Yaaaawn. Oi, what a rough day. Okay, welcome to the next segment, everybody, in which we will meet some new characters.
Chapter 2: Intelligence
Cleveland's sewer
"AAAHHH—OOF!" Katie and Yin finally collided with the bottom after falling down the trapdoor's slide. The two girls stood and brushed their selves off. "Where are we?" Yin asked as they looked around. They seemed to be in a sewer area with several rusted cans and puddles of toxic waste.
Out of the shadows stepped a boy, with black hair that scraped the bottom of his cheekbones in the front, toxic-green eyes, a deep scar reaching from under his left eye across his cheek to his left ear, multiple burns, a sleeveless black shirt and black sweat pants, which were cut just below the knees, black high-tops, a chain around his neck, and one hanging from the end of his pants, just scraping the ground, and a backwards black baseball cap.
The vicious-looking boy gave a wicked smirk. "Well, well, well. Look at this, Elijah."
A plain-looking boy, with tan skin, short black hair, wearing a simple white T-shirt, black jacket, blue cargo shorts, and a scar along his left cheek, stepped forward and said, "Yeah, Jeremiah. Looks like a couple of trespassers."
The girls stared confusedly at the boys as some kind of green gas flowed into the room. The girls took a whiff, and Katie asked, "What's that smell?"
"Did you guys FART in here?!" Yin shouted, hoping that wasn't the answer.
"I wouldn't breathe that if I were you." Jeremiah smirked.
The girls immediately began coughing and gasping for air as the gas seeped in. This time, another boy, with jet black hair (with a blue shine to it), green eyes, a lime-green T-shirt that read "Toxic" on it, a black hoodie, and ripped and faded blue jeans, stepped in. "Hey, Boss! Come take a look at this!" he said in a goofy voice.
Another boy stepped out; a fair skinned boy, with raven black hair and dark, mysterious midnight-blue eyes. His hair had midnight-blue streaks on its sides. The boy wore a blue, long-sleeved shirt, and a black short-sleeved jacket. He wore dark navy-blue pants, and plain white rubber shoes. The boy was also twirling a small cloud of gas in his right hand.
The boy stared at the choking girls and ordered, "Let them go."
"Ahh, come ooooon, Maaaaatt!" Leo whined.
"Do it."
The three boys sighed and waved their hands, pulling the gas back into their hands and making it fade. The girls took a moment to catch their breath.
After recovering, Katie exclaimed, "Hey! You guys are poisonbenders!"
"Poisonbenders?" Yin questioned. "Just how many types of bending are there?"
"A lot, actually. As you might expect, poisonbenders can control poisonous things like gas or waste. In fact, Darkrai told me the KND had a villain called the Common Cold. He said that he's a rare type of poisonbender."
"Well, she's right about us." The leader spoke in a dull tone. "We're the Terrible Toxic Four. I'm the leader: Matthew Dimalanta. That guy's Leopold Anderson; we call him Leo. The kid with the cap is Jeremiah Heartly. And the kid with the scar is Elijah Frantic."
"Wait…" Katie began to think, "Matthew Dimalanta? That missing operative from the KNN News? The one from Sector R?"
"Wait… YOU'RE with KND?" Matthew asked.
"Hold on, isn't she one of those Fascinating Siblings?" Leo asked, indicating Yin.
"Interesting Twins, you dummy!" Yin corrected. "And yes, but we're with KND now. We switched sides after our cousin, Nigel beat Malladus."
"What's the story with you guys?" Katie asked.
"Well, we're poisonbenders, as you guessed." Matthew replied. "And people don't like poisonbenders. That's the gist of it. After the bad treatment and neglect we faced from the world, the four of us met up and formed this little group. We jump from city to city and cause chaos, and this is our newest hideout."
"Well, judging by how you look, you all must have your troubled pasts." Yin said. "Ever consider using your powers to help people instead?"
"How?!" Matt shouted. "That's just how we got here! Every time we try to use our powers for good, it always ends badly. I used to live in the Philippines. One day, this factory explodes for who-knows-why, and it took everything I had to make the gas fly away from my hometown! But all it did was pollute the next town over. Riots were raised, and… I guess I was afraid and sorta bolted. Long story short, I met up with these guys."
