Chapter 7
Freakazoid's Day Off!
Dexter looked around his science classroom and frowned. Why was he the only one here? He pulled his sleeve back and looked at his watch, brows creased in confusion as the numbers flickered and swirled around.
"What…?"
"You can't read clocks in dreams Dextime! If you really wanna know, it's like, ten in the waking world."
Dexter jumped, looking around his seemingly empty classroom for the source of the familiar voice. Where had he heard that voice before…?
"You already forgot me? RUDE!"
A loud smack resounded from the white board in the front of the room, making Dexter stand in shock as it cracked. Another heavy pounding sound, and the white board shattered.
"Wow! Our brain's got some pretty sturdy walls! Not thick enough to keep me out though. Ha HA!" Freakazoid gloated, eagerly climbing out from the hole he'd created in the white board.
"Freakazoid?…. Wait! I'm dreaming? Why are you in my dream?!"
Freakazoid dusted himself off and looked around Dexter's science classroom with a vague air of disinterest.
"Well, it's technically both our dream. Our brain is just being mean and trying to get rid of me. NICE TRY, YOU SAD SACK OF THINK SAUCE!" Freakazoid yelled at the ceiling, shaking his fist like a foiled villain.
Dexter walked over to Freakazoid, ogling the other teen in a strange mix of awe and confusion. He'd never actually seen Freakazoid like this, face to face. It honestly unnerved him. Not the differences, those were fine, preferable even. What unnerved Dexter was the similarities.
Sure, Freakazoid had big black hair like a Frankenstein's monster wannabe, he was blue and way more physically fit then Dexter had ever even dreamed he'd be, but he was still him. Freakazoid had his face! Yeah, it was wearing an expression he'd never be caught dead with, with wide eyes and a wider smile, but it was his face! Dexter looked down at Freakazoids outfit and frowned. He was sure he'd thrown those out the day after his mom had bought them!
"Long Johns. Really?" Dexter said, gesturing to the bright red eyesore tiredly.
Freakazoid crossed his arms and turned his nose up in offense.
"You see long Johns, I see cotton chainmail." He explained, posing in the outfit dramatically and flexing.
Freakazoid was proudly wearing his old long johns, and the contrast in how the embarrassing piece of clothing looked on either of them was kinda annoying. Why did the crazy part of him get the muscles? How was that fair?! He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from voicing his thoughts and shook his head. He needed no focus! Hadn't Freakazoid been talking about their brain?
Dexter looked at the ceiling for a moment for some sign of another presence, but when he realized Freakazoid had just been being- well, Freakazoid, he crossed his arms and frowned.
"Why did I forget you? I couldn't remember you for a minute there…" Dexter asked, looking around the classroom critically.
Freakazoid shrugged. "I think our brain thought I was some kind of invasive….whatever. I don't really know. All I know is, I'm not going anywhere."
Dexter walked over to the gaping hole in the chalkboard. He inspected the hole, but he couldn't see anything inside but a pitch black void.
"Where did you even come from?" Dexter said, putting his hand into the hole and quickly pulling it out.
Freakazoid stood next to Dexter and smiled. "You wanna see? I can promise it's way cooler than this snooze fest!" He promised. Before Dexter could respond, Freakazoid grabbed a fistfull of his collar and shoved him roughly into the void.
"W-WAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Dexter screamed as he fell into nothingness.
He closed his eyes in fear of the inevitably approaching floor, but after a full minute of nothing, he finally cracked open an eye. Dexter looked around the void of nothing, eyes landing on an equally immobile Freakazoid.
"W-What's happening right now? Why aren't we falling?" Dexter stuttered, still shaken by his earlier scare.
"Well, I was gonna have us land at some point, but you scared the ground away!" Freakazoid huffed, crossing his arms as he floated into an upside down position.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Dexter shouted, flailing his arms to stay in a somewhat upright position.
"It's our brain, it doesn't have to! At least, it didn't until you came here." Freakazoid grumbled.
"So how do we land? How do I unscare the ground or something?!" Dexter fretted, kicking his legs in vain as he slowly spun in midair.
"Weeeeeell, it's only scared cause you are. It's our brain remember? It can't hurt us, you can't hurt it!" Freakazoid advised as he read over a magazine he'd pulled out of the nothingness. Dexter spluttered for a moment, then took in a shaky breath to calm his nerves.
Freakazoid was still as confusing as he'd been when they were awake, but he probably didn't mean to be. He'd thrown Dexter into this void because he'd expected it to take them somewhere. For some reason, they weren't landing because of him. But why?
