Chapter 21: Vive La Tazmania!


Drew and his lawyer were driving down one of the roads to the airport. Both of them had stuff packed up and they were understandably upset. After all, this was Drew's only way of escaping from Dingo. "Well look on the bright side," Mr. Wellington said, "You, me, and your family will be safe from going to fight in court. Then again, we're all in some deep shit." Drew just sighed, "I'm never gonna recover from this." The tire of the car they were in popped. "Welp, neither is the tire," Mr. Wellington said.

The two of them looked to their left, to see the Tribe of the Mudpeople not too far from them. "I don't own a cellphone, otherwise I would call for a tow truck to help us right now," said Mr. Wellington, "Looks like we'll have to go to whoever they are to borrow one." Obviously, both of them were not familiar with the tribe. This would prove to be a huge mistake, as they would find out.

The two walked up to the entrance. Drew knocked on the door and soon got a response. "Who are you? And what do you want?" asked one of the guards rudely from a peep hole. He then noticed Drew. "We don't mean to disturb your peace, but is there a chance we could barrow a cell phone from one of you guys?" Drew replied, "Our car has a flat and we need to get to the airport." The guard thought for a moment. "I have to go talk with the chief and his son about the matter, I'll be back," he said. So Drew and Mr. Wellington waited for at least 6 or 7 minutes. After that, they began to have their doubts. "It should not take this long," Mr. Wellington said. "Yeah, let's wait another 5 minutes and if nobody shows up then, let's go find someone else," said Drew. Just then, the guard came back. "Sorry for the long wait, took a while to find them," said the guard, "The chief's son wants to hand you his personal cell phone, in which I didn't know he had one." "Ah, finally!" said Drew, frustrated.

When the doors open, Francis was shown and holding a tranquilizer gun. Drew gasped as he knew that face from when he was captured by Acme. Mr. Wellington on the other hand was confused. "What's this teenager wearing a diaper for?" he asked. Francis fired at both of them, which put them both to sleep. He then walked up to the two of them. "I don't know who this sharply dressed gentlemen is, but wow did I not expect to see Drew Devil at the front entrance!" laughed Francis, "I'll deal with this dressed man later. For now, I'll take the devil!" He took Drew inside, leaving his lawyer out. He then quickly opened Hugh's cage and threw Drew in. Hugh saw this and tried to wake his brother up. "Drew? Drew!" he said, "What did he do to you?!" "I just put him asleep you baby!" snorted Francis, "No need to make a huge deal out of it!" "That's kinda ironic, coming from a teen who still wears a diaper," Hugh responded. Francis didn't even bother with saying what he was wearing, as he had been through this scenario way too many times by this point. "Well, it doesn't matter!" Francis scoffed, "Because you will be dinner and your brother will be taken out by Dingo! Speaking of which, must call him." Francis left while Hugh looked at his younger brother. "Even if this may be the last time we see each other, at least I get my last chance to see you," whispered Hugh.

Francis went to a pay phone, put in a quarter, and called Acme. He waited for someone to pick up. However, since everyone left the Acme building besides Dingo, there was no one to pick up his call. All he got was hold music for 10 minutes, before he decided to call it quits. He came back to give it another shot a half hour later. Just like the first time though, he still got no response. An hour went by and Francis called for the third time but just like the last two times, it was the same hold music. Francis slammed the phone down in fury! "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!" he screamed, "WHY IS NO ONE PICKING UP MY DARN CALL?!" Francis was clearly oblivious to why no one, let alone the receptionist wasn't picking up his call.

Back in the cage within the tribe, Drew was starting to wake up as Hugh looked and gasped in surprise. "Huh? Where am I?" Drew asked, "Where's Mr. Wellington?" He suddenly felt a hug from his big brother. "OH MY TAZMANIA!" He said, "I THOUGHT I LOST YOU FOR GOOD!" "I thought I did too!" Drew replied, returning the hug, "So this is where you have been the whole time?" "Sadly, yes," said Hugh, "I don't know where the love of my life or my kids went. I have a bad feeling on where they went though." Both of them looked down, hoping what was being thought wasn't true. Drew then explained himself and why they were in the situation they were currently in, but Hugh insisted that he didn't. "I already know the whole story," Hugh said. "I figured Dingo told you," Drew sighed, "This is all my fault though. I should have paid him, even if I were to lose my-" "Drew, I don't care who's at fault," Hugh interrupted, "Whatever they did to you and what they did to me, was not ok. All for some petty debts? That's no excuse for the stuff they put us through. Like our father told us many years ago, getting mad over things that ment nothing would just lead pettiness and greed. It was about moving on from the past and to keep moving forward. Blah blah blah, yackity shmakity."

