Rugrats and the Gray Plague
Premiss:
When a terrible Flu epidemic comes to town, will it change the Rugrats lives forever?
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Rugrats, or any other TV show that should cross over into this story, and this goes for any future chapters posted about this particular story. The characters are the property of their original creaters, unless otherwise stated.
NOTE: Starting in chapter 6, and going onwards till the end of the story, 2 new characters appear regularly. Myself, known in the story as Aunty Celeste, and my nephew Zachary. Everything is true about us except we don't live where the Rugrats live in reality, nor does Zack live alone with me, making me his care provider, and, I don't have a driverless car. Also, in reality, Zack isn't crawling yet at the time this story was written, but in the story, he is.
Recap of Chapter 7: The Birthday party concludes, and Tommy never shows up. As the party is concluding, Kira and Betty have a fight about tracking mud into the house, causing them to stop speaking to one another. The twins then head over to Tommy's, and find him there, after he's awakened from a long afternoon nap, only to throw a bunch of confessions on him, and when Tommy confesses about why he wasn't at the party, the twins grow mad at him for breaking his promise to Chuckie, and tell him he'd better go tell Chuckie what he did. This upsets Tommy, leaving him in nonstop tears as a result of the crankiness side effect that comes along with that medicine he's taking. The next night, everyone attends Reptar Live, only to have Zack show up, completely taking Chuckie's attention away from the rest of the gang, Tommy falling asleep during the show, and leaving for home at intermission. He has a dream where Reptar tells him he'd better quit taking the medicine, or face a life full of misery. Of course, what Tommy doesn't realize, is that if he stops taking the medicine, he's only going to get sick again, but he's already determined that if he stops taking the medicine, he'll return to his normal old self. What will happen? And is the friendship of Chuckie and Tommy doomed forever? Let's see what happens, in chapter 8!
Chapter 8
It is the morning after Reptar Live. Tommy is at the kitchen table, finishing up his Reptar cerial. Didi comes into the room with Tommy's medicine. "It's time to take your medicine sweetie," said Didi, as she spooned it out into a small cup. Tommy won't open his mouth to take it. His mom encourages him to open his mouth, but Tommy won't budge. He's determined to not take that medicine. "This medicine will make you all better," Didi said, but Tommy still wouldn't budge. Finally, he gets up from the table, and starts running through the house, with Didi chasing after him. Stu sees what's going on, and gets involved. They catch him at the end of the downstairs hall by the downstairs bathroom, at which time Tommy has lost his breath, and is gasping for air. Didi marches up to him, and manages to get the medicine into his mouth. Not being able to stand the taste, Tommy spits it out. Didi sighs, "Oh come on sweetie, you've got to take this." But Tommy won't give up. He's determined he shouldn't take the medicine. But in the end, Stu tricks him into eating another bowl of Reptar cerial, and when he opened his mouth to take a bite of cerial, Stu stuck the medicine cup into his mouth. This time, Tommy swallowed it, and sighed.
Later on, come lunch time, Tommy hides in the hall closet, in hopes he won't be found, skipping the lunch dose, but unfortunately, Didi opens the door, and this time, she has mixed his medicine in with a bowl of Jell-O, so Tommy takes the medicine secretly, without even knowing it. While he eats his lunch, Phil and Lil come over, and have bowls of jell-o as well, only Tommy can tell something doesn't taste right with his jell-o, but Phil and Lil won't believe him. "It doesn't taste like it did in the hopcicle," said Tommy, as he finished a spoonful of the jell-o. "We never ate it there," said Lil. "Tastes fine to me," added Phil as he takes the last bite of his jell-o. Didi notices while Phil and Lil have finished their bowls of jell-o, Tommy has barely touched his, so she comes over and encourages him to eat. Tommy covers his mouth with his hands, but Didi manages to get him to move his hands, and starts spoon feeding it to him. Tommy squirms, but she won't let him go. Finally, he eats the last bite, and the babies, go into the playpen.
"Come on, help me out of this thing so I can go find my screwdriver," said Tommy. Phil and Lil crouch down, and Tommy climbs on top of them and over the side of the playpen. He heads to the basement door, only to find it closed. As he's returning to the playpen though, he notices himself, starting to feel sleepy. "Now I know why that jell-o didn't taste right," said Tommy as he neared the playpen. "Why?" Said phil and Lil simultaneously. "Mommy mixed my medicine in with it," grumbled Tommy. "Oh I'll never be the same again," he said, as tears started to come. At that moment, Chuckie and Kimmi show up to play, and Didi puts Tommy back into the playpen when they arrive.
"Hey Tommy," said Chuckie. "Hey Chuckie," replied Tommy with a frown. "What's wrong Tommy?" Asked Chuckie. Tommy then starts in on him about how he found out from Phil and Lil about how his screwdriver went missing. Chuckie tries to tell him that it was Spike that lost it, and Tommy, all cranky and worked up, doesn't believe Chuckie. Then, Chuckie starts in on Tommy about how he wasn't at his Birthday party, and Tommy replies loudly, "I was sleepy, I'd been in the hopcicle, does that mean anything to you?" They yell and argue back and force for several minutes, until Tommy picks up a ball and throws it. Chuckie picks up other toys in the playpen, as does Tommy, and they start throwing them back and force at one another, as they continue to argue about everything, from the broken promise, to the lost screwdriver, and even about Chuckie's new best friend, which really gets them both going. "Zachary is younger than me, and you're 3-years-old now Chuckie, grow up!" Argued Tommy. "Well, why don't you stop being so sleepy and cranky all the time, and be the Tommy I use to know," added Chuckie. "I'm trying to stop that medicine, but seems those grown ups are just, too smart for us," argued Tommy as he threw a Reptar doll across to Chuckie in the playpen. "I don't think you're trying, it's as if that Gray Plague came along, and turned you into someone else," yelled Chuckie as he threw pieces of a puzzle at Tommy.
