Chapter 18
At the same time that Eddy and Lee were in the midst of ballet practice, Jonny 2x4 and Plank (aka Captain Melonhead and Splinter the Wonderwood) were in the middle of performing a stakeout on Rethink Avenue; in an attempt to catch the burglar who had taken Kevin's bike.
Over the last few months, Johnny had constructed a rather elaborate treehouse, located within the the large tree in his backyard. The treehouse was dubbed "Melon Tower", and was built high enough to provide a clear overhead view of the entire cul-de-sac, as well as the entirety of the lane.
Jonny, dressed and acting the part of Captain Melonhead, had set up a beach chair next to the window nearest to the cul-de-sac. He was currently scanning back and forth across the street using a small telescope, similar to those used by ship navigators. On the opposite end, nearest to the lane, Johnny had set up Plank in a beach chair of his own, a small telescope taped to the side to allow plank to "observe" the lane.
"Well loyal sidekick," said Johnny, "No sign of the bicycle caper as of yet. But we must remain vigilant, as the cover of night is the perfect time for the darkness of crime to enshroud our homes."
Jonny paused, after which he slowly turned around towards Plank.
"What's that buddy?" asked Jonny as he began walking towards Planks chair, "You've spotted something? Let me take a look."
Jonny glanced into Planks telescope and scanned the lane. Sure enough, somehow, someway, Plank had successfully communicated to him the presence of a suspicious individual walking down the lane under the cover of darkness. The figure in question was wearing a green winter coat, buttoned all the way up to their neck. A blue scarf was wrapped around the individuals face, and a red bandana with white bubbles covered their head, obscuring their identity.
Jonny's eyes widened. He realized that he had finally fingered the culprit he had been searching for, as the suspect was walking with their hands gripping the handlebars of Kevin's prized bicycle. The mysterious figure was currently wheeling the bicycle towards the end of the lane, surveying their surroundings as if they were attempting to remain discrete.
Jonny continued to monitor the suspect all the way to the end of the lane, at which point a green Volkswagon Beetle pulled up. The vehicle stopped directly in front of the entrance to the lane, seemingly acting as the "getaway car" for the suspect.
"Great scott Splinter!" yelled Jonny, "We've found the perpetrator!"
Jonny placed the telescope on the floor of the treehouse, after which he grabbed Plank off of his beach chair. He proceeded to stick the board to the business end of a plunger, as if to use Plank as a makeshift lance, after which he ran towards the floor hole that acted as an egress from the treehouse to the ground.
"It's time to bring this crook to justice and restore order in the cul-de-sac!" yelled Jonny, "To the melon mobile!"
Jonny, with Plank in hand, proceeded to repel down to the ground using a nylon rope. As soon as they hit the ground, they mounted the "Melon Mobile" (really Jonny's scooter accented with pieces of cardboard, attached to the scooter using duct tape and painted in red and green colors) and quickly wheeled their way out into the middle of the cul-de-sac, on their way to intercept the car.
As Jonny rounded the corner to the cross street, the suspect had already placed Kevin's bike in the trunk, and was in the process of stepping into the passenger seat. The suspect closed the passenger side door, at which point the brake lights illuminated, followed by a brief illumination of the white reverse lights, indicating that the driver had shifted into gear.
"Stop Theif!" yelled Jonny as the car began pulling away. Jonny quickly removed a modified nerf gun from his tool belt. The gun had a plunger loaded into it's barrel; the plunger was tethered to the weapon, to act in the capacity of a grappling hook of sorts. Jonny fired the weapon, causing the plunger to soar through the air at rapid pace, eventually reaching it's target; the rear bumper of the vehicle.
Jonny held on tight as the vehicle began pulling the Melon Mobile down the cross street at a relatively rapid pace. The Melon Mobile was pulled along for about 200 hundred feet, at which point the car began decelerating due to a stop sign at the end of the street. Unfortunately, Jonny did not react in time to begin applying the brakes on the Melon Mobile; as a result, he continued to cruise down the cross street, on a direct collision course with the rear of the vehicle.
Inevitably, the Melon Mobile did indeed strike the rear bumper of the vehicle with an audible thud. The collision resulted in Jonny's body traveling over the handlebars, and coming to rest on top of the rear windshield.
At that point the sound of the transmission shifting into park filled the air, and the driver's side door opened. A slender woman of about 20 years of age exited the vehicle, and proceeded to run to the rear, her right hand placed her mouth as if she was upset. She was wearing a blue winter coat, blue jeans and brown "Ugg" boots. Her blonde hair hung to her jaw line, and was flipped up on the ends in the characteristic bob style.
"Oh my goodness," yelled the woman, "Nance, it's one of those cute little melon patch kids that were knocking on the doors for food drive donations! I hurt an innocent kind-hearted child and I'm going to jail!"
The woman began sobbing rather dramatically, as the passenger side door opened. The suspect that Johnny had been chasing emerged, walked to the back of the vehicle, and removed the red bandana from her head revealing herself to be Nazz.
Nazz glanced at Jonny, who was dazed but otherwise alright, and turned back towards the driver.
"Calm down Jules," said Nazz, "It's just Jonny from next door playing superhero."
Nazz helped Jonny off of the trunk, and back to his feet. She dusted off his custome, then pushed her hair back over her ear.
"You alright dude?" asked Nazz, "Why in the world would you try to skitch off of my sisters car, that is seriously uncool and you could of really got hurt."
Jonny regained his senses and, remembering that he was acting in the capacity of the crime fighter Captain Melonhead, decided to reply appropriately.
"Don't lecture me evil doer!" said Jonny as he pointed towards Nazz, "You and your getaway driver have been caught red handed. Surrender the bicycle so I can retain it to it's rightful owner."
