[I OWN NOTHING]

CHAPTER 4: CASPER'S DAY IN THE BIG CITY.

It was morning by the time the bus Casper was on arrived in the big city.

Casper got off the bus, feeling very pleased with himself.

"The big city." he said. "Just the perfect place for me to start a new life."

he walked down the street, but shortly after, a scruffy-faced man wearing scruffy clothes came up to him. "Hey, kid." said the man. "Wanna have some sweets?" he held up a little white bag to Casper's face. "Take the whole bag, if ya wanna." he said.

Casper immediately froze upon seeing the bag's contents. Those 'sweets' the man had offered were drugs.

Casper, of course, was no fool - he'd learnt all about drugs in school. And of course, he remembered that Michael, a boy from the big classes in his school, had once had issues with drugs, but had thankfully stopped with them* [*-see the original Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue Film], and he didn't want to end up what Michael had almost become.

'If he thinks that I'm gonna turn to a life of doing drugs, he's got another thing coming.' Casper thought.

"Uh, I'm not interested, thank you." he said, and walked away, as fast as he could, making sure the man didn't follow him. "I don't want to live like that." he muttered. "I'd never do drugs just for the sake of it; not after what very nearly happened to Michael." he said to himself.

Casper went to a restaurant and ordered toast, orange juice, bacon and eggs, the foods his dad always had for breakfast.

Then after paying, he went to a souvenir shop, and bought a postcard to send to Roxie. He wrote 'Thank you for giving me the advice to run away from home. I'm so pleased I bumped into you at school yesterday. You're such a good person." 'Casper;'

then, he had that postcard posted.

Then, Casper went out walking around the city.

"I sure wish Mom & Dad were here." Casper said to himself. "They'd love to see everything here."

Meanwhile, at the building site, Casper's dad came to work, still upset about his son running away.

"REGINALD MITCHELL!" boomed the voice of the chief foreman. "You're 15 minutes late!"

"Sorry, boss. Really, i am." Reg said. "I had to make a stop at the bank on the way to get more money for the construction materials."

"Apparently," he went on, "my son's ran away, and-"

"I haven't time for your excuses!" the chie foreman snapped. "Get to work! NOW!"

"Yes, boss." Reg said, as he got his hard hat & work jacket on. 'I hope Casper's ok.' he muttered.

Reg didn't know that Casper was in the city, enjoying himself the way he knew how, by walking around the city, having fun.

At lunch time, Casper went to a fast food restaurant for lunch. He bought himself a cheeseburger and fries. He was beginning to feel pleased.

"I can have whatever I want for my lunch, and nobody can stop me!" he said to himself.

he was halfway through his meal, when he saw a big bulky man come up to the table he was at. The man wore street thug clothes, and he looked very serious. "Give me your money." he said to Casper.

Casper stood his ground. He remembered from a health and safety lesson at school, about people like the man he saw. They were muggers, who stole things and hurt people, without regard of the consequences.

"No way." he said firmly.

"I said, give me your money," the mugger said firmly to Casper.

Casper refused again. He knew he wasn't gonna be persuaded to give money to strangers.

The mugger grabbed Casper by his shirt. "Listen, kid." he said sternly. "Hand over your money, or things are gonna get very unpleasant.

[WARNING, THERE'S BLOOD, AND VIOLENCE IN THIS BIT, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU.}

Casper then reached into his pocket, and pulled out the scissors, [the very same scissors he'd used to cut his mother on her arm with] and cut the mugger's pointer finger off. The mugger screamed in pain, letting go of Casper, who landed on the floor, and got up to see the mugger clutching his hurting hand, and a whole load of other customers were staring at the man.

Casper then finished his meal, and then he had anaughty idea. He picked up and threw the tray toward the mugger. The mugger ducked, and the tray hit a baby in a high chair, making her scream very loudly.

The baby's father saw the mugger, and, thinking he was the one who threw the tray, jumped on him, tackling him to the ground in a massive fight.

Lost of the restaurant staff tried to seperate the fighters, whilst another one called the police. In all the commotion, nobody noticed Casper escape the building.

At that moment, the Rustbucket*, the RV seen in Ben 10 [*-IN IT'S CLASSIC APPEARANCE] pulled up outside the fast food restaurant, and Grandpa Max Tennyson, who was in the driving seat, was surprised to see the fight taking place in there. His grandkids, Ben Tennyson, and his cousin Gwen Tennyson, stared at it, shocked.

"What is going on in there?" Gwen asked Ben, who just shrugged.

Casper soon left the fast food restaurant far behind. He turned into an alley behind a pub, and gasped for breath.

"That was too close." he said, gasping for breath. "That mugger was scary!" he said. "I can't imagine what would've happened if he'd hurt me."

Casper trembled for quite a while, thinking of what could've happened.

Still shaking, he spent the rest of the day wandering around, hoping to find a safe place to sleep. At one point, he thought of going into the city park for a place to sleep, but he knew that place would be dangerous, for his parents had told him that gangs hung out there.

"I don't wanna meet another mugger like that one from the restaurant; in a park or otherwise." he said.

Soon, just as it was getting dark, he found a pile of cardboard boxes behind an old factory. "Good." he said to himself. "It'll be safe here."

He crawled into a cardboard box big enough for him and his backpack, and sealed it up. Immediately, he curled up, and fell asleep. fortunately, the night was warm.

Meanwhile, back in the suburbs, Michael, the boy from the original Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue Film, was in his bedroom, sitting on his bed, doing his homework, and reading a comic book at the same time, in a similar manner to TJ Detweiler in the Recess episode 'Bachelor Gus'.

"OK." said Michael, "One page of my favourite comic, followed by one math problem. Repeat till homework is done."

Suddenly, the phone rang downstairs. Curious, Michael put his comic book down, got up off his bed, left his room, and went onto the landing.

"I'll get it!" called Michael's dad, coming in from the kitchen, and picking up the phone from the landing. "Hello?"

From the landing, Michael watched as his dad enters the living room, with the phone to his ear. Michael stayed near the entrance to the stairs, so his dad didn't see his son eavesdropping.

"Oh, hi, Mrs Mitchell." he said. he listened. "What? Your son's ran away?! Oh dear me, that's terrible news!" he said, worried. He listens again. "What? No, I'm sorry, we haven't seen him, but we'll keep our eyes peeled." Then, he spoke again, albeit a bit more concerned. "Oh, I'm sure he's ok. Now, now, please don't cry, Mrs Mitchell..."

Throughout all this, Michael listened, feeling worried about his friend.

END OF CHAPTER

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Wow. Casper's new life has certainly got off to a rocky start.

Angelica Pickles: You're telling me! At least i never got into a fight with a bug in a restaurant.

Me: Uh, that's 'thug', Angelica.

Angelica Pickles: Well, excuse me, but I am still a toddler in this fanfic, you know. I can't pronounce words well yet.

Me: [sighs] Ok, Angelica, I'll take your word for it.

Angelica Pickles: Thank you.

Mirabel Madrigal: What next?

Me: Well, Mirabel, in the next chapter, you and the other cartoon characters will finally get to meet Casper's parents for the first time.

Cartoon All-Stars: ALRIGHT!

Me: Yes, yes, not so loud, please. Anyway, we'll see you soon.

EVERYONE: READ & REVIEW!