Chapter 7-Filler Time
Steven crashed into the ground, Jack standing above him. All around the room, the recruits groaned in pain as they struggled to get up. Kim and Dexter watched from above, concerned about what this means for the team. Days have passed and so far, little progress has been made.
"Are you sure this is good for them?", Possible asked.
"Probably not", Dexter bluntly stated, "But it's good for the safety of the world."
Kim chuckled, "Really? I mean, if we keep letting them be knocked the heck out, they could lose confidence in themselves."
"Not necessarily. There's a greater chance that they'll use this experience and, from these brutal beatings, they will work better and fight better", Dexter grinned.
Suddenly, Jake was thrown through the air and slammed into the hidden security camera that the two were looking at, causing the camera to lose its signal.
The two agents were awkwardly silent for a minute before Kim spoke up, "Yep, this is definitely gonna make them superior warriors."
Dexter fumed, "Jack-mule."
"Four-eyes", Kim retorted before grabbing the microphone at the desk, "Alright, breaktime!"
The group walked out of the room, angry and in pain.
"Live. Get whooped. Faint. Repeat", Marco muttered under his breath, a patch of fire on his shoulder.
"I know! This is a load of blarf, man!", Finn agreed, resting his hand on Marco's burning shoulder, a lollipop somehow in his mouth.
Marco glared at the warrior for a few seconds before speaking, "Where did you even get that?!"
"Oh, I got a whole bag of 'em!", Finn smiled, pulling out a bag full of sweets, "Want some?"
"Ooh! Ooh! Can I?", Star whooped before taking some lollipops from the bag.
Finn gasped, "Sweet! You like purple-whatever-flavored lollipops too?!"
The two began to babble on about sweets as Marco continued to stare at the two in anger before walking off.
"There has to be some way that we can beat him!", Dipper argued, "There has to be!"
"You know, do you think heart stickers would work?", Mabel suggested, "I've heard that love is the greatest weapon."
"Can love break a magical katana?", Dipper retorted.
"It can break souls. Is that good enough?"
Dipper sincerely thought about it for a minute before walking off. The group began to diverge, with the members breaking off into different paths, doing their own thing.
…
Star, out of boredom, wandered around the area, searching for something to do, when she heard laughter coming from one of the rooms nearby. Curious, she walked over to hear someone talking behind a slightly open door.
She looked through the crack of the door to see Kim laying on her bed, chatting with someone on her laptop.
"You're seriously telling me that you nearly fell asleep right in the middle of the lab experiment?", Kim giggled.
Star heard a boy's voice respond to her, "Dude, late-night gaming does that to you!"
"And did someone force you to do midnight-gaming?", Kim teased.
The person on the other side of the laptop began to laugh, "Oh no, Drakken! Don't force me to play Blaster Boyz 6 until midnight! NO! You dastardly fiend! HAHAHA!"
Star was surprised to see Kim be so open. The stoic, stern soldier barely smiled but now, she was giggling like mad.
"God, I wish I was there to see this", Kim chuckled, wiping away tears of laughter, "Shocker as it may be, I've missed home. You too, Ron."
"Who wouldn't?", the man, known as Ron apparently, said, "But seriously, do you know if you're coming back anytime soon? Wade's been coming up with so many ways to hide the fact that you're not here. Holograms, clones, robots…"
"Clones?", Kim asked.
"That one didn't exactly work out."
"Look, I'll be back soon. Just have to finish this one mission", the agent explained, an excuse that she has repeated time and time again.
"...Alright, just...be careful, Kim."
"Always am."
"Also, tell that eraser-kid to kiss my butt."
Kim chuckled, "I will tell him that."
She slowly shut off the laptop and laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
She sighed, "You can come out now."
Star gasped, slowly walking in, "How did-?"
"Please, I'm a highly-trained spy. I could hear your footsteps before you even moved your feet."
"REALLY?!"
"Of course not, that's stupid", Kim blatantly spoke.
"Oh", Star blushed, "...So, who was that?"
"That was...someone I care about", Kim glared down at the laptop, "His name is Nunya."
"Nunya?"
"Nunya business", Kim sarcastically stated.
"Ooh, is that French?", Star smiled obliviously.
Kim rolled her eyes, frustrated,"So, what's the sitch? Do you need something?"
