The Chase
The truck weaved through the town, oblivious to the stange parade that followed it. The first in line was the truck of course, then came the Cadillac, the bus, the convertible, and the beetle. Way back on the end, a motorcycle tagged along.
Kermit looked down at his nephew, trying to think how he could stand up to Doc Hopper once more. He remembered last time. Last time he had been willing to give his life rather than do the advertising. And what had Hopper said?
"Alright, boys. Kill him."
Kermit shuddered. He couldn't do that to Robin.
The young frog felt his uncle shudder and looked up at him. Uncle Kermit was afraid.
"Uncle Kermit?" Robin said.
"Yes?" Kermit said.
Robin heard the tremble in his voice and shook his head. "Never mind," he said.
Kermit tried to comfort his nephew. "Sweetums is here," he said. "He's with Bunsen and Beaker in the beetle. And the whole band is in the bus, Dr. Teeth, and Floyd, and Janice, and Zoot, and Animal. And in the convertible, there's Johnny and Sal, and Clifford, and Pepe. And then of course the Cadillac, there's Fozzie, and Miss Piggy, and Rowlf, and Gonzo and Rizzo."
Robin nodded. "And Ramon is on the motorcycle," he said.
Kermit looked down at his nephew, a little surprised. "And Ramon is on the motorcycle," he repeated. He tried to think of some other tangent conversation they could have to distract Robin.
"How
did you get a ride with a deer, anyway?" he asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ramon couldn't belive he had let Hopper get Robin. If he had just waited another minute or two to go to the bathroom, or if he had insisted that Robin go to the bathroom, or if... if. It was too late for "if" now. Now he had to get Robin and his uncle back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rowlf was driving, and Fozzie had taken Kermit's seat. In the backseat, Rizzo was bent over with his hands clasped together.
"Please don't let me get hurt," he was saying. "If you save me, I'll share every piece of cheese I ever find, I'll call my mother, I'll be real nice to my brothers and sisters, but please, don't let me get hurt, please..."
"Rizzo, relax!" Gonzo said. "This is gonna be FUN!"
"Over my little dead body is this gonna be fun!" Rizzo said.
Rowlf shook his head. "You're not even the one in Hopper's truck," he said.
Miss Piggy peaked over Fozzie's seat and looked at the two frogs, clinging to each other in the back of the truck.
"Please be safe, Kermie," she whispered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So 'dis Hopper man we're chasing," Pepe said, "he tried to kill Kermin?"
"That's what they said," Clifford said.
"Doew anybody know about him besides us?" Pepe asked.
"I don't know," Clifford said. "Man, what difference does it make?"
"Because if my gosh darn sexy life comes to a tragic, yet heroic end, I want the ladies all to know about it," Pepe said.
Clifford shook his head. "Man, what's the point of attracting chicks if you're dead?" he asked.
Pepe looked at him. "Haven't you ever heard of a place called heaven?" he said with a laugh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Beaker, did you pack the insta-grow pills?" Bunsen asked.
"Moo meeme mee mee meeme me," Beaker said.
"Oh, dear," Bunsen said. "I don't know what we're going to do about Hopper then."
"I think I might be able to help," Sweetums said.
"Oh good," Bunsen said. "Perhaps we can save the day after all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Electric Mayhem was crowded around the front of the bus.
"Like, where is this guy going?" Janice said.
Floyd shook his head. "I don't know, baby, but he sure is truckin' it. We're way over the speed limit."
"BAD MAN! BAD MAN!" Animal shouted.
"That's right, Animal," Dr. Teeth said. "I sure hope our froggy friends are okay."
"Fer sure," Janice said. "But like, I bet
that's where we're going." She pointed at a huge warehouse up ahead of them. A large sign at the top of the building read "Doc Hopper and Son's French Fried Frog Legs Restaurant chain." The truck pulled inside and a huge garage door came crashing down, closing off the entrance.
Rowlf braked hard and pulled the Cadillac in a tight left turn, squealing the tires to avoid hitting the door. Dr. Teeth braked and made a U-turn, leaving room for the others. Sal went left and scraped the whole left side of the convertible against a lamp post. Bunsen just slammed on the brake, somehow causing Beaker to sink through his seat to the car floor. Ramon gently guided his motorcycle around the beetle and came to a gradual stop.
It was dark inside the empty warehouse. Robin pressed up against the bars of his cage, trying to snuggle closer to his uncle.
"It'll be okay, Robin," Kermit heard himself say.
Some dim lights flashed on, and they heard the two doors of the truck open and close. Junior got to the back of the truck first. He saw Kermit and froze.
"Papa, you're not gonna believe this," he said.
Doc leaned on his cane a little more than usual as he hobbled back and turned to see what his son was talking about. When he did, he found himself looking his arch nemesis in the eyes.
"Well well well," he said. "If it isn't Kermit the Frog. Did you find your
dream yet, frog? Where's that barnyard you called a
family now?"
Kermit just glared at him. "Why are you doing this, Hopper?"
Doc glared right back at him. "We've been over this before, frog," he said. "This is what I want. A chain of frog leg restaurants, thousands of them, all over the world."
"Your plans have grown," Kermit said.
Doc shrugged. "Things change."
"You haven't changed," Kermit said. "You're older and you have a son, but you haven't changed. Not on the inside. You're still just a heartless man trying to force a frog to advertise the killing of his own kind."
Doc glanced at his feet and back up. "That may be," he said. "But like my son Junior here said, nothing's gonna go wrong this time. Either one of you frogs agrees to be the official spokesfrog for Doc Hopper and Son's French Fried Frog Leg Restaurant chain, or I'll kill you both. And just from lookin' at you, I'm guessing you don't want that little frog to die."
Robin looked up at his uncle, petrified. Kermit looked down at him and swallowed hard. Doc was right. He couldn't let Robin die. He couldn't make Robin do the advertising, either. So he gave his nephew a squeeze, pulled his arms out of the cage, stood up and said, "I'll do it."
Robin was immediately on his feet. "Uncle Kermit, No!" he shouted.
Kermit looked down at him sadly. "Robin, I can't let him do that to you," he said.
Suddenly the door flew up. They heard a voice say, "And we can't let him do that to either of you!"
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