38Hey everyone! Since the show Wordgirl has ended, I've decided to write a fanfic continuing where the show ended. I'm going to try and add in more character development and stuff, so if any of you guys have ideas for chapters, please let me know! I'm starting it out at the end of Rhyme and Reason.
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Wordgirl.
Divided We Fall, Part One
Becky shot a determined grin at her best friend, Violet, before springing into action and changing into her Wordgirl costume. After reconciling with Violet she felt lighter than ever, and couldn't resist a loop-de-loop before slamming into the enormous five-headed robot's side. It tipped over with a loud mechanical groan; she watched the five villains all press buttons on their remotes frantically, then cling desperately to the robot as it crashed to the ground. Becky-aka-Wordgirl swooped down to face the group as they let go of the robot and dropped onto the concrete one by one.
"Looks like your not-so-formidable robot has been foiled!" Wordgirl said triumphantly as the police started to close in around the supervillains. They looked at her in mild disappointment.
"Really? No jail puns?" Doctor Two Brains commented.
The heroine shrugged. "What? It was the best I could come up with on short notice. I hadn't expected all five of you to team up." Wordgirl took in the sight of the five villains all handcuffed side by side. "Why are you all working together, anyway?"
"That's for us to know, and you to find out!" the Butcher said with a grin.
Wordgirl sighed. "Fine. Have fun in jail…" She took off, spiraling around a building before landing behind a few bushes in the school playground to transform back into mild-mannered seventh-grader, Becky Botsford.
Violet watched her friend leap into the sky and fly, soaring like a wind spirit. She still wasn't used to the fact that Becky was Wordgirl, but she really, really wanted to be used to it. They just felt like such different people…
"Hey there," Scoops's voice broke through her thoughts. She glanced at him and returned the smile he was giving her, then looked back at her friend hovering in the distance. "Something wrong?"
"Scoops, did you know Becky was Wordgirl?"
Scoops blinked in surprise. "I, uh, yeah. I found out by accident a few months ago. Did you find out recently?"
Violet nodded. "The day before yesterday, during our photography project." She sighed. "I've forgiven her for keeping it a secret, but… it's so strange, knowing they're the same person. You know?"
"Yeah. I have to admit, when I first found out her identity, it was hard for me to remember that she was still Becky. Maybe once she tells you more about her battles and other Wordgirl-related business, you'll get used to it." Scoops shrugged and looked at Violet, concerned. She seemed more bothered by it all than she was letting on.
"The battles… I can't stand the thought that my friend is the one going out to save the city all the time, and putting herself in harm's way." She let out a small laugh, but it sounded more melancholy than merry. "And to think that I once believed Becky was the one needing to be protected! Yet she saves us all, over and over again."
They watched the red streak of light zip from the far-off downtown area to a bunch of bushes a few yards away. A small flash of light signaled Becky's transformation, and sure enough, their friend appeared from behind the shrubbery a moment later, with a big smile on her face.
"Wordgirl!" Scoops said in his reporter voice as he whipped out his notepad. "Any exclusive statements on the giant robot that you took down with ease?"
Becky put her hands on her hips triumphantly, playing along. "Well, Scoops, this just goes to show that even when villains collaborate, they still are no match for Wordgirl! … And Captain Huggyface," she added, as Bob let out a disgruntled squeak. Scoops laughed and scribbled in his notepad a bit more before stashing it away.
Violet spoke up. "So, Becky, how was your battle?"
Becky smiled at her friend. It was such a load off her chest, being able to talk to her best friend about her crimefighting activities - why hadn't she told Violet earlier? "Well, it was a pretty short one. The villains that had collaborated made this huge five-headed robot, but they were all trying to control it and make it do different things. All I had to do was knock the robot over - they pretty much defeated themselves," she finished with a laugh.
Violet gave her another small smile. "I'm glad you're safe." Before Becky could respond, the bell rang again, signaling the end of their lunch break. The three friends headed inside.
That afternoon, at the city jail…
"I hid the spare keys around here somewhere… aha, found them!" Doctor Two Brains said to himself as he lifted up a set of keys from their hiding place. He had stashed them under the mattress last time he had visited this cell - it was child's play, stealing the prison key set, creating a copy, hiding it in the lining of his lab coat before getting captured last week, and making sure the previous villain in this cell had escaped the night before so that he'd be put in this cell. He had a feeling the first attempt at a five-villain collaboration wouldn't go as well as they all had hoped, and of course, his instinct had been proven correct.
