For the rest of the morning that day, Mordecai and Rigby followed RJ around as he gave them a tour of TUFF Headquarters. Both of them were astounded by all the different rooms and areas to visit, and how vast the building was. They were so happy RJ was giving them a tour, or they probably would have gotten lost that day. RJ said that the longer they worked there, the easier they would find it to find their way around.
They explored the laboratories, where RJ, Keswick, and the dozens of other scientists did their many studies, testing, inventing, and experiments. They walked passed such machines as treadmills, beakers, bunsen burners, incinerators, gravity lifts, laser blasters, portal guns, a room behind a glass wall where blinding explosions took place. The whole place looked terrifyingly dangerous, and still fun. Mordecai and Rigby had never seen so many interesting gizmos and toys in one place.
Later came the archives room, which seemed like a library in so many ways. Filing cabinets reached up three stories. Each one was suppose to contain information regarding countries, criminals, agents, other agencies, historical archives, and so much more. This was one of the more boring places to visit to Mordecai and Rigby, but RJ said that if they ever needed information on anything, to come here and the librarians would be more than happy to help. RJ even took the time to introduce them to Agent Jumbo, the elephant who had been a librarian agent for five years, who was particularly sweet.
After that came the secret weapons room, which was just as cool, if not cooler, than the laboratory. There were so many cool gadgets to play with, but RJ hurried the boys along before they could get their hands on anything.
After that was the gym, which also had a pool and karate dojo. There were many weightlifting machines that the boys were interested to check out later. In the same wing they came across the shooting range where TUFF agents went to practice and hone their skills with blasters and firearms.
In the lower floors was TUFF's personal jailhouse, where TUFF held criminals for interrogation and such things. They only had about ten cells total, since Petropolis Prison was really meant for holding most criminals. There was also a room with a one-way window that was used for such interrogation sessions.
At one point, they visited the office of Dr. Soren Hornbeak, the TUFF psychologist, and a leading medical operative. Dr. Hornbeak was a kindly old owl with thick glasses, who offered the boys a seat and some tea as they entered and exchanged introductions. His room looked rather comfy and homey. While most of the rest of the building was blue, this room was white with a dark green carpet. He had a desk with a desktop computer, and four black leather armchairs surrounding a coffee table in the center. There were also a couple paintings on the walls. Hornbeak told the boys that if there was ever something they needed to talk about, he was a friend to all TUFF agents. They could come and see him anytime and talk to him about anything, and he would try to help them any way he could.
They also met Percy Pica, RJ's intern. Percy was a really nice guy, and a bright one at that. After a chat, Mordecai and Rigby found out that he was majoring in Anatomy at Petropolis State University. He was about to start his third year, and was later planning on attending Petropolis Medical School and becoming a doctor. As 21-year-olds, the three of them naturally had some laughs and became friends quickly. Mordecai and Rigby noted that they would have to take Percy out to hang out with them some time. RJ got a little worried at that thought, thinking his little cousin would corrupt his young intern.
After that came another of their favorites: The snack room. It seemed like the typical break room one would find in an office building. On one counter was a coffee maker and a toaster, and a mini-refrigerator. There was also a large vending machines with dozens of inconveniently unlabeled buttons. RJ remembered a few of them, but Mordecai and Rigby could tell it would take them time to figure everything out.
At last, their tour ended at the main office room, where dozens of cubicles lined the room, a TUFF agent working hard at each at their computers or files. Mordecai was carrying a bin of documents and folders that RJ said they should keep around. RJ showed Mordecai and Rigby to one nearly empty cubicle, with nothing but a desk, desktop computer, an empty filing cabinet and waste basket under the desk, and an armless office chair.
"Okay, guys," RJ spoke up. "This was Agent Fleece's cubicle before she passed. This is where you'll be working. Oh don't worry, we cleaned out all of her wool sheddings, heh." The three smiled at that last little joke. "Now, uh, there's nothing really going on today, it's kinda a quiet day, so you can just use this time to get settled in, maybe get to know some more agents here. Maybe you wanna go practice with some of the weapons and gadgets we got, ya know?"
"Alright, sounds good," Mordecai replied as he gently set down the box on the desk.
"If you guys need me," RJ continued, "you can come see me down in my lab, or you can find Chief Dumbrowski in his office over there." RJ pointed over the cubicles to the other side of the room, where there was a set of blue wooden doors. "Now, the Chief's a really nice, understanding guy, but I wouldn't bother him unless it was an emergency. Actually if you go around meeting the other TUFFies, try not to bother anyone who looks busy, and don't make a lot of noise."
