Tattletale heart
Lunch time was never boring at third street, no matter how small, there was always something going on. At this moment we see seven of our group of eight all watching Gus as he was drinking his chocolate milk in one go.
TJ was actually kinda impressed with Gus. "Wow, Guster. What a set of lungs."
"Yeah, but maybe you shouldn't have
finished your milk first." Mikey said. "I mean, aren't you gonna need it for your peanut butter sandwich?"
"I couldn't help myself, guys. I love chocolate milk. Whoever thought of putting candy in milk was a genius." Gus said happily before he took a bite of his sandwich, seeing what Mikey was on about. "An evil genius. Be right back." Gus got up and walked over to the big cooler that housed the milk for the kids to come up and grab. "Let's see. Chocolate milk. Chocolate milk. Here we go. Come to papa." Gus looks up only to see someone standing there with a handful of mashed potatoes. "Hey, what are you…"
The hand threw the mash across the cafeteria, hitting Jeffery. "Hey! My parents were on vacation in Hawaii, and all I got was this shirt." Jeffery angrily grabbed something from his trey and threw it, hitting Ashley A who screamed.
Ashley B grabbed her lunch and threw it in retaliation, hitting king Bob's crown. "Noodles!" One of his guards said.
"Down, sir, down." The other said as they covered king bob under the table.
"Food fight!" Lawson shouted and all hell broke loose.
Kids were all throwing their food left and right, the seven friends were all taking cover behind one of the cafeteria tables. "Bogeys at 12 o'clock!" Dede exclaimed as she looked behind her. They all turned around and fired at the kids that were gonna hit them from behind.
As the three kids were hit they all went down like they were mortally wounded. With how much noise the kids were making it was only a matter of time before Miss Finster came in to find out what was wrong. "A food fight? I'll put a stop to this…" she went to blow her whistle but a carton of juice was thrown at the door next to her. "A little later." She closed the door, leaving the kids to their food fight.
"Everyone all right?" Dede asked at the end of the food fight.
"All right?" The friends looked over and saw Mikey sitting on the floor. "This is better than swapping desserts."
"Hey, where's Gus?" Vince asked not seeing him.
"Look." Paloma points over to Gus who was stumbling his way to his friends.
"Gus, Gus, are you all right?" TJ asked worriedly.
"I was just getting milk, and-and I saw it." Gus stammers.
"Saw what, Gus?" Spinelli asked.
"I saw who started the food fight."
"What, are you sure?" TJ asked.
Before Gus could answer, the cafeteria door opened and a whistle sounded, getting all their attention. "Stop this food fight now." Miss Finster said but looked and saw all the kids not fighting and just looking at her. "That's better."
"Miss Finster, Miss Finster." Randall ran up to her. "They were all throwing food, every one of them."
"Not to worry, Randall. I'll see they pay for it." Miss Finster patted his head before she walked more into the cafeteria, leaving Randall to laugh quietly to himself. "Look at this mess. I'd call you a pack of wild animals, but even wild animals don't throw food, Except for monkeys, but you're not monkeys, are you? No, you're children, children who act like monkeys. Hank will pass out towels and mops, and you will clean up this mess." At this all the kids groan. "Too tough, am I? Well, there's more." This caught all their attention. "From now on, there will be no recess!" The kids all gasp. "No recess, that is, until I catch the hooligan who's responsible for starting this calamity. I'm sure one of you must have seen who started it."
Gus went to raise his hand but was stopped by TJ. "So that's the way it's going to be, huh? Fine. You can all just stay in here together and clean. Until someone spills the beans…" Miss Finster went to leave the cafeteria before she poked her head back in. "figuratively speaking, that is." She finally left.
Not long after Miss Finster left Hank came with all the cleaning supplies needed to get the cafeteria clean. It seemed to be an untold understanding that the kids would clean the area they were all sitting at. "Oh, man. I got more food on me from cleaning than I did from battle." Spinelli said as she was scrubbing the table.
"Guys! I could put an end to this if I just told on--" Gus started but was cut off by all his friends covering his mouth.
"Don't say it, Gus." TJ said.
"But you don't understand! It was--" again Gus was cut off.
"Gus, I'm serious, don't say it. That would make you a tattletale."
"Yeah, and being a tattletale is against the kids' unwritten code of honour." Vince reasoned.
"Are you sure? I mean, it is unwritten
and all."
"Not anymore, Gus." Gretchen said, bringing out a laminated card. "Behold, the code has now been issued on this convenient and durable laminated reference card."
