Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: "Why was Hiro acting so freaked out in the lab today," -David
TheLittleMermaid: NOTHING, NO REASON, NOTHING TO DO WITH HIGH VOLTAGE
Mikan Ferns: Sure jan
Gogo: What did I miss? I wasn't at the labs because Fred and I are doing research at his house
Wasabi: Honey Lemon and I overheard Ari say that she had a crush on Juniper.
Honey Lemon: It was shocking tbh, and then she ran out before Hiro could say anything.
Fredilicous24: Obvi! She was rescued from a falling tree, why wouldn't Ari develop a crush?
TheLittleMermaid: CAN WE PLEASE DROP THE SUBJECT
TheLittleMermaid: Hiro couldn't even look me in the eyes!
Sara Ferns: It's okay I won't judge you, I've seen worse
Gogo: Worse?
Sara Ferns: "She's been there, on having a crush" -David
Sara Ferns: Sides not like you can do anything, High Voltage only shows up in places to crime-dance, not like you can track them down.
"I'm not mad at you Ari." Hiro told her when he got home from school with Baymax. She had been helping Cass out in the Lucky Cat Cafe for the rest of the day since… what happened at the lab was a touchy subject for both of them!
"I wish I could stop feeling things." Ari mumbled. "I had to get a crush on someone who causes problems for the superheroes that saved my life."
He agreed with her there, but questioning Ari's taste in crushes wasn't going to make this any better. "You'd be a robot if you had no emotions." Hiro sighed, then turned to Baymax. "No offense buddy."
"I am a robot, I cannot be offended." Baymax pointed out.
Ari smiled. "Thanks Hiro. Did you ever get crushes on anyone?"
"Nope." He shook his head. "But my brother used to have a lot of people that had a crush on him, including Sara."
"Wait really?" Ari raised an eyebrow. Sara had a crush on Hiro's brother? "Did it never work out or...?"
"No, my brother didn't like girls at all so Tadashi just saw her as a friend." Hiro replied. "Sara never resented him for that, and continued being a good friend to the both of us until..."
Ari knew what he was thinking and hugged him. "Hey we can stop talking about this if you want."
"It's fine, I'm good." Hiro reassured her, but he still got hugged by Baymax.
"There there, you will be alright." Baymax told him, Hiro chuckled.
"Thanks buddy." He patted Baymax's arm. Ari decided to catch up on the group chat, her blue eyes gleamed upon seeing a message from Sara herself.
"Hey Cass!" She called Hiro's aunt, who was serving a customer coffee. "Is it okay if I take a break? I need some fresh air from outside!"
"Sure thing!" Cass told her. "Be back before it gets dark!"
"I will!" Ari made sure to grab a muffin before leaving the cafe, not because she was hungry but it could be used as a peace offering. She couldn't stop thinking about Juniper saving her life, she had to thank the crime-dancer, even if it resulted in watching another hero-villain fight but she wanted to thank the pretty girl so she would gosh darn it!
Besides, it can't be that hard to find High Voltage anyways. She hummed.
It was that hard, Ari was starting to run out of time to search. The sun close to dipping under the skyscrapers, the blue hue of the sky starting to get a little warmer. She walked around a neighborhood that was a bit sketchy. The people who were out looked mean and tough which made her think of calling it quits. Gosh forbid she'd run into Yama again or something worse.
"I doubt anything is worse than Yama. Ari muttered under her breath. As she passed by an alleyway two voices buzzed in her ears followed by the sound of someone crushing cans. Curiosity got the better of her so she went to look.
Peeking into the alleyway, Ari snuck behind a trash can.
"Hey Mama why don't you like this neighborhood again?" That's Juniper! Ari poked her head above the trash can to see the pretty blonde arguing with her mama.
"It's a bad neighborhood Juni." Barb answered, sounding hesitant. "Best not to stick around for too long."
"Yeah, but it's the perfect place to hide! Big Hero 6 wouldn't find us here." Juniper pointed out, raising a finger in the air.
"I know, but we don't want to encounter the wrong kind of people." Barb's voice of motherly concern felt nostalgic and yet foreign to her. Ari felt her cheeks dampen and raised a hand only to find tears. Why am I crying? She sniffled, accidentally bumping into the trash can distracted by her tears. The noise alerted both of High Voltage, and they started looking around for the source of the noise.