"Alright then, cool," Rigby spoke up, hopping into the chair and swirling around in it. "Sounds like we're all good here."
"Alright, good. I'll see you guys later." RJ turned to head back toward the elevator back to the lab. After a second though, he turned back to the duo.
"Oh, one last thing," he stuttered, "Mordecai, I heard you beat most of Snaptrap's monsters with a lead pipe yesterday, right?"
"Well, yeah," Mordecai answered.
"You should have seen him," Rigby smirked, "he kicked ass back there with that pipe."
"Well then, I have a little present for you." RJ reached into his coat, and pulled out a long rod, about the length of Mordecai's arm, wrapped in colorful wrapping paper. "Consider it my welcoming gift."
Mordecai took the wrapped rod, which seemed hard and heavy, and tore the wrapping off, revealing a metal baseball bat. The handle was wrapped in black rubber for grip, while the actual club part was just plain grey metal.
"Wow, thanks RJ," Mordecai smiled.
"I figured this would be a good weapon for you to use next time you get into a fight."
Mordecai held the bat at the ready, and did a few practice swings. One swing almost hit the cubicle wall.
"Woah, there cowboy," RJ raised his voice, "Easy. If you wanna practice with it, go to the dojo in the gym."
"Oh, right sorry. Thanks," Mordecai chuckled awkwardly. He put the bat down, propped up in the corner under the desk. He also picked up the wrapping paper he dropped on the floor, and slipped it into the waste basket.
"Hey, where's my welcoming gift?" Rigby whined as he hopped down from the chair.
"Uh, sorry Rigby." RJ scratched the back of his head. "I couldn't really think of anything good to get for you. How about for now, let's just say I owe you something? If something comes up, and you think of something you want, let me know."
"Oh, okay," Rigby looked down at the floor, plainly disappointed.
"Alright. I'm going to go get back to work," RJ continued. "I'll see you guys later. Oh, and again, congratz on getting the job here." And with that, RJ turned and headed toward the elevator.
Rigby still looked pretty bummed out that RJ had not gotten him anything.
"Aw, cheer up, dude," Mordecai smiled. "You'll think of something to ask RJ for." He took a seat in the chair. "Wow! I can't believe we're working at a place like this!"
"Yeah, its pretty cool here." Rigby's smile returned. "So, what are we going to do first, since there's nothing really we're suppose to do."
"Well, I guess we should go over these files here and get our desk set up and organized, ya know?" Mordecai reached into the box and took out some folders.
"What?" Rigby exclaimed angrily, "Aw come on! The first thing we're going to do on the job is paperwork?"
"SHH!" Mordecai snapped. "Keep your voice down! We don't wanna disturb anyone, remember?"
Rigby continued in a more hushed tone, though he was still pretty pissed. "How come we gotta do paperwork today? It's so boring!"
"Look, I don't know how secure our job is here, but we're probably walking a line a lot thinner than at the park. If we wanna keep working here, we gotta take our responsibilities a little more seriously. And this is the first step to it."
"Fine."
In his mind, Mordecai actually knew how boring this was going to be. After a second, he thought of something that would cheer both himself and Rigby up. "Tell ya what. Let's just look over these files, organize them into the cabinet here, then maybe go to the firing range to practice our guns, and then we'll go check out some of the weapons in the weapons room. How 'bout that?"
Rigby smiled again. Clearly he was imagining how fun those last two things would be. "Sounds good to me. Okay. Let's do this."
About an hour later, just a few cubicles down, Kitty was sitting at her desk, doing a little computer work, when Dudley walked up behind her.
"Hey, Kitty," He said happily, getting her attention. "I'm gonna say hi to the new guys. Wanna come?"
"Sure. I have a few minutes," Kitty smiled and stood up. Together, they walked over to Mordecai and Rigby's cubicle.
"I was thinking, how about we bring them a glass of water too?"
"That's a good idea, as long as it's from the pitcher, not the toilet."
"Aw, come on, will you ever let that go? I did that just one time!"
The latter duo had read through an easy-made guide about the basics of being a TUFF agent, though not really memorizing it, and put it neatly into their filing cabinet. Now they were reading through a folder about certain crime scene regulations. After that they planned on reading the file on foreign policies.
