It was a dark and stormy night as the Rust Bucket rolled down a mountainside road in the pouring rain.
"Change it."
"No way! You change it!"
"What's going on this time?" Hope sighed.
"If I followed correctly, they share the same birthday. And they're arguing about what kind of party they're going to have." Hayden declared.
"Yuck! Who plans their birthday party six months in advance?" Ben exclaimed.
"The one that will celebrate her birthday on her birthday this year?!" Gwen exclaimed.
"I don't think so. Grandpa promised he'd take me to play laser tag on my birthday." Said Ben as he put his foot on the table and started scratching it.
"But you can't miss my party, Grandpa!" Gwen shouted.
"You've now had the same birthday for ten years, and if you don't stop arguing, neither of you will make it to eleven!" Said Max, tossing Ben a bottle of yellow powder. "Here, Ben. Try this on your foot. It makes all kinds of fungus disappear."
Ben looked at the label.
"Athlete's foot powder? Well, I'm an athlete."
And he began to powder his foot.
"More like a sports fan, if you ask me," Gwen scoffed.
Hope looked at Hayden.
"So, when's your birthday?"
"In April, why?" Hayden asked.
"Oh, nothing." Said she, twirling her hair nervously around her finger. "So, just out of curiosity, what kind of birthday present would you like?"
"Hmm... I don't really know, it's been... quite a few years since I thought about it." Hayden replied.
"Why?" Hope asked.
"Let's just say that for years I didn't have many people to celebrate it with." Hayden replied bitterly.
"Oh! Uh... sorry." Hope said, lowering her eyes.
"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault." Hayden replied, giving her a gentle look.
As they drove on, a boy suddenly appeared in the headlights.
"They're coming! Help me!"
Max braked hard and swerved to the side. The boy was sent tumbling over the cliff.
The camper skidded to a stop and Ben jumped out.
"Stinkfly to the rescue!"
He crashed and transformed into Cannonbolt.
"Oh. Can't this watch ever do anything right?"
He rolled off the cliff after the falling boy and caught him before he hit the ground. They hit the forest floor and rolled to a clearing.
The disoriented boy looked up into Cannonbolt's face.
"Are you all right?" Cannonbolt asked.
The boy responded by screaming in terror and fainting.
"Uh, I'll take that as a no."
Ben had taken the boy back to the camper van.
"Just a few scratches and bruises, it's fine. But he's completely unconscious," Max declared.
"His name is Gilbert." Said Gwen.
"Woah! How did you know that?" Ben exclaimed.
"Women's intuition." Smiled Gwen.
"And he wears a name tag." Hayden pointed out.
"He needs to go to Camp Opinicon." Said Gwen.
Ben noticed a large purple rash on Gilbert's arm and began to touch it.
"Ugh! That's a scary rash!"
"It's obviously some kind of fungus." Said Hope.
"I saw the camp sign a little ways back. They must have a nurse." Said Max.
"A creepy camp in the middle of nowhere and a mysterious kid with some kind of weird rash. Yeah good idea let's go." Smiled Hayden.
The Rust Bucket passed under the wooden sign bearing the words "Camp Opinicon" and parked in front of the main building.
They got out and peered into the dining hall building.
"Hello?" Max shouted.
Receiving no response, they entered to find the refectory in disarray, with an overturned table and chairs strewn everywhere.
"It looks abandoned." Said Ben.
"Yeah, definitely abandoned." Said Gwen.
Hayden walked over to one of the tables to find a plate of spaghetti.
"Still warm." He said before taking a bite. "Pretty good too."
Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder and the lights went out. Max turned on a flashlight and shone it on Gwen and then on Ben, who was sitting in front of a plate of spaghetti.
"What?! I was hungry!" Ben protested.
"This is good spaghetti." Hayden declared.
"Here." Said Max, handing Ben a flashlight. "You two can share it."
"As if we don't share enough already...? ? " Said Ben tartly.
"Oh, you're going to let it go?" Gwen exclaimed.
"Only if you let go first."
"Never."
"Well, never again!"
