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Enjoy :)
Chapter 8- The good, the bad and the annoying
Plotz slammed his fist down on the table to get everyone to stop talking. The chatter slowly died down, especially when they saw the look on his face. Either it was his stressed expression or the fact that they were all standing in the dark underground passage that they had found between the castle and the watertower; everyone had slightly gathered that Thaddeus Plotz was not in the mood.
It was around 2:00 in the morning, when most of the guards had accidentally fallen asleep; when Plotz, Scratchy and Slappy had gathered everyone they trusted and told them to meet in the passageway when they could. Most of the people they had told were Hello Nurse, Minerva Mink, Skippy of course, Pinky and the Brain, the Goodfeathers, Ralph T. Guard, Rita, Runt, Flavio, Marita, Buttons, Mindy, and questionably, the Mime.
"Settle down!" he yelled, even though no one was really talking anymore.
"Now, we all know why we're here, correct?" he asked.
Pinky raised his tiny mouse hand, waving it around in the air. "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me, pick me!"
Plotz rolled his eyes. "What, Pinky?"
Pinky put down his hand. "Um, we're here to dye our hair magenta and open up our own ice skating rink, right?"
Plotz slapped a hand over his face. "Brain!"
Brain pounded Pinky over the head with a tube of Minerva's lipstick. Minerva grabbed it back. "Gimme that!"
Slappy waved her umbrella around. "Ah, enough with the yellin' already! Let's get down to business. We're all sick and tired of this stupid Ticktockia taking over thing, and we're putting an end to it!"
Everyone was silent. Plotz continued. "Uh, thank you Slappy. We know that Ticktockia is in control now… but the question is, what are we going to do about it?"
It was even more silent than before. Everyone was either looking at each other, but not daring to speak.
"I really don't see how we're going to get Acme Falls back," said Rita, breaking the silence. "They've got us under their very noses and a giant ogre no less."
"Yup, yup, defiantly." Runt pitched in.
Dr. Scratchensniff scratched his head. "Zey are right. Ve vould have to pull off a miracle to regain control. Besides, vat is the goal, here, anyvay?"
Slappy stomped her foot on the ground. "To get those bumbling bozos off our property and out of our lives!"
Plotz shushed her. "Do you want them to find out that we're here? You'll get us all killed!"
Slappy took a step forwards. "If we don't start gettin' serious, we're all as good as gone."
"Excuse me, "said Hello Nurse, all eyes turning to her. "But I've just been wondering- where are the kings and queen?"
People started muttering, looking around, but not finding anyone.
"That's right! I heard they were absent from the list…"
"They aren't here!"
"Where could they be?"
Brain stepped up onto a broom propped up against the dirty wall. "If I could have everyone's attention, please. I believe that I have found a rather interesting clue." He held up a tiny mouse- sized handful of black hairs.
"Narf! What is it, Brain?" Pinky was jumping up and down with excitement.
"If my calculations are correct, this is DNA residue of Wakko Warner, left here not too long ago. I found it caught in the latch of the trapdoor above us." He pointed to the cracked and aged trapdoor that the moonlight was creeping through.
Skippy cocked his head to one side. "They were here?"
"Only days ago." Brain nodded.
"But what were they doing?" Plotz voiced what everyone else was thinking.
"Who knows, who cares." Minerva shrugged off the subject with an eye roll. Everyone glared at her in return.
"Ze Varners may be zany und crazy, but zey were ze best thing that ever happened to Acme Falls." Scratchensniff said angrily.
"Yeah, you might wanna think about what you say about the people that are in charge of you, blondie." Slappy cracked her knuckles.
Minerva waved her hand. "Big whoop. They aren't in charge of me anymore. The Ticks are. They're in charge of all of you, and I bet if the Warners were still here, they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. After all," Minerva shifted her weight. "They are just, you know, kids."
Skippy huffed and crossed his arms. "So?"
"So wherever they are, they probably won't last long. I mean, they aren't exactly the bravest of heroes. They didn't even care enough to stay here with their kingdom and go down with the ship. They probably took off because they were afraid. And now we're all standing here, breaking our backs to tear down our kingdom and build a worse on in its place while they take a little vacation." Minerva slumped back against the wall, crossing her arms. "That's all I'm saying."
