The Shrimpo Cinematic Universe

by sixclaws_gaming

Summary:

The Shrimpo Cinematic Universe is a very... interesting AU of the Dandy's World cast and some things they get up to. It consists of short stories that all tie into a greater narrative. A new chapter is posted every Friday

Chapter 1: Shrimpo Goes to Taco Bell

Notes:

Cover art made by my good friend psi_enjiland.
link: https://www.instagram.com/psi_enjiland?igsh=OHBlY29wMm51M3I1

One night, after a day out at the lake. Shrimpo, Glisten, Finn, and Toodles were driving back home in Finn’s 2004 Honda Civic. The ride would’ve been relaxing, a moment of comfort after a day of fun…if Shrimpo wasn’t there. “I’M HUNGRY!” Shrimpo shouted from the back seat for the fifth time that trip. “We know! You keep complaining about it every TWO SECONDS!” Glisten snapped back, having been done with Shrimpo since before they’d even set out that morning. “Ok guys, let's calm down.” Said Finn, trying to keep the peace. “There’s no need to turn this car into a whirlpool, amiright?” …the silence was deafening, Finn’s poor attempt at a pun was not received well, though it did quiet the car… for about five seconds.

“...I’m a bit hungry.” Said Toodles who’d been quiet for most of the trip. “SEE?! EVEN THE BABY WANTS FOOD!” Shrimpo added. “FIND US SOMEWHERE TO EAT!” Finn sighed, shaking his head. “Well, since Toodles wants something too…we can make like a school of fish and stop somewhere.” Glisten’s head slowly turned to look at Finn, his face in a deadpan stare. “...Please stop, your puns are so bad.” “I’m just trying to lighten the mood.” Finn replied. “We’ll find somewhere to eat real quick and get back home.” Glisten groaned in response, he really just wanted to go home and stop being near Shrimpo. He looked out the window only to see the worst thing he could possibly see at that moment…the glowing white and purple sign coming up on the right side of the road that read “Taco Bell.”

“Oh perfect!” Finn said carefully, turning the car into the parking lot of the fast food restaurant. “YIPPEE!” Said Toodles excitedly. “I love Tacos!” She began bouncing excitedly in her little car seat. “ABOUT DAMN TIME!” Shrimpo said, impatiently. He then proceeded to kick the door open and jump out before Finn could even park. “S-SHRIMPO, that’s not safe!” Finn called out, it fell on deaf ears though as Shrimpo simply began walking toward the doors. Finn sighed and turned to unbuckle himself only to be met by Glisten’s annoyed face. “I am NOT going in there.” “why not? Finn asked. “Aren’t you hungry?” “NO!” Glisten replied. “I will NEVER step foot inside a Taco Bell, it’s not deserving of someone as perfect as me.” Finn sighed again as he unbuckled himself. “Whatever you say, Glisten.” Finn then got out, walked to the backseat and unbuckled Toodles from her car seat. They then followed Shrimpo inside the Taco Bell.

“YOU TWO ARE SO DAMN SLOW!” Shrimpo shouted the second Finn and Toodles walked inside. “I had to park the car and unbuckle Toodles.” Finn explained. “I didn’t know you were as hungry as a Largemouth Bass.” Shrimpo stared at Finn for a few seconds, his pun evoking an anger so great inside him that only Taco Bell could make him calm down. “I’M ORDERING!” He suddenly declared before stomping up to the counter, Finn and Toodles behind him.

The Taco Bell order was mostly normal: Finn got the Loaded Beef Nachos since he wasn’t very hungry, he also ordered a Soft Taco for Toodles and a Baja Blast for Glisten just to be nice. Shrimpo ordered the Crunchwrap Supreme, an order that some considered the most dangerous thing to order due to what it does to you afterward. “Ummm Shrimpo, are you sure you want that?” Finn asked. “That one is a bit-” “SHUT UP, YOU DUMBASS FISHBOWL!” Shrimpo suddenly shouted, cutting Finn off. “I WANT MY CRUNCHWRAP! IN FACT, I’M GETTING A SECOND ONE!” Shrimpo proceeded to order another Crunchwrap Supreme. Finn sighed as he paid for the meal, the three of them then waited for their food and sat down once they got it.

Their meal was good, as good as Taco Bell could be, though it seemed to be taking too long for someone. Finn’s phone suddenly rang, he picked up only to be met with Glisten asking what was taking so long. “I gotta take this, you two finish up like a fish stealing a fisherman’s bait.” He then walked off. Toodles, who’d been eating her taco, was staring across the table at Shrimpo who was violently consuming his Crunchwraps, he was done in less than a minute. “CAN YOU HURRY UP AND EAT?!” Shrimpo said. “Oh…ok, sorry.” Replied Toodles, taking another bite of her taco. After a few moments a groan was heard from across the table. Toodles looked up to see Shrimpo clutching his stomach. “I’M GOING TO THE BATHROOM!” He declared before sprinting toward the men’s restroom at full speed.

It was quiet for only a few moments, then suddenly a sound ripped through the building like an atomic bomb going off, it was a scream of utter agony coupled with the deafening roar of someone ripping ass, it was all coming from the men’s restroom. Toodles’ face dropped into a look of pure abject horror as she quickly realized what was happening in there. Finn slowly walked up to the table, his eyes locked on the door to the restroom. “...Is he alright in there?” The pun was an attempt to lighten the mood though it was unclear if Toodles even heard it as the sound coming from the restroom was so loud it drowned out the other sounds.

Outside, Glisten was waiting in the car. He was about to start dozing off when suddenly the car began vibrating erratically. Glisten was jolted awake and quickly saw that the car was, in fact, shaking and so was the Taco Bell, he could also faintly hear a constant scream of pain and agony coming from inside. “..what the hell is going on in there?” Was all Glisten could say as he stared into the building in utter confusion.

After five whole minutes the sounds finally began to quiet down until it eventually turned into quiet sobbing from inside the restroom. Finn tried to approach the restroom to investigate but the smell that hit him was so pungent and repulsive that he physically couldn’t take another step toward the restroom without gagging. Toodles wasn't much better, her eyes were wide and she had a thousand-yard stare.

It was another ten minutes before the door to the restroom opened. In the few seconds that Finn and Toodles could see inside they saw nothing but a dark abyss, though the lights in the room were definitely on, something dark was coating the walls. What walked out of the restroom was a skin-and-bones version of Shrimpo. He shuffled out into the main room, his head drenched in sweat and his limbs violently shaking with each small movement. After a moment of silence, Finn spoke up. “...Shrimpo, you ok?” “Let’s go home.” was Shrimpo’s quiet reply. He then shuffled as quickly as he could out of the Taco Bell.

Glisten watched from the car as Shrimpo, Finn, and Toodles walked out of the Taco Bell and got into the car. Shrimpo was uncharacteristically quiet as he stepped in. Finn quickly put Toodles back into her car seat and got into the driver’s seat. “I got you a Baja Blast, Glisten…” He said, handing over the drink. “Thanks…” Glisten replied. “...What happened in there?” “...Let’s not talk about that.” Said Finn awkwardly before pulling out of the parking lot and back down the road.

The car ride back home was VERY quiet, nobody said anything the entire rest of the trip. The only words spoken were from Toodles who said. “...That Taco was really good.” She was met with only silence. Shrimpo sat quietly, sticking his head out the window, staring out at the night sky, he looked utterly exhausted.

Eventually, after a smooth ride with only one bump in the road, the group made it home. They quickly and quietly piled out of the car. As they walked toward the front door Glisten whispered something to Finn. “Let’s go to Taco Bell next time we have to drive with Shrimpo.”

Chapter 2: Dandy's RV Trip

Summary:

At the same time as Chapter one, the other toons are making their way back home. This trip is more chaotic though.

Notes:

Cover art made by my friend psi_enjiland.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/psi_enjiland?igsh=OHBlY29wMm51M3I1

As Finn, Shrimpo, Glisten, and Toodles were driving back home from the lake, the rest of the Dandy’s World cast was driving back in Dandy’s RV. Normally, they wouldn’t have to take separate cars but with the Easter toons being present at the time there were not enough seats for everyone. Luckily, Finn had his 2004 Honda Civic. With Dandy driving it was sure to be a quick, relaxing trip home…however things would not go that way.

The issues began after Gigi stole Rodger’s book, which he’d been reading to pass the time on the trip. This started an argument which was only stopped when Teagan forced Gigi to give back what she stole in order to return the RV to its peaceful atmosphere. This argument opened the floodgates and small arguments began starting one after another: Connie didn’t have enough room because of Goob’s arms, Tisha got mad at Pebble for making a mess out of the luggage, Brightney got annoyed because of Astro’s snoring, these were only a few of the many arguments that erupted within the RV. The toons who weren’t involved in the arguments like Bassie and Flyte either tried to make themselves as unnoticeable as possible or watched them unfold for entertainment like Teagan. These arguments quickly got on the nerves of Dandy, who was constantly becoming more and more distracted from the road ahead by all the constant bickering. “Hey guys?” He suddenly called back, a noticeable tinge of annoyance in his voice. “Can we all stop arguing and just be friendly with each other for the rest of the trip? We’re all supposed to be friends here.” It was Connie who spoke up. “Well, if SOME PEOPLE would give me room then we wouldn-” Connie’s reply was cut off when Dandy’s head suddenly snapped back to lock eyes with her, his eyebrow twitched and his face was contorted in an angry scowl. “...N-Nevermind.” Connie quietly said as she sank back into her seat. Dandy took a breath and his smile returned. “Great! Now let’s have a nice, quiet ride back home!”

Dandy snapping like that sent the RV into a state of uncomfortable silence, nobody wanted to even move lest they make Dandy mad again. However, the silence would not last forever. A sound began to cut through the silence, a low droning noise that sounded like it belonged to an older piece of machinery. The toons began looking around the space for the source of the sound, they’d find it rather quickly. Turns out, the source of the noise was the RV’s air conditioner, it was turned up to the strongest setting and was blasting cold air out of it, causing it to make the droning sound. The one who’d turned the air conditioner up to max was Vee, who was sitting next to it. It was Brightney who spoke up first “Hey Vee, could you…maybe turn down the AC? It’s a bit loud.” “No.” Vee replied. “I actually can’t. I’m hot and if I don’t cool down I’ll overheat.” “Ok, but you’ve got that thing all the way up.” Connie said. “There’s really no need for it to be that high, you can turn it down a little bit.” “ummm no, I want to get cooled off as quick as possible so I think I’ll keep it turned up.”

A huge argument quickly erupted between Vee and the others, both parties yelling over each other. Dandy’s eye began twitching again, the argument was quickly wearing his already worn patience thin once more, however before he could turn around again the loud sound of glass breaking behind him sent the RV into chaos.

Gigi, who’d become fed up with the arguing due to it not being nearly as funny as the argument she’d started with Rodger had taken an item out of her head and thrown it in Vee’s general direction, not bothering to check what exactly it was first. The item in question turned out to be a brick with a piece of paper taped to the side that said “I HATE BRICK” on it. Vee on the other hand, did see what Gigi had thrown and ducked out of the way to avoid it, the brick narrowly sailed past her head and crashed through the window behind her. Vee didn’t have time to yell at Gigi though because a scream of terror rang out directly behind her. 

It turned out that someone was sitting next to that window, that toon was Looey, since he was a balloon animal, full of air, and the RV was going about sixty miles an hour, he was immediately sucked out of the window as if they were in a plane that was thirty thousand feet in the air instead of an RV.

Goob immediately tried to save Looey, using his arms to stretch out the window to grab him before he floated off, however that didn’t end up working because as his arms shot toward the window Flutter got in the way in an attempt to fly out the window to get him herself. Goob’s arms wrapped around Flutter, she got tangled in his grasp, and ultimately they were utterly useless. The other’s watched from the windows as Looey floated up into the air, flailing and screaming in fear.

“WHAT HAPPENED?!” Shouted Dandy from the driver's seat. He was met with mumbles. “Uhhhhhh…well…you see…” “Looey was sucked out the window.” Rodger suddenly cut in.” “Gigi threw a brick at Vee because the air conditioner was too loud.” Rodger was met with death glares from some of the others, they wouldn’t last long however as Dandy suddenly slammed on the brakes, flinging everyone standing to the floor. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GUYS!” He screamed. “IS IT SO HARD TO JUST GET ALONG AND BE QUIET?!” Some of the toons quietly apologized, some looked down in shame, and others tried their hardest to stay quiet and not meet Dandy’s eyes.

In the end, Flyte volunteered to fly up and try to get Looey back and the rest of the toons drove back in silence, the trip back was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

They’d made it back home as the sun was coming down, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the RV came to a stop, they were grateful that the trip was finally over.

Most of the toons went to their respective rooms to get some much needed alone time, Dandy stayed behind to wait for Flyte. He stayed by the entrance for quite a while. Flyte did return eventually, though he was empty-handed. Finn’s 2004 Honda Civic pulled in after a while longer and Finn, Glisten, Toodles, and Shrimpo got out. Shrimpo looked absolutely awful and didn’t say a word to Dandy or anyone as he shuffled inside. However, what caught Dandy’s attention was what…or who was wrapped around Finn’s car tire.

Dandy rushed out to Finn’s car and knelt down by the tire, he was met with the deflated body of Looey wrapped around the tire. Finn must’ve accidentally run him over and Looey clung to the car tire the whole way back. Dandy sighed, extracted Looey’s body from the tire, and went back inside. He had fun today but he was really looking forward to getting this crazy day behind him.

Chapter 3: Yatta Goes Apple Picking

Summary:

In this chapter Yatta and a few friends try to have a fun day at an apple orchard, though things don't stay fun for long...

Notes:

Cover art made by my friend psi_enjiland.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/psi_enjiland?igsh=OHBlY29wMm51M3I1

After the stressful RV trip, the toons needed something to do in order to get them to relax, some of them stayed in their rooms and relaxed by themselves while others went out together to spend time with each other. Yatta decided to go apple picking to relax and she also decided to bring some friends along. By noon Yatta, Goob, Looey, Sprout, and Cosmo had arrived in an apple orchard and were hard at work picking apples. The sky was clear and a light breeze was blowing through the apple trees. It was a lovely day to be outside picking apples. The toons were having such a good time that they were easily able to forget about the RV incident, it also helped that everyone was happy to get their hands on some apples: Sprout and Cosmo could use them in their recipes, Looey and Goob wanted to get a big pile to give to everyone else back home, and Yatta was just happy to be outside and having fun.

The group covered a lot of ground in the orchard, they wanted to get as many apples as possible, so they kind of split up. Yatta was scanning the rows of trees, picking low-hanging apples that looked good as she went and throwing them in her apple sack. As she stared up into the trees she suddenly saw it, the most perfect apple she’d ever seen in her entire life, hanging from a tall branch in the higher part of a tree. Its red skin shone in the sun and its shape was perfect, Yatta HAD to have that apple.