"Psst. Butcher." The meat-wielding villain in the cell across from him looked up. The doctor silently held up the set of keys and motioned to the police officers standing guard (really? just two? he felt insulted), hoping that the Butcher would get the hint. Luckily, he did. The villain nodded, then stood up. Maybe a few years ago handcuffs would have been enough to keep him from getting his hands in the right position to summon meat products, but by now it was easy.
"Pastrami Attack!"
Across town, Becky heard the alarms of the police department go off. "Ugh, not again… Come on, Bob."
"And just where do you think you're going, Becky?" her dad asked. "I thought today was game night. Last week you insisted that you get to choose the game this time."
"Haha, that's right, Dad! Bob and I just need to… get the game we want to play from Violet's house! We left it there on Saturday. We'll be right back!"
"Okay-" Mr. Botsford started, but his daughter and her monkey were already out the door and sprinting down the sidewalk. Wasn't that the wrong way to the Heaslip's house? He shrugged and turned away from the window, right as a red streak shot into the sky.
"Hey, Wordgirl. You're too late. Doctor Two Brains, Chuck, and the Butcher already escaped."
Wordgirl groaned. "Really? But I just caught them a few hours ago! Do you know where they were headed?"
The police officer shrugged. "They took off in one of those mouse vans, but nobody saw where they went."
"Thanks. Guess I'll just look for where it's parked, then." And she was gone.
"Ma! Who's at the door?" Chuck shouted from his basement.
"A nice old lady!" his mother shouted in answer. The villains could hear the two women exchange greetings, and a minute later Granny May descended the staircase and joined the group.
"Hello everyone, how nice to see you again. I'm glad to see you're out of jail so soon." Granny May said kindly as she took a seat on one of the armchairs.
"Glad to see you too," Doctor Two Brains replied. "Now that we're all here, let's get down to business. We don't have much time before Wordgirl stops looking for the van and starts checking all of our hideouts."
"May I point out that if all of us had worked in sync with our remotes like I had told you all to do -" Tobey glared at the rest of the group before continuing, "- we wouldn't have been defeated."
"Calm down, kid. That's why we made mulpitul plans."
Tobey was about to correct the Butcher angrily, but Chuck cut in. "Whoa, whoa, calm down. So, what's our next move?"
"Maybe our plans weren't approaching the problem the right way. Instead of trying to defeat Wordgirl's super strength, what if we tried to use her words against her?" Granny May said. "That's how I almost managed to catch her a while ago - with a book club."
"Brilliant!" Doctor Two Brains exclaimed. He looked around. "Chuck, do you have a blackboard or something down here that I can use?"
"Um, I don't think so…"
"Gah, fine." The scientist whipped out a bunch of blank papers, spread them all over the floor, and began drawing detailed diagrams. "So this is what we're planning to accomplish. Granny May, Chuck and the Butcher will first take care of robbing the stores. You all have the list of stores you're going to?" The three nodded and held up pieces of paper. "Good. Then we'll get Chuck's crusher in position and I'll mount my turn-the-city-into-cheese ray onto it. I'll finally accomplish the crime I've always dreamed of committing!" He paused to cackle. "Then Tobey will use his robots to destroy the city and make it easier to gather up all the cheese. Buildings would be hard to transport."
Doctor Two Brains stopped writing and looked at the group. "That plan still works. But our plan to capture Wordgirl so we have enough time to accomplish this needs to be redone. What word-related trap would she fall for?"
Tobey cleared his throat. "What about something Princess Triana themed? She loves that series. Maybe we could build a labyrinth and put a trap at the end. Even if she does escape, it will take her a while to figure out how to get out of the maze."
"Good idea, kid. You know Wordgirl pretty well, so if you think that'll work, it probably will."
The child's face started turning red. "What are you implying?"
"It's just so adorable, how you always try to get her attention," Granny May said with a smile.
"I - what - you've got it all wrong! I don't like her!" Tobey protested. His voice cracked on the word like and he silently cursed puberty. "Let's just get back to scheming," he grumbled as he crossed his arms and slouched against the couch.
