The big prank
"Alright, does everyone know what to do?" Said Dede to all her friends except for Mikey who had gone to the bathroom.
"Oh yeah, this is gonna be awesome." Spinelli said as she, Paloma and Vince ran to their positions, excited to get this prank under way.
It was lunchtime and Dede was executing a prank to get back at Randall for ruining one of TJs pranks. Since Dede found out about Miss Frinsters past as a galactic guardian she hasn't pulled any pranks on her. While the gang don't know why Dede has a newfound respect for Miss Frinster they respect Dede enough to not force her to prank the teacher, so they left that to TJ who was happy to turn some of his schemes into pranks against the teacher.
"What could be keeping Mikey?" Gretchen asked as Mikey was a key part of the plan.
"Here he comes now." Said TJ spotting him.
"Hey, guys." Mikey said sitting down opposite Dede, TJ, Gretchen and Gus.
"Hey, Mikey. You mind scooting down to the end?" Dede said, pointing to the right side of the table.
"Sure, Dede, You're saving that for someone?" Mikey asked, sliding down the seats.
"Sorry, Mikey. That's on a need-to-know basis." Dede replied before a static sound came through the walkie talkie Dede had in front of her.
"Wild Raven to Snow Leopard . Come in, snow leopard." Vince's voice rang through.
"Snow leopard here. Over."
"The roach has entered the motel."
"Roger. Snow leopard to Magpie, did you copy that?" Dede called the other walkie talkie to get in touch with Spinelli.
"Affirmative, Snow leopard." Spinelli answered. "Operation Pasty Face is go.
Repeat, Operation Pasty Face is go."
Dede put the walkie talkie away and looked under the table, where Paloma was ready to place the skateboard and baseball in position for when it was needed, Paloma gave Dede a nod, showing she was ready. Dede sat back normally and started to look around, spotting Randall walking around with a tray full of his lunch. "Bingo." Dede said before waving at Randall to get his attention. "Hey, Randall, how's it going?"
"Uh, fine, I guess." Randall replied.
"Hey, that's a tasty-looking Salisbury steak you got there. Care to join us?" Dede said as she and the other all smiled innocently, except for TJ who was acting like he wasn't happy about this.
"You're not still sore about this morning?"
"So, you told Miss Finster TJ covered the mud puddle with grass and leaves and placed a tantalised fruit pie in the middle. Big deal." Dede shrugged. "I say let bygones be bygones."
"Well, in that case, I'd love to join you." Randall smiled as he joined them, not thinking anything was wrong. "Eating alone is so overrated."
"Wonderful." Dede muttered under her breath. "Scoot over a little bit, Randall." Dede said seeing he wasn't where she needed him to be, but Randall ended up moving more towards Mikey. "Oops. Wrong way." He moved to the other side of the bench. "There, perfect. Comfortable, Randall?"
When Randall was in position Paloma quietly placed the skateboard and baseball where they needed to be. "I'm great. Boy, this is really nice of you guys, considering all the junk I--"
"Oh, my gosh, Mikey!" TJ gasped, standing up, interrupting Randall, and pointing to the other side of the cafeteria. "They're giving away free peach cobbler!"
"Free cobbler! Oh, boy!" Mikey jumped up and away from the table, knocking Randall off of the bench which set off a chain reaction. From a baseball getting thrown into the air, hitting a football to roll and hit a bucket full of oatmeal to spill all over Randall. When the kids in the cafeteria saw what had happened they all started laughing, Spinelli was even whistling from her position up on the overlook platform.
"Oh! Oatmeal! I'll get you for this, King! Mark my words!" Randall shouted as TJ was holding Dedes arm up In victory.
After that little prank in the cafeteria the group of eight moved out into the playground to enjoy recess. "That was
the best prank ever, Dede." Paloma said, still happy that the prank went off without a hitch.
"Yeah, Dee. You're the froopin' best." Spinelli agreed.
"It really was genius, wasn't it?" TJ says, knowing dede doesn't like to brag much.
"Come on guys, it wasn't that good." Dede said, looking at her friends.
"Dede King?" Said a voice, dede looked over to see Jordan and Jerome standing behind her.
"Yea?"
"Come with us." Jordan said as the two of them grabbed Dede and dragged her up to king Bob.