Yatta began to climb the tree to try and get that apple, it wasn’t too hard, she’d done more taxing things when performing but the branches proved to be both good handholds and annoying obstacles. As she climbed higher and higher the tree began to sway more whenever she moved, adding more challenges to her journey. Regardless, she pushed forward, climbing up toward the apple. After some time she was on the branch that the apple was hanging from, shimmying down the length of the branch, the tree swayed and the branch shook wildly but she pushed on. She finally got within arms reach as she neared the end of the branch, she reached out and tried to grab it, stretching her arm out to hopefully grab the apple. As she reached out, straining to grab it, she began to hear a very unsettling noise, the sound of wood beginning to splinter…

Looking behind her, Yatta saw something that made her start to sweat, the branch was cracking due to the weight she was putting on it, she was now on a very short time crunch. Yatta tried desperately to shimmy forward and reach for the apple but every movement she made caused the branch to crack and sag more. She was just within reach of the apple when it finally happened. With a loud snap the branch broke and fell from the tree. Yatta, suspended in the air, looked down, looked back at where the branch was attached, looked to the imaginary camera on her right, held up a sign that said “uh oh” on it, then proceeded to fall.

Yatta fell all the way down the tree, hitting several branches on the way down, each time she hit something a loud thwack sound echoed throughout the orchard and several apples fell from the branches she hit. She shut her eyes and braced for the inevitable moment of hitting the ground… she never hit the ground though, instead she suddenly stopped falling, going from hurdling downward to completely stopping in only a moment, something had caught her.

Yatta opened her eyes to see the ground sprawled out before her, she blinked in confusion wondering what was going on, then she began looking around. The first thing she took note of was that she was currently upside down, her arms were hanging past her head when she wasn’t trying to move them and when she looked at the orchard the grass and bottoms of the trees were at the top of her vision. The other thing she noticed was how hard it was to move her left leg, it was like something was stopping her from moving. She looked up at the tree to see that her leg and tails were currently all tangled up on one of the low-hanging branches, keeping her suspended in the air like a pinata.

“YATTA, ARE YOU OK!?” came a shout from Yatta’s left. She glanced around and saw Sprout, Cosmo, Looey, and Goob all rushing over to her from different directions. “Ummmm, I’m fine just…a little stuck.” Yatta replied. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you down.” Sprout assured her. “...We just have to figure out how…” Looey, Sprout, and Cosmo began discussing possible ways to get Yatta down: “Someone climbs up to untangle her tails, someone gets on Sprout’s shoulders and pulls her down gently, Looey floats up to get her down.” All of these ideas were fine in theory but had the risk of hurting Yatta or the others in the process. However, suddenly Sprout had an idea. “I got it, we can have Goob reach up and grab Yatta! With his arms, he’ll have no trouble!” “I think that’ll work!” Agreed Cosmo. “Let’s do it!” Added Looey. The group turned to tell Goob their idea only to see him not there, they glanced around in confusion but didn’t see him. “...Yatta, did you see where Goob went?” Asked Looey. “ummmm…I think he went off that way?” Yatta replied, pointing off into the trees. “Why would he do that?” Cosmo asked. “I don’t know?” Answered Yatta. It was just then that they all suddenly heard Goob’s voice coming from behind the tree where Yatta was. “Don’t worry guys, I’ve got this.”

Goob stepped out from behind the tree, in his hand was a really big stick. “Goob…what are you doing with that?” Sprout asked, concern beginning to creep into his voice. “Well how else are you supposed to get a pinata out of a tree?” Goob replied, raising the stick and winding it back like he was about to swing. Yatta’s eyes went wide with fear, if anyone knew what was about to happen it was her. “WAIT, GOOB, HOLD ON!-” But it was too late, Goob winded up the stick and swung it with all his might.

The crack that echoed through the orchard was sharp and loud, it was shortly followed by Yatta’s yelp of pain. Sprout, Cosmo, and Looey stared in shock and horror as Goob began repeatedly beating Yatta with the stick, each hit causing them to recoil.

After the first few hits they snapped out of their shock. Looey ran forward just as Goob hit Yatta again and was setting up another swing. “WAIT GOOB STOP!” Looey shouted, jumping in between the two. However Goob had already started his next swing and couldn’t stop in time, the stick slammed into Looey’s head and a loud pop rang out. Yatta, Cosmo, Sprout, and Goob looked in surprise as Looey raised his arms to try and feel his head, though he wasn’t able to feel it. His head had popped and was hanging down from where his neck was in a deflated rag. His arms went limp and he dropped to his knees. He then fell forward, completely motionless.

“Oh my god, Goob killed Looey?!” Yatta shouted. “You ba-” Yatta was cut off when Goob hit her again.

Sprout and Cosmo were quicker to react this time, rushing up to Goob to stop him from beating on Yatta, however they were too late. Just as they made it within arms reach, Goob swung again. This time there was a crunch and a tearing sound and Yatta suddenly fell from the tree, she hit the ground hard. “See? There we go!” Goob said, throwing the stick behind him, a satisfied smile on his face. “Back on the ground, safe and sound.” Sprout and Cosmo stared wide-eyed at Goob, then Yatta, then the tree. There was something VERY wrong. They stared at the branch that’d held Yatta up, her leg and her tails were still attached to it.

Yatta groaned in pain, moving her limbs slowly, lifting her head up to stare at Sprout and Cosmo, her face contorted into a pained grimace.

Sprout ran over to help Yatta, getting her up into a sitting position. Cosmo went over to the tree and tried to get Yatta’s leg out of the tree. As Yatta was moved bits of candy fell out of the hole in her body, she groaned in pain again.

Goob’s smile begins to drop as he saw how in pain Yatta was. “Hey…don’t worry Yatta. We can put you back together.” Yatta managed a chuckle. “I…feel like I know that line from somewhere…” Cosmo managed to get Yatta’s missing parts out of the tree, Sprout picked Yatta up, Goob guiltily grabbed Looey’s body, and the group started their journey home, they’d have A LOT to explain when they got back.

Chapter 4: Looey Gets a New Job

Summary:

In this Chapter Looey needs some money so he finds a job, how bad could it be? Also sorry everyone, this chapter is kind of short

Notes:

Cover art made by my good friend psi_enjiland.
link: https://www.instagram.com/psi_enjiland?igsh=OHBlY29wMm51M3I1

Looey was in a pickle, he wanted to get something nice for Yatta as a get well gift since she was still recovering from her trip to the apple orchard but he was completely broke. If he wanted to get something for Yatta that she’d really like then he’d have to do what no toon had ever done before, he’d have to get a job.

Looey looked through all the available ways to find a job: he looked through the newspapers, walked around for Help Wanted signs posted in windows, he even searched the internet. Unfortunately he was having no luck, nobody seemed to want to hire a balloon animal for any type of job. In retrospect, most of the jobs he’d applied for had prerequisites that he did not have like having a high school level education or a driver's license.

Looey was starting to lose hope after two weeks of no luck, it seemed like he wasn’t wanted anywhere. Just as he was about to quit though his phone rang, he picked up and quickly became overjoyed, one of the places he’d sent an application to wanted to hire him. Looey quickly accepted their offer, he would be working as a security guard and would start working that night.

Looey got off the bus across the street from where he’d be starting his new job. It was an older looking building and looked like it could use some fixing up. It looked like some kind of old restaurant, directly over the front doors was a sign that read “Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.” The sign had four animals on it: a brown bear with a top hat, a purple bunny, a yellow chicken, and a red fox with an eyepatch and a hook. The lights in the building were off and a light fog had begun to roll in, causing the building to give off an eerie vibe. “Wow, talk about a creepy pizza place.” Looey said to himself as he walked across the street and into the pizzeria.

Looey took a look around as he walked through the building to where his office was supposed to be, this pizzeria turned out to be just as creepy on the inside as it was on the outside. He walked through a desolate dining area, during the day it might’ve looked more lively since children would most likely be running around eating and having fun but at night it looked creepy. On a raised platform that looked like a stage was the most interesting thing though, on this stage stood three animatronic robots: the bear, the bunny, and the chicken. He didn’t see the fox but he did see another stage further into the room with a closed purple curtain and a sign that he couldn’t quite read from where he stood. These animatronics were huge, they towered over Looey, they seemed to be switched off though. “Man, you guys sure are big.” Looey said to the robots. “I bet you could probably crush me with your feet or something. Good thing I won’t have to worry about that.” He smiled and walked away from the stage, continuing to explore.

Looey arrived at his office just as the clock hit 12 AM, the first thing he took note of were the two industrial doors in the office, they looked really heavy-duty. “Why would a kids pizza place need doors like this?” Looey asked himself. He wouldn’t get to think up a reason though because the sound of the phone on his desk ringing suddenly grabbed his attention. He walked over and picked it up, also noticing the security tablet right next to it. As the man on the other end of the phone explained the job, Looey turned the tablet on and began flipping through all of the security cameras, he wasn’t paying much attention to the man. The cameras were grainy and hard to see through but they were clear enough to see the various rooms. Looey found himself coming back to the stage where the robots were. “Wow, these cameras really don’t do this place any favors.” He said to himself. “This place looks super creepy, good thing nothing’s moving arou-” Looey stopped talking immediately as he flipped back to the stage, the rabbit was no longer there.

Looey stood there stunned, he then began quietly laughing to himself. It was a nervous laugh and it got a little louder as he began quickly flipping through the cameras, trying to find the bunny. He eventually found the bunny in the backstage area, it was just staring at the camera. “Hahahahahaha…why are they moving!?” Looey asked aloud. His question would be answered by the sound of pots and pans clanging against each other coming from somewhere down the right hallway. “...H-Hello…is anyone there?” Looey asked, poking his head out into the hallway. He was met with a terrifying sight. Stepping into the hallway was the chicken, its beak hung open revealing a second set of teeth. It locked eyes with looey and let out a low moan. “...Haha, I’m in danger.” Looey said to himself as he darted back inside the office.

The chicken charged down the hallway the second Looey pulled his head back inside the office, Looey could hear its heavy footfalls rapidly getting closer. He hit the door button on the wall as hard as his balloon arms would let him, the door slammed shut just as the chicken came into view from the doorway, a loud clang rang out from the door a moment after.

Looey backed away from the door, breathing heavily, completely overcome with fear. “I-I…I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!” Looey shouted as he dropped the tablet and sprinted out the other doorway.

Looey ran down the left hallway as fast as he could, he rushed into the dining area only to be met with two more terrifying sights, the bunny was coming out from the backstage area and the bear was just walking off the stage. Both of the robots locked eyes with Looey then began rushing toward him. Looey screamed in terror and began running around the dining room, the bear and rabbit following close behind. Looey ran in a large circle around two tables, keeping the robots out of reach, after a bit he darted around another table, ran around the edge of the dining area and dove into the first place he saw that could hide him, the small stage with the purple curtain. He pushed past the “Out of Order” sign and ducked behind the curtain.

Looey hid in the dark stage, peeking out from behind the curtain. He watched as the bear and bunny both passed by him, searching the dining area. They looked around for a bit before walking down the hallway toward the office, Looey watched in suspense, holding his breath as he watched the robots walk away. He let out a sigh of relief “Thank goodness, I’m safe.” Looey whispered to himself. It was then that he heard a sound directly behind him, the sound of clicking gears and the whirring of electronics. Looey’s eyes went wider than they had been all night. In the corner of his vision he saw the shining outline of a hook slowly rising up over his head. “...He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” Looey asked himself before turning around, he was met with the sight of the pirate fox staring down at him, his hook raised up over his head. Looey screamed in terror but his scream was suddenly cut off by a loud pop. The pizzeria was eerily quiet for the rest of the night.

Dandy sighed as He, Finn, and Tisha climbed into Finn’s 2004 Honda Civic; they were all in a miserable mood this morning. “I can’t believe Looey was murdered at his new job.” Tisha said, dejectedly. “Who knew that those robots were dangerous? They were almost as bad as a shark!” Added Finn. “Can we just…go home?” Dandy asked, in his arms was the deflated body of Looey, he had a long slash running all the way down his body. “Yeah ok, buckle up.” Finn answered as he started the car and drove off.

As the group drove back home Dandy stared down at Looey’s body, he sighed and shook his head, this was not how he wanted to start his morning.

Chapter 5: Toodles Goes to Chuck E Cheese

Summary:

In this chapter Toodles has a fun day at Chuck E Cheese, though the same can't be said for the other toons she's with...

Toodles was bouncing with excitement, she’d been overly bored since the lake trip a few weeks ago and was eager for something new to shake up her day. She made her grievances known to pretty much anyone who would listen and after a while she finally got her wish. Now she was strapped into her little car seat as Rodger drove her, Teagan, and Glisten to what Rodger called “a special surprise.”

“Why do I have to come along? Isn’t this supposed to be a family trip?” Glisten asked, annoyance clear in his voice. “We get a discount if we’re a group of four.” Teagan explained. “So I’m just a way for you to spend less money?” Glisten asked. “No.” Teagan mused. “You’re our moody teenager who's here to have fun with his little sister.” Teagan chuckled, she apparently found her idea to save money to be quite humorous, her chuckle crescendoed into a full laugh as Glisten’s face lowered into an annoyed scowl. “Now everyone, let's not worry about the methods we’re taking to have this day.” Rodger said. “Let’s focus on having some fun.”

Eventually, Rodger pulled into a parking lot. Toodles excitedly looked out the window, the sight before her made her face light up. The first thing she saw was a large sign over the doors of a building, the sign read “Chuck E. Cheese.” “YOU BROUGHT US TO CHUCK E CHEESE?!” She asked excitedly. “Surprise.” Rodger replied. Glisten stared out at the sign, slack-jawed in utter shock and disgust. “...you brought me… Glisten, the most beautiful thing on this planet…to Chuck E Cheese?...” “Oh don’t worry, Glisten.” Rodger said, unbuckling himself and starting to get out of the car. “It’ll be fun, plus it’s not that bad in there.” “Yeah, It’s just a building full of screaming toddlers running around everywhere.” Glisten replied, sighing as he also got out. “It really isn’t that much different from the Gardenview Center.” Teagan points out, unbuckling Toodles from her car seat. “We have standards .” Glisten replied. “This place…does not.” “Well, unfortunately for you, we’re here. So let’s try to have some fun.” Teagan said, effectively ending the argument as she and Toodles walked inside. Rodger followed close behind with Glisten begrudgingly walking in last.

Toodles looked all around in wonder, in every corner she saw fun games, yummy food, and kids playing with each other. Once the group had entered the building Toodles ran off to start playing: She played games, won lots of tickets, and even talked to a few of the other kids around. She was having so much fun.

