Another round of thugly antics. Again, check out Puckarooni for her Pokemon Superhero AU. Cool jams, friendos.
Alolan Joe - Alolan Ratata Leader and self proclaimed mousestache afficianado
Ben - Spearow Brawn of the group of Bachelor of Thuganomics
Zach - Zigzagoon Dunno what he’s doing, but he’s doing it well
Sherman - Sentret Newbie, but he makes up for it with heart
~~~~~
Zach handed the sturdy box to Ben, who nodded and set it in the center of the table in the backroom of the Thrifty. He crammed the edge of the crowbar under the lip of the metal lid.
“Alright, you got it, Sherbet?” Ben said to Sherman, who took hold of the bottom of the box.
“Sherbet?” Sherman said, quirking an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Said Ben, inclining his head down. “You. Got. It?” He held a stern face.
“Uh,” Sherman adjusted his grip and help tight. “Yeah, I got it, Be–uh. Bu…,” He looked around the thrifty and his eyes settled on a row of candies. “Bu–ttercup?” He looked back to Ben.
Zach snorted from the couch he had plopped down on. Ben shook his head, “You got a lot to learn, rookie.” He squared his shoulders, “Just, hold onto the damn thing.”
“Yes sir,” Said Sherman, his punctured ego dedicating itself to his task.
Ben worked at the crowbar, prying a little more of the lid back and setting the crowbar deeper. Once he was satisfied, he gave the crowbar a swift jerk that popped the edge of the lid off. The shrapnel flew across the room. Joe stepped into the doorway with impeccable timing.
“Gentlemen, I- Gah!” Joe squeaked as he narrowly missed the chunk of metal box that zipped past him.
“Oh, I see now. So it has come to this,” Joe straightened up and put up his fists. “Mutiny. I knew this day would come. But you’ll have to best me in combat, fiends. Come on then, let’s do this!” Joe began to hop around, waving his fists in front of him.
Sherman popped up, “Whoa wait! It was an accident, Boss. We were just trying to–”
“Finally,” Ben said, shouldering his crowbar, “Been waiting for a chance to knock that cheesy smirk off your face.”
Ben charged at Joe, swinging the crowbar down towards Joe’s head. In a flash, Joe brought up his hands to catch the blow, the two locked eyes and grit their teeth.
“Oh, Heck Yeah!” Sherman said, eyes sparkling. He scurried over to the couch and hopped into the spot next to Zach. “This is gonna be epic. Don’t you think?”
Zach shrugged, “Maybe.”
Joe and Ben tussled for a bit. They wrestled and rolled and tumbled, finishing with Joe having taken the crowbar from Ben.
Joe pointed the crowbar at Ben, who crouched on the ground catching his breath.
“Will you yield?” Joe said.
“Yeah yeah,” Ben said, bruised ego kinda killing the mood. “I will honor the code of the thug and serve your blah blah blah.”
“Perfect,” Joe said and tossed the crowbar back to him. “Whew, almost got me that time.”
Ben caught the crowbar and stood up, “Oh blow me sideways, bristles. You hold back every time.” He scoffed out his nose and went back to the table. “Hey, Sherbet, we opening this thing or what?”
Sherman, stars in his eyes got up from the couch, “You guys are so cool. Like, when you were like, ‘Whapam! Take that’ but then Joe just did that thing where he, you know, just ‘Whoosh, bam!’ and you went flying and…” He flailed his arms. Zach leaned away to allow Sherman room to embellish.
“That’s enough, Sherman.” Joe said, “What are you opening anyway?”
“Dunno, Zach found it in the junkyard and couldn’t open it.” Sherman said “He even did his–” He wiggled his fingers and flip flopped his wrists. “Stuff.”
Zach also wiggled his fingers and then shrugged.
Joe stroked his ‘stache, “A rather tricky treasure trove, it would–” He paused, “t-uh, tantamount to tremendous tantalizing trophies for this team.” He smiled at his cleverness.