At the end of the the readings, they had a basic information application that they needed to submit to the membership office by the end of the day. After that, they were free to go and play around with the weapons.
They had taken all of the documents out of the box, and stacked them up on the desk to look at before putting into the cabinet. It also included a wall calender, with a theme of flowers, which the duo had hung up on the wall. The picture for August was that of a wide field of poppies under a bright blue sky.
Rigby had gotten an idea for the empty box. It was large enough to hold him lying down, so he put it under the desk to use as a bed for whenever he wanted to take a nap. He stood beside the chair, half-listening to Mordecai read the fine print out loud.
They soon heard footsteps coming toward them, and heard a man's voice.
"Hey, how's it going?" the voice said. The two spun around to face a short beagle in a black t-shirt, and a tall cat in a black coat, or some kind of suit. They both had a glass of water in each hand.
"Hey," Mordecai smiled.
"Hey," Rigby repeated. "Things are going okay."
"I'm Dudley," said the dog.
"I'm Agent Kitty Katswell," said the cat.
"I'm Mordecai," Mordecai answered as he stood up, "and this is Rigby."
"I can introduce myself, dude," Rigby muttered.
"Care for a cool drink?" Dudley handed out the two glasses to Mordecai and Rigby, who both took it and sipped. Dudley took on of Kitty's next to sip. The water was cool and tasty.
"Mm, thanks," Rigby smiled after he swallowed.
"Just wanted to welcome you to TUFF," Kitty continued.
"Thanks, we sure feel welcome now," Mordecai chuckled, "so, how long have you guys been working here?"
"I've been working for TUFF for at few years now," Kitty answered, "I haven't really been keeping track that much. Dudley here started here early this summer."
"Yep, and now we're a totally awesome team!" Dudley exclaimed. "We're one of TUFF's best teams here! I'm tellin' ya, this place rocks! You guys are gonna love working here!" Dudley said his last sentence in a sly tone, "I know I do!"
"Oh, sure, we'll love working here," Rigby replied, sarcastically, "if in the next ten minutes, we fall in love with paper work!"
"Ha!" Kitty giggled, "your cousin said you had a great sense of humor, Rigby."
"You guys know RJ?"
"Of course we do! We know almost everyone who works here. Well, I do. I think Dudley still has a few people to memorize."
"Yeah, I still don't have everyone down flat yet," Dudley added, "But I got most people here. But anyway, yeah, RJ's a great guy!"
"He sure is," Mordecai said. "I'm so happy he got us in here."
"Yeah. I'm glad I have him for a cousin," Rigby smiled.
Kitty took another sip of her water. "So, where are you guys from?"
"Well, umm, we didn't come that far," Mordecai answered. "We live in the Recx, just the next borough over."
"Woah! The Recx!" Dudley repeated, "that's a long way! It's like an hour-long drive from here to there, isn't it?"
"Yep. But I'd say it was worth it," Rigby answered slyly.
"You guys ever been down here before?" Dudley asked.
"No. Not really. I don't think so."
"Where did you guys work before this, if you don't mind me asking?" Kitty asked.
"We were groundskeepers at the Recx Park," Mordecai answered.
"Woah! How did you guys get from groundskeepers to secret agents? What did Keswick see in you guys that made him think you were experienced enough?"
"Well, in the park, we went on a bunch of crazy adventures, and fought things you wouldn't even believe if we told you," Rigby answered, in a hushed, threatening voice, trying to make it sound dramatic. "We've fought monsters on the moon, video game demons, computerized librarians, wizards, gangster unicorns, wereskunks, the list goes on!"
"And we stopped Snaptrap yesterday from unleashing a cheese monster army!" Mordecai cheered.
"Woah! You guys went up against Snaptrap on your first mission too?" Dudley exclaimed. "So did I!"
"OOOOOHHHH MAAN! Waoowah!" Rigby cheered.
"Yep! Kitty and I have been fighting Snaptrap since I got here. He's one of the most persistent bag guys out there!"
"Well, if he knows what's good for him, he better not pop his ugly rat head out again, or TUFF will be on his tail!" Mordecai smirked.
"Wow, I like these guys already," Dudley said to Kitty.
"And we like you guys already!" said Mordecai. "You guys are awesome. I think we're gonna get along great."
