The Favorite Fives: Big Trouble in a Big City Part 3
In a part of the city, there were some cars driving by some lanes. The camera zoomed out to reveal some orange traffic cones. Some of them started to move. An object painted like a fire hydrant came out. The fire hydrant made a chuckle as it started to walk. The camera zoomed in to reveal that it was Crank who was inside of it. This will be foolproof! All I must do is to use this disguise so I can get across without being hit by those cars. The athletic boy thought to himself while walking. It was a good idea for him to make some eyeholes for him to view out of his disguise. That way, he will be able to check where he is gone. He suddenly heard some wheels approach fast. The kid dropped down to act as an inanimate object.
"Fire hydrant!" A man yelled from his car. He stepped on the breaks. Luckily, he did not hit Crank. The man sighed in response. He turned the wheel to make the car go in a curved direction.
"Yes! It worked!" Crank cheered to himself. He started to walk again. He heard some cars approach. Crank crouched down again to make himself look like he was nowhere to be seen. A couple of the cars saw the fire hydrant. They drove in another direction, but they both ended up crashing into each other. Both their air bags inflated inside the cars.
"Not again!" one person yelled.
"I just had this car fixed last night!" another complained.
Crank smiled as he got up. He tiptoed closer to his destination. Suddenly, a monster truck sped by him. It almost ran him over. This made him gulp in response while walking. Crank knew the drill when more cars approached. The drivers inside screamed as their cars started to fall towards the water.
"No!" one person screamed.
"This is atrocious!" a woman shouted.
"This is not the kind of dive I was aiming for!" a man called out.
Crank took his last steps, and he had managed to reach his destination. He looked back to see the destruction he unknowingly caused. "So glad our neighborhood won't be like this!" he said to himself. After running a bit, he looked at his clipboard to see the number of signatures still in the paper. Once he got to the safe spot, he waited patiently for his allies to arrive. After a few minutes passed, he started to wonder where the others are. He suddenly saw some figures nearby. One was a girl running and the other was following her.
"Hey, isn't that-?" Crank was about to say, but thunder crashed. He looked up to see the clouds looking dark gray. He decided to follow the figures to find out any answers.
Meanwhile, on another part of the town, Linka was still trying drive off the police officer that was hot on her trail. She hid behind a statue. The police car sped off past her. Linka got out of her hiding position.
"Oh, man. That guy is all over my case! Crazy thing is, I'm a nice girl. I must meet up with Steven and the others so we can get back home! But I don't think I can brush him off alone. I might need help from my friends," Linka spoke to herself. As she was about to run, she spotted some figures running by. One of them seemed familiar to the girl. Linka rushed over to follow the figures without going to any spots where she would be caught by any authority figures.
In another section of the city, Jennifer was busy finding a suspicious object she saw earlier. She ended up going after it. The cone started to walk across the road. It dropped in the middle of it. Jennifer saw the number of cars trying to avoid it, although they crashed in some areas that made some damage to the city.
"I don't know whether to feel bad or celebrate the city being damaged at this point," the tomboy spoke to herself. She adjusted herself to focus on the mission. She carefully walked to follow the cone. When it dropped, Jennifer hid in a nearby area to avoid being hit by the cars. She watched as the destruction unfold, and a wheel rolled by her. She shook her head in disapproval. It was a matter of time before she managed to catch the moving cone. But what she unveiled was a big surprise. It was a cat under a cone. It meowed.
The tomboy was confused. Why was a cat going in the road while hiding under a cone? As she picked up the cat, more cars drifted to avoid her. Luckily, neither Jennifer nor the cat were harmed. The cat meowed again. Jennifer decided to go to a safe area to protect it. She sat on a bench.
"This is one of the weirdest days of my life," Jennifer said to herself. "Just this morning, me and my friends were trying to save our neighborhood from being gone. After our first step in this city, there has been nothing but trouble. I don't know where they are now, but I hope they are safe. If there's one good thing that came out from this adventure, it's the fact that I found a pussycat to rescue from being hurt."