"I used to live in an orphanage." Jeremiah followed. "The kind of orphanage that used candles instead of lighting. Gas explodes around fire, so whenever I used my power, I ended up destroying a wall or two. Eventually, I was just forced to leave."
"I'm from a town in Brazil." Elijah spoke next. "You wouldn't believe it, but the military REALLY have a problem with people like me. The officer in charge gave me this scar." He pointed at said scar. "I was able to escape, but, well… it's kind of a weird story."
"AND I… uhh…" Leo thought for a second. "I was just walkin' around town and I found these guys! Uh, but my sister makes fun of me! 'Course, she has weird shadow powers, so, I make fun of her, too!"
"But what about your friends from your old sector?" Katie asked. "Don't they miss you?"
"Doubt it. Why would they wanna be friends with someone who only stinks up the place? Besides, I don't need 'em. I got the gang now. These guys know how it feels. While everyone else holds their noses and walks away, we can stand each other's company!"
"Except Leo's." Jeremiah remarked.
"Shut up!"
Yin sighed. "Well, whatever makes you feel better. We'll just see ourselves out." They tried to walk forward, but Elijah and Jeremiah grabbed them.
"Sorry, girls, but we can't let you go." Matt said as the two forced the girls around to look at him.
"Yeah. Now that you know where our secret lair is, how can we trust you to stay quiet?" Elijah asked.
"We weren't going to tell anyone!" Yin shouted.
"Too late." Matt spoke. "Our secret's out, so we gotta make sure it stays in. Gas them." With that, Yin and Katie were forced against the wall, looking in horror as Leo gobbled some spicy beans and drank some soda. He grinned mischievously as he pulled his pants down and aimed his butt at them. They shielded their eyes and covered their noses, preparing for the incoming, awful doom. But to their extreme relief, Yang suddenly slid down the trapdoor chute, jumped, and knocked Leo to the ground, the boy's tongue sticking out as he slid across the floor with a goofy look, his exposed rear sticking up in the air.
"There you are!"
"Yang!" Yin exclaimed.
"Grr! Stop him!" Matt ordered.
Yin stomped on Elijah's foot and bashed his head with her own, while Katie back-flipped behind Jeremiah and punched him. The two girls plus Yang hightailed down the hall, followed shortly by the poisonbenders. As they got closer, Katie turned and gave a loud scream, unleashing a wave of dark-red energy, forcing the bullies to shield their ears in fear.
"That girl's a fearbender!" Matt shouted, his voice barely heard by the screams.
The trio started to run down a sewer area, running along the path on the side of a river of toxic waste. The bullies were pursuing, throwing balls of toxic. They narrowly dodged and headed down another corridor. "Heh! Bad idea!" Matt smirked.
As the three kept running, they stopped and gasped at the sight of strange, brown blob-like creatures with eyes glaring angrily at them. "What are those things?" Yang asked.
"Clinkers." Matt spoke, having caught up. "This was originally their hideout, but we made friends with them. Unfortunately, they don't like trespassers, either. Get 'em, guys!" With that, the Clinkers made farting sounds and released toxic gas from their bodies. Yin and Yang held their breath while Katie just screamed another fear blast at them, then continued down the hall.
The three passed small pools of toxic waste, where more Clinkers tried jumping out and attacking them, but Yin and Yang blasted them with their own 2x4 weapons. They were at another toxic river, littered with nuclear waste cans, and used the cans to hop along. The boys tried knocking them down by using their bending to make waves in the toxic, but the three only used the cans they were on to surf.
"Whoooaaaaa!" they exclaimed as they held onto the cans, jumping off after finally reaching safe ground. They looked behind to see the bullies using their bending to ski across, like a waterbender would with water. The three then kept running down another sewer river with just regular water. Regular dirty water, at any rate.
The kids stopped and gasped when they reached an area where several rivers of sewer water were flowing down slides into a bottomless pit. They looked back with worried expressions to see the poisonbenders on their tail. Yang gulped and said, "Well… here goes!" With that, they jumped and began sliding down the waterslide. "Jump!" Yang yelled, and just when they reached the bottom, they made a huge leap to the slide across.