TJ took the card from Gretchen's hand and started to read aloud. "'Tattletale go to jail. Stick your head in a garbage pail.' It's pretty clear, all right."
"But what if you saw a kid stealing something from a store." Gus argued.
"Well--" Vince said.
"Or some guy being mean to a dog!"
"We know, Gus, but--" Dede said.
"Or a bunch of robots from outer space fixing to blow up Kelso's or--"
"Gus, it's a food fight we're talking about." TJ interrupted Gus.
"Which means you've got to keep your mouth shut no matter what." Spinelli said.
"Yeah, but--" Gus tried to argue.
"No matter what."
With that the group of eight stopped talking about it and got back to cleaning only stopping when Miss Finster came back into the cafeteria. "Attention, miscreants. You've been cleaning for over an hour already, and no one's come forward to squeal."
"That's 'cause we've got the code. Right, guys?" Vince whispered.
"You may be strong in a group. But we'll see how you hold up to individual interrogations. We will start in alphabetical order. Beginning with Adam Able."
"Oh, man, I'm always first. Why couldn't I have been born Zebadiah Zwick?" Adam sighs and follows Miss Finster out of the cafeteria.
This was the pattern for a while, Miss Finster calling in student after student, from cornchip girl to digger Dave. By this point the cafeteria was almost fully clean, when Miss Finster came back into the cafeteria, Dedes' bracelet started to beep. "Next!"
"Umm…. Miss Finster" Dede raised her hand.
"What?" Miss Finster asked. "You know something?"
"No ma'am, but can I go next? I need the bathroom." Dede subtly shew Miss Finster her bracelet.
"Very well. Your next King." With that Dede ran out of the cafeteria and into the kitchen where Miss Finster had set up a makeshift interrogation room. "Before you leave, do you know who started the food fight?"
"No ma'am, I really don't. Galactic guardians honour." Dede saluted her to show her seriousness.
"Fine. You may go." Dede smiles and answers the call.
"Atomic Candy, our sources report that…" Admiral DeGill started before he saw who Dede was with. "Muriel?"
"Hello DeGill." Miss Finster said as she saluted her old leader.
"I didn't know you two knew each other." Admiral DeGill said as he looked back and forth between the two.
"Yeah, well, you're lucky we do. Otherwise she wouldn't have got out of the trouble all the students are in." Miss Finster pointed at DeGills hologram as Dede looked away.
"Trouble?" DeGill looks at Dede, waiting for an answer.
"Umm.. a food fight sir. But I don't know who started it." Dede answered hoping he'd believe her.
DeGill turned to look at Miss Finster to get her opinion. "I believe that she didn't start it, but I have a feeling that she knows something but won't tell." Miss Finster said, looking at Dede.
"Alright, And speaking of food, Maximus I.Q. plans to poach the last remaining Piraxian Rhino egg in existence to make an omelette or less." Admiral DeGill said getting back to business.
"That culinary creep!" Dede replies angrily.
"You must stop Maximus from stealing that egg or the Piraxian Rhino will become… extinct."
"I'm on it. Over and out." Dede presses the button on her bracelet and the ship picks her up. When they get to the planet, they see how beautiful it is. "Wow. This place is so beautiful."
"And deadly." Said X-5 as a group of deadly bugs fly by. "At least it was until the legal pochy decimated the wildlife population."
"Now that's what I call deadly!" Sparky jokes.
"We have to get that egg before Maximus. We can't let another species become extinct." Dede said seriously.
Meanwhile, Minimus is driving in a light blue tank to find the Piraxian Rhino egg while Maximus is sitting on a couch. He uses his GPS and sees a red light on it. "Oh, I'm getting a reading." Said good minimus.
Maximus Takes a sip of his drink. "It's about time!" He takes another sip of his drink and spits it out because he sees something. "Look out!" Minimus notices that they are heading toward a cliff. He pulls on the breaks, causing the car behind him to hit it. This causes Maximus to be sent flying off his couch and fall off the cliff. "YOU IDIOOOT!!!"
Minimus makes the tank fly to catch Maximus. He lands in the driving part of the tank and pants to calm down. "Are you OK, Your Flatuless?" Good minimus asked as Maximus growls angrily and punches Minimus in the face, causing his head to spin around.
