A/N: Now, much of the episode is the same from the start, but near the end, when Mordecai and Rigby have their last game against Muscle Man and Fives, there's gonna be a surprise in store after the game.
Close Enough: A Regular Show
Chapter 11: Slam Dunk
One day, at Pops' house, Mordecai and Rigby were playing a basketball video game.
"Which way am I gonna go? Which way am I gonna go?", Mordecai asked before his character made a slam dunk just as the phone rang in the background.
"Stuffed again!", Mordecai said.
Pops leaned his head out into the room with the phone in his hand.
"Mordecai, it's for you.", Pops said.
"Dude, pause it.", Mordecai said.
He stopped playing, but Rigby just continued.
"Pause it!", Mordecai shouted as he slapped him before he got up to answer the phone.
"Okay! Okay! Geez.", Rigby said as he paused it at the same time before Mordecai answered the phone from the hallway.
"Hello?", Mordecai asked.
"Hey, Mordecai. It's Margaret.", Margaret greeted.
Mordecai gave a shocked look. Meanwhile, Rigby was still playing, against Mordecai's wishes.
"Which way am I gonna go? Which way am I gonna go?", Rigby asked before he made a shot with his character and laughed.
"Eat on that, Mordecai.", Rigby smirked.
But then, he noticed Mordecai coming back and paused the game.
"Dude! Dude! Margaret just called.", Mordecai shouted.
"What? Why?", Rigby asked.
"She wants me to make her a website.", Mordecai replied.
But Rigby did not like this at all.
"Boo! What about our game of 'Hoop Jams 5000?' Mordecai?", Rigby asked as Mordecai was already running upstairs to the computer room.
"Ugh!", Rigby groaned as he went to the computer room where Mordecai was getting started.
"Mordecai! Come on, man! You can't even do it right now, anyway. Muscle Man has the computer for the whole day.", Rigby complained as he took the sheet of paper, revealed to be a signup sheet, on the desk in which it had Muscle Man for the whole day.
"What?", Mordecai asked before he looked out the window.
"He's not even here. He's playing basketball.", Mordecai responded as Muscle Man and Fives were, in fact, playing basketball.
"Boom-shaka-laka!", Muscle Man grinned.
"Oh, well. You snooze, you lose. I'm sure this will only take a second anyways.", Mordecai said as he started up the computer.
However, Muscle Man suddenly appeared at the door.
"What are you doing?", Muscle Man asked before breathing in and out once. "Did you not see the sign-up sheet?"
"You were outside playing basketball. I figured...", Mordecai began.
"Oh, you figured? You figured you'd use the computer on someone else's time slot?", Muscle Man asked.
"Well, dude...", Mordecai began.
"You wait your turn just like everybody else in this joint. Now get lost. I gotta watch my downloads.", Muscle Man rebuffed, drying his face with the towel.
Frustrated, Mordecai and Rigby went back into their room.
"Ugh! Why does he have to be such a jerk?", Mordecai asked.
Then, they saw Muscle Man laughing outside as he was now playing basketball again.
"Oh, forget this.", Mordecai said, peeved by this.
But as soon as he went back to the computer room and got on again, Muscle Man entered yet again, this time, accompanied by Fives.
"Did I not make myself clear?", Muscle Man glared.
"What? You're not even using it!", Mordecai exclaimed in frustration.
"I'm waiting for an e-mail from this hottie I met online yesterday.", Muscle Man explained.
"What? You met your mom online yesterday?", Rigby retorted.
"Why you gotta take it there bro? Oh, you fools definitely aren't getting the computer now.", Muscle Man spoke, peeved with the reference to his jokes.
"Who you calling fool?"
"Dude, I need the computer to make a webpage for Margaret. How about we play you a game of basketball for it?", Mordecai suggested.
"Pfft! Ha, ha, ha! You guys don't stand a chance.", Muscle Man discouraged.
"Oh, yeah. Winner gets the computer for a week.", Mordecai retorted.
"Oh, you're on.", Muscle Man responded.
Later, the two duos were out on the basketball court.
"All right, ladies. Why don't you go first?", Muscle Man asked, passing the basketball to Mordecai.
"Check.", Mordecai said, passing the basketball back to him.
"Mate.", Muscle Man responded, tossing it back to Mordecai.
