At first, Abby was too stunned to say anything. Not only was Kid Rot standing right in front of her AGAIN, but Sloppy Joe was on the scene as well. Did Kid just decide to make an appearance? Or was he the cause behind the river's gunk?
Ty, who was a few feet behind Abby and Kid Rot, held up his goopshooter and gritted his teeth. That pesky parasite his sister had been searching for all this time was right in front of her, and she didn't even have her weapon out. Ty closed an eye and carelessly shot a blast of goop at the back of Kid Rot's head, who only turned around and leaned away from the goo, which hit Abby instead.
Effectively snapping Abby out of her trance, she growled and wiped the goop off her face before glaring right at Kid Rot.
"Oh so NOW you decide to show up! Do you even know how LONG I've been searching for you?" Abby spat and raised her goopshooter.
"You were looking for me?" Kid Rot tilted his head and grinned. "You could have said so ages ago and I would've made myself known.."
Abby braced herself. As unpredictable as Kid could be, he often had a pattern in how he worked. First, he would give her something to try and please her, then he would ask her to join him. And after Abby refused, he would enact some dangerous stunt to get her killed. Luckily for Abby, she already knew this and decided to get the whole offering part over with.
"I don't how many times I have to say this, but I AM NOT JOINING YOU!" Abby yelled as she aimed the goopshooter at Kid's face. In response, the grin only melted off his features as he rolled his eyes.
"Who said I was going to ask you to join me?" Kid Rot put his hands in his pockets. "Well, since you already rejected me without any advances, why don't I just show you WHY you should join me?"
In a flash, Kid Rot was gone from Abby's sight and behind Ty, his hand on his neck. Ty gasped and tried to push the villain off, but hissed when Kid put his other hand on Ty's left arm and tested the waters but rotting off his pinkie finger. As Ty cried out in pain, Abby ran towards the two of them and screamed.
"YOU SICK FREAK! LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"
Kid only gestured towards Sloppy Joe, who laughed and grabbed Abby by her hands and held them behind her back. Abby grunted, trying to push off Joe but failing due to the latter's build being stronger than hers. Tears formed in Ty's eyes as he whimpered, which caused Abby to freak out.
"OK OK! I'll do anything, just leave Ty alone! I promise! I'll stay by your side, I'll love you, I'll abandon the agency but please DON'T HURT HIM ANYMORE!"
A spark of confidence flashed in Kid Rot's eyes as he released Ty's bloody hand. Seeing Abby so desperate to finally join his side made him feel weird, lustful in a sense. But he brushed off his emotions as he pointed towards Abby's goopshooter, which she had dropped after being grabbed by Sloppy Joe.
"Destroy their weapons! And if they have ANY means of contacting for help, destroy those too!" He laughed as Abby spoke up.
"My grossmeter, it's in my pocket! My phone is in our vehicle, and it has direct contact with the agency. Ty has a device on him as well, but DO NOT hurt him trying to get it."
Ty's eyes widened as the reality of the situation hit him. Not only had he just lost his left pinkie, his sister was willing to join Kid Rot if it meant his safety. Their fight from earlier played back in his head, as he felt a newfound gratitude for Abby, mixed with the sadness from realizing what she had just done.
Sloppy Joe looked towards his right and crushed the goopshooter with his foot before grabbing Abby's grossmeter and crushing it between his hand. Part of Abby couldn't believe it. She had always considered Joe one of the least evil out of all the villains she had fought, yet here he was working with Kid Rot.
Speaking of Kid Rot, he had grabbed Ty's goopshooter and grossmeter before tossing them into the river. Ty had long forgotten about his hand, and was now crying out to Abby in a desperate voice.
"Abby.. d-don't! We'll rescue you.. I promise!"
But Abby clearly wasn't listening, as Sloppy Joe walked her over towards Kid Rot and she bore a solemn look in her eyes. Refusing to look at her brother, Abby tried to clear all the thoughts in her head so she wouldn't feel as angry or sad. If she could put up a lifeless facade, perhaps Kid would get bored of her and go after somebody else instead. She hated feeling selfish, but she would sacrifice the entire agency over her brother any day.
With one final gift to Ty in the form of stepping on his foot with unimaginable force, Kid dropped the grossologist and reached an arm out towards Abby. Too tired to fight back, Abby linked her arm with his as the two of them sunk into a rot portal made in the ground.
Sprawled out onto the ground, Ty groaned as he tried to stand up but failed, surprised when Sloppy Joe's voice broke the silence.
"I'm sorry grossologist!" He sniffed with tears in his eyes, "I didn't wanna help him, but he threatened to kill Exo if I didn't!"
"Exo.." Ty looked up, "Who's Exo?"
"My little guy! My son!" Sloppy Joe yelled up into the sky. "Kid Rot just showed up one day at the apartment and held Exo in his hands, preparing to rot his little face off if Insectivia and I refused to help him!"
Ty raised an eyebrow. He did remember how over the past few months, Insectivia wouldn't attack the city and Joe was always a lot more stressed or eager during fights. He recalled once how Joe did say Insectivia was expecting soon, and that he was gonna be a dad.
"So Kid Rot was going to kill your son if you didn't help him kidnap Abby?" Ty questioned as Sloppy Joe frantically nodded.
"Exoskeleton is just a baby! How could he try and kill a baby!"
Ty agreed. Kid Rot had gotten more and more malicious over the years as evident by Ty's finger alone. He had never tried to kill anybody years ago, yet now Kid was fine with death and destruction at a worrisome level.
