Featured song:
1. "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" from Little Shop of Horrors
Caleb crept out from his room and followed Boba into the hall, where the former bounty hunter was leaning against the wall, squeezing his sister's teddy bear. He was crying.
Seeing Boba's tears, it made freeze and start to wonder. Initially, he thought Boba was just pretending to have changed so he could lead everyone into a false sense of security and then attack when they meast expected it. But... if Boba were a bad kid, would he be crying about the loss of his baby sister? They weren't even related by blood, and they loved each other so much as though they'd known each other their whole lives. Caleb didn't have any siblings, as far as he knew, but he knew people he did; even siblings who got on each other's nerves wouldn't wish what happened to Gabby on each other.
So, now Caleb started to find himself in a quandary. If he fed Boba to Audrey II, it would revive Gabby, but she would probably never forgive Caleb for forsaking her big brother's life even if it were to save hers; she'd be even more furious than when he pranked her with the scary clown.
But, what else could he do at this point? If that plant didn't get fed, she would get hungrier and probably do something worse than just yell at Caleb for forgetting to feed her.
So, Caleb built up his courage, and approached Boba.
"Hey... Boba..."
"You... you're responsible for my sister!" Boba growled.
"Look, Boba. I'm sorry, I had no idea that Audrey would-"
"My sister gave you a chance to redeem yourself, and you completely blew it by being so irresponsible, and now she's gone!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know it was a monster of some kind?"
Boba looked absolutely apalled at this point.
"That's your excuse?"
And this time Boba literally rolled up his sleeves and grabbed Caleb tightly. Caleb didn't want to resort to it, but he tried to reach for his lightsaber, only to find it was missing.
"I may have given up on getting revenge on Windu," said Boba. "But I think I just found a new revenge story!"
And Boba started yanking Caleb to where Audrey II was.
"Hey, Audrey!" Boba said. "I got a fresh new snack just for you!"
"Goodie!" said Audrey. "I like to swallow 'em whole. Give it to me."
Boba started to pull Caleb toward the plant as it started to open its mouth. But Caleb stomped on Boba's foot and made him let go. And while Boba was distracted by his hurt foot, Caleb pushed him into the plant's mouth!
"Sorry, Boba, but I have to do this!" Caleb said quickly. And he rushed out of the room as he heard Boba screaming for help, wincing as he heard the terror in Boba's screams and the sound of the plant gulping him down. And the last sound Caleb heard was a loud BUUURRRRRP!
Silence.
Carefully, Caleb walked into the room and saw Boba was gone. All that was left of him was a brown boot.
"Whoa... you eat fast!" Caleb gasped.
"He was satisfyin'." said Audrey II.
"And you're keeping your end of the bargain?" Caleb looked expectant.
"Your friend will be revivin' sooner than ya think."
Caleb immediately rushed over to where Gabby's casket was. She was still laying there, her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her heart like a corpse laid to rest. Only this time, the casket had several vines surrounding it, and there appeared to be some wrapped around Gabby's arms and legs as well. Curious, Caleb carefully removed the glass top and looked Gabby over.
"Gabby?"
Silence.
"Gabby?" Caleb repeated. "Hello?"
Caleb gently toughed Gabby on her shoulder, and her eyes shot open. Gabby quickly sat up.
"Gabby! You're alive!" Caleb exclaimed happily. But then he got concerned by what happened next.
Gabby slowly turned her head to face Caleb, not blinking at all.
"Where is my brother?" said Gabby.
"What?" Caleb said.
"Where is my brother?!"
"I... well... uh... funny story actually. The plant said she'd revive you but... only if I... fed her Boba?"
Suddenly, all the lights went out, and a green glow came from Gabby's hands, and the leaves on her body started to glow too.
"Blood for blood." said Gabby, glaring at Caleb. "I need blood. I need blood."
"Uh... Gabby, wait! Let's talk about this!" Caleb begged. "It wasn't anything personal!"
But Gabby held a hungry look in her eyes that scared Caleb greatly.
"I need blood, and you got plenty!"
And Gabby jumped and tried to bite Caleb, who immediately screamed and ran away.
Caleb rushed from the garden and ran to get help.
"MASTER SKYWALKER!" Caleb screamed.
Conveniently, Caleb bumped right into Anakin as if on cue.
"Caleb! What happened?" Anakin said. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Gabby's alive! She's after me! You gotta do something."
"What? How is that possible?"
"All you gotta know is Gabby's alive, and she wants blood!"
That was also when Gabby came into view.
"Blood!" Gabby shouted when she saw Caleb.
"Gabby!" Anakin smiled, running over to his daughter.
"Master Skywalker, don't!" Caleb warned Anakin as the latter picked up the child and hugged her, only to get bitten in the neck.