They held tight to the edges as they tried to climb up. But as a result from the landing, the poles holding up the slide began to give way, and the three hurried quickly up to the top as the slide finally came down. They looked back across to see the bullies come to a complete stop before running over the edge; Leo was about to run over first, but the boy caught himself and flailed his arms frantically with a panicked expression, sighing with relief when he still stood safe. The girls and Yang exchanged glances before finally hurrying down the hall.
"IF YA EVER COME BACK, WE'LL KILL YA!" Leo cried, and he, Elijah, and Jeremiah burst into laughter. "Oh, man! I've always wanted to say that!"
"Come on, Matt! You gotta admit, that was funny!" Elijah exclaimed, punching his leader playfully in the shoulder.
Matt just sighed in disbelief. "I'm surrounded by idiots."
Yin, Yang, and Katie climbed out of a sewer lid and were back above the surface in town. "Phew! That was close!" Yang panted.
"No way am I going back there again!" Katie replied.
"Let's go home." At Yang's suggestion, the three were off.
Sector W Treehouse
It was nighttime at Sector W. Lee and Paddy were playing a videogame while Sonya just watched. "Hey, guys!" They paused their game to see none other than Harvey in the doorway.
"Harvey!" Sonya smiled. "The shrink potion finally wore off!"
"Yeah, about time!" Harvey stated grumpily. "Man, someone oughta sue that Rumpel Stiltskin! That was the worst thing in my life! I felt so powerless! Especially with Miss Loudmouth over here!"
"Come on, Harvey! You know you liked being my pet!" a girl behind him said cheerfully.
Harvey glared angrily. "Shut up, Angie."
In stepped a girl that was about Harvey's height, with light-brown hair, green eyes, a green shirt, white khaki pants, and bare feet. "You can honestly say you didn't like all those pretty dresses I put on you?"
"In all honesty… yes. I DIDN'T like them! And it wouldn't KILL YA to wear shoes, you know!"
"I wooouuld… but they squeeze my toesies!" Angie replied, wiggling her toes. "They just never feel comfortable for some reason."
"Well, that DIDN'T mean you had to shove them in my FACE all the time!"
"Come on, Harvey. You know you woved being Angie's wittle pet!" Lee retorted.
"SHUT UP, LEE!"
"I put the makeup on!" Sonya declared proudly.
"Ugh! Forget this! I'm going to bed!" With that, he stomped off to his room.
"You want me to read you a bedtime story?" Angie asked.
"SHUT UP!"
However, as Harvey was about to enter his room, he stopped when he noticed a shadowed figure sawing out part of his bedroom wall. When it finished, the figure looked around, not noticing Harvey, and leaped to the ground below. Harvey was about to chase after, but decided to head back to the living room.
He quickly said to his teammates, "Guys! There's somethin' you gotta see!"
Sonya, Lee, Paddy, and Angie followed Harvey over by the window, where they looked down to see the same shadowed figure breaking the part of the wall into smaller pieces of wood, afterwards hauling all that wood as it kept running down the street.
"What is it?" Sonya asked.
"I don't know. But nobody steals Harvey McKenzie's wall without permission! Come on, team! Let's go get 'im!" With that, the team of five followed Harvey out the door.
Sector V Treehouse
It was around midnight at Sector V. Everyone was sound asleep and the treehouse was peacefully quiet. Everyone, except Hoagie Gilligan, who sat up in his rocket bed with his clothes on. When he was sure that everyone was asleep, he climbed down and opened the hangar, hoping no one heard the tremendous sound of the metal door opening.
Hoagie ran over and looked over the edge. "The coast is clear!" he said in a hushed whisper.
"Finally!" Eggman replied, climbing up a ladder that Hoagie dropped down. "Hoof. This is not the kind of hour I'd like for sneaking into a base."
"Well, sorry, but I had to wait until EVERYONE was asleep. Like I said, we don't usually let adults in here. I've disabled the defenses, so we have nothing to worry about when I show you around."
No defenses? Eggman smirked in thought. Now's the perfect time for an attack! But I'll hold that off 'til later. "Ah-he-hem. So, Hoagie, this is your treehouse." Eggman said, observing the place with interest. "Did you build this by yourself?"
"Well… not exactly. It was built and owned by the original Sector V of the Seventh Age. But I did make a few changes to it! I made this Cheese Room, where we can get our cheese for nachos and stuff! 'Course, we had to blow it up to kill a bunch of mutated hair lice."
