T.U.F.F. Mission X: Saga 2 - Chapter 5

T.U.F.F. Mission X: The T.O.O.R. Saga – Chapter 5

Making a connection


Kitty got up from her bed with a bit of a headache. She placed her hand on her head as she sat up.

“Ow…” she moaned. “My head is killing me… That Dudley! Giving me the wrong drink…! At least he helped me get home last night.”

She went into her bathroom and got a shower, thinking about something as she stood under the sprinkling water. “Still…” she thought, “I had a lot of fun last night. Dudley really is a great person to spend time with. He doesn’t always act like it, but he understands how people feel…” She grabbed a bottle of her favorite shampoo, rubbing it through her long black hair. It was blueberry scented, and she loved the smell of it when she got washed. She smiled, closing her eyes as warm steam formed around her. “He’s a pretty cool guy…”

***

Back at T.U.F.F. HQ, Dudley was pacing back and forth in front of his cubical, feeling worried.

“Oh man…!” he muttered to himself. “I couldn’t get a hold of Daisy last night… I really hope I can get in contact with her soon. She must be really upset with me…”

Keswick then approached him. “Good morning, agent Pah-Pah-Puppy! You’re here earlier than usual.”

Dudley stopped pacing and looked at him. Keswick was wearing camping clothes. “Oh, hey, Keswick.”

“You ready for our camping trip today?”

“Camping trip?!” Dudley completely forgot that he, the Chief, Keswick and Kitty were going camping today.

“Well, yeah. It’s Saturday. There’s no work today, and we were all just going for fun.”

“Really? Wow… I just showed up here expecting to do work like any other day. I totally forgot!”

Keswick grinned. “That makes sense (for you!). I was wondering why you weren’t in your camping clothes. Well, we’ve got a spa-spa-spa-spare set in the closet.”

“Uh… Alright! I’ll be right back!” He ran towards the closet and stepped on a loose tile on the floor, which unexpectedly sprung him into the air! “Wahhhhh!!!” He got flung into the closet, which made the door close behind him. “What the heck was that?!” he yelled from inside the closet.

Keswick laughed. “Oh, that was my latest invention! I cah-cah-cah-call it the T.U.F.F. Tile! It allows anyone who steps on it to be sprung into the air with great force!”

“What purpose could that possibly have?!”

“Well, remember how you always wanted to get a slam dunk with the hoop over there?”

“Oh yeah!” he said, feeling a little more happy. “You made that for me?

“That’s right. The only problem is…I made it tah-tah-tah-too far from the hoop!”

“Oh… Well, thanks anyway. Now, to get this outfit on…” He decided to stay in the closet.

Keswick scratched his head. “Your welcome.” He turned around to see Kitty enter the room. “Well, hello, agent Katswell!” he said cheerfully.

She was wearing her camping clothes, which were the same clothes that Keswick was wearing; only in her size. She wore a green cap on her head and her hair was tied into a ponytail. She wore a light yellow short sleeved shirt with a red ascot around her neck. She also wore green shorts with black boots.

“Morning, Keswick,” she said as she took a seat on a chair. “Boy… I woke up with quite a headache this morning!”

“I hate when that happens!” said the Chief as he hopped across the floor and landed on top of the peak of Kitty’s cap. This was one of the few times he was seen without his portable screen. Like Keswick and her, he was also wearing camping clothes. “When I wake up with a headache, it messes my whole day up and I can’t get in a good mood!” He looked around. “Where’s agent Puppy? I told everyone to be here on time! I want us all to get going early!”

Keswick leaned in close to Kitty and whispered to her. “I’m pretty sha-sha-sha-sure he woke up with a headache…”

“I heard that!” yelled the Chief.

“Aw, c’mon, Chief,” said Kitty with a grin. “This is supposed to be a fun trip!”

“Who asked you?!” Keswick and Kitty quickly grabbed a hold of each other in fear as the Chief fell from her hat and landed on the ground!

“Oh no!” She got down on the floor to see if he was alright. “I’m sorry, Chief!” she said in distress. “Are you okay?!”

He got up from the ground and rubbed his head. “Okay? Why, I feel great! I don’t have a headache anymore!” Kitty and Keswick looked at each other in confusion. “I’m sorry, you two. I just get so grumpy when I have a headache in the morning. I guess that’s what I get for bothering to watch repeats of Quacky the Duck last night. It gets me in a really bad mood…!”

“That’s alright,” said Kitty. “I don’t like that show anymore either.”

Dudley then jumped out of the closet with all of his camping clothes on. “Okay!” he yelled with a grin. “I’m all ready to go!”

“Agent Puppy!” said the Chief with a smile. “I’m so glad to see you here!”

Kitty pointed at Dudley with a bored look. “Your shirt and shorts are on backwards…”

Dudley looked at his clothes. “Dang it!” He jumped back into the closet and closed the door.