Loud hits on one of the metal bars startled both devil's. It was Francis with a bambo stick. "Interrupting, am I?" Francis laughed, "You should have seen the looks on your faces! Anyway, since I can't get ahold of Dingo, I think the second devil here will also be my meal!" "You plan to eat us?" asked Drew. "Presisely!" grinned Francis, "But don't worry, I'll be helping Acme out greatly by doing this. After all, I should return the favor since they have allowed my people to stay here! Enjoy your last hours alive, because it will go by fast..." Francis walked off, leaving both brothers with a lot of uncertainty in their heads.


Many hours went by, now going into the evening. The sun was setting and it was getting close to dark. At Acme, Dingo was still sitting in his chair observing the cameras. He had of course lost sight of Taz and the others as they went in an area where there wasn't any cameras set up. The only things he saw were everyone who worked for him and Townly having finished observing as much of Tazmania as they could. Townly then called Dingo. Dingo was quick to pick up. "Let me guess, couldn't find them?" he assumed. "Unfortunately, that is the case Mr. chairman," said Townly on the other line.

Suddenly, a Burgundy like Cadillac pulled up besides Townly and the spies. Bull came out and walked over to Townly, as seen on the cameras. It was silent for a moment as the two talked. "Mr. chairman, Bull insists that he talks with you," said Townly. "Bull? He got what he wanted, not sure why he's coming to me," said Dingo. Bull on the other line sounded frantic, "Dingo! You won't believe this! Axl took my Tasmanian Devil!" Dingo thought about it for a moment, but then recalled seeing two familiar faces. "Son of a gun, he's right," Dingo thought to himself, he then said out loud, "Well...that's a real shocker. Umm, good luck?" "Don't worry Dingo, I'll find them sooner or later!" assured Bull, "When it's all said and done, they'll both be in a world of trouble..." On the cameras, it showed him giving the phone back to Townly before he drove off incredibly fast. "I knew something wasn't right with his partner..." said Townly on the other line. He and the others got into their vehicles and continued driving. "Do you know what? Start tearing the buildings down now!" Dingo yelled, "I know the plan was to wait till tomorrow morning, but it's not worth the risk! With Taz and everyone else plotting against us, it's best we get our jobs done now before they come back! That way so they'll be forced to give in or leave Tazmania! Start the operation now! I REPEAT, START THE OPERATION RIGHT-"

Just then, one of the cameras went out where a spy could be seen chilling near his car somewhere within Tazmania. The audio from that specific camera picked up a scream. "CAREFUL YOU IDIOTS! DID YOU EVEN SEE THAT CAMERA POLE OR COLEAGE OF OURS?!" barked Dingo. "What are you talking about? We didn't crash or anything," said Townly. Another random camera went out, which got Dingo really uncomfortable. "It...wasn't?" asked Dingo. "Of course not!" replied Townly. 3 more cameras went out as Dingo looked on in realization that Taz and the gang have already begun. Dingo saw something on a camera that was just nearby Francis' tribe. He couldn't see what it was, but he did see two eyes, followed by a familiar vocalization as whatever he saw approached the camera and attacked it, before it went out. By now, Dingo had figured out who it was that attacked the camera and could see the writing on the wall. However, he refused to stop. "Chairman? You still there?" asked Townly. "Yep! I'm still here!" replied Dingo, "Despite our...weird situation, start tearing down those buildings now! I REPEAT, TEAR DOWN EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE TEARED DOWN!"


The tribe of the mudpeople were just doing whatever usual stuff they do. The front doors burst open as a black spy car came through and stopped just feet of where the cage once was. In the car was Taz, Molly, Jake, Jean, and Axl. They got out as many members of the tribe looked at them in confusion. "What is going on?" asked one of them. "Better question is where is our dad?!" Molly asked in a demanding tone. Most members shrugged as they seemed to have no idea. "He was here, but Francis up and took him just an hour ago," said one member. "Wait, what?!" exclaimed Jean.

By now, Francis' dad had showed up with many guards by his side. "What in the world is going on here?" he wondered, before Taz jumped on him. The furious look in Taz' eyes was unmistakable. He started vocalizing like it was an interrogation. "What does this have to do with me?!" Francis' dad asked. The guards showed their weapons at Taz. "GET BACK FROM THE CHIEF!" one of them shouted. In response, Taz just attacked them, before Molly and Jake joined in. Jean and Axl walked over to the chief, who was still on the ground and now very frightened by the situation. "What do you want from me?" he asked, "I have nothing to offer!" "Your son had done some horrible deeds to us within a week or longer!" said Axl. "He forced my children to run away before they came back! He is a part of Dingo and his schemes! And he kidnapped my husband!" Jean said, trying to keep it together, "I will ask this once and only once. Where is he?" Francis' dad could see the anger and sadness in Jean's eyes. "I don't know where my boy went!" he explained, "All I know is he left an hour ago without much notice, just a sticky note saying that he would be back in 2 hours. He supposedly caught another Tasmanian Devil earlier today that tried to enter. When I heard about this, the cage was gone and there were no Tasmanian Devils. I didn't think my son was in some kind of illegal activity! I knew little to nothing of the matter!" Both Jean and Axl could tell he was telling the truth just by his expressions. The kids came back to see what was going on. "Let's search the place out!" Jean said, "They can't be far." All the guards were on the ground from getting attacked except for one who got up, and was about to reject them from doing so. Francis' dad stopped him, "Let them search, it's a serious matter."

