Disclaimer: Chapter 1 holds the secret. (I no, I'm lazy and don't change this part). A/N: Okay kiddies, in case you haven't figured it out, what I do when starting to type a new chapter is take the previous one, change the chapter number and name, and delete everything but the author's notes and disclaimer. Just telling you so you don't think I'm a complete idiot when you see how much I repeat myself in these two sections. Thank you all again for your replies!! E-mail with ideas and any other comments at jupitergurl02@hotmail.com are STILL appreciated! (I haven't had anyone respond to this yet. sobs)

UberNekoChan: Oh yay! Another review! LOL. Thanks again for the names. They really help! I suck at names.

Yay! Um, lesse, more ideas from Lisa and I. TONS of ideas, so I don't know how long this chapter will be. Well, most likely, it will be more than one chapter. I don't know why, but I needed to pick on someone this chapter and Todd was it. So, sorry to all you Toad fans! I'm not anti-Todd! Really! I just kinda imagined him being a wuss for some reasons. He is the youngest, right? Well, without further ado, on we go!

Chapter 12, The Vacation Starts

"So, does your Nana even know we're coming?" asked Lisa. Angela jumped up.
"She will! Fay, you have a cell, right?" Fay nodded, handing it to her.
"Didn't you say that that would mess with the navigation system or something?" asked Mikey.
"Oh yeah, I forgot... Oh well! It'll be a surprise! I'm sure Mum has told Nana about me and the institute," she concluded, handing Fay back the phone.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" complained Pietro. They suddenly hit some turbulence and he fell back into his seat. Todd went white.
"Uh, h-hey guys? This might not be the best time to say this, but I'm not too good at flyin'," he said shakily. Everyone looked at him.
"Oh, great," said Fay, scooting away.
"I can't believe zis. Ve're going to be grounded forever!" complained Kurt.
"Oh, quit worrying, fuzzy," said Pietro.
"Hey! Only I can call him fuzzy!" said Lisa. Pietro eeped, hiding behind Fay who thwapped him again. He whimpered, rubbing his head.
"Oh, stop worrying so much. Yes, we're going to be grounded, and possibly killed," Angela pointed out cheerily. "So why waste what little time we have worrying when we could be having fun?"
"Vell, I guess you're right..." Kurt agreed reluctantly.
"Kurt...." Toad whined, clinging to the arm rests on his chair. The blue mutant turned to his rival and actually pitied him. "H-hey man, shouldn' joo be flyin' the plain?" he said, a shadow of his ever-present sarcasm still there.
"It's on auto pilot, but I guess I'll go if it makes you feel better," said Kurt, deciding that they should try to get along since no one seemed to be willing to ask when this 'vacation' would end. Probably when Angela's grandmother kicked them all out. He returned to the cockpit and Lisa followed him.
"Hey, I'm glad you're at least trying to be nice to the brotherhood. Thanks," she said, smiling. He blushed, smiling back.
"Are we there yet?" asked Pietro impatiently. Fay sat on one side and Todd on the other. He sped over and looked out the window, then flashed back to his seat in a blur of color.
"Oh, don't worry, Spiky!" Angela said, sitting next to Remy who had his arm around her waist. She wiggled free and checked her watch. "We should be landing within the next ten minutes," she assured him.
"Really?" said Todd in disbelief. "That quickly!" he was suddenly not so green.
"Yup," said Lisa, stepping back into the cabin. "He's just started to bring us down," she confirmed.
"Finally," Pietro griped. They felt the strange feeling like being in an endless elevator as they descended. They finally touched down and Kurt's voice came over the intercom.
"Zis is your captain saying velcome to... Pah-duh-cah?" he botched the city name up.
"It's Pah-doo-cah!" Angela corrected. "And really we're in Riedland, one of its suburbs." She looked out the window and smiled. They were in a large cow pasture and she could see down a street with many trees and houses of varying sizes. "That's it! It's my Nana's street! Wow, that PDA thing is great!" she exclaimed.
"You mean GPS?" said Mikey.
"Those, too!" she said happily.
