Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XVIII Episode VIII: Time To Get Going

Moments later, he would pop back into existence. “Invisibility? This is amazing!” It seemed that Micro was able to make himself appear and disappear entirely at will. A most useful tool indeed.

“Oh, this is perfect!” Flash cheered, “Okay. This fits right in with what I was planning. But first, we’ll need to divide and conquer. That lady’s already killed some people and she’s making her move to do…something crazy. I’m not sure, but we need to send someone over there as fast as possible to slow her down.” He started dialing a number on his phone while calling out, “MC, where did that murder take place?”

“Uhh…near the planetarium--on that hill above the city,” he replied while looking up the information from his phone.

“Alright. Got it,” Flash engaged a phone call, and waited for it to start ringing…

While Sandbar stood there, utterly confused by the exchange he had just heard. “...Guys. Are you sure all this planning is gonna get us anywhere? We need to get going as soon as we can.”

“Don’t worry,” Flash responded confidently, “We’ll get started soon enough. Know thyself, know thy enemy…”

At last, the person he was calling--Wallflower--picked up her phone, answering in a groggy, slurred state. “...Yello…?”

“Wall? We’ve got a problem. Check the news!” yelled Flash.

“Okay, okay…I’m coming…just…ahhhh…” Wallflower continued to yawn sleepily, not fully grasping the intensity from the boy’s voice.

“Gah! Hurry the hell up!” Flash raised his voice, “This is not a drill. This is not a dream. Get your butt up and check the news already!”

That certainly did the trick. “Woah--wha--wah!” Wallflower fell out of her bed with a thud. “Sorry…I’m just a bit slow today. Not a morning gal by any means…” She stopped and turned on her TV. Sure enough, the news was raving about the death of a groundskeeper near the planetarium and how mysterious it was as no evidence could be found at the scene of the crime. “What the hell?!”

“It’s that weird lady, yo!” Sandbar shouted over the phone, “The one who I fought off and stabbed Flash in the back!”

“She’s also the one behind all this love-magic junk,” Flash explained in an annoyed tone, “Disgusting. But if you guys can find out wherever she is and keep her busy, we can undo the spell that’s affecting all of our friends at school.”

“...Sounds reasonable enough to me,” Wallflower said in between a yawn, “I’ll get the boys and head out that way when I can. How are you gonna fix that spell?”

Flash smirked to himself. “...Don’t worry about us. I’ve got a plan. You just get the boys and get going.” Without another word, he hung up.

“So…what are we doing exactly?” Micro Chips asked. “I have a lot of technical know-how…but me coming up with ideas would simply slow us down since I tend to…go overboard with large wo

“...I’m not the best with coming up with plans, yo,” Sandbar said.

Spike walked over and casually leaned against the couch. “Don’t look at me, I’m just a dog.”

“It’s alright, guys,” Flash turned to them with a steeled set of eyes, “I’ve got this. We’re going to get this done. Whether we win or lose, nobody can say we didn’t try--though of course, I’d prefer to win--but that’s besides the point. Now let’s get going--though…can any of you drive?” He clutched his chest again, “I feel better than I did yesterday, but I don’t think I’m cleared to drive just yet.”

---

Meanwhile, about 15 minutes later with Wallflower and the boys…

She rushed into the guest room where they were sleeping and shouted to wake them up. “Guys! We need to get going! There’s something going on at the science center!”

To her surprise though, none of that was necessary as they were already fully awake.

“Yeah, we know,” Keiji commented as he stood up and stretched, “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for the last few hours.”

Rumble was lying on the floor, and looked up at the green girl with a pair of bulging eyes. “...Um…”

“What?” Wallflower raised an eyebrow. She was wearing an oversized gray T shirt with sunflowers on it that draped over most of her body with no clear sign of anything being worn on her lower half. Seemed as if she was a rather lazy sleeper. “The hell are you looking at?”

For the sake of his own safety, Rumble chose to not say anything. “N-nothing--nothing at all.” He simply got up and stretched as well. “So what’s the plan?”

Thankfully, Wallflower continued as if nothing happened. “Flash just told us to get to the planetarium as quickly as possible while everyone else deals with what’s going on at school. If we hurry, we can probably cut her off before she hurts anyone else.”

“He’s calling the shots now?” Keiji responded with what sounded like an impressed scoff, “Hmph. Didn’t think he had it in him. But whatever--I’ve got no issues with that. Now that we know where that hoe is, let’s wipe her off the face of the earth. You ready, Rumble?”

Rumble punched his fist against his open palm. “Oh hell yeah. When she messed with scoots, she messed with the wrong man. I’ve got a few choice words for her…”