Rodger, Teagan, and Glisten were not having as much fun as Toodles, they sat at a booth and tried to watch Toodles from afar. Glisten tried to play a game or two but he just couldn’t deal with the loud sounds of children and the mess that the children made. Rodger ordered a pizza in hopes to at least enjoy something in this place but it was taking a while. “You couldn’t have picked anywhere…quieter to take her?” Teagan asked Rodger in a low voice. “It wasn’t my first pick, I’ll admit.” Rodger replied. “But that other kids pizzeria and arcade is still under investigation for what happened there a few nights ago.” “You mean that Freddy Fazbear place?” Said a familiar voice from behind them. The three toons turned to see the Chuck E Cheese mascot with a pizza in his hand, his voice seemed really familiar. “...Looey?” Rodger asked. “Yup, hey guys!” Greeted Looey. “...You work here now?” Glisten asked. “Yeah, after that really bad night guard job ended so bad this place was the only other place that would hire me.” Looey laughed awkwardly. “...Anyway, here’s your pizza. Enjoy!” Looey then walked off, very quickly being surrounded by a bunch of kids and pulled somewhere out of sight.

Glisten had walked off to go find Toodles, Rodger and Teagan had started a slight argument about how this place was starting to get on Teagan’s nerves and that the pizza wasn’t even that good, they weren’t really paying attention to him so he decided to simply show himself out. He eventually found Toodles just finishing up a game and collecting her tickets. “Hey Toodles.” Glisten greeted. “Glisten look!” Toodles replied, holding up a big fistful of tickets. “Look at how many Tickets I have!” “That's great, Toodles.” Glisten replied, trying his hardest to sound enthusiastic but ultimately failing. “Listen, Rodger got a pizza for the table. You wanna go get a slice or two?” “Sure!” Toodles said with an excited nod. “I’m getting kind of hungry.” “Great.” Glisten said, starting to lead Toodles back to the table. “At least now I’ll at least have someone to talk to.” He muttered to himself. However, as Toodles and Glisten neared the table they began to hear angry shouting coming from the table, shouting that seemed like it was coming from Rodger and Teagan.

“OH, SO YOUR JUDGEMENT IS ABSOLUTE?! DOES THAT MEAN NOBODY’S OPINIONS MEAN ANYTHING?!” Came Teagan’s angry shout the second Glisten and Toodles came into view of the table. Teagan and Rodger were standing up, in the middle of a shouting match. Teagan seemed to be more angry and Rodger looked like he really wanted to keep the piece but he was quickly becoming angered as well. “I’M ONLY SAYING THAT IF YOU LOOK AT IT LOGICALLY-!” “OH, SO NOW YOU'RE SAYING I CAN’T THINK LOGICALLY!” Teagan said, cutting Rodger off. “AM I NOT SMART ENOUGH FOR YOU?!” “...Glisten, why are Rodger and Teagan fighting?” Toodles asked, looking up at Glisten with big eyes. “...I have…absolutely no idea.” Glisten admitted, normally he would’ve found squabbles like this a tiny bit entertaining but this one wasn’t funny at all. “OH YOU SON OF A-” Glisten quickly covered Toodles’ ears as the fight had escalated to involve swear words, she’d probably heard them before from Shrimpo but it didn’t mean that she should be exposed to it. Glisten could only stand and stare as Rodger and Teagan tore each other apart, their words becoming more hurtful with every sentence. It was then that Teagan said something that made his jaw drop to the floor. “I WANT A DIVORCE!” “FINE, YOU’VE GOT ONE!” Rodger shouted back. “GOOD!” Teagan said, she then turned and stormed away with a huff.

Rodger let out a sigh, it was then that he noticed Glisten and Toodles standing there, Glisten had his hands over Toodles’ ears and his eyes were wide. “...I’m so sorry you two had to see that.” Rodger said, his voice quiet, he looked quite embarrassed. “...You have A LOT to explain to Toodles when we get back.” Was Glisten’s reply. “Rodger, why were you and Teagan fighting?” Toodles asked, uncovering her ears. Rodger looked like he really didn’t want to have this conversation but he sighed and knelt down in front of Toodles. “Teagan and I…We had a…a misunderstanding-” “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE ALREADY TRYING TO GET TOODLES ON YOUR SIDE!” Came Teagan’s angry shout from across the room. “I’m not trying to-” “DON’T TRY TO PLAY INNOCENT!” Teagan said, cutting off Rodger. “I’m just trying to-” Rodger couldn’t finish his sentence yet again, though this time it wasn’t because Teagan cut him off, it was because she threw something at him. What Teagan had thrown was a slice of pizza, he managed to duck under the slice and it hit one of the arcade machines. “Teagan, was that really necessary-” Rodger just couldn’t seem to get a sentence out, this time he was interrupted by the sound of…flames?

It turned out that when Teagan had thrown the pizza and it hit the machine, the grease from the pizza leaked into the machine and promptly got on the electronics, the electronics lit a spark and the machine caught fire, quickly engulfing it and later, the building.

Rodger, Glisten, Teagan, and Toodles watched the Chuck E Cheese burn from the parking lot, flames had engulfed the entire building and smoke billowed out of every opening. “...We really need to stop getting kids' restaurants shut down.” Glisten said. “First Looey with that one pizza place, now this one...Wait, wasn’t Looey in there?” At that moment a loud pop rang out from within the burning building and a burning shape flew out the doors. It was the Chuck E Cheese mascot, half burnt away. From inside the giant burn hole was the deflated body of Looey, having popped due to the heat. Rodger quickly averted Toodles’ eyes and started leading her toward the car so she didn’t have to see, Glisten and Teagan followed close behind. “Let’s get home. I think we’ve had enough…adventure for one day.” Toodles looked a little uncertain and scared but nodded. “Ok Rodger.” She said quietly.

The car ride home was completely silent, everyone thought that if they made even so much as a peep then it would start another argument. Glisten had his gaze locked onto the window, the events of the day replaying in his mind. He found himself feeling bad for Rodger, he knew how much Rodger hated starting arguments since he’s accidentally started quite a few when talking to the others. However, he did get where Teagan was coming from too, Rodger could sound a bit pompous sometimes, why she got so mad about it was beyond him though. Throughout the ride one question kept coming into his mind. “...When did they even get married?” That question wasn’t so important now though as it was clear that their relationship was over.

Chapter 6: Sprout's New Recipe

Summary:

In this Chapter Sprout tries to change up his baking by adding some...new ingredients, the results are very unexpected.

“THESE COOKIES ARE ASS!” Shrimpo shouted as he shoved several of Sprout’s freshly-made cookies into his mouth. “I HATE THEM! BE BETTER AT COOKING!” He then stormed off in a huff. Sprout looked down at the tray of cookies he’d just made and sighed, Shrimpo was always mean about everything but he couldn’t deny that his cooking hadn’t been at its best lately. Most of the time his baking was absolutely perfect, the others had only good things to say but recently they’ve been less excited. Sprout went to his friend Cosmo to ask for help, he told him that he’d been cooking the same thing for a while and it was becoming quite bland. Sprout took a while to think about everything Cosmo had said and decided that what he needed to do was change up his recipe.

Sprout scoured the vast reaches of the internet to research anything that he could use to spice up his baking, he would use his cook books but he’d combed through them all multiple times, he needed something that was truly new. The place where he seemed to find the most material turned out to be a website called Reddit, he found a treasure trove of baking knowledge through several subreddits. There was one subreddit in particular that caught his attention, it was called r/bakingchemistry and it appeared to combine baking with chemistry, Sprout found it really interesting, he thought that the information in this subreddit would be exactly what he needed to make his baking great again. He was able to learn a lot, mostly about how to put different elements into his cooking. He would need to get a lot of new equipment and some of these chemicals that these Redditors talked about but he had a feeling that this would all turn out to be great.

Within the week Sprout had all of the chemistry equipment, a huge supply of chemicals and powders, and was experimenting with new recipes. He put liquids in flasks, heated them, added some powders, and put them into some pastries and cookies. It started out rough, he didn’t really know what he was doing so most of his batches were either burnt or the chemistry ended up exploding. But with some help from the very helpful Redditors and some posts with sets of instructions he finally managed to whip up a batch of cookies that actually looked pretty good, they looked normal for the most part but there were these little crystal-like clusters sprinkled throughout them, almost like chocolate chip cookies. His joy was boundless.

Sprout had the cookies, now he just needed someone to taste test them. He really wanted someone like Cosmo to be the tester since he knew that he would give some great criticism and some suggestions but he would take anyone. After a bit of waiting someone finally walked by the kitchen, that someone was Looey. “Hey Looey!” Sprout called out to get his attention. “Can you come over here for a second?” “Sure Sprout!” Looey replied happily as he walked over. He saw Sprouts chemistry setup and the steaming batch of cookies and his face took on a look of wonder. “What’s all this?” He asked. “I’ve been trying to spice up my baking.” Sprout said, picking up the tray and holding it out to him. “This is the first batch I’m happy with but I need some people to try them. Wanna be the first one?” “Sure!” Looey said excitedly, reaching for a cookie. “Feel free to take as much as you want.” Sprout said with a smile, seeing someone so happy to eat his baking made a warm fuzzy feeling spread through his body. Looey ended up taking three cookies, planning to share them with Yatta and Blot. “I’ll come back in a bit and tell you what everyone thinks.” Looey said, waving goodbye as he left. Sprout had wished he would’ve eaten it right there but he was apparently getting more feedback by letting Looey leave so he just waited in suspense.

Sprout wouldn’t have to wait very long for that feedback, just as he finished a second batch of the cookies he heard the sound of someone sprinting toward the kitchen as fast as they could. He looked toward the entrance to see Looey sprinting into the kitchen, his eyes were wide open and bloodshot, he was moving erratically and breathing heavily. He stopped right in front of the counter. “SPROUT!” His voice was fast and shrill, his wide eyes darted all around and he couldn’t seem to stand still. “Those cookies were GREAT, I NEED more, do you have more?!” He began scratching at his arm, the sound of balloon rubbing against balloon filled the room as he pleaded for more cookies. “O-Oh, ummm…yeah, hold on.” Sprout said, he was a bit taken aback by Looey’s demeanor but his happiness that someone was craving his cookies was overpowering any hesitance. “I just made a new batch-” “I’ll take all of it!” Came Looey’s reply, just barely not cutting off Sprout’s sentence. “ummm…I was kind of saving some for everyone else but…ok, why not!” Sprout began putting all of the cookies into a bag for Looey, when he was done he had all 23 in the bag. Looey snatched the bag before Sprout could even close it then ran off. “THANKS SPROUT!” He shouted as he ran full speed out of the kitchen, nearly crashing into Cosmo who’d just walked in. Within seconds Looey was out of sight.

“...What was that about?” Cosmo asked, giving Sprout a questioning look. “Looey really likes my new cookies, apparently!” Sprout answered with a smile. “Yeah, clearly.” Cosmo said with a chuckle. “He looked like he was going crazy over them.” “I know, right?” Sprout said excitedly. “I forgot how good it feels to know my friends love my baking!” Cosmo nodded in agreement but his gaze finally landed on the chemistry setup. He stared at it for a few moments, then his eyes went wide. “...Hey Sprout, what exactly did you put in those cookies?” “Why, you wanna steal my recipe?” Sprout chuckled. “Just…humor me for a second please?” Cosmo asked again. “Alright alright.” Sprout said, he then began recounting the recipe he’d used for both the cookies and the chemicals he’d used. As Sprout recounted his recipe Cosmo’s eyes went wider and wider and his jaw began to hang open, his cookie recipe was barely different but those chemicals… “Sprout…” Cosmo finally said. “That's the recipe for meth.” “...What?” Sprout asked. “...That’s the recipe for meth.” Cosmo said again. “You made meth. You put meth in those cookies.” Sprout stared at Cosmo, his eyes wide and his smile dropping into a look of horror. “But…But I…It was on…I just went on…DID I JUST GIVE LOOEY A BAG OF METH COOKIES?!” “Y-Yeah.” Cosmo confirmed. “You gave Looey meth cookies.” “OH MY GOD, I’M SO DUMB!” Sprout shouted, immediately running toward the kitchen exit. “WE’VE GOTTA STOP HIM BEFORE HE EATS THEM!”

Sprout and Cosmo sprinted through the halls, trying to find Looey before he ate those cookies. “Where do you think he went?!” Sprout asked Cosmo. “Ummm…maybe his room?” Cosmo answered. “He said he would give some cookies to Yatta and Blot, can you go check on them, Cosmo?” Sprout asked. “Sure, I’m on it. I’m pretty sure they’re hanging out with Rodger and Glisten right now.” Cosmo answered. Sprout and Cosmo split off from each other, Cosmo going toward the main lobby and Sprout going toward Looey’s room.

Sprout made it to the door to Looey’s room quickly, he’d never ran that fast before in his life. Sprout tried opening the door but it wouldn’t budge, it was locked. He then began pounding on his door, trying to get Looey’s attention. “LOOEY, OPEN THE DOOR!” He shouted. “PLEASE, DON’T EAT THOSE COOKIES!” Sprout continued to pound on the door, when it was clear nobody was going to open it he began slamming his body against the door. It was then that a very angry voice rang out from behind him. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID STRAWBERRY?!” Sprout turned to see Shrimpo standing there, looking angrier than normal. “YOU’RE BEING SO DAMN LOUD!” Sprout never thought he’d ever be happy to see Shrimpo but there was a first time for everything. “Shrimpo please!” Sprout pleaded. “Help me. I need to get into Looey’s room, please, it’s urgent!” Shrimpo scoffed, crossed his arms, and seemed to ponder for a moment. “I-If you help me I’ll-” “FINE!” Shrimpo suddenly said, cutting off Sprout. “BUT ONLY BECAUSE I HATE LOOEY’S STUFF!” He walked past Sprout, backed up from the door, cracked his knuckles, then charged the door and punched it full force. The door splintered and flew open. “Thank you, Shrimpo!” Sprout said, pushing past him. “LOOE-” Sprout’s sentence died on his tongue as he looked into the room and took in the scene. Looey was inside, laying on his bed, his head turned toward the door. He was motionless and his eyes were glossed over, froth was pouring from his open mouth, in his hand was one of Sprout’s half-eaten cookies. “Hey Sprout, Yatta and Blot are fine, they-” Cosmo had come up behind Sprout and Shrimpo, he looked in and quickly became silent as well.

Within minutes everyone knew what happened, Looey had died from a drug overdose. Dandy took Looey’s body away while Rodger conducted an investigation of the scene. Once everything was squared away and it was clear that this was an accident Sprout took down all of his chemistry stuff, needless to say he would never trust Reddit or dabble in chemistry ever again.

Chapter 7: Scraps' Flight

Summary:

In this chapter Scraps accompanies several of her friends to an airplane museum, chaos quickly ensues.

Notes:

Sorry for being late with this one, I forgot it was posting day.

