The Plan.
It was a good plan. Their plan. The best plan. A very good plan and they knew it. None could ever hope to contend with it. To do so would be to commit suicide. Any who attempted to imitate or copy would be destroyed. Annihilated.
There were only them. Them and their plan.
And none would get in their way.
"This is good, isn't it?" Shocker grinned, as he looked at the Interceptor. "I mean, this is really good. The best plan I've ever had. No one is ever gonna be able to compete with this. Nobody."
"I fail to see the brilliance," said the Interceptor, looking visibly unimpressed. "I mean, it's just stupid, isn't it?"
"Stupid?" Shocker looked incredibly offended. "You're lucky that I don't shock you back to last year!"
"I wish it was last year," said the Interceptor. "After all, at least then I wouldn't be in this mess. Beaten by cubs and partnered with the biggest psycho this side of the earth."
"What did you call me?" Shocker asked angrily. His paws crackled with his trademark electricity.
The Interceptor rolled his eyes. He was used to Shocker's antics by now. It was highly unlikely that this cub—powerful, though he was—would ever attempt to kill him. Like it or not, the Interceptor knew that he was necessary to Shocker's continued survival. Without him, he would just mope around for the rest of his eternal life.
"I called you the biggest psycho this side of the earth," the Interceptor said. "Sorry for speaking my mind. I'm serious, though—this plan is terrible."
"What's so wrong about it?" Shocker asked, turning and gesturing with a paw to his 'greatest plan yet'.
It was nothing more than a large rock dangling from a vine on a tree, hovering a few feet above the ground. It looked like the most awful trap ever to be conceived. Although Shocker, of course, failed to notice this.
"It's simple," Shocker explained, walking over to the tree. "Those stupid cubs rush by. We hide up in the tree, and wait for them to walk right underneath the rock. Then, using my powers, we zap the vine, and watch the rock crush the three of them to dust!" He laughed evilly. "Isn't it just so evil?"
"No," came the simple reply. "It's dumb."
"I'm beginning to get annoyed by your tone," Shocker snarled. "Just because something is easy doesn't mean it's stupid."
"It's not because it's easy," the Interceptor told him. "It's because it won't work. Don't you get it? I! Don't! Like! It!"
"As you keep saying," retorted Shocker. "Now, shut up and help me kill those little brats."
"You're a little brat yourself," the Interceptor muttered under his breath.
"I heard that," Shocker snapped.
"You were supposed to!" the Interceptor yelled. He sighed. "I give up on this nonsense. You're never ever going to kill them! Just deal with it!"
Shocker tugged at the vine that suspended the rock, pulling it taut and making sure it was secure. "For your information, I will kill them," he said, "and I'm going to laugh very hard in your face when I succeed."
"That'll be the day," laughed the Interceptor. "What even makes you think they're going to come here in the first place?"
Shocker frowned. "I never thought about that."
The Interceptor grinned, having proved his point. "Exactly. See? You're useless. Completely and utterly usele—"
Shocker clamped a paw over the Interceptor's mouth. "Hold that thought," he interrupted, before running off in a random direction.
Bemused, the Interceptor watched as Shocker made his swift departure. "Where on earth is he going…?"
"Wow." Tama stared straight ahead, looking more miserable than a dying elephant. "This is boring."
"Yeah," Tojo agreed, sitting on the ground, facing his 'wife'. Although he'd never agreed to marriage, of course. But then Tama had a very forceful way of making one do things. "It's so boring that… well, my mind has just stopped."
"We could pretend we have imaginary friends," Tama suggested. "And then kill them. That'd be fun."
"Yeah. Although I doubt my mind would be able to process the excitement," he said flatly.
Tama groaned in despair, tugging at the fir on her head. "This is hopeless," she complained. "After that strange incident which I can't remember, my mind just seems to be totally blank! I can't think of anything!"
"I wondered where you disappeared to that day," Tojo told her. "Where'd you go?"
Tama shrugged. "I don't know. It's like that part has been… erased from my memory, if you get what I mean."
Tojo narrowed his eyes in realisation. "Have you got amnesia?"
"No, it's just the way my fur sticks up."
He sighed. "I mean memory loss."
"Oh. Well, yeah, it's all gone. Specifically where I went, I mean," she explained. "Must have been something important— especially if a goddess like me wasn't allowed to know."
"A goddess?" Tojo almost choked on his own laughter. "I think goddesses take baths more often, Tama."
"Hey, I have my annual bath every year," Tama argued. "That's more than enough, in my opinion."
"Then your opinion is wrong," Tojo said bluntly.
"I don't like your tone, Tojo," Tama said. "It's like you're trying to upset me."
"You got that right."
Tama's eyes widened. "How can you be so cruel?"
"I'm bored," Tojo told her. "Animals do crazy things when they're bored. Like… you know…"
Tama just stared at him, confused. "What?"
"You know… doing what you do when the sun goes down," Tojo replied.
"What, sleep?" Tama asked.
Tojo shook his head. "No—the other thing."
"Ah. Breathing. I get ya. I don't know how that's supposed to help with boredom, though," Tama said, befuddled by the conversation.
Tojo shuffled closer to Tama. "Tama… didn't your parents teach you anything about the 'birds and the bees'?"
"Oh, yeah," Tama said confidently. "Totally. There're all kinds of different birds and bees. Like—"
"No, no, no," Tojo interrupted. "You're getting this all wrong. Look, how do you think we're supposed to make a family when we're older?" Tama had often spoken of having cubs of her own some day.
"Tojo, it's very simple," Tama assured him. "We use the Stork Delivery Service. They'll give us a few cubs in no time."
Tojo looked astounded. "The continued existence of my bloodline is doomed."
"Look, Tojo, if you have a problem with starting a family, then I suggest that—" Tama was interrupted when someone grabbed her by the throat.
She stared into the glaring eyes of Shocker.
"Hey, you're the guy who—" Tama choked as Shocker tightened his grip around her neck.
"Oh, no—another nasty cub," Tojo sighed, devoid of emotion. "Man, my life is dull."
"You're coming with me," Shocker told her, "and there's nothing that you can do about it."
"But I—"
Shocker zapped her in the head with a quick stream of electricity, and Tama's head lolled backwards. She was completely unconscious.
"And as for you," said Shocker, staring at Tojo. "You're in for the ride of your life."
He hit Tojo with a few arcs of electricity. He bounced across the ground, landing on his stomach. His expression of utter boredom still hadn't changed.
"Oh, no," he said blankly. "The pain."
"That takes care of that," Shocker said, placing Tama gently on his back and then walking away with her.
At least now he had a way to make his plan work.
"What was it you said about knowing how they're going to walk by this tree?" Shocker teased, as he strode past the Interceptor with Tama on his back.
"Why have you got her?" the Interceptor asked, pointing to Tama with a claw. "I thought you erased her memory already."
"I did," Shocker said. "But now I need her for something else."
"And what would that be?" asked the Interceptor.
"Well, I'm going to brainwash her into bringing the cubs right to us," Shocker explained. "They won't be able to tell that she's completely under my control."
"Somehow, I doubt that," said the Interceptor. "I'm sure—as we've learned in the past—that they're much smarter than we think. Ever heard of a term called 'underestimation'?"
"Shut your mouth," Shocker snapped. "I've had enough of your babbling already."
The Interceptor gave him a look of pure venom as he set Tama on the ground. "I'm going to kill you one day…"