Destination: Home

[redBoobergurl]

I LOVED this chapter! So clever to have them end up on Sesame Street! So sad that they couldn't even be safe there, but still awesome to plug it in! I can't wait to read more!

Also, I must admit I have hit a huge case of WRITERS BLOCK for my own fan fic, so please be patient with me, I'm trying to work through it and hope to post something again soon. I started writing this weekend and I'm like "I have no idea where to take this next."

 

[TogetherAgain]

I just want to throw in here- right after I wrote Kermit's line, "Yes, Robin, we're on Sesame Street" I got so excited I got up and started dancing. Or at least it started out as dancing, I sort of ended up spinning around really fast, getting dizzy and falling over onto my bed. That was fun.
<patiently waits for someone to notice a less obvious reference...>
So does anybody think that, as Floyd hopes, nothing else will go wrong?

















<hears crickets chirping>
ok, so the crickets think it's time for happily ever after. Anybody else? anybody? anybody?...

 

[Fragglemuppet]

I'm still waiting for a showdown between the Muppets and Galt's men.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Triple Breakdown

Floyd looked to the very back of the bus, where all of their instruments lay, untouched since they packed them on that first morning. The Electric Mayhem had hoped to play some gigs while they were on the road, but of course they had been focussing on running away.

So much for a cross-country tour.

He sighed. We were better off before we left, he thought. At least then we could play.

Suddenly he heard a sputtering sound. He sat up. Sputtering, and now choking, and now there was smoke, and now the bus was jerking to a stop on the side of the empty road.

Everyone was awake now. Dr. Teeth stood and turned to face them. His face was grim.

"Something's wrong with the bus."

They slowly unboarded and made a semi-circle around the engine of the bus. Smoke was slipping out from under the hood. Fozzie opened it. The smoke immediately began to gush out at them, and they all started coughing and choking.

Once the smoke subsided, they all peered in at the engine. Not that looking at it did any good. None of them knew much about cars.

"Looks like it's all gone up in smoke," Rowlf said.

Miss Piggy was outraged. She grabbed Kermit and dragged him a couple feet away from the rest of the group.

"Kermie, I can't do this anymore. FIVE WEEKS of this already! FIVE WEEKS of the exact same clothes! FIVE WEEKS of dumpy hotels! FIVE WEEKS of filthy, disgusting restaurants! FIVE WEEKS of no dessert! FIVE WEEKS of running out of every door we go in! FIVE WEEKS in those bus seats! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Kermie! And now this crappy excuse for a bus breaks down in the middle of the night, and there's NOBODY around to fix it! This is the last straw. I can't handle this, Kermit. I'M. LEAVING."

She turned and started to storm off. Kermit stood there, stunned. He found his voice and shouted after her.

"AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO, HUH?"

She froze. He walked up to her. He was furious, absolutely furious.

"Where are you going to go, Miss Piggy? Where? Do you see any five-star hotels? Any mansions? Any limosines? Room service? Huh? Do you see any of that stuff? Do you see anything at all? Because I sure don't! We're in the middle of nowhere! We're in the middle of some desert in the middle of the night and the only thing around is us!" He hesitated a moment, then, a little more calmly, he went on. "Piggy, none of us have enjoyed the past five weeks! Not a single one of us! Do you think you're the only one who misses eating dessert? Or not having to run out of every restaurant? Or stopping in a hotel and actually staying there? It's either this or Galt and his movie!" His anger started to mount again. "We're doing the best we can! We're trying to stay alive, Piggy. So if you want to go, FINE. Go right ahead. Have fun. Good luck. But you won't get far. Because right now, the only thing that we have is us."

He turned and walked back to the rest of the group. By this time Miss Piggy was bawling. She followed him slowly, sniffing, trying in vain to wipe away her tears.

"Kermit?" Fozzie said, "What are we going to do?"

Kermit sighed. How should I know, he thought. But he didn't say anything, just looked around.

He saw Piggy, all dishevelled. He saw his friends, all depending on him. He saw desert, so much desert. He saw the bus, with it's crazy paint job and it's open hood. And he saw Robin.

Robin. His nephew. He had promised his brother he would take care of Robin. That he would protect him. He had made that same promise to Robin. And to himself.