Freakazoid had somehow manifested hair rollers and was now painting his nails a sparkly pink, all while sitting midair in a fancy red bath robe. Dexter decided to forgo questioning where he got all the random objects and got to the point.
"Hey Freak!" He shouted, smiling as Freakazoid startled and messed up his nails. Instead of getting upset, he spun midair and somehow managed to make all the random items vanish. Back in an upside down position, he smiled at Dexter.
"That's me! What's up? Other than us, I mean."
"If I stop being scared of landing, will we land?" He asked, looking down in some vain attempt to see some kind of floor.
Freakazoid smiled wider and nodded. "You got it! Kinda obvious really, what took you so long?"
Dexter gave Freakazoid an unimpressed look. "Well, you throwing me into a void hole didn't help. Of course I got scared! Next time, a little warning would be nice!"
Not bothering to wait for a response, Dexter closed his eyes and thought of the ground. He wanted to land. Landing would be ten times more enjoyable than floating in nothingness. Land, land, LAND!
"You can open your eyes now Dexter. C'mon and look around!" Freakazoid said enthusiastically.
Dexter cracked an eye open and gaped. He was in his living room! Or...No. Wait. This wasn't his living room. It looked too different. Dexter relaxed his body and opened both eyes hesitantly. He hadn't realized how tense he'd been until he'd unclenched his fists and lowered his shoulders from his ears.
"I'm calling this place, The Freakazone! Pretty cool right?!" Freakazoid said proudly, jumping onto the couch and pulling out a TV remote.
"Where is this?" Dexter inquired, walking over to the couch and sitting down on the soft cushions. It was a nice couch. Now that Dexter was really looking around, other than the TV, it seemed to be the only things in the room, if that's what you could call it. There didn't seem to be any walls, just light that faded to black nothing.
"Somewhere in our brain. I don't really give a flying fart where. Hey! Wanna watch Rat Patrol with me?"
Dexter scoffed, looking over to the TV as Freakazoid pressed the remote and the screen flickered to life.
"That show Grandpa always made us watch? Why is that here?" Dexter said skeptically, even as Troy, Moffitt, Hitch and Tully flickered across the screen, ready to raid and get laid.
"I thought we liked it! There was so much action and historical inaccuracies for us to point out!" Freakazoid enthused, pulling out a bowl of cheetos and handing it to Dexter.
Dexter smiled at the memory of watching reruns of Rat Patrol with his grandpa. His grandpa had insisted on watching them instead of cartoons, so to get back at him, Dexter had read up on WWII history and spent every moment of the show pointing out the historical impossibilities in it. His grandpa had taken it in stride, and eventually, Dexter had even started to enjoy it, in the same way a person liked watching bad horror movies.
"Nice flashback. I think you made grandpa look a little taller than he really was though."
Dexter stumbled as he was abruptly transported to his grandfather's living room. Freakazoid didn't seem bothered by the scene change, catching the bowl of cheetos that fell from Dexter's lab and stuffing a handful into his mouth.
"Grandpa?!" Dexter balked as the old man appeared in his favorite chair, seemingly in the middle of watching Rat Patrol with a much smaller Dexter Douglas. It was a familiar scene, but as Dexter looked closer, he realized he could see through his grandpa and his younger self. It was like looking at a high definition projection.
"Just how small were we? Like a little squirt of beans!" Freakazoid squealed, running over to the tiny Dexter and trying to pick him up, only to phase through the memory like a wisp of smoke.
"Awwww! No fair!" Freakazoid wined, couching down at eye level with mini Dexter and batting childishly at the apparition, his hands falling through every time.
"Leave younger me alone Freak. Now how do I go back to-What did you call it?"
"The Freakazone!" Freakazoid offred happily, standing back up and walking through the memory Dexter to stand next to Dexter again.
"Wait. Do I just will it to happen like the landing thing?"
Freakazoid nodded just as Dexter closed his eyes and-
"AAaaaaand, we're back!" Freakazoid cheered, plopping down onto the couch and turning on Rat Patrol again.
Dexter slumped into the couch and sighed, closing his eyes as he reached over and took a handful of cheetos from Freakazoids snack bowl. It had been cheetos, right? Or was it popcorn? Dexter looked into his hand and gasped. He was holding a handful of both popcorn and cheetos.
"Didn't-didn't you have cheetos in that bowl? Or popcorn? Did you have both?!" Dexter babbled, looking over to Freakazoids snack bowl in worry.
"It's whatever we think it should be! You keep forgetting we make the rules here. Everything can be anything we want!"
Dexter groaned and slumped further into the couch as he let the snacks fall through his fingers in despair.
