"Huh?"
Abby met her brother's worried gaze. What was he talking about? Did he seriously want to abandon their plan to save Chester?
Before Abby could ask, Ty gave a firm nod to the students in the gym before rushing out the gym doors, pulling Abby with him. He dashed down the hallway and ran inside the boy's bathroom, locking the door to prevent anyone from prying their way inside.
"Abby, Kid Rot gave us thirty minutes to knock him out before he starts killing everyone in this building! Lab Rat still needs ten more minutes to prepare the anesthesia, and we have no idea where Kid is! Plus, we have to make our way to the lab using the vents to grab our rot-proof suits!"
Ty finished his speech and breathed out while Abby realized what he meant.
"You're right, we have to have Kid immobilized or seriously hurt before we can get him on the anesthesia...so we need to cause this damage ourselves-"
"Or," Ty interrupted Abby before raising a hand in a dignified manner.
"We ask the other students for help."
"Nope nope NOPE!" Abby slammed her hand over Ty's mouth and frowned. Was he serious? Dragging the entire school into this mess was one thing, putting the students at risk was another.
Ty forced Abby's hand off of him before jabbing her with his index finger and going off into another speech.
"Hey! Remember the incident with Dr. Colon? Paige and Naomi helped us defeat him! And what about the time we were trapped by Boil? Andy saved our stuff back there! And who could forget the time your clone had us out of a job? You and Roger worked together to stop-"
"I get it!" Abby waved a hand, dismissing everything Ty had said before realizing he'd forgotten someone.
"What about the time Pat cleaned up your mess with those fruit flies?" Abby smirked and Ty turned red before clearing his throat.
"The point is, we owe a lot to our classmates for helping us defeat villains, and they aren't even grossologists! If we worked together, we could stop Kid Rot's plan right in his tracks!"
As much as Abby hated to admit it, Ty had a point. But still, Kid Rot wasn't some ordinary villain like Boil. Kid was an inhumane parasite controlling the strings of disaster and death wherever he pleased. Would there even be enough rot-proof slimesuits or weapons to fight with?
"Ty," Abby began, "How many people did you want to fight alongside us? Do we even have enough gear?"
"We have enough additional slimesuits for five people, and that's just the number of people I think we need." Ty replied.
"And who says they'll even say yes?"
Ty froze and looked towards the ground with a stern face.
"We'll all die if they don't."
The gym doors slowly opened back up as Ty slipped through with an attempt of a brave look on his face. Every student bore a look of either fear or anger, some even crying into their hands. They remained unmoving until Paige caught Ty in the crowd.
"ARCHER! You're one of those gross-whatevers and this is all YOUR fault! Of course the Archers are into gross crap, it wouldn't surprise me if you're the only people on the planet with jobs like that!" Paige yelled as all the students turned to look towards Ty. He nervously scratched the back of his neck while Abby entered the gym herself. The two were dressed in their rot-proof slimesuits while Abby held the extras in her arms.
"Now isn't the time for arguments, Paige. Your lives are on the line if we don't capture a highly dangerous villain and I hate to say this, but we need your help." Abby rolled her eyes.
"If you think I'll actually help you fight a supergross villain, you've got another thing coming!" Paige retorted.
"But you did it before!" Ty started as he looked towards Naomi, who returned her boyfriends look with confusion.
"You and Naomi helped us defeat Dr. Colon! Remember that rainy day back in junior high when we missed the camp bus? You two are perfect for this job!"
While Ty was mostly referring to Naomi, Paige's eyes widened as she uncrossed her arms.
"That one freaky doctor who placed a literal colon in our school? How could I forget!" Paige spoke, "But that still doesn't mean I'll help you!"
The confident look on Ty's face deflated, when suddenly Naomi ran over towards him and grabbed his hands in her own.
"Ty, what do you want me to do? I want to help you guys, but this villain seemed terrifyingly stronger than that old doctor."
Upon hearing Naomi's reassuring words, Ty squeezed her hands and leaned towards her.
"Don't worry, all you have to do is provide a worthy distraction for Kid Rot to chase you into another room. From there, we enact phase two of our plan and see what happens. Do you think you could hold him off if you're wearing this?"
Ty held up one of the rot-proof suits tinted in a cyan hue. Naomi raised an eyebrow before Ty motioned to his sister, who grabbed a goopshooter from her pocket and fired a heap of black gunk. The gunk hit the suit without causing any damage before sliding off onto a few pieces of tissue paper on the floor, successfully turning them into similar puddles.
"This-" Ty started, "Is one of five rot-proof suits can withstand any fire Kid Rot pulls against us. When paired with this modified hazmat helmet, anyone wearing the whole set is immune to the rot. If he manages to corner you, use this here goopshooter to fight your way out."
Naomi took the suit in her hands as Abby handed her a helmet. Staring down at the black 'G' on the suit's front, she looked up towards the siblings with a smile.
