Chapter 28 - Day 1: The Lost Comic-Con Ticket
(11:25am)
"So, um, what was that all about, Kimmie-cub?" James asked to Kim.
"It's no big, Dad, just some babysitting ishes." Kim replied.
"Don't worry, MrDrP, she is totally fine now!" Ron assured James.
"You'd better keep her happy, Ronald..." James said sternly.
"Yes, sir!" Ron acknowledged and headed upstairs with his girlfriend to Larry's room.
Kim then knocked on the door.
"Heya, Larry! Can I come into the Sanctum?" she asked.
"You sure can!" Larry chuckled and snorted in a robot-like accent. "Access granted to both Kim and Ron!"
"Larry, what's up, my man?" Ron asked.
"Hey, let's do the secret handshake Captain Scott did in Battle Invaders in episode 63 to gain the Xaroz Empire's trust." Larry insisted.
"If you may, my good man!"
Both Ron and Larry did a secret handshake that involved waving, babbling their mouths in an incoherent language, and handshakes from behind the back.
Kim looked at this and muttered, "I don't wanna know."
"So, KP told me that you have the tixs for the Salt Lake City Comic Con?" Ron asked.
"I totally do!" Larry beamed proudly.
Ron pumped his fist in the air and exclaimed "I am totally psyched to see the creator of Everlot, Mr. Forest!"
However, his smile then faded.
"What's wrong?" Ron inquired.
"I bought three tickets to the comic-con ticket about a week ago. One for you, one for me, and one for Kim" Larry explained, "And I kept those three right up until yesterday when one of them went missing!"
"Where did you go, to be exact?" Kim asked, sitting on Larry's bed.
"I went to the comic book store in downtown Boulder with my mom to get the latest issue of Crater Raider, number 425." Larry explained, adjusting his glasses, "It was roughly around 3pm when I bought the comic and when I came back to my room at 3:21pm, I looked around and the third ticket was missing!"
"Did you look everywhere for it?" Ron questioned.
Larry sighed and said "I tried looking through my shelves, under the bed, and in the closet."
"You didn't look anywhere else?" Kim asked, puzzled as to why Larry hasn't looked through the entire room.
"No, Kim. I mean,I don't want anything to ruin the displays of my action figures." Larry said, pointing to some action figures posed neatly on his shelves, "Some of them are one-of-a-kind collector's items."
"Also, KP, the badical stuff they have at the SLCCC is going up for auction, including a Fearless Ferrett and Whitestripe action figure set that has not been released out of its packaging! They're worth hundreds, if not thousands!"
Kim sighed, knowing that she did not have an interest in what they had.
"Let's find that ticket." she insisted, "I know that Dad wants us to be back on the road ASAP for Utah."
And so, the three teens looked in the areas that Larry had specified earlier. They looked under his bed, under his pillows, and under the blankets. Ron tried the closet route, scanning the shelves for anything that remotely looked like a ticket.
"Hey! What about these, Larry?" Ron asked as he pulled down a box containing tickets.
"They are from past comic-cons that I have neatly arranged by year." Larry said, pointing to the box. "It doesn't have the SLCCC ticket."
"Awww man!" Ron complained, putting the box back up.
"It has to be around here somewhere..." Kim groaned, scanning her green eyes around Larry's computer area where he normally plays Fortress.
"What does the ticket thing looks like, Larry?" she then asked her cousin.
"The ticket has a blue color on it with the Oquirrh Mountains in the background and the letters of SLCCC 06 on it in gold." Larry described the ticket in detail.
"I don't wanna know how you remember that stuff in detail!" Kim said, "But I think, in the interest of time, we should get Wade on this sitch."
She got out her Kimmunicator from her left CB Baggy Overalls side pocket and turned it on.
"Heya, Kim!" Wade replied, "How's Utah so far?"
"Well, we kinda have major drama here going on." Kim said, "Larry here is trying to find the third ticket to the comic-con, but the search went kinda cold on him."
Kim then added to the tech genius.
"Can you help him out?"
"Sure can, Kim." Wade said with a smile, typing on his computer. "I am going to do a complete scan of the bedroom! But first, I need to see what the ticket looks like."
Larry managed to grab his SLCCC ticket from his nightstand and held it up to the Kimmunicator.
"Inititializing analytical detail scan now!"
A green beam shone on Larry's ticket as it was scanned from top to bottom.
"Finalizing details...and got it!" Wade exclaimed, "Now...to scan the room! Ron, can you hit the lights please?"
Ron turned out the lights in the bedroom.
Kim held up her Kimmunicator up high with her hand.
A green grid surrounded the room as it scanned from top to bottom in the hopes of finding the ticket.
After two minutes, Wade announced. "Okay, scan complete!"
"Ron, can you turn the lights back on?" Kim asked.
"No problemo, KP!" Ron replied, turning the bedroom lights back on.
"So, did you find it?" Larry asked to Wade.
