Everyone else dozed off except for LJ, who was gripped with insomnia for some reason.
Mo continued to drive a bit before looking in the rear-view mirror. "You okay, kiddo?" she then asked.
"Yeah, I just can't sleep, that's all..." LJ explained.
"Well, you wanna talk?" Mo smiled to him. "We got a long road ahead of us."
"Hmmm...okay," LJ shrugged. "My brain clearly has no intention of shutting off for the night."
"Your parents were a lot like that too sometimes," Mo said as she drove while talking to him. "Especially your mother. She was mostly awake at night. She fell asleep in class a couple of times, and almost missed our class trip to see the Sozin Comet up close."
"Sozin's Comet?" LJ asked. "Wow."
"Yes, it only appears every 100 years." Mo smiled.
"I see..." LJ replied.
"I'm so sorry you guys got left behind," Mo said. "Uh... Did you guys go somewhere last night while we were sleeping?" she then asked. "I mean... How else would Betty drive off without you?"
"Well...Tommy decided it'd be a good idea to scope out this cool natural sight in these geysers at the Red Rocks, but then we got left behind since the moms didn't know we weren't aboard." LJ explained.
"Hmm... I see..." Mo said. "So..." she then gave a small smirk. "Was it a lot more fun than boring World's Biggest Whatever in the Planet?"
"...yes." LJ replied simply.
"I'm sure it was," Mo chuckled. "You guys needed some kind of excitement. I don't blame ya for sneaking out on us."
"Definitely. I'm sorry, though," LJ replied. "For our actions resulting in all this happening."
"Aw, it's okay," Mo said. "Tommy and the others are at that age, and this trip has been a bit boring."
LJ nodded at that. "So...what was it like being a Planeteer?" he asked.
"Oh, it's pretty nice," Mo smiled. "I love visiting Hope Island when I'm needed, or just to visit Gaia. She's like another mother to me, especially when we all met her during high school after I found out Captain Planet was my uncle as strange as it might sound."
"When we went to the future, I found out he and that Zadavia lady got married and had two kids." LJ replied.
"Oh, yeah," Mo smiled. "Uncle Planet and Zadavia hooked up sometime after your cousins and big sister finished their adventures with the Loonatics. Though, I guess now she's my Aunt Zadavia."
"I see..." LJ nodded.
"Zadavia also sent out a portal to take Akito into Acmetropolis," Mo then said. "It was a normal day and Atticus was called out of town for a case. Turns out Zadavia trusted Akito to be the Loonatics' newest ally, and soon his brother and sister and your sister got interested in going with him later on. Eventually, Akito and Estelle started staying at the tower like his new home because Atticus was being secretive about what his latest case was about, and they later found out that he was actually helping Zadavia with her brother who was a villain at the time."
"Oh, right...Optimatus..." LJ replied, nodding.
"Atticus didn't want us to worry too much," Mo said. "It hurt Akito a bit though that during that time, his father was gone more than usual, and he really wanted to talk about the Loonatics, so he rebelled around then and decided to go with the bad guys for a while. Luckily, he grew out of it."
"Wow..." LJ realized, glancing down at his hands. "Guess there's a darkness in everyone..."
"Your mother often says though that there's a light in the darkness of everybody's life." Mo advised.
"...You think there might be one in me and I just don't know it yet?" LJ asked after a brief hesitation.
"Oh, LJ, is something bothering you?" Mo frowned in concern.
"Honestly...I'm kinda worried," LJ replied. "If half my family had moments in their lives where they went bad...what if it happened to me?"
"I'm sure you'll be all right," Mo said. "As long as you are forgiven and promise not to do it again. If you can believe it, Uncle Atticus had a lot of moments where he went evil."
"Boy, do I believe it," LJ replied. "Dad told me about this one time where Mom and Unc spent Halloween at the House of Mouse, so I zapped back in time there. Seeing somebody as nice as Uncle acting so unusually terrible was...nightmarish."
"I'm sure it was," Mo replied. "That House of Villains sounded like a nightmare for everybody, and not just Mickey and Minnie."
"No kidding..." LJ replied. "I could barely bring myself to even move. I just felt so helpless and mortified at that..."
"Ah... Sweetie..." Mo coaxed.
LJ just sighed.
Mo soon pulled up to the ranger's station.
"The rangers?" LJ asked.
"We might as well ask where the others are, but no worries, we got the best minivan you could ever ride in." Mo smiled.
LJ smiled and hugged her. "Well, that much is true." he replied.
Mo smiled back to him. Everyone else soon woke up and came out to see they were at the ranger's station.
"Duhhh... Let's go see Mr. Ranger, sir, eh, kids?" Mo smiled, deepening her voice to sound like Yogi Bear to make a joke.
"Eh, sure, Yogi." LJ played along, imitating Boo-Boo.
Mo giggled while Angelica rolled her eyes to that, but followed along as they came to the ranger's station.
"You're so silly, Mom." Estelle smiled.
"I suppose someone's got to be." Mo smirked.
They soon knocked on the door and a ranger came out to see them.
"Excuse me, we're sorry to bother you, but we need some help." Mo told the ranger.