Ben scoffed, “You are such a dork.” He glared at Sherman. “Come on, hold this sucker down before I use this crowbar to vent all that hot air in your head.”
Sherman hustled over and gripped the box again. Ben got the edge into the lid again and gave it a adrenaline-fueled push. The lid peeled back like a tuna can and revealed the contents within. Ben tossed the crowbar aside as they all gathered to peek inside the box.
“Oh,” Said Zach with a neutral voice.
“Whoa,” Said Sherman with a hint of wonder.
“Hmm,” Murmured Joe, contemplating.
“Oh, goodie. More junk.” Ben said, his shoulders slumping down.
“What? This isn’t junk,” Sherman reached inside and pulled out a handful of the contents. Play cards. A bunch of them, haphazardly scattered inside the box. They had colorful pictures of monsters on one side and a big logo plastered on the other. “Don’t you remember Pouch Gremlins? For the Game Lad?”
Joe snapped his fingers, “Ha, I knew they looked familiar.” He took a few of the cards out of the box. “I used to play a shared copy of Powgrem with my brothers and sisters way back when.” He started flipping through the cards. Zach also began to dig through the contents of the box.
“Feh,” Ben said looking over the couple that Sherman had fished out, “That baby game about little kids making friends with super powered monsters and battling them. All the designs looked so lame.” His sharp eyes landed on a shiny card in Sherman’s hand, he snatched it and nodded. “Except this guy. He was awesome.”
Joe and Sherman looked at the card. Sherman smiled, “Oh yeah, Psycat. The legendary survivor of psychic experiments. The lore said that he was a loner Powgrem who killed off his old master. Pretty dark stuff.”
“Yeah, super edgy and took no shit. I liked him.” Ben said.
“My favorite was the one you could start out with, Grassasaurus Rex!” Sherman said, pulling out the relevant card, “His solar cannon attack was unbeatable!” He looked to Joe, “Oh, who was your favorite, Joe?”
Joe dug into the box and nodded, pulling out another shiny card, “This one.” He held it up, “The trickmaster, Ghostgar.” He laughed, “When I would play against my siblings, they would actually ban me from using him cause he was too good.”
“How about you, Zach?” Sherman asked, “Did you have a favorite?”
Zach was organizing the cards by color and rarity. Without looking up from his work, he muttered, “Yup.”
Joe chuckled. Sherman pressed on, “Such as…?”
Zach paused, looked over the stacks of cards before grabbing out a fairly common looking card and holding it up. “This guy.”
“Oh,” Sherman said, a little disappointed, “I guess Joltling is pretty popular.” He looked back to Joe, “I mean, it was the mascot of the series.”
Joe nodded and regarded the box again. “Hmm…what do you suppose these were doing in such a secure box?”
Ben scoffed, “Loser probably wanted to hide his shame when he moved on to something better.” He was gathering up all the copies of Psycat and silently judging the edginess of each one.
Sherman looked at the box, “Maybe they were special and he wanted to keep them safe?”
Zach finished sorting and stacking and said, “Resale.”
Joe, Ben and Sherman all looked up, struck by the idea.
Joe caught it first. “How much do you think these cards are worth?”
Ben smirked, “I hear things get more valuable over time, if you collect enough.”
“And look at all of these shinies.” Said Sherman, “They’ve gotta be worth a fortune.”
“Zach, gather up those little treasures,” Joe said, stroking his mouse-stache, “We’re headed to town!”
Ben and Sherman cheered, Zach packed the cards away.
“Gentlemen,” Joe said, “Let’s go make some money.”
…
“50 bucks?” Ben said incredulously. “Are you serious?”
He leaned over the counter of the hobby shop, making the cashier back away slightly. From behind the counter, he gave his big, friendly, Snorlax smile, “Yup, 100 even. Pretty—impressive collection, though.” He said through a yawn. “So, will that be cash or store credit?”
Joe managed to pry Ben away from the counter. “Uh, excuse my friend here. I am pretty certain there were quite a number of rare cards in there. Surely they would fetch a handsome price?”
