Lockers flew by as Abby ran to science class. It was one of the only classes she shared with her brother, as well as many many other familiar faces. Holding her textbook under her arm, possible excuses ran through Abby's head to dismiss herself and Ty from class. Ever since the old "Science-Olympic" excuse, she never let Ty make up excuses for their missions again.
Luckily, class hadn't started yet and Abby was able to snag a seat near Ty. The only downside was that he was completely absorbed in a conversation with Naomi, and there was no snapping him out of it without interrupted their conversation. Abby sighed and grabbed a piece of paper from her desk, proceeding to wad it up and throw it at the back of Ty's head. In an almost dramatic fashion, Ty let out an "Ow!" and turned towards his sister.
'Mission' Abby mouthed and pointed to her grossmeter and an expression of recognition appeared on Ty's face. He nodded just as the teacher walked into the room with a clip board. Whelp, it was now or never.
"Mr. Reflux?" Abby raised her hand and stood up. "I forgot earlier but Ty's participating in the Science Bee at Ringworm university! We need to leave, before he's too late!"
'Smooth' Abby thought, remembering that Ringworm University's annual Science Bee today, making it the perfect excuse for someone like Ty. And as his older sister, it would be only natural she went with him to cheer in support.
Mr. Reflux raised an eyebrow before a smile formed on his face.
"Really? It's always nice having one of my students participate in the Science Bee!" He spoke, "You know, back in my day I was an international Science Bee champion-"
"Ok now we gotta go bye!" Abby grabbed Ty's arm and dragged him out of the classroom, hearing Mr. Reflux continue his ramble as she sprinted down the hall towards her locker.
The rest of the class only sat in silence, except for Naomi, who cheered for her boyfriend to win first place
"Ow OW! Abby, you didn't have to yank me!" Ty grumbled as he turned his locker lock.
Abby only began ranting as a response.
"The Director said there's been a river filled with black gunk near a farm. It HAS to be Kid Rot, but someone saw Sloppy Joe on the scene instead!"
The siblings descended into the darkness towards the suit-up device, with Ty rolling his eyes as he held out an arm.
"Abby, you know Kid Rot isn't the only villain out there, right?" Ty asked as his goggles were slipped onto his face, "Joe's whole deal is being stinky and working with gross stuff! He probably just flooded the river with some gunk he made."
But the redheaded girl wasn't convinced and only shook her head as she approached the gag lab's door and input the code. Ty raised an eyebrow and watched the door slide open while Abby crossed her arms. The two walked inside the lab, refusing to look at one another as they did so.
"Woah!" Lab Rat wheeled his chair around, "What's got you two in a funk?"
"Abby thinks Kid Rot is the person behind the messed up river, and I told her it was probably Sloppy Joe!" Ty didn't hesitate at laying everything down, while Abby frowned in response.
"Kid Rot's been popping up even more recently! It's no coincidence he'd strike again just to mess with us!" Abby spat and glared at her brother.
"All I'm saying is that an eyewitness SAW Sloppy Joe on the scene, NOT Kid Rot.!" Ty replied.
Lab Rat face palmed as Hermes hid inside his hoodie. If there was anything the boy knew from his years of working with the Archers, it was that fights between Ty and Abby could get pretty rowdy. Even if he tried to stop them from arguing, it usually ended in failure.
"Look, how about you guys go and investigate the scene before making any assumptions", Lab Rat interjected, "THEN we can see who's right and who's wrong"
Abby and Ty turned towards Lab Rat before sprinting off towards the GRS-1.
"IT'LL BE ME!" Lab Rat sighed as he heard Ty's voice trail off.
Inside the GRS-1, both Abby and Ty were surprisingly quiet. Ty was squinted as he piloted the vehicle, while Abby's mouth twisted as she looked through her grossmeter. Neither one of them acknowledged the other as Ty landed in front of the farm.
Right outside of the barn stood a lanky farmer holding a pitchfork. He gave a corny but frantic wave as he saw the grossologists approaching.
"You've gotta help me!" The farmer spoke in a country accent, "Mai river's all filled up with gunk 'stead of water! All the fishies are probably dead!"
"Don't worry sir" Ty replied with confidence, "I'm sure I know exactly who's behind all this! Just leave it to me!"
Abby clenched his first. Ty most certainly DID NOT know who was behind the gunk, and he most certainly wasn't capable of taking care of Kid Rot alone. However, Abby found herself too frustrated to follow after her brother and instead decided to look around for any other clues. If Ty wanted to deal with criminal all by himself, then so be it!"
Meanwhile, Ty grinned as he set off towards the river. He just knew that if Abby were by his side she'd be nagging him over and over about Kid Rot. Just what was her obsession with the guy anyways? I mean Ty understood her feeling sympathy for Chester, but he didn't understand why Abby was so focused on capturing Kid Rot. Sure, Ty wanted him jailed up too, but he wasn't going to let that get in the way of his priorities.
Speaking of priorities, Ty spotted the river and ran towards it. Upon reaching the edge of the land, he peered at the gunk polluting the river and examined it closely. A part of him was disappointed, as it looked similar to the rot Kid Rot made, but he wouldn't let that get him down! Ty crouched and pulled out his grossmeter, eager to analyze the substance and prove his sister wrong.