He managed to catch it and then toss it to Rigby, but Muscle Man took over and managed to make a basket, laughing in celebration.
"Ah!", Mordecai groaned in frustration.
"Yeah, baby.", Muscle Man shouted.
Then, Rigby tried to get past Fives before tossing it to Mordecai, who caught it.
"Go ahead. You can't make it from there.", Muscle Man smirked.
Mordecai then tossed the basketball over to the basket, only for it to hit the hoop and fall off, not even going through it.
"Oh! Oh! Brick!", Muscle Man teased before Mordecai groaned.
Things only got from bad to worse over the course of the game.
"Oh, snap.", Muscle Man spoke.
As the game got worse for Mordecai and Rigby, Muscle Man spoke to Mordecai.
"Hey, Mordecai, you're looking a little confused. Did you know that we only need one more point to win?", Muscle Man asked.
"What?", Mordecai asked in shock.
He took advantage of Mordecai's surprise and shove him back in order to make the basket.
"Uh! Boom-shaka-laka! Computer rights for a week! You know who else likes to score so she can get computer rights for a week? My mom!", Muscle Man shouted.
Just then, Mordecai heard a ringing from a bicycle and turned to see Margaret pedaling with a tree in a wagon just beind her.
"Hey, Mordecai. Thanks for helping me with the website.", Margaret waved.
"No... problem.", Mordecai responded as Margaret passed him.
But as Margaret pedaled away, Mordecai saw her backside.
"Muscle Man, computer rights for a month.", Mordecai said.
"I don't know, bro. I think it's worth more to you than that.", Muscle Man responded.
"Two months.", Mordecai corrected.
"Deal.", Muscle Man smirked.
Unfortunately, their odds weren't any better. If anything, it got from bad to worse. Muscle Man and Fives beat Mordecai and Rigby in basketball every game.
"Wooo-hoo! Ohoho, yes! Two months of computer rights. Looks like Margaret will just have to go without her webpage, you loser. Huh!", Muscle Man jerkishly high-fiving Fives.
To say that Mordecai was upset at this point would be an understatement.
"Ugh! This can't be happening! Basketball SUCKS!", Mordecai spoke angrily, kicking the basketball away.
Suddenly, the ground shook, night turned into day, and the moon was revealed to be a sort of hip, fun kingdom devoted to Basketball. A white sports car drove off the bridge and then headed down to Earth with the hippest basketball decal, including a license plate on the back of it that read, "I'd rather be B-BALL #1 shootin hoops". And who should step out of the car but a glowing basketball deity with shades, a basketball head, and an afro, otherwise known as the Basketball King?
"What did you say about basketball?", Basketball King asked.
Surprised as he was, he was having a bad day on account of consecutive losses against Muscle Man.
"You heard me. I mean, you did hear me, right?", Mordecai asked.
"Of course, I did. You know, you only think it sucks because you don't know the fundamentals.", the Basketball King said.
"Save your breath, old man. These jokers are a lost cause.", Muscle Man mocked.
"Why, you...!", Mordecai began, looking ready to shove Muscle Man until the Basketball King interrupted.
"Not to me, they're not. I'm the best basketball coach that ever lived. I can train anybody.", the Basketball King retorted.
"Whatever, Grandpa. If you want to waste your time, that's your business. I got two months of computer time I need to start using. Come on, Fives. Let's go check the weather report.", Muscle Man spoke before he and Fives walked away.
"This is why I HATE basketball...", Mordecai said, glaring at Muscle Man.
"Don't worry, Mordecai and Rigby. I'm going to teach you to play circles around that little pot-bellied leprechaun. How does that sound?", the Basketball King asked.
"Normally, with the mood I'm in, I'd be like, 'whatever.' But if it means puttin' Muscle Man in his place? That sounds awesome. Wait, how do you know our names?", Mordecai asked.
"I've been watching these basketball courts from my play castle, bro. Anyway, let's get started.", the Basketball King replied.
With that, the basketball king blew his whistle to begin his training. However, as the Basketball King trained Mordecai and Rigby, while they were doing fine in standard exercises, playing basketball was another matter entirely. At one time, Rigby tossed a basketball at the hoop, only for it to bounce off and hit him in the head instead, much to the Basketball King's chagrin as he facepalmed, while at another, the Basketball King wound up accidentally hit in the groin as Rigby passed the ball only for it to overshoot Mordecai, leading to said incident, and finally, at a 3rd instance, Mordecai tossed the ball at the basket, only to hit the frame and accidentally have it land in the car windshield.