Plotz didn't want to even think that something Minerva Mink said made sense, but he knew she was somewhat right. If the Warners had left to do God knows what, there wasn't even the slightest chance that they would consider coming back. There was a gigantic ogre guarding the place for one thing. They'd never get past the gate without getting crushed and/or clubbed. Somehow, it seemed like they had just disappeared and weren't returning anytime soon.
Plotz shook his head. "Okay, so the Warners are missing. I know they're the kings and queen, but at least they won't be able to bother us with what we need to focus on- getting our town back.
"So… any ideas?"
Once again, you could've heard a pin drop. People looked down, fiddled with their clothes or became suddenly interested in their fingernails. All until one small voice spoke up.
"Mr. Plotz, sir?" Plotz felt someone tugging on his sleeve. He looked down, to see Skippy looking up at him.
"Not now, Skippy, I'm in the middle of-"
"I know, and I'm helping you. I know how we can do this." He said, turning to the group. "Together we can get our old town back, Tick free. We're just going to need a little help…"
….
Snap! Wakko winced as he stepped on yet another twig, breaking it in two and sending one of the halves painfully deep into his foot. Wakko tried not to curse as he shook his leg to get it out, hopping on one foot. This had to be like the fifth time it had happened- in the last hour. And amazingly enough, that wasn't the worst part of their little trip so far.
He had lost count of how many tree branches had slapped and scratched his face, along with the rocks he stubbed his toe on. Then there were the tree roots he tripped over. Oh, and the fact that it was below freezing. He could see his breath in the still air while his teeth were chattering.
Let's face it- I'm not an outdoors-y type person, he thought.
For once, Wakko wished he had someone to talk to. He was getting bored of staring at the ground all day, watching for twigs and roots. But unfortunately everyone was occupied. Rosetta and Dot had been talking about boys or clothes or something, and Yakko and Cassie could be heard talking and laughing about something one minute and arguing about it the next.
Wakko sighed dramatically. The middle child never gets any attention.
He felt like they'd been walking for hours and he'd had nothing to do but hurt himself. What kind of a mission was this? He still didn't even know where they were going.
Oh, yeah. Tauntwood. Wakko had to admit that he was kind of scared. It was like he was just now realizing that he was miles away from his home. He had never really been outside of Acme Falls. Except for when his parents had taken them on that vacation to a beach when they were young, and Dot hadn't even been born yet; but he could barely even get a fuzzy memory. It kind of annoyed him when Yakko talked about it to him, all the funny times they had had, how many girls he'd taught Wakko to hit on. Sometimes Wakko just didn't want to hear it. Yakko acted like he knew everything and it got on his nerves.
Oh, whatever. Yakko's always talking. Wakko stopped thinking to listen, and yep, he was yakking on about something or other. Everybody liked him because he was smooth and quick to make a joke.
So he can say words. Big fat deal.
Then Dot was always the cute one, the impoooooooossibly cute one. And she sure did use it to her advantage. Sure, occasionally Wakko could weasel his way in or out of something, but all she had to do was bat her eyelashes and say please. It wasn't fair. Wakko really didn't like thinking about his siblings like this; he loved them, and they loved him back. But sometimes he just had to wallow in his misery; thinking about how being the middle kid sucked was just another way Wakko solved his problems.
And that was another thing no one understood about him; he was always thinking. There seriously wasn't a moment that thoughts weren't going through his head, even if some of them were crazy and weird. It hurt that some people thought he was the dumb one. He wasn't dumb! Sometimes he thought he was even smarter than his older brother. Wakko kicked at a rock, ignoring the stabbing pain. He vowed from this day forward to speak up and not be left out anymore- Wakko the dumb had left the building.
"We're here."
Rosetta snapped him out of his coma, and Wakko looked up. They had all stopped walking and they were standing around a miniscule little sapling.
"Your homebase is a tiny tree?" Dot crossed her arms, looking skeptical.
Rosetta shook her head. "Just hold on a sec. I'm trying to…" she pushed her hair behind her ear as she knelt down, feeling her hands around the dirt, searching for something invisible. Wakko looked at Yakko and they both shrugged.