"I just want everything to make sense. Can my brain do that?"
Freakazoid rolled his eyes and and stuffed some cheetos, only cheetos, into his mouth.
"You know? Shome people would enjoy being in your situation!" Freakazoid swallowed and turned away from the TV to look at Dexter imploringly.
"C'mon Dextile! Just think of what you wanna do and we can do it! The extent of your imagination's the limit!"
Dexter pouted back a Freakazoid for a moment, then turned away cautiously and thought. What did he want to do? If he could do anything here without repercussions, the sky really was the limit….
"I know!" Dexter burst out, standing up and turning around to face Freakazoid again.
"How do you make things?" Dexter asked eagerly.
Freakazoid jumped up from the couch, excited energy radiating off him.
"You mean like this?" He said, pulling out a corn on the cob from out of nowhere. "I just think I should have it, and I do!"
Freakazoid started running in place, eyes darting around in excitement. "So what are we gonna do? C'mon Dexter, let's make some mayhem! Everyone knows one plus one equals fun!"
Dexter's eager nodding slowed to a disapproving glare. "Freak, we're not doing anything crazy. I just wanted to test something out."
Dexter ignored Freakazoids disappointed slouch and closed his eyes, imagining his bedroom desk with his computer, then his bed, and slowly spread out till he'd envisioned his entire bedroom.
"Ooohhh. Is this all? We're always in here though! In fact, we're physically there right now. Just open your eyes and BAM! There we are."
Dexter smiled and walked over to his desk, pulling out his chair and sitting down.
"You said before that you were connected to the Internet, right?" He asked, starting up his computer and typing in his password.
Freakazoid hopped onto Dexter's bed and started jumping. "Yessiree!" Everything that ever was and currently is. Why?"
Dexter hesitated for a moment, then opened his browser and-
"It works! Or-This isn't just a dream Internet connection, right?"
Freakazoid jumped off the bed and walked over to Dexter's computer, squinting at the screen critically for a few seconds.
"Noooope, that's the Internet alright. Are you telling me you did all this so you could surf the net? We always do that!" Freakazoid began pacing in frustration as Dexter started to type quickly.
"Can't you think of anything exciting? You know, something we can't do just by opening our eyes and sitting up?" Freakazoid turned to glare at Dexter, arms akimbo as Dexter continued to type.
"I don't know why I even bothered to pull you outta that dream. You probably woulda had more fun too."
Dexter turned away from his screen to look at Freakazoid curiously, fingers still typing rabidly as he did so. "What was with that dream anyway? The whole classroom was just empty."
Freakazoid went back to Dexter's bed and flopped onto it lazily.
"Well, I actually might have had something to do with that. Ya see, I was just hanging out in the Freakazone when I noticed your weird little dream sequence happening above my head. So I go and try to check it out when I see a group of dream people heading over to our science class!"
Dexter's eyes widened in interest as a small version of the events materialized above Freakazoids head like a miniature flashback.
"And like, I realize that these guys not only don't go to our science class, but they're also the same guys who beat us up in the locker room! I might have gotten a little steamed when I saw them, so I beat them into brain mist and the rest is history!"
Dexter watched as a mini memory Freakazoid pounded a mini Jim and Rick into little puffs of smoke before the entire scene dissipated.
"Huh. From what I can tell, I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed whatever that dream was gonna be anyway. So thanks, I guess." Dexter gave Freakazoid an awkward smile, then turned back to his computer.
"I would have done it eventually, either in here, or out in the real world. Maybe even both! Those jerks have it coming!" Freakazoid said, trying to balance a headstand on Dexter's bed.
"Nu-uh! No fighting unless it's self defense,. We've been over this." Dexter admonished, somewhat distracted by whatever it was he was working on.
Freakazoid pouted and allowed himself to fall on his face into soft blankets and cat hair covered sheets. He slid off the bed and stood up grumpily, dragging himself over to Dexter and slumping on the back of his chair dramatically.
"I'm boooored. What are you doing anyway?"
Dexter smiled and leaned away from the screen a bit to show his work.
"I'm documenting everything that happened yesterday. General timestamps, names, locations, the works!"
Freakazoid slid off the back of the chair and onto the floor. "That's what you're doing? Homework? You have the entire Internet at your imaginary fingertips, the ability to make anything happen on a whim, and you do work?"
Dexter rolled his eyes at Freakazoids prone form on the floor and continued typing.
"Well if I'm allowed to to anything, then I want to document everything that happened yesterday so I don't forget. You said so yourself, my brain's trying to make me forget stuff. I can't run the risk of forgetting vital information when I wake up."