Just as they are about to reach the other side, the back of the tank stops. It can't support the weight with the pile of stuff on it. This causes it to fall. "Do something!" Maximus orders as Minimus walks over to the rope that is attached to the driving part of the tank and bites it off with his teeth. But the tank keeps falling. Maximus and Minimus scream as they continue to fall. The tank lands in light yellow swamp like water and rises to the surface. "Now where was I? Oh, yes." Minimus screams and Maximus punches him again.
Back with Dede and her crew, they are still searching for the Piraxian Rhino egg. As they are walking, Dede is telling her friends what happened in the school cafeteria. "Not Gus wants to tell on who started the food fight, but he can't because of the kids code of honour."
"Time travel!" Sparky suggested. "Just go back in time to before the food fight and Stop him from drinking all his milk in one go. Ha! How do you think I got through Galactic Guardian Academy?" He pauses for a moment and thinks. "You didn't hear me say that." Suddenly, the ground starts to shake. "What is it?! An earthquake?" Dede looks around to see what's causing the disturbance only to reveal Piraxian Bunny Crickets being the cause.
"Piraxian Bunny Crickets on their yearly migration." X-5 informs.
"This isn't good!" Sparky said.
"Galactic Guardians, retreat!" Dede said before she and her crew ran away from the Piraxian Bunny Crickets. They soon reach a cliff. Dede and Sparky stop, but X-5 bumps into them, causing them to fall off the cliff. They land in a patch of mud.
"Piraxian Rhino tracks. I'm sure of it." X-5 said as he examined the footprints.
"Excellent. We're getting close. Come on!"
In a huge patch of tall grass, Maximus and Minimus are floating in the tank searching for the Piraxian Rhino egg. "It's down there somewhere." Good minimus said as he was looking around using a pair of goggles as binoculars. "Oh, we're going to have to go in." He looks at his GPS and sees a red light close to the centre. Then he jumps off the tank. "Jump! I'll catch you!" Minimus said, looking up at Maximus.
"Very well." Maximus said as he jumped off the tank. Instead of being caught by Minimus, he lands face-first in a small patch of grass. "IDIOT! You weren't even CLOSE!!"
Back with Dede and her crew, they are still following the footprints of the Piraxian Rhino. They stop and find a blue egg in a nest in front of them. Sparky happily runs to it. "We found it! We saved the rhino!" Sparky celebrates picking the egg up, holding it high in the air.
"Be careful with that egg, Sparky. It's the only one left." Dede said when Suddenly, a mechanical arm took the egg away from Sparky.
"Where'd it go?" Sparky asked when he didn't feel the weight of the egg anymore. "It was in my hand just a second ago!"
X-5 takes out a pair of binoculars and sees Maximus and Minimus escaping with the egg. "It's getting away! Pilfered by Maximus! This way! Run!" X-5 ran off with Dede and Sparky followed him.
Maximus turns around and sees Dede and her crew coming after them. "There they are!" Dede said, spotting them just before Maximus and Minimus arrived at the destroyed back part of their tank.
"Hey! It's our stuff!" Good minimus said as Maximus Took the egg out of the net.
"Who cares? The egg is mine!" Maximus brags before Sparky takes the egg from him.
Sparky Ran toward Dede and X-5. "Galactic Guardians to the rescue!"
Minimus catches the egg with a plunger. "Omelette, here we come!"
Dede takes a gun and shoots some goo at Minimus, causing his feet to get stuck. She then takes the egg while swinging on a vine. "Another species rescued!"
Maximus throws a pair of plant cutters at Dede's vine, causing her to fall and lose the egg and it flies into Maximus's hands. "Like candy from a… well.. Candy!"
A huge boot flies toward him and hits him thanks to X-5 doing it with a huge gun. "Not the most graceful method of extraction, but under the circumstances."
The egg goes up into the air and falls. Both the Galactic Guardians and the villains go after it at the same time. "I got it!" They all cried out Just as either of them are about to catch it, the egg lands and they bump into each other.
Suddenly, a horned vulture grabs the egg in its talons and flies off to its nest.
Sparky Watches the horned vulture fly with the egg. "It's a horned vulture!" He turns on his jetpack. "He's got the egg!" Dede and X-5 follow him and run off to get the egg back from the horned vulture. Dede and X-5 are climbing the cliff to get the egg from the horned vulture. Sparky flies up to the top with his jetpack where the horned vulture places the egg in its nest. He then picks it up. "Saved!" The horned vulture reappears, grabs the egg in its talons and drops it. Sparky screams in terror.