Scraps was having quite an interesting day, it’d started off pretty boring but quickly got better when Rodger, Glisten, Looey, and Eggson invited her out to an airplane museum. Scraps quickly accepted and soon she was pulling up with her friends to a huge air hangar full of planes.

“WHOA, look at the size of this place!” Scraps said as she got out of the car. “Well, it does need to be large to adequately store the planes.” Rodger said. “Aren’t you supposed to nerd out about the planes?” Glisten asked, strutting up beside him. Rodger cleared his throat and nodded. “Y-Yes, let’s get inside. There’s plenty to see.” “Oh boy, I’m so excited!” Looey said excitedly, running ahead toward the door. “Slow down there, youngster. The planes aren’t going anywhere.” Chuckled Eggson as he shuffled along.” Seeing her friends all excited only fueled Scraps’ excitement, she could feel that this was going to be a good time. She quickly followed the others inside the hangar.

Scraps looked around in awe, the hangar was full of older planes, most being military aircraft. “Look at all this!” Scraps said pointing all around. “These are all so cool, I’m starting to get some inspiration for some craft projects.” “Well, we have all day so feel free to observe as much as you want.” Said Rodger.

Looking around the hangar filled Scraps with wonder, all of the old planes looked so cool with interesting shapes and some had nice paint jobs. They really got her creative juices flowing and she began imagining craft project ideas in her head. The others seemed to be having fun too. “Oh wow, look how big that plane is.” Looey would say with a laugh. “Glisten, doesn’t this one look unique?” Rodger would ask Glisten. “Ummm…yeah, it looks a bit different.” Glisten would respond. “This one reminds me of my teens.” Eggson would say to himself. It was a very enjoyable time.

After some time Scraps broke off from the group, choosing to go down a different row of planes by the door. These planes were newer military fighter jets, there was an F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-35 Lightning II,  and several others. Scraps took a real liking to the F-16, she found its size and shape nice to look at. That’s when an idea crept its way into her brain “I bet I could make a little sculpture of this thing.” She began examining the plane, trying to memorize every little detail so she could make the best craft project of this plane that she could manage. “I need to get on top of this thing, then I’ll be able to make my sculpture.” She thought to herself. She managed to get on top of the jet by jumping up and grabbing onto one of the wings and hauling herself up, she then began walking all over the top of it. She was just about done looking over it when she saw the cockpit, it was propped open just like all of the other jets. “Ooh, that’s a lot of buttons.” She said to herself as she looked into the small space. “I’ll need a close look to get this memorized.” Scraps lowered herself into the small seat of the cockpit and began looking around, full of wonder from all of the complex buttons and switches. As she directed her attention to one side of the cockpit her tail began swaying, it slowly moved across the other side and accidentally pressed a few of the buttons. Scraps suddenly became aware of a sound, the sound of the engine starting up…

Rodger, Glisten, looey, and Eggson had taken a break for lunch, luckily for them there were several food stalls around. They were sitting around eating some hotdogs. “Hey, has anyone seen Scraps?” Looey asked. “It has been a while since I last saw her…” Rodger admitted. “I bet she got distracted by something.” Glisten said. “You know how she is.” The others seemed to accept Glisten’s theory and continued eating. As they ate they began to hear a commotion behind them, they turned around and saw a bunch of people running toward the other end of the hangar. “What do you think is going on over there?” Glisten asked. “I’m not sure…” Rodger replied. “Perhaps we should investigate?” “...Eh, why not. I’m bored anyway.” Glisten said.

By the time Rodger, Looey, Glisten, and Eggson made it to the other side of the hangar a crowd had formed around the door. Something Rodger took note of was that the F-16 that was there before was gone. They pushed through the crowd and made it outside. “What’s even going on?” Glisten asked. “I don’t see anything.” “You think it has something to do with the plane flying around up there?” Eggson asked, pointing his cane up to the sky. The others looked up and their jaws all dropped. Up in the air, flying erratically, was the missing F-16 and inside the cockpit, clear as day was Scraps, screaming in terror and frantically messing with every control inside. “WHAT THE HELL?!” Glisten shouted, astonished. “H-How did she get that thing in the air?!” Looey asked. “That reminds me of the beaches of Normandy.” Said Eggson with a chuckle. He was met with strange looks from the others.

Up in the jet, Scraps was freaking out. Lights were blinking, alerts were blaring, and the whole thing shook wildly. She tried taking control with the throttle and joystick, nothing was working, the jet turned, spun, shot up, and spiraled down. She grabbed a lever and pulled it up in an act of desperation, the sound of the engine suddenly started to quiet down until it went silent, within the next second she started going down. As her speed increased she quickly realized that she’d turned the engine off.

On the ground, the others watched as the jet suddenly seemed to lose thrust and begin freefalling. “Oh, look at that. She’s coming down!” Looey said, relieved. “Actually, sonny.” Eggson corrected. “Looks like she’s plummeting.” “Yeah, plummeting straight AT US!” Glisten added, his voice rising to a shout of fear. The jet seemed to be falling straight for where the crowd was standing. Glisten grabbed Rodger and Eggson’s hands and began running into the hangar, the rest of the crowd quickly began running for cover too. Looey was so caught off guard by the sudden chaos that he tripped over when he started running. He looked up only to see the jet filling his vision. “Uh oh-” Looey’s sentence was very violently cut off by the jet crashing into him at full force, it promptly exploded in a fiery inferno of twisted metal.

Rodger and Glisten were the first to run out to see the wreckage. They quickly saw the rags of what used to be Looey, he was not only crushed by the jet but also mostly incinerated by the following explosion. What was odd was that Scraps wasn’t among the wreckage. “Hey Rodger, look there.” Glisten said, pointing up to the sky. Rodger looked up to see a dark circular shape slowly descending from the sky. It took a second but he quickly realized what it was. “That's a parachute!”

The parachute slowly approached the ground, the chair attached to it was the first to touch down, the parachute then slowly descended to cover it. Something began moving from under the parachute and within a few seconds Scraps crawled out from under the parachute. “That…was really crazy!” She said between deep breaths. “Scraps, how did you manage to do this?!” Rodger asked. “I…accidentally started the plane.” She admitted. “It rolled out of the hangar and took off, I couldn’t control it. I guess I turned it off because I suddenly started falling, lucky me I found the eject button.” She stared at the flaming remnants of the jet, then chuckled nervously. “Good thing I did too, that wouldn’t have felt too good.” “I bet Looey will agree.” Glisten said. “...what do you mean?” Scraps asked. “The jet…fell on Looey when it crashed.” Rodger said, not meeting Scraps’ gaze. Needless to say, Scraps was devastated, falling to her knees and beginning to cry.

It took some time to get everything to calm down but eventually the fire was put out, and Scraps stopped crying. Rodger managed to get parts of Looey out from the wreckage and soon they’d all piled into the car and were driving back home. The ride back was silent, nobody dared to speak…except when Eggson said. “That crash reminds me of my time at Pearl Harbor.” The others stared at Eggson, wide-eyed. Eggson then proceeded to start a long-winded story about Pearl Harbor that lasted pretty much the entire rest of the trip. Scraps tried to block out the story by staring out the window, it didn’t really work. She did decide something though, she definitely wouldn’t be doing anything plane related for a long time.

Chapter 8: Astro's Ritual

Summary:

In this chapter, Astro is roped into some shenanigans by Vee and Connie while he's trying to sleep, the ensuing activities devolve into chaos quickly.

All Astro wanted to do was sleep, to get into his nice soft bed and leave the world behind in favor of his dreams. He’d been having a rough day, his boyfriend Dandy had been distant from him lately which wasn’t like him. He would not get to retreat from reality though because at about 1 AM Vee and Connie busted down his door. “ASTRO, GET UP!” Vee said loudly. “WE NEED YOU FOR THIS THING WE’RE DOING.” “W-What…It’s late though, can’t you-?” “It has to be now.” Connie said, cutting off Astro. “Otherwise, it won’t work.” “What…what are you even doing?” Astro asked hesitantly. “You’ll see.” Vee replied, grabbing onto Astro and hauling him out of bed. “It’ll be really entertaining, trust us.”

That was how Astro managed to get himself into this situation, now he was sitting in a circle with Vee and Connie in a room lit only by candles. What they were sitting around was a large circle painted on the floor with what Astro hoped was red paint. “ummmm…What even is this?” Astro asked. “Isn’t it obvious?” Connie asked in reply. “We’re gonna summon an evil spirit!” “What?!” Astro exclaimed. “Why would you want to do that?!” “Because it’s fun?” Connie answered, sounding confused as to why Astro wouldn’t find this enjoyable. “Plus, it’ll make for some entertaining television.” Vee added. “Astro sighed and shook his head, Vee and Connie had become very interested in ghost hunting lately. They’d most likely seen some ghost hunting show or some other form of paranormal media and got hooked, now they were dragging Astro into their shenanigans. “Well, why do you need me for this?” He asked. “This ritual we’re gonna do needs three people.” Connie explained, picking up a large book and beginning to flip through it. “Your room was the first one we came across.” She then put the book down, flipped open to a page with a drawing of the circle in it and a set of instructions. “Ok, what we need to do is hold hands, close our eyes, and chant this incantation. If we do it right we should summon a ghost after the tenth time. We just have to keep our eyes shut until the ghost makes a sound and make sure not to stop holding hands or the ghost will vanish.” “I’ve got the cameras rolling.” Vee said as she set up a camera on a tripod in the corner of the room. “We’re ready.”

Everyone got into position around the circle and took each other’s hands. “Just repeat what we say, Astro.” Connie said. “Ummm…alright…” Astro said wearily, he really didn’t want to do this. Everyone then closed their eyes, plunging their worlds into darkness. Normally, Astro would’ve been able to doze off like this but the vibe of the situation kept him very awake. After a few seconds of silence he heard Vee and Connie begin chanting, what they were saying sounded pretty generic. “Spirit, we summon you. Heed our calls and show yourself to us.” They repeated that phrase over and over. Astro begrudgingly started chanting along after the second time they said it. As they continued chanting Astro began to feel an overbearing weight pressing down on his body, it was like every time they repeated the incantation a presence filled up more of the room.

It felt like a lifetime before the incantation was finally over, the suspense had made time seem to slow as they neared the final repetition. The second that they uttered those final words, silence washed over the room, nobody dared to speak, they just listened for a noise, or a voice, or anything…but nothing came, it was like they’d been transported into a void of utter silence.

Even though he knew they weren’t supposed to open their eyes until the supposed ghost made a sound, Astro couldn’t bear to keep his eyes shut anymore. The suspense was killing him and he didn’t really believe that this ritual had worked. Plus, Connie hadn’t said how long they should wait for something to happen. So Astro slowly opened his eyes…

When Astro opened his eyes the first thing he saw was another pair of eyes about an inch from his own face staring right back at him, they were wide and full of anger. He couldn’t believe it, the ritual had actually worked, they’d summoned an angry spirit. This spirit being right in his face surprised Astro though, he let out a surprised yelp and stumbled back. His loud sound made Vee and Connie open their eyes, they saw Astro stumbling backward and tried to stop him. “WAIT, ASTRO DON’T!” Vee shouted. Unfortunately, it was too late. Astro fell backward, releasing Vee and Connie’s hands and breaking the circle.

The spirit roared out in rage, the three toons then began to feel a breeze begin to pick up in the room, the wind got faster and faster until it was whipping around the room. All of the candles in the room went out but the room was still lit, this time by a red glowing light. That light turned out to be coming from the circle, it was glowing and all of the wind seemed to be rushing into the circle. The spirit let out a scream of fury as it started getting dragged down, phasing through the floor. It thrashed around but couldn’t escape the vacuum that had been created. Looey just so happened to be walking by, the spirit reached out and grabbed him, he screamed in terror as the spirit dragged him down into the floor. Vee, Connie, and Astro watched in shock as the spirit and Looey were dragged into the floor, disappearing completely and plunging the room into complete darkness.

“...That…was INSANE!” Connie exclaimed. “I can’t believe that worked!” “I’ve never been more afraid in my life…” Astro said quietly, the whole encounter had left him shocked. “I wish we could’ve had a conversation with it though.” Vee said, finding the light switch and turning them on. “But hey, we know it works so we can try again with someone else. Maybe it’ll be more entertaining with Poppy?...” “Wait, hold on.” Connie said, her eyes wide. “Vee, you got all of that on camera, right?” Vee’s face lit up. “I did!” She answered excitedly, rushing over to one of her cameras and snatching it off the tripod. Vee pressed a few buttons on the camera and replayed the footage, Connie and Astro watched her smile slowly drop into a look of surprise and annoyance. “...Everything ok, Vee?” Connie asked. Vee looked up at her with an annoyed scowl. “You’re not going to believe this.” She said, flipping the camera around to the others, the footage only displayed static.

Astro found it hard to get back to sleep, the events of the ritual replayed over and over in his mind and he couldn’t get the image of the spirit’s angry stare out of his brain. Needless to say, he would never participate in any more ghost hunting plans ever again.

Chapter 9: Shrimpo's Street Race

Summary:

In this chapter Shrimpo commits several felonies in order to have some fun out on the roads, it goes about as well as you'd expect from someone like Shrimpo.

Shrimpo was more angry than usual, he woke up one morning and found the concept of other toons like Finn and Rodger being able to drive something that pissed him off immensely, ignoring the fact that they could somehow reach the pedals despite being incredibly short he found it incredibly unfair that they could drive while he couldn’t. Of course, Shrimpo never asked why they could drive, he didn’t care, he just wanted to be able to drive as well. He decided that morning that he would teach himself to drive better than any other toon, no matter what.

Shrimpo encountered the first hurdle of his plan when he walked into Gardenview’s warehouse and realized that he didn’t have a car to drive, most of the vehicles that were being stored in the warehouse were big vans used for making deliveries. Shrimpo hated those vans and there was absolutely no way he was going to be seen driving one. He spent all morning searching for a suitable car to drive, not being happy with anything he found. “HOW THE HELL DID THESE IDIOTS GET CARS, ANYWAY?” He asked himself as he walked back toward the elevator after finding nothing. He then stopped walking, the realization dawning on him. Finn and Rodger both had cars, he just needed to find them and he could start driving. He hopped into the elevator and quickly began searching everywhere for the place where those cars were being stored.

It would take all day but eventually Shrimpo would find where the cars were, he was in another area of the warehouse when he saw the back end of Finn’s 2004 Honda Civic sticking out from behind a row of crates. He ran over and began trying to get the doors open, pulling on the handles with all his might and kicking at the doors, only getting angrier when they didn’t budge.