"So, it was you who humiliated Rodney here in the cafeteria." King Bob asked, looking down at Dede as she fell to her knees.
"Uh, that's Randall, Your Eminence." Randall said, trying to correct his name to the playground king.
"Ugh, whatever." King Bob rolled his eyes. "I suppose you think this was funny."
"That's what I'm hearing." Dede weakly argued.
"What are you gonna do with her?" Randall asked, hoping for a decent punishment. "Send her to the dodgeball wall?"
"No, extend my congratulations." King Bob smiles at dede as she stands up.
"Huh? But, King Bob, I... she--"
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I'm through with you." King Bob glared at Randall, making him back up and slowly leave the jungle gym. "But you, you intrigue me. It takes quite a prankster to pull off a trick as bold and exciting as yours." King Bob smiles at Dede as he gets comfortable on his throne.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but she isn't any prankster." Vince said as the rest of Dedes friends showed up.
"Yeah, dede is a master of the game." TJ bragged.
"Oh, is that so?" Asked King Bob.
"Yeah, Dede here is the best practical joker in Third Street history." Said Spinelli.
"In history, you claim?" King Bob laughs. "I don't think so." He snaps his fingers and scribe kid comes and unravels a scroll.
"'History of the playground, part five,
chapter the second, Legends.'" Scribe kid starts before clearing his throat and continuing to read. "'Many years ago in the reign of King Sid, a boy roamed the schoolyard who was known as the Prankster Prince. So gifted was this lad at the art of prank that his princely title was officially retired by royal decree.'"
"So, how come I haven't heard of this punk of pranks if he was so great?" Spinelli said.
"Ah, but you have. For that carefree prankster boy was me." King Bob said, pointing to himself.
"You?" The eight friends asked.
"Indeed. My pranks were legendary, my victims many."
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We see a young Bob sitting in class as principal Prickly was giving his usual morning announcements over the PA system.
"Don't forget, kids, Tuesday night is parent-teacher conferences. So, make sure you bribe your teachers with candy and perfume so they'll tell your parents that Principal Prickly's a big, fat-- Hey, who tampered with my prepared announcements? Miss Lemon!"
As prickly finished his speech the kids were all laughing at what had happened. The next scene we see Bob with his back to a girl from his class as he tied a balloon to the string on a tetherball pole.
"Come on! Serve it, would you?" The girl said, getting impatient.
"Whatever you say." Bob said before he sent the balloon to the girl, as she hit it it exploded with custard going all over her, leaving Bob to laugh at her.
The final scene is Bob putting a whole bottle of hot sauce into the lunch special, as the kids ate it they ran out of the cafeteria all coughing and gagging from the hot sauce as Bob was hidden, laughing at them as they passed him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, those were the fun times, but now, as king, I'm prevented from prankstering." Bob finished his tale, belching. "Such acts would be… unseemly."
"Yeah? Well, it's a good thing you retired that title 'cause our girl Dede would've taken it away." Vince pointed at said girl.
"Oh, really?" King Bob raised his unibrow.
"Pfft. No contest. First round." Spinelli scoffed.
"Your pranks might have been good, Bob, but I'm willing to bet that Dede here is a better prankster than you ever were." TJ said walking in front of king bob.
"I second that bet." Paloma said after the gathered kids all gasped.
"Yeah, me, too!" Gus giggled nervously as king bob levelled him with a look. "Sire."
"And do you, my little friend, have the guts to support such an outlandish statement?" King Bob asked leaning down to look at Dede more closely.
"Um, well, er--" Dede stuttered, not knowing what to say.
"Sure, she does." Spinelli came up to Dedes' side.
"I do?" Dede asked unsure.
"The only way to prove she's worthy of the title is to do exactly as I did when I was the Prankster Prince. She must pull a practical joke on the reigning king!" King bob stated making the kids all 'ohh'. "If you can pull a prank on me by the end of school tomorrow, the title and this amusing little cap…" king bob held up a little red hat with a yellow P that had bells on it, he moved the hat a bit and the bells jingled. "...is yours, but if you fail, your punishment will be one week
as my fanner girl."
"Wow! A week off." King Bob's current fanner boy said when Bob gestures to him.
