Villains High: The Stoppable Factor
Bergen's and Troll's was quite packed tonight. Naturally, it was Saturday, so people were enjoying the night out.
Martin felt rather awkward. Usually, etiquette would have him be the one inviting his crush over to a nice restaurant, but this time Ruby had insisted on being the one to invite him. And since Feige Blomstroll owed her a favor after a hairy accident back in Potions Chemistry class, the dinner was practically on the house.
"So one Groot beer, one Earl Grey..." Feige jotted down on a notepad while she faced Ruby and Martin sitting at the diner's bar. "Please tell me you'll take a cheap dish."
"Let's see," Martin pretended to think. "I'm evil, so I'm going to go with your Codfish Ramen dish."
"Great." Feige mumbled as she wrote that down.
"LAST TIME YOU DO SOMETHING ON THE HOUSE, FEIGE!" Her boyfriend shouted over the noise of kitchen pans, hot boiling water, and chopping he was making. Due to the fact he was the only cook in the diner, Dårlig Bergen had to run around multitasking when it came to cooking for his clients, especially on busy nights like Saturdays. Some didn't want to imagine how he had to go to the bathroom.
"And what will you take?" Feige asked Ruby in order to avoid shouting back at her boyfriend, knowing he would prefer concentrating his energy on preparing dishes rather than argue.
"I'll just go with Cold Revenge dish," Ruby said. "Feige, how come you and Dårlig don't hire more employees?"
"She's got a point." Martin pointed out. "I mean, the division of house chores between you and Dårlig seem quite fair, but how can two people run one diner by themselves?"
"Even if Dårlig and I could hire people, where would we find them and how in Pete's sake do you expect us to pay them? We barely manage to make close to 1000 dollars a week and we already have to use half of our money to pay for our apartment and school supplies. We couldn't pay for even six employees by the hour!" Feige exclaimed.
"OK. Let's think." Ruby tapped her fingers on the bar table, which sounded like a clock's ticking, until she finally snapped them. "We got an upcoming pep rally next Wednesday. Maybe with the right flyers and some conviction for the jeerleaders, we can try to see if we can encourage some of the students looking for ways to make cash to work part-time here!"
Martin nodded his head. "That sounds like a possible plan. But how on earth will you convince Darcy Fae, the jeerleading captain?"
"Fiske's right." Dårlig popped his head out of his kitchen. "Asking that dark fairy for a special routine just for you is like asking Penna De Mort if she can wear a pink tutu for your little sister's tea party." He made an explosion gesture with his greasy hands. "Turned into smithereens."
"Don't you have grilling steaks to worry about?" Martin pointed at the direction of the kitchen, which caught Dårlig's attention when he realized that for a few mere minutes, we was causing his meat to burn. "MY VEAL CHOPS!" His screams were then followed by him crashing into a pile of cans hidden from the customers' sight. This didn't stop them from grimacing in discomfort.
"Yeah, now we're desperate." Feige grumbled.
Monday, at Villains High
"What do you mean, Darcy's unreachable?" Ruby exclaimed. For the entire morning, she had tried to reach out to Darcy Fae, but the jeerleading captain was nowhere in sight, and unfortunately, by the time Ruby had finally managed to communicate with Minuit Sparkle during the lunch break, the latter had no good news to give her.
"Her folks had to take her with them to a fairy convention back in the Fae Realm," Minuit said. "She won't be back until Thursday morning, and without the jeerleading captain, the VH squad can't perform their routine at the pep rally."
"And the rest of you can't do other performances? Not even one?" Ruby begged.
"Even if Darcy were here, none of the other jeerleaders would have been able to come." Minuit shook her head. "Cassie's gone on an internship in Eviladelphia and Maligna's been suspended from jeerleading until she returns her overdue library books about Nordic jinxes."
"What about Charlie?" Ruby asked.
"She got grounded by her mom for getting five As in a row."
"And what about those sisters Florence told me about? You know, the circus ones who managed to get an interview with Darcy and got admitted in the squad before being officially enrolled at the school?"
