Jean-Luc and Joey: Vegetation Domination Ch.8

    Back at the goofy little house of Jean-Luc & Joey, the gang sat with some tea, biscuits, and a casual platformer video game being played by Joey as they tried to calm themselves from what had happened while also trying to piece things together. The weather didn’t have any rain, but it was cloudy with a chance of thunder outside. Jean-Luc, the fox with a damaged brain, paced the floor in the hall close to the kitchen so he doesn’t block Joey’s game while attempting to put things together.

               “Ok Danny, so explain it to me again of what happened.” Jean-Luc asked his cool, biker friend and gun expert, Danny.

               “So, uh… yeah. I walked up to Mel’s house, and the door was wide open, right? Then I walked in and tried to figure out why the place was a wreck. Then all of a sudden, I find Sherman and-” Danny stops as he suddenly remembers Melody’s pet snake then began to shout his name in worry. But there was no need to worry as Sherman was in Danny’s jacket pocket the entire time. Danny sighed in relief and continued his story while letting Sherman wiggle around the TV room for a while, “So I find Sherman, and kept looking around for Melody. But suddenly as I walk out, the grass began to grow as tall as SKYSCRAPERS, and the plants were beginning to look out of control. Next thing I know, WHA-CHHHH!!!! I’m whipped in the legs and I’m suddenly dangling as me and Sherman hang for dear life. Just then, I see this little girl but she was all pale and had these green veins all over her arms and face.”

               “Veins? Are you sure?” Jean-Luc asked.

               “Jean-Luc, if they were anything else, I wouldn’t be tellin’ this story in detail of everything I saw here,” Danny answered back, “Anyway, this little girl just came in and wanted me to be fed to this HUGE sunflower with a BIG gapin’ mouth ‘n everything! We were gonna be dead too… that is until a voice called out and said, “STOP…. He is not to be eaten that way.” That voice was nothing but Melody herself…”

               “Melody….?” Joey gulped just the death sound in his video game began to play.

               “Yeah… she said… “He is to be fed to the master…. The master must be fed…. For he is the key to our salvation…. We will become one with the plant… One with the plant…”

               “One with the… plant….?” Julie repeated in query and slight fear, “That doesn’t sound right… but then again, guys…. How are we going to place this in our chart of mishaps…?” Jean-Luc then made a hypothesis and pulled down a blackboard from above him and listed everything that has happened to them so far.

               “Well, if my psychologonic-ideas can piece things together,” Jean-Luc started as he began to write things down as he explained them, “Everything started NORMAL. Y’know, like when we got fireball’d by a huge beast with goat-legs or something, and strapping an orange lizard to the hood of our car.”

               “Hehe, that day still makes me laugh,” Joey says with a small chuckle after hearing that.

               “Then afterwards, Julie decided that we go ahead and check out that Fortress Defense Zone that we had sitting around and never used for a while.”

               “And that was when the robots just rolled in out of nowhere and attacked us,” Julie added.

               “Exactly,” Jean-Luc answered as he continued writing on the blackboard, “And that was also when the place was blown up,”

               “Yet again, due to our incompetence to pay attention to little details of certain situations,” Danny says as he has his hand on his cheek while shaking his head slowly.

               “We’re not very good at this hero work, are we?” Joey asked Danny.

               “Guys, focus,” Jean-Luc said to get back the gang’s attention. He continued, “So. As the robots attacked, that was when the base was suddenly exploded. AND! That was also the moment when Ryan suddenly went missing… or dead...” The rest of the group lowered their head in sadness, fearing that the latter had come true. Jean-Luc cleared his throat then added, “But if that pod we had from that giant plant is still alive… it might be a clue to where Ryan might be.” Giving a small sense of hope helped give the gang some much-needed morale. The fox then continued, “So after the robots, the destruction of the defense zone, the plant monster, and Melody hypnotized with the plants…”

               “Don’t forget the little robot parts with the insignias on them that we had in Julie’s lab,” Danny added.