"Gee, maybe I shouldn't." Dede said, trying to back out.
"King, you got yourself a deal." Vince jumps in getting all the other kids to cheer.
"Wow Dede, you took on the king. That was brave." Mikey said as the eight friends were all walking down the street after school finished.
"Brave nothing. That title belongs to Dede." TJ says, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"and that cap is sweet." Vince throws in as Dede groans, hiding her face.
"My female intuition tells me that perhaps Dede has mixed feelings about this wager." Gretchen said as she walked up next to Dede.
"Yeah, right. Dedes ready to rock 'n' roll,
aren't you, Dede?" Spinelli said patting her on the back.
"It's not that I don't appreciate the support, guys, really I do but I'm not so sure I can pull it off." Dede said as she stopped walking and looked at her friends.
"Of course you can!" Said Paloma.
"Absolutely!" Said Gretchen.
"No doubt." Said Gus.
"You're a top notch prankster." Said TJ.
"Sure, Dee! You got the chops." Said Spinelli.
"You got the moves." Said Vince.
"And, lest we forget, you've got the prankster heart." Said Mikey.
"Well…" Dede was cut off by a beeping happening. "You're right, I best go home and think up some pranks. I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that Dede ran off.
When she was far away from her friends and hidden she quickly got zapped up into her ship, sitting on her chair she saw Admiral DeGill also in her ship.
"Atomic Candy, we've just received this distress signal." Admiral DeGill said as he played the message on the ship's screen.
(I can't find the episode transcript for this one so it goes like how it does in the atomic Betty Episode practically joking. It'd take me far too long to write it all down if I have to try and and make out what they say, and write (and spell) everything said in the episode. Sorry)
The next day Dede met up with her friends and showed them some of the ideas she had to try and prank king Bob. It was at the start of recess where Dede set to work on her first plan.
"Take me to my fountain." King Bob said to his carriers and while he was on his way there Gus, who was on lookout, quickly ran over to Dede.
"He's coming! King Bob is coming!" Gus pointed in the direction of king Bob.
"Quick, pretend to play." TJ said as he, Dede, Spinelli and Vince all quickly ran to 'play' four square while the other four watched.
As king Bob went to take a drink he looked over and saw the eight friends there, it wouldn't have seemed like anything was up if it wasn't for the fact that dede was looking at him more then the game she was supposedly playing. "Jerome."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Asked Jerome as he walked up next to king Bob.
"Try a sip."
"I'm not thirsty but, uh, thank you anyway, sire." Jerome declined but upon seeing the look that king Bob was giving him, he quickly changed his mind. "Uh, I mean, a-at once, my liege."
Just like king Bob had predicted as soon as Jerome went to take a drink the fountain spat water out at him, soaking him. As Jordan was laughing at Jerome's misfortune about have to set the prank off, king Bob looked over at Dede and smirked at her. "Time's a wastin, King."
The next plan Dede had required the help of the kindergarteners, who were happy to help once given some Candy. It was at a little party they were having that king Bob was overseeing. "You couldn't hit that piñata if you were using a sofa cushion." King Bob laughs at king sticky as he watches the kindergarten king try to hit the piñata with a bat.
King sticky took his blindfold off and glared up at the sixth grade king. "Man in crown have big mouth. Him try."
King Bob took the bat that was handed to him, ready to strike, until he had a second thought and looked at his adviser. "On a second thought, Jordan, crack open that piñata."
Jordan, knowing it would be pointless to decline, just took the bat. "Yes, sir, sir."
As jorden hit the piñata green goo spilled everywhere, hitting everyone surrounding the piñata except for king Bob as he lifted king sticky up to take the hit for him. As king Bob put the kindergarten down he looked at the bus he was standing near and saw dede hiding behind it. "Really?" He asked unimpressed with the prank. Dede just sighs as she looks down, disappointed herself.
After the disaster that was the last pranks failure Dede and her friends were all sitting around on the cheese box. "Man, King Bob knows every trick in the book." Mikey exclaimed.
"He's always one step ahead of us." Gus agrees.
"Plus, with those goons of his, we can't get near him." Vince said.
"What about a wrecking ball?" Asked Spinelli. "We tell him there's a meteor shower, and then, bam!"