"Hey Lab Rat!" Ty said, "Think you can analyze the gunk I found in the river?"
"Yeah, hold on a sec." On the screen, Lab Rat punched in some numbers on his computer as Ty scanned the gunk with his goopshooter. A second later a ding sounded as Lab Rat clicked his mouse.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this stuff is pretty similar to Kid Rot's rot" Lab Rat said just as Ty gritted his teeth.
"What do you mean? It's not perfectly identical?" Ty asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Pretty much. While this substance is composed of many of the same bacteria that rot Kid makes has, it also contains less active bacteria, as well as some other microorganisms."
"That's great!" Ty pumped a fist, "That means this ISN'T Kid Rots work and Abby's wrong and I'm right!"
Lab Rat only rolled his eyes as the screen flicked off. Ty let out another cheer as he backed up slightly, falling over as his rammed into something round.
"Hey, what're YOU doing here?"
Ty jumped up from the sound of a voice and turned around looking behind himself.
"Sloppy Joe!?"
So far, today was not Abby's lucky day.
There was practically no evidence around the farm pointing to Kid Rot, nor any clues he could have possibly left behind. But Abby was NOT giving the victory to Ty just yet, and she was determined to prove that Kid Rot was the person behind the gunk.
The animals were all in perfect health, with not a rotted corpse in sight. All the crops were in excellent condition, and the trees were standing tall and proud. Rats.
As Abby scoured the farm again and again, she was getting closer to handing the victory over to Ty. She did admit it was pretty immature of her to start the whole argument about Sloppy Joe, and she shouldn't have brushed off her brother's words.
Standing up from the barn floor, Abby stretched and looked around. Ty wasn't in sight, so he had probably already gone to the river. But just was taking him too long? This called for an investigation.
For the first time in his life, Ty had never been happier to see a villain, especially if it was Sloppy Joe. Now that Kid Rot was out of the picture, all Ty had to do was secure Joe and he could brag to Abby on the flight back to the lab.
"I was RIGHT! You did pollute the river, didn't you!" Ty questioned as Joe gave a grin.
"Ehehe you got me! I dumped some brand new slop I made into this here river and it worked perfectly!" Sloppy Joe seemed proud enough of his work, and for once Ty grinned right along with his enemy.
"PERFECT! So Kid Rot didn't pollute the river! Abby is gonna be so mad once she finds out!" Ty said, almost as if to proclaim his victory to Joe, but the villain wasn't listening and instead staring right at the river.
"HEY! Who messed with my slop? It was GREEN but now it's black!" Joe yelled in frustration as he looked right at Ty, "YOU DID THIS, DIDN'T YOU!"
Now it was Ty's turn to be confused. Why was Sloppy Joe so worked up about the gunk's color? It didn't matter as long as it was gross, right?
"What do you mean?" Ty asked, "Why would I touch your slop? I just got here and I was about to clean it up!"
Sloppy Joe froze as if he was processing what Ty had just said. The boy in question crossed his arms and thought for a moment about what exactly could have happened. But his thoughts were interrupted by a voice.
"BORING! I expected you two to fight it out, NOT have a friendly discussion! Can't you guys entertain me or something?!"
Ty jolted and looked around in the direction of the voice, eyes widening as he saw a shadowy figure on a rock in the distance. Before Ty could say anything, Sloppy Joe beat him to it.
"YOU! Are you the guy who ruined my slop?!" Joe yelled right as the figure tilted it's head like a confused dog.
"I have a name y'know." The figure put his hands in his pockets before dramatically raising a hand towards the sun, right as black gunk dripped down from his limbs.
"IT'S KID ROT!"
Abby sprinted across the farm plains towards the woods. According to the farmer, the river's main location (or the best "fishin' spot"), was closest near the woods. Although Abby couldn't hear anything in the area, she sensed something was off and sped up. If Ty were in danger it would be all her fault.
When she finally arrived at th clearing, Abby frowned as she saw Sloppy Joe standing near the river. Well, she couldn't always be right. Getting closer to the river, she saw Ty looking up towards a large rock a bit farther away, just as a familiar voice rang out.
"IT'S KID ROT!"
Abby didn't know if she timed herself to say the exact same thing as she noticed Kid's form on the rock, but it drew attention as she saw the villain look directly at her despite their distance apart.
Ty saw his sister and turned towards her, screaming her name. But she wasn't focused on her brother, as Kid Rot had just disappeared into a rot portal and was now standing right in front of Abby.
"Hello again, Abby.."
A/N: Kid Rot is back baby! And not a moment too soon. I can't wait to get back to writing his dynamic with Abby, as the two of them have such an interesting relationship. While the show never touches on Abby's reaction when Kid Rot is show sinking into his own rot at the end of 'The King of Rottingham Forest', I like to believe she was at least a little bit sad. After all, it seemed like both she and Ty thought Kid Rot was dead, and by extension, Chester would be dead as well.
So the siblings had an argument, which was a result of the whole "is it Kid Rot or Sloppy Joe" thing. I took inspiration from Club Parasites, as well as Flushed Away for writing the fight between the two. It's pretty different from the previous chapter, where Ty was worried about his sister. Honestly, writing arguments between these two is pretty fun.
That's all I have to say for now! Thank you for reading!