"Man, I don't believe this. Did you guys seriously have to be the worst basketball players of all time?", the Basketball King asked, earning Mordecai's groan.
"Dude, come on. We're trying our best. We just need a little more practice.", Rigby said.
"No, Rigby. We need to NOT play basketball. We can practice all we want, but we're never gonna be good enough to beat Muscle Man, because this game su...!", Mordecai began angrily before the Basketball King stopped him.
"Ah, ah, ah! Don't even say it! Other than that, you're not wrong, but I can't have that pudgy green idiot talking trash about my coaching OR you hatin' on Basketball because of that. Don't want a repeat of the ol' 'Malice at the Palace', let alone a technical one.", the Basketball King said.
"How would you know if that's gonna happen?", Mordecai asked.
"With anger, hate, and basketball in the mix, there's no limit to how low someone could sink.", the Basketball King responded.
"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. But what else can we do?", Mordecai asked.
"How about I just give you the powers?", the Basketball King suggested before then zapping Mordecai and Rigby, giving them yellow and red Basketball jerseys, shoes, and white head bands.
"Ah! Sweet!", the two said in unison as their hands were now sparking out energy.
"Now ice that green fool so you can make that hot chick a webpage.", the Basketball King urged encouragingly.
Later, Muscle Man (who now had his shirt on) and Fives were using the computer when Mordecai and Rigby entered, kicking the door open.
"'Sup now, losers? You ready to get destroyed?", Mordecai asked.
"I don't know if I have the energy to see how bad that old man trained you. If I'm going to get out of this seat, you're going to have to make it worth my time.", Muscle Man said before sipping from his drink.
"Computer rights for life.", Mordecai said before Muscle Man delivered a spit-take in surprise. "One game, winner takes all."
"Oh-ho, this is going to be too sweet.", Muscle Man smirked.
Later, Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, and Hi-Five were back at the court at night as well as the Basketball King.
"Now that the stakes are serious, we're going to play a real game of basketball. First person to twenty-one wins. Street rules!", Muscle Man said as he took his shirt off.
"Fine with me.", Mordecai said.
Just then, C.J. walked by, noticing Mordecai and Rigby playing against Muscle Man and Fives.
"Wait. Is that Mordecai playing Basketball?", C.J. asked.
To start the game off, Rigby tossed a basketball to Mordecai, dribbled and blocked Muscle Man while passing it to Rigby, who went forward while dribbling and making the basket.
"What? How did you...?!", Muscle Man said in surprise.
"Stay out my kitchen!", Rigby shouted.
Then, Fives passed the ball to Muscle Man, who tried to make the basket only for Mordecai to block it in midair.
"Denied!", Mordecai spoke.
"What? Impossible!", Muscle Man exclaimed.
"Whoa...! I didn't know he could play basketball like that, too.", C.J. said to herself.
Moments later, Rigby passed the ball right underneath Fives and leapt off after it before catching up to the ball and then doing a slam dunk.
"Oh!", Rigby shouted as he landed said dunk.
"Even Rigby's playing it, too. And he made a good dunk. Who knew?", C.J. said, pleasantly surprised.
"No one could've trained them that crazy. Take a dive, Fives. I've got a plan.", Muscle Man said before the two parted ways with Fives then pretending to be injured as he "fell" to the ground and groaned.
"Oh, dudes! Fives is hurt.", Muscle Man said.
"Okay, how? Nobody even touched him.", C.J. said.
"Dude, get up.", Mordecai said, not buying into the trick.
"Hey, bro. You just took out my teammate.", Muscle Man fibbed.
"Really? Then how come I saw that nobody even touched him?", C.J. asked.
"What are you even talking about?", Muscle Man asked.
"Come on. It's so obvious. You're just lying so you can get some kind of an edge over them.", C.J. called out.
Muscle Man was a bit surprised as to how she figured it out. But nevertheless, he still had to persist somehow.
"Uh..., no way! She's lyin'!", Muscle Man shouted.