Oh no I am so dead. Ari felt the panic in her chest. This was a bad idea Ari why did you think this was a good idea I am so dead, so dead, deader than dead this was a huge mistak-.
"Hello-?"
"AAAAH!" Ari screamed. "Please don't hurt me please don't hurt me please don't-"
"Woah, woah woah." Juniper gestured with her hands in an attempt to calm the sweater girl. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you."
Ari took a few minutes to stabilize her breathing, and attempted to hide the blushing from being several feet away from her crush.
"Sorry for the screaming." She mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Her throat felt dry, she was full of words before why couldn't any come out now?!
"Hey sweetie." Barb was staring at her with a look of concern. "Are you lost?"
"No." Ari shook her head, "I'm not lost." She looked up at Juniper. "I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me? For what?" She raised an eyebrow.
"For saving me from falling to death!" Ari exclaimed, a little hurt by the lack of recognition. Was she forgotten so easily? "I fell out of a tree, and you saved me from falling?"
"Oh." Juniper's eyes widened in realization. "It was nothing, really."
"Nothing?" Ari stood up in shock. "It wasn't nothing to me! You saved my life!"
Juniper noticed the admiration in Ari's eyes and smugly smirked. "Of course, I'm a star. I do stuff like that all the time."
"Really?" Ari's eyes widened with stars in them, Juniper opened her mouth to reply but her mama cut her off.
"Juniper, as nice as it is for you to make a new friend, we have to get going soon." Barb told her. "It's a bad idea to stick around for too long."
"But Mama..." Juniper pouted, staring back with wide puppy eyes.
Barb shook her head. "That's not going to work on me and you know it."
Ari at first chuckled at the exchange but felt her tears return. Why?! She asked herself, mother and daughter glanced at the sweater girl as she rubbed her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Juniper had a look of concern.
"Yeah I'm fine." Ari bit her tongue. "It's just allergies, and you can go, it's fine. It's late for me anyways." She then remembered the peace offering in her pocket. "Waiiiit hold on a moment." And pulled out the bag with a blueberry muffin. "Here! For saving my life the other day!"
Juniper's eyes widened with surprise. She looked to her mama then back at the muffin. "Um… I don't think I could take this,"
Ari was puzzled. "It's just a muffin." She frowned, "I'd like you to have it."
"But-"
"Juni just take the muffin." Barb told her. "It's rude to reject a gift."
Juniper sighed, but took the muffin with a smile. "Thanks."
"You're welcome!" Ari beamed, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest. "It was nice to properly meet you-"
"Hey Ari is that you over there?!" She yelped as Sara had poked her head into the alley, but luckily she didn't notice High Voltage.
"Hiiiii Sara." Ari winced at her high-pitched tone as High Voltage snuck away before Sara noticed them. In the corner of her eye she saw Juniper giving her a parting wave before vanishing from sight, which her heart sting a little. "What are you doing here?"
"I live here, in this neighborhood." Sara replied. "What are you doing?"
"Just taking a walk." Ari lied. "Wait, you live here?" She thought the Ferns would live in a fancy looking neighborhood like Fred. Guess I was wrong.
"Yep!" Sara hummed. "Want to see?"
As much as Ari wanted to, she had to head back to the cafe soon. "Nah, I have to head home before it gets dark."
"Oh, alright." Sara shrugged. "Want me to escort you?"
"You know what? Sure."
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Hiro Hamada: Hey Fredilicous24 how's the comic research going? did not get an answer yesterday
Fredilicous24: Peachy -_-
Gogo: Knucklehead failed to mention that he didn't have Issue 188
Fredilicous24: And now I have to ask my arch-nemesis to see Issue 188! And he's the worst!
Sara Ferns: "Isn't Issue 188 that one Captain Fancy issue that was wiped because it had an inappropriate image that wasn't for kids?" -David
Fredilicous24: Yeah that's the one
TheLittleMermaid: Can I see it with you guys?
Gogo: Nope.
Fredilicous24: No! It's grown-up business!
"Grown-up business? Really?" Gogo raised an eyebrow at Fred for his message in the chat.
