Rise of New Friendship and Love (A ROTTMNT Fanfiction~)

The Gumbus

~My POV~
I got the baked brownies out of the oven while humming Red from Descendants: The Rise of Red with a quick close with my foot and smiled once I turned it off and set it on the table to cool down. I counted four more before cut up the first one that cooled down and got it settled on the plate before walked out of the kitchen to meet with with Waunu, Izzy, April, Alix and Leo for a little talk about Nessie's dreams, then I heard a couple of screams that I yelped like Aphmau but caught the plate with brownies on it and rushed to the center area, just in time to see the tablet landed near my foot. I heard a couple of footsteps before I set the plate on the nearby table and picked up the tablet from the floor and Leo took it from my hand. "Hey!" I said. "Uh, what’cha watching, Miguel?” Leo asked. Then Nessie and Mikey popped out of the pillow forts they recently made. "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh! We was just watching Mikey's favorite can-stacking channel.” Nessie said. "It's were, Nessie. And why are you guys watching that garbage?" I asked. Then the two popped between us. "Don't call can stacking garbage, sis!" Nessie said. "And it’s a THING. There’s the one supermarket stock boy. He builds forts, towers, national monuments!” Mikey said when he slides the videos from down to up. "Wow. Worse of all, I see his channel has a like.” Waunu said when she's dressed like Red. Waunu and I have made good ideas that we can celebrate our sisterhood and friendship day by wearing Descendants The Rise of Red main casts. Waunu took Red and I've gone for Chloe. "I would’ve liked it twice if I could." Mikey said. Nessie interrupts. "Anyway he’s at the store after hours and… you gotta see it!” Nessie said before she scrolls down and presses a video called The Gumbus. In the video, I can see the boy with the can stack behind him. 'Baxter' I thought to myself. "And now I shall complete the most difficult stack of all. Only completed by one other stock boy. The Lady Liberty Sta-" Baxter got cut off by a crashing sound nearby. He gets nervous. "Hello? Is someone there?” Baxter asked before he turns the camera to an empty isle. A can rolls out. There’s a sound of metallic rattling which makes the stock boy yelp and breathe heavily. Something is lurking in the dark. Suddenly the stock boy is grabbed, causing him to scream. The video is distorts with static and for a second I swore I saw a spooky face before the video feed clears. The camera is now on the ground and the stock boy is crawling towards it, panting. A snarl is heard as the stock boy is pulled away into the dark. "It’s the Gumbus!" Baxter said before the footage ends and the video finishes with the basic outro for YouTube content creators, with the Baxter finger-gunning at the other content link and two buttons to ‘Subscribe ‘ and ‘Donate’. "Be sure to subscribe and donate!" Baxter said before the video ended. I got confused. "Whoa! What's a Gumbus?" April asked. Then Mikey and Nessie popped up and hugged April by the waist for support. "It's a ghost that haunts the Stock & Shop!" Mikey said. I sighed softly. "What did I say about watching scary things, Nessie? It could totally give you nightmares." I said. "I know, but it's real!" Nessie said. "There's gotta be a simple answer. Earthquakes, magnets, giant prankster mice." Leo said before I stopped him "There's no such thing as giant prankster mice, Leo. We may see ghosts on Ghostbusters franchise, but in reality, there's also no such thing as ghosts." I remarked with my eyes closed. "What?!" I heard Mikey said before I opened my eyes to see him in front of me. "How can you say there's no such thing as ghosts when there's no such a thing as us? The Gumbus is real!" Mikey said. "I say, it's Hocus Pocus from the stock boy." I said. "Only one way to settle this heated debate: we head up to the Stock & Shop and tamper with the mysterious forces of the underworld." April said before she laughed evilly. Waunu, Alix, Izzy and I oohed in fake fear, Leo looks intrigued and Mikey and Nessie hugged tightly that made Leo extremely jelly over. "Uh... We're fine just getting the pants scared off of us in Mikey's pillow fort." Nessie said when she and Mikey tried to head back to his pillow fort, but I reacted by grabbing their wrists. "Oh no, you don't. April’s right. We're gonna prove to you two there’s no such thing as a Gumbus." I said when I dragged the two and the others followed us. "EC, no, no! We don’t wanna go! Please!" Mikey and Nessie pleaded. "Too late." I said. "Yea~ah! Ghost hunting!" April said. "But first girls, we gotta dressed up in a very casual, Ghostbusters style!" I said. "Yea~ah! Let's go!" Izzy, Alix and Waunu said.