"Oh no, no!", Star quickly explained, "No, I was just passing by and I just overheard. I'm..good. See ya."
Before she could leave the room, the agent spoke up from behind her, "You know, I'm not good at stuff like this and I don't expect this to actually work, but...I sort of know what it's like to feel like everything's crashing down on you?"
Star snickered, "I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm saying that I understand what it feels like when...it seems that everything is going wrong and you feel hopeless, but...you do realize that feeling doesn't exactly help you or anyone else, right?"
"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about because that feeling, never felt it! Nope! Everything's fine on my part, bro! I am good!", Star smiled.
"Hmph", Kim shrugged, "Alright then, if that's how you wanna play it. Didn't think that would work anyways."
"Okay then! Bye!", Star quickly said before dashing away.
Kim waited patiently in silence for a few seconds before…
*Knock! Knock!*
She turned her head to see the blonde princess slowly walk back into the room, looking down at the floor. She sat down on the bed next to the agent.
"Buuut, if I were to know someone who felt that way, what would you recommend that they do?", she mumbled.
Kim smirked, "Well, focusing on the actually decent things in life for one? What's your whole thing? Art? Movies? Music?"
"I like fighting things!", Star exclaimed.
"Ooh, sweet", Kim said cautiously, "Well, if you want to, we could train some time. I know some fighting techniques, meditation, you're definitely gonna need that."
"Oh my gosh!", Star smiled, "Marco been trying to teach me about karate! Could you help me with that?!"
"Pfft! That's kid stuff! Of course I can teach you about that!", Kim grinned, the two getting up and walking out of the room.
"Ya' know, a lot of people I talk to mention a guy named Nunya", Star chuckled, "Small world, huh?"
…
Dipper was busy hurriedly writing in his notebook, sweat beading down his forehead. He was taking notes about the other members of his team, trying to figure out what he could do to improve upon himself and his own abilities as a hero.
"LOOK OUT!"
Dipper looked up from his book and shrieked out in fear, "AIIIEEEEE!" He quickly ducked down when a pink shield flew straight at him, crashing into the wall and ricocheting back.
Steven quickly grabbed it and watched it disappear back into his gem. "I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT! I WAS JUST PLAYING AROUND WITH IT AND-!"
"IT'S OKAY! IT'S-It's okay, I'm fine", Dipper slowly caught his breath, "Next time, don't play with giant, glowing shields in the hallways...or anywhere."
"I'm sorry!", Steven apologized. He slowly walked over and saw Dipper's book, interested, "Ooh, what's that?"
"Uh, this journal I'm working on", Dipper chuckled, "It's for my Grunkles Stan & Ford. Bit of a family tradition type thing."
"Grunkle? That like a type of animal on your world?"
"No! Well, unless you count Stan", Dipper explained, "No, they're my great uncles. They're adventuring around the world right now but I'm hopefully gonna see them soon."
"Aw, that's cool!", Steven smiled, "So, what's it about?"
"Uh, magical stuff in our world", Dipper said, "Stuff like monsters, sorcerers, the many mysterious things in my world."
Steven nodded in approval, "Hm, stuff like that isn't really a mystery or a secret in my place. It's kind of...okay not normal but not really that out of place."
"Man, I wish that was what my world was like", Dipper admitted, "Back at home, I can only talk to my sister about stuff like this. We can't talk to anyone else about it except for my grunkles and some friends in Oregon. The only thing I can really do is write in my book and wallow in self-pity."
The teen chuckled awkwardly as Steven smiled a little, "I know what that's like. My friends don't really understand any of my adventures and my dad doesn't really know that much. The only ones who get me are the other gems and even then, there are so many...secrets."
Dipper looked up, surprised by how relatable this hybrid was becoming, "Heh, your family keeps things from you too? Yeah, it sucked when they used to do that to me."
"Really?", Steven raised his eyebrows in surprise, "But, how did you get them to stop and trust you?"
Dipper thought to himself for a minute, "I guess proving myself really did it, showing to them that my sister and I could handle this stuff...Plus, sneaking into their basement and finding out on my own really helped."
"Those two things seem like opposites."
Dipper shrugged, "Details, details."
Steven chuckled before walking off. Before he could exit, Dipper called out to him, "Um, hey, could I ask you some questions about your world. For the book?"