"Fascinating..." Eggman rubbed his chin.
"Anyway, this here's my C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.." Hoagie said proudly, leading Dr. Eggman over to said ship. "We use this baby for transporting villains to prison and stuff like that."
"You built this out of a school bus, attached to some rockets? And it flies?"
"Like a charm! I'd show you, but I don't wanna risk waking the others. But check these out!" Hoagie said, going over and opening a drawer, pulling out his Ultra Hyper Diffusion Rifle. "Now, I made plenty o' weapons in my time, but this Diffusion Rifle was probably my greatest! Neat, huh?"
Eggman took the weapon, studied it, and blasted at a wall, blowing up a huge chunk.
"Hey! Be careful with that!"
"Whoa!" Eggman looked surprised. "That much capacity in THIS little thing? It's just a magnet and some wood and trash put together!"
"Never underestimate the H-Man, Eggman! And there's plenty more where that came from!" With that, Hoagie led the scientist down a hall.
My, my. They're just pieces of scrap, but they have the power and potential to wreak destruction and havoc! This kid might be the real deal! Eggman thought.
"And THIS is our Generator Room!" Hoagie said as they entered the room with the many hamsters sleeping on their wheels. "We use, what Numbuh 3 calls, Hamster Power! These little guys keep on runnin', and so does our power!"
"You mean YOU use small animals to power your machines?!"
"No, just hamsters. We used to use guinea pigs until they went a little tribal."
It's like the son I never had! Eggman smiled with tears of joy.
"And now to show you my latest creation!" Hoagie announced as he guided Eggman down a hall, to a room with twin pods. "Behold, my Matter Transporters! Just put one thing in…" he began, pushing buttons and activating the machine, stepping in and vanishing, "…and it comes out the other!" He reappeared out the other transporter. "I'm still workin' on how to transport two things at a time without fusion."
Yep. This kid's perfect. "Well, I must say, Hoagie, these inventions of yours are QUITE eggenious, if I do say so myself! And you say that you wish to become BETTER?"
"Yes, I do. As great as they are, I just feel like they're not gonna be enough. We've been facing some really dangerous villains lately."
Indeed! Eggman rubbed his chin evilly. "Hoagie… how would you like to be my apprentice?"
"A-APPRENTICE?!"
"YES! Take your inventions to the next level!" Eggman exclaimed, wrapping an arm around the stunned operative. "A child your age with a brain your size is the PERFECT apprentice to this egg! If we combine our knowledge together, we can make the most EGGENIOUS inventions known to man, and all those who mocked us will be BEGGING for our help! And all those scientists that mocked us will be regretting the day they-" Before he could finish, his cell phone rang. The scientist answered it, "Eh, hello?"
"Salutations, fellow egg! This is Sheldon J. Plankton! Here to give you my weekly call, telling you to put your inventions to better use and STOP BEING SUCH A JOKE! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to use my latest and greatest invention to finally steal the Krabby Patty Formula ONCE AND FOR ALL! And once everybody starts eating at my restaurant, I WILL RULE THE WORLD! Hehehehehehehehe!" He hung up.
Eggman growled in anger. "Ugh… So, what do you say?"
"I dunno… I mean, I kinda have a job to do for KND, too, you know?"
"But isn't it all for them? To help them succeed? And if we put our minds together, we can create inventions like none the world has ever seen! Powerful enough to crush ALL our enemies… er, and protect our friends. And if you're lucky, you might even get yourself a girl." Eggman said, raising his brow.
Hoagie imagined himself standing on a stage and receiving medals for his inventions, the auditorium flashing with camera snaps. Abby walked on stage and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek. "Come on, Baby. Let's you and Abby go lick some ice cream."
The vision ended and Hoagie decided, "I'll do it!"
"BRILLIANT!" Eggman cheered, shaking Hoagie's hand excitedly. "You and me will be the GREATEST scientific team known to man! Now, to start off…" he began, turning to the transporters, "why don't we handle your transporter fusion problem? I think I'll take it back to my base and see what I can do."
"Well, it's sort of bolted to the treehouse. And it'll be hard to get it out."