"Got it!"
Ty smiled back before realizing just what this meant. Naomi, his Naomi, would be fighting face-to-face with the agency's most dangerous villain. Although he knew she could stand her ground, his nerves were still on edge just as Abby clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright then, we have an idea of four more people so listen up!" Abby's voice echoed through the gym as she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a phone.
"We don't know if Kid Rot is listening in on our conversation, so everyone else chosen should check their phones for the instructions. Feel free to reject the job, but please remember you are the first choices we had in mind"
As Abby finished her speech, Ty grabbed his phone and typed in a message before looking at Paige and attempting what appeared to be a "Please help us O' Great and Powerful Queen" glance. On her own, Paige wasn't as skilled in combat as Naomi, but she did make an excellent fighter in a pinch.
"Oh no you are SO NOT making me go out there! That little summer scandal was one thing, this is a whole other basket of gross-garbage!" Paige yelled and firmly crossed her arms. This gave Ty just the inspiration he needed to persuade her.
"Alrighty then, I just thought since Abby is so bad at fighting, you might wanna see her fail at defeating the villain.." Ty faked a dramatic sigh as Abby punched him on the arm, causing him to give her a look which made her realize what he was doing.
"Abby's bad at this? Like SUPER bad?" Paige grinned
"Oh yeah she's AWFUL, I bet you could really show her how it's done-"
"Say no more! By the time this whole thing is over, you two will wish I was on your gross-whatever team!"
Paige held up the edge of her dress as she strutted over, catching a light-pink suit in her midst. Abby only rolled her eyes and harshly shoved a helmet into her rival's arms. Seemingly lost in the idea of besting Abby, Paige waltzed over to Ty and snatched up his phone before quickly typing in her contact information.
"I'm expecting these instructions to be thorough and detailed, so don't disappoint me!"
A second later, two messages popped up in Naomi and Paige's phones. The girls eyed Ty's messages with a hard look, absorbing the details with determination. Abby could hardly believe Paige accepted the offer, much less was happy about. With three more people to invite and hardly any time to spare, Abby checked her mental list before pointing towards the next person.
"Pat-" "Yeah?"
Abby held her breath as the boy in question interrupted her, a confused look on his face.
"Pat", Abby began again, "We want you to help us capture Kid Rot. Do you remember that time you used your old clean-bot to suck up those fruit flies?"
"And when he lost he clothes hehe.." Ty whispered in Abby's ear, causing her to elbow him in response.
"Wait, those mysterious grossologists were YOU? I knew they looked familiar!"
Ty bore a "duh" look on his face, but Abby only ignored him and spoke.
"Yes, so do you have any sort of robot here at school? I can break into the club room and retrieve it while Naomi distracts Kid Rot."
"Perfect timing that you ask!" Pat stood up with an unnecessarily excited expression, "The school's annual robot fighting competition was a month ago, and not to brag, but my robot actually won!"
"Great! What exactly can it do and would you say a superhuman able to rot anything organic has a chance against it?" Abby said.
"Well.. it's a modified version of the Cleanbot-X, equipped with fighting equipment that nearly cost me an eye on its test run. There's nothing organic in the robot's outershell or its programming so I'd say it has a pretty good chance of getting in a few hits on an opponent! The robot's in the storage closet of the club room."
"Hold ON!", Ty moved over towards Pat with a doubting look in his eyes. Pat tilted his head while Ty launched into what could be considered part rant and part reasoning.
"Just how are we going to get the robot, keep Kid Rot busy, AND set everything up?"
"I already said Naomi will be distracting him. You can help if it gets messy, all she has to do is lead him away while we set up a room to house the robot in." Abby waved a hand and pulled out her phone, a message dinging on Pat's phone with the exact plan of what to do.
He eyed it, before smirking and nodding. Ty then threw a black suit at Pat, which he was barely able to catch. Abby rolled her eyes and handed Pat his helmet.
Whirling around, Ty reached for something in his suit's pocket and pulled out a compact looking machine which resembled a ray gun. Everyone knew the design of the Zit-Ray 3.0, but not many people could say they knew the creator personally, and certainly not many people could rely on a teenage millionaire for help defeating a criminal.
While Andy was no millionaire, he hadn't hesitated to help the Archers take down Boil years ago, an event which proved his loyalty above all else. Both of the siblings knew this, and they never took it for granted.
"Andy, do you remember that time Lance Boyle offered for you to join his side, but you fought against him and helped us out of a pinch? Your prototype zit-ray backfired, but this time that backfire could assist us in our plan." Ty finished his question, Andy putting a hand on his chin as the events of the fight with Boil.
"Yeah, that old prototype went missing after the battle though. Apparently some agency- wait a minute.. was the director guy who took it your boss?"
Ty nodded, trying not to grimace at the nature of the Director.