Nazz and Julia glanced at each other with expressions of fear for a brief instant, after which Nazz turned back towards Jonny.
"Wait," said Nazz, "You saw me put the bike in the trunk?"
"That's right!" said Jonny, "Captain Melonhead has eyes and ears everywhere, no criminal can escape me!"
Julia giggled.
"Well Captain Melonhead sir," said Julia in a playful manner, "I will go quietly, and serve my time if your heroness has determined I have done wrong, but please give me and my sister a chance to plead our case."
"C'mon Jules, don't encourage him." said Nazz as she shot her sister an angry glare and walked towards Jonny.
"Look Jonny, I'll tell you the truth about the bike," said Nazz, "But you have to promise not to tell Kevin, okay?"
"We'll just see about that!" said Jonny.
Nazz rolled her eyes, after which she began to explain herself.
"Kevin's been talking for weeks about getting a full chrome polish, new tires, a new chain, and other things needed to restore the bike back into it's original factory condition. I found a Schwinn dealer that will do it in town, and decided to get his bike restored as a Christmas present."
Nazz paused.
"I was going to tell him about it before I took it, but then he decided to tell the whole world about my first name being Nancy, so I decided to make it a surprise and let him dangle for a bit thinking his bike was stolen. Me and my dad talked to Kevin's dad, and they decided to play along for the sake of the surprise. It worked, cause he's been talking about the bike non-stop for the last few days, it's really funny."
Nazz placed her hand on Jonny's shoulder.
"So, I wasn't stealing the bike, I was just taking it to the shop to have it fixed." said Nazz.
"Sure you were," said Jonny, "Isn't that the same thing the Grinch tried to pull when he was stealing the tree from Cindy Lou Who?"
"Oooh, I love that special," said the somewhat ditzy Julia, "Those instruments the Whos play are so cute, and don't get me started on..."
Nazz elbowed Julia gently, interrupting her rambling tangent, after which she continued speaking to Jonny.
"Come on Jonny I'm serious," said Nazz, "Do you really want to ruin a Christmas surprise over this whole superhero thing?"
Jonny thought to himself for a few minutes, after which a smile appeared on his face.
"Citizen Nazz," said Jonny, "As a superhero, I am sworn to uphold the law. However, under these conditions, I am willing to relax the Melon code and not report your theft to the proper authorities under one simple condition."
Nazz shrugged her shoulders, after which she smiled.
"K" said Nazz, "What's the condition?"
"It seems that with the addition of the new homes on Haventhought Way, the area has become too large for me and Splinter to properly survey," said Johnny, "With the holiday season upon us, I just know that there are going to be many humbugs out there, just waiting to ruin Christmas. I need some more help to be able to cover the area."
Jonny placed his hands on his hips.
"Citizen Nazz," said Jonny, "Captain Melonhead would like to officially recruit you as a crime fighter, sworn to uphold peace and justice within Peach Creek. While done with good intentions, a theft is still a theft, and can not be overlooked without some sort of payment to society. Volunteering as a crime fighter is a perfect way for you to atone for your mistakes."
Nazz glanced at Jonny with confusion, as Julia giggled slightly.
"Gee Jonny," said Nazz, "That sounds nice, but I am not much of a crime fighter, I think I'll pass."
"Very well," said Jonny, "I will just have to alert citizen Kevin of the misdeeds."
"No don't do that." said Nazz in a nervous tone, after which an expression of annoyance appeared on her face "Okay, I'll help you fight crime until Christmas, just tell me what I have to do."
"Very well," said Jonny, "Meet me and Splinter at the Melon Cave tomorrow night. We will teach you the Watermelon's creed, bestow upon you your superhero name, and give you your costume."
Jonny lifted the Melon Mobile off of the ground back onto it's wheels, after which he mounted the vehicle in preparation for the return to his house.
"Thank you for your participation in advance Ms. Nazz!" said Jonny after which he placed his foot on the ground to begin pedaling away. Just before he pushed off, he turned back towards the two young ladies.
"Oh by the way," said Jonny in his typical happy-go-lucky voice with a smile, "Hi Julia! Long time no see, good to see ya back for the holidays!"
"It's good to see you too Jonny!" said Julia with a smile. She reached her hand out and gripped the side of Plank in the vicinity of the area where his mouth was drawn on, "And glad to see you too Plank, you're just as handsome as always."
Julia removed her hand and giggled. Jonny leaned into Planks mouth with his ear, pretending to listen for Planks response.
"Plank says 'Thank you, it's been a while since he's talked to such a pretty girl.'" said Jonny.
Julia giggled.
"Oh, Plank, stop it." she said as she flicked her wrist downward. Nazz gazed at her sister, unamused at her ditziness.
Jonny placed his hands on the handlebars of his scooter.
"I appreciate your company ladies, but I have a job to uphold," said Jonny, as he began pedaling the scooter down the cross street. As the scooter turned onto Rethink Avenue, Jonny yelled at the top of his lungs.
"CAPTAIN MELONHEAD AWAY"
The Melon Mobile disappeared around the corner, at which point Julia decided to comment on the situation.
"That Jonny is still just as imaginative as ever," said Julia.
"Yeah, he's a little over the top sometimes though." said Nazz.
"But look on the bright side Nancy," said Julia with a smile, "You get to be a real life super hero, fighting crime an..."
Nazz cut Julia off mid sentence.
"Let's just go." said Nazz quietly as she walked back towards the passenger seat.
"Okay," said Julia as she jogged back to the driver seat.
The two girls re-entered the vehicle, buckled their seat belts and continued on their way to drop off Kevin's bike for repairs.