"Ugh, finally!" Wakko heard Rosetta say. He wasn't really looking at her (which was a first); he was staring around at the trees, watching birds, when he suddenly heard this weird noise that sounded like a huge refrigerator opening.
At first, he didn't believe what he saw.
For starters, a whole patch of the ground had completely folded over, forming a square opening in the ground, leading to someplace underground. The opening was dark, and Wakko couldn't see anything below it. But then he saw a whole staircase unfolding, leading way down beneath them, into the dark.
Wakko looked around to the rest of them. Yakko Dot and Cassie looked completely dumbfounded, but Rosetta let her three Lupacai go first, before she started to step down herself.
"Come on, what are you waiting for?"
"… An explanation for breaking the laws of physics?" Yakko said.
"Just get down there before someone sees us." Rosetta gestured downwards.
Wakko glanced at Dot. "Ladies first."
Dot glared at him, but she cautiously made her way down the stairs. After a couple of seconds, everyone waited until they heard Dot exclaim, "No way!" her voice sounded faint but excited.
"Wait for me!" Yakko said, diving in after her.
Cassie looked at Wakko. "Here goes nothing." She stepped in after Yakko.
Having no more time to put it off, Wakko ambled slowly down the stairs. While his eyes were adjusting to the darkness, he heard Rosetta getting in, and then the door of ground slamming shut behind them, engulfing them all in darkness. But when his eyes adjusted, Wakko saw faint lights of different colors flashing and shining all around him. He saw his siblings and Cassie standing in the middle of a humongous room.
Wakko gasped. They were inside one of the coolest underground headquarters of all time.
There was a first floor, with computerized mechanisms all over the place. Wakko saw people sitting down, typing or working on important-looking projects. There was a big screen at the end of a long, wide hall which had a map of some place Wakko had never seen before, which he guessed was Tauntwood. There were little red dots all scattered over the map that moved in different directions every five seconds. Then there was a big circular table with a bunch of young adults all seated around it, talking seriously.
There was also a second floor on top of them, with a circular balcony that swirled above their heads, which had pretty much the same stuff, like the computers and machines and everything. There were glass walls that lead to other rooms, like one with people inside them practicing martial arts or something. Wakko smiled in awe as a teenage guy kicked the head clean off a plastic dummy, knocking it against the wall and rolling on the floor. Cool!
Most of the people walking around the place were teenagers and young adults, the youngest being maybe fourteen and the oldest being somewhat twenty five. Some were carrying papers and some were holding wicked-looking weapons like guns and harpoons. Wakko smiled even bigger than before.
Forget being a king. This is the coolest place in the world!
Rosetta just about read his mind. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" She grinned at their stunned but excited expressions. Even Cassie looked impressed.
"This is awesome!" Dot exclaimed. "I feel like we're in Charlie's Angels!"
Rosetta was about to say something, but a teenager, who was short for her age, walked up to her. "Hey, Rosie. Glad you're back, but Jared's looking for you, and he's not happy."
Rosetta rolled her eyes. "Just tell him that I'm back and that I found some very important information. And there's some people I need him to see."
The girl nodded. "Okay- just stop running off like that! He gets really annoyed when you just disappear, and that's the last thing we need around here."
Rosetta slipped off her bag and handed it to her friend. "Whatever. He can't tell me what to do."
She raised an eyebrow. "Well, technically-"
"Just go, please!" Rosetta pointed to her left.
"Right, okay." Her friend scurried off, as if afraid Rosetta was going to scream at her.
Yakko turned to her. "Who's Jared?"
Rosetta looked ahead of her, and then slapped a hand over her face, pointing with her other hand towards someone. "That's Jared."
Everyone circled around to get a look at him. He was a guy in his early twenties, with wavy blonde hair and tan skin, kind of like Rosetta's. He was wearing a tight black muscle shirt and jeans, and he was walking towards them, a stern look on his face.
Dot fanned herself and jumped into his arms. "Hellooooooo, Alex Pettyfer!"
The guy, Jared, looked at Dot like she was a cockroach he found in his bed, "What the-"
"Shhhh." Dot put a finger to his lips. "Don't speak. Let's just enjoy this moment…"
Jared pulled Dot off of him, set her on the ground and then looked at Rosetta. "Oh, ha ha, very funny. You disappear for a week and then bring me back a bunch of freaks and weirdos."