"Wow, small world!" Andy exclaimed, looking at the current zit-ray model in his friend's hand.
"We have some tools on hand, could you somehow reverse the programming of the ray so that it gives zits instead of removing them? I don't think it'll stop Kid Rot completely, but it'll slow him down enough so that his fight against Pat's robot is more of a challenge." Abby interjected.
"Uh, will I be all alone?" Andy nervously asked the duo. Ty realized that he could send his fifth pick out with Andy, and smiled.
"Well, I actually have someone in mind who can fight alongside you!"
The words didn't leave Ty's mouth for more than a second that Abby snapped over and mouthed something that resembled a "Not him". Ty sent a look at his sister, who dragged her hands over her face before huffing into her hands. About to speak up again, Ty was surprised that Abby beat him to it.
"Alright listen, I can't believe this is the third time we've had to do this, though I don't even know if you recall the last.." Abby's tone started out bitter, but trailed into something somewhat tired and almost sad as she looked into the bleachers with a downcast expression.
"Roger, we need your help, again."
Silence stretched throughout the gym, students being too caught up their worries to focus on the awkward space. Abby could feel herself loosing patience, when Roger finally decided to stand up with a blank look on his face. Scrunching up his nose, Roger stared Abby down as he crossed his arms
"Oh, so I'm just your little errand boy you use as bait to fight villains your professional agency can't handle."
"You know that's not true!" Abby snapped, "The only reason you lost the job was because you worked with Boil just to fire me! Maybe if you weren't so careless, you wouldn't have tripped and lost your memory!"
"So you DID lie about the science fair, didn't you?" Roger paced in-between the bleachers as he rambled on. "Even after I freed you from a cage, set up a trap for that rat clone, and captured Boil. I could've left you in the dump after you tied up those rats!"
Before Abby could remark back, Ty slid in front of his sister and placed a hand on her shoulder with an uneasy smile before turning to look at Roger. Both gingers bore an expression of fury which was almost enough to make Ty let them continue fighting out of fear.
"GUYS guys! A supervillian just threatened to kill us all if we don't subdue him in.." Ty checked his watch and his face fell. "...twenty minutes."
Abby stiffened before biting her thumbnail. If she had to be desperate, then desperate she would be.
"Please Roger, you're the only person who knows how to cook up a toxic black mold into a monster with only two weaknesses! All you have to do is destroy some dairy and then you can go back to hating me all you want!"
Roger closed his eyes as if he were in deep thought before finally growling a "Finneee", which made Ty pump a fist while Abby only rolled her eyes before pummeling a purple suit towards her rival.
"Everyone who isn't working with us, stay in the gym where it's safe. I'll begin the chase while the others get dressed and set up." Abby pointed a finger towards the crowd still in shock over the past 10 minutes.
"Ty, you watch Naomi from afar while I grab Pat's robot. Once the robot has been moved, Andy and Roger will stand guard in the boy's locker room with the modified zit-rays. After Naomi leads Kid Rot towards the room, she'll hide behind a shower curtain just as Roger releases the mold onto the cheese. When Kid enters the room, Andy will use the zit-ray to back him up towards the mold monster, which will rough him up. If he manages to leave the locker room, Andy, Roger, and Naomi will soak the monster with bleach-filled goopshooters"
Ty nodded at Abby's words before coughing in his hand and continuing the speech.
"After Kid Rot leaves the locker room, Pat's hunk of me- robot will hunt him down and corner him. Any damage needed to get Kid on his last leg should happen, but if it's not enough, Abby and I will step in to finish things off. Once everything is set into place, Paige can spray him with a weaker anesthesia while we administer the engineered one from a coworker of ours."
The majority of the crowd seemed to understand the main idea, but a few students remained uneasy. One of which was Greg, who'd just learned his date wasn't an ordinary high-schooler, but instead a secret agent working for an organization he'd never heard of in his life. (Also did Abby say something to that pinkeye kid about a job? Greg just decided to blame everything on a punch overdose..)
With that idea said, Abby flashed an attempt at a reassuring grin to the other students before zipping through the main gym door. Left in silence, Ty looked down towards his feet and sighed.
He hoped Lab Rat was ready to hear about all this...
A/N: CHAPTER 13 IS FINALLY HERE!
I'm taking the original approach to finishing the book, so there should be about two more chapters before it's done. I was planning to put the events of the battle in one chapter, but it's been split into two so I could go ahead and get out the newest chapter.
The concept for having Ringworm students battle against Kid Rot is an approach I'm not entirely sure I handled well. Every student helping out has already helped the agency defeat a villain in the show, but not all of them fought in close or direct combat. I know the interactions feel rushed, and I'm sorry if the characters seem OOC.
To finish off this A/N, I want to thank everybody for being so patient with me. Fall break just started, so I'll try and get out another chapter this week.
Thanks for reading!