They imagine they're in a wrestling ring, and they're the wrestlers, fighting one another. "I'm gonna get you, TommyTaker," yells Chuckie as he pushes Tommy down. Tommy gets up, "Oh really? ChuckieCon? I'd like to see you try," as he then pushes Chuckie down. Phil, Lil and Kimmi are doing their best, to stay out of the way, but it's not easy, as the toys are flying all over the place. Next thing they know, Tommy and Chuckie are grabbing on to one another's necks, and just, screaming at the top of their lungs. This sends Stu and Didi running. "It appears you 2 need some separation time," said Didi, as she took Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Kimmi out of the playpen, and sends them outside to the backyard. At this point, Tommy collapses on the floor of the playpen and falls asleep.
He has another dream, where the Gray Plague cloud is before him. "Well well well, look who's here?" Said the gray plague cloud. Tommy stares up at her. "You know, you're taking my friends away from me, and I don't like it!" The cloud gives him an evil grin. "I know, and your friends are out to destroy you," she added in an evil tone. "My friends don't like me no more cuz of this medicine I was taking, and I'm doing everything to stop taking this medicine, but it's harder than it looks," said Tommy. "Well," the cloud says as she sends a ball of fire in Tommy's direction, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tommy asked, "Why not," The cloud smile widens, as she gives Tommy an evil glare, and her eyes turn a firey red against that gray face. "Don't stop the medicine, cuz if you do, I'll destroy you." This phrase is repeated several times, as Tommy floats through a worm whole, and suddenly, waking up in his playpen, to find the other babies, staring down at him.
Outside in the backyard, the others are around the sandbox. "See if I ever, speak to Tommy again," said Chuckie. "Wow Chuckie, I didn't realize how strong you were," said Kimmi with amazement. "Yeah, well, if this Gray Plague thing had never happened, we'd all still be having fun right now," added Chuckie in a sad tone. "I was so worried about Tommy, that I didn't think a losted screwdriver would be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, we'd find it when he got home, but Tommy's either sleeping or just, too cranky to deal with, that he's well, no fun anymore. And while I like Zack, it does bother me that he doesn't like the rest of you guys, and I'm the only person he'll play with," Chuckie said with a sigh. "I'd be your best friend," said Kimmi, looking at Chuckie with a smile. "Thanks Kimmi, but you're already my bestest sister, I don't think I can have you be both, even though as of late, you've acted more like Tommy than Tommy has," replied Chuckie. "Hey, what if we got rid of Tommy's medicine all together?" Asked Phil. "What do you mean?" Asked Kimmi. "If we find the bottle, and dump the medicine out somewhere, like down the drain," added Phil. "It would disappear," added Lil in an excited voice. "And Tommy wouldn't have to ever, take that medicine again, turning him back into Tommy," added Chuckie happily. "Then let's head into the kitchen, and find it!" Exclaimed Kimmi, as she got up from the sandbox, and went towards the kitchen door.
Once inside, the babies start searching the kitchen for the medicine. Kimmi spots the big purple bottle on a high cabinet shelf. "That looks just like the stuff Tommy was taking the other day at the park," said Kimmi excitedly. "But it's really high up, luckily, I'm a good climber, but I'll need someone to help me up to the counter," added Kimmi. Chuckie, Phil and Lil all climb on top of each other, and Kimmi climbs on top of them, then on to the counter, and reaches up to the cabinet, where she gets down the medicine. "Now, I just need to open it," she said, as she started playing with the cap of the bottle. It took a little bit, but she finally, got it open, headed to the kitchen sink, and poors the bottle upsidedown, emptying the medicine down the drain.
As she is emptying the medicine bottle, Didi walks in. "Kimmi! No!" Didi shouted as she gets Kimmi off of the counter. But by the time she rescues Kimmi, there's nothing left in the medicine bottle. "That was not a very good thing to do," said Didi. "You could have been hurt!" She added. "And now, Tommy is all out of medicine," Didi sighed. "Now what will we do," she continued as she left the room.
"Yay!" Said Kimmi with a smile. "Now, I bet ya as soon as Tommy wakes up from his nap, he'll be the Tommy we use to know," she added. "Not yet," said Chuckie. "We still have one more thing to do," he added. "What's that?" Asked Lil. "I've got to find his screwdriver in the way downstairs place, and hope I get it to Tommy before he wakes up," added Chuckie. But before they could even make their journey down to the basement, Tommy starts to stir in the other room.
"Have a nice nap Tommy?" Asked Chuckie. Tommy shook his head with a frown. "Well, you can say goodbye to yucky old medicine," said Kimmi with a smile. "She made it disappear!" Added Phil. Tommy grows angry. "No!" He screams. "What do you mean? I thought you wanted to quit that medicine," said Lil. "So come on Tommy," said Chuckie encouragingly as he reaches for Tommy's hands to pull him out of the playpen, "Let's go find that screwdriver," "No!" Tommy yelled again, pulling away from Chuckie. "I never wanna play with you guys again!" He snapped. At that moment, the doorbell rings. Chuckie turns to the other babies. "Guys, I think we only made things worser," he said with a frown.
This concludes chapter 8. So, what will happen next? Will Tommy and Chuckie ever make up and be friends again? Will they ever rescue his screwdriver from the basement? Has the Gray Plague left forever now that Tommy's medicine has been destroyed, or is Tommy, in for an unpleasant surprise. We'll find out, in chapter 9.