Steven smiled, "Sure! No prob!"
…
Marco smiled, entering the Practice Room with his karate clothes and some nunchucks. His smile dropped the second he saw the warrior in the middle of the room.
"Hi-yah! YAH! HEE-YAH!", Finn grunted as he swung his sword around, pretending to be in the middle of a duel. He flipped around energetically, sometimes even leaving slash marks on the gym floor.
Marco rolled his eyes, walking past the warrior. After changing in the locker room at the farthest end of the room, he walked towards the center of the room. He began to do some some flips and kicks, practicing his moves to prepare for any fights in the future.
Finn looked up from his swords and raised his eyebrows, interested in what he saw. He smiled, walking over to the young boy and watching him move. Smiling, he began to imitate the boy, flipping around and pretending to do karate.
Marco noticed the boy and glared, thinking that the boy from Ooo was mocking him, "Do you need something right now?!"
Finn looked up, "Hm? Oh no, I just wanted to try this out. What do you call it? Karate?"
"Yes, karate."
"Yeah, it looks awesome and I feel like I'm not that good of a fighter."
"Really, you of all people aren't a good fighter? The blonde, buff guy with the golden, gleaming sword?"
"I mean, hand to hand, I'm not the best. I've got Jake but he's not always gonna be there. Gotta be the best, know what I mean?"
Marco looked incredibly frustrated, "...Yep. Definitely. Now, would you please walk away?"
"Okay", Finn shrugged, beginning to walk away before turning around, "Oh, by the way, question. Your friend, Star."
Marco immediately cringed up but continued to practice his moves using his chucks.
"Um, I was wondering. You know, she seems really nice and I think she's really cool. Uh, I was wondering if, you know, if we actually beat the bad guy's butt..if we could hang ou-"
Suddenly, Finn was hit in the face by one of Marco's nunchucks, some blood dripping down his nose. Marco quickly looked up and feigned surprise and regret.
"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry! Are you okay?", Marco said.
"AAARGH!", Finn screamed, his voice being muffled by his hands covering his nose, "I WITEWAYEY CAN SMEW ANYFIN!"
Marco raised his eyebrow, "What?"
Finn removed his hands from his mouth, "I literally can't smell anything!"
"Oh wow, that su-"
"THAT IS AWESOME!", Finn suddenly yelled, fists in the air, "Dude, do you have any idea how powerful that hit was! I can't believe it! You should be proud of yourself, man!"
Marco stared at the warrior in disbelief, "Okay...Thanks...If you'll excuse me, I need to go mentally snap." He walked to the other end of the room while Finn simply stood there smiling.
"That was impressive."
Finn turned around to see Jack nodding in approval, "Oh thanks, man. You been here the whole time?"
Jack nodded, "I must say, your tolerance to pain is admirable. However, your swordsmanship could be improved."
Finn frowned, "Oh, um, really?"
"Your fighting is too unpolished, unrefined. You swing randomly rather than have a specific plan of action."
"Well, I can't exactly come up with a plan in the middle of a brawl, bro", Finn explained.
"Quick thinking is one of the most necessary things to have if you are to be a swordsman."
Out of nowhere, Jack suddenly whipped out his katana and swung around everywhere, nearly taking off Finn's head and knocking him off of his feet.
"And concentration as well", Jack joked, slowly walking away.
Marco watched the entire fight with surprise, interested in how quickly the samurai was able to knock the warrior down. He ran over to Jack. Finn quickly caught his breath and jumped to his feet, running towards the samurai as well.
The two boys spoke up at the same time, "Hey, are you busy!"
They looked at each other in surprise before Finn began to speak, "Um, Jack, if you weren't busy.."
"Could you teach us about martial arts?", Marco said.
"AND SWORD-FIGHTING!", Finn added.
Jack looked between the two, surprised to see that they were actually interested in his abilities. He thought to himself, realizing how much he could do for the two and how this could help Dexter and the rest of the team.
"Alright, I shall teach-"
"GREAT!", Finn jumped up, hugging the man. Marco face-palmed in complete embarrassment.
…
Dexter was busy typing away at his computer when he heard someone knocking at his lab door.
"Just gonna ignore that."
"Ignore what?"
