As night settled in the streets of Ringworm and citizens across the city were tucked in their beds, a certain light in the Archer household remained on.
Abby couldn't sleep. The events from today still relayed through her mind endlessly, and all she could think about was Kid Rot. Was he still in the sewers? Where would he strike next? Was Chester still ali-.
The girl grimaced. She had promised herself she wouldn't think about Chester, as sad memories were the only thing she got out of it. When Abby had first met the boy, she instantly clicked with his love of science and botany, not to mention the fact he was also pretty cute. While they were never best friends, Abby and Chester had a companionship that had vanished as quick as it was formed.
Sniffing, Abby turned out the lights and rolled over onto her side. She wouldn't cry, but that didn't mean she wasn't miserable. The sound of crickets finally began to lull her into sleep.
The next morning, Abby wasn't in much better spirits as she boarded the school bus with her brother. Ty seemed to detect something was off with her, and instantly figured out what it was. While he was no fan of Chester after he found out he was behind the rot, Ty still tried his best to sympathize with Abby.
As Abby stared at her feet, Ty diverted his attention to the rest of his busmates. The jocks near the back were throwing paper airplanes at one another, while a group of girl giggled in the front. Sitting in the middle of the bus often gave Ty the whole view of everything going on as long as he looked over the seats.
The bus pulled up to a white house Ty was familar with, as Andy walked out of his front door and boarded the bus. As much as he wanted to stay by his sister and help her with her struggles, Ty couldn't bear her solem attitude and decided to go and sit by Andy instead.
"Abby? I'm gonna go sit by Andy, are you fine?"
Abby turned towards Ty and gave a small smile while nodding her head. She was actually quite glad to have some peace and quiet while looking back on the past.
Ty jumped up and moved to Andy's seat, instantly talking with him about science and machinery. Ever since Andy had developed his zit ray, he had become extremely rich and could afford just about anything. But he was never a braggart who let it get to his head, and always let his fellow students enjoy his rewards.
As the bus rumbled out back onto the street, Abby closed her eyes and went back into her train of thought. Of all the topics circling her mind, she decided to focus on something less tragic, like exactly where Kid Rot would attack next. If Abby could figure it out, then perhaps she could catch Kid Rot before he even arrived! But where exactly would he go anyways?
Well, there were plenty of possibilities. Firstly, there was Ringworm Park, an area he hadn't surprisingly attacked yet. With the flora and fauna surrounding the area, as well as the wildlife, it was a perfect place for Kid to rot and redecorate. Secondly, there was the fish packing plant, a place Abby already knew well enough from the hagfish incident. While there was as much organic material, there were enough fish to create a pile of rot large enough to partially flood the building. And finally, there was Ringworm High.
While the lack of organic materials was persistent (besides humans, which Abby would rather not think about.), there was one thing Kid Rot couldn't resist that Ringworm High usually had. Abby Archer.
If he was after Abby, it would make sense for him to investigate places she always went. Not to mention the pretty bad streak Kid had with Kent and his gang because of Chester, as well as people like Paige who screamed at anything gross. Abby began to devise a plan in her head when her train of thought was broken by weight of someone sitting next to her.
Abby was about to say something when a voice laced with sinister friendliness beat her to it.
"Hellllo Abby.." Oh joy. As if the world had bestowed Abby Archer with the gift of annoying in a human shell.
"Hello... Roger." Abby turned towards the ginger, who was sitting hunched over and messing with with his backpack's straps. He looked at Abby and gave an almost eerie grin, as a hint of something knowing was present in his infected eye.
Ever since the incident of fighting by Roger's side, Abby had decided that he wasn't as bad as he seemed, but that still didn't mean she necessarily enjoyed his presence. Sure, the two could now joke around with one another sometimes and Abby called Roger by his first name, but they were still far from conflict free. A part of Abby admitted to herself that if Roger hadn't lost his memories, she might've considered him an ally.
But there was nothing ally-worthy concerning Roger right now, as he rummaged through his ridiculously unorganized backpack probably digging for something gross.
"Alright, Why are you sitting over here?" Abby spoke right as Roger effectively fished out eyedrops from his backpack. Did he seriously leave medicine in that bag?
In response, Roger made a grand process of zipping up his backpack before speaking.
"Why not? There's no rule about assigned seats. Plus my usual seat has gum on it!"
Abby squinted. There was a 90% chance Roger was probably lying about the gum, and that he actually was planning on prying out some answers concerning her and Ty's identities. Even if Abby flat-out told Roger personally that she was a grossologist, she guaranteed he would still pester her about it.
Turning around and looking out of the window, Abby tried to focus less on her seatmate and more on her surroundings. She saw her school in the distance and grinned. Only five more minutes until she would be free from the annoyance next to her! Then she could begin constructing a plan to-
"So did you get any sleep last night? You have eyebags so- WAIT.. you must have been up fighting crime like a GROSSOLOGIST!-"
"ROGER! I AM NOT A GROSSOLOGIST!"
When the bus FINALLY arrived at Ringworm High, Abby jumped up from her seat and power walked out of the bus. Some students hung around near the entrance of Ringworm High, while others stood by their lockers and lounged in the hallways. Abby's thoughts reverted back to Kid Rot as she approached her own locker.