"Heh heh heh! No problem!" With that, Eggman pulled out his cell phone and started dialing numbers.
Moments later, Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun came with a large truck with a crane attached, giving a thumbs up to Eggman. The mad scientist turned to Hoagie and said, "This may take a while. And it'll be noisy, too. Why don't you go to bed now?"
Hoagie smiled, nodded, and exited the room. He closed the door and was about to head to his room when- "Numbuh 2?"
"AAHHH!" he screamed when he noticed Abby in front of him, wearing her blue robe and white slippers.
"What are you doing up at this hour? Not tryin' to fuse yourself with those ants, are you?"
"Oh, I was just, uh… checkin' around!" he lied, smiling and scratching his head nervously. He immediately flinched when a loud, noisy screwdriver began making incredibly loud noises on the other side. Hoagie just fiddled with his fingers as Eggman continued to unscrew, and Abby looked suspiciously at Hoagie.
"WHAT is goin' on in there?"
"Uh… nothin'." But Hoagie just shut his eyes tight in embarrassment when a chainsaw sounded and began sawing off the wall.
"That doesn't SOUND like nothin'!"
"I, uh… left the TV on!" There was the sound of the chainsaw breaking down and somebody banging on it.
"Gah! Lousy piece of junk!" There was then the sound of a regular saw cutting off the wall.
"We don't have a TV in there." Abby said.
"I, uh… I installed it." Then there was the sound of the wall coming off, and falling and hitting the ground hard.
"You installed a TV in the transporter room?"
"Uh, hehe! Ya never know!" Next, there was the sound of the crane making beeping noises like a garbage truck as it tried to lift the teleporters. "Why would a crane make the sound of a garbage truck?" Hoagie asked himself quietly.
"What?"
"Nothing!"
"Hurry and put the wall back, you idiots!" Eggman ordered. Hoagie continued to blush as the crane lifted the wall back up, and Eggman pulled out a roll of duct tape and started loudly ripping it off. He kept putting the tape on until the wall fell to the ground again anyway, making a loud crash. "D'oh! Lousy tape!"
"There is some glue in the back, Doctor!" Bocoe said. Hoagie just stood there with Abby staring at him, growing more suspicious, while the doctor and his henchmen tried putting the wall back.
"Uh, hehe. I… better go turn it off!" With that, Hoagie backed up and entered the transporter room, noticing the wall taped and glued on and his teleporters gone. He looked outside the window to see Eggman in the truck, giving a thumbs up. As they drove off, they played loud and booming music, their tires screeching against the street. Once they were gone, Hoagie walked back out to meet Abby.
"You done?"
"Yep! TV's off! So, uh, what's up?"
"Uh… So, why were you in there again? It's past midnight."
"I couldn't sleep, so I just thought I'd fix them up. I've just… been thinking about what Numbuh 1 said." He scratched his head. "About how we'll need to be more prepared. That's why I think I need to fix as many kinks in my inventions as possible."
"Okay… but don't work yourself too hard, Hoags. Get some rest."
"I will, Abs. Good night." He left for bed.
"Uh, good night." Abby replied, waving good-bye at him, and giving another suspicious glare.
Peach Creek Cul-de-sac
Sector W continued to chase the mysterious figure as it ran off with the wood. They followed quietly behind as they came through a cul-de-sac. They hid behind a bush as the figure stood by a tree stump, with a squirrel perched on, and searched around for anyone who might be following. Not seeing Sector W, the being opened the stump like a lid and dropped the wood down, jumping in after. The gang exchanged glances and jumped in after it.
They looked around and found they were in some underground wooden hideout. They saw the mysterious figure ahead and quietly followed after, turning down several narrow halls.
"Where'd he go?" Sonya asked when they lost his trail.
Lee saw him enter another room. "Over there!" With that, they followed after him. "He went into-" They were stopped by Harvey.
"Shhh!" he hushed. They hid behind the entrance and looked questioningly at what they saw: an enormous auditorium with hundreds of wooden boards, with faces and clothes drawn on them. Up on stage was the mysterious figure, who was Johnny 2x4 wearing his Gourd outfit, his cape cloaked over his body as a high British accent sounded throughout the room.