"Hey! Ari would catch on to why we're looking at Issue 188 in the first place!" Fred argued back.
"Right." Gogo sighed. They were looking for Issue 188 because it was the only way for them to defeat High Voltage. However, Fred failed to mention when they were at his mansion yesterday that Issue 188 was in the "clutches of my arch-nemesis." And now they were walking to the comic book store that was no longer closed since yesterday to get their information. Gogo hoped it was worth the trip, she wasn't a comic book fan.
When entering the comic book store, there was a young boy sitting at the counter reading a comic book. He had short brown hair, golden-brown eyes and a mole under his left cheek. Fred gestured for Gogo to go to the counter.
She rang the bell on the counter. "Hey kid is your dad here? We need to talk to the owner."
The boy handed the comic book to a robotic hand and combed his hair. "You're talking to the owner, dream girl,"
Fred stepped up to her. "Chilling, isn't he?"
She rolled her eyes. "You could say that again." Not even a minute had passed and she wanted to get this over with.
The short boy got up from the counter. "Richardson Mole." He slyly introduced. "San Fransokyo's most eligible eleven year-old, and you are?" He tried to kiss Gogo's hand but she batted him away.
"Much older than you." Gogo glared. Fred frowned at his arch-nemesis for the uncomfortable flirting.
"Nice," Richardson smirked.
Gogo stepped back. "Fred, go talk to him." He did not blame her for not wanting to deal with Richardson, he was the literal worst.
"Hey! This is a business call Richardson!" Fred snapped at him. "Let's keep this professional!"
"Very well." Richardson replied. "What is it that you need from me?"
"We need to see Captain Fancy Issue 188." Gogo explained. "Fred says you have it."
"Why yes I do, dream girl." Richardson winked at her, she recoiled in disgust. "It's the very issue I sniped from Fred at that online auction."
"You cut the power to my house!" Fred pointed out, he was so close to getting it and then the power went off. He knew it was due to foul play because he saw the wire damage himself.
"Those charges were never proven." Richardson snobbily huffed. Fred roared in anger and attempted to swipe at him were it not for Gogo holding him back.
"Can we just see the dumb comic book!?" She demanded. The sooner this is over, the better.
"Oooh I like you angry dream girl," Richardson walked over the phone booth. "Follow me to the Mole Hole!" He pulled the telephone and the floor opened up and dropped him.
What just happened? Both superheroes questioned. "I'm waiting!" Richardson yelled from below. They squeezed into the booth and it opened up below them.
"Huh." Gogo safely landed on a chair, Fred was not as lucky and his face met the ground. But as he got up, both of them gawked at the "The Mole Hole."
It was a secret arcade, but the theme of all the games had to do with Fred getting hurt, with several of the games having a digital version of him getting injured in one way or another.
"See?" Fred gestured to Richardson, who was hitting a bunch of cardboard Fred's with a water gun. "I told you he hates me."
"Beat my high score on any of these games and I will let you see Captain Fancy 188." Richardson told them. Geez, maybe it would've been a good idea to bring Ari after all… Fred grumbled. The sweater girl hadn't played arcade games until Fred showed her the ones in his house, but she was a pro at them and even beat his high score on some of them.
Gogo walked over to a Whack-A-Mole game, but the heads were Fred heads. "Whack-A-Fred," she picked up a mallet. "Let's do this one."
"Oooh, poor choice." Richardson warned, she frowned at him. "This game is my favorite and my high score is-"
Gogo just started the game and began whacking Fred heads. Richardson watched with a smirk while Fred winced as her smile got more sinister with each head vibe-checked into oblivion.
"High score!" The game announced. And Gogo slammed the mallet down.
"I'm impressed."
"I'm concerned." Not to self Fred, don't anger Gogo or it's your actual head next.
With the game complete, Richardson pressed a button to make one of the video games reveal a secret safe.
"Gum." Richardson gestured with his tonsils. Gogo took her gum out of her mouth and handed it to the tonsils. He sniffed it. "Strawberry, nice." She looked at the boy with disgust as he pressed a button on his safe to open it.
"Hello me." The safe confirmed his ID and opened to reveal the elusive Captain Fancy Issue 188. The one copy left in the world was footsteps away from them!