"The Bartok sisters? Well, they were supposed to have moved into town and started at VH by now, but their parents are currently having issues with the circus management about how sending the sisters to school will affect the business. They are after all the stars of the show. But otherwise, they might not come until after the pep rally."
"Great..." Ruby slammed her head on the table. "I promised Feige and Dårlig that Martin and I would find them part-time employees for their diner during the pep rally? How on earth are we supposed to find any if the jeer squad of the school aren't even going to be here? Isn't that the point of a pep rally? Jeerleaders?"
"Well, aside from me, we do have one available jeerleader." Minuit hesitated. "But..."
"Please tell me she isn't taken as well."
"It's not that," Minuit confessed, "but if I told you who she is, I highly doubt that your boyfriend will want to cooperate. See, she's kinda..."
Later, in the empty Study Hall
"STOPPABLE?"
It was a miracle that the Study Hall room at Villains High had sound-proof windows and generally had no adult to supervise the students since Study Hall was like detention: hardly anyone attended.
It wasn't so much of a miracle for Minuit, Ruby, and the local school artist Nora Belartiste, who Ruby managed to make a bargain with in order to make flyers for their little cause. The girls had to deal with Martin pacing around in circles and screaming louder than Coach Kholtas during volleyball practice (for some reason, she thought volleyball was a sport conspiring against the female species).
"OK, I can tell you're not crazy about this, but we need... anything if we want to keep or promise to Feige and Dårlig!" Ruby told Martin.
He gave her an enraged scowl. "Ruby, the day I agree to work with Ronilda Stoppable is the day I decide to spit on my family's name!" He snapped at her. "Do you even know who she is?"
"I'll make this quick." Minuit intervened from the chair she was slouching on. "Ronilda, or 'RJ', as she insists on being called, is the daughter of heroine Kim Possible and her sidekick Ron Stoppable. They were the heroes that constantly defeated villains like Martin's dad and let's just say that weirdly enough, Monkey Fist and Ronilda's dad were arch-foes."
"It's not weird! It's a blasphemy, an insult to my family name!" Martin snapped.
"We heard it, we heard it!" Nora rolled her eyes. "Monkey phobic sidekick takes Mystical Monkey Power, blah, blah, blah, only Monkey Fist deserves it, blah, blah, blah, mystical swords and amulets, blah, blah, blah, Amelia's mom in a gorilla armor..."
"Amelia's mom in a..." Ruby was baffled.
"I don't want to talk about it!" Martin snapped.
"Good reason why we crossed out Amelia Hall playing the role of the school mascot." Minuit shivered in disgust.
"Look!" Martin snapped. "I agree to do anything to get Feige and Dårlig new employees, but I won't do it if it involves Stoppable!"
"So, we'll just have to find other ways." Ruby shrugged. "How hard can it be?"
First Attempt: Cookie Sale
They tried to help Ingwer Hexe during her usual afternoon cookie sales with each box containing information about a possible part-time employment at Bergen's and Troll's, but by the moment the rumor went around that Ronilda Stoppable was giving around her homemade chocolate Seven Layers of Heaven cake for free, the hallway was deserted.
Martin crossed off the cookie sale option on his notepad. "Maybe we'll find something else?" Ruby said somewhat hopefully.
Second Attempt: Coupons
They tried to hand out free coupons booklets for anything they bought at Très Chez Léon, a boutique run by Camillo Léon in the Villainapolis Mall, until once again, a rumor beat them to it. This time, the rumor said that Ronilda Stoppable found designer clothes at a local thrift shop and with a much lower price than Très Chez Léon.
Another option crossed off.
"This is getting desperate!"
Third Attempt: Car Wash
"Sorry," one of the students said when Martin and Ruby came by, offering to wash her car in return for a filled application, "Stoppable already offered to wash my car for the next two weeks."