Freakazoid pulled a yoga mat out from nothing, than sat up and started stretching.
"I guess, but isn't our computer fried? When you wake up, you won't be able to get to any of your stuff, so you're kinda wasting your time there."
Dexter's typing slowed for a moment before starting back up again with a vengeance.
"I can get my computer fixed! And until then you have access, so when I wake up, you can just remind of everything I've written down."
Freakazoid was attempting a headstand again when there was a sudden shift, rattling the entire room and sending the blue teen onto his back.
"What was that?! What's happening?" Dexter stood and pulled Freakazoid up anxiously.
Freakazoid dusted off his Long Johns, looking around at the shaking room calmly and smiling.
"Looks like we're waking up! Makes sense, we usually don't sleep in this late. Check your phone when you get up, okay?"
Dexter stumbled as the shaking room began to literal rattle apart, ceiling walls crumbling away to reveal nothing beyond. Freakazoid seemed nonplussed, walking over to one of the larger holes in the wall and pulling it apart to get out. Dexter tried to follow him, but he lost his footing and fell to his knees.
"Wai-What? My phone? Why woul-"
Dexter gasped as he rolled over in his bed, accidentally rolling Mr. Chubbikins off his legs and onto the floor. The cat hissed at Dexter, then slunk over to his computer chair and jumped onto the seat.
"Sorry...Mr. Chubbikins…" Dexter yawned, rubbing his eyes and blindly reaching over to his nightstand for his glasses. What had he been dreaming about again? Whatever it was, he'd been pretty freaked out about it. As he put on his glasses, a familiar voice piped up from inside his head.
'You meanie. You woke Mr. Chubbikins up!'
"...Freakazoid…Holy crap! Wait a second, I'm remembering!"
'Good! I uploaded all that stuff you wrote into what I'm pretty sure is our memory. I was getting bored with the whole amnesia routine.'
Dexter pulled off his blankets and stumbled over to his computer, then stopped when he remembered something else. Two things actually. First being, his computer was very broken, and the second being that he was supposed to check his phone.
Dexter went over to his nightstand and turned on his phone, sitting down as the startup screen popped up.
"Why am I checking my phone again?" He mumbled, still half asleep now that he was acclimating to his new memories. He'd never felt this tired before.
'You're phone was off, so I couldn't really tell, but you missed at least two calls. I thought that might be important.'
"What, really?!" Dexter's phone finally brightened with his wallpaper of him and Steff at an amusement park. He went to his phone app and looked for missed calls anxiously. What if it had been his mom? What if it was about Duncan. Was Duncan still okay?
'No need to thank me or anything….'
"Thank you! Now shush!" Dexter held the phone to his ear and listened.
"You have-three-missed calls. *Beeeeeep*-Hello? Dexter, sweetie. Your father and I will be at the hospital till about midnight. We're staying while your brother gets a few more check ups. There's a twenty in the money box on your father's desk for pizza, and if you don't want that, you can eat the leftovers in the fridge. I love you honey, see you tomorrow!-End message."
Dexter smiled at his mom's message and relaxed. It was fine, his brother was fine.
'You need to take a chill pill or something Dex-stressed. So? What do the other messages say?'
Dexter rolled his eyes and pressed the other message. It was probably his mom again, maybe checking up on him.
"-little snot nosed turd! Where the hell were you?! Running called my parents when no one showed up and then they caught me with the beer for the party! I'm grounded because of you! Where were you Dexter you fuc- End message."
Dexter felt the blood drain from his face. That had sounded like Jim and if Jim was calling him-
"Crap, crap! I-"
He'd totally forgot! After everything that'd happened yesterday-And the kidnapping, not to mention Freakazoid-!
'Don't worry about it Dexter! I can take care of those guys, no problem! What's the last message?'
"You can't just beat up-You know what? Nevermind." Dexter was too stressed out to remind Freakazoid for the fourth time what the rules were. He pressed the last message and held his breath. With how today was going already, he didn't know what to expect.
"Hey. You know who this. I'm only gonna say this once. You meet me at the back of the school and we settle this now, or I make it ten times worse when you come to school after Christmas break. Meet me in two hours.-End message."
"...Well, that was very…adjective…" Dexter groaned, falling back onto his bed and throwing an arm over his eyes. He'd just woken up!
'Let's go! You have me now Dexter, I can destroy those guys! I already know you want to let me do it!'
"No Freak. You can't just beat people up. I can't keep telling you this. It's just, not, right."