               “And when my laboratory was slimed and when Face gave us the clues those same robot parts were the ones that sucked out the information of my super-computer,” Julie also added.

               “Oh! And the slime monster! I’m still picking some dry slime out of my hat,” Joey also added.

               “Right! And Eww. And also there was destruction of Julie’s treehouse today. I have come to the conclusion that…” Jean-Luc kept pause, holding the gang’s anticipation on a thread until he said….

    “I got nothing,” Jean-Luc stated, BUT. What I do get is that we might actually have an actual supervillain on our hands!” Jean-Luc was strangely excited as he gave a small laugh about this whole situation.

               “What are you trying to say here, fox?” Danny asked in a serious tone, “We stop bad guys all the time. Why’s this so different?”

               “Well, it’s kinda because we’ve actually got someone who’s actually trying to take us down, and is only trying to take US out of the way before he or she-”

               “Or they?” Danny asked in a slight-joking manner.

               “Keep that talk out of my house.” Jean-Luc retorted before going back on his thoughts, “Eh-… Before he or she enacts their EEEEEVIIIILLL scheeeeemes. This isn’t one of those throwaway bad guys or a second run with the mafia like before. I think this is the real deal on our hands. And it’s up to us to stop it before it begins!” Jean-Luc then then put his foot on the coffee table and shouted, “So guys. WHO’S WITH ME TO SAVE THE DAY?” The rest of the gang shouted, “WE ARE!!!”

               Just then…. A large clank is heard from out in the front yard, and the wiring around the house fizzled out, turning everything off.

               “What was that?” Danny asked. Jean-Luc shrugged and suggested that it might be the squirrels messing with his cable and satellite antenna again then decided to check it out. He walks outside and shuts the door behind him, leaving Joey to entertain Danny and Julie. Jean-Luc shivers a little but doesn’t heed it as he searched around the front yard. Seeing nothing around, he decided to check the console that powers the house from the side. He looks around until he finds his power box laying on the floor. The fox-boy, with a confused look on his face, picks up the box and examines it, seeing as it was forced open as the wiring was still fresh and jolted some loose electricity from the snapped wires. Things were getting too out of place now. Maybe Jean-Luc’s weird anticipation to finally have the chance to fight a supervillain is something he should have kept to himself. As Jean-Luc looked around the destruction more, the rocks and pebbles under his feet began to vibrate. The fox saw the pebbles and looked down at them as they shook. With the more they shook, the earth began to vibrate. Each vibration grew more and more violent, causing the rocks to jump higher and higher. Jean-Luc the fox looked up slowly, and his tail slowly pulled out a baseball bat from inside its fur. Jean-Luc gasped some as he saw a shadowy figure coming towards his house. The thunder CLAPPED! Making the rain fall down as the shadowy figure came closer. As the figure came closer, it grew bigger. Jean-Luc suddenly couldn’t move. It was as if his body was frozen as fear clamped his legs down like a bear trap. The fox’s jaw dropped at how big the shadowy beast was, as his whole body grew weak in fright. The shadowy figure stood over Jean-Luc like a behemoth, making the fox shake and drop the power box right then and there. A moment of silent hit the area as the rain poured down and as the shadowy figure stared Jean-Luc down with blood-red eyes…. But just before Joey could look through the window to see his big brother, Jean-Luc was thrusted straight through the midsection of his own house! Crashing the fox through the wall, through the living room, and through the other side, KNOCKING A TON OF OBJECTS TO THE GROUND! Jean-Luc was then buried until the walls of his home. Joey, Danny, and Julie quickly shouted “Jean-Luc!!!” And quickly ran to his aid. They pulled the rubble off of Jean-Luc, and the fox’s head emerged while he himself was seeing stars. Jean-Luc strained and got himself look as the gang asked him what had happened. But suddenly, the house began to shake even more and more. They look out of the hole which Jean-Luc crashed through, and saw a giant robot standing before them.