Suddenly, a claw tapped her on the shoulder. Jennifer turned around to see a giant scorpion behind her. It was Luke who transformed into the scorpion, but they don't know that. The cat hissed at him as it hid behind Jennifer.
"What is that supposed to be?!" the tomboy shouted in surprise. She got angry when the scorpion picked her up, but her expression changed when she was put on top of its hard shell. It looks like she and the cat were on a ride. To add the element of surprise, the scorpion smiled. Jennifer had no idea why the scorpion didn't finish her off. But they weren't going to question it because some police cars were in front of them.
One of the police officers stood on top of the car and held a megaphone. "Leave this city alone, you vile creature! Go back to the soon-to-be-former-neighborhood where you came from!"
This was enough to trigger Luke. With one of his claws, he picked up the police officer and threw him far away. The police officer screamed as he fell. The impact was brutal since there was an explosion made. The other officers stood their ground and attempted to aim their weapons at not just at Luke, but at Jennifer and the cat, too. Bullets flew in their direction, thankfully not hitting any of the three.
"Whoa! Watch it! You almost hit us!" Jennifer cried as she dodged the bullets.
"What else do you think we are doing?" the officer shouted back.
Jennifer was shocked to hear that. She held the cat safely when Luke the scorpion dodged some of the bullets being shot at them. He spotted a moving van, so he quickly crawled behind it so they wouldn't get hit. The van started to move, so Luke had to crawl in a speed that won't get him caught. In no time at all, he, Jennifer, and the cat got away. The cops threw their hats on the ground and stomped on them in anger.
Meanwhile with Daisy and Steven, they were still trying to find the other members of the Favorite Fives and Daisy's cat. They didn't have much luck for that, as they can't find them anywhere, not even in the area where they all agreed to reunite. So, the two kids decided to head inside a coffee shop to catch their breath.
"The day is almost over, and we haven't found a single trace of each other. I mean, I got the signatures to save our neighborhood, but I am not leaving this city until I find my friends." Steven said to Daisy as they went inside.
"I can tell that yous are a cobber, and I like those kinds of people. I am glad I decided to help you find your mates. Have a strong relationship with them, do ya?" the Australian girl replied.
"Yup, those guys are the ones I trust the most. We went on a couple adventure together."
The two kids ordered some frozen drinks to get their energy back up. While they were drinking their beverages, the door suddenly opened. Steven and Daisy looked up to see that it was Linka and Crank standing on the entrance.
"Linka! Crank!" Steven said in joy while going to them.
"Steven!" both the girl and athletic boy rushed over to him.
"Pardon, I take it that these are some of the mates you were speaking about?" Daisy said.
"Of course. These guys are Linka and Crank. Guys, this is Daisy. She is helping me reunite with you guys,"
"You're from Australia, right?" Linka asked Daisy.
"You betcha. Moved around here after Chrissie. My dad has a job here!" Daisy responded.
"Do you guys have animals like kangaroos there?" Crank popped in.
"Certainly. Maybe when you guys visit me one day, I can show you them," Daisy suggested, and the athletic boy nodded in response.
"Guys, I don't mean to break the introductions, but where is Jen and Luke?" Steven said.
Linka and Crank shrugged.
"Darn it," Steven commented. "We should have kept in contact. We need to find them!"
Their conversation was interrupted when the TV of the coffee shop started to make a news jingle. It was a reporter. His name is Mr. Link. He had black hair, white skin, blue eyes, and a big chin.
"We interrupt this broadcast for some news in the city. Good evening, I'm Mr. Link. Now, I'm here to cover the news of the city. There have been many incidents happening in here. First, there has been some destruction on some areas. Cars were destroyed, including a few that are burning. This caused a few citizens to be sent to the hospital. And city property was also destroyed, too. One major finger-pointer could be the giant scorpion in the town." Mr. Link announced.
Crank chuckled to himself quietly while Linka whistled quietly.
The camera slides to a screen. It shows a giant scorpion rushing through the town. And it was carrying two familiar faces. The kids can't believe their eyes.
"Hey, is that?" Crank stated.
"It's Jennifer!" Linka said.
"Crikey! That's my cat!" Daisy cried.
"Wait, that cat was yours?" Steven asked.