"Let's get outta here!" said Toad, leaping up and out into the field. A nearby bull [1] glared at him and he backed away a little. "Ah- On second thought, we might be better off inside."
"You're such a wuss," said Angela, hopping out. The large cow stamped its hooves.
"Uh, chere, y'know, he may be right," Remy cautioned.
"How else do you propose we get to her grandma's house?" asked Pietro. Kurt hugged Lisa from behind and bamfed them outside the barbed wire fence. Angela waved at the cow absently and made her way though the tall dried grass. The cows eyed her warily, but none made any move toward her. Everyone else followed her.
"Watch out for snakes and ticks, you guys," Angela warned. Everyone suddenly started watching where they stepped. "Oh, and you'll probably get chiggers, too, but you can't see them."
"What's a chigger?" asked Pietro. He was already by the fence.
"Well, it's actually pretty gross. It's a microscopic bug that burrows under your skin and they really itch!" Angela explained.
"That's disgusting!" said Todd, snapping a fly off of a cow's back. They finally reached the fence where Pietro was waiting.
"What's the matter?" Lisa asked from the other side.
"It's got little things on it, yo," said Toad.
"It's called barbed wire," said Angela, crawling between a couple wires carefully.
"Ouch!" said Mikey, getting poked.
"Damnit!" shouted Pietro.
"Be happy it's not an electric fence," said Angela, waiting for her slow companions on the other side of the fence. Toad leapt through the two wires she had bent out already and everyone else followed suit, holding the wires apart.
"Awe!" said Lisa, bending down in the grass. She picked up a black lizard with blue stripes on its back. It was only about an inch and a half long.
"Those are everywhere around here," said Angela, smiling. She looked to her right as they heard a rustling. There was a snake with much the same markings, black with light green stripes going length wise along its body. "Watch out for that. It's not poisonous, but it'll still hurt if it bites you." With that, she started on her way down the street. The small group followed her to the door of a large, beautiful house. The yard was mowed and the blacktop was actually black, not gray. There were flowers and plants everywhere and three (yes, three) garages.
"Zis is vhere your grandmozer liffs?" asked Kurt in awe.
"Of course. Oh, by the way, she's a clean freak so take off your shoes when you go in," said Angela, typing the code into the keypad on the garage attached to the house. An older looking woman, skinny, but not by any means frail, was sitting in the garage smoking. Lisa wrinkled her nose a little, but didn't say anything. "Nana!" Angela exclaimed, running toward the older woman. They embraced, then pulled apart.
"Wait a minute, why are you here?" asked the older woman. Angela giggled.
"Surprise? Everyone, this is my Nana. Nana, this is Lisa, Fay, Mikey, Remy, Kurt, Pietro, and Todd. They're my friends," she explained, as if that should sum everything up. Her Nana looked at her, a bit confused. "Oh! Mumma told you about me being a mutant, right?" She nodded. "Well, you see, I didn't wanna leave them behind and I would be so sad if I had to come here and not talk to them for a couple months, so I decided to bring them with me! I hope you don't mind. Don't worry, I've already figured out sleeping arrangements. Can we bring the stuff in and unpack?"
"Why sure," said the older woman. She had a slight southern drawl which made her sound all the more friendly. She was very confused, but didn't say anything. That is, until Todd walked by her. It was her turn to wrinkle her nose and pull Angela aside. "Honey, I don't know if I can let him come in my house. Well, he can come in, but he's got to take a shower."
"Oh, he will," said Angela reassuringly. "Every month." This gained her a blank stare from her Nana. "Oh, right, um, how about we have him sleep in Papa's garage? He's got that old couch in there, doesn't he?"
"No, honey, we got rid of that. There's that old folding chair, though," she suggested.
"Okay," said Angela.
"Well, don't hurt his feelings," said the older lady.
"Oh, I won't. Hey Toad, you gotta sleep in the garage, okay? Either that or take a shower."
"Hey, it's coo," said the shorter mutant. "Which garage, do?" he asked.
