Chasing Robin

[TogetherAgain]

The Final Showdown

His eyes were red and puffy, his knees were cut and bloody, and he was shaking. His hands were just steady enough to keep the gun pointed right at Kermit's head.

They stood frozen in silence for a long moment.

"It's your fault," Junior finally said. "You killed Papa. You got him upset, it's YOUR fault!" He was shaking more violently now. "You- you're not going anywhere. Y-you're staying- you're staying right here!" And you, you're, you're going to do the- the advertising. I'm gonna- I'm gonna take over! I'm gonna take over the business. And I- I'm gonna make it grow, and it- it's gonna be a big restaurant chain! It's gonna- It's gonna be BIG, and, and POWERFUL, and, and you're gonna do the advertising, so you- you're not going anywhere."

Kermit looked up at Junior. Papa... Doc... Doc was dead? "Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" Junior demanded.

"Why would you take over the business?"

Junior froze. "W-well, wh- why wouldn't I? It- it's what Papa... what Papa would want."

"But is it what you want?" Kermit asked.

Junior was shaking again. His wants and needs had always followed Papa's lead. Wasn't that how it was supposed to be? "Of- of course it's what I want. It's- it's Hopper and Son. HOPPER AND SON!"

"When did it become Hopper and Son?" Kermit asked.

Junior froze again. "Well it... it's always been Hopper and Son... that's just... that's how it's always been, it... always..." he shook his head fiercely. "Stop it. Stop, stop talking circles, frog! You're doing the advertising!"

Kermit held himself tall. Without quite realizing it, he took the hands of those beside him- Robin and Miss Piggy- who in turn took the hands of those beside them, and so on, until they were all holding hands.

"Do you want me to do the advertising, Junior?" Kermit asked.

Junior didn't seem to hear him. "You said Papa was heartless," he said as he shook. "But he isn't. He... he wasn't. He always... had..." he was getting angry. "He had a heart for me."

Kermit was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "He loved you."

"Yes," Junior said. "He wasn't- he wasn't heartless."

"Because he loved you," Kermit said. "He always loved you. No matter what you did."

"Yes!" Junior said.

"And he wanted you to be happy," Kermit said.

"Yes!" Junior said. "He wasn't heartless!"

Kermit hesitated a moment. "Junior," he said. "If you take over the business, will you be happy? Like he would want you to be?"

Junior stared at the frog for a long moment, not saying anything, just shaking. He dropped the gun and fell to his hands and knees, still shaking, trying to fight tears that weren't coming. "No," he whispered.

Kermit released the hands he was holding, picked his way through the broken glass, and put a hand on Junior's shoulder. "It will be okay, Junior," he said.

Junior glared at him. "Leave me alone," he growled.

Kermit took his hand away, looked back at his friends, and waved for them to leave. "Watch out for the glass," he said quietly as they approached. Sweetums carried Robin. Kermit took Miss Piggy's hand. "Come on," he said, and Fozzie put a hand on his back as all of them walked out.

Together.

They didn't say a word until they got outside.

"You know," Fozzie said, "that was kind of confusing."

"Yeah I thought we were against Hopper," Dr. Teeth said.

Kermit shook his head. "We were against Doc," he said. "Junior was just a little confused."

"Kermit, what if he decides to do the business and he still wants you to advertise?" Gonzo asked.

Kermit scrunched up his face. "Well, it's not a fool proof system," he said.

"Of course not," Floyd said. "If it was, we wouldn't be able to use it."

"What makes you think that all of us are fools?" Clifford said.

"How about the fact that it's the middle of the afternoon, and NONE OF US HAVE HAD BREAKFAST YET!!!" Rizzo said. "I'm starvin'!"

"Me too," Rowlf said.

"Alright, where should we eat?" Kermit asked.

"Any place where we can take our time," Robin said. "I'm tired of rushing."

"Understandably," Kermit said. "Anybody know a good sit down restaurant?"

"Ramon might!" Floyd said.

"Rully, but like, where'd he go?" Janice said.

"Yeah where is he?" Gonzo asked.

"He must have left," Johnny said.

"He wasn't too bad looking," Miss Piggy said.

"Sheesh," Kermit said. "Well, I guess we'll just drive around until we find a place."

"Hey why don't we all take the bus for now?" Dr. Teeth said. "Be a lot easier."

"Alright, but don't let me forget to call Scooter," Kermit said.

"BUS! BUS!" Animal shouted.