               “Another robot?!” Danny shouted in surprise and in a peeved manner. But as Danny said that, the robot let off a giant chunk of steam and suddenly grew larger in size, expanding its arms, legs, torso, and even strength.

               “A-A-A-A REALLY BIG ROBOT!!!” Joey screamed. The gang ran back inside, but the giant robot then grabs the house from its foundation and began to lift it from the ground then throw it up in the air like a cannon. The gang screamed loudly as they were suddenly thrown into the air until being violently shaken around as the robot grabbed the house, pulled the roof off and threw the house over to hard patches of the forest ground, smashing it into a few trees, non-anthropomorphic animals, and stones along the way. The gang dragged and pulled themselves from out of the huge wreckage and began to regroup with each other before the robot came any closer.

               “What do you make of this, boss?” Danny asked.

               “Well, as Ryan would say: There’s four of us. Got a wrecked home. Sum big dam robot comin’ after us. And it’s raining outside,” Jean-Luc stated to everyone in a fast-talking manner as Ryan would talk, “Yep. Just another day for us at the peanut factory.” Jean-Luc then remembered that he has super powers that could easily destroy the robot. Jean-Luc whirled his arm as fast as lighting and threw a charged shot straight at the chest of the robot. The robot took the shot to the chest as an explosion of smoke covered everything. The gang looked on at the explosion in hopes that Jean-Luc shot it down.

               “Did’ja get him?” Joey asked curiously as he squinted his eyes to see. However, through the smoke a pair of headlights came in and a familiar horn sped to the gang very fast.

               “DUCK!!” Jean-Luc shouted as he ducked everyone down as the Groovemobile was cannoned straight over the gang and suddenly exploding behind the gang. The gang looked back at the explosion slowly while Jean-Luc was distraught that his car was destroyed.

               “I JUST HAD THAT RE-PAINTED!!!” Jean-Luc cried. Jean-Luc then marched forward, pointed to the robot and cried in complete anger, “YOU INVADED MY SANCTUARY AND DESTROYED MY HOME! AND NOW YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!!!” Jean-Luc then jumped and lunged to the beast, powered up his fist and gave it a large punch, knocking it to the ground, but not by that much. The stretched its arm and grabbed the fox like a stress-toy then threw it down, driving it into the ground like a gopher. The gang help him up and look each other down. The robot comes closer, so the gang decide to split up and surround it. As Team Whack surround the robot, the bionic beast of metal tightens its muscles and waits for them to make the first move.

               FLASH! The lightning strikes, making Jean-Luc and Joey lunge forward at the robot. The robot’s combat A.I. began to kick in, and it immediately blocked the dynamic duo’s attempts with its huge arms as defense. The robot then slaps Jean-Luc and Joey and begin to head for Jean-Luc. Danny quickly grabbed one of the pistols from within his jacket and began to fire holes into the robot’s back. The robot takes the damage, but the effect was as effective as an idiot punching a brick wall with your bare fists.

    “Aw crap...” Danny curses to himself from his ineffective attempt. The robot is then about to head for Danny as the bunny continued firing at it while backing away, but Julie then pulls out one of the apples from her fruit cap and threw it at the machine, causing the apples to explode on contact with the robot’s body. As soon as the robot faced Julie, it then began to scan her. The robot then did not see Julie as a mere being to kill, but now an objective to steal EVEN if it meant that she got hurt severely in order to do so. The bolted robot reached its hand out in an attempt to grapple her, making Julie scream! However, the robot’s attempts were stopped once a flying object knocked its hand away hard. Julie is then swiped away by Joey, who shows up in the nick of time to save her.

               “Ah! Thanks Joey!” Julie shouts in relief. Joey nods and then begins to tag team with Julie. Together, Joey morphs into a makeshift machine where Julie can control and shoot out either energy blasts, or any of Julie’s fruit-shaped gadgets and weapons.