"You know what I think I like most about you guys?" Dudley added. "Is that you guys don't wear clothes at all. I mean look at me, I don't wear pants, but you guys go all the way! You guys are so cool!"
"Heh, my brother Don thought the same thing," Rigby chuckled.
"That's right, 'cause clothes suck!" Mordecai cheered.
"Yeah! No pants!" Dudley yelled.
In a fit of glee, the three of them started dancing together and cheering "No Pants! No Pants! No Pants!"
Their cheering was interrupted when a few animal agents poked their heads out from the neighboring cubicles and shushed them.
"What? Aw, come on!" Rigby grunted. "What is with this rule about keeping quiet? What is this place? A freakin' library?"
"I know. It bugs me too sometimes," Dudley rolled his eyes.
Kitty had been watching the whole show, with a look of astonishment, and later one of exhaustion. Oh, great, she thought, another couple of screwballs. They'll let anyone be a secret agent these days. Well, I'm sure I'll get use to them eventually. I got use to Dudley, after all.
"Okay. I think I better get back to work," Kitty said out loud. "It was nice meeting you guys." She turned to head back to her cubicle.
"Okay, see ya later," Mordecai waved after her.
"Nice meeting you too," Rigby added.
When she was gone, Dudley spoke up again. "So, you guys are living in the Recx still? Kind of a long route to take every day."
"We got kicked out of our boss's house when we got fired from our old jobs," Rigby answered. "Now we're living with our friend Margaret until we earn enough money to get our own place somewhere."
"You know what? How about this: You guys can come live with me and my mom until you get your own place. We live only like fifteen minutes from here."
"Dude, you still live with your mom?"
"I make enough to move out if I wanted to. I just can't really take care of myself without her."
"Wow, thanks for the offer Dudley," Mordecai said. "Sure. It would be nice if we could come live with you where it's closer. But... um... would your mom be okay with that?"
"Oh, sure! Don't worry about it!" Dudley said confidently. "She's always nice to my friends and coworkers. Or she warms up to them eventually if she doesn't like them at first. But don't worry about it. I'll talk to her about it later."
"Alright, thanks." Mordecai grabbed a pen and a little sticky-note from the small stack that was in the box, and jotted down Margaret's address on it before handing it to Dudley. "Here's Margaret's address. Would you mind picking us up after work today so we can get our stuff from there?"
"Sure. I'll be over at, um, how about... six-thirty?"
"Alright. We'll see ya then," Rigby smiled.
"Later!" And with that, Dudley turned and walked back to his cubicle. When he was gone, Mordecai and Rigby sat down and turned back to the paper work.
"Wow, nice guys," Rigby smiled. "First day on the job and we've already made some new friends!"
"Yeah. And it was cool of Dudley to offer to let us stay with him. Now we have a shorter route to work, and we don't have to keep mooching off of Margaret."
"Heh. I knew she had something to do with that," Rigby smirked.
The two turned back to work. The got done with all the simple paper work in another hour. After that, they took a lunch break, and then finally got some time in the shooting range to practice with their blasters before quitting time at five.
Later that evening, Mordecai and Rigby were getting their stuff back together in Margaret's apartment. She was standing around with them. They had about five minutes before Dudley came and picked them up.
"I know I said this last night, but I'm so proud of you guys," Margaret said.
"Yeah, we get it," Rigby grunted, earning a light punch in the arm from Mordecai to shut up.
"I have to say I'm pretty impressed too. I mean, you got fired and kicked out of your home with like only ten dollars to spare, and just like that, you guys picked yourselves up and got back on your feet!"
"Well, you were the one who said that when we put our minds to things and work together, we can do just about anything!" Mordecai answered. They all smiled at that for a moment before Mordecai spoke up again. "Hey, again, thanks for letting us stay here. We really appreciate it."
"No problem."
Just then, Mordecai remembered something. He reached into his pocket and took out their key to Margaret's apartment. He held it out to her and said "Here. I don't think we'll be needing this anymore."
"Oh, right okay." Margaret reached over and took the key back, then slipped it into her pocket. "Hey, I know it's going to be a harder commute now, but you guys will still come on up every now and then and see me and Eileen at the coffee shop, right?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Rigby exclaimed.
"Alright good."
That was when there was a knock at the door.
"That's gotta be Dudley," Rigby whispered.
Margaret walked up to the door and opened it. Sure enough, Dudley was there.
"Hey," She smiled at him. "You must be Dudley.