***

Back to Snaptrap and JoJo, which takes place day earlier that what’s going on with Dudley and the others right now (which can be kind of confusing!), they were at the arcade playing some games. The inside of the arcade was dark, but there were many colorful lights that came from the game machines. Snaptrap and JoJo played some games against each other as well. JoJo won some of them, and Snaptrap won some as well (mostly because he cheated).

“Why are you so good at this?!” questioned Snaptrap as he hit a puck on an air hockey table.

JoJo hit the puck back and scored a shot on Snaptrap, winning the game. “No idea!” she said with a smile.

“Aw, come on!” he complained as he folded his arms.

She walked towards him. “We’ve been going against each other for some time. How about we play a game where we can both work together?”

“Eh… Alright, but I’ll warn you; I don’t usually work well with others.”

So they began to play a game that involved racing and shooting. JoJo was in charge of the wheel while Snaptrap insisted on using the gun. They got a good start and were in the lead against the NPCs.

“Oh my gosh!” she said in excitement. “We’re doing so good!”

“Big time!” he replied. “I think we’re going to beat the record! That’ll be the first time for me!”

They concentrated on the game more and more, in which they eventually beat all of the levels! JoJo jumped up, feeling ecstatic. “Yay! We did it-” Unexpectedly, Snaptrap jumped up for joy as well, and in doing so, he accidently hit her in the nose as he raised his arms in the air!

“Yeppie!” he yelled. “I broke the record! Take that, whoever had that stupid high score!” He turned to his side. “You see that, JoJo? That’s how you play a…” He realized that she wasn’t standing next to him anymore. “Um…” He turned around to see that JoJo was on the ground with some concerned people around her.

“Are you okay, miss?” asked one of the people.

She sat up, feeling a little sore on her nose, but she smiled. “It’s okay! I’m fine.”

Snaptrap, however, was in absolute shock. He had no idea that he hit her just now! “What the…?! Oh no!” He ran over to her. “JoJo! I-I’m sorry!” He quickly kneeled beside her and wrapped his arms around her as she sat up. “I didn’t mean to do that! I-It was an accident! I swear…!”

She was a little surprised by his amount of concern, but she felt very warmed up by his care for her, so she smiled shyly. “It’s okay, Snaptrap. It was just an accident.”

He looked at her with worry. “Really? Are…Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Really!”

Snaptrap took a breath, feeling very relieved. “That was messed up!” he thought. “I didn’t even notice her getting hit just now. I always act so clumsy and uncaring around my friends in situations like this, but I never really felt bad for them. This is different, though…! I actually got worried.”

A lot of people were looking at the both of them, and JoJo felt that Snaptrap was holding onto her long enough. “Okay… Okay, Snaptrap. Can I get up, please?”

“Oh! Right!” He helped her up and turned to the other people. “…What are you bozos looking at?” he growled. “She said she’s fine. Move along already!” They decided to walk away, confused about what was going on. “Jeez!” he said to her. “Some people are so nosey!”

“They were just curious,” she said with a shrug. “Want to see if we can break anymore records?”

Snaptrap smiled. “Sure! Let’s go!”

***

After they were done of the arcade, they decided to go home.

“That was a lot of fun, Snaptrap!” she said cheerfully.

“Oh, for sure!” he replied with a grin.

“By the way, I was wondering…” She placed her hands together and raised her shoulders. “Would you like to…hang out again tomorrow?”

Snaptrap’s heart thumped. He didn’t expect her to want to spend time with him again so soon. “S-Sure! Yeah, we can… I-I can take you for a ride around town tomorrow if you want!”

“That sounds great. Do you have a phone with you?”

“A phone? Yeah, but I…left it home.” He laughed nervously. “Yep! It’s definitely home!”

She took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. She passed it to him and started to walk away, waving to him. “See you tomorrow! Call me when you’re ready!”

“Um… Yeah! See you!” She then left, and he was looking down at the phone number written on the paper. He placed his hand onto where his heart was, feeling very anxious. “She gave me…her number?” he quietly said to himself. He turned around and started walking home. “She actually thinks of me as a friend… I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to become friends with such a friendly girl…”

***

Dudley and the others were now on the road, riding in the T.U.F.F. Trailer. They were driving on a mountain, as the road was part of it. Unlike the most of the vehicles that T.U.F.F. Mobile transformed into, this was a standalone vehicle that was usually used for missions that involved camping. It was large and white with a blue stripe painted on the side of it, and the windows were very large. The top of the front said “T.U.F.F.” in blue writing. Dudley had his head out the window with this tongue sticking out in the wind.

“This is awesome!” he said happily. “I’m glad I forgot that we were going camping, cuz now I feel even more excited about it!”