“Hey Shrimpo, what are you up to?” Came a voice from Shrimpo’s right. Shrimpo turned his head and saw Looey, staring at him with a quizzical smile. He’d been walking through the warehouse when he began hearing Shrimpo trying to get into the car, so he’d walked over to investigate. Shrimpo said nothing, he just let go of the car door, walked up to looey, and punched him in the face as hard as he could. Looey flew back, crying out in pain and surprise. Shrimpo then grabbed his ankles and began dragging him toward the car, he grabbed a nearby coil of rope and binded Looey’s arms and legs together. He then began smacking Looey against the car, trying to use his body to get it open. Unfortunately, since Looey was a balloon he didn’t have much mass so he just smacked against the door with every smack.

Overcome with rage, Shrimpo punched the car window in anger. The moment his fist made contact, the window shattered and the car alarm began blaring. Shrimpo grinned, very pleased with himself. He then reached into the car, unlocked the door, and opened it. He threw Looey into the passenger seat, then got in the driver's seat.

“...HOW THE HELL DO YOU TURN THIS STUPID ALARM OFF?!” Shrimpo asked himself, he was quickly becoming angered at the alarm. “I-It’s a security alarm.” Looey said with a scared chuckle. “Y-You’ll need the ke-.” Looey’s sentence was cut off by Shrimpo punching the dashboard in anger, sparks flew from the dashboard and the alarm stopped. “...Or you could just…do that...” Looey said quietly, completely overcome with fear. Looey sat there for about five minutes watching Shrimpo try to figure out how to start the car, he tried to tell Shrimpo that he needed the keys to start the engine but Shrimpo punched the steering wheel and told him to. “GO POP YOURSELF!” Looey stayed very silent from that point on.

Somehow, Shrimpo got the car started. He’d kicked at the dashboard in rage and broken the ignition. Somehow, that started the car. “FINALLY!” Shrimpo shouted as he threw the car into reverse and stomped on the pedal. Looey screamed in terror as Shrimpo peeled out of the warehouse, hitting several boxes and shelves on the way. Looey shut his eyes as Shrimpo approached the closed garage door, he heard Shrimpo hit the door but the car didn’t stop, he opened his eyes and saw that they were outside. Looking back he saw the now mangled garage door, Shrimpo had driven straight through it and now he was on a joyride with a crazy shrimp behind the wheel.

Shrimpo had the basic grasp of driving: press on the gas pedal and use the steering wheel to turn, everything else wasn’t important to him. He sped down the road not caring about stop lights or road signs. He constantly drove on the wrong side of the road and nearly clipped several cars. All the while Shrimpo laughed like a maniac, he was having a great time. Looey on the other hand was not, he was terrified and he could do nothing to stop Shrimpo since all of his limbs were bound together.

Eventually, Shrimpo stopped the car at a stop light, the light was green but he didn’t really care. He began searching the car for something. “...W-What are you looking for, Shrimpo?” Looey asked. “SHUT UP.” Shrimpo replied. “I’M LOOKING FOR SOME DAMN FOOD.” Looey stayed quiet and watched the stop light change from green to red. As he stared at the light he suddenly heard the sound of another car pulling up next to them, Shrimpo heard it too and they both looked toward the noise. They were met with a really nice car, revving its engine next to them. “I THINK THIS JACKASS WANTS TO RACE.” Shrimpo said, a malicious grin spreading across his face. “I-I don’t think that's a-” “SHUT THE HELL UP YOU STUPID BALLOON!” Shrimpo shouted, cutting Looey off. “I’M GONNA RACE THIS JACKASS!”

Shrimpo waited, revving his engine. The other car revved in response, there was no doubt now that Shrimpo was about to start a street race. The second the light turned green both cars slammed on the gas, their tires burned rubber and they shot forward. Looey screamed as Shrimpo flew down the road going way over the speed limit, he was terrified. Shrimpo on the other hand was having the time of his life, he was having so much fun. Unfortunately, Shrimpo was driving a 2004 Honda Civic so he had no chance to win. The other car eventually overtook him, pulling out in front and getting further and further away. “GOD DAMMIT!” Shrimpo shouted, hitting the steering wheel in anger. “I HATE HOW SLOW THIS SHITTY CAR IS!” As Shrimpo continued his tantrum though looey saw something that terrified him even more, the other car’s brake lights had come on and it’d turned, that was because the road curved to the right. Shrimpo was headed straight for a guardrail, Looey didn’t know what was beyond it but he didn’t want to find out. “SHRIMPO, QUICK, BRAKE!” Looey shouted. “WHY THE HELL WOULD I-” Shrimpo’s reply died on his tongue as he saw the rapidly approaching guardrail, his face dropped into a deadpan expression. “...God dammit.” He sighed. Within the next moment he hit the guardrail, the car flew through it and entered a freefall. Looey screamed in terror. The last thing the car’s headlights illuminated was an expanse of water before everything went black with a loud splash.

Rodger, Glisten, Dandy, and Finn arrived at the scene of the crash half an hour later, they’d been called to the scene of a terrible accident. Fire Trucks blocked the street and a crane was pulling the twisted remains of Finn’s car out of the river it’d driven into. Rodger began asking around, trying to get the full story while Glisten, Finn and Dandy began looking for Shrimpo and Looey. Glisten heard Shrimpo before he saw him, he was complaining at the paramedics while they were checking him over. He saw Glisten and his face dropped into a scowl. “Shrimpo, what happened?!” Dandy asked, running up to him with Finn right behind him. “I WAS DRIVING AROUND.” He answered angrily. “Not very well, I see.” Glisten said with a chuckle. “SHUT UP YOU DUMBASS MIRROR, I’M A MUCH BETTER DRIVER THAN YOU!” Glisten only raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Shrimpo, why’d you take my car without asking?” Finn asked. “You don’t even have a driver's license  “WHAT THE HELL IS A DRIVER’S LICENSE?” Shrimpo answered. “THAT SOUNDS STUPID, I HATE IT AND I HATE DRIVING, IT’S TOO HARD!” Dandy sighed. “I’m…just glad you’re ok.” “...Too bad looey isn’t.” Glisten suddenly said, pointing to the wrecked car. There, hanging out from the hole where the car door used to be was Looey’s deflated body, loosely bound in rope and dripping wet. “YOU KIDNAPPED LOOEY!?” Finn asked, his voice filled with shock. “OH YEAH, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT..” Was Shrimpo’s only answer, though the slight smirk on his face gave away that he found all this really funny.

The car ride home was silent, nobody spoke. Finn held Looey’s body and tried to keep it away from the others. Shrimpo stared out the window, if he’d learned anything from tonight it was that driving was harder than he thought and he would never do it again.

Chapter 10: Teagan's Divorce Therapy

Summary:

In this chapter Teagan goes to her court mandated divorce therapy session, through some discussion she learns of new ways to move on from Rodger.

“Is it really necessary for me to attend this?” Teagan asked as the car pulled into the parking lot of a tall brick building. “I mean, it was in the divorce agreement that you signed, right?” Glisten replied. “Kinda seems like you’re legally obligated to.” Teagan scoffed quietly. “Rodger probably only added this to the agreement to inconvenience me, it doesn’t seem all that fair.” “Fair or not.” Glisten said “You have to do it.” Teagan sighed and stepped out of the car, she wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Ever since Rodger and Teagan’s messy divorce at Chuck E Cheese she’d been stressed, dealing with the legality of divorce, figuring out custody over Toodles, and still trying to have a social life had left her on edge and easily agitated. In the end the divorce had been finalized but Rodger had gotten primary custody of Toodles and Teagan had to attend divorce therapy until the therapist said she didn’t have to anymore. “I’ll go shopping for a while.” Glisten said from the car. “I’ll get another Uber and come pick you up when you’re done. See ya later.” The car then drove off, leaving Teagan alone in front of the building. She looked up at it, sighed, then reluctantly walked in.

Teagan was met with quite the surprise when she walked into the room where her therapy session would be, she opened the door only to see… “Astro?” Sitting in one of the chairs in the center of the room was Astro, he was slumped over in his chair and looked more upset than normal. He looked up as Teagan said his name. “O-Oh, hi Teagan…” He said softly. “Looks like we’re umm…booked for group therapy…” “...Astro, what are you doing here?” Teagan asked, confused. She walked up to Astro and took a seat in a chair next to him. Astro sniffled and then said quietly, on the brink of tears. “...D-Dandy and I broke up.” Teagan stared at Astro, wide-eyed. “...You two…were actually a thing?” she asked. Her eyes went wider when Astro nodded. “H-He said he…couldn’t be with me anymore…” “I-I didn’t know, I mean everyone thought you two might’ve been but…wow…What are you doing in divorce therapy though?” Astro wiped away the tears forming in his eyes. “I-I…I thought it could help me get over him…” Teagan’s face melted into a warm smile. “Oh, you poor thing.” she cooed, patting Astro on the back. “I think it’s great that you’re trying.” “...W-What about you?” Astro asked, staring at Teagan with teary eyes. “Why are you here?” Teagan’s reassuring smile dropped into a deadpan stare as she remembered what she was doing here. “...Rodger’s making me do this.” She said flatly, now somewhat annoyed, not at Astro but at Rodger.

About five minutes later, the therapist walked in. He sat down in the chair opposite of the two toons. “So Ms. Teagan and Mr. Astro, why don’t we talk about why we’re here today?” Astro tried to explain his situation to the therapist but about halfway through his words turned into loud sobs of sorrow, Teagan sighed and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “He’s not taking his break up well.” She explained. “I see.” The therapist replied. “And what about you?” Teagan sighed again and explained her situation to him, he nodded and listened along quietly. When she was done he scribbled something onto a clipboard. “I see, so you’re upset because you think your ex-husband Rodger took everything from you.” “I don't just think that, he did.” She replied. The therapist cleared his throat before speaking again. “Well, regardless of personal opinions, it seems as though all of your issues stem from your ex-husband himself. I think the best course of action you could take right now is to distract yourself from thinking of him. Do you have anything or anyone that you could try to…replace him with?” Teagan though for a moment, throughout the whole process of the divorce she hadn’t had much time to herself. “I…Have a friend, Glisten. But he’s pretty close with Rodger. The therapist shook his head. “You’ll need to find something or someone completely separate from him to move past this.”

In the end, the therapist and Teagan bounced ideas off each other to find something to separate herself from Rodger; she ended up deciding that she needed to find someone else to replace Rodger in her relationship with. In order to do this quickly she pulled out her phone and downloaded the app Tinder.

“Well, Ms. Teagan.” The therapist said. “I think we’re done here for today. I still have to deal with…this one.” He gestured to Astro, who’d gone from sobbing to full blown wailing in despair. Teagan nodded and stood up. “Good luck.” She said, “See you back home, Astro.” She said to Astro before walking out of the room.

After a ten minute wait, a car pulled into the parking lot, the back window opened and Glisten waved her over. “You’ll never believe what happened at the mall today.” Glisten said, giddy with excitement. “What happened?” Teagan asked. “The roof of one of the stores caved in.” Glisten explained. “A bunch of furniture from the store above that one fell into the lower store, Looey got crushed by a couch.” “Oh my!” Teagan gasped. “That certainly sounds chaotic. “You’ve got that right. Anyway, how was therapy?” “I’m…on the right track.” Teagan answered, opening her phone and beginning to scroll Tinder. “Wow, already trying to find a new man?” Glisten asked, looking over her shoulder. “Well, you do what you need to do girl.”

As the car ride continued, Teagan kept scrolling, Glisten kept talking about everything he saw at the mall. Suddenly, Teagan’s eyes went wide as she got a match. Glisten noticed and looked at Teagan with a raised eyebrow. “You good, Teagan?” he asked. “You won’t believe who I’ve just matched with…”

Chapter 11: Gigi Goes Gambling

Summary:

In this chapter, Gigi goes gambling and takes another toon along for the ride. Things don't go as planned though and disaster almost ensues. (Also, this chapter had to get a mid-week edit because I forgot to kill Looey, my bad.)

“So…why do I have to do this again?” Gigi asked Teagan, they were standing at the front door of the Gardenview Center and Teagan was getting ready to leave on what she called “A very special outing.” “Because Rodger is out with Glisten right now and everyone else is busy with this or that.” Teagan explained. “It’ll only be for a few hours, plus I’ll make it worth your while afterward.” Teagan waved goodbye then stepped out, leaving Gigi with her task. What was her task? It was something she frankly had little experience in, especially when it began tugging on her sleeve and asking her what they were going to do together. Gigi sighed and looked down into the big eyes of the person holding her sleeve, their big eyes staring back at her and a tiny smile on its face. Gigi’s task was babysitting Toodles.

“So, what are we going to do, Gigi?” Toodles asked again. “I don’t know.” Gigi replied with a huff. “I didn’t even know I'd be doing anything today, Teagan sprung this on me at the last minute.” “Yeah, she does that a lot.” Toodles giggled. “She says it makes for the best entertainment.” Gigi sighed as she flopped down on a nearby bench, she had no idea how to look after someone and she knew that Teagan knew that, either she really was Teagan’s last option or this was all just Teagan messing with her. “...Why don’t we do something you like to do?” Toodles suggested, trying to find anything to occupy her time. “Well, unless you wanna go gamble, I got nothing.” Gigi replied. “...What's gambling?” Toodles suddenly asked. Gigi’s head shot up from the bench and she stared at Toodles who was staring back with a questioning expression. “...You don’t know what gambling is?” Gigi asked. Toodles shook her head. A smirk slowly began to spread across Gigi’s face, maybe her night wasn’t ruined after all. “Follow me, Toodles.” She said, getting off the bench and taking Toodles’ hand. “Let me show you something awesome!”

Within the next hour, Gigi and Toodles got off the bus. In front of them, lighting up the night like a beacon, was a large building covered in multi-colored flashing lights. “Where are we, Gigi?” Toodles asked as she and Gigi began approaching the large revolving door. “This…” Gigi replied, gesturing to the building with a wide arc of her arm. “Is called a casino, it’s where the magic happens.”

Immediately upon entering the casino, both Gigi and Toodles were assaulted with loud noises, bright flashing lights, and a sea of other people all milling around. Everywhere they looked they saw big machines, people carrying a bunch of these small discs, and tables packed with people playing with cards. Gigi took a deep breath and sighed, a sigh that someone would only make if they were finally able to relax after a long day. “Now follow me, Toodles.” Gigi said, leading Toodles over to a nearby counter. Gigi pulled out a $100 bill from her pocket, put it on the counter, and received a small stack of the discs. “These are chips, we use these to gamble, they represent the money.” “Ooh, I want some chips!” Toodles replied, bouncing on her heels in excitement. “You just gotta give the casino some money and they’ll give you the chips.” Gigi explained. Toodles rummaged around in her pockets, trying to find any money, she eventually pulled out a $10 dollar bill. “I found some!” She said excitedly as she put the bill on the counter, she then received a few chips. “Now what do we do?” She asked. Gigi smiled, an arrogant smile that gave Toodles the feeling that Gigi had complete assurance in herself. “Now…we go get rich!”