"The far one, I'll show ya later," said Angela, smiling. His tongue flicked out before she could say anything and he had gotten a horse fly in his mouth. He yelped in pain as it bit him and quickly spat it out.
"Hey, yo, dese bugs are dangerous!"
"I tried to warn you," said Angela, getting her suitcase and heading inside with the others. she showed everyone to their rooms and they all unpacked, then headed to the living room where Angela's Grandma was sitting on the couch working on a cross stitch.
"Oh wow!" said Lisa happily, looking at it. "That's pretty," she said, examining the angel that was taking shape from the small X's made by thread on the material.
"Thank you," said the older woman, looking up at the group before her. "Is there something you need?"
"Um, what should we call you?" asked Mikey.
"Well, you could call me Sandy or Mrs. Henderson, if you like. Is anyone hungry? C'mon, Ange, come with me to the garden."
"Ooh! What'd you plant this year?" asked Angela excitedly, heading for the back door.
"Well, we got zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, watermelon, onions, and turnips," said Sandy, folding her project up and standing. Everyone else parted so that they could both get through, then followed them to the garden.
"Wow, it's really dry," commented Angela upon stepping onto the cracked soil. Her Nana nodded.
"Want me to fix it?" asked Lisa. Angela nodded enthusiastically as Lisa raised her hands and water began to come from various places in the ground and from the leaky hose. It formed a large bubble over the garden and just hovered. "You might want to get out of the way," she said to Angela and Sandy. They quickly did, stepping behind her as she lowered the water onto the plants and let it seep into the ground.
"Wow," said Sandy, watching in awe. She smiled. "I could certainly use you here, this summer."
"Thanks," said Lisa, smiling. Todd suddenly yelped and bumped into Lisa. Her concentration lost the rest of the water splashed down and soaked everyone. "Hey!" she said angrily. They all turned and saw what he was scared of. There was a huge rottwiler, old and fat, walking toward them. It wasn't so much a walk as a limp.
"Hey pretty girl!" said Angela happily, running toward the dog who seemed to have trouble even moving. Todd blanched and stepped back into the small crowd of mutants. Angela stopped when she got to the dog and started to pet her and play with her. The dog seemed thrilled.
"Uh, chere, should ya really be doin' dat?" said Remy uneasily.
"Oh, don't be silly! You worry too much," chided Angela.
"Will she bite?" asked Kurt, approaching the animal slowly. Angela shook her head. Lisa walked up beside Angela, petting the dog as well. Then came Fay and Mikey. Finally, everyone except Todd was crowded around the old dog, petting her and playing with her.
"Yeach! She smells worse than you, Toad!" said Pietro.
"It's hot," commented Mikey. Angela nodded. "You guys go in. I'll help bring in the stuff." With that, she walked back to the now-soaked garden where her Nana was digging potatoes. She helped put them into the bucket that was there and then went over and giggled, yelling something about how big the zucchini always were and pulling off three large vegetables from the large plant.
"Is i' normal fa someone t' be able t' adapt dat quickly?" asked Remy.
"Is anything about Angela normal?" asked Fay, leading the way to the house again.
"It sure is nice here, huh?" said Mikey. Kurt, standing next to Lisa started scratching.
"I itch everyvhere!" he exclaimed.
"Um, there's something on the back of your neck, Kurt," said Lisa, looking at the large black thing on the back of Kurt's neck.
"I think it's a tick, yo," said Toad, smiling. Angela and Sandy reached where they were all standing, hauling the vegetables in the large bucket. Angela gasped, then looked at her Nana.
"Um, I think Kurt has a tick," she said.
"Already? I'll go get the tweezers," said Sandy, going into the house. Angela followed, bringing in the rest of the vegetables. The rest followed, Kurt looking uneasy. "This might hurt a bit," said Sandy, approaching Kurt. He looked uncomfortable.
"I should probably take my watch off," he said. "Don't be alarmed." With that, he took off the watch, revealing his normal, blue fuzzy self. Sandy tried not to let him see how surprised she was. She went over to him and moved the fur around on the back of his neck. It didn't take long to find the tick and remove it. "Ow!" he exclaimed when she pulled it out.