Doctor Two Brains went back to his diagrams. "Hey, I've got an idea. What if instead of inviting Wordgirl, we invited the entire city? Then no one will be around to stop us during our crime sprees, and as long as Wordgirl doesn't suspect a thing, she'll probably show up without her costume on. If Wordgirl tries to use her super speed or super strength to get out, she'll give away her secret identity! Hey kid, you think your robots can build this castle-labyrinth thing?"
Tobey scoffed. "With ease. I can have it done a few days from now."
"Great," the doctor responded. "Lady Redundant Woman mentioned at the last villain conference that she'd be happy to help out with our scheme, so she and I will get to work on the advertising. Let's start our new plan this Saturday. Tobey, that gives you three days. I don't want any of you getting into trouble until then," he said sternly. Then he gathered his papers and stood up. "Good meeting! See you all this weekend."
"I know, Bob, it is strange that we haven't heard anything from those villains since they escaped," Becky commented on their way to school on Friday morning. "It's almost like they're planning something big - but why? Their crimes don't have much in common, and last time they worked together it didn't turn out well for them." Bob chattered some more. "You're right. We'll just have to wait and see."
"Becky!" She heard Violet's voice call her name from behind, and turned around with a smile.
"Violet!"
"Becky, have you heard? There's a new attraction coming to town. It's Princess Triana's castle!"
"What?!" Becky exclaimed. Violet held up a small poster and Becky grabbed it from her hand. "Come one, come all, to the castle of Princess Triana! This Saturday, enjoy an all-day event featuring food, games, and starting at noon, a race to the center of the Ogre's Labyrinth! The first one to reach the center wins an exclusive prize! Buy your tickets now before they sell out! AAAAHHHHH!" Becky squealed in excitement. "Violet, we have to go!"
"I already bought all of us tickets," Violet said happily.
"All of us? Who else is coming?"
"Well, I figured Bob would want to come as well, and I also invited Scoops."
Becky's heart beat faster for a second. Although she had gotten past her crush on Scoops a long time ago, she still couldn't help feeling jealous of him and Violet once in a while. But he was still Becky's friend, and that jealous feeling wasn't fair to either of them. "Okay, great!" Becky said with the biggest smile she could muster. If it had seemed fake, Violet luckily didn't notice. The two of them continued gushing over the castle for the rest of the way to school.
They were still gushing over it after lunch that day. Being in seventh grade meant no more recess breaks, but they still got to go outside after lunch when the weather was nice. Although it was a bummer, it did cut down on the free time Tobey had to leave and go on robot rampages.
As if Becky's wandering thoughts had summoned him, the boy genius approached the two girls sitting on the swing set. "My, my, what are you two babbling about?"
Becky looked up at him in annoyance. "Babbling doesn't quite fit. I'd say we were enthusing. See, babbling is just talking rapidly in an excited or foolish way. Enthusing is expressing enjoyment or interest in something."
"Babbling, enthusing, whatever." He looked at the poster in Violet's hand. "Ah, the castle of Princess Triana. Of course you'd be excited by that. You're going then, I presume?"
"Yeah, and so what?" Becky said. "It's an amazing book series for any age."
"Hm, well, have fun at your castle," Tobey said, starting to turn to leave.
"Wait," Becky said suddenly. "You should come with us! I know you like the series even if you won't admit it, and we have an extra ticket."
"We do?" Violet asked.
"Yeah. I talked to Bob here, and uh, he's not a fan of ogres, so he decided to stay home." She wanted to tell Violet that the reason she was inviting Tobey was to keep an eye on him after the five-headed robot stunt, and that Bob would be patrolling the city in case other villains tried to make trouble, but obviously she couldn't in front of Tobey. Violet gave her a skeptical look, then shrugged.
"Okay, fine with me. Tobey?"
He almost blurted out a 'no' but then paused to think. Being inside the labyrinth would make it much easier to control the trap with his master remote than relying on security cameras (which still weren't installed yet and although he hated to admit it, might not get installed by tomorrow), and the castle he had set up was actually pretty fun... and he was a big fan of the series. It's not like he had much else to do, unlike the other villains out stealing money and jewels. Besides, this would give him another chance to prove that Becky was Wordgirl.
He smirked at the thought. "I accept your offer. See you outside the castle tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."