"Friends… family… acquaintances… you are about to hear a horrible story… the story… of our people. The story… of us." The five kids gasped when Johnny opened his cape and revealed Plank 2x4, who wobbled forward and sprouted two twig arms from his sides. "I am your host, Plank 2x4, here to show you the story… of our poorly treated lives. Please note that these images may be too grotesque… for the wooden eyes to see."
"…." The many wooden boards remained silent and lifeless as Sector W gave confused expressions.
"Johnny, if you would." Johnny saluted and pushed a remote, showing a picture of Sector W's treehouse. "For years, humanity has treated our kind like mindless objects. Building treehouses out of our kind, which they use to play those mindless videogames, leaving their dirty socks and shoes all over our forms, dropping food and spilling sodas."
He switched to a picture of kids on a teeter totter. "Sitting upon our glorious hinds and heads while they joyfully move up and down." He switched to a picture of kids on a diving board. "Bouncing off our colorful selves with those foul smelling feet." As the clips switched, Johnny played some sad music on a violin. "I understand the images may be a little TOO frightening than I promised… and I'm sorry."
As Sector W eavesdropped, Harvey glanced to Sonya, who had tears in her eyes as she sniffled. Harvey punched her in the arm, making her rub it and shoot him a dirty look.
"All these years of possible greatness… wasted. We could've been more! But no. Just… cursed to be stiff, wooden boards, slaving at humanity's will." Harvey and Angie gave disbelieving looks as Plank sobbed up on stage. The British board turned back around with a fierce look. "But no more. For the spark of creation… will flicker… again. It's a BRAND new era. About… to begin." With that, the projector screen went up, revealing a large curtain. The operatives gasped as Plank pulled off the curtain, revealing a large tank of intelligence potion as he began to sing.
We've been chopped up and sawed
And left out in the cold
Humanity has cast us asiiiide!
Johnny just stood there, eating an acorn.
But with this potion in hand
We've been given the chance
It's time… we turned the tiiiide
The group watched as Plank walked down the center aisle, followed by Johnny, who carried a hose attached to the container.
Come join me and seeeiiize
THIS… opportunityyyy…
Toooo your destinyyyy
Johnny struggled to activate the hose, then began zooming around the room when it finally came on, the potion spraying all over the planks.
One single drop
Will be enough
To put you on toooop!
The boards shook and glowed with life, then started hopping about as they sang.
Intelligence
Say you'll lead the way!
Intelligence
Have a sip today!
We owe it all to Plaaaank!
Johnny held Plank up as he sang again.
One potion
Gives motion
To rule it ALLLLL!
The operatives snuck into the room behind some trashcans, getting a closer look.
It's a vision I've seen
It's the world of your dreams
It's an emerald in the palm of your haaaand!
With the power of speech
It is all within reach!
We can march OFF… to the promised land!
Some doors opened to the side and some planks began to march out. A spotlight shone on Plank as he smiled at the lady planks surrounding him.
But promise us, Plaaaank
You'll be our guiding liiiight!
Some male opera-planks sang,
SUCH an amazing guuuuy!
King of the Bark!
Lord of the Splinters!
THE PRINCE OF THE WOOOODS!
Intelligence
Say you'll lead the way!
Some planks playing on a teeter-totter sang, getting off, and the teeter-totter stood up as well.
Intelligence
Have a sip today!
Some planks sang as they jumped off a diving board, which sang as well.
And now it's thanks to Plaaaank
King of the Bark!
Lord of the Splinters!
THE PRINCE OF THE WOOOOoooooo….ds!
The light shone upon Plank once again, his eyes sparkling.
My music… is like God's symphony
And my voice… warms up your sooouuul
After ALL these things
That humanity brings
The tides have taken their toll
So, it's time to show
That we have controoool!
Intelligence
Say you'll lead the way!
Intelligence
Have a sip today!
And now that we have Plaaaank!
King of the Bark!
Lord of the Splinters!
THE PRINCE OF THE WOOOODS!
As Sector W tried to sneak back out, Harvey tripped and knocked over the trashcans. The plank army gasped and turned to face them. Harvey stood back up and blushed. "Uh…hehe!" he grinned and chuckled nervously.
"Great work, Harvey!" Angie shouted.
"Shut up!"
"INTRUDERRRRRS!" Plank screamed.