Fourth Attempt: Babysitting
"Stoppable's already signed up for babysitting my sisters!" Sean Abyss shook his head when they spoke to him Tuesday Morning before class started.
Later
"This is hopeless!" Ruby groaned as she walked with Martin and Minuit to Study Hall. "With Stoppable taking over the social food chain, I don't even know if we can find anyone to work at Bergen's and Troll's!"
"Now you see what I have to put up with." Martin shook his head. Then, something hit him. "Wait a minute! Stoppable's parents aren't even villains or antiheroes! What on earth is a heroic offspring doing in Villains High?"
"I don't know," Minuit admitted as she opened the door to Study Hall. She stopped and gasped, causing Martin and Ruby to have a similar reaction. There, sleeping on one of the Study Hall tables with a pillow holding her snoring head covered by ginger blonde hair, was Ronilda Stoppable. Her backpack was open and laying on the floor with paper slipping out of it. Ruby walked over and picked them up, unable to keep herself from looking through them.
"Cake baking assignment for Wicked Bakery, list of clothing stores for the fashion column of the UNHOLY GAZETTE, after school community service, part-time babysitting allowance summary..." Ruby said. "Ronilda's been doing all this stuff just to stay socially active at VH! That's why we had nobody!"
"Because she's overworking herself!" Minuit waved her hand over Ronilda only to find that the latter was seriously tired. "Just like her mom!"
"Hm, I wouldn't think so." Martin had picked up at crumbled piece of paper that had fallen out of Ronilda's backpack and read it before showing it to the girls. "Judging by this acceptance form, the logo, and the signature, this is a parents' response letter to their child's acceptance at Power Hero High."
"That cheesy boarding school in San Franhero? Where the children of heroes go to?" Minuit arched an eyebrow.
"Yes. This is the letter parents send to the administrative office to confirm their child is going to PHH once they get accepted into the establishment," Martin said. "Apparently, our sleepy friend here didn't want to go, so she kept her parents' response letter from reaching out."
"You got that right."
The trio yelped. Ronilda had woken up and was staring at them with somewhat sleepy eyes. "My parents wanted me to go to PHH and filled up the application without asking for my opinion." Ronilda sat upstraight and stretched herself. "The night they got my acceptance letter was the night they filled up their response letter, but since I didn't want to go to the school, I stole the letter and forged a copy, saying that my parents decided to not send me after all."
"So how did you end up in VH?" Ruby asked.
"I have a family friend," Ronilda said. "Melgo Theodora Lipsky."
"Drakken and Shego's daughter," Martin said darkly. "I should have known."
"She goes to Villains High as a member of the antihero program. She learned of my small deception and helped me fill up the application for Villains High, pay the admission fee, and forge the 'response letter from my parents' saying that they are happy to send their black sheep once she got accepted into the school."
"Black sheep?" Ruby widened her eyes.
"I don't get it," Minuit said as she sat down next to Ronilda. "Don't get me wrong, you're an awesome VH jeerleader and almost everyone likes you, but why on earth would you flake on your parents do go to a school for bad guys? I mean, you're a hero offspring!"
"That's the thing!" Ronilda snapped. "Everyone wants me to be like my parents. Teen heroine or bubbly sidekick, so the drama teenager or monkey phobic buffoon, or even be hated by at least ten teenagers because their folks hate mine! I don't want to be a hero if it means being treated like I'm Kim Possible or Ron Stoppable! I'm just...Ronilda."
Martin turned his back and sniffed. Ruby caught him wiping his eye. "Martin, are you crying?" She asked in shock.
"No!" He said in embarrassment. "I just have something stuck in my eye!"
"Sorry I accidently caused you guys to lose people for your employment search," Ronilda apologized to Ruby.
"Eh, it's not like we would have found people anyway." Ruby shrugged. "Looks like Dårlig and Feige won't be happy. I can also tell Feige won't offer me anything on the house anymore."
"Did they say how many they were personally hoping for?" Ronilda asked.
"Uh, not really. Why?"