~Timeskip to the Stock & Shop~
I got us through the vent on the rooftop but we yelped and grunted in pain as we went down the vent. Once we reached to the end, we yelled once we fell through the vent and fell onto the floor. We grunted softly in pain, then a vacuum cleaner falls down and hits Leo in the head which he quickly holds his head. “OW!" Leo said. I noticed it. "Mikey, why do you have that vacuum cleaner?" I asked. Mikey gets up and grabs the vacuum, explaining defensively. "To suck up the ghost! It’s lined with tin foil to keep him in." Mikey said. We got up and I dusted my Ghostbusters theme outfit. "Wow, you HAVE the weirdest imagination ever, MC." I said before I got my phone out to turn on the flashlight. "Guys, check this out. This place is like Christmas morning for food!" April said. "More like a rush hour for Thanksgiving." I said, that caused Waunu to chuckle. "Man, that's a good one." Waunu said. "This place is creepy." Mikey said. "Duh, the lights are always off after hours." I said. "Creepy or ~AWESOME? Answer: Both." April said. "Or maybe, neither would be the answer." Alix asked. Then I heard a glass breaking. "What was that?!" Mikey said before he points to the direction of the sound. We did the same too. "What?” Leo asked. "Look." I said before my flashlight aims at the small area before a small model train came out and roll along the tracks making a whistle. "A model train. Simple answer." I said before we walked away from the train area to find the Gumbus. "Guh! What kind of sicko puts a model train in a grocery store?!" Nessie said. "Focus guys. We came here to see a ghost, and a ghost we shall see." April said. "Or a small figment of an imagination." I said. We kept on looking till I heard Mikey and Nessie whimpering in fear. "Oh boy." I said before turned then Mikey and Nessie shrieked. "Ahhhhhhh! Ghost!" Mikey and Nessie said before Mikey activate the vacuum cleaner that got my shirt in. I yelped and grunted when I pushed the vacuum away. "I’m not a ghost!" I said angrily. "And now we know for sure." Mikey said. Nessie agreed. "Don't try to make me mad or the red eye pupils will appeared!" I said to them. "Oh! The curse." Mikey said a bit worried. "Yes, the curse!" I said. "What is the hold up, guys?" Izzy asked. "Tell that to them." I said to Izzy when I pointed to Nessie and Mikey. "I feel like somebody’s watching us." Mikey said before he yelped. "Same." Nessie said when she shakes like a leaf. "Me too. Isn’t it great?" April asked. "Yeah, already spooked up." Waunu said. "Same." Izzy said. "Ditto." Alix said. "Yeah, but I still feel like someone's following us." I said. "You seven are nuts! The only people here are the eight of us." Leo said. Then suddenly.., a mop hits him on the head. "AGHHHH!" Leo said. We squealed happily as we saw it, but Mikey and Nessie screamed in fear before they hugged Alix and Waunu. "The Gumbus got Leo!" Nessie said. The mop continues to hit Leo on the head as he looks discombobulated by the attack. I rushed to try to grab the mop. "There’s no such thing as a.." I grunted as I wrenched the mop away from Leo's attacker which he backed away. "Gumbus." I said. I beamed my flashlight to find the same stock boy from the video, who is crouched on the floor, looking sheepish. "Baxter! What's the big idea from your coconut mind?" I asked Baxter who stands up fast. "Baxter?" Leo, Mikey and April asked. I turned to them. "Yeah, I know this episode too." I said. "I’m sorry! I thought he was the Gumbus. Wait, are they turtles?" Baxter asked when he saw Leo and Mikey. "We’re not into labels. All that matters is that we’re HUGE fans of your haunting videos." Mikey said. "Not ALL of us." I said with my arms crossed. "Darn!" Mikey said. "Always great to meet my fans - in any form. Did you subscribe and donate?" Baxter asked us when he does the finger guns. Nessie felt embarrassed. "Not really, BUT we’ve been thinking about meaning to." Nessie said. "So can you tell us about this awesome ghost?" April asked Baxter. "Or “figment” of your imagination." I said when I did the quote on figment. "Perfect timing. I was about to vlog about that." Baxter said before he pulls out his camera up to hold it up and film himself. "The Gumbus. It all goes back to ancient times: 1987!" Baxter said before Mikey and Nessie started to shout in fear. I tapped their heads to stay silent. "I'll spare you the gory details. The greatest stock boy the store's ever seen. Jeremiah Gumbus… got