"Bloody oath! I am deadest on that statement! We have to get your mate and my pet back!" Daisy replied.
The four kids were about to leave, but there was more news they had to listen to.
"In other news, the neighborhood in Quiet Country, Ohio is about to meet their end. It will be destroyed so this city will expand. If the appeal is not met via the end of today, the neighborhood will be gone before its habitants will know it," Mr. Link concluded. "This concludes this news broadcast."
After that finished, the four rushed out of the coffee shop. They had a time limit going, so they can't waste anymore seconds.
"There must be a way to find that giant scorpion. We need to know how to attract it so it can follow us." Steven announced.
"But how are we going to do that?" Linka asked.
"No Wucka's, mate. We need to find what it likes so we can use the scorpion for our advantage." Daisy replied.
"Do you happen to know what scorpions like?" Crank asked.
"If I remember correctly, we need to find some logs. The little critters are attracted to those. But it will be challenging since this city doesn't have much logs around."
"I think I might know where to look." Linka chimed in.
"Really? What's your option, Linka?" Steven asked.
An hour later, the four children set up a trap for the scorpion.
"Good thing some areas I was hiding in had some logs." Linka said.
"Ripper! While we get that galah scorpion distracted, we can fetch my pet and your mate." Daisy concluded.
"You guarantee this will go as we planned?" Crank asked.
"This is our first and only attempt. Only way to find out is to put it in action!" Linka said.
The four children hid behind some bushes. They see that the scorpion was approaching.
"Whoa there, scorpion! Look! There's some logs for you!" Jennifer shouted.
Luke stopped to see some logs ahead. He walked slowly to them. One of the logs were picked up by one of his claws. It wasn't until the four jumped out of the bush and got on top of the scorpion. They rushed over where Jennifer was.
"Jennifer!" Linka, Steven, and Crank shouted as they got on.
"Guys! There you are!" the tomboy replied before noticing Daisy. "Who's that?"
"I believe we haven't met. Name's Daisy. I found your mate Steven one night and decided to help him find the rest of yous,"
"Nice. Could use the hand around here.," the tomboy shook hands with Daisy. "This city's gone crazy! It's trouble one step after another!"
"You're telling me. Some lunatic cop is after me just because I accidently broke some rules in the city. It's a relief he didn't catch me for now, but we have to get out of this city before it gets the best of us!" Linka cried.
"It doesn't help that some of the people around here aren't the friendly type. They are straight up brutal!" Crank shouted.
Daisy noticed the cat hiding on Jennifer. "Nigel? Is that really ya?"
The cat heard Daisy and hopped out of the tomboy's hands and into Daisy's head. It purred in excitement.
"It really is ya! I was so worried about you!"
"Wait, that's the pet you were talking about?" Steven asked.
"Fair Dinkum! She must have been chased by some creatures one night when she escaped!" Daisy replied.
Steven took a closer look at the cat. He suddenly remembers that night. "Yeah! That's the same cat that was chased by those dogs! It was lucky for me I followed them to find that cat!"
"I don't mean to interrupt this reunion, but has anyone seen Luke?" Crank squeezed in.
Everyone's eyes widened in panic. They were about to get off the scorpion, but they saw a couple of scientists approaching them.
"Hold it there, scorpion! Don't destroy anything else!" the lead scientist panted.
"We have a cure for you! Take it!" the other scientist held a beaker for the scorpion to taste. He grabbed it with his claw and chugged it down. The kids started to tilt, so they jumped off the scorpion just in time. In no time at all, the scorpion was back to his human self: Luke.
"Luke?!" the kids shouted.
"That is one phase I will never forget," Luke said before noticing the others. "Steven! Linka! Crank! Jennifer! You're here!"
The Favorite Fives reunited at last!
"Yes! This test has been a success!" the lead scientist applauded along with his fellow scientists.
"What should we do next, boss?" one poked in.
"We should probably get out as fast before that scorpion comes back,"
With that, all the scientists fled the scene. Crank started to give chase to them, but Daisy put her hand on his shoulder. "Let those hoons be. They aren't worth it."