"Yep. And you must be Margaret."
"Yeah. That's me."
Dudley looked over her shoulder to Mordecai and Rigby. "You guys ready to go?"
"Yep!" Mordecai answered. They bags were all packed up. They walked over passed Margaret, and left through the doorway. Before they left, though, Margaret stopped Mordecai for a second.
"Hey, good luck out there!" she whispered, "and be careful." Before Mordecai could say anything else, the robin wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him into a gentle hug.
Mordecai stood there stupidly for a moment. He managed to snap back to reality for a brief second to hug her back. The hug lasted only about two seconds, but it seemed to go a lot longer than that for Mordecai.
At last she pulled away from him. "Okay, see ya." She smiled and waved good bye.
"Okay, thanks. You too. See ya." Mordecai, still in a daze, managed to turn and walk down the hallway after Rigby and Dudley. Once they were some ways down the hall, Margaret went back inside and shut the door.
"OOOOOHHHH! SSSCOOOOORRRRRRREE!" Rigby cheered.
"What a nice chick," Dudley said with a smile.
"Wow! She hugged me!" Mordecai huffed.
"-And she told you to be careful!" Rigby added. "She's worried about you. She is so digging on you!"
"Come on, dude. It was just one hug and a few words. I don't think she'll ever notice me as more than just a friend."
"Sure she will! She's clearly warming up to you more."
"I'm telling you; next time we see her, she'll have a new boyfriend."
"You know what, whatever, let's forget about it."
They made it out of the apartment building, out to Dudley's car, which was parked lengthwise against the sidewalk.
"Check out my ride, guys," Dudley whispered smoothly. He walked over to the slick-looking white convertible. "The TUFF mobile. Drives as fast as a race car, has a huge array of weapons, transforms into several different other vehicles, and can connect to every known radio station in the area!"
"Woah, you're allowed to drive this thing around off duty?" Mordecai asked.
"Yep! Got a permit for it! It's practically mine, except I don't have to pay the car loan or insurance; TUFF takes care of that!"
"Dude, that's awesome!"
"I know, right. Now hop in, and I'll show ya what this thing can do!"
After Mordecai and Rigby tossed their bags into the trunk, the trio hopped in to the car. Dudley at the wheel, and Mordecai and Rigby in the back. Dudley started up the engine, pulled out via reverse parallel, and then slammed on the gas, jetting them off down the (nearly empty) road toward Petropolis. The three of them cheered and howled with adrenalin.
Finally, at about seven-fifteen, when the sun had completely and the sky was pitch black, the TUFF mobile came to a screeching halt in front of what must have been Dudley's house in the suburbs of Petropilis. Mordecai and Rigby could not really tell. They were too stoked from the ride to really look at it. Their fur and feathers were all ruffled from the wind, and their eye lids and lips were all peeled back.
"WOAH! DUDE!" Rigby moaned in awe and stupor. "That was totally awesome!" He started patting down his fur to look nicer.
"Yeeeeaaaaahhh!" Mordecai added, "I can't remember the last time I've been on a ride so much fun... or so terrifying!" He started tidying up his feathers too.
"Eh, it was probably the last time we went on a big roller coaster at the fair, whenever that was."
"I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever been on a roller coaster that went so fast! My freakin' life flashed before my eyes a few times back there!" They unfastened their seat belts, and got out of the car on their respective sides.
"Yep, and I get to ride around like this all the time," Dudley whispered slyly as he got out of his seat.
"Hey, dude, question," Mordecai spoke up, his tone a little more serious. "Is that even safe? I mean how close were we coming to getting into an accident or getting pulled over? I'm pretty sure you went over the speed limit at a few places.
"Ah, I've gotten pulled over a few times, gotten tasered once or twice and put in jail for just a few hours, accidentally knocked a few pedestrians. But overall, everything has turned out okay in the end, and I've never hurt anyone really badly."
"Well, as much fun as that was, you should probably be more careful next time, alright man?"
"Aw, come on, Mordecai!" Dudley rolled his eyes. "You sound just like Kitty! Loosen up and enjoy life a little more whenever you can, will ya?"
"Oh, most of the time, Mordecai's a really cool, fun-loving guy like me," Rigby spoke up. "It's just between the two of us, he's the more mature and responsible one, which really bugs me sometimes."
"Hey, one of us has to be the voice of reason, and it's obviously not going to be you," Mordecai retorted.