As anger flowed through Ty's veins, he tried to shakily stand up, as Sloppy Joe awkwardly pulled him up by the hands. It was strange. Just two minutes ago Joe was watching Kid Rot rot Ty's finger off, and now he was helping him up on his own two feet. The weight of the situation suddenly hit Ty like a pile of bricks.
"ABBY! KID ROT HAS ABBY AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS" Ty screamed and grabbed a fistful of his hair with his good hand. Kid Rot could be anywhere, with anyone, at anytime and he didn't have a clue where to look. What was he going to tell his parents? The agency? What was he going to do?!
"Easy there buddy", Sloppy joe picked Ty up by the scruff of his slimesuit, "Why do you go tell your...uh...agency what happened?"
Oh. And just how EASY would that be?! Explaining to the Director Kid Rot nabbed his sister and he had no idea where she was. The Director would probably fire the both of them as to not deal with the situation!
"This is all your fault.." Ty remarked as he hit the jetpack button on his suit and shot up in the sky, flying towards the GRS-1.
An unbearable heat surrounded Abby as the rot portal enclosed over her almost like a blanket. In the blink of an eye, she was standing right in front of Ringworm High with Kid Rot at her side. Why were they here? Did he want to make a show or something? What good would that do..
"My school.." Abby mumbled before squinting at Kid Rot, "Why are we at my school?"
"Oh no reason.." Kid smiled while staring at the school's front doors, "I just thought you'd wanna see your friends one last time!"
Abby paled. Was Kid Rot going to kill the students? Could he even kill that many people at once?
"I'm not gonna kill them." Kid said, reading the expression on Abby's face, "well, most of them"
The redhead let out a shaky gasp as Kid's hold on her tightened. He was going to kill human beings and there was nothing she could do but watch. That was until she begin devising a plan while Kid "escorted her" to the school's doors.
'He can't rot everything while he's holding onto me..' Thoughts began racing through Abby's head, 'I can always find a way to knock him out before he causes any actual harm. Kid Rot might be inhumane, but I hope Chester's body is still weak enough to faint from pressure to the head.'
As the pair got closer to the school, a few students lounging by the entrance took notice of them. Abby heard whispers along the lines of "What's a grossologist doing here?" and "Ew! What is wrong with that Kid!"
"Are you seriously going to start your 'Grand Performance' when we haven't even entered the building yet?" Abby hissed at Kid Rot, who only chuckled in response.
"Oh no! I'm gonna set it off by finally getting rid of somebody I've despised for a LONG TIME!"
"Kent?" Abby quietly asked as Kid shook his head.
"Nope. That hulking mass of flesh can wait, I'll do you a favor first, Abby"
The girl in question had no idea what he was talking about, and kept her eyes peeled for a fire hydrant or something similar to hit Kid over the head with.
The students inside near the school's entrance stared at Abby and Kid Rot with a look of suspicion. While most of them had no idea who Kid was, plenty of them were familiar with grossologists, and kept their eyes on Abby. She had no idea if the fire extinguisher on the wall was close enough to hit Kid with, but then a risky idea popped in her mind as she saw a girl standing by the lockers applying perfume.
'Well, it's now or never!' Abby relayed in her mind as she timed herself. Finally, with a scream loud enough to shatter windows, she crunched Kid's toe with enough force to break a bone, causing him to hiss and let Abby go. In response, Abby punched Kid hard across the face as dark blood streamed from his nose. It was going good so far, she'd just need to keep this up long enough to grab the fire extinguisher.
Kid Rot was furious, and growled as he reached towards Abby, who dodged his grasp and yanked the perfume from the girl at her locker. Students who had taken notice of the situation, all had various reactions. Some dashed out of the school, while others braced themselves for attacks. The girl who had the perfume only cried and ran to the bathroom.
Steadying her hand, Abby launched a stream of perfume right into Kid Rot's eyes as he yelled and coughed. This was risky, but if he couldn't see then Abby could sneak around him and knock him out. While the parasite fell onto his knees and rubbed his eyes, Abby shattered the glass with the perfume bottle and grabbed the fire extinguisher. Running behind Kid, Abby yelled before slamming the extinguisher right into the boy's head.
Gasping, Kid Rot's eyes slowly fluttered as he whined in pain. It was pathetic really, and Abby grinned as she watched the teenager fight for his consciousness. Before finally passing out, Kid quietly spoke one more thing.
"Abby...so sorry...ugh.."
It took everything in Abby to realize that the voice wasn't Kid's, and instead belonged to a boy she had thought was long dead. Sudden guilt swarmed Abby's mind as Chester Nightshade collapsed onto the floor at Ringworm High. Before she could reach out towards him, his eye flickered open as the floor rotted around him, effectively dragging Chester and Kid into another rot portal.
Abby cried out for Chester, but was only met with a gaping hole in the floor where he had once been. Shaking, Abby sobbed into her hands as the students around her quietly left.
A/N: Well folks, we've done it! I not only managed to traumatize Abby, Ty, AND the Ringworm High students, but I almost killed off Sloppy Joe and Insectivia's son! I think this takes the record for the darkest chapter so far, and possibly the quickest one I've uploaded.
Before anyone asks, the story isn't over yet and there's still more chapters on the way. This is sort of like the basic trauma arc for the characters. Kid Rot will be back soon, with Chester in tow to cause more destruction. By the way, it was Kid who opened the portal at the end of the chapter NOT Chester.
I'm not super happy with this chapter, and might rewrite parts of it later on, but for now I'm leaving it as is. Once again, thanks for reading!