"Jared-" Rosetta started.
"And who are you calling us freaks and weirdos?" Cassie said.
"I'm Jared Claythorne, head and leader of the Resistance."
Cassie shrunk back slightly. "Oh."
Jared crossed his arms. "Yeah, 'Oh'. You might want to watch where you drag that big mouth of yours. You never know who you're going to end up talking to."
Dot hugged on to his leg. "Yeah, don't talk to my future husband like that!"
Jared shook his leg. "Will you get off!" He looked at Rosetta. "What were you thinking? I told you to wait here while I was gone, but when I got back, you had just left. Do you think it's funny? To just disappear and come back and say, 'Hey everyone! I brought random people from outside of Tauntwood!'."
Rosetta started, "It wasn't like that, they're-"
"Not staying." Jared dismissed the subject and started to walk away.
"Jared!" Rosetta yelled. "They're from Acme Falls!"
Jared stopped and turned around. "This had better not be a joke."
"Of course! We never joke around." Said Yakko. "I'm Yakko!"
Wakko knew what to say. "I'm Wakko!"
Dot stood up straight, making a mock curtsy. "And I'm Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca III! You can call me Dot. But call me Dottie, and you die."
"We're the Warner brothers!"
"And the Warner sister!"
Wakko and his sibs threw their arms around each other and smiled. Jared stayed in a creeped out expression. "And who's your friend?"
Cassie tossed back her hair. "Cassie Bennett. Not so nice to meet you."
Rosetta stepped in. "Jared, you have to believe me-"
"Rose, I'm sorry, but I just can't deal with this right now. You're just gonna have to go back to wherever you came from." Jared turned to them with an expression like stone.
"Yeah. Can't do that." Yakko said.
"What do you mean?"
Cassie smirked. "He means that they're the kings and queen of Acme Falls."
It was like he was experiencing the feeling of surprise for the first time. "What?"
"Yeah, 'What'. You might want to watch who you're talking to, as well. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to go around ordering people to go back to where they came from without asking them who they are first. It's sort of classified as 'anti-social', if you know what I mean."
Jared threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, I get it!" He looked at Rosetta who smiled innocently. "So, again, why are they here?"
Rosetta looked straight at Wakko. "Wakko can tell you."
Wakko heart sank. He didn't really like to talk very much, but then again, he'd do anything for Rosetta, of course! So he related to the story of how they'd been attacked by a giant, and ended with them arriving here, in the huge hi-tech spy room.
When he was done, Jared looked at Rosetta again, glaring at her. "Fine, they can stay."
The Warners jumped for joy, hopping up on Jared and giving him a big kiss on the lips while Rosetta and Cassie almost fell down from hysterical fits of laughter.
Jared ripped the Warners off of his face. "Gross! Don't ever do that again."
Yakko crossed his arms. "No promises, Jarhead."
"Don't call me that. Now I said you can stay for a little while. So don't get too comfy. Besides, while you're here, I could definitely use some help around here."
Wakko hopped up and down. "Do you want us to shoot people with guns and go on top secret missions and blow things up?"
"No."
Wakko's face drooped. "Darn."
"Whatever. Rose, go… show them their rooms or something. I'm busy right now." He pushed past them and started making his way to the big table at the end of the hall. He yelled over his shoulder, "And don't let them touch anything!"
Dot turned to Rosetta and smiled. "You're gonna let us touch stuff, aren't you?"
Rosetta shook her head and motioned for them to follow her. "Nope, sorry. I can't really let you into any of the dangerous rooms or anything, because you might either blow yourselves up, or blow all of us up. Whichever comes first."
Wakko had to jog to keep up with her because she was walking so fast, past rooms and machines, turning corners. "But that's the fun of it!"
"Wakko, I can't. Jared may be the most annoying big brother in the world, but I have to listen to him. What he says goes around here. He's the one who runs this place."
Yakko paced behind her. "Really?"
"Yup. He's been a part of the resistance ever since he was fourteen and ever since our dad died in the war, he's been one of the best fighters here. That's why he was chosen to be the leader. He's strong, I guess."