"Well...I got good news and bad news." Wade replied to him.
"Let's hear the good news first!" Kim insisted.
"OK, good news is that I managed to find the comic-con ticket!" Wade explained his readings from the scan.
"Boo-yah!" Ron exclaimed with you, "We're in the zone!"
"But what is the bad news?" Larry then asked.
"That's the thing..." Wade sighed, "The ticket is on the top shelf, eastern wall of the room."
And there it was. A piece of the ticket was sticking out from the very top shelf, which stood about 14 inches from the ceiling. It was halfway on the edge.
"How are we going to get to the top?" Larry questioned, "Even with the tallest ladder, I cannot reach it! And that shelf contains some of the rarest action figures I have in my collection!"
"And your mom has a broken leg!" Ron whined, "I'll never be able to get to SLCCC!"
"Do not worry, Larry! We'll get you that ticket!" Kim reassured him, "Remember our family motto!"
"Anything is possible for a Possible?" Larry replied with the motto.
"Correct!" Kim grinned, "Ron...would you do the honors!"
"Coming right up, KP!" Ron replied before turning to his pants pocket, "Rufus! You're on!"
Rufus came out of his owners pants pocket. He stretched his little arms around and yawned.
"Rufus..." Larry said, coming up to the mole rat. "...I need your help in getting that comic-con ticket from the very top of my east shelf. But please do not knock down my action figures, especially my extremely rare 10" 1994 Warrior Man action figure in mint condition. That thing is worth $200!"
"Woah! That much?" Ron wondered.
"That's what it said on the Internet." Larry replied.
"Is there a way for Rufus to avoid the moveable doll thingeys?" Kim asked.
"Uh, action figures, KP?" Ron corrected her.
"Whichever they are called, Ron!" Kim countered as she got out her Kimmunicator. "I'll get Wade to see if he can plot a course."
Wade came on the Kimmunicator screen.
"Heya, Kim!" he exclaimed, "You beeped just in time! I was just finishing up a way for Rufus to get to the ticket without hitting any of Larry's action figures! Show the map to Rufus"
Wade pulled up a screen analysis of Larry's shelf and the position of all of Larry's action figures.
"There is only one way to get to that ticket tipped figure-free." Wade said. He mapped out the way for Rufus.
Rufus took a look and analyzed the path.
"Get it in your memory, bud! Make sure it burns in there!" Ron insisted, "My hopes of seeing the creator of Everlot hangs in the balance!"
Rufus understood the path that was on the screen and nodded his head.
"Mmm-hmm!" was all the mole rat can muster.
Ron picked up Rufus, knelt down, and put him at the base of the shelf.
"Good luck, ol' buddy!" Ron said.
Rufus again nodded his head and climbed up the shelf on all fours. It was no different than sneaking into the air vents of villain's, or villainesses', lairs.
He got to the top shelf.
"Remember the path, Rufus!" Larry said from below, "Do not tip over the action figures!"
Rufus swerved around the space that was big enough for him to slither through. He was also careful to make sure that his tail did not knock over the rare action figures Larry had.
He grabbed the ticket with his paw.
"Got it!" he squeaked, waving the ticket.
"OK! Now, put the ticket in your teeth and climb back down the same way you came up!" Ron instructed the mole rat.
Rufus did as he was told in putting the ticket in his teeth. He then crawled on all fours back the way he came. However, the tip of his tail accidentally touched the rarest action figure Larry had in his collection. The action figure was standing on the very edge of the shelf.
"Oh no! It's my extremely-rare mint-condition 14-inch Crater Raider action figure that was signed by the creator of the Crater Raider comic book series!" Larry exclaimed, "That is worth $450!"
Rufus stopped for a moment as the figure spinned round and round on its circular base. He gasped as the ticket fell from his mouth onto the wooden surface.
The figure continued to spin around until it finally stopped at the very edge of the shelf. Luckily for Larry, it did not fall off for Rufus managed to grab it before it fell.
"Phew! That was a close one!" Larry exclaimed, tilting his glasses upwards his nose.
"Now, Rufus..." Ron insisted, "...put the ticket in your mouth and let's get down from the shelf!"
"Mmm-hmm!" Rufus exclaimed. He put the ticket back in his mouth and scurried down the shelves.
Rufus released the ticket from his mouth and gave it to Ron.
"Boo- yah! One comic-con ticket secured!" he exclaimed.
He patted Rufus on the head.
"Thanks, bud!" Ron said with a smile. He put the ticket in his pants pocket.
"So ready to head downstairs to have lunch?" Kim asked.
"Whatever Aunt June has in store, I bet it is going to be tasty!" Ron exclaimed.
"Today, in the interest of the fairness of time, it is going to be sandwiches." Larry replied, "Aunt May is going to be coming as well with Terri."
"Wait...did you just say that Terri is going to be here?" Kim asked, gasping.
"Affirmative. She only lives a few blocks up from the street!" Larry said.
"But she's a..."