"We wanna bruise King Bob's ego, not put him in a body cast." Paloma said, declining Spinelli's idea.
"Couldn't we do both?"
"Get me gallons of gelatin dessert and an atomic particle accelerator, and we'll just see who has the last laugh." Said Gretchen as she did some calculations on her Galileo.
"I don't think we've got the budget for that, Gretch." Said TJ.
"You know what your guys' problem is?" Dede said as an idea stuck her. "You're not thinking big enough. TJ, I need you to go see the hustler kid and see if he has a box of feathers. Spinelli, Mikey, I need you two to go to the cafeteria to get some honey, pour it into two spray bottles. Gretchen I need you to figure out how far something will launch from the seesaw. Gus I need you to go to the theatre costume box and grab something so you can blend in with the kindergarteners and Vince I'll need you to go and get them to agree to help."
"Alright Dede, we're in it." Said TJ as everyone ran off to do the job that was given to them.
Paloma turned to look at Dede, being the only one who wasn't given a job. "What am I gonna do?"
"I need you to do something for me, but you can't tell anyone." Dede looked about to make sure there was no one around before she whispered her plan to Paloma, making her nod in understanding before she ran off to do what was asked of her. Dede ran off to speak with the diggers to get their help in this prank.
When everything was set up, the group all got into the positions that was required of them. Dede was hiding near old rusty. "Attention, everyone. This is polar bear. Time fire roll call. Wild cat?"
"Check." Said Gus as he was standing next to king sticky dressed as a kindergarten.
"Screaming Falcon."
"Check." TJ said from the top of old rusty, to keep an eye out for king Bob.
"Scorpion, Jekyll?"
"Check."
"Double check." Said Gretchen and Mikey standing near the seesaw with Mikey on a stool.
"Viper?"
"Check." Vince said.
"Small But Very Dangerous South American Tree Frog?"
"Check." Spinelli said as she was next to Vince in one of the holes the diggers had dug, both wearing the diggers hats.
"All right. Remember, you guys got me into this, so don't let me down. Let's have a good prank. Polar bear out."
With that they all only had to wait for a couple of minutes before TJ was doing his bird call, signalling that he spotted king Bob coming this way.
"My toy!"
"My toy!" Gus and king sticky were 'fighting' over a toy, purposely ignoring everyone as to make king Bob stop and hopefully go to deal with them himself.
"Stop the procession!" King Bob ordered seeing the two. "You there, cease fighting and bow! Hey, I'm talking to you!" Jordan and Jerome put king bob's throne down and we're going to deal with the two 'kindergartens' before king bob gets up. "No, no, I'll handle this display of disrespect personally."
"The condor has flown the coop. I repeat, the condor has flown the coop." Dede said, happy that king Bob was following her plan.
"I command you to cease fighting this instant!" King Bob managed to grab Gus' ankle, stopping him from running off. "You're mine, punk! What the…" gus had turned to look at him. "You're no kindergartener!"
"Now! Now! Now!" Dede shouted into the walkie talkie as she moved out from behind old rusty.
King Bob looked down seeing that he was on a big red X, he looked over just in time to dodge the sprays of honey that Spinelli and Vince shot at him, making the shots hit Dede instead.
"Oh, no!" Spinelli said, seeing what had happened.
"The condor has moulted! Abort! Abort!" Vince tried to abort the mission however it was too late. Mikey had already jumped onto the seesaw, sending the box of feathers flying and landing right on Dede. Because Dede was covered in honey the feathers all stuck to her so when all the kids on the playground looked over as the prank was happening they started laughing at Dede, seeing she fell for her own prank.
King Bob was also laughing. "You look like a cute little duckling. Hello, little duckling."
Dede spat out some of the feathers that got stuck in her mouth. "Hello, King Bob." She looked down.
"Come on, Dee, back to the drawing board." TJ said, putting his hand on Dedes shoulder, trying to lead her away.
"Nope, that's it. I give up."
"Whoa." King Bob's laughter trickles out. "Did the duckling just say, 'give up'?"
"Yeah, but she didn't mean it." Said Vince as the other five of Dedes friends joined her.
"Yes, I did. Sorry, guys." Dede said before she turned to look at king Bob. "You win, King Bob. I'll never be able to pull a prank on you. You're just too good."