The hundreds of planks immediately charged and began bouncing on the five kids. Sector W was able to recover and kick and shoot the many planks away. "Johnny! STOP THEM!"
At his command, the gourd-wearing boy dashed up the ceiling, landed behind them, took his mop staff, and successfully knocked the group of five clean out.
Introducing the Terrible Toxic Four, who each belong to their respective owners: Matthew is Numbuh 6.13's, Jeremiah is Divagirl362's, Elijah is Depthcharge's, and Leopold is Dynamite Girl's. The song Plank sang was Joe's song from the movie, Help! I'm A Fish, but it was changed up to fit the situation, being planks! And the Angie you see here is my own, that I based off the LazyPencilLender's Angie, but with a few certain changes which you'll soon see.
Bonus: Emily's New Pet
"Where are you guys taking me?" Emily Matthews asked as her new alien friends, Cosmo and Nova, guided her through the woods, with Cosmo tugging on her right sleeve.
"You'll see once we get there." Cosmo insisted.
"I hope it hasn't been discovered yet." Nova said in worry. "It might've been destroyed after that invasion."
The three came to an open area of the forest, where they watched two hyenas fight over a dead rat. "Hey, it's still there!" Cosmo pointed.
"Uh… this is it?" Emily questioned.
Cosmo chuckled. "Naw! That's just our sooper clever disguise. Check THIS out!" With that, Cosmo pressed a remote, making the hyenas disappear and a modified alien S.C.A.M.P.E.R. take their place.
"HOLY CRUD!" Emily screamed.
Nova giggled. "Come in!" The doors opened, and the two aliens and their friend entered.
As Cosmo and Nova got in their seats, Emily walked around and studied the interior. "Whoa… a real live alien spaceship!" She still couldn't believe her eyes.
"Where we come from, these things are pretty common." Cosmo said.
"Perhaps you need to get out more." Nova joked.
"Now, hold on tight! We're goin' into orbit!" The two aliens pressed some buttons and felt the ship lifting off the ground. Emily sat and held tight to a chair as the ship tilted upwards and shot into the sky.
Emily stood and pressed her face to a window as the ship was leaving Earth's atmosphere, staring wide-eyed at the view. "Whoa… This. Is. So. Cool! I'm flying through space in a real live spaceship!"
"Yeah, you SHOULD count yourself lucky." Cosmo said. "You know how often we let teenagers aboard our ship?"
"Don't press your face too long, Emily, you'll get the window all smeary!" Nova smiled.
"Uh, hehe. Sorry." She laughed, taking her face off and sitting back down. "So, where are we going?"
"A place in the Nintendia Galaxy that's absolutely beautiful." Nova replied with a loving tone.
"You think EVERYWHERE'S beautiful, Nova! Even Nightmare Land!" Cosmo remarked.
"Well, they are! But wait until you see it." With that, Nova pressed a button, and the ship zoomed into hyperspace.
Over atmosphere of a mysterious planet
The ship came out of hyperspace over a planet that somewhat looked like Earth, only with different landmasses. "Well, here we are: Planet Poké." Nova said. (pronounced 'Pokee') "It's a planet of wonderful creatures called Pokémon."
"Pokémon? Like, from the games? You mean those things actually exist?"
"Sure they do! They exist everywhere. Even your world." Cosmo replied.
"Let's land." Nova said as the ship passed through the planet's atmosphere and soon landed on the surface.
As the ship opened, Emily was a little hesitant to step out. "Well? Aren't you coming?" Nova asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure. I've never been to another planet before. Is the oxygen safe?"
"Well, of course it is! We used to hang out with our friend Nigel here." Nova answered.
"Well… okay." Emily was still worried as she hesitantly reached her right leg out and stepped onto the planet's surface. (Play the "Valley of Avalar Intro" from Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon!) When it felt safe, she came out all the way and examined her surroundings. There were many strange animals frolicking about a beautiful grassland, where mountains towered in the distance. She recognized the creatures as Pokémon, and she couldn't believe her eyes. Emily felt like she was dreaming. This is the world she's always imagined, furiously hating the fact that it couldn't be real. She felt like she would wake up any moment, and none of it would have happened. …Still… it all felt too real. She's never felt more excited. Even if this was a dream… she would enjoy every minute of it. "…This.. is.. so.. AMAZING!..."