Taz, Molly, Jake, Jean, and Axl looked all over the tribe but didn't find Hugh. They surveyed the area for some time and were about to give up until Taz saw something from above the walls. "Taz sees something! Taz sees something!" he said, as everyone climbed up to see what Taz saw in the distance. "Is that a camp fire out there in the distance?" asked Jake. "Looks it," said Molly, "Looks a little big to be one though. Kinda unusual looking."

It did look indeed unusual, but that was because not only was it big, but it had two things on a rotisserie like thing. The two things were Drew and Hugh as Francis manually rolled it. The two devils felt like they were going to faint from the heat. They had been over the fire for at least 30 to 45 minutes. The fire didn't touch them but it came close to on several occasions. "Now this is what victory will taste like!" said Francis with glee, "And I haven't even got to taste it yet!" The devils and Axl were hiding behind a tree and could see what was going on. "No way! He got Uncle Drew too!" Jake whispered. Taz looked to see Francis' gun on a tree stump right near the fire. "Do we attack?" asked Axl. "Oh no, Taz got better plan," Taz whispered.

"I dunno if I can this heat for much longer," said Drew. "I don't know either," replied Hugh. "Just wait till that one devil finds out about this!" said Francis, "The look on his face will be the most laughable thing I will ever-" He then felt a dart go into the back of his right arm as he yelped. He turned to see Taz holding his tranquilizer gun and everyone else staring at him in anger. "Oh...my...goodness," he said as he slowly lost consciousness and fell to the ground. "GUYS!" Drew said. The fire was quickly taken out and the two devil's were freed. Hugs were exchanged here and there, but Hugh found himself getting the biggest kiss from his wife. "Oh Hugh!" she said immediately after she was done. "Oh Jean," said Hugh, "I thought you were gone for good. Very glad I was wrong this whole time." Everyone talked about their sides of the story and what had happened through the whole thing. "Sounds like everyone had their own adventure, except for me," said Hugh, "But hey, I ain't complaining." "I just remembered about the others," said Jean, "Do you think they'll be alright Taz?" "Trust Taz, they'll be fine," Taz replied.


Meanwhile, the spies and special units got into their construction vehicles and began to start their work. Townly watched in one area and said, "Ah, does it feel good to finally get something in our favor! That Devil and his friends will have no choice but to leave or give in!" Right as the construction vehicles were about to start tearing, they found themselves getting raided by the Tazmania population. Whoever was nearby the construction vehicles went for it to go after whoever was controlling them. Spies found themselves getting thrown out of their vehicles and beaten up by the angry mob. The mob also destroyed more Acme cameras in the area.

Townly and the others tried to control the mob with their tranquilizers, but there was far too many for them to handle. "Vive La Tazmania!" shouted one of the Bushrats as they jumped off a tree and attacked Townly. Others familiar faces fought the spies and special units, wherever they were attempting to tear down buildings. It wasn't in just one area alone, let alone where Townly and his fraction were, it was all across Tazmania. All across, spies and special units were pulled from their vehicles and attacked by the population. No matter how hard Acme tried to fight back, it was no use. This was the last thing they were prepared for.

Dingo watched the entire thing on what was left of the cameras unfold right before his very eyes. What showed were various areas and many of Taz' friends and others civilians of Tazmania fighting the entire fraction of Acme, with a beautiful orange indigo colored sky in the background. Seeing everyone fight back and the magical colored sky, Dingo realized that he was too late. Soon enough, all the cameras were completely taken out. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" He screamed as he picked up his chair and threw it at the screens. Dingo destroyed the entire room he was in.

After he calmed down, he knew he needed to make an escape before Taz and everyone else arrived. So he booked it out of the conference like room, ran through the narrow hallway, and got into the elevator. He then got on his cell phone and called one part of his Acme that would be indeed safe. As the elevator went up, he talked with whoever was on the line, "Hey, it's your chairman...Yes, I know! You really think I wanna hear a recap of this?!...Okay, besides that, get the private jet ready! I'll be at the airport as soon as I can, I need to get out of here!" Dingo hung up the phone waiting to get to the first floor.

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 21 published 10/21/22)