               “There has to be a weak spot to this thing!” Julie shouts, “And where’s Jean-Luc?!” Jean-Luc, who had just recovered from being slapped around, zapped himself behind the metal beast and stretched his arms around like rope until the robot’s arms were grappled and pulled back. Jean-Luc then fired his pupils deep white until lasers began to shoot at the appendages of the beast until the arms broke off. Jean-Luc drops the arms onto the ground hard, and Danny jumps out of the way before one of them could even crush him. Jean-Luc then flies into the machine and begins to punch around inside as if it was a pair of bongos, making the robot twitch around and shuffle and quake until its head flew clean off like a rocket. Everyone watches while the robot twitches and towering beast comes tumbling down. The beast hit the ground with small earthquake and a resounding THUD. Jean-Luc walks out with a smile while brushing his hands off for a job well done.

               “Nice work, fox-boy,” Danny compliments while Joey un-morphs himself from around Julie. The gang take a few steps back but take a moment to examine the beast. However… someone from a faraway place wasn’t taking too kindly to this situation…

               “NO! HOW COULD WE HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!” An angry voice shouted.

               “Ah-Aaah,” another voice began to explain with a small cackling laugh, “that was just merely a practice run….  Der eigentliche test kann beginnen...” A button is then pressed, causing some inner workings of the robot to work. The robot’s gears shifted and turned as the rain poured onward. A light slowly began to shine from inside of where the robot’s head used to protect. The gang had turned away, so they could not see what was going on. Just then, two giant transparent canisters of some STRANGE mix of chemicals began to glow a mix of both green and orange. The shining colors catch Team Whacko’s eyes, making them turn slowly in ever growing panic. As they stare, huge firetruck sirens were beginning to go off from afar. Danger was imminent, but the gang had current troubles with the giant robot. The robot then grew TWO new arms and slowly got up and picked up its head…. Placing it back onto its body. The robot’s head stared the team down as if it was truly out for bloodshed…. The robot then whirs its left arm around until it turned into a rusty gas pump handle that has been outfitted with both a long needle and rust-stained knife underneath, and with a small container connected to the top of the main part of the weapon, filled with liquid from the container with a slight glow to it as well... the robot then injected the rust-stained knife into the ground and injected the liquid straight into the ground. Once the liquid was entirely into the ground, the robot then blasts off into the sky and disappears.

               “What… did that behemoth just do…?” Danny asks slowly… his hands shake and can’t properly hold his gun. The liquid that was injected into the ground began to glow. The glow then sprout large roots both above ground and underground as well. The roots not only sprouted in the gang’s areas, but also around to the habitats of other forest animals. The forest animals were too dumbfounded by why these roots were sprouting all over the place, but they were sprouting like wildfire. Even though the others were dumbfounded and curious of why the ground was glowing, Danny had an idea to what it was and immediately said, “Guys…? We gotta go.”

               “Go? What do you mean “go??” Jean-Luc asked. Danny started his explanation until- BOOM!!!!! HUGE VINES SUDDENLY SURROUND THE GANG and the grass ultimately shot up into the air, almost touching the rainy skies above. It didn’t help that the rain was making the wet grass heavier by the second.

               “THAT’S WHAT!!!” Danny shouts angrily. Another explosion from the city and the low sound of high-pitch screaming citizens are heard, throwing the gang way off guard.