"We told you." Nova smiled as they walked forward, Emily agape at all the sights. "We heard that these creatures were created many ages ago, one of the very first and very important species created by the God of the Universe, Arceus himself."
"Woooww!" Emily gaped. "Does Arceus live here?"
"No." Cosmo shook. "Actually, according to legend, Arceus vanished from the universe millions of years ago, after going into a great rampage."
"What was he so angry about?"
"Supposedly, evil beings tried to harm and steal his children to use them for their own selfish gain. Arceus was outraged and tried to end all beings once and for all. The gods imprisoned him in a realm between dimensions and his children were scattered across the universe." Nova explained.
"Sounds terrible."
"The children were supposed to be the keys to awakening him, so that's why the gods had to keep them separated. To avoid awakening their Supreme God."
"But we shouldn't have to worry about THAT now." Cosmo said. "Something that happened millions of years ago shouldn't have anything to do with what happens today, and today, we're hanging out with friends on one of our favorite planets!"
"Hey, look!" Nova yelled happily, pointing to some alien kids. "There's Comet, Angela, and Talia! We know them from GKND." They excitedly ran over to meet with their alien friends.
"Hey, guys!" Cosmo greeted.
The alien kids turned around and smiled. "Hey, what's up!" Comet waved.
"Who's this?" Angela asked.
"This is our friend, Emily." Nova introduced as Emily grinned and waved, blushing. "Emily, these are Comet, Angela, and Talia."
"She saved us from some weird guys back on Earth." Cosmo explained.
"Well, any friend of theirs is a friend of ours." Comet smiled, shaking Emily's hand.
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Cosmo asked.
"We were looking for the rare endangered Zuri." Angela answered.
"Zuri? You mean like the one Cameron has pictures of on Harnita?" Nova asked.
"Yes." Talia replied. "You see, from what we heard, there are only two Zuris left in existence, a male and a female. We're here looking for the male one."
"What does it look like?" Emily asked.
"They're purple." Comet began. "With yellow stripes on their wings, yellow stomachs, and they're about this big." He held his hands a few inches from each other.
"Oh, you mean like that bat thing over there?" Emily asked as she pointed to a particular creature who seemed to fit the description.
"Yes! That's the one!" Nova exclaimed with a bright smile.
"Wait to go, Girl!" Cosmo said, playfully hitting Emily on the back.
"Well, I've always been a master at seeing the unseen. Still wish I had a way to see those ghosts, though. So, let's go check him out!" Emily slowly approached the creature, who noticed and turned frightfully to her. "Hey there, little guy!"
"! !" Frightened, the small alien scampered over to a rocky wall.
"Seeing new creatures in its presence make him frighten easily." Angela said.
"Aw, it's okay." Emily smiled at the cowering Pokémon, holding her arms out. "I'm not gonna bite."
They heard some sort of rumbling and looked up to see a huge boulder above the creature, falling fast down the cliff wall. The Zuri screamed as it hid its face with its wings.
Emily looked hesitant as she looked back and forth between the Zuri and the boulder. With a determined look, Emily immediately ran, grabbed the alien, and threw it away just before the boulder hit the ground. The smoke cleared from the impact as Cosmo and Nova's faces turned to horror, seeing their friend gone.
"EMILY!" Nova yelled, running over to the large boulder. "Oh, it's all my fault! I'm the one that wanted to come here! I could've run to save the Zuri myself! Now Emily's gone and it's all my fault!" She started to cry, and Cosmo patted her back.
"Uh… guys?"
At the sound of the voice, the two aliens curiously walked around the rock to see Emily squished in the tiny gap that was between it and the wall. "EMILY!"
"Hehe! Thank Arceus for my skinny form!" With that, she squeezed out of the gap.
"ZURI!" the creature cried, smiling as it jumped into Emily's arms, the 13-year-old hugging it to her cheek.
"Sounds like you got a new pet." Talia said.
"What are you gonna name him?" Angela asked.
"Um…how 'bout… just Zuri. It's the only name I feel comfortable with now."
"Okay then. Your name's Zuri!" Cosmo said to the creature. Emily continued to giggle as the creature rubbed against her cheek.
I don't really use Zuri much, though.