'What about a left? They'll never see that coming! Now then, how to drive the message home? A broken bone is persuasive, but a scar is forever…'
Dexter sat up and tried to keep how obviously unnerved he was out of his voice. "Are you hearing yourself? You sound like a crazy person. I'm not letting you out if you're gonna break the rules. There's like, only three rules!"
'Are you hearing yourself? Cause you sound like you're talking to yourself. Maybe you should get that checked out.'
"Stop trying to change the subject! Why are you so obsessed with hurting people? You're like, ninety percent random jokes, and then on the flip of a dime your calling for blood."
Dexter waited for a response for a full minute, but when he was only met with silence, he sighed and got up to get dressed. After he finished getting dressed, Dexter decided he needed to address the messages from Jim. With Freakazoid being weirdly quiet, it was almost like he was alone in his head again. The perfect opportunity to think without interruptions.
So! Jim wanted to meet him behind the school in-Dexter checked his phone and saw that he'd received the message an hour and a half ago. Good. He still needed time to think it all over, and if need be, to walk there. Jim wanted to meet him behind the school and "talk", or, if Dexter decided not to go, he would deal out an even worse punishment after Christmas break, when he'd have no choice but to go to school.
"Damned if I do, damned if I don't…" Dexter mumbled, pacing as he thought the sour deal over.
He wasn't supposed to win, he knew that. Jim was basically telling him he was giving him the opportunity to enjoy his break with a clear mind and a possibly bruised torso, or he could wait it out and stress over future beatings till the fateful day came. Dexter honestly wanted to wait it out.
"But if I do, who knows what Jim'll do to me? If I give him time to plan something out, it won't be good…"
Dexter looked back at his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He stopped at Cosgroves and was sorely tempted to call him. If he brang Cosgrove, even Jim wouldn't risk trying anything on him. But wouldn't that just make Jim more angry? He'd just try something when Cosgrove wasn't around, probably after Christmas break. Jim wouldn't be stopped till he got what he wanted.
"He's not some lackey you can just call Dexter, he has a job. This isn't that important." Dexter scowled at himself and exited out of his contacts.
He couldn't ask his family, they were busy with Duncan at the hospital. He couldn't ask Cosgrove because he was probably busy doing important stuff like saving lives of stopping bank robbers. He couldn't ask any teachers because it was Christmas break and they never helped anyway. He couldn't ask anyone!
"I should've set an alarm or something! If I had just gone to the school and covered for him-!"
Dexter paced over to his bedroom wall and knocked his forehead against the wall in frustration. He didn't want to get beat up. He really, really didn't want to get beat up.
Dexter instinctively gripped his left wrist and winced. The last time he'd been beat up, he'd been ganged up on by a whole group of kids in the bathroom. He hadn't even known what was happening till one of the kids threw the first punch. When they were done with him, his wrist had been broken and his glasses had been twisted beyond repair. He could still remember the way his parents had yelled at him for being reckless and breaking his glasses again and-
'We didn't deserve that. We're tired of letting people hurt us for no good reason. We want it to stop! You want it to stop! I want it to stop! Let me make it stop!'
Dexter blinked back tears he hadn't realized were starting to form and let out a shaky sigh. Freakazoid was right, but not in all the right ways.
"We can't fix things just by punching them…"
'But-'
"-You're right about us not deserving this."
Dexter took a deep breath. "I think we should work together. I'm not gonna let you break the rules but...I have the feeling that self defense is gonna apply. You with me?"
Dexter smiled at the feeling of something shifting in excitement inside his head.
'Yes! I am totally ready to deal out some morally righteous violence! You promise you'll let me help?'
Dexter nodded, pulling away from the wall and putting his phone in his pocket as he headed for the door to his bedroom. He paused to inspect the damage Freakazoid had done to his door knob and pursed his lips. He was still worried about the kind of damage Freak could do to Jim if he wasn't careful. Freakazoid didn't seem too concerned with being careful when it came to Jim. He'd seen what Freakazoid could do from the mini memory reenactment Freak had shown him in his dream.
'I'll be careful! You'll be there too, so you can tell me if I go too far, right? Let's go already!'
"Okay. Right, yeah…" Dexter nodded to himself again and headed downstairs and out the front door, making sure to lock it behind him. He'd rather not have any more strangers breaking into his house anytime soon.
As Dexter steadily made his way to his school, he couldn't help but be filled with an odd mixture of anxiety and relief. He was still super nervous about meeting Jim, his punches were no joke! But at the same time he was relieved. He'd felt so alone, thinking over strategies and remembering his past experience being bullied.
Now? Against all odds, he actually felt comforted knowing Freakazoid would be there too. Inside his head, sure, but he wouldn't be alone. Despite his wishy washy behavior, Freak was actually pretty reliable when it came to the things that mattered to both of them.