"I can be just as responsible as you if I want to!" Rigby snapped.
"Hm, Hm. Yeah. Sure you can."
"Okay, guys." Dudley interrupted. "Don't get mad at each other. We're just going to go in and meet my mom and get settled in. Come on, this is a good night."
Remembering how much of a good time they were all having earlier, and excited about the new roommate situation coming up, the two cheered up and put on happy faces again.
"Now, let's go inside," Dudley smiled and turned toward the door.
Finally calmed down from their adrenalin rush, Mordecai and Rigby got a good look at the house. It was a quaint-looking, purple-painted, two-story little house. There was a tree with a tire swing on one side of it, and a yellow garage to the other side. From the outside, it looked like a cozy little place to live.
They followed Dudley down the path of stepping stones to the front door. For some reason, Dudley ducked down and slid in through the doggy door, and then opened the door from the inside to let in his friends.
"Welcome to Casa de... uh... Puppy Family." Dudley announced softly as Mordecai and Rigby entered the house. The living room seemed pretty nice. There was a smooth wooden floor, yellow painted walls, and a few pictures hung up on them. At the end of the room was a staircase to the second floor, and a room into what must have been the kitchen. There was a lamp and a purple arm chair in one corner close to the door too, and a coat rack on the other side. In the center of the room was a purple carpet in front of a fireplace, across from an upright piano.
"Wow, nice-looking place," Mordecai smiled.
"Thanks. Yep," Dudley answered with pride. "My mom and I have lived here for as long as I can remember."
"Dudley!" A high, scratchy voice called from the upstairs, "Is that you?"
"Yeah, Mom," Dudley called back, "I'm home!"
The source of the voice walked out from one of the doors upstairs. It was an elderly white dog, about as tall as Rigby. She had dark curly hair, some purple-rimmed glasses, and a blue coat over a darker blue dress. Under her arm was a book. She had a look of apathy on her face.
She came downstairs to greet her son and his companions. "So, are these your new friends you told me about?" she asked.
"Yep. Mordecai and Rigby." Dudley smiled and gestured the respective friends next to him.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Puppy." Mordecai held down his hand to her. She took it and shook. She had a surprisingly strong grip for someone as old-looking as her. She shook Rigby's hand as well.
"Hi there, boys," She answered. "Now, Dudley says you need a place to stay for a while."
"Yeah, its just until we make enough money to get our own place." Rigby answered.
"Now, thing is I don't plan on lettin' any more of Dudley's free-loadin' friends stay at my house."
"Oh, we're not free-loaders," Mordecai replied defensively.
"No, we still are kinda free-loaders," Rigby retorted right before Mordecai punched him in the arm.
"Okay, look," He continued, "we'll give you some of our payments when we start getting paid, how about that? It'll be like paying rent to you."
"Dudley and I make plenty of money to get by," Peg grunted, "although I guess a little extra money wouldn't hurt. But what I really could use is a few more strong sets of hands and backs to help me with some of the little chores around here. Dudley never does anything." She rolled her eyes at her son briefly before continuing. "So, help me with some of the chores, and pay a small bit of rent to me, and you guys can stay. How about that?"
"Yeah. Sure. Works for us," Mordecai smiled.
"Okay, I guess I can stomach a little extra work," Rigby muttered.
"Excellent. Welcome to our home. I'll get your bed rolls."
After a minute, Peg and Dudley had gotten the bed rolls from the garage, and had set them down in the corner closest to the kitchen, side by side for the guys. Mordecai and Rigby had also gotten their things from the car and put them down in their spot.
"Okay, now you boys will be sleeping here," She said when the rolls were out. "Now don't worry too much about the chores. It'll mostly be cooking, dishes, laundry, and shopping."
"Oh, don't worry," Mordecai said. "We can do those things."
"That's fantastic! You know, I like you boys. Dudley always picks out such nice friends to hang out with. Okay, I'll let you boys get back to your stuff. I'm going into my room to read my little book here." And with that, Peg turned to head back upstairs to what must have been her room.
"Alright, guys," Dudley said when she was gone. "So, what do you guys wanna..."
BEEP BEEP BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-BEEP! Before he could finish his sentence, there was a loud horn went off from outside the house.
"Yo, Dud! You ready to go?" Shouted a man's voice.
"OOOH!" Dudley squealed with glee as he rushed over to the door. Mordecai and Rigby, surprised and confused, followed him.