They all saw Ronilda give them a big toothy grin. "Because I think I found a solution to the little sitch."
Wednesday evening, at Bergen's and Troll's
Penna De Mort and Marius arrived at the diner, hoping to have a nice dinner after the pep rally, when they found an unexpected surprise when they got to the front entrance to ask for a table.
"MINUIT?" Penna's eyes widened when she saw the daughter of Midnight Sparkle tapping onto a computer at the front desk. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I work here." She got up, revealing her uniform as an employee of the diner. "A table for two, right this way, if you please."
The couple looked at each other in confusion as they followed Minuit through the rows of tables occupied by students who came for a delicious meal after the pep rally. Finally, they were seated at a booth near the window and Minuit gave them their menus. "Here you go. Take your time to look at our options."
"Ooh, I do like those branch like motifs on the menu," Marius said. "They look so realistic...It reminds me of this place's decorating..."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Penna looked closer at the menu. "I recognize this art style. That's the artwork of Nora Belartiste from Villains..." She put down the menu on the table and looked at Minuit with a stern look. "OK, Minuit, what on earth is going on?"
"Well, Ruby Kyle and Martin Fiske promised Bergen and Blomstroll that they would get them more employees for the diner at the pep rally," Minuit explained. "Bad part, it didn't work out. Good part, Ronilda Stoppable helped find a solution."
"We got an order of Seven Deadly Sins Pound Cake and Hoboken Kabobs for Table Five!" Feige shouted from the bar to the kitchen.
"Got it!" Dårlig Bergen shouted from the kitchen. "Stoppable, get baking!"
"Yes, chef!" Ronilda's voice was heard coming from the kitchen.
"So, long story short, we became the employees," Minuit said. "I work as host, Ronilda is the diner's baker and training to be Dårlig's sous-chef, and Nora is working as the restaurant artist in charge of all the advertising and stuff. I gotta admit, Nora's reboot of the menu is pretty awesome!"
"But, if you guys are employed as host, baker, and restaurant artist," Marius asked, "then, what are Ruby and Martin doing?"
Back in the kitchen
"Make sure those codfish are free from any bone!" Dårlig ordered Ruby, who had been placed in the position of food preparation cook.
"Yes, chef!" She went back to her station full of vegetables to dice, fruit to juice, and meat to chop.
"And you two, hurry up with the dishes!" Dårlig barked at Martin and Gilliard, who had tragically been placed under the employment of dishwashers with embarrassing colorful hairnets and gloves to cover their hair and hands as they scrubbed through the dishes soaked in bubble water. "I want those dishes to shine brighter than a silver medal!"
"I can't believe you dragged me into this," Gilliard hissed at Martin while scrubbing purée scraps off a plate.
"Just scrub," Martin grumbled. As payback, Gilliard dunked Martin's head into the sink full of detergent.
"Great news!" Feige came in with more booklets full of credit cards. "Our amount of customer attendance is doubling now that we have a bigger team. You guys are all amazing!"
"It's no big." Ronilda shrugged as she mixed the wet ingredients for the pound cake. She pointed her whisk at Ruby and Martin while the former was helping the latter get his head of the sink. "You should thank these guys the most. They put the most effort into it."
"Hurray," Martin said. He shook his head to dry it off rapidly, causing the others to exclaim in disbelief when they got sprinkled. Only Ruby giggled and gave Martin a kick peck on the cheek.
"Best gentleman I've ever met in my life," she said, causing him to blush fiercely.
"I'm so lucky," he said in a dreamy state.
"Chop, chop, people!" Dårlig clapped his hands together. "Customers first, Smooch City next!"
They all laughed together at his comment and went back to work.
*End Of Episode*
*Characters Introduced:
Dårlig Bergen, son of the Bergen Chef from TROLLS
Ronilda Stoppable, daughter of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable from KIM POSSIBLE
Nora Belartiste, daughter of the Evillustrator from MIRACULOUS: TALES OF LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR
* Next Episode: Moonlight's Epic Glimmer