'And don't you forget it!'
Dexter laughed and picked up the pace, feeling for the first time that the alien weight in his head was a comforting one.
"You're late."
Dexter gulped and took an instinctive step back. He'd been expecting Jim to come but-
'Well, he never said he was coming alone. Maybe we should've called Cosgrove after all.'
"You think?" Dexter hissed, the cringed as Jim raised his eyebrows in shock. Opps.
"You really gonna talk to me like that? If I were you, I'd cut back on the attitude until after I'm done crushing you." Jim sneered, chest puffing out in pride as his five man posse snickered in agreement.
'A group of jerks, also known as a Snicker.'
"S-I'm sorry Jim. I wasn't-"
Jim lunged forward at Dexter, causing Dexter to stumble back out of fear and fall down. Jim snorted at Dexter's reaction and looked back at his friends meaningfully.
"Seriously Douglas, this is it? I was expecting you to come with backup or something. I mean, even you coming with Steff would have been better than this! At least if you came with her, I could'a had the chance to pulverize you while she watched."
Dexter stood back up on shaky legs and clenched his fists.
"I don't want to fight you Jim. I'm sorry I got you in trouble, but I didn't mean to. You getting grounded for having beer, or for not coming to clean up for only an hour isn't my fault! I said I was sorry, now let it go!"
Jim looked honestly surprised for a few moments before bursting into laughter. Dexter slumped a bit and blushed as Jim and his posse openly laughed at him.
'Can I come out now?'
"No…" Dexter said under his breath.
'He basically Hulk Smashed our pride. This should count as self-defense!'
"HAHAHAhaha! Ho-holy crap! You're really bang'in on all four cylinders today aren't ya Douglas? Haha!" Jim laughed, wiping away a tear and leaning heavily on the brick and mortar wall of the school.
"Okay!...Whew! You know what? Just for that, I'm gonna give you a chance to make it up to me. No strings attached, you just do this one thing, and I'll let all this slide."
Dexter straightened up in shock. That had actually worked? Maybe he'd get to walk away from this unscathed after all. Jim stalked forward and loomed over Dexter confidentiality.
"I want you to stop hang'in around Steff."
Dexter felt his stomach drop.
'Really?! He's gonna do a 'stay away from my girl' ultimatum? She's not even dating him any-'
"Steff can do whatever she wants! If she wants to be my friend, then you can't make her stop and you certainly can't make me push her away!" Dexter yelled.
Jim cracked his knuckles threateningly and leaned down to emphasize the height difference.
"So is that a no? Last chance Douglas, no changing your mind after this."
Dexter stood his ground and clenched his fists. He'd wanted to avoid a fight at all cost but he wasn't about to promise to some stupid ultimatum about Steff like she was property or something.! She was his best friend, no way was he giving that up!
"I'm not promising you anything Jim. Can you just let this go?"
Jim looked back at his posse again and Rick O'Shea stepping forward to stand next to Jim. The rest of the group followed, surrounding Dexter like a pack of wolves. Jim crossed his arms and took a step back, shaking his head in faux disappointment.
"Wrong answer Dexturd. You're gonna wish you didn't even know Steff after we're done with you!"
'Dexter, I think it's time! Let me out!' Freakazoid warned as Jim's goons started to advance.
Dexter nodded and crouched in preparation for what was to come.
"Right! Freak Out!"
SHA-ZAP!
Jim stumbled back at the bright flash if sparks, his posse all covering their eyes and crying out in shock.
"I LOVE it when we do that!" Freakazoid cheered, jumping up from his former crouching position and grinning.
Freakazoid looked around at the frightened and confused looking bullies in disgust, looking down at them all with thinly veiled ill intent.
"Soooo? Who's up first? Don't be shy! I don't bite, unless you want me to~"
Jim recovered first, stomping over to Freakazoid angrily.
"Who the hell are you?! Where's Douglas?" Jim asked, looking behind Freakazoid to see if Dexter was hiding there.
Freakazoid's smile fell quickly and he grabbed Jim's collar, hauling him up and glaring daggers into his eyes.
"Are you pulling my leg?! I'm right here Jimmy Johns! So are we gonna fight, or am I gonna have to toss you over this building? Because I wi-"
'Freak! Don't go overboard. If he doesn't want to fight then you let him go!'
Freakazoid rolled his eyes and dropped Jim, ignoring the small 'Ooof!' Jim let out at being dropped in favor of checking out the rest of his posse. Just as he turned around, Rick O'Shea slammed into Freakazoids stomach in typical football form.