Anakin cried out in pain as the lights in the halls started to flicker on and off until it got pitch black. And when the lights came back on... they were dim. And Anakin was on the floor, a bunch of vines wrapped around his body like on Gabby.
"Master Skywalker...?" said Caleb.
Anakin slowly got up, his back turned to Caleb.
"Master, are you o-" Caleb touched Anakin's shoulder.
And Anakin quickly turned his head to Caleb, revealing he'd grown sharp fangs, and he looked hungry for blood!
"I need blood!" Anakin hissed.
"I need blood!" Gabby said.
And the father and daughter chanted the same thing over and over again and they came after Caleb, who ran for his life, and to alert the other Jedi that Anakin and Gabby had turned into blood thirsty plant zombies.
In another room, Master Obi-Wan was overseeing a youngling class, when Caleb suddenly burst in.
"Master Kenobi! You gotta help me!" Caleb said, panting heavily. "The plant! Gabby! Anakin! Zombies!"
"Padawan Dume, calm down now." Obi-Wan said calmly. "What seems to be the trouble?"
"Audrey II ate Boba and brought Gabby back to life, but turned her into a blood-thirsty garden zombie, and then she bit her father and turned him into one too!"
Obi-Wan started to laugh and said, "Caleb, I think you have been watching a few too many horror movies lately. There are no such things as zombies."
Suddenly, that was when they heard screaming outside in the hall!
Obi-Wan told the younglings to stay where they were while he went to see what was wrong, but Caleb followed him. And when they got to where the scream had come from, they found Ahsoka fallen against the wall in great pain while Carousella and Crescent were collapsed on the floor.
"Ahsoka! What's happened?!" Obi-Wan said, kneeling down to the Togruta and finding a bit wound on her arm. "Who did this to you?"
"You... have to... run!" Ahsoka hissed. "It's begun to... spread!"
And the lights started flickering again like before, and when they finally stopped, both the horses and the Togruta rose with vines growing around their bodies and sharp fangs in their mouths.
"I need blood! I need blood!" all of them chanted, each with a hungry look in their eyes as they walked toward Caleb and Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan saw only one solution.
"RUN!"
So, Caleb and Obi-Wan began running as fast as they could to get to safety and look for anything they could use to defend themselves. But Caleb found that no lightsabers were in sight!
"Where are all the lightsabers?" Caleb asked.
"I don't know. But we will have to lock down the Temple in order to prevent whatever this virus is from spreading across Coruscant and get anyone we can to safety!
Fortunately, the group soon ran into Peppermint and a couple of younglings along the way.
"Obi-Wan! Thank heavens you're okay!" Peppermint said. "We just barely escaped Anakin!"
"He's turned into some kind of zombie!" said Katooni.
"So I've heard. Many others have as well, I'm afraid." Obi-Wan said. "How this happened, though, I have no clue."
Caleb suddenly had shifty eyes, causing the others to look at him.
"Caleb..." growled Gungi.
"What did you do?" said Peppermint.
"It wasn't my fault! It said it would revive Gabby if I fed it Boba!"
"You fed Boba to the plant?!" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"It was the only way to save Gabby! I didn't know it would turn everyone into zombies!"
"That was very foolish of you, Caleb!" Obi-Wan said angrily. "Now everyone is in danger!"
"There's gotta be something we can do to stop it!" Caleb said. "Peppermint, you're a unicorn. Can't you just cast a spell or something?"
"Well... based on what I know of curses and scary movies," said Peppermint. "If we wanna beat this virus, we first have to destroy it at the source. My best guess... we gotta destroy that plant. Where is it now?"
"In my room," said Caleb.
"Blood!" chanted some more zombies down the way Caleb and Obi-Wan had come.
"Run!" Obi-Wan said.
And they did run. Everyone ran as fast as they could down the halls and looked around, desperate to avoid any garden zombies.
Peppermint found some things they could use as weapons. A water gun, some perfume, and some silly string.
"How is any of this supposed to help?" Caleb said.
"Trust me," said Peppermint. "This perfume is strong stuff. And silly string is very sticky."
So, Caleb took the water gun, and walked out into the hall with the others, weapon at the ready.
It was quiet in the halls. Too quiet. The lights started to flicker randomly, spooking the group.
"Remember," said Peppermint. "Everyone stick together. The worst mistake to make in any horror movie is for anyone to leave the group, especially unaccompanied."
Except, Gungi heard something from another hallway, and he slipped away.
"But we're not in a movie." said Caleb. "If it were, wouldn't all of us be disappearing one by one by now?"
"Uh... where's Gungi?" asked Katooni.
That was when everyone realized the wookie was the only one missing! Everyone called for Gungi. No answer. And then they heard a loud wookie roar which sent everyone running.