"It's beautiful." Fred squealed in delight. Richardson may be obnoxious but he at least kept his comic books in good condition.
"Oh just give it." Gogo attempted to grab the comic but Fred stopped her hand.
"Ah but but but! Gloves!" Fred pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket. "We don't want to mess up the pages!"
Gogo gave him a deadpan stare. This is not worth the trouble.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Mikan Ferns: rip,jpeg
Mikan Ferns: Rest in Peace N5-4, Hiro killed him.
Sara Ferns: "RIP" -David and I
TheLittleMermaid: Who's N5-4?! And Hiro did what?!
Sara Ferns: Karmi gives the viruses she studies cute names!... And then Hiro killed one
TheLittleMermaid: HIRO
Hiro Hamada: It was an accident! Don't guilt me!
Hiro Hamada: Wait how did you know Mikan
Mikan Ferns: Heard yelling, saw you running, went to investigate and saw 1 sad Karmi.
TheLittleMermaid: Aww I should go cheer her up tomorrow : C
TheLittleMermaid: Also Hiro where r u, I'm at the cafe
Hiro Hamada: I just left the school! I might be a little late, traffic is terrible and stuff
Sara Ferns: Weird...
Time had passed, the comic book store had closed by now. Richardson was cleaning dust from the books on a high shelf on top of a ladder. Gogo was watching Fred scroll through Issue 188, since he was a good comic reader he was better suited to look for answers than her.
"Mhmm." Fred hummed as he flipped through the pages, behind them Richardson smirked as a page was coming up. Fred gave a horrified gasp at the page contents, it contained the offending image that got all the Issue 188 issues destroyed in the first place.
"Good luck unseeing that." Richardson grinned at Fred's disgust, Gogo however was not bothered by the image.
"Oh come on, grow up." She nudged Fred. "Read faster!"
"A wise man once said, if you want to find a solution, you shouldn't rush Fred." She yanked his ear. "Ow ow ow! I'll read faster!" He starts flipping through the pages at a more rapid rate.
"Uh huh… good, well this is shedding some new light on the subject." Fred mumbled. Gogo's phone suddenly rang.
Wasabi was calling her. "Yeah?"
"High Voltage! San Fransokyo Trust! Now!" He yelled from the other line.
Fred pumped up his fists. "Yes! I get it! I totally get it!"
"So you actually found an answer in that thing?"
"Couldn't be more clearer." He confirmed.
She dragged him out of the store. "Great time to roll."
"Come again!" Richardson waved at them. "Not you Fred!"
High Voltage
We got the power!
High Voltage
We got the power!
High Voltage!
Both Barb and Juniper were firing electric blasts at the vault door of San Fransokyo Trust while performing their dance routine.
"Big finish Juniper!"
"Oh yeah!" She flipped towards the vault door, her feet kicking a blast that knocked the hinges down, leaving the money vulnerable for the taking.
"Now freestyle into that vault and get that cash!" Barb commanded.
"On it!" Juniper started spinning towards the vault but a chem ball created a rubber wall blocking her path.
"You don't need to steal, you have real talent." Both dancers turn around to see Wasabi and Honey Lemon.
"He actually makes a really good point!" The chemist pointed to her friend. "You guys should audition for Top Feet!"
Barb scowled. "Stars don't audition!"She sent a bolt of electricity at them and the two yelp as they dodged.
Meanwhile, Hiro and Baymax were flying on their way to the bank to stop High Voltage.
"I-I don't get it!" Hiro exclaimed. "What could I even learn from Karmi? She talks to those things!" While he felt a bit bad about killing her pathogen, she still got on his nerves. "Look, I'm way better adjusted than she is!"
"True, you have a strong social network for support. Karmi does not." Even Baymax agreed!
At another point in time Hiro would process the implications but he kept thinking about the dumb journal assignment at the moment.
"So why did Granville-?" a loud crash from the bank interrupted his thoughts, they still had to deal with High Voltage. "Let's finish this later,"
"I will set a reminder." Hiro and Baymax sped up their flying and headed down towards the bank.
Who's got the power?