The cashier shrugged, “Maybe a bit ago, but not anymore.” He turned in his swivel chair and grabbed another box of cards. “Everyone’s moved on to Data Goblins.” He showed them the box. Though the designs were slightly different, it seemed like the exact same game. “People just aren’t buying Powgrem anymore.” He set the box back, “So, 50.” He smiled again.
Ben wrestled out of Joe’s grip and got uncomfortably close to the cashier. “Listen, tubby, how about you grease these pockets before I grease up your face?”
The cashier held his smile and opened one of his eyes just enough to glare at Ben. The sight sent a chill down the young thug’s spine. “Fifty. Dollars. Even.”
…
Ben and Joe shuffled out of the hobby shop.
“Hey guys,” Sherman said, hustling up to them. “How’d it go?”
Joe looked at Ben, who scoffed, “Waste of time.” He looked away and folded his arms.
Zach and Sherman looked at Joe. Joe pulled the 50 dollars out of his pocket.
“Oh,” Said Sherman. Zach gave a resigned shake of the head.
“Well, you win some, you lose some.” Joe said. “But I still think 50 dollars for free is a win.” He smiled.
Sherman nodded, “Still, it would have been nice to at least keep–”
Zach zipped around in front of him and held up the Grassasaurus Rex card. “Here.”
Sherman lit up and took the card, “No way, you held onto my favorite. You’re the best.”
Zach shrugged and walked around to the other two members and held up their favorite cards.
“You sly devil,” Joe said, taking the card and slipping it into his pocket. “Should have known.”
Ben snatched his card, “What the heck? Isn’t this thing super rare? We might have gotten more cash for this.” He glared at Zach, who returned with an indifferent quirk of the eyebrow.
Joe nudged him, “You’re welcome to head back inside to trade it in.”
Ben looked back at the shop, then down to his Psycat. “Yeah, never mind. Psycat is too cool for that.” He also tucked the card into his pocket.
Zach also tucked a card into his pocket. The picture looked like a Joltling, but was a little off. It appeared as though it was merely wearing a Joltling costume…
Another round of thugly antics. Again, check out Puckarooni for her Pokemon Superhero AU. Cool jams, friendos.
Alolan Joe - Alolan Ratata Leader and self proclaimed mousestache afficianado
Ben - Spearow Brawn of the group of Bachelor of Thuganomics
Zach - Zigzagoon Dunno what he’s doing, but he’s doing it well
Sherman - Sentret Newbie, but he makes up for it with heart
~~~
“Alright, Gents.” Joe said, strapping on his goggles
“Who wants to go first?”
Ben and Sherman’s hands both shot up, Zach was taking his time strapping on his hard hat.
Joe stroked his luxurious lip fluff, “Hmm, let’s see what the new recruit has to offer. Sherman, you’re up.”
Sherman pumped his fist and smiled at Ben. Ben gave him a curt snort before tossing the sledgehammer at him. Sherman fumbled the catch but managed to miss having it land on his toes. He gathered up the hammer and scurried to the center of the junkyard where they had set up their latest target. A sleek, heavy duty, Ironclad™ mini-vault safe.
“Okay,” Sherman said, squaring his feet and tugging at his leather gloves. “Watch this.”
He brought the sledgehammer way back behind him, twisting almost all the way around. He then let out a warrior cry, something of a mix between a painful yelp and yodelling, and brought the sledgehammer against the side of the safe. The metal-on-metal clang rang out through the junkyard. The others brought their hands up over their ears. The safe keeled onto two of its legs before settling back to stability. The ringing died out and Sherman turned around.
His whole body was shaking from the heavy impact. “How was that?”
Zach gave a golf clap, Joe chuckled under his breath. Ben shook his head, “Alright alright, amateur hour is over. We don’t have all night to bust this thing open.”