Dexter shrieked in a high-pitched voice as he turned around to see Mabel grinning happily.
"OH NO! NO NO NO! GET OUT! I'M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!"
"Doing what?", Mabel asked, "Being adorable and perfect?"
"NO! BEING AN INCREDIBLY ANNOYING PEST!", Dexter screamed, "I ALREADY DEALT WITH THIS BACK AT HOME AND I'M NOT DEALING WITH THIS HERE! MY ONE PLACE OF ESCAPE!"
He grabbed Mabel by the scruff of her sweater and walked over to the exit. He threw her out of the room before turning around...only to see her right behind him.
"AAAH! HOW?!", Dexter shouted.
"You know, if I might make a suggestion, maybe you should stop being a grumpy grump and be more a fun-py fump! You ever consider getting a pig? That usually helps!"
Dexter growled,"I ALREADY HAD A MONKEY AND THAT DID NOT EXACTLY HE-WHAT THE HECK AM I TALKING TO YOU FOR?!"
He once again tried to grab her, only for the girl to run around the room chaotically. He dashed after her in anger, knocking over some chemicals and causing papers to fly around. The girl quickly pulled out her grappling hook, launching it at the scientist, who ducked. Dexter looked up laughing before the harpoon grappled onto a set of chemicals and reeling back, the hook and the set of chemicals crashing into the back of Dexter's head.
He fell down to the ground in pain, Mabel snortling with laughter, "Oh my gosh! I need to do that more!"
"GAAAAAHH!", Dexter screamed as the chemicals suddenly caused a fire to spark onto his hair. He ran around in fear, chasing Mabel out of the room, who was still laughing.
While the two were running around, the two boy geniuses and the dog slowly snuck into the lab before the doors shut up.
"Okay, let's do this thang, bros!", Jake smiled, running over to the computer, which thankfully wasn't shut off.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?", Phineas asked worriedly, "I mean, we don't even know exactly what we're looking for!"
"Hey, I think we can all agree that four-eyes over there has been pretty shifty recently. If we're gonna find out who stole that tele-whatever, we need to see the evidence for ourselves, right?"
The two brothers looked at one another. They never intentionally try to sabotage someone else's work. It always felt wrong to them. However, they felt since the beginning that something was up and they needed to know what was going on.
"Jake, look over the evidence. See if you can get a scent or find anything you can recognize. Ferb, check over the papers, see if there's anything that can help us. I'll look over the chemicals he's been tinkering with."
The two went to their duties, as Jake began sniffing around the room for a familiar scent and Ferb began looking over the documents on Dexter's table. Phineas looked over the scientist's pieces of evidence, which was laid down on the table on the side of the room. On it included pieces of shrapnel, glass, and other interesting objects.
One of those objects was an odd-looking sphere, portal energy sparking off it. It didn't look like the other portals, looking more rusted and dented.
Interested, Phineas took a closer look, hoping to find anything. It looked familiar, almost like the pieces of junk from their own garage.
"Jake, didn't Dexter say that the portal stolen was a proto-type of the portals?"
"Uh, honestly, all I heard was science science science blah-blah-blah."
Phineas thought to himself, trying to put the pieces together on this, "The guy who broke in wanted one of these, right? So, why did they not bother to take this-?"
Suddenly, right when Phineas tapped the object, he was blown back by an insane burst of energy. Luckily, Jake quickly shapeshifted his hand into a giant baseball mitt, catching Phineas.
Ferb quickly ran over to his brother, helping him up.
"I'm fine", Phineas grunted, wincing once he noticed a small cut on his hand. He looked down at his hand and looked back at the device, interesting him.
"Jake, can you shrink?"
…
The miniscule Jake slowly stretched down into the device, strands of pure energy rippling across his body, "Uhh, what exactly am I looking for?!"
Phineas and Ferb stared down at the small object, holding onto the other end of the dog.
"Okay, look to see if there's any DNA, like spit, blood, anything!", Phineas shouted.
Jake looked around, only seeing pure light shining into his face. He squinted his eyes and noticed something in the corner of one of the edges. A speck of green liquid, incredibly small from a normal point of view.
"Hey. HEY, I SEE SOMETHING!", Jake shouted out, "SOME GREEN GUNK!"