Gigi proceeded to teach Toodles how to gamble: she explained the slot machines, Blackjack, Poker, as well as other games the casino had to offer. Throughout the process of teaching Toodles Gigi managed to win $500, her grin had only gotten wider and her demeanor brimmed with arrogance. “Tonight is gonna be good for me, I can feel it.” She told Toodles, tossing a chip in the air and catching it. “Go on and try some stuff out yourself, Toodles. Don’t be sad if you lose all your money though.”

Unfortunately for Gigi, her lucky start had quickly run out and she began losing bet after bet, her chips rapidly depleting with each slot machine she used and every hand she played, she even lost a hand to Looey of all people. Her $600 had quickly been whittled down to only $50. She sighed, staring at her small stack of chips. Her lack of chips suddenly reminded her of Toodles. “I wonder where she’s been?” She asked herself. She decided to go find her, wondering how her first gambling trip was going.

Gigi would find Toodles rather quickly, she was sitting at a Poker table with a bunch of other people. As she approached, the table erupted into jeers as the hands were revealed. To Gigi’s utter surprise, Toodles wasn’t one of the ones jeering, rather she was cheering, and what was more shocking was that she grabbed the huge pile of chips on the table and pulled it over to herself. It took Gigi a moment to process what she just saw happen and when she did her shock only grew, Toodles had just won the entire game of Poker.

“Gigi, look how many chips I have now!” Toodles said excitedly, wheeling over a wagon that she’d gotten to carry around her chips, the chips towered over her. Gigi stared up at them, slack jawed, she had to have at least $100,000 worth of chips. “...How…did you?...” She couldn’t even finish asking her question, she was just too astonished. Luckily, Toodles understood what she was trying to ask. “I just went around playing all the games!” She explained. “I didn’t really know what was going on but I guess I just kept winning! Now I have all these chips!”

Before Gigi could answer, a man from behind Toodles started talking to her. “Hey there, kid.” Toodles and Gigi both looked over at the voice to see a really large man standing behind them, he had round glasses, short brown hair, and was dressed in a white button-up shirt and green pants. “That’s quite a lot of chips you got there.” “Yeah!” Toodles replied, excitedly. “I just won them!” “Hey, now that's great.” The man said. “Why don’t you put some up for a bet in a game of Poker, me against you?” Gigi was getting a bad feeling, this random man was trying to get Toodles to gamble her winnings, he must’ve been up to something. Toodles didn’t sense this danger like Gigi did, she simply nodded. “Ok Mister!” she replied. “Oh none of that Mister nonsense.” The man said, leading Toodles over to a small table away from the others. “Just call me Peter.”

Gigi followed Toodles, she was really getting a bad feeling now. She noticed that as soon as Toodles sat down the table became surrounded by several other men, keeping just enough distance away that Toodles wouldn’t notice, but Gigi did. She watched Toodles and the man, Peter play cards and while she watched she saw Peter discreetly cheating several times: He would shuffle the cards the wrong way, slip cards into his sleeve, take cards out of his sleeve, among other things she noticed. The entire time, Toodles was none the wiser. Despite all of the cheating though, Toodles continued to win every hand, it was like no amount of cheating could overpower her luck. With each hand she won though, Peter became more angry, beginning to swear and complain, the men moved closer too, taking a step toward the table with each hand that Toodles won until they were basically right on top of her. This was the one part of gambling Gigi had neglected to tell Toodles, the part where some people would do anything to try to take your winnings for themselves.

Toodles was starting to get scared, Gigi could see it clearly. It was what Peter said next that sent her into action. “Ok now, little lady. You’re gonna go all in and lose this next hand, or else…” Gigi rushed toward the table, pushing one of the men aside and grabbing Toodles’ hand. “She’s done!” Gigi said loudly. “We’re leaving!” Peter only laughed, a strange laugh that wasn’t really that threatening. Regardless, what he said next certainly was. “Oh, I don’t think so missy. I think she’s got one more hand to play…” The men moved to surround Gigi too, one of them reached out to grab her. But before anything else could happen, the loud sound of a commotion suddenly filled the entire casino. People shouted, footsteps pounded on the floor, guns started firing, a popping sound rang out that could only have been Looey getting shot, it was pandemonium. Within a moment, several people had surrounded the table pointing handguns at them, shouting to get down and put their hands up, they all complied. It was then that another, very familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind the gunmen. “...Toodles?!” Gigi and Toodles looked up at the person speaking only to be met by the astonished gaze of Rodger staring down at them.

It turned out that someone had called the police when Peter had started talking to Toodles, he was a known gang leader and thought he could take advantage of Toodles. Rodger just so happened to be in the area so he came to help. He was furious with Gigi though as he led Toodles out of the casino. “You took her GAMBLING?! Do you know how terrible of a decision that was?! Who knows what could’ve happened to her if we hadn’t shown up!” He chewed Gigi out all the way to the parking lot. Gigi tried defending herself but all she could really say was “What else was I supposed to do? You were on your date with Glisten and Teagan dumped this on me.” “I was on a…an outing with Glisten.” Rodger replied. “It’s really none of your business.” Rodger took a deep breath and addressed Gigi with barely held together composure. “You are going to get on the next bus and take Toodles home where you are going to put her to bed. Is that clear?” Gigi sighed and nodded. “Crystal.”

It wasn’t long before the next bus arrived. Gigi and Toodles got on and sat down. “Man that sure was scary.” Toodles said to Gigi. “It’s too bad I didn’t get to keep my chips.” “Yeah, uh-huh.” Gigi replied dismissively, staring out the window. Her night hadn’t been exciting at all, it’d been stressful and chaotic. She watched as the casino got smaller and smaller as the bus drove away, though she could swear she saw Rodger and Glisten in the parking lot and they appeared to be embracing…

Chapter 12: Rodger's Night Out

Summary:

In this Chapter Rodger and Glisten go on a date, though things don't go quite as planned.

Rodger was in a very uncharacteristically excited mood, he’d been hanging out with Glisten a lot since he and Teagan’s divorce and Glisten had suddenly asked him out on a date tonight. It took Rodger by surprise but he liked hanging out with Glisten and felt he needed to continue his path of relationships so he decided to accept. He hadn’t been on any dates since he’d been with Teagan so it was very exciting and he spent a long time getting ready.

At around 4PM, there was a knock at Rodger’s door. He opened it to find Glisten standing on the other side, looking as stunning as ever. “Hey Rodger.” He greeted with a wave. “You ready to go?” “Yes, I am.” he answered with a nod. “Let us depart, we can take my car.” “Let’s hope Shrimpo hasn’t stolen that one too.” Glisten chuckled as the two made their way down to the Warehouse where Rodger’s car was parked.

Glisten had everything planned out for their date, he produced a piece of paper with a list of activities that he thought both he and Rodger would like, he really wanted this date to go well. “So…” He asked. “What do you wanna do first: Dinner & People Watching, or we catch a showing of that new detective movie?” Rodger considered both, pondering for a bit. “..What time is the earliest screening of the film?” “It’s in…” Glisten pulled out his phone to check the theater’s website. His face then dropped into an annoyed glare.  “...two hours.” Rodger chuckled. “Well then I suppose dinner is first, then we can see the film.” Glisten sighed, annoyed that his plan was already falling apart, though his smile soon returned. “Sounds good to me.” He said. Rodger Smiled. “Then please direct me to the restaurant.”

Glisten’s restaurant choice was quite good, not too expensive but great food, the perfect blend of convenience and quality. They mostly ate in silence, though it wasn’t because of awkwardness, it was because they’d started people watching. They’d requested a seat outside and were watching the people passing by. “Look at that one.” Glisten would say every now and then, pointing to someone who looked a bit unique or odd. Rodger would chuckle and ask a question like “I wonder what he’s doing?” or “Where could he be going?” They would laugh and go back to eating for a bit before it repeated. It was a nice time, Rodger felt very at ease being with Glisten. “Heh, look at that one.” Glisten suddenly said. “He looks like Shrimpo.” Rodger looked to where Glisten was pointing and was met with an odd sight. “That…is Shrimpo, Glisten.” Glisten did a double take, sure enough Shrimpo was walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the road looking angry as ever. They both watched him walk down the sidewalk and surprisingly walk into a flower shop. “Oh boy.” Glisten said with a chuckle. “Someone better call the cops, that shop is not surviving whatever he’s gonna do in there.” Glisten kept chuckling but Rodger thought that it was pretty intriguing, Shrimpo definitely wasn’t the type to go into a shop like that, what could he be doing? Rodger wouldn’t get to think about it for long though, because Glisten suddenly stood up. “We better get going soon.” He said, holding out his hand. “That movie is gonna start soon.” “R-Right, let's go.” Rodger replied as he took Glisten’s hand and they left the restaurant.

The movie wasn’t really that good, it was very cliche and boring, Rodger barely paid attention and even caught Glisten nodding off halfway through. He found himself paying attention to anything but the movie: Someone by the front whispering to someone else, the dirty theater floors, someone in the corner on their phone, Teagan up in the top rows… Rodger did a double take, Teagan was in fact sitting in the upper rows of the theater, she looked very engrossed in the movie. This made Rodger’s mind start racing: “Why was she here?”, “Why did they have to watch the same movie at the same time?”, “Did she know about his date?”, “Was she still interested in detectives?”, “Was she still interested…in him?” Now Rodger really couldn’t focus on the movie, he just kept thinking about Teagan and everything that’d led up to this moment.

“You ok, Rodger?” Glisten asked as they both exited the theater, the sun had fully set and . “I hope me dozing off didn’t ruin the mood or anything.” “N-No, you’re fine Glisten, I didn’t really enjoy the movie myself.” Rodger replied. “Well, if that isn’t the problem then what is?” Glisten asked. Rodger didn’t want to say he’d seen Teagan or was thinking about him, that would definitely throw off the mood. “It’s nothing, reall-” Before he could finish his response his phone suddenly began ringing, he looked down to see that the caller was the police department. “One moment.” He said before answering the phone. Rodger spent only a few minutes talking, when he ended the call he sighed. “I’ve just been informed that the department is about to make a large bust at a casino, they want me on scene.” Glisten chuckled. “Well, looks like I’ve got a chance to see some real detective work.” “I don’t think…” “Oh come on, Rodger.” Glisten pleaded. “Let me tag along. It’ll be fun.” Rodger contemplated for only a moment, this would be exactly what he needed to both get his mind off of Teagan and have fun on the date again. He smiled. “Well, let’s head to that casino then.”

The Casino bust turned out to be a crazy event. The police surrounded the building, entered through the front, and immediately shots started getting fired. Rodger entered the building while Glisten waited outside. Rodger made his way through the casino until he found the target of the bust, a man named Peter. On the way he saw several men with guns firing at the officers, people running, and Looey being shot in the face. His collected demeanor faltered though when he saw Peter, or rather who was with him.

Glisten watched from Rodger’s car as he dragged out Toodles and Gigi, furiously scolding Gigi for something. He watched him walk them all the way to a nearby bus station before beginning to make his way back to Glisten as the bus pulled up. He could see that Rodger wasn’t in a good mood anymore so instead of saying anything he just hugged him…But Rodger didn’t hug back. “So I guess it didn’t go well?” “...No, It did not.” Rodger replied with a sigh. He then put a hand over his face. “Why did Teagan think Gigi was the right person to look after Toodles?!” He pulled his phone out and clicked on his phone tracking app. “What are you doing?” Glisten asked. “I still have Teagan’s phone registered on my family tracking app.” Rodger explained. “She should be home by now, where is she?” To Rodger’s surprise, Teagan was in a park instead of at Gardenview. “What is she doing there?” Glisten peered over his shoulder. “Oh hey, that’s close to the last spot I wanna take you.”

Rodger drove to the last destination on Glisten’s itinerary in silence, seeing Toodles in such a dangerous situation had completely killed off any hope of getting his previous relationship out of his mind. Teagan enveloped all of his thoughts and now all he wanted to do was finish this and go home, he needed to work out his feelings but he also wanted to finish the date for Glisten’s sake. The place Glisten wanted to end the date was a quiet park. They sat on the edge of a small fountain under the stars. “...So Rodger.” Glisten said, breaking the silence. “I bet this date…didn’t really go how you wanted, right?” “...Well, there were parts I enjoyed a lot.” Rodger replied, trying to soften his criticisms. “But seeing Toodles in the casino…really put a damper on things…” “...Yeah, you really care a lot about that kid…I love that about you.” That made Rodger look up at Glisten, he had a look of vulnerability on his face, something foreign to see on Glisten. “...I know this date hasn’t been the most fun for you but…I know I had fun with you tonight and I’d like to keep going on these dates with you because…I’ve totally fallen for you…” Glisten’s confession sent Rodger spiraling, he’d expected this, Glisten had been the one to ask him out. Unfortunately, his thoughts had been completely overcome with one thought, he still wasn’t over Teagan. “...I’m so sorry, Glisten.” He said solemnly. “I do care about you a lot but…I’m afraid I still love Teagan.” Glisten’s face dropped into a look of pure sorrow as Rodger stood up and began walking off. “W-WAIT, RODGER!” Glisten shouted as he also stood up and began following. But Rodger had already started running off, his phone out and on the tracking app, rapidly approaching Teagan’s location.

Rodger sprinted toward Teagan at full speed, as his dot got closer to hers on the app his heart pounded louder and louder. The whole time he heard the sound of Glisten following but he pressed on. He was right around the corner from her, just around a big tree. He rounded the bend and shouted “Teagan, I-” He then stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in pure shock at the scene before him. Glisten rounded the corner too and whistled. “...Damn.” He said quietly. Rodger could only stare for a moment before he found his voice. “...Teagan?”

Chapter 13: Shrimpo Downloads Tinder

Summary:

In this chapter Shrimpo is tricked into downloading Tinder and ends up going on a date, it doesn't go as he expects.

Shrimpo was utterly bored one day and he was making it everyone else’s problem, he went around Gardenview shouting and complaining about being bored to any toon who was unfortunate enough to be caught in his line of sight. Most of the others either tried to be nice and made an excuse to leave like Astro or Goob did, or they just ignored him like Dyle and Vee did. However, one toon quickly got angry and started an argument. “Sounds like you’re just a sad little shrimp with no friends to hang out with.” Brusha said to him with a scoff. “YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS!” He shouted. “At least I have people who like what I do.” “I HATE ART, IT'S STUPID!” “Did I ask?” The two toons went back and forth, eventually Brusha got fed up and groaned. “God, you really don’t have ANYONE ELSE to annoy, do you?” “NO!” Shrimpo yelled. “...Can you GET ONE?!” Brusha asked in response. “WHERE WOULD I EVEN FIND SOMEONE FOR THAT?!” Shrimpo asked loudly. “You could get Tinder.” Brusha answered sarcastically. “I bet someone would put up with your bullshit.” Brusha chuckled, finding the idea of Shrimpo going on a dating app pretty funny. Shrimpo however, seemed to ponder the idea, he then left Brusha without a word. “...Wait, is he seriously considering that?”