He sauntered over to Sherman and snagged the sledge out of his trembling hands. Sherman smiled up at him, expectantly. Ben scowled down the bridge of his nose at him. “Uh…Not bad, I guess.” He sniffed and noticed the small dent at the side of the safe, “Now, stand back. Let me show you how it’s done.” He smirked.
Sherman nodded and scuttled back a few steps. Ben took the sledgehammer in his hands and tested its weight, a few test swings swiping at the air. Like a baseball star, he rolled his shoulders, spat on his hands, shook his arms out.
“While we’re young, tough guy.” Joe called out.
“Bite Me, Nerd!” Ben hollered back.
Joe folded his arms and laughed. He turned to Zach, “Think he can actually bust that thing open?”
Zach had finished suiting up with a dust mask and looked like a post-apocalyptic refugee. Zach looked at Ben’s prep ritual and shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I heard that.” Ben said, shouldering the hammer, “Okay, here we go.” He whipped the hammer high over his head and roared his own battle cry. For a whole minute, Ben whaled against the safe. He slammed the sides, top and legs, driving the safe into the dirt. Over and over the hammer fell to the brittle tune of clanging metal. When he finished, the sledge hammer landed beside him with a heavy thud. Ben fought to catch his breath.
“Damn, what’s this thing made of?”
“WHAT!?” Shouted Sherman, standing a few feet away.
“I SAID! -Nevermind.” Ben dragged the hammer back to where Joe was standing. Zach had vanished to places unknown. Sherman hustled behind him.
“Alright, Joe.” Ben said, holding out the hammer to him. “Show us what you got.”
Joe lifted his eyebrows, “What’s this? You’ve given up?”
Sherman, ears slowly returning to their rightful tone frequency, chimed in, “Hey hey, I can go again.”
Ben ignored him, “This was your idea, fearless leader. Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is.”
Joe looked at the hammer, then back at Joe. “Alright, Ben.” He took the tool out of Ben’s hands, “But when I crack this thing open, I expect you to start treating me with a little more respect.”
Ben scoffed as Joe whisped past him. Sherman scooted up beside Ben, who stepped a little bit away. Sherman followed. Ben grumbled.
Joe came to the center of the junkyard. The atmosphere of the yard became heavy. He dragged the metal sledge along the ground and it rattled against the various pieces of scrap along the way. The florescent lights hummed above and there was a quiet breeze that picked up a few scattered bits of paper, causing them to dance in the air.
Joe squared off with the safe. He took a deep breath and pulled the heavy sledge hammer into the air. He ratcheted his torso, twisting back and leveling the hammer. The air stood still in anticipation. Ben and Sherman held their breath, along with Zach, whom had returned at some point. Then, with a mighty howl, Joe spun his body and connected with the pointed edge of the safe. The metal clang was joined with a loud crack and snap. The head of the sledgehammer sailed through the air and landed a few feet away from Joe with a dull thud. The safe had been scuffed to the side a few inches, but aside from that was unchanged.
Ben clucked and doubled over, laughing heartily. Sherman shouted from beside him, “That was Awesome!”
Joe turned and casually walked over to the busted head of the hammer. He regarded it before gathering the lump of metal and returning to the rest of the crew.
“Well gents, looks like- Ben you can stop now- looks like we’ll need another plan.”
“What’s in the safe, anyway?” Sherman asked.
“Documents, of some nature.” Said Joe. “They must be pretty dangerous if they want us to Wreck them.”
“What if,” Sherman said, looking excitedly between Joe and Ben, Zach had shuffled off to sniff around the safe. “What if we just hold the stuff ransom? Maybe we can blackmail the guy?”
Joe stroked his stache. Ben gathered himself, “No, cause then we wouldn’t be the Wreckers anymore.” He folded his arms in a tough guy flex, “We’d be the Blackmailers. Or whatever.”
Joe nodded, “He’s right, and I’m already getting T-shirts made.”
“We’re Getting T-Shirts?” Sherman exclaimed.