Outside, parked right behind Dudley's car, was a new car. A yellow convertible of some sort. In the driver's seat was a chocolate labrador, about as tall as Mordecai, with blond hair that covered his eyes, and a blue t-shirt and beige jeans.
Beside him in the passenger seat sat a bull dog, only up to Dudley's height. He was white with black and brown spots all over his body. He wore a red t-shirt under a brown leather jacket. One thing though that really stood out about him was a grotesque pimple that stood out just on the edge of his cheek, near his nose.
Dudley walked up to these guys and gave them both a fist bump. "Hey, guys!" He exclaimed. "Sorry, I totally forgot about tonight! I got a bit side-tracked." He scratched the back of his head.
"Ah, it's cool, man," Said the lab. "You're not too busy to come out, are ya?"
"Nope, not at all. I'm still up for it!"
"Eh-hm!" Rigby cleared his throat loudly, and a little rudely, to get Dudley's attention. "Dudley, who are these guys?"
"Oh, ha! Right," Dudley giggled nervously. "How stupid of me. Mordecai, Rigby, these are my friends, Roger and Phil." He pointed to the labrador and bulldog respectively. "Roger, Phil, these are my new coworkers, Mordecai and Rigby."
"What are they doing at your house?" the bulldog, Phil asked.
"Oh, they're a little short on cash, and they need a place to stay until they can make enough to get their own place somewhere. So until then, I invited them to come live with me and my mom!"
"Wow! That's pretty cool," Roger nodded.
"So what's going on here?" Mordecai asked. "Did you guys have plans or something."
"Yeah. I forgot all about it," Dudley chuckled again. "We were going to go hang out at our favorite bar for a while." It was then that a new idea sprang into Dudley's head. "You know what? You guys wanna come with us?"
Mordecai smiled at that idea. He remembered the few times he and Rigby had gone to that one bar, McHooligan's was it? with the other groundskeepers, and how much fun they all had. He imagined having a good time like that with Dudley and his friends here, getting to know them more. This was going to be fun.
"Sure. We'd love to!" Rigby answered while Mordecai was thinking it over.
"Is that okay, with you guys?" Dudley asked the other two dogs.
"Sure. I'm cool with it," Phil answered.
"The more bros, the merrier," Roger smiled, "-Long as they don't get the seats messy!"
"Nah!" We'll be careful," Mordecai replied reassuringly.
"Alright then. Cool! Hop in!"
While Mordecai and Rigby opened the door to the back seats and slipped in, with Mordecai taking the window and Rigby in the middle, Dudley ran back to the house door again.
"Mom!" He shouted, "Roger and Phil are here! We're leaving!"
"Alright, you boys have fun, Dudley!" She called back. "Just don't stay out too late! And don't drink too much!"
"I'll be okay, Mom! Thanks!" Dudley shut the door and jumped over back to the seats, on the window seat on the other side of Rigby. He stuck his head over the car door, ready to feel the breeze like dogs like to do on road trips.
"I'm tellin' ya, Dud," Phil groaned, "you're going to catch a fly doing that one of these days."
Everyone got a good laugh out of that. Finally, Roger pulled out from the driveway, and drove off into the city. Needless to say, going 30 miles an hour, the ride was not as fast or thrilling as the ride in the TUFF mobile to Dudley's house, and Mordecai and Rigby were okay with that. They had gotten plenty of thrill from that last ride, and were now ready to settle down, relax, and spend some time with their new friends.
Author's Comments: I'm SOOO sorry it took so long to update. So many things came up. First I was working on another story, and then I got really busy with school, and then when I finally found time, I came down with a bit of writer's block! And so I resorted to playing a lot of xbox 360 games, which is my equivalent to drinking. So I'm sorry so much go in the way, but I finally got around to this.
Okay, I spent a full day working on this chapter. I brought it up from 1,400 words to over 6,600. I'm pretty exhausted now. If it seems a bit rushed at the last couple of parts, starting when they get to Dudley's house, sorry about that. I did the best I could, as best as I could picture it. I hope you like it.
You know, on TUFF Puppy, we keep hearing about Roger and Phil. He keeps talking about them, briefly mentioning them, calling them his friends. I had always wanted to see more of them, wanted to see them hang out with Dudley some time, so I decided to use them here.
Well, this is all I got for now. I'll be seeing you next time!