"Don't you DARE call me a liar!", C.J. snapped, her skin turning dark grey as lightning sparked out, making him gasp before C.J., angry as she is, took a deep breath before the lightning went away and her skin turned back to normal.
"Look. If there's one thing I hate almost more than anything, it's people who lie, not even bothering to tell the truth. And you know what ticks me off the most? People who lie and try to frame me as a liar!", C.J. glared, stunning Muscle Man.
"Whoa. Okay, you got me there, girl. But we at least want some of those powers, too.", Muscle Man said.
"You know you could've just called a time-out for that.", the Basketball King said as he went toward him.
"Aw, what?!", Mordecai and Rigby exclaimed at the same time.
"You can't do that!", Rigby added.
"Sorry, guys. Wasn't about to let anyone hate on basketball. Not even him. Besides, I know you two can crush 'em.", the Basketball King assured.
"Heh. We'll see about that.", Muscle Man said before the Basketball king lent him and Fives the same powers as Mordecai and Rigby with Muscle Man wearing shorts, sneakers, and a white headband while Fives only had a white headband on.
"Aw, yeah! Now, we're even, ladies.", Muscle Man smirked.
C.J. then put her hand on Mordecai's shoulder.
"Hey, Mordecai. I don't know exactly what's going on here, but... go crush that guy.", C.J. encouraged with a smirk.
Mordecai nodded with a grunt in response.
Play 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready for This"
The game resumed, but this time with both Muscle Man and Fives as souped-up as Mordecai and Rigby. The latter passed the basketball to the former before dribbling around Rigby.
"What? What now? W-W-W-W-Which way am I going to go? Which way am I going to go?", Muscle Man said before tossing the ball up, allowing Fives to perform a slam dunk.
"Aw, boo!", C.J. commented.
"This is going to be so easy.", Muscle Man smirked.
"Yeah, for us.", Rigby responded.
He then tossed the ball at the basket fence. It bounced back only for Rigby to leap from behind and dunk the ball through the basket before landing back on the ground.
"In your face!", Rigby shouted.
"Woooo!", C.J. said in celebration.
Then, Rigby was in front of Muscle Man as Mordecai was blocking Fives with one arm.
"Actually, bro. In yours!", Muscle Man shouted Rigby in the face before dribbling over to and making the basket.
"Oh, come on! I call foul!", C.J. shouted.
Then, Rigby passed the ball to Mordecai, who leapt to the basket with Fives trying to stop him and failing as Mordecai made said basket.
"Whoo! Go, Mordecai!", C.J. cheered.
Then, Fives made the basket on the next game as did Muscle Man on the next, who squealed as he made a slam dunk. Afterwards, Five made three more baskets.
"19-17, us. Game point.", Muscle Man said.
"Aw, what? How are we losing?", Rigby asked.
"I'll admit that you guys caught me off-guard at the start, but you guys are goin' down!", Muscle Man said.
"Hm! Hm! Hm! Hm! Hm!", Mordecai and Rigby grunted as they nodded to each other.
Later, Rigby passed the ball to Mordecai, who threw the ball backwards, allowing Rigby to leap up and then dunk the basket.
"Oh, snap!", Muscle Man said.
"The score's tied now 19-19, now!", C.J. said.
"How does it feel to know that you're going to have to use the Internet at your mom's for the rest of your life?", Rigby asked before he and Mordecai hi-fived each other.
"Joke all you want, Rigby, but the next basket wins the game and you guys are going down.", Muscle Man said.
At the final game, Mordecai was holding his arms in front of Fives.
"Come on. D up, Mordecai.", Rigby urged.
"You better listen to your friend, Mordecai, because this is about to get serious up in here.", the Basketball King warned.
Then, Fives began dribbling the basketball and flinging it to the basket. But before the ball could get through, Mordecai grabbed the ball and both him and Fives all flew up into space with Rigby and Muscle Man flying up into the air as well with Mordecai giving off a blue light as Fives gave off an orange light, Rigby gave off a green light, and Muscle Man gave off a red light.
"Whoa! Did they just...?", C.J. began.
"Fly up into space? Yeah.", the Basketball King replied.
"How often does that happen?", C.J. asked.
"Uh...", the Basketball King began.
"But more importantly, how long are they gonna be up there?", C.J. asked.
"Oh. Well, for them, 30 seconds. But down here? About 2 months.", the Basketball King replied.