Barb was whipping out electricity to make it impossible for Honey Lemon to fire a chem ball. Wasabi was having trouble landing an attack as well as Juniper kept spinning electricity around her. She then threw a whip of electricity at him. Wasabi yelped and ducked but it hit the concrete pillar behind him. It broke it in two and he screamed as it started falling on him.
"Hello, Wasabi." He looked up to see Hiro and Baymax lifting the concrete pillar and tossing it in the other direction.
"Thanks Baymax." He let out a sigh of relief as the robot picked him up from the floor.
"You will be alright." Baymax reassured.
Hiro turned to High Voltage. "Time to power down ladies." He glared. Sooner or later their electric act was going to get someone hurt. Plus they were using it to steal, which was illegal!
"Step off! We're the headliners!" Juniper yelled back. "It's Juniper's time to shine!"
"Juniper, launch!" Barb ordered. "2 5 7 8!"
She channeled the energy orb's power and used it to launch herself at Hiro and Baymax, but the robot catched her in his grip.
"Got you!" Hiro exclaimed.
Juniper just smugly smirked and held up her fingers that were cackling with electricity. "Not quite."
"Oh no…" Was all Baymax said as Juniper shocked him. Hiro's eyes widened in horror as he got blasted back once more by the malfunctioning robot and Juniper backflipped away.
Wasabi also got caught in the blast and Honey Lemon fired a chem ball to catch him and Hiro. All three of them were hiding behind a counter as the malfunctioning Baymax waddled around.
"Reboot reboot, data packet invalid, data packet invalid, reboot." He twitched.
"This isn't going very well'." Honey Lemon stated the obvious.
"Yeah, we've got to tap out." Hiro nodded. "Anyone want to tap in?"
"We do," Gogo skated in with Fred riding on her back. "Fred knows how to beat these dance punks."
The comic fan leapt off but turned back to her. "Actually I have no idea."
"WHAT?!" She exclaimed. "You said you got the answers from the comic book!"
"Yeah to explain Hiro's secret identity situation." Fred pointed out. "Was I not obvious?" An electric blast from High Voltage knocked him onto Gogo and landed them right by the others.
"This is a disaster." Gogo deadpanned.
"Tell me about it." Fred chimed in.
"So Issue 188 didn't tell you anything on how to beat them?"
He shook his head. "No. Overall 188 was a letdown, not even that good of a story. Maybe Richardson did me a favor all those years ago when he cut the power to my house,"
"Cut the power…" The lights went on in the engineer's head. "Duh." It was so obvious, why didn't I think of it before?!
"Honey Lemon." She turned to the Chemist major. "Insulate me."
"Gogo you're a genius!" Honey Lemon produced two rubber chem balls and insulated Gogo's disks, then handed her another two. Now prepared, Gogo skated towards High Voltage while Hiro crawled over to fix Baymax.
High Voltage!
Both dancers just kept dancing, Juniper spun and fired electrical blasts at Gogo. But she jumped in the air, throwing her disks at the two dancers that were able to hit thanks to the insulation. Then Gogo grabbed their energy orb and covered it in rubber. She smirked, dropping it to the ground.
Juniper attempted to fire a blast at her but nothing came out of the gauntlets. "Uh." Her eyes widened with horror.
"Use a catchphrase!" Fred shouted. "Say a dumb line like it's a joke even though it's not really a joke!"
Gogo faced the dancers with her disks. "Last dance freaks!"
"Ha-ha-hah! Good one!"
Juniper backed away from Gogo like a frightened deer. Barb grabbed her hand. "Escape dance Juniper! 2 5 7 8!" And they started running.
"Not so fast!" Honey Lemon threw a chem ball at them, which hit Barb and trapped her in rubbery goop.
"Juniper!" Barb called to her daughter for help.
But she hesitated, a flash of fear flickering on her face for barely a moment. "Sorry Mama! I'm going solo!" She started backflipping away. Barb let out an offended gasp. "You can't stop the art of dance-"
The art of dance was stopped by Baymax's wing hitting Juniper in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.
"My systems have been restored, is anyone hurt?" Hiro smirked beside him as Honey Lemon tossed a chem ball at Juniper before she could get back up, the girl struggled to break free of the rubbery goop.