crunched in the chains of the milk processing plant!" Baxter said before April screeches in joy. "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO SPARING THE GORY DETAILS?!" I said. Baxter ignore me, which got me irritated. "Chain and soul combined, and now, as the chain laded Gumbus, he haunts the aisles of the store. Legend has it the only way to free the Gumbus from his eternal torment is…" Baxter got cut off as he saw ghostly chains start to wrap around him. "Huh?" He asked in stunned before he got snatched by the Gumbus again and screams. "Whoa!" I said. I can hear the roar and got shocked. "AAAHHH!! The Gumbus!" Baxter said before he got pulled away. "Yeah!" April said. "What?" Leo asked in shock. Nessie and Mikey gasped and whimpered in fear. "Quick! After him!" I said before we ran after Baxter. We turned the corner as we flashed the lights at the stacked cans. "He's gone!" I said. "What?" Mikey and Nessie squealed in fear. "Whoa!" April said happily. "Uhhhhhh…" Leo said. "Got a simple answer for that, Sis?" Nessie asked smugly. I nogged her head that she yelped in pain. "NOT just yet, missy." I said. She whimpered softly in pain as she rubbed her head. "Got a simple answer for that, Leon?" Mikey asked Leo which caused him to scoffed and skidded to the stack cans. "Obviously, he's behind the cans." Leo said before he smacks the entire pyramid of canned soup away with one hand, revealing a wall with a ghostly silhouette of the stock boy and his glasses, and glowing writing that says ‘SAVE ME’. I got shocked as Leo proudly points. "Uh, yeah. What do you think girl." Leo said said to me. "Leo, I hate to point it out, but LOOK!" I said when I pointed at the wall which he looks and flinches in horror and stammers as he examines the wall. "It can’t be! No, no, no, no, nooooo. This can't be happening! There's gotta be an explanation!" Leo said. "What now?" Alix asked me. "I don't know, but we gotta find him." I said. Then  we heard cackles in the distance and we turned fast to the darkness before we shined our lights. "Anybody there?" April asked. "Hello? Helli-hello!" I said with a Coraline phase. Then we heard a different sound that made Nessie and Mikey whimpers and April giggles from the rush. Leo pushes himself to the front of the pack and aims his flashlight down the aisle. Alix and Izzy got in front of us with a few stances. Squelching footsteps draw nearer and when it stops our light beams collectively aim down to reveal a cooked turkey on the floor. I got confused. "A turkey? For real?" I asked before steps forward to reach it out, with a cautious look. "I'M ALIVE!" A voice shouted that Nessie and Mikey squealed in fear and Leo and I jumped away and babbled in fear. "IT'S A TALKING TURKEY!!" Leo said. "WE CAN SEE THAT, MAN!!" I said to Leo. "Guys, it's me! Stockboy. The Gumbus trapped me in here. Hold on a second." Baxter said before he pulls out a selfie stick from the neck hole. He clears his throat and starts filming himself again. "Hey fans, It's me, Stockboy." Baxter said. "This is happening... This is really happening." Izzy said in shock. "We know, we're seeing it too!" Waunu said. "I know, right? Hide behind the giblets. I'll smash you out!" April said when she grabs Mikey’s vacuum and raises it over her head while Mikey tries to stop her from destroying his vacuum. I got in between her and Baxter. "NO GIRL! There's a soul stuck inside of the turkey and we can't risk it!" I said to April. "She's right, you'll destroy my soul! And mess up my inventory. The only way to expel Gumbus is to build his greatest creation: the liberty stack!" Baxter said. "Of course! The liberty stack! And I know where it is too!" I said. "Good. Now all you need to do is to access my video, subscribe and donate it...” We start walking past the turkey-fied stock boy. "We've seen that 1000 times for free! We can do it!" Nessie said before we ran fast to follow my lead. "This way around that corner!" I said before we turned to the corner to see the Canned items area. "There it is!" I said before we ran forward but I yelped when I got pulled back by Alix only to see a baguette embedded in the wall like an arrow. "Whew, too close." I said before I felt a bad feeling before we turned to the bakery area to see Pizza levitating. "Oh, no." Nessie and Mikey said. "Oh, boy." Leo said. "Sewer apples." Izzy, Waunu and Alix said. Then pizzas and baguettes start launching at us. We yelped as we dodged the items but Leo