The next morning, Becky sped through breakfast (although Bob didn't) so she and Helen could head down to the local butcher shop. Naturally, Martha & Skits accompanied them. As they headed down the street, a girl met up with them
"Hey Helen," said the girl, who had thick glasses, freckles, and blonde hair tied into a small ponytail. She wore a light-green t-shirt with a thick purple stripe around the chest and stripes on the hems of the sleeves, brown shorts and red & white shoes.
"Oh, hey Alice," Helen greeted her.
"Who are your friends?"
"This is Becky Botsford and her monkey Bob. Becky, Bob, this is my friend Alice Boxwood."
"Nice to meet you Becky," Alice said, shaking her hand "and you too Bob; you don't meet too many monkeys in Wagstaff city."
"Are we gonna stand here and admire the monkey, or are we gonna get some meat?" Martha asked impatiently.
"We're on our way to Carl's, Becky needs to go there to get some meat for her dad," Helen explained "wanna come with us?"
"Okay," Alice said "anything to get out of the house. Ronald is being more annoying than usual, if that's possible."
"Ronald is Alice's older brother," Helen explained to the newcomers.
"Man, sometimes I think brothers exist just to torment their sisters, you know?" Alice asked.
"I hear you," Becky replied "my brother TJ can be a real pain sometimes."
"Finally, somebody agrees with me," Alice said. Not long after, the group reached the butcher's shop.
"Oh boy, I wonder what Carl will be giving out today!" Martha said happily, while Skits barked his approval.
"Come on, you'll like Carl," Helen gestured to Becky to follow her in.
"Okay, let's…oh my gosh, what is that?" Becky asked in an emotionless voice, pointing at nothing.
"What? What is it?" Alice asked.
"That thing over there," Becky replied.
"I don't see anything," Helen told her "are you sure that…hey, she's gone!"
In the alley next to the shop, Becky turned to her monkey pal.
"I hated to do that, but we have to nab the Butcher," she told him "so let's do it; Word up!"
Transforming into WordGirl & Captain Huggy Face, the pair of heroes crashed through the door that led into the alley.
"Give up the Butch…er?" WordGirl said, upon noticing that her foe wasn't there.
"Oh, um, hello," Carl said "can I help you with something?"
"Yeah, um, this is gonna sound strange, but there isn't another butcher working here is there?" WordGirl asked "big guy, wears white, misuses words."
"No, I'm the only butcher in the city," Carl replied "who are you anyway?'
"Um…gotta go, bye!" WordGirl said, as she zoomed out of the shop with Huggy in tow. A few moments later, the two, now transformed back into their normal selves, rejoined Helen and the others.
"There you are!" Helen said "where did you go?"
"Oh, I thought I saw a flying saucer," Becky lied "turns out it was just a weather balloon" she added, laughing nervously.
"Well, now that you're back, we can pick up that meat."
"Yeah, you know," Becky began "I just remembered; turns out my dad didn't want me to get meat, he wanted me to 'meet' him later. It's funny, because both words sound the same, right?"
Everyone looked at her, while Bob merely face palmed.
"Yesterday you said going here was 'imperative', and now you're changing your mind?" a suspicious Helen asked.
"I'm sorry, like I said, I mistook one word for another. It could happen to anyone," Becky explained.
"I'm confused are we getting meat or not?" Martha asked.
"I'll take you guys in to get something" Helen told them, as she Alice & the dogs headed inside.
"Whew! That was a close one," Becky said "I just can't believe that the Butcher wasn't here. I mean, it's a butcher's shop, that's where he usually hangs out."
Bob said something in monkey; "you're right Bob, we need to comb this city to find the Butcher before he strikes again. I just wish I knew where to start."
Eventually, Helen & Alice left Carl's and headed home. As they passed by Arfin's Jewelry, they noticed a crowd of people nearby.
"I wonder what's going on," Helen commented.
"A sale maybe?" Alice asked.
The girls snuck over for a closer look, just as a man in white emerged from the store, a large amount of jewelry in his hands.
"Okay, back off all of youse!" he said, "I'm taking these jewels and getting out of here."
"Is that…?" Alice began.
"It's the guy TD was talking about," Helen answered for her "who knew he was right?"