"I am, aren't I?" King Bob bragged before he tried to change Dedes mind. "You still have three hours. You could fail a good seven times before then."
"You hero?" King sticky scoffed as he stood in front of Dede. "That practical joke."
"Guards, take chicken little away." King Bob ordered as Jordan and Jerome led Dede away. "Get her cleaned up and ready for fanning."
"I-I'm so confused." Said Mikey as the six all stood there, feeling bad as they got Dede into this mess. "Is Dede chicken little or is she a duckling or is she a polar bear? I just don't know what to believe."
While Dede was getting 'cleaned up' her friends were all once again hanging out by the cheese box. "Man, this whomps. I feel like a bad guy wrestler." Said Spinelli.
"I know what you mean. We're the ones
who got poor Dede into this mess." TJ sighs.
"We all share guilt to some degree, but what can we do? King Bob's word is law." Gretchen said as Paloma ran up to them.
"Hey, this is where you all are."
"Where have you been?" Spinelli asked, having not seen Paloma for a while.
"I was doing something Dede had asked me to do." Paloma vaguely said before a booing caught their attention. Looking over they saw Dede, Jordan and Jerome there, Dede was cleaned up from all the feathers and while she was still in her normal outfit she was missing her hat. As the two boys walked Dede over to the monkey bars where king bob was waiting, all the students were chanting 'fanner girl' the only one bit was cornchip girl who was crying.
"Where are your pranks now, fanner girl." Randall called out after Dede passed him.
When she was dragged up the monkey bars Jordan pushed Dede down into her knees in front of king Bob who smirked down at her. "Stop! Hold everything!" Spinelli shouted as she and the others all climbed to the top of the monkey bars.
"Guys, I didn't think you'd come." Dede said as she looked back at her friends, she sent a subtle look to Paloma who nodded back.
"We're here for you, Dee." Said Vince.
"Please, King Bob, listen." Gus tried to reason with the playground king.
"It's far too late for appeals." King Bob stopped Gus before he could really say anything.
"But Dede isn't responsible, Your Royal Highness, we are." TJ said.
"Yes, punish us instead." Gretchen agreed.
"We'll fan you for two weeks." Paloma tried to bribe him.
"No, guys, I'm the one who didn't refuse the challenge when I could have." Dede said to stop her friends from trying anything else. "I alone must suffer the consequences."
"But, Dede…" Spinelli tried to change her mind but Dede just held her hand up in a stop motion.
"Students of Third Street,'' King Bob started as he turned to face all the students that were gathered at the bottom of the monkey bars. "let this be a lesson to those of you who secretly think you can outsmart your king. Dede King is a living example of the humiliation you will endure." King Bob folded his arms and looked at dede smugly. "Now then, girl, fan me."
"As you wish, sire." Dede half bowed. "Please take a seat." As Dede stood next to king Bob's throne she watched him as he turned around, her face breaking out into a big smile just before he fully sat down, but it was too late as he had fully sat down, only for a fart noise to ring out loudly across the playground. As the other kids all tried to stifle their laughter Dede turned to king Bob, seeing his shocked face, she rested her hand on his shoulder. "What did you have for lunch today, Kingy?" She looked over at all the students gathered. "Was it by any chance the four-bean casserole?" This seemed to be the final straw for the kids as they weren't trying to hold their laughter back anymore, all laughing fully.
King Bob stood up and lifted the cushion off of his throne only to see a whoopee cushion next to a microphone sitting there. "A whoopee cushion! Dede got King Bob to sit on a whoopee cushion!" Lawson laughs as king bob holds the whoopee cushion up.
"She did it! Dede pulled it off!" Spinelli cheered.
"Way to go, Dede!" Gretchen laughs.
"The new Prankster Princesses!" TJ celebrates.
"That's your big prank, a whoopee cushion?" King Bob angrily asked as he looked at Dede who was looking at him not knowing what to say. "So simple, it's brilliant!" King Bob smiles, knowing that Dede got him good.
"And, sire, it's yours to keep." Dede smiles back as the other students all start a new chant of 'Prankster Princess! Prankster Princess!'
The only person that wasn't happy was king Bob's fanner who picked the giant leaf to start his job again. "Some vacation."