The egg falls off the cliff and Maximus catches it in his tank. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've made plans for dinner." Maximus laughs evilly for a moment and stops to see the Piraxian Bunny Crickets still hoping for their yearly migration. He and Minimus scream as the Bunny Crickets hop by. This also causes the Piraxian Rhino egg to fall off the tank.
Dede uses her jetpack to fly to the egg. "Chief!" Sparky calls out worriedly. Luckily, Dede catches the egg and is beaten up a little by the Piraxian Bunny Crickets.
Maximus with his clothes torn and dirty comes up and tries to shoot her. "Give me that egg!" Maximus calls out but Just as he is about to shoot it, the egg hatches, revealing a cute baby Piraxian Rhino. Sparky, X-5, and Maximus look at it in disbelief. "What the?"
"Your omelette making scheme has been scrambled, Maximus!" Dede gloats as she holds the baby Piraxian rhino.
Maximus Picks up the Piraxian Rhino. "Not necessarily. I've changed my mind. Nothing tempts the tummy like raised baby Piraxian Rhino ribs.l He looks at the baby rhino and licks his lips. "Come along." Just as he is about to leave, the baby rhino screeches at him. He then gives it to Minimus. "Here. You take him."
"Hey, no way! You take him!" Good minimus throws the baby rhino back to Maximus. The baby rhino screeches at Maximus again. He screams and throws it to the ground. Minimus begins running away from it screaming. He jumps and lands in the swamp like water. The baby rhino then gets back to chasing and biting Maximus.
"Looks like someone's in trouble!" Sparky laughs.
After that successful mission the ship brings Dede back to her school and she runs back into the cafeteria. When she walked in she saw that the cafeteria was now fully cleaned up, walking over to her friends she sat down joining the conversation.
"I-I'm scared, guys, really scared." Gus was fidgeting with his fingers.
"Gus, there's nothing to worry about." TJ said, trying to calm his nerves. "I got called in, Dede got called in, Mikey got called in. We made it through, OK."
"Yeah, but you guys don't know who did it. I'll probably crack the minute Finster asks me a question.l
"Try doing what I do, Gus. Just think about chocolate." Mikey reassured.
"Chocolate?"
"Sure! Whenever I'm scared or worried, I just think about chocolate, and my fears melt away."
"I do love chocolate."
"There you go! Use it."
"Yeah, thanks, Mikey. I'll just keep thinking about chocolate. It's working already."
Miss Finster came back into the cafeteria. "Next!"
"No, you'll never make me tell! There's a code, an unbreakable kid code!" Gus shouts before covering his own mouth, realising he messed up.
"A code, eh? Well, let's just see if we can't crack it. Forget the alphabet, sonny. You're next." Miss Finster said taking Gus into her 'interrogation room'.
It's been about 10 minutes since Miss Finster took Gus, his friends were all still around their table, TJ was the only one pacing. "He's sure been in there a long time."
"We shouldn't have let him go in there." Spinelli said. "We should have hid him."
At the sound of the door opening they looked over to see Gus walking out, so they all met him halfway. "Gus! You OK?" Paloma asked.
"Did you crack?" Spinelli asked.
"Back off, guys. Give him some air." Dede said just as a whistle blew.
Looking over they saw Miss Finster standing there with two members of the B.O.E. "This investigation is officially closed. Thanks, boys." Miss Finster said to the two men, letting them leave. "I've ID'd the perp." With this all the kids started to mummer to themselves. "The culprit is…" she sighs. "...Randall Weems."
"No, I-I didn't mean to do it!" Randall said as two members of the safety rangers came and grabbed Randall, dragging him over to Miss Finster. "It was an accident, I tell you! The mashed potatoes slipped out of my hand."
"I'm very disappointed in you, Randall. My own little weasel gone bad.. My world is shaken."
"Griswold, you ratted me out. You're a tattletale, you hear me? A tattletale!" Randall accused as he was dragged out of the cafeteria.
"So Griswold told?" A random girl asked.
"Yeah, that's it. It was Griswold." A random boy said as they all started to gang up on him.
"No, I didn't tattle. I swear." Gus backed up.
"The code's clear, on this one, sir. 'Tattletale go to jail. Stick your head in a garbage pail.'" Jerome said, reading from the card.
"Someone get me a pail!" King Bob ordered.
All the students started to close in on Gus, going to grab him before TJ and Dede stood in front of him. "Hey, leave Gus alone." TJ said.
"Yeah! There's no proof that he even did tattle." Dede argued back.