gets hit in the face with a pizza. I turned to the others. "Nessie, Mikey!" I said. "Cover us!" Mikey said before he and Nessie headed for the pile of cans, I grabbed the baguette, held it like a batter  and hits the baguettes and pizzas hard. "Home run!" I said when I finished three swings. "Sweet!" Waunu said. "Guys hurry!" Leo said before we blocked the baguettes from hitting Nessie and Mikey while they're stacking the cans fast. The pasta makers activate and start churning out fettuccine that comes alive and wraps around us like tentacles, throwing them around. We yelped when we got tossed back and forth. Leo takes a second to munch on some pizza. "LEONARDO!!!" Izzy, Waunu, Alix and I shouted at him which he yelped and helped us. "Sorry!" Leo said. "This is exactly that the real Michelangelo went through when he created art and sculpturs!" Nessie said. "And we're basically the same level of artist!" Mikey said before he puts his flashlight in the Lady Liberty can-stack to complete it. "Ta-da~!" Nessie and Mikey said. All of the food stopped moving and the fettuccine releases us that we yelped and fell to the floor. Waunu, April and I laughed in joy. "We… We did it!" Leo said. "Whoo!" April said before we got off the floor. "Mikey! Nessie! You two appeased the Gumbus!" Alix said happily. Nessie giggled. "Thanks." Nessie said. "Hah! What can I say? We're the best." Mikey said. Suddenly, the flashlight in the can statue flickers and goes out that surprised the two. April, Leo, Izzy, Alix, Waunu and I whimpered softly before the ceiling lights in the whole building. I gasped quietly and we turned fast to see something move in the dark as the jingling of chains can be heard. It didn’t appear to work. "Oh man." Izzy said. "Huh?" Leo asked when he heard a clatter and we flashed our lights to see another can fall and roll in front of them and panics. "Uhhhh…. Mikey, Ness, use my flashlight!" Leo said. Mikey and Nessie reaches for Leo’s flashlight but our flashlight beams illuminate a giant burly glowing ghoul hovering behind Mikey and Nessie, wearing overalls and chains, and reaching for him. April gasps but grins, Waunu, Alix and Izzy hugged each other fearfully, Leo points in horror as he stutters. I yelped fearfully when I pointed behind the two, they slowly turns around and then shrieks at the top of their lungs when they see it. "IT'S THE GUMBUS!!!" I shouted in fear. "GUMBUS!" Gumbus shouted before it attacks with his chains, destroying the Lady Liberty can-stack and Mikey and Nessie wails as he gets knocked away. The Gumbus shrieks in an otherworldly manner at them. We screamed in fear but April screamed in joy. "FLEE!!!!!" Mikey, Leo and Nessie shouted before we ran away from the Gumbus fast. "Oh, I hate this, I hate this!" Leo said when we kept running. "KEEP RUNNING! DON'T LOOK BACK!!" I shouted. I heard a shriek before saw Waunu ran faster passed us. "I JUST DID!!!" Waunu said.
~Timeskip to the Deli Area after April, Izzy and Alix got swapped by the Gumbus with the shelf~
Nessie, Mikey, Leo, Waunu and I screamed in fear before we ran fast for the Deli as I pulled Mikey to avoid the chains. "Go go go!" I said before we ran fast. "Since this is my first time being wrong, is it always this scary?!" Leo asked Mikey when we got safely behind the counter in the Deli. "Yes!" Mikey shrieked. "But now that thing’s got the three." Nessie said worried. "But there is the one thing that can stop it. Mikey, suck that ghost!" I said before Mikey jumps up from behind the counter and aims at the Gumbus and I got my phone out to record. "Get thee back to the netherworld, fiend!" Mikey said before he uses the vacuum cleaner and the Gumbus roars in distress. "It’s working! It’s working! And I don’t even know what it’s plugged into!" Mikey said. "It's plugged into the wall by me!" Nessie said. "Yes, get him! Get that chain-laden doofus!" Leo said confidently. "Whoo!" Waunu said. "Time to reveal the real or fake Gumbus!" I said. "Fake Gumbus?" Leo and Mikey asked. "Look!" I said before they looked, just in time to see ths cloth got caught in the vacuum. The cloth is ripped off and the Gumbus is revealed to be a robot, which powers down. Mikey is baffled and Leo starts to feel vindicated by my answer. "There it is. The Gumbus is ... FAKE!!!" I said to the media since I pressed live for the Gumbus Hunting for my True or False videos. "A robot?" Mikey and Nessie asked in shock. "Wow! So it was all Hocus Pocus!" Waunu