As they herded themselves towards the bus, Rizzo noticed the banged up convertible. "Hey Johnny," he said, "What happened to your car?"

"Don't ask, okay" Pepe said.

Across the street, a tall man sat on a bench. A soft breeze touched his brown hair and beard as he watched the scene before him with his dark brown eyes. Perhaps others would think it was a strange sight- a frog, a pig, a bear, a dog, a monkey, a huge monster holding a tiny frog in his hand, it was an interesting combination. But to the man on the bench, it was completely natural. He smiled. They were happy. "Hmm," he said, standing up and walking away as he slowly disappeared in mid air. But no one on the street noticed the disappearing man, or the Muppets. They were all looking up in the sky at a huge, beautiful rainbow.

 

[Aaron]

nice chapter and genius cameo at the end

 

[The Count]

To quote Janice... "Like who was that brown hairy fella?"
Come on Lisa... You're so clooooose....
Give us the ending we deserve. Give us a big final number. Give us the reunion back at the theater.
Oh... Just give us what you think. Great story, lookin' forward to the real end.

 

[theprawncracker]

Oh my gosh! That was sooooo good! I loved it! What a wonderful cameo by an old friend of the Muppets...Wonderful, truly wonderful! And very impatiently awaiting the next chapter by the way...

 

[RedDragon]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwe. Big hugs to Henson. YYYYYYYAAAAAAYYYYYYY!

 

[TogetherAgain]

<blushes> You all caught that it was his ghost, right? That's why he disappeared.

As for the final chapter, I'm actually kind of wrestling with it. I mean I know what I want to happen, but I'm writing it, and I'm just sort of going on and on and on and on about how wonderful everything is. It's kind of frustrating. I mean I've written about the length of a chapter now, but nothing has happened yet. I mean... grrrrr! It- oh, never mind. I'll figure it out eventually and I'll post it and then maybe I can tell you why I'm struggling so much. But I can't tell you now, because it will give it all away, and blah blah blah... but oy, I think I need to start this chapter all over. <sigh>

 

[TogetherAgain]

Happily Ever After Again

"Hi, Uncle Kermit!" Robin called as he came bounding into the theater.

Several months had passed. It had taken a couple of weeks for Robin to stop having nightmares, but now everyone had fully recovered from the trip and they were fully absorbed with the show. Kermit put his pencil down and smiled at his nephew. "Hi Robin!" he said. "How was school?"

"It was wonderful!" Robin said. "We-"

"Hey Boss?" Scooter interrupted, carrying a huge crate. "Where should I put this?"

"Well what is it?" Kermit asked.

"It's all the props we need for tonight's show," Scooter said.

Kermit sighed and pointed. "Put it back there."

"Okay Boss!" Scooter said, grunting slightly as he carried the crate away.

"Kermit!" Beauregard approached with a mop and bucket. "There's something wrong with the floor where the people go. It's covered with red squishy stuff."

Kermit scrunched up his face. "Beau, that's the new carpet," he said.

"Yo Kerm!" Clifford said. "The spotlight burnt out."

"There should be more bulbs in the prop room," Kermit said.

"I already looked. We're all out," Clifford said.

"Alright, put it on the list," Kermit said.

"Want me to just grab some now?" Clifford asked. "Because the pig has that number tonight, and you know how she is about her spotlight."

"Good point," Kermit said.

"Hey Kermit!" Gonzo said. "I have a great new act for tonight's show!"

"Gonzo, you're not performing tonight," Kermit said. "I told you that already. I might be able to get you in the next show, though, what's the act?"

"Walking blindfolded over red hot coals while singing the national anthem backwards!" Gonzo said.

Kermit scrunched up his face. "I'll see if I can get you in the next show," he said.

"Hey green stuff," Floyd said as he walked over. "You said we could play this time."

"Yes, Floyd, I have the Electric Mayhem down for the closing number."

"Alright," Floyd said with a smile. "Thanks a lot, man."

"Kermie!" Miss Piggy called as she came down from her dressing room. "Moi am so thrilled to finally be doing moi's number tonight!"

"That's good, Piggy, but-"

"And moi's fans will be thrilled as well," she continued. "There's just one teensy little thing missing from it."

"Oh? What's that?" Kermit said.

Miss Piggy slowly began to smother him with her usual affection. "Moi needs a strong, handsome man to sing to. Some one bold, and brave, and courageous, and sweet..."

"Uh, right," Kermit said, pushing her away so he could breathe. "I'll get Link to do it."

"WHAT?!?"