A bit farther behind, Ty pushed his way through the crowd of students to reach his sister. Sometimes Abby could be so determined to do something, she would often leave him behind in the dust. The Far-Ty incident was a painful enough reminder of that, and even now Ty was still reminded of his past failures.
Not wanting to ruin Abby's brooding with his own, Ty shook his head and sprinted off towards his own locker, his eyes widening at who he almost crashed into.
"Naomi!"
The strawberry blonde turned around towards her boyfriend as a smile was present on her face. Ever since Naomi and Ty had become a couple, the were quite the talk of the school. Plenty of other couples looked to them as inspiration for the ideal relationship, including some of the more popular students.
"Hey Ty!" Naomi greeted as she walked towards Ty and placed a quick kiss on his cheek, causing his face to heat up. In response, Naomi giggled as Ty tried to compose himself.
"Hey Naomi! How's your day been so far." Ty replied as he took Naomi's arm in his own.
"Great! Well, ever since you got here it's been great." Now it was Naomi's turn to blush as she leaned into Ty's side.
"Well, I think you're pretty great too!" Ty replied as he shared a kiss with his girlfriend. When they broke apart, the two of them stared lovingly at one another before walking towards Naomi's locker together.
Back at her locker, Abby watched as Ty and Naomi practically skipped down the halls. Ugh, romance. She was never one for crushes, seeing as two of her previous ones eventually became villains. So Abby tried to steer away from people she could potentially see herself falling for, but with someone like Greg Bradshaw in her class, it was often a hard task.
Grabbing her textbook, she walked towards her class, frowning when she saw a certain blonde brat and her followers standing around and laughing.
"Paige Logan.." Abby whispered with hostility under her breath. Even with the numerous and deadly amount of villains in Ringworm city, none of them came close to comparing in evilness to Paige. She was a human hellhound, control freak, and overall piece of trash. It was safe to say Abby was NOT a fan.
"Well Well!" Paige grinned when she caught sight of Abby, "If it isn't ABBY ARCHER! Come to entertain us all with some super gross facts?"
Her "friends", two girls named Patricia and Polly, only giggled in response to everything their leader said. Abby wondered just exactly what made them want to stick around Paige, after all, she was always seen herding them around like animals.
"Ahaha, Paige you're SO FUNNY!" Abby spat, "Mind repeating what you said? My ears aren't trained well enough to hear pure garbage just yet."
Paige's nose scrunched up in frustration as her followers mimicked her action. Not even bothering to give her the time of day, Abby started to walk by right as Paige spoke up.
"WELL! If you must know, we were discussing the school's upcoming couples dance on Monday!" Paige said with pride, "But I don't see how it's of any importance to YOU! Who'd wanna ask Abby Archer to the dance?"
"I'm not even interested in a couples dance!" Abby insisted as she continued speed walking farther down the hall. In reality, she kind of DID wanna go to the dance, especially if it gave her the chance to prove to Paige someone liked her enough to ask. Or maybe Abby could ask someone instead? There was Greg, and he seemed to like her well enough. Would it be awkward out a guy instead of the other way around?
Abby's inner monologue was interrupted once again, but this time it was by the sound of her grossmeter. She groaned and ran down towards a corner to hide from prying eyes (or more specifically prying Pink-eye) and dropped her book. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Abby pulled out the device and the Director's face appeared on the screen.
"AGENTS- Oh Abby, where's Ty?" His anxious voice remarked as Abby realized she was missing her brother.
"He's actually walking his girlfriend to class right now." Abby smiled as she fought the urge to laugh as the directors face went red with anger.
"NEVERMIND! Just tell him everything!" the Director's voice rang out, "There's been a horrible, gross, disgusting disaster!"
Abby listened as she hoped for news surrounding rot.
"Green and black gunk was found in place of water in a river near a local farm! DEAD FISH WERE EVERYWHERE!"
Bingo! Kid Rot must've decided it would be funny to flood the rivers with rot instead of water, making them inhabitable for the local wildlife. It was certainly less of a performance than Abby expected, but it was enough for her!
"It has to be Kid Rot!" Abby fired back at the Director, "Only he could do something like that!'
But the Director's face only housed a confused expression and responded.
"Kid Rot? That can't be right because an eyewitness said they saw SLOPPY JOE on the scene!"
"But how would Sloppy Joe get ahold of rotting gunk?" Abby remarked.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" The Director yelled, "GET YOUR BROTHER AND GO AFTER HIM!"
And with that, the Director's face zapped off the screen and Abby was left in silence. Was it really Sloppy Joe? She questioned her ideas and set off for first period to grab Ty.
A/N: And with that concludes chapter three! I managed to get this ready in two days and couldn't be happier. I'm not really a fan of how I wrote Ty and Naomi's interactions, but I hope it seems alright. Those two are absolute cuties! Also, this chapter has a bit of Abbster! I never clarified whether this would be a shippy fanfiction or not, but there's always room to slip in some ship content. As for Chester being alive, well, you'll have to wait and see...
For the favorite character it is non other than the ginger brat himself, Roger! He's one of the funniest characters in the show, and honestly a big mood. Writing him was a blast, and I might make a whole story based on him sometime (I did have a oneshot written, but didn't like how I wrote it so I scrapped it)
This author's note is getting a bit long, so I'll end it and say thank you for all the positive reviews! Everything you say is super kind and I appreciate it. Thank you for reading!