“Me too!” said the Chief. “I didn’t forget about it… but I’m still excited!” He then saw an advertisement for a movie on a billboard. It had a male cat and female dog on it who were both holding blasters. The title, however, was written in French. “That action movie looks interesting, but I can’t read the title.”

“It says Rough Mission Z,” replied Kitty, who was the one driving the trailer. “Kind of a weird title for a movie… Why it’s French around here is beyond me.”

Dudley stuck his head back in the trailer and looked at Kitty. “You can understand French?”

Kitty nodded her head. “Remember the day we first met? I told you that I could speak 120 different dialects fluently.”

Dudley folded his arms. “Oh, come on! That was years ago. You can’t expect me to remember that.”

“You hardly remember anything I say. You ‘tuned out’ the fact that I told you several times that I have a twin sister.”

“Bah! I think your exaggerating. You can’t actually speak 120 different languages.”

“I’d hah-hah-have to agree with agent Puppy on this,” said Keswick. “It has been some time since I’ve ever heard you speak anything other than English.”

“…Okay,” she replied with a shrug. “I might be a little rusty, but I can definitely speak many different languages.”

“Prove it!” stated Dudley objectively. “Say something in French!”

“…Vous devriez vraiment commencer à prêter attention à ce que je dis [You should really start paying attention to what I say].”

Dudley blinked in surprise. “Holy cow!”

Keswick was looking at a device in his hands. He smiled at the two of them. “According to my scanner, she is indeed speaking French.”

“Whoa…!” He then grinned. “Kitty! Can you say something else in a different language, like…?”

“Spanish!” added the Chief.

Kitty groaned. “Le deseo a usted aprecia mi ropa nueva ayer. Me pareció que tenía muy buena pinta [I wish you appreciated my new clothes yesterday. I thought they looked nice].”

Dudley laughed rather loudly. “Ha ha ha ha ha! This is so cool! I don’t know what you’re saying, but still!”

“Ooh! Ooh!” said Keswick excitedly. “Now sah-sah-say something in Japanese! But make it sound loud and light at the same time!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…!” she grumbled.

“Please?” said Dudley. “I want to know what anime Kitty sounds like!” He leaned by Keswick and whispered to him. “Those are the Chinese cartoons, right?”

“Japanese,” stated Keswick dryly.

“Oh right…! I’m thinking about the cartoons, aren’t I?”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine… 私はまだ最後の夜、ダドリーのためにをチェックして！ 私は酔っぱらってした信じられない [I'm still ticked off at you for last night, Dudley! I can't believe you got me drunk!]!”

Dudley, Keswick and the Chief laughed in glee, much to Kitty’s annoyance. “I gotta admit,” giggled Dudley, wiping a tear from his eye. “That sounded kind of cute…! N-Now say something in Cat language!”

“You’re a real bonehead…”

“Ha! It sounds just like English! …Hey, wait a minute…!”

***

As they were driving on the road, a crimson armored figure was watching them from the top of the mountain they were driving on. He was known by his group as Prospect. He stood at the ledge as his armor shined in the sun and his long white hair blew in the wind.

“Now isn’t this interesting...” he said to himself with a metallic voice, due to the helmet that covered his face. “Right when we’re a few miles away from Petropolis, they decide to leave town.” He laughed quietly. “Should have figured that, I suppose. They like to go out and do things on days like this.” His voice sounded very calm and even wise, which fitted well with his elegant appearance.

Another armored man approached him. “Sir. Should we go after them?”

Prospect shook his head. “No. You and the rest of the men head for Petropolis. I’ll go after Dudley and Kitty myself.”

“Roger that. We’ll head out at once.”

“One moment.” He placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Once you get to the city, try your best to keep yourselves hidden. I should be able to get back in time for the attack. If for some reason I don’t make it back on time, begin without me.”

“Of course, sir. We’ll make sure we aren’t seen.”

The soldier left and Prospect turned back around, looking down at the road. The T.U.F.F. Trailer was no longer in sight. He placed his hands on his sides and sighed.

“Always on the move… Well, I’d better get going before those two get too far ahead of me.”

***

The next day, which was on the same day that Dudley and the others drove off to go camping, Snaptrap was putting curlers in his hair while sitting on his couch in his purple night clothes. He was feeling very happy.

“Gee! I haven’t had this much fun in a long time!” he said as he rested his feet on his table. “And I didn’t even have to commit a crime! That JoJo really is something... I wonder if she also puts curlers in her hair.” He looked at the paper she gave him the other day, which rested on the table before him. “I still can’t believe that speech I made about her mom actually worked. I really did mean what I said, since she was so sad, but man, I had to use every bit of my imagination to come up with a way to make her feel better! I gotta admit, though… That was pretty bold of me to wipe her tear away. I’m surprised she didn’t try to tear my arm off for doing that!” He smiled with satisfaction. “I guess I’m just that lucky.”