"Whoa!" Freakazoid dug his feed into the snow and grabbed firmly onto Rick's jacket. Before Rick you get a swing in, Freakazoid lifted him over his head and tossed him at the rest of Jim's friends. Freakazoid chuckled as the rest of Jims goons scattered away from Ricks landing spot, then seemed to collectively decide to make a run for it.
"Aww. Well that's disappointing. I thought this was gonna be like one of those boxing movies." Freakazoid sighed as he crossed his arms.
'Is Rick okay? You threw him pretty hard.'
Freakazoid scoffed as he walked over to Rick's prone form and nudges him with his foot in disdain. "I threw him hard enough. He rammed into me pretty hard. If we hadn't switched and you'd taken that, you probably woulda passed out!"
'Can you please just wake him up? Leaving him there would be-'
"AUGH!" Freakazoid cried out as a sharp pain shot up his back. He spun around and slapped whatever it was that hit him, his other hand clasping around the stinging area.
Jim Nasium held his red cheek, a triumphant smirk straining on his smug face. "How'd you like that, huh?" He goaded, his free hand holding the spear point knife he'd used to jab at Freakazoids back.
Freakazoid saw red for a moment, his free hand clenching and unclenching in unbridled anger. This soon to be sidewalk chalk outline thought he could get away with-
'Are you okay?! You can run Freak, you don't have to fight him!'
Freakazoid froze at the worried tone of Dexter's voice. Dexter couldn't feel what he was feeling, could he? The red faded from his vision as he was filled with relief. Freakazoid took a calming breath and checked out the torn area on his shirt. He smiled when he saw that the knife hadn't left more than a light bruise, slightly darker blue than his skin. No bleeding. Cool!
"I'm fine! You should be more worried about what I plan on doing to Jimmy here." He growled, grinning evilly at the horror stricken look on Jim's face at seeing Freakazoid unscathed by his knife. That's right Jimnastics, squirm for Freakazoid!
'You need to get that knife away from him! He's could seriously hurt you! No games, just disarm him!'
"Booooring! But fine! I didn't really enjoy being stabbed anyway." Freakazoid conceded as Jim seemed to steal his nerves and began circling with knife in hand. Freakazoid followed suit and started circling as well, feeling a small twinge of discomfort from the bruise he'd received from Jim's knife. He'd rather avoid that knife.
"I like this cirling thing we're doing. Very fun, very lion king." Freakazoid teased, grinning wider at the offended look Jim gave him.
"Who the hell are you?! Where did you even come from? Did Douglas pay you to come here or something?" Jim badgered, looking slightly hysterical as he looked around for some sign of Dexter's presence. "Is he here right now?! Come out here Douglas! I know you're here!"
Freakazoid took his chance and raced forward, one hand grabbing Jim's wrist holding the knife in a death grip, the other grabbing Jim's jacket collar and picking him up.
"Here I am! Did ya miss me?" Freakazoid crowed, the hand gripping Jim's stabby hand squeezing painfully tight until Freakazoid heard the sound of Jim's knife hitting the snow.
Freakazoid kicked the knife away from both Jim and his "unconscious" right hand. He trusted Rick as far as he could throw him, which was admittedly pretty far, but the sentiment still stands!
"D-Don't kill me man! Please!" Jim raised up the hand Freakazoid wasn't still attempting to crush in surrender and leaned his head away from him in terror.
Freakazoid rolled his eyes and pulled Jim away from his face in discomfort. "You seriously need to brush your teeth or something. That's some serious halitosis! Breath Mints! Ever heard of em?"
Jim's face fell in confusion and Dexter decided to take pity on the guy.
'Freak, I think you should let him go. He looks like he's learned his lesson. Dealing with you is punishment enough.'
Freakazoid pouted and let go of Jim's other hand so he could use it to clutch imaginary pearls in offense.
"Rude! I'm being helpful right now! And he stabbed me! I mean, it didn't work but he still tried!"
Jim's brows creased in worry as Freakazoid argued with himself. He lowered his surrendering hand and internally prayed to his god of choice for safe passage through this maniacs hell. He just hoped he'd live to see Christmas, grounded or not.
'Freak, if we want Jim to stop tormenting us we have to let him know his days are numbered in a way he can understand. Just let him know he shouldn't do this stuff anymore.'
"Alright then, but I still say a pair of black eyes would have the same effect." Freakazoid hoisted Jim higher to get his attention, smiling as Jim let out a very unmanly whimper.