"Should I get the lighter?" asked Angela.
"Lighter? What are you, Pyro?" asked Fay.
"Fire's the only way to kill them," explained Sandy, nodding to Angela who ran to get the lighter. They took the nasty creature with the swollen body back outside and lit it on fire. Angela saw Todd read to eat it and jumped.
"No!" She yelled. "That's gross! You don't know how many people's blood that thing's sucked before Kurt! Or animals or anything else! Gees, there's plenty of bugs in the garden if you want them!" she scolded. Todd walked toward the deck, spotting a large flying black and white bug. "Ack! That's a hornet!" Angela exclaimed.
"Jus' let 'im eat it, chere," said Remy, holding her around the waist. "Den he'll learn."
"That's a horrible thing to say!" said Fay.
"Yeah!" agreed Angela. "He's my friend!"
"He's our enemy, too, ya know," said Mikey.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Angela. Everyone sweatdropped.
"Well, these'll take a while to cook so why don't you show them all around for a while?" suggested Sandy. Angela nodded energetically, leading them back through the house and out the garage door. "You be safe, don't talk to any strangers. And don't be gone too long," said Sandy. Angela nodded again, leading the group down the way they came toward the cow pasture, then turning right down another road.
"Where are we going, anyway?" asked Mikey.
"The Wall Of Death!" said Angela happily.
"What!?" said Todd.
"Chere, what d'ya mean de wall o' death?" asked Remy, holding her hand and going to hug her around the waist. She shrugged him off a bit irritated.
"It's too hot! The Wall Of Death is something that my uncles showed me the first time I came here. It's really fun! You climb down and then at the bottom there's water. You can fish and catch crawfish and stuff," she explained.
"Well, why's it called the Wall Of Death, then?" asked Pietro, ahead of them and walking backwards.
"You'll see," said Angela, smiling. They walked a little longer until they came to the railroad tracks. Across them was a fence that said Keep Out.
"Vhat now?" asked Kurt.
"Well, looks like it's closed. Can't go, come on, let's go back," said Toad. Angela rolled her eyes at him, hopping over the steel garder on the right side of the road. Everyone went to see where she was. They saw her standing on the edge of a huge gorge with walls so steep that the trees seemed to grow sideways. At the bottom was a large metal tube which had water draining into the small rocky river below.
"Come on, guys! It's fun!" she said, starting to go down. She slipped every now and then, grabbing onto the trees to steady herself once more. Fay shrugged and followed her, but Kurt just bamfed down to one of the rocks which were sticking out of the water. "Hey! That's cheating!" said Angela angrily. Pietro started to speed down, then fell on his face in the water. He stood up again, angry and spluttering.
"Gah! ThisIsStupid!" he complained.
"Oh, come on Speedy, I think it's fun," said Todd, jumping down the large steep wall. Remy followed as well. Eventually, they all ended up on the large flat rock in the middle of the water.
"What now, chere?" asked Remy.
"Now we climb back up!" she said happily. They all sweatdropped.
"You mean to tell me that we climbed down that thing just so we can climb back up!?" demanded Fay. Angela yelped, hiding behind Remy.
"Yes?" she squeaked.
"Baka," said Lisa.
"There's a trail over there that's less steep, if you want," she said.
"Oh, sure, NowYouTellUs," said Pietro, speeding up the path. Kurt grabbed Lisa and bamfed back to the road. The rest of them went up slowly by means of the trail.
"Uh, Lisa, can you check me for ticks, please?" Kurt asked uneasily.
"Stupid little bugs!" Todd yelled, leaping around and trying to eat the gnats that were buzzing around his head.
"They're not nearly that bad if you take a shower like a normal person," said Fay.
"No way, yo. I already got banished to da garage," said Toad, starting back along the road. He was still snapping his tongue at the gnats.
"Let's go back," said Mikey. The rest of them nodded. They met Pietro at the door. He was tapping his foot impatiently in front of the closed garage. There was a note on it saying that Sandy had gone to Wal Mart and would be back later on.