After getting freshened up and dressed, he called JoJo’s number. He swallowed hard, feeling a little nervous. “I hope she’s not still upset with me for accidently hitting her like that…” She answered the phone.

“Hello, Snaptrap!” she said on the other line.

“H-Hey, JoJo! Are…Are you ready to…to get with me- I MEAN come with me…?”

She laughed. “Yep! I’m ready whenever you are, amigo!”

“Hah! Even I know that that means ‘friend’!”

“Mhm. I’ll be waiting for you!”

They both hung up, and Snaptrap clanged his fists, feeling victorious. “Oh yeah! I totally got myself a new pal to hang out with! Perhaps when this break is over, I can convince her to work with D.O.O.M….”

And so Snaptrap picked up JoJo and they drove around town on his D.O.O.M. Buggy. It was a black jeep-like vehicle spikes on the front even a missile attached to the top (although it was put away at this time). It had one pair of purple wheels in the front, and two pairs in the back. ‘D.O.O.M.’ was painted on the side in white. They were having a great time, although his driving wasn’t the best. During the drive, Snaptrap asked about why her tail was scrunched up at the end of it, in which she explained that she fell on it when she climbed a tree during the time she was a little girl. It has been bent out of shape ever since, so she decided to keep a red bow tied around the end of it to make it look better, although he thought her tail looked kind of cool.

They went to many places, such as a rock concert (where he tried to get on stage to dance before some security guards stopped him), the mall (where she made sure he didn’t take too many free samples) and even the edge of town where they laid down on a grassy hill. They both had their hands resting behind their heads as they kept their eyes closed.

“It’s funny…” thought Snaptrap. “All of my life, no matter what I did, I never felt this…happy before. Sure, I always have fun committing crimes, but this is a different kind of happy… Being allergic to cheese, being teased by my family and never getting to go to dance school as a kid made me so mad growing up… Heck, I became a villain over all of that… But now…” He opened his eyes to see the city of Petropolis before him. “I’ve met her. She’s kind, wonderful, knows how to have a good time… can actually tolerate me… and she’s…” He turned his body around with a smile to look at her, noticing that she was looking down at him with one eye open, smiling as well. “…She’s very pretty. That snow white fur… that hair… that little pink nose… those wonderful green eyes of hers... Man, if I say anything else about her, the readers might get too into this… Talk about hot and cute at the same time.”

Their last stop was at the theaters, where they went to go see a movie called Sparky: The Magical Dog. The sun was beginning to set, making the sky a bright orange color as they were exiting the theater.

“That was such a lame movie!” he complained. “That dog was so stupid, and he had a really obnoxious voice too!”

“I thought he was a nice little dog,” she replied with a smile.

“Whatever… I was hoping the villains would win in the end. I always root for the bad guys in movies!”

“Of course.” She stopped and turned towards him, placing her hands behind her back. “I had a great time today, Snappy.”

“‘Snappy’?” he said, looking at her in a grumpy way. “The great Verminious Snaptrap doesn’t go by a name like ‘Snappy’!”

She giggled. “Okay, okay… I won’t call you that.”

He scratched his shoeless foot on the concrete below them. “Although… If you really want to, you can go right ahead, I guess.”

She placed her arm around him and gave him a hug. “You’re a great friend, Snaptrap.” This made him feel very warm and happy. He admittedly liked the feeling of her pressing herself against him. He believed he was truly lucky to have found someone like her. “You really know how to have a good time with someone.” She laughed softly as she began to walk away from him. “It would seem that T.U.F.F. won’t have to worry about you anymore. To me… it looks like you’re not such a bad guy after all.”

At first he didn’t get it, but then it struck him. “It looks like you’re not such a bad guy after all… It looks like you’re not such a bad guy after all… It looks like you’re not such a bad guy after all…” This constantly repeated through his head as she was leaving. His eyes widened and he felt very nervous.

“Goodbye, Snaptrap!” she said as she walked away.

He slowly raised his hand and gave her a small wave. “Goodbye, JoJo.” She was gone, but he was left alone outside the theater. He felt very anxious and even fearful. “Not such a bad guy after all…?” he said quietly to himself. “What…What does she mean…? I’m a villain. I’m the evil Verminious Snaptrap; leader of D.O.O.M.…! Of course I’m bad… Wait… This isn’t right…” He placed his hands through his hair, feeling very stressed out. “Have I really gone soft? Have I really…stopped being bad…?!” He thought about the fun they had for the past couple of days. He thought about how regretful he felt when he hit her, in which he never felt for anyone else. He thought about how he managed to stay away from crime while they spent time together. “No… No, that can’t be true. It can’t be…!”