"Perfect! Try to scoop it up somehow!", Phineas responded.
After a few minutes, the door suddenly unlocked, Dexter marched back to his lab, the fire extinguished. He turned around and yelled, "AND STAY OUT OF MY ROOM!"
He quickly locked the door to his lab, resting his head on the door in frustration.
"Just like the old days...God help me."
He heard a creak and turned around to see the boys messing around with his equipment.
"Oh, hey, Dexter!", Phineas casually said.
Dexter's face contorted into one of pure rage, "WHAT IN THE DEVIL'S DISGUSTING ARM-PITS ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"Oh, we're just looking around the evidence to see where the thief came from", Phineas quickly explained, unable to lie about this.
"GET AWAY FROM THERE, YOU DORITO-HEADED-!"
Suddenly, Jake was pulled out of the sphere, quickly regaining his normal size.
"Okay, I've got the junk right-AAAIIEEE! OH, hey, Dex! Uh, we were just mopping around the place. Nothin' but simple cleaning and doo!", Jake quickly lied.
"ARE YOU REALLY TRYING TO LIE TO A MAN WITH FIVE PHDS?!", Dexter screamed before silently whispering, "or will, maybe, I don't know."
Phineas looked over at Jake, "Do you have the sample?"
Jake's pinky finger quickly morphed into a syringe, which Phineas guided to the nearest microscope and slowly placed the small speck of DNA on it.
"GET AWAY FROM-!" The agent was interrupted by Ferb, who quickly placed his hand over Dexter's chest to silence him.
"Hey, Dexter, could you look at this please?", Phineas asked.
Disgruntled, Dexter pushed past the others, looking over the microscope. After a few seconds of mumbling, he finally spoke, "Mr. The Dog. Mr. Fletcher. May you please leave the room for now."
"Done!", Jake shouted, desperately wanting to escape the agent's glare. He quickly lassoed his arm around the green-haired boy and ran out of the lab.
Dexter frowned, "...Mr. Flynn, could you please look over this while I check my computer?"
"Sure!"
The scientist walked to his desk, pulling up a catalog full of different blood samples from sentient species from across the multiverse, "Mr. Flynn, could yooou...Ahem. Sorry, I've never actually said this...could you..erm... advise me as to which of these species this sample could be from?"
Phineas smiled, "Well, I'm guessing you've already limited to the more higher-progressing species?"
"Of course I did that."
He had not done that.
...
Jake dragged Ferb right into the cafeteria, sweating in fear, "DUDE, DID YOU SEE THE WAY THAT HE WAS LOOKING AT US?!"
Ferb shrugged.
"I MEAN, IT'S HARD ENOUGH WORKING WITH HIM ON HIS GOOD SIDE (if that's what he calls it) BUT BEING ON HIS BAD SIDE-HOO BOY! Let's just hope he doesn't stay pissed."
Ferb nodded silently. The two awkwardly stared at one another before Jake broke the silence, "You...You can talk right, broski?"
"Well, obviously", Ferb suddenly said in a thick accent.
"Ooh! I didn't know he was British!"
The two looked around in fear. Jake screamed, "OH MY GLOB, GHOSTS!"
"OH MY GLOB, I'M A GHOST?!"
The two looked up to see Mabel duct-taped to the wall, looking down at them.
"How did you even get up there?!", Jake shouted upwards, stretching his neck up to her.
"Oh, remember how I was trying to get Dexter out of the lab?"
"He did that to you, bro?!"
"Yep! But jokes on him! This is awesome! Look what I can do!"
The girl slowly spit out a strand of spit, watching it sink down near the ground and quickly be sucked back into her mouth.
Jake chuckled, "Heh, heh, bet I can do it farther than you!"
"I bet you can't! The blood running into my head says so!"
"Okay, we should probably get you down", Jake said, quickly unwrapping the girl and shrinking downwards to the ground.
"Okay, so did the plan work?", Mabel asked.
"Oh yeah it did! Yep! Sort of. Maybe. Uhm, kind of", Jake admitted, "Ferb, do you think it worked...Ferb?"
Ferb didn't respond, as he was busy staring at Mabel. Lionel Richie's "Hello" played once again in the background as Ferb stared intently on the cute, still-drooling, braced face of Mabel.