“You bet, as soon as we crack this safe. Now then.” Joe looked at the busted sledgehammer, “We’ll need a new plan to get those–”
“Done,” Zach said, holding up a manila folder stuffed with documents, the word “classified” was barely visible on a sheet jutting from the mass.
They all looked at the folder, then to the safe, the door was open with no further apparent damage. Joe, with an exceedingly puzzled look on his face, took the folder.
Sherman gawked, “How did you do that?”
Zach held out his hands and gestured with is fingers, wiggling them and twisting his wrist. “Just…ya know.” He did some more wangjangling and fidgeting, “That.” He nodded with a satisfied look on his face.
Sherman watched the display intently, mimicking the frivolous actions as best he could. When Zach was done, he looked at his hands. “That’s wild,” He said, a little disheartened that it made little sense to him.
Ben scoffed, “Well, whatever. I probably loosened it up for him.” He looked over to Joe, “Alright, so now..?” He trailed off expectantly.
Joe took the hint and walked over to an oil drum, “Now, we do what we do best.” He tossed the folder into the bin.
“We Wreck Stuff!” Sherman called out and ran back to the edge of the clearing, grabbing a half tank of gasoline they had stashed there. He hustled it over to Ben and handed off the payload. Sherman had not yet achieved “Burn it” status yet, but he was eager to help.
They gathered around the drum as Ben poured in a responsible amount of fuel into the drum, and then added an irresponsible amount with a sinister grin.
Joe held a hand out to Zach, who whipped a match from his pocket and placed it into Joe’s palm. “Alright Ben, that’s enough.”
Ben rejoined them and set down the tank of gasoline. The three of them watched Joe expectantly.
“This is another job,” Joe lit the match with a strike against his teeth, “Well done.”
He tossed the match into the oil drum and it immediately burst into a column of flame. The four of them stepped back at the spectacle.
“This is so damn cool.” Said Sherman. “Don’t you think this is cool?” He said, turning to Zach.
“Maybe.” Said Zach, who was already busy trying to pry open the lid of what looked like a jewel box.
Ben glanced at Joe, “‘Well done’? Are you freakin serious?”
“What can I say, I have a–,” Joe turned to Ben, so the firelight glimmered off his goggles, “Flare for dramatics.”
Ben groaned.
Chapter 2 of my Pokemon Thuglife AU. Again, inspiration comes from my good friend Puck’s Pokemon Superhero AU, Dustpan. Check her Twitter Puckarooni.
Enjoy the exploits of my young punks.
Alolan Joe - Alolan Ratata Ben - Spearow Zach - Zigzagoon Sherman - Sentret
~~~~
The Wreckers stood in the parking lot of the old thrift shop. The sun was setting on the cape and cast an orange glow over the scene.
“Ben,” Said Joe, contemplating while stroking his ‘stache, “When I said we needed an official hangout for our official crew, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
Ben quirked his head to the side, “It’s the only abandoned place left in town.” He folded his arms and turned to Joe, “Unless you want to start a turf war with The Darkness.”
Sherman coughed, “The Darkness? B-But they are the biggest and baddest team in town.”
“We’d be crushed.” Zack said, picking up a discarded “thrift shop rewards” card off the ground.
Joe cleared his throat. “Right, no need for that.” He looked back to the thrift shop. The sunset reflected off the cracked windows and illuminated the several layers the filth and graffiti that had piled on since it was abandoned years ago.
“It’s…perfect.” Joe said, gagging on the words as they came out. “Let’s go in a check out the official crash pad for the Wreckers.”
They all nodded and followed Joe into the thrift shop. The setting sun continued to creep its way down the horizon.
…
Ben ripped off the boards baring the entrance and they made their way inside. The shelving was in disrepair and the paint on the walls was peeling. The floorboards showed their lack of maintenance as well. The air was heavy and each footstep echoed and somehow enhanced the silence.
The team split up to investigate the shop.
Joe wandered the aisles, murmuring about future design plans. “ah yes, the pool table will go here. And this is where we can have the television. I wonder where we could fit the couch…”
Ben had already set about pushing some of the shelving around to make space for themselves.