Wakko looked up at a picture on the wall, of a younger-looking Jared in his mid-teens, breaking a wooden board in half with his hand. "No kidding."
Rosetta nodded. "He was fourteen and I was eight. Our dad had died and we were all alone until we found the resistance underground. So we moved down here. Everyone up above us thinks we escaped or died. But we're still here, and- Oh, here we are."
….
Rosetta stopped and so did the rest of them, standing in front of a metal door with a sleek pad on the front. Rosetta put her hand on it, waited a few seconds for it to scan her handprint and then the door slid open, revealing a small room with two sets of bunk beds.
Wakko jumped in first. "I get the top!"
Yakko came rushing after him. "No way, I always get the top! You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead, nonliving hands."
"It's on!"
Cassie rolled her eyes and looked at Dot as they heard the boys grunting and yelling, wrestling on the floor. "Boys. Go fig." they both said simultaneously.
Rosetta tucked her hair behind one ear. "Okay, here you are. I'll see you guys at dinner, in the mess hall, two doors down to the right. 6:30 sharp. Don't be late."
Cassie threw her bag against the wall. "Don't worry. We wouldn't be late for a whole hour of sitting down and conversing with you and that charming brother of yours." Dot elbowed her in the ribs.
Rosetta rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room, slamming her fist on the scanner so that the door shut.
Wakko looked up from his bottom bed. Unfortunately, Yakko had won the wrestling contest. "Are you seriously this good at annoying people? You're my hero!"
Cassie snorted. "It's a gift." She said.
Dot gasped. "That's what I always say!" she hugged Cassie around the waist. "I love this girl!"
"Great, that makes two of us." Cassie said. She flopped back on the bottom bed and gave a long sigh. "Wow, these are soft."
The Warners tried out their beds as well. They all sighed dramatically. "This isn't so bad for a rebel camp." Yakko admitted.
"It's faboo! I can't wait to try out that cool gun!" Wakko said.
Dot scoffed. "You're the last person on earth I would trust with a weapon like that, Wakko."
Wakko rolled over on his pillow. "Well, I can dream can't I?"
Yakko stretched out and yawned. "Speaking of dreaming, I'd say that it wouldn't kill anyone if we took a little siesta. I'm beat."
Everyone else mumbled their agreement. Cassie had to admit that the trip they had taken was probably the longest time she had walked without stopping in her life. She closed her eyes and fell into complete blackness. Before they knew it, they were all fast asleep.
….
Rosetta punched the scanner, making the door shut and then whipped around, cursing under her breath. God, that girl annoys me! Who does she think she is? What did I ever do to her, the jacked up little…
Rosetta was fuming, running into people and knocking papers out of their hands as she stormed up the stairs to the second floor. She thinks she's so high and mighty because she hangs out with the kings and queen… I'll bet that stupid diamond she wears isn't even hers; probably stole it, anyway.
Rosetta's heat suddenly pounded out of her chest. She had just remembered something, something that she never should have forgotten. Of course! That's why they were chasing them; it's why she can't get hurt, why the bullets didn't hit her! I can't believe I didn't see it before!
Rosetta whirled around, almost tripping all the way down the stairs. She changed directions, running all over the place; through groups of people, past glass walls, over the ugly carpets that she had always hated so much. She had to get to Jared and tell him.
At long last, she finally found him in the control room. He was pressing buttons and saying stuff into a headset. Rosetta ran in, accidentally knocked his half-finished cappuccino over in the process. She ripped his headset right off his head so that he would hear her.
"Rosetta, what the hell are you-"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, just listen to me!" Rosetta almost didn't realize that she was yelling.
"This had better be-"
"It is!" Rosetta grabbed her brother's arm and yanked him down to her height, pulling him closer so that no one would hear. "Listen."
"What?"
"You remember that tall girl with the brown hair, Cassie, right?"
"Yes. We met not two seconds ago, why?"
Rosetta pulled him lower, whispering in his ear. "She's got the Jewel of Ticktockia."
Dun dun duhhhhh! Wow, my cliffhangers are even getting on MY nerves. I'll have to fix that, because there's plenty more where that came from. Please R&R (no that does not mean rest and relaxation) and have a nice day! Or night! Whatever time period you are in! :) Peace.