"I guess he had to be correct at least once," Alice pointed out.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go and phone the police, so... be right back," Becky said, before she grabbed Bob and ran off.
"Man, this jewelry store is great," the Butcher commented as he ran off "hardly any security and no snooty clerk guy to talk down to me. I am really liking this place."
"Too bad, because you're leaving right now!" came a familiar voice.
"WordGirl!" the Butcher exclaimed, seeing her and Captain Huggy Face in front of him "how'd you find me?"
"It wasn't hard," WordGirl replied "you shouldn't have mentioned where you were going in that note you left at your old hideout."
"I wanted to make sure I would still get my magazines."
"Well you'll have plenty of time to read magazines… in jail!"
"Guess again, WordGirl. Sausage cyclone!"
Huggy effortlessly ate the barrage of sausages, as the crowd watched on, impressed.
"What is this?" one person asked.
"I think it's a publicity stunt for a new TV show," another commented "although the dialogue is certainly cliched."
"The villain is an interesting touch," said another citizen "and the way he shoots meat from his hands looks so real."
"But are we really supposed to buy a young girl and a monkey as heroes?" said another man "they look pretty inexperienced to me."
"I'll have you know I've been doing this for a while now," WordGirl replied "now please citizens, stand aside and let me handle this."
"See, like I said, clichéd."
"Okay Butcher, you should know that Huggy can eat anything you can throw at us, so why you don't just give up and make it easy on yourself."
"Forget it WordGirl!" Butcher replied "I didn't come all this way to rob this town to let you stopper me."
"I think you mean 'stop' you," WordGirl corrected "and that's exactly what I'm going to do!"
"Hey, what channel is this show going to be on?" someone from the crowd shouted.
"This isn't a show, this is really happening!" WordGirl explained, "now please, let me do my…"
"Hamalanche!"
The distraction from the crowd allowed the Butcher to get the drop on WordGirl, burying her under a pile of ham and allowing him to take his leave.
"I forgot about that move," WordGirl muttered from under the pile of pork.
"Well that was anti-climactic," said another citizen "the bad guy buries the heroine in ham and just gets away?"
"Maybe they're filming the end later," another suggested.
WordGirl finally emerged from the ham pile, only to discover that the Butcher had fled in the confusion.
"Darn it!" she exclaimed, then turned to the crowd "look, I know you think this is all part of a TV show, but it's not; the Butcher is a dangerous criminal who plans to rob your city. But I can assure you that I will capture him before he can cause any more trouble. Now, if you'll excuse me" she added, before zooming off, leaving the crowd murmuring in excitement.
"Wow that was awesome!" Alice exclaimed "a real life superhero in Wagstaff City."
"I don't know, the whole thing seems a little hard to believe," Helen replied. Of course, she didn't want to mention that the heroine seemed oddly familiar…
"That meat looked pretty real," Martha said "maybe Skits and I should test it and see."
"Nice try."
"Hey everybody, did I miss anything?" Becky asked, having transformed back.
"Only the greatest thing ever!" Alice said "a female hero called WordGirl was fighting this butcher guy and she nearly had him, but then he dumped ham on her and got away."
"Wow! I'm sorry I missed that," Becky said in mock excitement "anyway, I couldn't get a hold of the police."
"That's okay, I'm sure they'll catch the guy," Helen said "come on, we'd better get back home."
"I still smell ham," Martha commented as they headed back. Becky sniffed her clothes and realized the scent was coming from her, and she knew what needed to be done.
Later, back the Lorraine house, Becky & Bob emerged from the shower.
"Okay, I think we finally got the ham smell off," she said "now we can concentrate on finding the Butcher. Problem is, there are probably lots of places here he could be holed up in, and I have no way of finding him until he strikes again."
Bob chattered something at her "yes, it was risky exposing myself to the people like that, but I had no choice. Anyway, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem," she added, as they headed down the hall towards Helen's room. When they entered, Becky noticed the redhead standing near her bed, her arms crossed angrily.
"Did you have a good shower, Becky?" Helen asked, before pointing at her "or should I call you…WordGirl!"
Looks like Becky's secret may be in jeopardy; how will she get out of this one? In the next chapter, Becky continues her search for the Butcher, but runs into a little problem when WordGirl becomes the city's newest celebrity.