"Good, now everyone is here!" Steven said, with the others smiling. "Wait, does everyone have their signatures?"
All of them held up their clipboards full of signatures.
"Nice! Our neighborhood is going to stay after all!" Steven cheered.
"I wouldn't count on that!" a voice boomed.
All the children looked behind themselves to see Mr. Link and the rest of the police behind him.
"So, you're the fools responsible for doing some destruction on my town. How peculiar."
"Hang on, aren't you that news reporter guy on the TV? This is your town?" Crank asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes to both questions. I got more than one job; you know. It helps pays the bills." Mr. Link responded.
"This means you are the one in charge of Operation: Destroy Quiet Country Neighborhood!" Linka cried.
"Sort of," Mr. Link said, with the other kids raising their eyebrows in confusion. "You see, although I am on board with demolishing your neighborhood, that does not mean I get the say of what happens next. That responsibility goes to my twin brother, Mr. Ratchet!"
"You mean if we take our signatures to him, we can save our neighborhood?" Luke suggested.
"You can, but it will not be possible since we will block your progress before you go further!" the man stated.
"One thing I don't get: why would you want to destroy their neighborhood?" Daisy poked in.
"Because I wanted to expand my city to be a rich guy around Ohio! But now that you idiots destroyed what I love, I will take over yours so I can have a new city there!" Mr. Link answered.
"Hey, you're that lawbreaker girl! Looks like you have accomplices!" the same cop that chased Linka spotted her. The girl yelped and hid behind Steven for protection.
"You're the crazy one around here, lunatic!" Crank yelled out. He noticed the badge said "Sneedly", which the boy grinned. "Better get a tissue, Sneedly!"
"That's another charge I'm putting on you kids! Boys, ready your tasers!" Officer Sneedly and the other officers pulled out their tasers and aimed at the kids.
"Guys, we have to go now!" Jennifer shouted.
The others responded while running off to their bikes. Luckily, they avoided being hit by the tasers since Daisy covered for them by using her boomerangs to hit the tasers. After getting on their bikes, they started to pedal to the exit of the city. Daisy hijacked someone's motorcycle and followed the five to protect them.
"Come on, men. They're just kids! They have no power over us!" Mr. Link bellowed.
"Let's go catch those lunatics!" Officer Sneedly said, as he and the other officers got inside their police cars to chase them.
"You think they are following us?" Luke asked.
"I can definitely say so!" Steven said.
"You mates keep going! I'll get those coppers out of ya way!" Daisy called. The Australian girl slowed down to focus on the police cars.
"Be careful, Daisy!" Linka called back.
Daisy swerved around the police cars to make some dust clouds so their sight can be distracted. This worked a bit, as some of the officers on cars were blinded and drove off. They ended up driving to a cliff. Some of the cops screamed while falling. An explosion occurred as a result when they crashed to the ground.
"You really think dust clouds can keep us off you? This is Officer Sneedly you are facing off! Minions, use motorcycle mode!" the police chief bellowed.
Some of the other police officers that had motorcycles sped up in front of Officer Sneedly. Two of them were about to crush Daisy.
"Daisy! Look out!" Crank shouted.
Daisy saw what the two cops were doing and smirked. She slowed down at the last second to make the two cops crush into each other. They lost their motorcycles doing so. They attempted to stand up, but they got run over by Daisy's motorcycle.
"We got to defeat the lead copper!" Daisy said to her friends.
"Does anyone have something that can help us?" Jennifer called.
Steven saw a bar up ahead. He got the idea to sneak on there. "Guys! Let's make a turn for that bar! We can hide there!"
His friends nodded while they picked up the pace. In no time at all, they reached their pit stop. Officer Sneedly stopped in his tracks as the kids hurried inside. Oddly enough, the bar was clean.
"What?! How is this place clean?!" Jennifer exclaimed.
"Thought it would be dirty like the ones in the movies!" Crank replied.
"No time to admire the scenery! We need to hide from the copper!" Daisy said.
The officer stepped inside the bar. The scenery was a lot of male figures drinking and ordering some drinks. He stepped up to one of the customers.