Within minutes Shrimpo was sitting on his bed and had downloaded Tinder onto his phone. “...HOW DOES THIS STUPID APP WORK?!” He shouted at nobody as he tried to figure out how to work the app. He spent quite a while trying to figure it out, getting angrier as he spent more time fiddling with it. Eventually, he figured out you could swipe on the people the app showed you, so he started swiping on everyone. Unfortunately he didn’t realize that swiping right meant you liked the person and swiping left meant you didn’t, he was only swiping right. Suddenly, his phone dinged in his hand as the screen showed he’d matched with someone, he stared at the screen with wide eyes, he knew the person who he’d matched with. Before he knew it, the person sent a message, it was only one word. The message read “...Shrimpo?”

Within a few days, Shrimpo went from having long conversations with the person he’d matched with to finally going out on a date with them. He had absolutely no idea how he’d managed to get to this point, he knew that his whole attitude was repulsive and negative so the concept of someone else wanting to hang out with him was very odd. Regardless, it gave Shrimpo something to do so he would do it. Before he met with his date though he needed to make sure that he didn’t blow it right at the beginning so he decided to go to a flower shop and get his date a bouquet of flowers. Unfortunately, Shrimpo quickly lost his temper inside the shop and through several violent events, accidentally set the shop on fire. He walked out of the chaos with a few flowers he’d grabbed while he was running toward the door though so he wasn’t empty handed.

Shrimpo and his date had agreed to go see a movie then go on from there. He hated movies but he didn’t have any ideas for something to do so he just went with it. He got off the bus with the flowers bunched up in his hand and looked out at the theater, scanning the area until he found his date. It wouldn’t take much looking around, not only did Shrimpo know who his date would be but she had a very distinct look that no one else could replicate.

“Well hello there, Shrimpo!” Teagan said as he walked up to her. “I’m so glad you made it!” Shrimpo was immediately struck with an odd feeling as he approached Teagan, she normally wasn’t this nice to him and it confused him. “I GOT YOU THESE!” He shouted as he thrust the flowers toward her. She gasped and took them happily. “How thoughtful! I didn’t expect that, thank you, Shrimpo!” She smiled at him, it only made this weird feeling inside him grow. “Shall we head inside?” She then asked. “YES, I HATE BEING OUTSIDE!” Shrimpo replied. Teagan chuckled and began walking inside the theater with Shrimpo. “I was surprised to see you on Tinder.” She said in an attempt to make conversation. “I never thought you’d be one for the dating scene.” “IT WAS THAT STUPID PAINT BRUSH!” Shrimpo replied loudly. “SHE TOLD ME ABOUT IT BUT NOT THAT IT WAS A DATING APP!” Teagan chuckled again. “Oh that Brusha, always starting something. First that thing with Tisha and now…well, this…” “I HATE THAT BRUSH!” Was Shrimpo’s reply. Teagan chuckled again. “You do love to hate things.” She said with a sigh. That made Shrimpo stop walking. “I DON’T LIKE TO HATE THINGS, I HATE HATING THINGS!” “Oh?” Teagan said, cocking an eyebrow. “...How interesting, I didn’t know that about you. I assumed you just liked making people angry. What did Vee call it… ragebaiting?” “I HATE RAGEBAITING!” “...Well that's certainly surprising.” She finally said after a pause.

Something had changed between the two of them now, it was like Teagan knowing that Shrimpo didn’t actually like being mean all the time had altered her entire perception of him, Shrimpo only figured this out due to one simple thing Teagan did after learning that, she held his hand while they entered the theater, paid, got snacks, and sat down. Nobody else would’ve ever done such a thing with him, yet she did. Shrimpo had thought that it was only because they were on a date but that odd feeling was making him think that it wasn’t what’d caused her to do that. These thoughts occupied his entire mind and caused him to do something he’d never done before, sit quietly throughout the entire movie.

“That was a lovely film, wouldn’t you say Shrimpo?” Teagan asked as they exited the theater.” “u-uh y-ye…NO, I HATED IT!” Shrimpo said, stumbling over his words a bit. Teagan chuckled. “Sounds like you don’t know what to think about it. Don’t worry, I understand. I was actually surprised you didn’t say anything at all during the movie. Normally, you shout and scream when we try to have movie nights in Gardenview.” “THAT’S BECAUSE I HATE WATCHING MOVIES WITH EVERYONE!” Shrimpo explained. “IT’S TOO QUIET AND THE MOVIES ARE TERRIBLE, PLUS LOOEY IS THERE!” “Ah, I see. Then, with that logic, I suppose you like watching movies with me then?” Shrimpo was about to reply but he paused, he wasn’t sure but…he thought he did. When he thought about watching a movie with just Teagan he found himself not hating the idea for some reason, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what that reason was. Teagan caught Shrimpo’s hesitance to answer, chuckled again, and took his hand. “You know, I’d kind of assumed this date would be a miserable time so I didn’t plan to do anything after this…but I think I’d like to continue it if that alright?” Shrimpo considered the question, under any other circumstance he’d start yelling about hating this and wanting to go home. Instead he said. “OK, LET’S DO SOMETHING ELSE!” “Wonderful!” Teagan replied with a warm smile. Most restaurants are closed right now but I think there are still a few fast food places open, let’s get a quick bite.” Shrimpo nodded but shouted “NO TACO BELL!” Recalling his terrible experience at the last one he visited. Teagan laughed, a genuine laugh that made Shrimpo feel oddly warm and fuzzy. “Glisten told me about that.” She said “Not to worry, we’ll stay far away from there.” “I’M GONNA KILL THAT FRUITY ASS MIRROR!” Shrimpo shouted as he and Teagan walked away from the theater, hand in hand.

After a quick stop at Burger King, Shrimpo and teagan had their food. Yet now there was a problem. “...This place is…disgusting.” Teagan said with a disgusted grimace. The dining area wasn’t sanitary, most of the booths had crumbs of food on them and were sticky from soda and the floors had trash on them, flies also buzzed around some places. “WE AREN’T EATING IN HERE!” Shrimpo decided. “LET’S EAT OUTSIDE!” “Great idea!” Teagan said, clapping her hands together. “It’ll be like a little picnic!” “I HAT-” Shrimpo was about to reply with his usual response of hating whatever was suggested but he stopped, he did hate picnics but the thought of this specific picnic didn’t sound too bad to him. He simply stopped talking and followed Teagan outside.

Shrimpo and Teagan sat down to eat under a big tree in a quiet park. The night sky was filled with glittering stars and the sounds of the city around them were muffled almost to a complete silence, leaving the only sounds to be the rustling of the breeze through the trees. They ate quietly, the whole time Shrimpo’s mind raced. He wondered what was up with him today, ever since he’d met up with Teagan he’d been feeling odd: he’d been quiet during a movie, talked about himself, and found himself not being hateful toward things he definitely did hate. To make things even more confusing, he had absolutely no idea why he was acting like this. “...You know, I had a really nice time tonight.” Teagan suddenly said, snapping Shrimpo out of his thoughts. She was staring up at the night sky with a thoughtful look on her face. “I know we didn’t really do much but I’m pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this has been. I’m…happy we did this together.” Shrimpo stared at Teagan, taking in the sight of her. This odd wheeling welled up inside him as he stared and suddenly he knew the cause of his weird behavior. “IT’S YOU!” He suddenly shouted, jumping up and pointing at her. “...What’s me?” She asked. “YOU’RE MAKING ME FEEL ALL WEIRD!” He explained. “I WAS QUIET DURING A MOVIE, I WASN’T HATING THINGS I NORMALLY HATE, AND I’VE EVEN BOUGHT YOU SOMETHING BEFORE THIS DATE! I WOULD NEVER DO THAT BUT YOU’RE THE ONLY THING THAT ALL THESE THINGS HAVE IN COMMON SO IT MUST BE YOU MAKING ME FEEL THIS WAY!” Teagan stared, wide-eyed as Shrimpo confessed. Her hand moved to cover her mouth as the realization dawned on her. “...And…what exactly is it that I’m making you feel, Shrimpo?” She asked, her voice now soft yet also eager. “I-I DON’T KNOW! YOU MAKE ME FEEL ALL…WARM AND FUZZY AND WEIRD!” “...Do you…hate that I make you feel this way?” “...NO!” “Teagan gasped softly…then chuckled. “Shrimpo, forgive me if I’m assuming here but…I think what you’re feeling towards me is love.” “WHY?!” Shrimpo asked. “Well…I’m not exactly sure, but…” Teagan began scooting closer to Shrimpo until she was right next to him. She reached out and gently put her hand on his. “I think it might be that you’re falling in love with me.” “BUT I-...” He never finished the sentence, he simply trailed off, he couldn’t finish his sentence because what he was about to say wasn’t true. “...Shrimpo, I can tell that you’re still a little conflicted.” Teagan suddenly said. “So I’m going to close my eyes and let you choose what you want to do with these feelings.” Teagan then closed her eyes. The air was charged with suspense, Shrimpo stared at Teagan’s face, her beautiful face. Seeing her put all of her trust in him finally made Shrimpo decide exactly what he wanted.

Teagan waited in complete darkness, the suspense eating away at her as she waited for Shrimpo to do anything. Suddenly, after a grueling few seconds, she finally felt it. Shrimpo’s lips press against hers. She wrapped her arms around Shrimpo as they came together in a loving embrace, their lips locked together.

Teagan finally opened her eyes once the kiss broke. She stared into Shrimpo’s eyes, there was something more than anger and hate behind them now, it was love. “That was lovely, Shrimpo.” She said, “You’re quite the kisser.”

Suddenly, both Shrimpo and Teagan heard a voice off to their right, it was breathy like the person speaking had been running, yet it was also full of astonishment, it was also very familiar. “...Teagan?” They turned to see Rodger staring at them, shock plastered across his face.

Chapter 14: The Last Supper (For Glisten)

Summary:

In this chapter, tensions are high and Dandy tries to put an end to it, his intentions are good but he only makes it worse though. (Also, sorry for the late upload, time got away from me.)

 

Things had been tense around the Gardenview center ever since Shrimpo’s date with Teagan and Rodger’s date with Glisten. Rodger had become more irritable around other toons while Glisten had fallen into a state of depression and would barely leave his room. In opposition, Shrimpo had never been happier, though nobody could really tell. He would still be loud, angry, and insufferable, just to a lesser degree than before. All simply because he had less time to be mad, he spent most of his time with Teagan now and that made him spend less time around everyone else. Most of the other toons quickly took notice of the drastic change in the atmosphere and were also put on edge, walking on eggshells around Rodger or trying their best to avoid Shrimpo. Dandy quickly became fed up with all of this tension and started trying to devise a way to relieve some of it. “I just don’t know what to do!” He complained to Dyle one morning. “I want everyone to get along but I don’t know how to actually do it.” “You could always…put Shrimpo on a train and have it…never come back…” Dyle offered. He chuckled when Dandy lifted his head and stared at him with an annoyed scowl. “Kidding…mostly…Anyway, how about you simply gather up everyone so that they can all talk about it?” “I’ve thought of that but I don’t know how to get them all together.” Dandy sighed. “Why not simply…advertise it as another activity?” Dyle asked. “You mean lie to them?” Dandy asked. “It’s not lying, per say.” Dyle explained. “Just…A small deviation. Let’s say…you invite everyone to a large dinner and the topic of discussion just so happens to be all of the tension and how to get rid of it?” Dandy’s face lit up and he beamed with joy. “That's a great idea, Dyle!” He said happily. “You're the best!” Dyle coughed out of embarrassment. “Umm…thank you, Dandicus.” “I’ll send out invites right away, I better see you there.” He then hurried away. “Ah, wait, me?!” He called out, though Dandy was out of sight within moments. Dyle sighed. “I thought I would be exempt, how unfortunate…”

Throughout the day, every toon in Gardenview received a letter, whether it was slipped under their door, left in a place they’d find it, or handed to them directly. Each letter was about the same, it read “Hey friends, it’s been a while since we all got together and did something. So I thought it would be nice to all get together and have dinner tomorrow night! Make sure to show up on time, 7PM, and bring your appetites! From, your good friend: Dandy.” Some toons like Finn and Looey were happy to attend, others like Sprout and Vee were hesitant to go, and some toons like Rodger and Glisten would’ve probably outright refused. However, the way Dandy worded his note made everyone think that this wasn’t really an optional get-together so they all decided to attend, no matter how forced it might’ve been.

Time passed and dinner approached, each toon taking various amounts of time getting ready. Dandy stood at the entrance of the dining room, waiting to greet everyone. The usual early toons began showing up first: First Dyle, then Eggson, Bassie, and Tisha. They all gave Dandy their usual greeting, they all seemed pretty excited to take part in such a large event. Then Rodger showed up, he was always punctual. “Hi Rodger!” Dandy said with a cheerful smile and a wave. “I’m so glad you could make it!!” “Yes well, I pride myself on being attentive to things around me. For if I’m not, then who will be?” Dandy could feel the disdain in his voice, aimed at someone who wasn’t even here yet. Dandy only chuckled awkwardly. “W-Well, your chair is reserved, inside. Why don’t you sit down and we can wait for everyone else?” “Lovely.” Rodger replied, walking inside. “I do love an organized seating arrangement.” Dandy sighed, he luckily had the foresight to put Rodger far away from Glisten, Shrimpo, and teagan.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the toons to arrive. Even the late-comers like Connie and Gigi were on time. Some toons were happier to be there than others, However, Glisten, who had never been late to anything before, arrived five minutes late and looked miserable. He gave Dandy a weak wave and shuffled inside, it was clear that he wasn’t taking Rodger’s rejection well.

The last Toons to arrive were expected to. A whole fifteen minutes after the dinner was supposed to have started, Shrimpo and Teagan arrived. “Hello Dandy.” Teagan greeted. “Apologies for the delay, my darling Shrimpo was…hesitant to come.” “I HATE BIG DINNERS, FUCK YOU DANDY!” Shrimpo shouted angrily. Dandy sighed. “...Hello, Shrimpo.” “Now Shrimpo.” Teagan said, taking his hand. “Maybe dinner with friends won’t be so bad. Plus, I’ll be beside you the whole time to make it at least a little bit bearable.” Shrimpo huffed but relented. “FINE!” He then took something out from behind his back, a paper bag. “TEAGAN SAID TO BRING SOMETHING FOR YOU!” “Oh, that's nice!” Dandy said, taking the bag. “Thank you, shrim-.” His response died on his tongue, inside was a bunch of yellow, green, and purple scraps. “...Shrimpo, what is this?” “I THREW LOOEY IN A MEAT GRINDER, YOU’RE WELCOME!” He then stomped inside, dragging Teagan with him. “OH! I suppose we’ll see you inside then, Dandy.”