Hope rolled her eyes and drew a ball of light from her hand.
"Wow." Said Hayden, patting the ball. "Is there anything magic can't do?"
"Give you the courage to ask the boy you love out on a date." Hope muttered.
"What."
"What."
A cracking sound from the kitchen drew their attention. Hayden grabbed a fork from the table as they crept inside. They looked around and saw a few plates and pots on the floor, the sink full of dirty dishes.
Ben pointed his flashlight at the half-open pantry and saw a pair of glowing eyes staring back at him.
"AHH!" Ben shouted, falling back and dropping the flashlight. Hope moved her light toward the pantry to reveal two small children.
"Are we safe?" They asked.
"Are you two all right?" Max asked.
"For..." "...for now." They said.
"Then I warn you. If it's revealed that these kids are evil spirits. Fuck it, I'm burning the place down." Said Hayden, receiving a discreet nudge from Hope.
"What's happened? Where are the others?" Max insisted.
"We heard something outside, but..." Said the boy.
"We were too scared to go outside." Said the girl.
"I'm Andy." Said the boy.
"And I'm Mandy." Said the girl.
"We're twins!" They say together.
"Okay... they continue each other's sentence and talk at the same time sometimes... we're in an abandoned camp that a kid tried to escape from... where is Jason Voorhees." Hayden asked, receiving a look from Max.
Suddenly there was a clap of thunder and the twins ran after Max.
"Where are the camp counselors?" Max asked.
"Gone." Said Mandy.
"With all the others." Said Andy.
Max frowned and walked over to a wall phone.
"The storm must have destroyed the landlines." He said, pulling out his cell phone. "And there's no cell phone reception either. Let's get back to Gilbert. We'll go into town."
The group returned to the Rust Bucket in the pouring rain. Once inside, Max fetched towels.
"Here. To help you dry off. Sorry, but I only have two clean ones."
"That's okay." Said Andy.
"We'll share." Said Mandy.
They bundled up together in their towels as Ben and Gwen yelled at each other, pulling on their towels.
"There's not one to catch the other..." Hope commented.
"Yep." Said Hayden.
"I know a few kids who could learn a thing or two from you." Said Max to Andy and Mandy.
"Who?" Asked Ben and Gwen.
"And to think Gwen thinks she's better than Ben." Hayden sneered, making Hope laugh.
Max tried to start the motorhome, but the engine wouldn't start. He walked to the front and opened the hood to discover that the engine was completely covered by a gray growth.
"Huh. The engine's covered with some kind of mushroom..." He said as he closed the hood. "Well, looks like we'll be here for a while."
"And so it begins..." Said Hayden, shining a flashlight in his face.
"Will you stop for a bit?!" Said Gwen.
The group moved on, Gilbert heading for an empty cabin. Ben was scratching his foot and powdering it.
"Athlete's foot?" Mandy asked.
"Everyone here has it." Andy declared.
"Now, kids, stay right there. And keep an eye on Gilbert. I'll see what I can whip up for us in the kitchen." Said Max as he left the cabin.
"And here he is..." Said Hayden.
"Why are you quiet about this?" Hope asked.
"Because the rules of horror movies state that the main character always survives the night." Hayden declared. "There's also the cliché of teenagers being killed while kissing, but that probably won't happen in this one."
"Yeah, probably not..." Hope said as her face turned slightly red.
While they were talking, Ben and Gwen had found a package under Gilbert's bed and were fighting over it again.
"Can you two just take a break?!" Said Hayden.
"You don't understand!" Shouted Ben and Gwen.
"THEY'RE HERE! ALL AROUND US!" Shouted Gilbert suddenly, rising abruptly from the bed.
"Who's there?" Gwen asked.
Suddenly they hear a scream in the distance.
"That sounds like Grandpa!" Said Ben.
He was about to run away when Gilbert tackled him to the ground.
"They'll take you!" He shouted.
"Calm down." Said Ben. "I have animal instincts."
Before anyone could stop him, he was already out the door.