               “And THAT’S WORSE!!” Julie added on. BUT THEN! Along with the swinging vines and high-top grass were the sounds of chatter and shifting from within the grass. In a shock, Jean-Luc holds everyone into a giant huddle, then ties them onto his back using his tail and began to fly over to the city, but Jean-Luc kept getting stopped by the vines that either kept him down, or grappled him and his friends in order to torture them. Jean-Luc attempts to fire at the vines and grass in order to get out of the way, but Julie stops him, yelling that firing at them will cause a HUGE forest fire. Instead, Jean-Luc began to stretch and jump his way through the tall grass. Jean-Luc jumps and jumps as fast as he could, but the shifting and chattering was getting closer and closer. The gang’s blood pumped fast and their hearts beat faster, they try to escape the forest and attempt to get to the city as fast as they could. Jean-Luc jumped, ran, and bladed his way through the grass in order to get through, and avoid the looming vines up above. Animals, that had once been normal, became vicious vegetation-like bipedal mutants that pounced and attacked the gang from every corner of the forest. From rabid squirrels to vicious badgers, Jean-Luc punched his way through as the grass grew higher. Julie, while still locked tightly on Jean-Luc’s back, looked over while shaking from all the running, pulled out her finger from the tail’s grasp and pointed forward and said, “Uh hey, guys? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but….. CLIIIIIIFFFF!!!!” Jean-Luc brushed through an invading pinch of grass only to be suddenly tripped by a root from the leg of a tree only to stumble and fall over to the edge of the cliff, suddenly then sliding off making Joey immediately grab the edge and hold on tightly. Joey then tries to pull himself and the others up as they hang there, only to be shocked to see small shadows of the mutated animals coming forth in a rapid pace. The scared bunny suddenly rips himself from the cliff edge, causing him and his friends to fall and tumble down the tough slope in pain and agony. The cliff they fell from was a tough one, so taking face with each steep edge felt more painful than the last until they all fell face first into the mud below with the sound of splatter from the mud and a bone crack being the last thing heard from the final fall. The mud stains the fur and bruised as they lie still as the pain begins to set in all while the thunderstorm raged on….

    After the brutal fall, the rabid mutants come from the shadows and spot the duo from above. The beasts then jump down from the cliff and check the bodies. The predatory mutants sniff and smell the bodies and rub on their unconscious fur and skin.  A mutant wolf stood on its hind legs as it coughed and sputtered green sap from its mouth. The mutant wolf then takes a good look at Joey’s fleshy body, and was ready to take a huge bite until it was stopped by a booming voice.

               “STOP!!!” The booming voice cried to the wolf, making the mutant stop just before its teeth could sink into Joey’s brain. The humanoid shadow walked closer to the bodies and inspected them closely. The shadow body grabbed their arms one at a time and felt their pulses. Each of them were still beating, except for Jean-Luc… The shadow felt that Jean-Luc had no pulse and just dropped his limp arm back into the mud.

               “Not this one…. He is no use to us,” the humanoid shadow told the mutants, “Take the others. They will soon become one with the plant… but the fruit-based one… is mine…” The humanoid shadow picks up 100% Julie and carries her over its shoulder until it disappeared into the grassy shadows. The mutant animals pick up the rest of the gang but leave Jean-Luc behind, kicking mud onto his body and tail as they lay there amongst the pouring rain. The thunder and lightning clasp and rage on while the city from afar suffers grave danger.

               Meanwhile, within the desolate laboratory in the faraway desert, the two villainous shadows relish in Team Whacko’s fall.

               “Finally… the team is now separated from their leader, brother…” The first voice complimented.

               “Wunderbare…” the second voice agreed, “And now to place our second phase into motion. Our army of robots and mutant plants will take over not just their puny city, but will follow in OUR regime as we cleanse the earth of such….. Weed-induced scum.”

               “And what about the agreements to our… contractors…?” The first voice asked, making the second voice groan but also replied by saying, “Do not worry. They will have their projected bounty…” the voice then stares at the monitor featuring Jean-Luc who laid immobile in the mud and then replied, “One of them as far as they know…” The camera flew off and headed towards the burning city, ready to record whatever tragedy from the attacks it is able to record next. With the city under serious endangerment, now under fire by the bolted behemoth, the team knocked out and separated while Jean-Luc is left in an unknown, and concerning state… What is a group of friends such as Team Whacko to do now…?