The dining room was full of chatter as Dandy walked in, all of the others were speaking to one another in several conversations. It almost felt like a normal day in Gardenview, only there was a tense feeling all throughout the room, coming from four different points from three ends of the table: Glisten was in one corner, not talking to anyone and looking depressed, Rodger was in another, trying to hold conversations but his gaze kept drifting over to another end of the table where Shrimpo and Teagan sat. Everyone could feel the tension at the table but tried to ignore it, instead, they all turned to Dandy as he walked over to his seat. “Hi everyone!” Dandy said, forcing a smile and waving. “Sprout and Cosmo should be done with the food soon so it shouldn’t be too much longer.” “HOW MUCH LONGER?!” Shrimpo asked, shouting across the table. “I’M HUNGRY!” Dandy, along with about half of the other toons, sighed. “Not much longer, Shrimpo…” Dandy answered.

Sure enough, Sprout and Cosmo wheeled in a massive cart full of food. They set the table and everyone was soon eating. “...So when exactly are you going to start discussing what you gathered everyone here for?” Dyle whispered to Dandy. “I’m going to wait a bit.” Dandy replied. “This is a dinner, after all. I want my friends to at least eat a little bit before we get things started.” Dyle simply nodded and continued eating.

Dandy let his friends eat for about five minutes. He was happy to see that at least most of the others were talking to each other, though the tension in the room was still very prevalent. Eventually, Dandy stood in his chair and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, the room quickly fell silent and everyone turned to look at Dandy. “So, I bet you’re all wondering why I called you guys here, right?” He said. “...Not really?” Vee replied. “Yeah, you kinda said the reason in your letter.” Scraps added. “Is there another reason you called everyone?” Tisha finished. Dandy was momentarily caught off guard by his friend’s lack of suspicion but bounced back quickly. “W-Well yeah, I did want everyone to have a nice time together but…well, I’m sure you’ve all noticed it.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm, gesturing to the whole table. “There’s a lot of…tension here and I think we should talk about it.” Suddenly, Rodger slammed his fist on the table. “I knew this was fishy! How dare you trick us, Dandy!?” “See, now this is why we need to talk.” Dandy replied. “If we’re all going to be friends, we can’t fight with each other. Let’s talk things out, Rodger.” The others murmured amongst each other, quietly agreeing that this needed to be discussed. Rodger grumbled but quickly sighed. “...I suppose I have been a bit…tense lately.” “Tense?” Connie suddenly said. “That’s the understatement of the century.” Connie was swiftly shushed by the others as Dandy continued. “Rodger, I feel like we already know the answer but…could you elaborate on why you’re so tense?” Rodger took a breath before pointing to the other side of the table. “It’s their fault.” He said, pointing right at Teagan and Shrimpo. “Our fault?!” Teagan suddenly said, standing up angrily. “How is it our fault?!” “YOU BETTER STOP POINTING AT US!” Shrimpo added with a shout. “OR ELSE I’LL COME OVER THERE AND KICK YOUR FUCKING-” “that’s enough!” Dyle’s voice suddenly cut through the argument, his tone calm but commanding. It silenced everyone. “Let us be civil, please?” “SHUT UP YOU STUPID CLOC-” Teagan’s hand on Shrimpo’s made him stop his insult and he sat back down. “Rodger.” Teagan said. “I’ve told you already, I’ve moved on.” “But I haven’t!” Rodger replied. “I just want to discuss it with you.” “What is there to discuss?!” Teagan asked. “I’m with Shrimpo now, and that's that. You should move on too, it’ll be healthier. Maybe give Glisten another shot?” She gestured to Glisten, who was currently trying not to be noticed, a very obvious blush was creeping across his face. “I…can’t.” Rodger said. “Not until we talk.” “We don’t have to talk.” Teagan said again, a tinge of annoyance in her tone. “I’ve already told you everything.” “No, you just don’t WANT to talk!” Rodger suddenly said, his voice full of anger. “You’re too busy sucking face with Shrimpo!” “What did I say about keeping this-” “YOU BETTER SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, YOU STUPID SPYGLASS!” Shrimpo suddenly shouted, cutting Dyle off. “YOU DON’T GET TO BUTT IN, SHRIMPO!” Rodger shouted back. “THIS IS BETWEEN TEAGAN AND I!” “Don’t you DARE yell at him!” Teagan snapped, her face contorted in anger. Dandy and the others simply watched in shock, the situation had very quickly gone out of hand and now a full blown argument was happening. The others were whispering to each other, some of them seeing Rodger’s view on things as understandable while others thought Teagan was more in the right.

The argument hit a boiling point when Rodger really lost his temper and did something he would never do. He grabbed something off his plate and threw it. The food he’d grabbed sailed across the table and nearly hit Teagan but she ducked just in time. Shrimpo, absolutely not having the disrespect, retaliated by grabbing a fork and throwing it at Rodger.

The other toons watched in horror as the fork shot across the table towards Rodger’s face. Unlike the food that was thrown, the metal fork would go right through his face and shatter him. Nobody could do anything, they simply watched as the fork made contact…with Glisten’s face.

The sickening sound of glass shattering and the gasps of the other toons filled the room as Glisten hit the floor, the top right side of his face shattered. He’d realized what Shrimpo was about to do before everyone else and rushed down the length of the table to get to Rodger; he'd jumped in front of him to shield him.

The room erupted into chaos as everyone started freaking out: some toons got up and started frantically running around, some just sat in shock, and others dashed off to find anything that might save Glisten. Rodger knelt down next to Glisten, shock and concern plastered on his face. “Glisten, why did you do that?!” He asked, desperation clear in his voice. “...R-Rodger…I…” “S-Stay with me, Glisten!” He ordered, holding his body in his arms. “Y-You better stay with me!” “R-Rodger…I-I’ve always…” Glisten never finished his sentence, his eyes started to shut and his head lulled to the side. “...Glisten? GLISTEN?! GLISTEN PLEASE OPEN YOUR EYES!” Rodger pleaded. “PLEASE!” But it was useless, Glisten's body went limp in Rodger’s arms. Some of the others gathered around Rodger as he began crying, clutching Glisten’s body.

Rodger’s tears suddenly turned angry as he carefully set Glisten down on the ground and stood up. “YOU!” He shouted, pointing at Shrimpo. “YOU JUST HAVE TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME, DON’T YOU?! FIRST YOU TAKE TEAGAN AWAY, AND NOW YOU’VE TAKEN GLISTEN! I SWEAR, YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” He then stormed out, grabbing Toodles’ arm on the way, who’d been standing by the door, scared. Some of the other toons left with him, shooting Shrimpo dirty looks. Teagan stayed by Shrimpo’s side, breathing hard and taking his hand. “...You didn’t have to do all that.” She said softly. “...I DID!” he shouted back.

Dandy and Dyle quickly took care of Glisten’s body, with Dyle being the one to move it out of the room. “I hope you’re happy, Shrimpo.” Dandy said as he started leaving too. “Now I’m going to have to try harder to get everyone to get along.” “I DON’T THINK SO, DANDY!” Shrimpo suddenly said, his voice carrying a hint of malice beneath it that made Dandy stop in his tracks. “RODGER SAID HE’D MAKE ME PAY, I THINK YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN!” “What, no way, Rodger won’t do anything.” Dandy said, though he was a bit nervous now. Shrimpo suddenly began walking toward him. “I THINK YOU’RE GOING TO HELP US MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T!” Shrimpo said. “W-Why would I do that?!” Dandy asked. “BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T…” Shrimpo got right up in his face and whispered something into Dandy’s ear, something that made his face drop. “...Fine.” He said, defeated. “GOOD, NOW I’M GOING TO GET SOME REAL FOOD, THIS DINNER WAS HORRIBLE!” He then stomped out with Teagan right behind him. “...What was that about?” Dyle asked as he came back into the room. Dandy sighed. “...This is about to turn into a really big problem.”

Chapter 15: Circus Trio's Plane Ride

Summary:

In this chapter, the Circus Trio decides to leave Gardenview for a while to escape the drama. They get on a plane in order to get far away. Unfortunately, things don't go smoothly.

After witnessing the absolute chaos that was Dandy’s big dinner, the circus trio decided that they wanted to be as far away from the drama as possible. So they booked a flight to Miami Florida and were going to stay in a hotel until everything at Gardenview calmed down.

“Hey, how’d you even manage to afford three tickets to Florida, Yatta?” Looey asked. “Trust me, I have my ways.” Yatta assured him. “...hahahahahahaha, I don’t know how I'm supposed to feel about that.”

Yatta, Blot, and Looey all got out of the car at the airport, they were very ready to leave. “Thanks for the ride, Finn!” Yatta said with a wave. It was Finn who drove them, he’d finally gotten a new 2004 Honda Civic. “No problem!” Finn replied. “I’ll call you guys when everything calms down back home.” “Thanks, I’ll text pictures!” Yatta said before rushing off with her two friends toward the airport.

Going through the terminal wasn’t hard… for Looey and Yatta, they had nothing dangerous with them and none of them could carry weapons. Blot on the other hand was quickly stopped by the terminal staff and accosted. When Looey and Yatta asked why they said “This guy is dripping all over the place, He should be considered a liquid and cannot go on the plane without being in a proper container.” “Oh, is that all?” Yatta asked. Looey raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean by that Yatt-” Looey got the answer to his question before he finished asking it. He watched Yatta pull out an Ichor canister from Gardenview and begin trying to cram Blot inside it. “OH MY GOD, YATTA!” Looey shouted, his voice full of surprise. By the time Yatta was done, Blot was no longer standing beside them. The ichor canister was now full and Blot’s one eye stared out at Looey and Yatta from the inside. “Sorry Blot, you’ll just have to stay in there for a while.” Yatta said with a chuckle. “How is that funny?!” Looey asked. “...I don’t know…” Yatta admitted.

With Blot now stuck in the ichor canister, they were all about to go through and wait at the gate. “I’m so excited, Looey!” Yatta said, a big smile plastered on her face. “There’s been so much drama back home, it’ll be good to get away for a while!” “haha, yeah.” Looey agreed. “The tension around there was getting to be a lot.” “Are you excited, Blot?” Yatta asked the canister. She was met with the unammused stare of Blot from within it. “...Good talk, buddy.” She said.

After about an hour of waiting, the plane was ready to be boarded and the trio got on. Their seats were near the back of the plane, by the bathroom. As people walked on and filled the seats around them, Looey and Yatta became increasingly glad they had paid for three seats but only had two people, Blot being in the canister meant there was an open seat on their row and that no one would sit with them and they had a bit more room to stretch out.

After everyone boarded the plane, it took off and Looey, Yatta, and Blot were on their way to Miami. “Wow! Looey, look, we’re flying!” Yatta said excitedly, staring out the window. “Y-Yeah, that's great Yatta. Hahahaha.” Looey replied with a nervous laugh. “What’s wrong, scared of planes?” Yatta asked, a mischievous smirk plastered on her face. “N-No.” Looey answered. “It’s just that…I’ve got this bad feeling of Deja vu. Like the last time I was near a plane something bad happened…I don’t know what though, weird right?” “Yeah, that is weird.” Yatta agreed, unaware of that time Looey got hit by a plane. Despite joking around, Yatta could see that Looey wasn’t doing too well, he was shaking slightly and his eyes darted around. She wanted to make him feel better but she didn’t know how. She decided to ask someone who might know though. “I’ll be right back.” She said before going to the bathroom. Looey didn’t see it but she took the ichor canister with her.

“Blot, do you know how we can cheer Looey up?” Yatta asked once she was alone in the bathroom. She’d opened the canister and Blot slid out. He reformed in front of her, an angry expression on his face. “Oh come on, Blot.” Yatta pleaded. “I’m sorry for stuffing you in there, it was the only way they’d let you on. I promise, you weren’t gonna be in there for a long time.” Blot simply rolled his eye. However, he began to ponder and then walked out of the bathroom, Yatta guessed he had an idea.

Looey heard the bathroom door shut and turned around to see Yatta and Blot walking toward him. He waved them over, happy to see that Blot was back when the plane suddenly shuddered due to some unexpected turbulence. The ichor canister fell out of Yatta’s hand and rolled against Looey’s foot. He picked it up only for someone to suddenly yell “OH MY GOD, HE’S GOT A BOMB!” “Where?!” Looey asked, looking around only to find that people were staring at him in horror. Looey realized only a second too late that they thought he was holding a bomb. “W-WAIT, THIS ISN’T A-” He never got a chance to finish his sentence, two large men got up and quickly tackled him to the ground.

Looey writhed on the ground, trying to break free while the rest of the plane was freaking out. The flight attendants tried to keep everyone calm but it wasn’t working. In the chaos, the ichor canister rolled over to Blot and Yatta and stopped at their feet. Blot then got an idea to calm the panicked passengers. He knelt down in front of the canister and seemed to begin fiddling with it. “...What are you doing, Blot?” Yatta asked, peering over his shoulder. What Yatta saw only made her more confused, she saw Blot digging around inside the canister, it was supposed to be empty but Blot had used his abilities to make it look like the inside of a mechanism, full of wires and blinking buttons. “Look, that little…thing is trying to disarm the bomb!” Yatta heard someone say. People turned to look at Blot, who was pretending to disarm a bomb that didn’t exist.

People began gathering around Blot as he worked on his pretend bomb, all the while Looey was still being pinned to the ground. As Blot worked the pilot came over the loudspeaker. “Attention passengers, we’re starting an emergency descent into the Miami International Airport. Please get in your seats unless you’re…engaged in preserving our safety.” Most of the people standing around returned to their seats, including Yatta. She watched from her seat as Blot finished up discussing the fake bomb. He looked up at the nearest flight attendant and gave a thumbs up, then sat in his seat.

Looey was immediately arrested upon the plane landing, police swarmed the plane and took him away. He tried explaining what really happened but the police weren’t having it. Meanwhile Blot was carried off the plane by the crowd of grateful passengers. Yatta walked off last, even though the situation was chaotic and crazy, she knew that there was no real danger and thus she was very entertained. Plus, they were finally in Miami, away from any of the stress of what was going on in the Gardenview center.

Finn’s phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket as he was sitting with Teagan, Shrimpo, and Dandy. “...Oh my god!” He suddenly exclaimed, causing the three other toons to turn and look at him. “What is it, Finn?” Dandy asked. “Look at what Yatta just sent me!”  He turned his phone around to show the others, on the screen were several images: Looey being pinned to the ground on a plane, Blot disarming an ichor canister, Looey being arrested by the cops, Looey in a jail cell, and the final image was another cellmate stomping on Looey’s head. Shrimpo immediately burst out laughing while Dandy and Teagan just stared. “...what the heck are those three getting up to in Florida?” Was all Dandy could say in response.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The Shrimpo Cinematic Universe