"Listen up Jim Jam! I'm here with an agenda! You need to retire this bullying shtick, and pronto." Freakazoid pulled Jim back down to his eye level and gave him his best I-mean-business, glare. "Because if I ever see you even looking at Dexter Douglas, or anyone one else? I'll destroy you Jim. I. Will. End you."
Freakazoid retained eye contact with Jim for a few more seconds, then abruptly smiled and dropped him into the snow.
"Now get outta here you charming rouge! And take Ricky with you!" Jim nodded and scurried over to Rick, who was miraculously conscious as soon as Jim pulled him up. What a pleasant surprise!
"The same goes for Rick and the rest of your goons Jim! I see all, so don't let me catch you being naughty!" Freakazoid called after the quickly retreating teens.
Freakazoid put his arms akimbo and let out a sigh of satisfaction. "Well, I don't know about you, but I think that went pretty well!"
'You got stabbed!'
"Hey! I didn't say it went great, I said 'pretty well'. And besides, the knife didn't even cut me. Just felt like a really hard jab." Freakazoid lifted the torn part of his shirt and looked over of bruise. If anything, it looked like it was getting fainter.
'Well, you still need to be more careful…. You did a great job though. Thank you Freak.'
Freakazoid beamed for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "So, you wanna call Cosgrove now? I'm feeling pizza and cinnamon knots!"
'Shouldn't we go home?'
"Why? Mom and Dad are with Duncan at the hospital. Do we really want to hang around the house all day by ourselves?"
'Are you sure we wouldn't be bothering him?'
Freakazoid scrolled through his contacts and pressed Cosgrove's name. "Of course not! He said we could call him whenever, and right now counts!"
Freakazoid held the phone up to his ear and tapped his foot as he listened to the dial tone.
"-Cosgrove here. Is this you kid?" Cosgrove answered.
"Yessir! Hey Cosgrove, wanna get some pizza and cinnamon knots with me?" Freakazoid asked eagerly.
"Sure, I'll pick you up. Where are you?" Cosgrove said.
"Behind Harry Connick High School." Freakazoid replied as he began pacing impatiently in a circle.
"Okay. I'm here."
Freakazoid froze mid step and almost dropped his phone in shock. He heard the sound of car tires slowing down and sure enough, there Cosgrove was, window pulled own and arm waving Freakazoid over. Freakazoid laughed in a mixture of confusion and delight as he ran over to the police car and jumped into the passenger seat.
"How did you get here to quick?!" Freakazoid puzzled as he put on his seatbelt, looking around the inside of the car for a turbo thruster button or something similar.
"I'm a police officer. It's my job to get places quick." Cosgrove answered as he drove to the nearest pizza and cinnamon knot place.
Freakazoid opened his passenger window and stuck his head and tongue out doggy style.
'You're so embarrassing…'
"You're jus jewous!" Freakazoid said, tongue lolling out in the frosty winter wind.
Cosgrove noticed the tear in Freakazoids shirt and frowned.
"What did you do today kid?"
Freakazoid pulled his head back in and grinned. "Nothing much. Just serving out some sweet, sweet justice! I guess I got stabbed too, but it didn't really do much. I think I might have super skin or something!"
Cosgrove nodded and smiled. "That's good kid. Could always use some more justice around here. How's about we get a snow cone after the pizza for your services?"
Freakazoid nodded eagerly and fist pumped. "Sweet! Positive reinforcement! Did you hear that Dexter, we did good!"
'Yeah, I heard. Tell Cosgrove thank you for me.'
"Dexter say thanks! Ohh! There it is!" Freakazoid vibrated in his seat at the sight of the pizza parlor, immediately unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the car the minuet it came to a full stop.
He was giving one hundred and ten percent when it came to remembering to put on his seatbelt and not messing with any of the buttons in Cosgroves car. He was trying to be well behaved when he was around him. Something about the man just made Freakazoid want to make him proud.
Freakazoid smiled as Cosgrove caught up to him. "So kid, what kind of pizza do you want?"
'Get pepperoni and hamburger with mushrooms! I don't know why but I've been craving that for a while. And for the love of everything good, don't you dare get pineapple!'
Freakazoid grinned and nodded slightly. "I want Pepperoni and hamburger with pineapple! Extra pineapple."
'Hey!'
I was starting to miss these two, so I decided to write about what Dexter and Freakazoid were getting up to while Matt Grayson was carrying out his dark duties. Big thanks to VoiardGremhaeld21 for being my beta for a junk load of cool ideas and plot points! Because of their help, you can all expect much more villains and adventures to come!
ManiakoPixel, thank you! I really wanted to show the almost violent transformation that occurs when Dexter "becomes" Freakazoid.