"I see... What seems to be the problem?" The ranger replied.
"Well...it's a long story." LJ replied as they went into the ranger station.
The ranger let them inside and they soon told them everything. "So I see... You're far from your group, huh?" he then remarked. "Well, don't worry. We'll get to tracking down that RV."
"Thanks, sir." Mo smiled.
They soon came into the station to sit down and wait. Some of the others began to feel hungry since they hadn't anything to eat since sometime last night during the fiesta.
"Guys... I have something to tell you... This might change the way you look at me." Raul said.
"What's up?" Jenny replied.
"I, Raul Rivera... The man you all revere... Am in love..." Raul soon said to them.
"Okay, first of all, SOMEBODY got arrogant all of a sudden," David remarked. "The man you all revere? Puh-lease..."
Raul gave a small pout to that.
"So, you think you like that girl you met even though she annoyed you when we were told about The Book of Life a while back?" Zofia asked.
"...I guess... She's just... Pretty... And... Interesting now..." Raul said bashfully. "She's not like the other girls I've met."
"Yeah, she's interested in you." Jenny teased.
"I KNOW! IT FEELS SO WEIRD!" Raul exclaimed. "I just dunno how to handle that!"
"You'll be fine..." Zofia said as she held her stomach. "Mm... I am hungry..."
"Me too..." Vincent pouted. "I'm hungry, Mother, I really am."
"I'm sorry, Susie," Tommy sulked. "I know you worked really hard to sing in this parade."
"Don't sweat it, Tommy, we still got three days to get to New York," Susie smiled softly as she crossed her legs in one chair. "I'm not worried."
"Sure sounds like you're panicking on the inside." LJ replied.
"I'm fine! Really!" Susie smiled.
The others felt unsure about that as Susie looked to all of them.
"I thought you kids might be hungry," A Native American ranger said as he walked over with a pack of food for them. "I'm Ranger Wind Walking Little Feather, but you can call me 'Klaus'."
"How do you get 'Klaus' out of all that?" LJ asked in confusion.
"It's easier to program in the speed dial." The ranger smiled as he set down a pack of food for them.
"If you say so." Dib shrugged with a yawn.
"Um, Klaus, do you know where their moms are?" Tommy spoke up.
"I sent my guys looking out for the RV," Klaus replied as he then sat behind his desk. "It'd won't be hard to find something that butt ugly."
"True THAT." Martin replied.
Chuckie seemed to kiss Phil in his sleep as he was still stuck on kissing a girl he liked.
LJ chuckled at that. "Gee, Chuckie, I didn't know ya swung both ways!" he remarked.
Chuckie soon woke up and yelped once he saw what he was doing.
"Thank you for that." Phil grumbled slightly.
Theo shrugged. "At least THAT might be something to remember."
The telephone then rang and Klaus answered it.
Klaus then answered his phone once it rang. "Ranger Walking Wind-Erm... Klaus here..." he then waited a moment. "Yes, they're right here." he then held out the phone to Tommy.
"Hello?" Tommy spoke into the receiver.
"Tommy? Oh, thank heavens you're all right!" Didi replied. "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, Mom," Tommy insisted. "Where are you?" he then looked to the others. "They're in Brunswick, Missouri!"
"Home of the Largest Pecan?" Klaus replied in shock.
"That's where they are-a giant nut?" LJ remarked. "Still lame..."
"When're you coming back for us?" Tommy then asked his mother on the other line. "A couple of days?! We'll never make it to New York in time for the parade!"
Susie groaned in misfortune as this sounded like doomsday for her.
"I'm not sure if I can drive us to Missouri fast enough." Mo said to the kids.
"Well, we're gonna be faster going by car than we would be on foot." LJ replied.
"You should go to Raton." Klaus suggested.
"Hold on, Mom," Tommy said before putting the phone down to ask the ranger a question. "Is Raton anywhere near where our moms are?"
"It's in the right direction, but you'd still have hundreds of miles." Klaus said as he took out a map.
"Still better than hoofing it..." Zofia replied.
"May I have that?" Mo asked about the map.
Klaus gave her a small smile and let her take it so that they could get back on track with the others.
"I guess we're HERE." Sara pointed out.
"Don't worry, kids, I don't know how long it'll take, but this is gonna be the most adventurous van ride of your life." Mo grinned once she got back into her car.
"Can do!" LJ replied as they buckled up.
Mo smiled as she soon adjusted her mirrors and soon drove off. "Thanks, Klaus!" she then called out on the way after they got settled in to go back on the road.
"You have that credit card number your mom gave us to buy tickets to Missouri?" Tommy asked Chuckie.
"Here it is," Chuckie smiled, handing him a paper. "Good as money, my man."
"Swanky!" Chrissy noted.
Tommy smiled and soon tucked the paper in his pocket for right now.
"All right, from Raton, we should get going over to Denver." Mo told the others as she checked the map.
"Then let's go-go-GO to Colorado!" Martin added.
"Get out your coats, kids, it's gonna be a little cold." Mo said.
The others nodded to that as they soon rode to the snowy grounds of Denver.