Everyone ran down the hallways, screaming their heads off as the lights continued to flicker on and off.
And then, one scream stopped as Katooni tripped.
Katooni gasped when she saw it was a vine wrapped around her leg that tripped her.
"Master Kenobi! Help!" Katooni called.
Obi-Wan screeched to a halt and tried to get Katooni untied, but the vine only tightened its grip, and then another one wrapped around Obi-Wan's body, confining his arms to his sides. And in a flash, the vines dragged Katooni and Obi-Wan away, their screams echoing through the halls.
"Obi-Wan!" Peppermint exclaimed.
"Oh man!" Caleb panicked, not noticing another vine lowering from the ceiling and wrapping itself around Peppermint. "Looks like it's just you and me-"
NEEEEEEIIIIIIGHH!
Caleb looked behind him, and Peppermint was gone.
"Peppermint? Peppermint?! Okay, Peppermint. This isn't funny!"
"Blood! I need blood!" moaned another voice.
Caleb took that as his cue to run!
Caleb ran through every hall he came by to find help, but everywhere he went, someone was turned into a garden zombie with sharp fangs, green vines with big leaves, all of them chanting that they wanted blood, and every time he ran into another zombie, they started coming after him.
Caleb ran and ran and ran! But there was nowhere to hide and no way out of the Temple. All of the windows and doors were sealed shut by huge briars, and as if that wasn't scary enough, Caleb was shocked when he saw miniature versions of Audrey II growing from the walls and trying to bite him.
"Oh no!" Caleb exclaimed. He tried to contact someone for help on his comm, but he only got static in response. "Hello?! Is anyone there?! Can anyone hear me?!"
Again. Static.
And as Caleb was running again, he bumped into someone he did not expect to see.
"Miss me?" said a familiar voice.
Caleb looked up in shock when he saw none other than...
"Boba?!"
Boba didn't look like himself though. He was a mess, covered in red splatters as well as green blotches. And he looked angry.
"Mother wants to see you." said Boba, grabbing Caleb as another vine wrapped around the latter's wrists.
Caleb struggled as he was dragged down the halls until they reached his quarters, where Audrey II still sat.
"You! You did this!" Caleb said. "You said you would revive Gabby!"
"And you fell for it like a dead leaf in fall!" Audrey II laughed. "You're even bigger a fool than I thought."
"You overgrown flytrap! You will pay for this!"
"Oh, will I?"
And that was when the plant began to burst into another song.
Audrey:
Better wait a minute
Ya better hold the phone
Better mind your manners
Better change your tone
Don't you threaten me, son
Ya gotta lot of gall
We gonna do things my way
Or we won't do things at all
A few more zombies Audrey II created started to enter the room, and they started to have at Caleb, tying him down and prepping him like a human sacrifice.
… Ya don't know what you're messin' with.
You got no idea
You don't know what you're lookin' at
When you're lookin' here
Ya don't know what you're up against,
No, no way, no how
You don't know what you're messin' with,
But I'm gonna tell you now!
… Get this straight!
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space and I'm bad
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space
And it looks like you been had
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space,
So get off my back 'n get out my face,
'Cause I'm mean and green and I am bad
Caleb was then dowsed in red gunk that looked an awful lot like blood. It felt so disgusting, and Caleb grew more terrified. He tried to use the Force to fight, but even as zombies, the Jedi Masters were a lot stronger than he.
… Wanna save your skin, boy?
You wanna save your hide?
You wanna see tomorrow?
You better step aside
Better take a tip, boy
Want some good advice?
You better take it easy,
'Cause you're walkin' on thin ice
… Ya don't know what you're dealin' with
No, you never did
Ya don't know what you're lookin' at,
But that's tough titty, kid!
The lion don't sleep tonight,
And if you pull his tail, he roars
Ya say, "That ain't fair?" Ya say, "That ain't nice?"
Ya know what I say?
"Up yours!"
… Watch me now!
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space and I'm bad.
I'm just a mean green mother, a real disgrace,
And you've got me fightin' mad
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space,
Gonna trash your ass,
Gonna rock this place,
'Cause I'm mean and green and I am bad
… Don't you talk to me about old King Kong
You think he's the worst, well, you're thinkin' wrong
Don't talk to me about Frankenstein
He got a temper, ha! He ain't got mine
… You know I don't come from no black lagoon
I'm from past the stars and beyond the moon
You can see right now this was the plot
Keep The Creature, they don't mean squat
the plant even started to dance around a lot as though taunting Caleb.
… I got garden style, major moves
I got the stuff and I think that proves
You better move it out
Nature calls
You got the point?
I'm gonna bust your balls
Audrey II laughed at Caleb as it was almost time for the big finale.