"Took you all long enough," said Pietro.
"Wasn't she supposed to make dinner?" asked Fay.
"It's probably cooking, come on," said Angela, typing in the code to open the garage again. They made their way to the door past a large tarp.
"What's under that?" asked Pietro.
"Treadmill," said Angela. He grinned.
"You guys go in, I'll be out here for a little while," said Pietro, making his way to the tarp. He pulled it off and put the safety key in, starting the machine.
"Careful wit' dat, Speedy. We're de guests here," said Remy. Pietro shrugged him off and started running. Angela tried the door and it was locked.
"Well that sucks," said Lisa. Kurt agreed, wiping sweat from his matted fur.
"How hot is it, anyway?" asked Mikey. Angela went to check the hanging thermometer and sighed.
"Oh, ninety one degrees," she said. She wiped some sweat away with her shirt. "Wanna take a walk up to Reynold's?"
"That body shop up the street? Why?" asked Fay. Angela shrugged.
"Backyard, then?" suggested Angela. They nodded and followed her through one of the other garages. Pietro hopped off the machine and it started to smoke. "Baka!" Angela yelled, dragging him with them. They went to the backyard and Angela went to the garden. Everyone followed and she showed them how to pick green beans and how to tell if they needed to be picked. They all helped her and by the time they were done, it had only been twenty minutes.
"Twenty minutes!?" cried Pietro, looking at Kurt's watch.
"Oh, stop whining," said Lisa. They went over to the hose to wash off the beans and Angela giggled.
"Hey, look!" she stooped down and picked up a large toad. "It Bob!"
"What?" asked Remy.
"You named it already?" asked Kurt.
"No, silly! Bob always stays right here by the hose. He lives here," Angela explained.
"What is it, anyway?" asked Todd, being behind everyone else and not able to see.
"It's a Toad, silly! Maybe you're related!" Angela said happily, pushing the brown creature toward Toad.
"Ahh! Git dat thing away from me!" cried Todd, jumping back.
"Toad... is afraid of Toads..." said Mikey. He smiled wickedly. "Toads!" he yelled and many more of the small amphibians started to fall from they sky. Todd freaked out and jumped under the deck. He quickly squirmed out again as he saw the large rottwiler under there with him.
"I don't like it here, yo. It's too dangerous," he whined.
"Are you serious? I love it here!" said Angela, finishing with the beans and putting the bucket on the deck. She put up the umbrella and they all sat under it on the many chairs, cooling off in the heat. By the time the back door opened, they were all drenched in sweat.
"You guys have been out here that long?" asked Sandy in surprise. They all nodded. "You do know that this door was open, right?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So we're actually gonna do something when we climb down there this time, right?" asked Fay.
"Well, yeah, that's what the fishing poles are for," said Angela.
"I've never been fishin' before," said Remy.
"What!?" said Angela. "Is that even possible!?"
"Well, Ah don' git out much, chere. What, wit' de eyes an' all," he said, trying to be defensive. [2]
"Well, we're going to remedy this situation, anyway," said Mikey, trying to make Angela calm down. She nodded, breaking off into a run toward the train tracks. They all laughed and followed. When they got there, Pietro, Kurt, and Lisa were already down at the bottom. Lisa was laughing and helping pull burrs out of Kurt's fur. He was complaining about how hot it was. Angela giggled.
"Why don't ya'll take yer shirt off, then?" she asked, poking Remy in the side playfully. He reddened and started, but then stopped.
"Uh, why don' we wait 'til we get down dere?" he suggested. Angela smiled.
"Okay," she agreed reluctantly. They all climbed down for the second time that day and Angela showed Remy how to fish.
"Okay, so I hold de pole like dis, den bring it back an'-"
"Should the pole be glowing like that?" asked Todd, watching the hook warily.
"Ack! Remy!" shouted Kurt. Remy looked up and quickly threw the pole away. It exploded a hole in the rocks to their right.
"Well, so much for fishing," said Mikey.
"Oh, don't be silly my evil buddy!" said Fay.
"What do you mean?" asked Pietro.