said. "AHA, right? The simple answer. She was right! She was right! EC was right!" Leo said before he raised my arm up high. I chuckled. "Okay, but I'm filming here." I said to Leo. "Aw, man. We were scared of something that doesn’t even exist." Nessie said. "It's okay sis, fake or not, you'll always be my scaredy sister." I said. "Hey!" Nessie said before I heard a robotic movement, I saw the  robot roars and comes back online, raising an arm to strike them. I yelled in fear. "Ah! Real stuff is scary enough as it is!" I said before tackled the others out of harms way before the robot mangles us. The deli counter is demolished as I dragged the further away. "Nessie, hide! Leo, Mikey, Waunu, we gotta defend ourselves!" I said before Nessie hides behind the crate, Waunu grabbed the meat pounder, I grabbed the butcher knife but the boys got the meat. Leo’s weapon is a huge sausage while Mikey’s is a ham on the bone with a string of sausages. We look confident until the robot immediately slices through our weapons. "Oh no." Leo, Mikey, Waunu and I said fearfully. The robot cackles mechanically. "We're in trouble." I said. Suddenly, a big ‘President’ brand salami hits the robot in the head with a clang. I side looked to see April, Izzy and Alix having their items they got from different aisle. "Guys!" I said. "Apri-i-l O’Neil!!" April said. "I-I-Izzy Hamato!" Izzy said. "And Ali-i-ix Hill! Oh, you’re gonna wish you’re a ghost, Gumbus!" Alix said before Izzy grabbed the next salami and gets it readied. The Gumbus turns to square off with the three, levitating shelving units and food menacingly. I saw the string. 'Got an idea.' I thought to myself. "IZZY! CUT THE STRING!" I said to Izzy, which she aims up and shots it. "Salami!" Izzy said cuts through the string and the robot crashes to the ground and explodes. We yelped when we blocked our eyes from the smoke, I looked up a bit to see the chest of robot ejects Baxter. Mikey got shocked. "What? You?!" Mikey and Nessie said in shock once Nessie came out of hiding. "Duh. He’s literally 100% of the people we know from this place." Leo said. Waunu saw something on the ground and kneels to the floor. "What’s this?" Waunu asked before she picks up Baxter’s phone. I took it from her hand and replayed the events that included... us. I got mad and glared at Baxter. "I should've known! You were recording of us, screaming our lives out, weren’t you?" I asked him. "I had to! Because of cheapskates like you who watch my videos but never subscribe and donate!" Baxter said. "Wait. So you did all this… just for money?" Alix and April asked. "Give us the main reason why you're doing this." Izzy said. Baxter sighed before he confessed. "Look, this is my parents' store. They don’t even pay me to work here. But there's big bucks in hoaxes." Baxter said. "Looks like you've gone from crisp to burnt, hoss. I'll be taking the footage home with us. That way, this won't be shown to viewers." I said. "What?!" Baxter asked in shocked before he sighed bitterly at me. "You’ll pay for this, Erwina Chee and your true or false videos cheesy clingers. You will rue the day you cross young man genius Baxter Stockboy!" Baxter said before dramatic boom of thunder was shown but I stopped him. "Hold up, I already told them your whole name and what you did for living. But the similar thing is, Stockboy. Should've stuck with Stockman." I said before the seven laughed at my joke. "Oh, good one!" Izzy said to me. "I’ll teach you to laugh at me!" Baxter said before he laughed menacingly as he grabs the controls in his seat and with his robotics raises shelving units menacingly again. "Now you will feel the wrath of-" He got cut off but a female voice. "Baxter? Are you in there?" The mother asked. "Cheese it!" I whispered to the seven before Alix for the vent open and one by one, they got in. "You were supposed to be home an hour ago." The mother said before she flips on interior lights and sees the wreckage. "What happened to the store?!" The mother angrily shouted at Baxter. "Oh no, guys. It’s my parents!" Baxter said quietly to us but got demised as he saw the others are in, but. "Tell us if you got grounded in your next video, okay? But now, you're on your own." I said before got pulled up by Leo's help. "Be sure to subscribe and donate?" Baxter asked me. "No!" I said before we crawled out of the store and we headed him fast.

'Note to self: Never lie to viewers with Hocus Pocus, unless it's real ghostbusting to do!'