"He's so going to die." Said Hayden. "Anyway, we have to move too."
Ben fit irruption dans la cabine et a été frappé à la tête avec un balai.
"Ouch!" Ben shouted, holding his head.
"False alarm, it's just a dummy." Hayden declared.
"Should I shoot him?" Hope asked as her fingertips crackled with mana.
"No, not yet. But if he shows signs of infection, don't hesitate." Hayden declared.
"You're not going to believe this. There's..."
"...Killer mushrooms, everywhere!" Gilbert shouted.
"And they're taking over the camp!" Gwen added.
"Uh, that's right, and they've got Grandpa!" Said Ben.
"They must be a dormant species that came back to life when the camp dug into this new area. That's what I was trying to tell you when you nearly ran me over with your camper van! We've got to get out of here!" Gilbert shouted.
"I'm not going anywhere without Grandpa!" Said Ben firmly before he stepped out of the cabin.
"Same here!" Said Gwen as she followed him, followed in turn by Hayden and Hope and the camp kids.
"What do you think they want?" Ben asked.
They all looked at Hayden.
"Well, these kind of swarm creatures usually collect humans to feed on so they can expand their influence on a larger scale." Hayden declared.
Just then, a giant mushroom popped out of the ground.
"Like that, there." Hayden declared.
Other mushrooms began to grow out of the ground all around them until they were standing in an entire forest.
"Okay, they stopped. That's good." Said Ben.
"Actually, it's worse." Said Gilbert. "They're wolf vesicles, containing billions of mushroom spores! If these mushrooms mature and release these spores...?"
"They could spread to the whole state! Or even the whole country!" Gwen exclaimed.
"See? Gather nutrients and distribute them." Said Hayden. "There's probably a mother brain around here somewhere. Kill the brain and the rest will die."
"Okay, I'll get that brain!" Said Ben.
He started to walk away until Gwen stopped him.
"I'll go with you. He's my grandfather too!" Said Gwen.
"We may share a lot of things, Gwen, but we don't share this." Said Ben, pointing to his Omnitrix.
"Use the fire! It's the best way to eliminate an alien brain!" Hayden shouted at him. "Now we have to find the hangar."
"What for?" Gwen asked.
"The hangar is where we gather what we can and equip ourselves to fight the threat." Hayden declared.
"There's a hangar nearby." Said Gilbert.
"Lead the way!" Said Hayden.
They had passed the archery range when the ground began to shake.
A giant mushroom sprang up from the ground, carrying Andy and Mandy into the air before the hat opened up and swallowed them whole.
Hope split the air with a pair of mana blasts and cut the mushroom to pieces, and Hayden and Gwen pulled out the twins.
"Let's move!" Gwen shouted.
They began to run as more and more mushrooms emerged from the ground until they came upon a climbing wall.
"We've got to get some height!" Said Gwen.
"But the stone wall is reserved for older campers..." Said Mandy.
"Well, if you want to get eaten here, go ahead." Said Hope as another mushroom grew right next to them.
They all climbed to the top of the wall and found a zipline that stretched across the mushroom swamp to the hangars.
Andy and Mandy both grabbed the handle of the zipline.
"Me first!"
"No! Me!"
"They remind me of some people I know." Said Hayden, nudging Gwen, who rolled her eyes.
"Does it really matter right now?!" Gwen exclaimed, addressing the twins.
One by one, they made their way down the zipline over the mushrooms below.
As they continued to climb, a mushroom managed to reach the top of the climbing wall and bit the cable, breaking it and knocking the kids off their feet. Luckily for them, a mushroom broke their fall.
They stood up and saw that they were surrounded by mushroom creatures.
"Okay, everybody run!" Hayden shouted, pointing to the hangar.
They rushed towards the hangar. They reached it and were rushing inside when one of the mushrooms grabbed Hayden by the hair.
"Hayden!" Hope shouted as he was pulled into the waiting crowd of mushrooms.
"Take cover!" Hayden shouted as Gwen pulled Hope inside and slammed the door.
As soon as they were inside, Andy and Mandy began to argue.