"Good afternoon, sir. Can you do me a favor?" Officer Sneedly said to the customer.
"What's it to ya?" the customer replied.
"Here's the deal: I am looking for six fugitive kids who were ruining my city. I chased them down and they went inside this location. Have you spotted them?"
"It is quite perplexing. I do not see why of all places some children would enter a bar that is only filled with adults," the customer said.
"Right. Thanks for the answer, anyway." The officer stood up and investigated the area. He searched under tables, the men's room, the dining area. His luck was about to run out until he heard some weird noises. He saw a bit of Linka's hair on the distance. While smiling devilishly, he pulled out his taser and walked over. "I got you now, fugitive brat!" He used his taser on his target. Screaming was heard as this occurred. The officer came over to celebrate his achievement, but it was dropped when he saw that the target which he had his eyes on was actually a man with long hair. His eyes widened when he saw the angry amount of people surrounding him.
"So, you think you can kill Big Ripto?" one man said.
"You have another thing coming if you are going to claim yourself as the authority figure!" another shouted.
The people from the bar grabbed Officer Sneedly. They went outside to decide his punishment. One man pointed at a garbage truck. They stuffed the officer inside the dirty trash can, but not before giving him brutal punches and crunches. One of the men threw the trash can onto the back of the garbage truck. They pulled a lever. Some yelps of pain were heard as the trash can was being crushed. The truck drove away as the men went inside back at the bar. Unknown to them, six kids watched the whole thing.
"Oh, my. That was very violent!" Linka commented.
"And crazy!" Jennifer added.
"Good thing we didn't get caught," Steven said.
"Mates, yous faced events like these before?" Daisy poked in.
"It is quite accurate that some of our quests can lead to some dangerous situations," Luke replied.
"Our adventures are something like this. We were involved with a chase for Jennifer's cake at school when we first met. We almost got ourselves killed when we tried to get rid of some creature that turned out to be evil leprechauns!" Crank answered.
"That makes it kind of unbelievable," the Australian girl replied.
"And the fact of Luke becoming that giant scorpion isn't?"
"Good point. Let's just head back to the neighborhood so we can save it!"
The six children drove off back to their destination: Quiet Country, Ohio. They parked their vehicles and got off. There were some construction trucks ready to demolish the neighborhood.
"How are we going to stop this?" Linka asked.
"We need to find the man in charge of this operation!" Steven replied before spotting a man in a business suit. "That must be him!"
The kids rushed over to the lead businessman, who was drinking grape juice.
"Oh, my! What are you kids doing here? We are going to demolish this neighborhood!" the man stated.
"We… know…" Crank panted.
"We… live… here…" Luke sweated.
"Goodness! You all should have left earlier! You will be forced to move away!" the man exclaimed.
"Don't worry about that," Linka caught her breath.
"We got all the signatures we need to save it," Steve concluded, before all the members of the Favorite Fives held up their clipboards of signatures. One by one, they all gave it to the businessman.
"I can't believe it. You actually have the signatures to save this place! This is outrageous!"
"What do you mean by that?" Jennifer asked.
"I know there are some protestors outside the neighborhood, and they were not enough to prevent this construction being made, but I never expected some signatures, let alone children to stop this decision. A deal is a deal, Quiet Country stays." The man collects the clipboards. He blew out his whistle to stop the construction. All the construction trucks stopped what they were doing and the drivers driving them put them in reverse. The damage was undone. The neighborhood was saved.
The five kids cheered in victory.
"We did it! Our neighborhood is saved!" Steven cheered, as he and the others high fived each other.
"All our hard work going through the city paid off!" Linka exclaimed.
"You little idiots won't see the day to be in your neighborhood again!" a voice erupted.
Everyone looked for the source of the voice. They found out that it was Mr. Link emerging from the sewers.
"Why were you going through the sewers, you maniac?!" Jennifer shouted.
"Remember how I said that city was mine? I have a network of tunnels in the sewer. Some even have elevators!" the evil man beamed a smile.
"Well, you are too late to stop us. We have the signatures required to save our home, Mr. Stink!" Crank shouted.