"Ferb?", Jake shouted again, snapping his fingers.
The boy snapped out of his trance and nodded intently.
"See? It worked!", Jake smiled.
"Great!", Mabel smiled, "Now we can finally do something here! Come on!"
The two walked out of the room, leaving Ferb there.
Who, in one of few instances, allowed a wide, goofy smile to cross his face.
…
Dexter watched as Phineas quickly tapped at the computer, trying to pinpoint what creature the blood belonged to.
"Incredible", Dexter mused, "The speed. The energy. How is it possible?"
"Eh, it's a gift, I guess", Phineas shrugged, "Solving problems and other stuff like this has kinda' been my thing. Well, OUR thing, can't forget Ferb."
"Right", Dexter said, looking down at the ground absent-mindedly, "So, your brother...he helps you with stuff like this."
"All the time."
"He never ruins your projects? Makes them harder for you? Bugs you?"
"Of course not! Why would he?"
Dexter snickered, "Guess only my family does that."
"Oh, you have a brother?", Phineas asked, interested.
"Sister, actually. Older...Well, physically older anyways", Dexter smiled, thinking deeply.
"Oh, wow, that's nice! Where is she?"
Dexter's smile fell quickly, "Honestly, I don't know. Back at home? High School? College? No idea and frankly, I'm not interested."
This caught Phineas's attention, as he swiveled his chair to face the scientist, "Why not? She's your family."
"Yes, well, unlike you, I see family for what they can be", Dexter replied, "A burden. Now, please continue."
Phineas frowned, slowly turning around to face the screen. As he typed, thoughts ran through his mind. How could someone's family, their own kin, be a burden? I mean, Ferb has always got his back and helped him out. How could he ever think that of him?
…
On the overhead, the recruits all heard static as Dexter called out to them, "All recruits, report at once to my lab."
Dipper and Steven looked up from their journal to listen to the announcement.
"What do you think's goin' on?", Steven asked.
"Probably more butt-whoopings, knowing him", Dipper sarcastically figured, "Let's go."
As the two were walking down the hallways, they ran into the others in the hallway. Jake grew in size, lifting Ferb and Mabel on his back.
Mabel giggled, "Dip-stick, you gotta get in on this!"
"Uh, yeah, I'd rather not have lice on my jacket, thank you", Dipper pointed out.
Finn, smiling like a little child, quickly jumped onto Jake's back.
Finn smiled, "Yo, Jake! Oh my glob, you won't believe what I'm learning right now!"
"What, bro?", the dog asked.
"You ever hear of kay-rate-ay?", Finn smiled confidently.
Marco rolled his eyes, "Karate, dude."
"Oh, sweet, you're learning karate, Finn?", Star asked, appearing from behind. Marco turned around and jumped upon seeing the bruise on her eye.
"JEEZ, Star! What happened?!", Marco yelped.
"Oh, Miss Possible's been teaching me martial arts, too!", the princess explained.
Finn looked over and smiled, "You too? Sweet! We can learn together about this!"
"Oh my gosh! That'd be awesome!", Star squeed, quietly healing her bruise with her wand. Marco, meanwhile, frowned but continued walking. Jack watched the conversation attentively, wondering if there was something going on behind Star and Marco.
The entire team entered the lab and saw Dexter and Phineas waiting for them.
"Why'd you call us here, Dexter", Kim asked, "This better be worth it."
"Trust me, it is", Dexter smirked, "For a while now, we have been searching for the whereabouts of this creature who has stolen one of the most powerful objects in the universe. We have been doing our best to prepare for the creature coming for us and what his or her plans are. Now, the thing is...we don't know what species stole the portal…"
The recruits looked at one another, wondering what the heck was even the point of showing up.
Kim smiled arrogantly, clasping her hands and speaking in a false happy tone, "Well, guys, this was pointless!" The recruits were all about to walk back when Dexter suddenly spoke, giving a confident grin.
"..But we do know where it is."
I am sorry that this took too long to write, but I was in a bit of a writer's block. But don't worry, I'm back now with my lack of talent at writing! =)
So, yeah, Marco is getting a bit jealous of Finn. Not for the reason you think!
Also, I feel like Ferb/Mabel is the weirdest idea I've ever created...and I'm proud of it.
Hope you liked this chapter and please review!