Zack and Sherman wandered the perimeter together.
“Hey, Zack.” Sherman said, looking over the stuff on the shelves, “Do you know why this place was abandoned?”
Zack looked over a handful of penny candies he had found.
“It’s haunted.” He said.
Sherman looked at him in a moment that seemed to last too long.
Zack looked up at him, his eyes shining from within his hoodie.
“Maybe.” He concluded. Sherman let out a breath he realized he had been holding. He turned and noticed that Ben and Joe had overheard the comment and had stopped their activities. Everyone froze for a moment.
“Welp,” Joe said at last, “I think that works for our first survey.” He clapped his hands, “We’ll come back again tomorrow.”
Ben scoffed, “Feh, what’s the matter? You scared?” He crossed his arms and smirked.
Joe and Sherman spoke over each other, each with their own flair for denial.
“Yes,” Zack said sheepishly.
Joe looked back at the sunset, “Besides, it is getting rather-” Suddenly, the four of them were plunged into pitch black. “-dark.”
From the center of the shop a hazy purple glow bubbled up from the ground. The four members clamored for the exit in the dim, eerie light. Ben grabbed at the door but it wouldn’t budge. They fought for an attempt to try the door as the light grew stronger. A large ball of purple ethereal vapor hovered in the center of the shop before a pair of bright red eyes flashed and locked on the small group.
“TRESPASSERS!” Came a bellowing voice. The mass started to float towards them.
“Dammit, Ben! You had to pick a haunted place.” Joe cried.
“This is not my fault, you bristle-lipped jerk.” Ben said. Joe snapped to Ben with eyes full of fire in complete disregard to the looming supernatural danger.
“Guys, come on,” Sherman said with a quivering voice, “Isn’t there something we can do?”
“Give it something?” Zack said. He reached into his pockets and pulled out his current stash.
Sherman picked out the thrift shop rewards card, “What is this?”
Joe glanced over and saw the card, “That!” He said, snatching the card, “Is our ticket out of this.”
“TRESPASSERS!” It roared again. The mass had finished its slow, menacing migration and was now looming over the four of them. “YOU WILL BE–“
“Actually,” Joe said, holding up the card, “We’re customers.” He spoke with absolute confidence, almost casually.
“Customers?” The mass said, in a nervous and soft tone.
Suddenly, the lights in the shop came to life. Joe and his crew covered their eyes until they adjusted. Standing before them was a young woman with wild, flowing purple hair and a tall pointed hat. She wore an apron that had a name tag on it.
She clapped her hands in front of herself, “I’m terribly sorry, valued customer, feel free to look around.” Her voice was mellow and comforting. The four of them glanced at one another and then to the shop. Illuminated, it had taken on a new life, looking much less of a total wreck than before. The woman nodded and then levitated off the ground to go tend to the aisles.
The crew stood in shock. Ben woke up first and slapped Joe in the gut.
“Ouph, ahem yes.” He straightened up, “Well, I am afraid we can’t stay tonight. Must be moving on.” He offered.
The lady turned to them with a dour look on her face, “O-oh.” Her shoulders slumped forward, the lights began to dim.
“A-actually,” Sherman said, “I was wondering if you had uh–” He glanced at Zack who pulled out one of the penny candies and shrugged. “Uh, penny candies?”
She lit up again, the lights of the shop coming back to full illumination, “Why yes we do. Right this way, valued customer.” She glided through the air and showcased a small section with different colorful wrappers on display. “We have a rather impressive selection, I think.”
Sherman and Zack joined her and began nervously looking over the candies. The atmosphere relaxed slightly, Ben looked over the shop and sighed.
“I guess this is a no-go, huh?” Ben said.
Joe twizzled his mouse-stache, “I wouldn’t say that.” Joe walked up to the floating ghost woman. “Say, my dear. You wouldn’t happen to have a place where we might be able to rest a spell?” he motioned to the others, “We have been working hard all day and could really use a place to take a load off.”