Meanwhile, as he finished his answer, Mordecai held the basketball for a moment with Fives behind him until Mordecai passed the basketball to Rigby, who caught it before passing it back to Mordecai, who tossed it back to Rigby. But this time, Muscle Man got the ball, too.
"Let go of it!", Muscle Man shouted before he and Rigby began spinning.
"Hold on, Muscle Man!", Fives shouted before heading over to him.
Once there, Fives got the ball, too. But eventually, Rigby got the ball to himself.
"I'm open! I'm open!", Mordecai shouted.
Rigby then tossed the basketball to Mordecai, who then made off back toward the Earth.
"Oh, no!", Muscle Man shouted in worry before he and Five flew after Mordecai.
Of course, Rigby was following after him, too.
"Do it!", Rigby shouted.
With that, Mordecai descended toward Earth and made the dunk, causing a massive explosion that destroyed the court. It was rough, but Mordecai and Rigby were both able to get back up.
End 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready for This"
"Aw. Dude, we did it. We won!", Mordecai shouted in elation.
"Yeah!", Rigby added.
Muscle Man coughed as he and Fives were now on their backs.
"Oh, no, bro."
"Yeah! We get the computer for life!", Rigby cheered as he and Mordecai hi-fived each other.
Then, C.J. and the Basketball King caught up to the basketball players.
"Guys! You're back!", C.J. shouted.
"Hey, C.J.", Mordecai said.
"Did you beat him?", C.J. asked.
"Yeah, we did.", Mordecai responded.
"Hey, guys, good game.", the Basketball King congratulated, shaking Mordecai and Rigby's hands.
"Thanks, man.", Mordecai thanked.
"Yeah, thanks, dude.", Rigby added.
"Guess we lost this one, huh?", Fives asked.
"Man, you could've played better 'D'.", Muscle Man responded.
"Come on, man. That was a good game.", the Basketball King said.
"Well, he's got a good point, there.", Fives agreed.
"Whatever. I guess it was pretty good. I'm out of here.", Muscle Man said as he walked away.
"Muscle Man, wait up.", Fives said, following after him.
"I hope he doesn't give up on basketball because of this. That guy could really stand to lose some weight.", the Basketball King said.
"Mordecai! Hey, Mordecai!", Margaret spoke up, waving to him.
"Margaret! Hey! How are you?", Mordecai asked as he ran over to her.
"Good. Good. Hey, you looked pretty hot out there.", Margaret said.
"Ha, ha! Yeah. I guess I am pretty hot. Hot on the trail of finishing your website. Ha, ha, ha, ha!", Mordecai laughed.
"Oh, the website? That was two months ago, but it's okay. Eileen finished it for me. Got to run.", Margaret said before running off.
"Ugh!", Mordecai groaned.
"Time speeds up in space, bro.", the Basketball King said.
"Yeah. I even had time to get hired at the park.", C.J. responded.
"What?!", Rigby said in surprise.
"Wait. Did you just say you're...", Mordecai began.
"Hired at the park? Yeah, I did! Woooooooooooooooooooo!", C.J. said, waving her arm.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!", Mordecai and Rigby shouted at the same time before laughing.
Of course, Mordecai realized what that meant.
"Oh! But what about your cross-guard job? Did you get fired?", Mordecai asked.
"Nah, I just quit. Seeing you two playing basketball made me realize how fun it is to hang out with you. So, I figured that working here may be the best way to do that.", C.J. responded.
"Huh. I still can't believe you're actually working here now.", Mordecai said.
"Yeah. Pretty crazy, huh? Almost as crazy as your little basketball game just to be able to help Margaret finish her webpage.", C.J. said.
"Yeah, not like it matters now.", Mordecai said.
"Hmm. Still, you were pretty awesome out there.", C.J. said, grinning.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. I never knew you played before. maybe you could teach me?", C.J. asked bashfully.
Mordecai chuckled a bit nervously, bashful himself.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'.", C.J. said.
A/N: Boom! What do you think? And what do you suppose would happen in the show moving forward now that C.J. is working at the park? Will things start off the same or different? Either way, things are sure to pick up steam, eventually. Oh, and I thought you might like to know that the next episode after this is the last one before "Steak Me Amadeus" comes next. Feel free to look forward to it. I know I am. :)