"Yeah, I mean, we don't have a pole anymore, yo," said Todd.
"We don't need one," said Fay. "We have Lisa."
"What?" said Lisa, not liking the sound of this.
"Oh, come on Lisa!" said Angela, realizing what Fay meant. "You can lift up the water long enough for us to get some fish to bring home and give to Nana!"
"You got some strange ideas f' gifts, chere," said Remy, going to hug her again. Again she squirmed free.
"I told you, it's too hot! And they're not gifts, their dinner!" said Angela.
"But ve just ate," said Kurt.
"Tomorrow's dinner," said Angela. Lisa sighed and lifted up the water slowly.
"This is too much, yo. How hot is it, anyway?" asked Todd, pulling off his shirt and tossing it onto the bank. Pietro followed suit. Lisa looked to Kurt and Angela giggled up at Remy. They sighed, seeing that they had no choice but to do the same. Mikey also took his shirt off, tossing it with the rest. Angela pulled her socks and shoes off.
"Um, are you sure that that's wise?" asked Lisa.
"Yeah, who knows what could be on the bottom of this lake? We already know there's a few hooks for sure," said Fay.
"Oh, don't worry so much, you guys! Just have fun!" said Angela. she stepped out into the dry bed, under the water which Lisa was holding up, and picked up a few fish. She swiped the bucket they'd brought through the floating liquid and put the fish in it.
"Ow! I don't like this!" said Toad, dropping the fish he held. It was a small bluegill and it had finned him. Everyone started laughing.
"Hahahaha! The Toad was beaten by a fish!" said Fay wickedly.
"Vait 'til I tell everyvone at ze mansion!" said Kurt.
"This sucks, I'm goin' back ta the house," siad Todd, hopping back up the wall onto the road and back toward the house.
"We should all probably head back," said Lisa, starting to lower the water after everyone was on the bank again. They nodded, gathering their things. The guys put their shirts back on, much to the girl's dissapointment, and they went back to the house. It was just getting dark when they came back and the mosquitos were out.
"Ve're back," Kurt announced as they walked into the house again. There was a shower going, but Sandy was in the kitchen.
"Hey, who else is here?" asked Lisa.
"Well, you're friend Todd, of course," said Sandy.
"Whoah whoah whoah, wait a minute. You got Toad to take a shower??" asked Pietro.
"Should we be scared o' ya grandomder, chere?" asked Remy.
"Well, I told him he couldn't come in unless he took a shower, that's all. I think he realized how hot it really is here and finally gave in," Sandy explained. Everyone smiled.
"Well, tell him to join us outside when he's out, kay Nana?" said Angela. They all followed her outside again.
"Y'don' like de indoors, do ya?" asked Remy. "Well, I got t' go t' bed," he said half-heartedly.
"But it's only nine," said Lisa.
"Ten by us, though," said Angela. She gave Remy a hug and he went inside again as Todd was coming out. He was drying his hair with a towel and everyone stared at him.
"What, yo? It's too hot an' a cold shower helped! Y'know, this showerin' thing ain't so bad. What we doin' now?" he asked. Everyone else looked at Angela, wondering the same thing. She held up a mason jar and smiled.
"Fireflies!" she said happily.

[1] As in the male cow, not a real charging bull. I'm not that evil. Yet. [2] My boyfriend, whom I playfully call Gambit or Gamby-chan, had never been fishing. So I decided it was my job to remedy the situation. I almost got hooked. He did get hooked. ^_^;;;

A/N: How are you enjoying my fanfic so far...? So, the fanfic's a piece of cake, is it? Let's see how you deal with this little slice... Er... Oops? I hate it when I do that. It happens so often... I wonder what your basis for comparison is... Damnit! Grr! Must... Not... Quote... Labyrinth! *dies* Okay, now that that's over (I think. For now). Really, I wanna know, how do you like it? I for one love it. LOL, jk. I think I could do way better. But I'm lazy and wanna keep you people happy so I post the chapters even if I don't think they're 100%. Well, still open for ideas for the P-L-O-T! *hint hint*