't like talking about feelings all the time!" He exclaimed, doing some weird little hand gesture at the word 'feelings' . Wow…. What an asshole… Beth looked hurt.

"I'm going straight to Annie's…" He said, pointing up the stairs. Okay, he's just made an entire new level of asshole! He turned to look at the rest of us. He gave me a disgusted look, which in turn, I flipped him the bird. He glared and began walking up the stairs, he took one step and his leg buckled.

"Ouch." He groaned. Ha! Karma! Tom walked over to his sister.

"I'm really sorry." Tom said .

"Don't be. You were right all along." Beth replied. Hey! Wait a minute! I was the one that warned her!

"But if it's any consolation. He's not going straight to Annie's." Tom laughed, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out Ricky's car relay. I smiled.

"Or anywhere for a while." Tom said. Well played Tom, well played. I laughed and looked out the window where lights had begun flashing. I walked over to it and looked. What I saw scared me a lot more. Jake walked over to Beth and Tom.

"Ummm guys, I hate to break up this sibling bonding moment but we're in Death Con 1 here." He said. Outside the window, the machine was slowly being set up. The others came and joined us.

"Oh my, Gosh! They're forcing him to build it." Lee said.

"Build what?" Beth asked.

"How do you take over the world with that thing?" She asked again, looking at us.

"I really don't want to find out." Tom sighed.

"We've gotta stop them before their fleet arrives!" He exclaimed.

"Fleet?" Jake asked. I guess they didn't tell him…

"Yeah, this is just the advance team." I said, looking up at him. He looked shocked.

"We have to rescue Snugglelump!" Hannah exclaimed, Beth gave her a confused look.

"Snuggle what?" She asked.

"Lump. The four armed fella." Lee said,

"He's on our side. The other three… Not so much." He added. Beth looked at all of us once. Damn, this family seemed to do that a lot.

"This is so not happening." She said.

"Trust me. We wish it wasn't." I said. The others nodded.

"We gotta get out there. Let's move!" Tom exclaimed. He started out the door, but Jake grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Not so fast! I have a plan." He said. We gave him a confused look. Jacob Pearson has another plan? Shocking.

"Work with me here!" He said.

"Did Grandma give anyone Mentos?" He asked. Weird question... Nana always gave us Mentos,

"Yeah why?" Tom asked,

"Hand 'em over." Jake exclaimed.

"What? We're gonna throw candy at them?" I asked. He shook his head

"No. It's my own little science project." He replied. We all handed him our Mentos and he looked around.

"We need Diet Coke." He said. Oh, I know what he's getting at now… Ah, he's a smarter cookie than he lead on.

"You're thirsty?" Beth asked. Wow... I clearly remember her being there when I pulled this expertiment about a year ago... He shook his head and looked at the twins.

"There should be some upstairs." He said. They nodded and ran up the stairs. They returned minutes later with three bottles.

"Rory, get that tape." He said. I gave him a look. Who said he could order me around like that?

"Please?" He said. I smiled and nodded. I grabbed the blue electric tape and handed it to him.

"Now dump out some of the Coke." He instructed, I nodded. He ripped off three strips and placed the Mentos in a line while I did as he said. I handed them to him and, he placed the tape into the Coke and capped it off.

"Mentos bomb, you're a genius!" Tom exclaimed. I nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." Jake smiled.

"All right, I love that you two are getting along and that Jake reached his inner scientist, but I think we have bigger problems." I said. They nodded and we all grabbed a weapon of some sort. Well, except for Hannah. I grabbed the paintball gun. I was sooo gonna have fun with this….

"Let's go." I said. Jake handed me a bottle of Coke. Tom opened the window and we sent out Hannah and the twins.

"Beth, you next." I said.

"What? No!" Jake exclaimed.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because, you're smaller than me." Beth pointed out.

"So?" I asked.

"That means you're first." Jake said. He grabbed my waist, I jumped a little. He chuckled.

"Jumpy Rory?" He asked. I could practiacally see him smirking. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the edge and placed one foot on the ledge we were using.

"Just lift me." I muttered. He lifted me up with ease and pushed me out the window. Beth came out next, then Jake, then Tom. We all knelt behind the bushes and watched as the tall ugly alien shoved Snugs. He muttered something, but I couldn't here. Hannah gasped and went to run, but Beth held her tight.

"Hannah, calm down. We'll get Snugs out of there." I attempted to calm her down. She nodded hesitantly.

"Aim for the machine!" Tom reminded us, looking at the machines. The aliens had all gathered in the same spot luckily, so taking them out shouldn't be a problem.

"Once they're distracted, we move out. Beth and Hannah, stick together. Rory you're with me. Twins, go with Jake." Tom instructed.

"Yes sir!" I said, mock saluting him. I set myself up to throw it.

"Whatever. 1.…2.…3.… GO!" Tom yelled. We each tossed the soda boms and as soon as they hit the ground, soda flew everywhere. The aliens scattered. The tall one got knocked out, and the fat one looked dizzy. I couldn't see Snugs or the female.

"Move out!" Tom yelled. I grabbed the paintball gun and ran.

"Let's go!" Jake shouted. I shot the gun off towards the fat one, but missed.

"SNUGGLES!" Hannah exclaimed. Snugs looked at her and the female ran after him.

"TRAITOR!" She exclaimed, she went to tackle him, but Beth blocked her with the trashcan lid. She tossed her inside and lifted it right side up.

"Never mess with a girl who's just been dumped!" She exclaimed. Snugs ran over to Hannah and I looked for the others. Jake, Art, and Lee were taking care of the ugly tall one and Tom was focusing on the fat short one.

"GET OFF MY PLANET YOU LITTLE GREEN SON OF A B-!" Tom yelled, as he fired the gun. The potato hit the alien so hard he flung, he was shot into the machine. It started glowing and the alien was lifted up into the air by three beams. My eyes grew wide.

"What the hell is happening?" I asked. No one responded as we all just stared. All of a sudden the alien was shot over some trees. That's it? That's all it does? Wow…

"HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?" Jake exclaimed happily. Is that like his catch phrase or something? God….

"Weakness! We found their weakness. It's their own alien death ray!" Art exclaimed. We all gathered together as we smiled happily. I heard muttering, and I looked down at Snugs. He looked scared.

"Not sweet. SO NOT SWEET!" He stuttered out. Oh no…. Snugs got in front of us.

"Hu-mans!" Snugs exclaimed, I turned and got their attention.

"Guys… I don't think it's over." I said. They all looked at me,

"The machine. Molecule expander. Commander bigger!" Snugs stuttered out, making a motion with his arms. But he didn't need to, we all stared up at the giant alien. I felt faint all of a sudden. I grabbed onto Tom and Jake and they steadied me.

"You're gonna need a bigger potato." Jake said as we stared up at it. Oh man... We are so dead...


Tell me think!(: R&R . Did you like? Hate? I'm thinking of a sequal. But I'm not sure yet.

Much Love ,

Rhey