She regarded him for a moment, her face scrunched in and she glanced around the shop. “Hmm, well,” She said, biting her lip, “I am not really supposed to, but,” She looked back at him, “But you are valued customers so I think it will be fine.”
She flitted over to a door along the back wall that said “employees only”. She opened it up and it revealed a small lounge with a TV, a couch, some tables and chairs and a vending machine. “Feel free to relax as long as you like.” She said. “After all, it has been a long time since we had customers.” She looked away, her eyes unfocused, “A long…time.”
“Yes thank you,” Ben said, scooting past them and hurling himself on the couch. He landed with a thud and kicked his feet up on the shoulder rest. “Aha! That’s more like it.”
Joe joined him in the room, seated at one of the tables. “Yes, yes this will do wonderfully. Thank you very much Miss…uh,” He squinted at her apron, “Drevie?”
The woman nodded, “You can call me ‘Dee’.” She said.
Joe smiled back at her, “Excellent, Miss Dee. My name is Joe, that’s Ben.” He motioned to the couch. Ben lazily lifted his hand in greeting. “And the two outside are Zack and Sherman.”
“A pleasure to meet you all. Oh, I had better get back to the floor. Take care.” She said and fluttered off.
Joe leaned back in his chair and stroked his mouse-stache. “yes, this will work.”
…
Sherman and Zack joined them in the lounge when they finished purchasing their candy. The ordeal had left them all rather spent, before they knew it, they had passed out in the employee lounge. Joe joined them in resting his eyes a spell. Ben had been snoring since Dee went to cash out Sharman and Zack.
Dee dutifully stood at the register till daybreak, awaiting any further customers.
…
Joe pried open his eyes as a brisk chill washed over him. He sat up from where he had been lying in the grass. He looked around. He had somehow ended up outside, looking at the backside of the thrift shop. Nearby, the rest of his crew snoozed in a heap. Joe got to his feet and cleared his throat.
“Alright, look alive you punks.” He said, clapping his hands.
Ben grumbled and pulled his blanket tighter over him, which was actually Zack’s hoodie and caused the poor boy to be flung over onto Sherman, who yelped and flailed his arm, smacking Ben in the face. The three of them groaned.
Joe rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “Let’s try that again. Up and at’em, gents!”
The three of them got to their feet.
“Hey, where’d the couch go?” Ben said.
“Did Dee kick us out?” Sherman said.
“Ben was snoring.” Zack said. Ben shoved him.
Joe shrugged, “Dunno about that. But I dare say our souls have not been sucked dry, so that’s something.”
There was general murmur of agreement.
“So,” Ben said smirking, “This haunted shop our official crash pad now?”
Joe looked to Sherman and Zack.
Sherman smiled, “It’s a wreck, but I guess that is kind of our thing.”
Zack nodded.
Joe laughed and twizzled his mouse-stache. “Then it is settled.” He placed his hand on the side of the building, “This will be our new pad.”
The others gave a vigorous cheer. Vigorous for the early morning, at least. Joe then turned to Ben with sharp and critical look, “Now Ben, you may apologize to me.”
Ben quirked an eyebrow, “Huh, for what?”
Joe stroked his ‘stache, “You know very well what, you sharp-eyed pigeon!”
Ben stepped right up into Joe’s face, “You wanna say that again?”
Joe sized up Ben, Ben sized up Joe. They sized each other for a moment before Joe spoke again, “I apologize for my morning breath, it must be difficult to stand there.”
Ben blinked through watering eyes, “Absolute torture.”
The two of them laughed and Joe wrapped his arm around Ben’s shoulders, “You had me going there, friend.”
“No use beating you,” Ben said snickering, “Your head’s too damn hard.”
They exchanged another laugh and walked out to the parking lot. Sherman looked at the haunted shop again.
“I hope we see Dee again.” He said.
“We will,” Zach said, taking out the rewards card and flipping it over in his hands.