"Oh, do you really believe you can save your home? Well, you destroyed my home, so I am only returning the favor. And to prove that this is the end of you meddling idiots, I have here this TNT with me to make an explosive situation. Doesn't matter if you have the signatures or not! You and everything you love will go boom!" Mr. Link pulls out a dynamite box and a detonator.
"Get him!" the six kids rushed over to Mr. Link, but stopped in their tracks when they saw that the villain was also wielding a grenade.
"Not a step closer! Or I will ensure that all of you including me will become blown to dust! Even if I have to end myself doing so!"
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down there, sir! These kids reached the signatures needed to stop the destruction of their neighborhood! There must be some way to reach a compromise!" the good businessman stepped in.
"Really? Compromise this!" Mr. Link responded by pulling out a handgun from his shirt. He aimed at the good businessman, but before pulling the trigger, his weapon was suddenly knocked out of his hand. He found out that Daisy threw a boomerang to distract him.
"How did you do that?" Crank asked.
"I got skill, mate," Daisy replied.
"Don't harm that innocent man!" Linka shouted to Mr. Link.
However, that insult came with a comeback, as Mr. Link shot Linka on the arm with a tranquilizer dart. This caused the girl to fall asleep instantly. Steven and Daisy managed to catch her from falling to the ground.
"Linka!" Steven cried.
"Alright, you've gone too far, man!" Jennifer growled at Mr. Link.
Mr. Link was about to shoot more darts at the remaining kids but stopped when he heard a mail truck approaching at a fast rate. Before he can react, he was hit by it. The man screamed as the truck drove away. The children looked at each other in confusion.
"That was kind of anticlimactic," Crank said.
"Pretty strange, if you ask me." Jennifer added.
"Perhaps it is very late for us to do this type of thing. It is safe that we did not all experience a near-death experience like the time we found those leprechauns. I recommend that we should all get some rest in our homes now that we saved it." Luke declared.
"Good idea. But what about your friend?" the good man pointed at the unconscious Linka.
"We can take it from here. No Wucka's about, sir." Daisy stated.
"Please. Call me Mr. Ratchet Skinner."
"Alright, take care, Skinner!" Crank said, as the children went back to the neighborhood of Quiet Country, Ohio.
"Pleasure doing business with you all," Mr. Skinner tipped his hat before taking a taxi to leave the scene.
The six kids decided to take a pit stop to their treehouse before going back home. Steven removed the dart from Linka. Jennifer supplied some ice on her forehead. It didn't take long before the girl woke up. Everything was explained in a short manner. After all of them welcomed Daisy to the treehouse, they had to split ways. Once they exited the treehouse, a helicopter came above the treehouse and dropped a ladder. Daisy saw that it was her father controlling the helicopter. The Australian girl had to say her goodbyes to her new friends.
"It was fun while it lasted, mates. Wish I stick around for longer, but I better get back home. With the city gone and my father now concluded a job, its time for me to get back where I live since I have been a big help to you all." Daisy said.
"Yeah. Can't believe it all started with us trying to save our neighborhood and the way you met us was by clocking me on the head," Steven chuckled.
"You are one cool chick, you know that?" Crank smiled. "Impressed with your skills!"
"We appreciate you helping us on our adventure to save our home. It would be nice if you came to visit, Daisy." Luke stated.
"I reckon for sure that is quite possible," Daisy replied.
"I bet Australia is one great place to see as well, girl. We might be able to come check it out and experience some adventures there!" Jennifer exclaimed.
"Thank you so much for helping us save our home. And thank you for taking care of Steven. I hope we can see you again." Linka complimented.
"Nice. Yous kids are cool mates yourselves," Daisy said before giving Steven some paper. "Here is my address. Ya know where to find me with it."
The Australian girl winked before she climbed up the helicopter ladder. The Favorite Fives waved goodbye to her when she got to the seat. She waved back to them as her dad was adjusting the direction of the helicopter. The five kids stopped waving when the helicopter was out of their sight. They stared at each other in silence before they looked up to see the beautiful night sky, filled with stars. The children had saved their neighborhood from being destroyed, and they also made a new friend. Hopefully, their paths will cross again soon.