He sighed. "Or I'll do it..."

She gasped. "Oh, really, Kermie? Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you..." She said as she began to smother him again.

"Don't you have to rehearse or something?" he said.

"Oh, yes," she said, scurrying back to her dressing room.

Kermit turned to Robin. "What did I just get myself into?" he asked.

"A number with Miss Piggy," Robin said.

"Sheesh. Now what were you saying?"

"At school today," the young frog said. "We were-"

Ring ring

Kermit sighed, gave his nephew an apologetic look, and picked up the phone. "Hello, Muppet Theater."

"Hi, is this Kermit the Frog?" an almost familiar sounding voice said.

"Yes," Kermit said.

"Hi. This is ...this is Daren Hopper, you know me as Junior?"

"Oh," Kermit said. He was surprised and a little nervous.

"I go by my middle name now," Junior Daren explained.

"Alright," Kermit said.

"But anyway, I was calling for two reasons."

Kermit looked at the Muppets around him, all wondering who it was. He tried to hide his nervousness, but they could see right through him, and they were starting to worry.

"First of all, I wanted to thank you," Daren said. "For what you said. I know I wasn't- I wasn't exactly very appreciative of it then, but it really has helped me a lot."

"Oh," Kermit said. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, uh, you're welcome."

"Who is it, Uncle Kermit?" Robin asked.

Kermit covered the mouthpiece. "It's Junior Hopper," he said. "But he goes by Daren now." He shrugged.

"The second reason I called is that I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Daren said. "You see I have this store now, it's called Hopper's Music Box. I sell instruments and sheet music and give lessons."

"Oh, that sounds great," Kermit said, relieved that the restaurant chain had been forgotten.

"The thing is, I'm not getting a lot of business," Daren said. "So I was wondering... that is, if you don't mind... I was wondering if I could maybe get you to do some advertisements?"

"For the music store?" Kermit asked.

"If you don't mind," Daren said.

Kermit smiled. "I'd be happy to," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Junior Daren Hopper hung up the phone, walked out of his office, and into the main show room. Two months ago, this had been an empty warehouse. Now it was filled with all sorts of instruments, many racks of sheet music, and the sound of some one warming up on a flute. He followed the sound to a woman with short blonde hair and green eyes. She stopped playing when she saw him.

"So?" she said. "What did he say?"

Daren smiled. "He said he'll do it."

"See, I told you so," she said.

He shook his head and picked up a flute. "Are you ready for your lesson, Miss Kenisha?" he said.

"I'm ready, Mr. Daren."

"Good," he said. "If you do a good job, I'll take you out to dinner tonight."

"And if I don't?"

He shrugged. "I'll take you out to dinner anyway."

She laughed. "You know, you're not very good at staying professional with your customers," she said.

"Well, you just so happen to be my only customer. Now about this lesson. Let's start with this one," he said, and he handed her a piece of sheet music entitled "The Rainbow Connection."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May you always see which dreams are yours, may you follow them with all your heart, and may your enemies find themselves overwhelmingly outnumbered by your friends.​

 

[theprawncracker]

May you always see which dreams are yours, may you follow them with all your heart, and may your enemies find themselves overwhelmingly outnumbered by your friends.

Wow! That's an awesome quote! Oh, and by the by, I loooooved this story Lisa!!! It was amazing! Your best yet! Thank you for sharing it with us!

P.S. I love the "Rainbow Connection" connection!

P.P.S. And that still sounds weird!

 

[The Count]

Yaeeeeyyyy!!! Great ending Lisa. Loves the story I does.

And though I may not recognize the names of Junior Darren Hopper nor his customer, was there a jab at "The New Gig" when Floyd came in to talk to Kermit at the theater?
Great stuff... Lookin' to ... Well, whatever comes next.

 

[Beauregard]

YO, wow! I loved this story! The ending was especially good. And especially this: ""It's your fault," Junior finally said. "You killed Papa. You got him upset, it's YOUR fault!" He was shaking more violently now. "You- you're not going anywhere. Y-you're staying- you're staying right here!" And you, you're, you're going to do the- the advertising. I'm gonna- I'm gonna take over! I'm gonna take over the business. And I- I'm gonna make it grow, and it- it's gonna be a big restaurant chain! It's gonna- It's gonna be BIG, and, and POWERFUL, and, and you're gonna do the advertising, so you- you're not going anywhere.""

That was big, that was powerfull! That paragraph, wonderfully done. The stops. The repeated words. Splended.