The kids weren't listening to TJ and Dedes pleas as Jerome pushed past them to grab Gus' shoulders. "Stop! Unhand that boy." Miss Finster shouted out as she saw what was happening.
"We'll get you later, Griswold, When your girlfriend's not around." Jerome said angrily.
"Cute, Jerome, but this boy told me nothing. Poor Randall was fingered by science. It's quite simple, actually. My first break in the case came toward the beginning of the investigation. I merely had to visit the scene of the crime. There I discovered my first real clue. A mashed potato fingerprint. Using this clue, I formulated a brilliant plan To lure my prime suspect to the soda machine and make him an offer he couldn't refuse. Now it was up to the boys in the district crime lab. Once the boys in brown confirmed my suspicions, I knew it was poor misguided Randall who had thrown the first volley. I had no choice but to send him over."
"Fascinating story, Miss Finster, but not quite logical." Gretchen said. "I mean, if Gus didn't tattle on Randall, what made him your prime suspect In the first place?"
"Because, little missy, although Gus didn't tell me anything, he was just about the only kid who didn't."
"What, then that means--?" Gus asked.
"That's right, boy. Except for you and your so-called friends, Every kid who walked in there sang like a lovestruck canary." Miss Finster chuckles as she walks away. "Kids' code of honour... ha! What a joke."
"I-I can't believe it. After all I went through, you all told anyway?"
"Hey, it was losing recess she was talking about." Digger Dave defended.
"Yeah, and that cleaning was, like, ruining my nails." Said Ashley A.
"But what about not tattling? What about the kids' code of honour?" Gus asked.
"It appears, Gus, that tattling, like life, isn't all black and white. Apparently, sometimes it's OK to tell and sometimes it's not." Gretchen explained.
"But that means the code is all wrong."
At this the kids all gasped and started to mummer to themselves again. "What? How dare you besmirch the code?" King Bob said outraged as he walked up to the eight. "It's a time-honoured tradition. It's never wrong."
"But according to the code, since all you guys tattled, you've all got to get thrown in the garbage pail." Gus said.
"Interesting point. But since we don't have nearly enough pails, everyone is pardoned." At this all the kids cheered and started to disperse.
"Wait!" Gus shouted, getting everyone's attention. "There's still one thing I don't get. I'm the only one who had a clear view of Randall. So how did all you guys know he started the fight?"
This question causes all the kids to look over at the one kid that hasn't moved, guru kid. "As the river flows, so inexorably flows the truth. OK, so I blabbed."
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A/N - bit of a long note but to answer some questions that were asked through comments or PMs, that I forgot to answer in the last update.
I will be uploading new chapters on Sundays
The Ashley's want Dede to hang out with them because, like them, Dede is a rich kid, so to them, she should be one of them. With Crystal as a fashion designer and Keith being a spy / inventor for WOOHP, they make quite a lot. Dede just doesn't brag about it.
Atomic Rodger will be making another appearance, just not a proper one for a little while. He'll make a cameo in a couple of chapters.
Miss Finster and Mr E will have a galactic appearance, just, again, not for a LONG time.
The secret admirer won't be revealed until the end, it'll be one of the final chapters I do with Dede in the fourth grade.
There will be one other character that has had an animal sidekick outside of Dede, though that'll only be shown when I get around to doing that special when Dede is in fifth grade.
Characters from Atomic Betty will be happening. Things like the X-rays, masticula and Regeena will all be getting put in. Though I will be changing one thing about Regeena, that'll be who her family is, as in Atomic Betty she's the principal's daughter, I'm gonna be changing that.
I'll also start putting in some atomic Betty episodes in on their own or with a recess episode as the more background episode.
Yes, I will be doing the movies, though not sure how or when to do the 'all growed down' movie.
I have a list of episodes from recess that I won't be doing as I can't think of a way to make them interesting with Dede in, so I won't be doing them. Though if people really wanna see every episode done I can do them when I fully finished this story, like 'extra' chapters if you would.
Yes, I will be doing an origin story for Dede, seeing as we don't really know HOW Betty became a galactic guardian, I wanted to make my own version of how she got into it. Unless the rumours I've been hearing about the movie are true, we'll just have to wait and see, though I might still do my own as I have some ideas I can use to also put into the "finally".
Now that I have a final design for Dede I will be going back and re drawing new images for previous chapters, it'll just take a bit of time.
As for if anyone will find out about Dedes life as a galactic guardian, I can't answer that at this point in time. I have scenarios for both in rough drafts, but not sure which one to go for yet. Though I am leaning towards one more than the other.