"Time to give Audrey the meal she really wants!" Gabby declared. "Dinner time!"
"NO!" Caleb cried, trying to wriggle out of the tight vines that held him.
… Here it comes!
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space and I'm bad
I'm just a mean green mother, a real hard case
You can't beat this trouble, man
I'm just a mean green mother from outer space,
So just beam him up
It's all over, ace
I'm mean and green
Zombies:
Mean green mother from outer space
Audrey:
I'm mean and green
Zombies:
Mean green mother from outer space
Audrey:
I'm mean and green
Zombies:
Mean green mother from outer space
Mean green mother from outer space
Audrey:
And I. Am. Bad!
Zombies:
Ah, ah, ah, ah
And Audrey II opened its enormous mouth, the vine holding Caleb up high and slowly lowering him down to feed him to the hungry plant.
Caleb shut his eyes tightly and screamed like a little girl, when suddenly the music and singing stopped.
"Gotcha!" a bunch of voices exclaimed.
"Huh?" said Caleb. And he opened his eyes when he felt himself suddenly lifted up and lowered onto the floor. "What?!"
And Caleb was shocked to see everyone was laughing, including Gabby and Boba, them both literally rolling on the floor laughing.
"Wait a minute- I- You- What's going on here?" Caleb said.
"You just got pranked by a five-year-old." Gabby said. "I was never really dead, Caleb. This was all an elaborate prank to get back at you for all the times you pranked me."
"But... how?"
"I'll tell you how." Gabby said.
Flashback to Halloween preparations...
"If we're gonna pull this off, we're gonna need a whole crew to help us." Carmine said.
So, Carmine asked the Jedi Council to have a meeting. He and Gabby showed them a plan they had to prank Caleb with the biggest, scariest Halloween prank the Jedi would ever do. The first in history, in fact.
Gabby explained to the Council that they would need everyone's cooperation for this plan to work. Caleb had to believe everyone was in danger and that there was a real curse, and the only way to do that was if the Masters acted like they'd been defeated by the plant as well.
"In this scare," said Gabby. "We'll all pretend that a cursed plant has turned us all into blood thirsty zombies, and then Caleb is the last to be fed to the plant. Or so he thinks."
At first, the Council thought it just sounded plain crazy, but then Carmine pointed out that he'd seen lots of crazy illusions made in musical theater, all without magic. All they needed were props, costumes, makeup, as well as lights and visual effects.
"You said you wanted to expose the younglings to more ways of using their improvisation skills," said Carmine. "This would be a great way to do it, and keep the Halloween spirit going for more than one day."
After some debating and deep thought, the Council agreed to help.
So, everyone had a role in putting the prank together. Gabby got Wysteria to loan her one of her pet plants to pose a tiny Audrey II, Anakin and Carmine used their mechanical and/or theater smarts to create a functional giant Audrey II puppet with speakers to project singing from, and everyone else worked on makeup and costumes, while Lamenta did the visual effects.
Each time Caleb saw the lights flickering, that was actually Remix messing with the lights using his magic. He had plenty of experience with lights and sound effects in his deejaying career. And whenever someone suddenly grew fangs, that was actually Lamenta turning invisible and giving everyone fake vampire teeth. And Carmine had a special microphone that disguised his voice as he did the plant's voice and musical numbers. As for all the vines just appearing out of nowhere? That was Gabby and/or Anakin using their own magic.
Present...
"Then... what's all this on me?" Caleb said, looking at the blood-like substance still dripping from him.
"Relax," said Peppermint. "It's just strawberry syrup."
"So that's why it smells so sweet." Caleb licked some of it off his hand.
"Maybe now you'll think twice about playing nasty pranks, Caleb." said Depa. "That could have been real."
"She's right." said Obi-Wan. "We have Enchanteds around. Anything is possible."
"More importantly, it's one thing to play a harmless prank just to mess around," said Anakin. "but constantly tormenting someone younger than you isn't right. And you should never underestimate the power of little kids. Some can come back to bite worse than you think."
Caleb sighed and realized the others were right.
"I know that now." Caleb said. "I'm sorry for pranking you, Gabby. I won't torment you ever again."
"I'm gonna hold you to that." Gabby said.
"For now," said Depa. "We all have some cleaning to do."
"Can we get these vine costumes off first?" asked Petro, scratching his shoulder. "They're getting itchy."
Everyone laughed.
"Let's get you cleaned up too, Caleb." Depa said, taking Caleb's hand.
And here we go... another chapter done for Catching Up, and the end of the arc Jedi Temple of Horrors. Hope it was worth the wait. Please read and review, and don't hesitate to make any requests you have for this or any other stories. Until next time, I'm Gemini Rose22 signing off