"We wouldn't even be here if you hadn't made us hide in the kitchen!"
"Me? It was your idea!"
"Well, you didn't have to listen to me!"
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!"
Both froze and looked at Hope. She fell to her knees, holding her head.
"He's gone..."
Gwen put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, as if she were about to cry herself.
Just then, there was a loud knock at the door. They all stepped back as whatever was on the other side continued to bang on the door.
Hope stepped forward, mana crackling in her hands.
"Hope, what are you doing?!" Said Gwen.
"Getting even." Hope said in a low voice.
Her eyes crackled and her palms glowed as the door swung open to reveal a familiar figure standing in the doorway.
But Hope took no time to take in the figure's appearance and launched a blast of mana that struck the figure and knocked it over.
"OUCH!"
They stepped out cautiously and looked at the figure. And Gwen and Hope could see Swampfire.
"Not cool..." Swampfire-Hayden said painfully.
"Hayden?"
"Salut. I managed to turn into Swampfire, and the mushrooms scared the hell out of me." Swampfire-Hayden said, rising to his feet.
Hope hugged him tightly.
"I thought you were dead!"
"You're not getting rid of me that easily." Swampfire-Hayden said as his arm, torn off by Hope, grew back.
The reunion was short-lived, as Gilbert let out a terrified scream and pointed to a swarm of mushroom creatures coming their way.
"Calm down, Kid. I'll take care of it." Swampfire-Hayden said. He then created fireballs in his hands and threw them at the mushrooms, which exploded. "How do you kill a plant? You burn it."
"Or not!" Said Gwen as more mushrooms started heading their way.
"Oh, come on! I'm only one and you've got a hundred." Swampfire-Hayden complained.
"But they don't have a witch." Said Hope as she rushed towards them and began to cut them down. "How dare you try to devour Hayden!"
"Come on, let's go!" Swampfire-Hayden exclaimed, charging back.
Gwen and the other children watched in amazement as Hope and Hayden reduced the mushroom army to ashes.
Hope stared at the remains and crushed them with her heel while Hayden returned to normal.
"Do you think that's all?" Gwen asked.
"Eh, it's almost morning, so the movie's almost over." Said Hayden.
"It's not a movie." Said Gwen.
"Or is it?!" Said Hayden.
"... Non, it's not." Said Gwen.
"We can't laugh anymore." Hayden sighed.
Then they saw Ben and Max approaching them, covered head to toe in orange mud.
"The mycelium is gone." Max announced.
"But we still have to stop those spores." Said Ben, looking at the mushroom pods. Then he had an idea and turned to Andy. "You said everyone at camp had athlete's foot?"
The camp kids led them to the infirmary. Ben opened a cupboard full of powder bottles.
"Any bright ideas on how to get rid of all this?" Ben asked.
A smile formed on Gwen's face.
"Actually..."
A minute later, Stinkfly and Big Chill were flying through the sky, holding Gwen and Hope as they emptied their bottles onto the mushroom below.
After leaving camp, the Tennysons, Hope and Hayden celebrated with pizza.
"Good job, cousin. Couldn't have done it without you." Said Ben.
"Anytime." Said Gwen.
"And I was thinking... I guess I can celebrate my birthday anytime. Take the real date." Said Ben.
"That's sweet of you. But that's okay, you can have the real date." Said Gwen.
"Yes! I knew I'd get it after just one 'You can take the real date'!" Laughs Ben.
"Idiot!" Said Gwen, glaring at him.
"Oh, well. I guess you two really don't agree on anything." sighed Max.
Just then, their pizza arrived.
"Mushrooms?!"
"Yuck."
"Well, almost anything." Max said, biting into a slice.
"Too soon, Max. Too soon." Said Hayden before looking at Hope. "You know, I think I already know what I'd like for my birthday."
"Oh yeah, what?" Hope asked.
But she didn't expect him to answer by taking her hand in his under the table.
"Only to celebrate it with you." He smiled as Hope's face flushed in response before looking away from her friend to the floor with dreamy eyes.