"You're grounded." Barb glared at her. Wasabi grabbed her goopy prison and dragged the two captured dancers out of earshot.
"Have I missed anything significant?" Baymax asked them.
"We're all good Baymax." Hiro reported. "Just some pretty quick thinking from Gogo."
"Big ups to Fred for inspiration." Gogo hummed. "even if it was unintentional."
"That's what I do!" Fred smugly boasted.
Hiro walked up to him. "So Fred, about the secret identity thing. What have you got?"
"Ah yes." He grinned. "Captain Fancy's alter-ego Lash Luper may look like Captain Fancy in a sweater vest, but nobody notices. Not even ace reporter Rita Rampart!"
"And that's supposed to explain why Karmi can't see me as "Hero" Hiro?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Yep, it's a superhero thing. People see what they-"
"Want to see." Hiro took the words to heart as he was reporting his assignment to Granville, with the biotech major cautiously eyeing him. "Take Lash Luper for example."
"Who?" Granville raised an eyebrow.
He nervously chuckled. "Uhh, not important. When people look at me, what do they see? A Robotics major? A teen genius? Or maybe just a guy trying to fit in." He then turned to Karmi. "Because that's what Karmi saw, and I thank her for that. end of journal!"
"Karmi?"
"I uh..." Karmi stammered. "Don't know what to say.."
"Cause you're modest that way." Hiro nudged her on the shoulder then turned back to the dean. "Professor, Karmi was great this week. I learned a lot." He wasn't lying either, he did learn a lot of things by spending time with the Biotech major.
"I'm happy to hear it, dismissed." Granville smiled. Karmi walked straight out of the office stunned, but he stuck around for a bit.
"So… all this wasn't actually about me, was it?" Hiro smirked.
Granville glanced at him then back to her desk. "We are through here Mr. Hamada."
"It was actually about Karmi, amiright?"
"I said… we are through."
Hiro took the hint and walked out smugly. Granville watched with a fond smile.
"You could have sold me out in there." He turned to Karmi. "But you didn't, you got it 'bad' for me, don't you?"
"I do not have i-t-" Hiro groaned in frustration. "It's that Granville is right, we have a lot in common. The age thing, the genius thing." Karmi frowned, she knew he was right but-
"The rush of hormones coursing through your pubescent bodies.," Baymax spoke up behind them, his screen flashing a picture. "Pimples will start to appear on your face and back-"
"Thanks for making it awkward Baymax." Hiro shoved him away.
"You are welcome."
"Look I'm really sorry for accusing you the other day, but maybe we could be friends." Hiro told her. Karmi however looked uninterested at the suggestion, her expression neutral until her phone chimed.
"Shh! Big Hero 6 news alert!" She nudged him away.
"High Voltage's rhythmic reign of terror became a reign of error when the mother-daughter duo ran into Big Hero 6-" And paused the screen and zoomed in on a picture of his "Hero Hiro" face.
She sighed dreamily. "I wish you were here."
"Seriously?" Hiro raised an eyebrow and left Karmi to her fangirling. I'm just going to let Ari deal with her. He could live without her friendship.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: Looks like High Voltage felt the "thunder!"
Fredilicous24: HA XD
Gogo: That was bad and you should feel bad
Wasabi: I thought it was funny
Hiro Hamada: Hey Ari does that mean you don't have a crush anymore?
TheLittleMermaid: YOU CAN'T STOP ME HIRO
Honey Lemon: Don't do anything you'll regret Ari!
TheLittleMermaid: I won't! It's just a harmless crush! Nothing could go wrong!
"Big Hero 6 'shocked' High Voltage, by insulating them in a maximum security prison." Bluff Dunder's news report showed pictures of the two dancer's mugshots on screen. "Yet another one of-"
The man in the dark paused the news report. He flipped through the images of Big Hero 6, stopping at the one with Hiro on top of Baymax shouting an order.
He stared at the image, the left side of his face glowed a bright violet hue in the dark…
And that's a wrap for Issue 188! I had fun writing my favorite villains
Now you might be asking "Is Ari's crush going to have plot significance?" yes, yes it will. But who knows in what direction? Well... it's for me to know and you to find out
least fav part of writing this chapter was having to write Mole lemme tell you.
Anyways tune in next week!