And now, Robin was looking at his uncle, waiting for him to fulfill that promise. Waiting for him to provide comfort, shelter, warmth...

Kermit lifted his gaze to the road ahead, and he noticed something. It wasn't much. But it could give him a chance to collect his thoughts. Something he needed desperately.

But first thing's first. He looked again at his nephew, so full of despair and pain. But he didn't bend down to give him a hug, didn't offer any words of comfort. Instead, he walked back onto the bus. He took his suitcase, opened it, looked inside.

He had told Robin that he could not pack his frog scout uniform. What he hadn't told Robin was that he was taking his frog scout handkerchief. He had been saving it for a time like this.

He picked it up, closed his suitcase, and went back outside, where everyone was waiting for him. He knelt in front of the young frog and carefully tied the handkerchief around his neck. Then he said, "I need a good frog scout to build a fire for us."

He stood and whispered to the others. "Let him play leader for a little bit. He needs it." They nodded. Then he said louder, "I'm going to go check what that says," and he pointed to a road sign about a hundred feet down the road, facing the other way. "Start unloading the bus. We're probably staying here tonight."

He turned and started walking towards the sign. Robin set off with Rowlf to start building the fire. Miss Piggy sat down in the sand, crying, watching Kermit as he walked away. The rest of the muppets started unloading the bus.

Kermit walked slowly, turning his mind off. He didn't want to think just then. He wanted to go and see what was on the sign first. He didn't know why. He was almost positive it wouldn't help them. But still...

He got to the sign quicker than he thought he would. He walked around it, and slowly lifted his head to read it.

Next town

30 miles​

Kermit felt himself sink down into the ground. He turned and leaned on one of the posts of the sign, and looked back at huddle of muppets by the bus.

His friends.

He had let them down.

He counted them off in his head. Fozzie, Gonzo, Camilla, Miss Piggy, Rowlf, Robin, and the Electric Mayhem. Stuck in a desert, at night, a tiny flicker of a fire... a memory.

He spoke softly, his voice low.

"We've been here before. But not with Robin. No, last time we were with Scooter. Robin was still in the swamp. No, he wasn't born yet. Last time we were going to Hollywood. We were going to... to fortune and fame and happiness. But now... now it feels like... like those are what we're leaving."

His words hung in the empty night air.

"What changed. What changed? And why did I bring them all back here again? Haven't I learned from my mistakes? ...What did I do wrong? Why did I lead them all out into the middle of this desert? ...And... why am I leading them at all? Why am I leading?"

His let his head hang down.

"And now the... the bus is broken down, and... none of us can fix it. The only people who might find us here are... are Galt's men. And they won't help us. They want to hurt us... don't they? ...Or do they? ...What do they want with us, anyway? Why do they do this for Lloyd? What's in it for them? ...What would they do if they caught us, anyway?"

He sighed. "I don't know. ...I don't know. I have absolutely no idea what they want with us."

A memory flickered in his mind. "Millions of people happy. I can't even keep my friends happy. I don't know what to do anymore. I guess I just... I guess I give up."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was wrong. He lifted his head, took a deep breath, and tried to fight the utter despair.

"No. No. I can't give up. I will not give up. I won't. I... I have to try. Don't I? I... I have to have hope..." He took another breath before he spoke again. His words were even, steady. "I have to help my friends."

He stood up and gazed at the night sky. It was filled with stars. Hundreds, and thousands, and millions of stars. So many of them. With a clearer mind, he realized how beautiful they were.

As he gazed up at them, he beheld a marvelous sight. A shooting star flew across the sky, sparkeling with an overwhelming magnificence, lighting the night for a brief moment before disapearing into space. It was simply inspirational.

With his head held high and a fresh confidence in his stride, Kermit the Frog walked back to his friends. There was no true logic behind it, but now, he had within him a tiny glimmer of hope.

 

[theprawncracker]

I loooooove your fan-fic!!!

More details to come soon...

 

[TogetherAgain]

Oh why thank you prawncracker!
More on the way tomorrow, I think. It will be more uplifting. Today's section was awfully depressing. I came pretty close to crying when I was writing it. Not that you needed to know that, but I felt like sharing.
oh, just as a side note- wait a second, this whole post is a side note!- Um, but the sections will most likely be getting shorter.
Oh, and Fragglemuppet- keep waiting. The final showdown between the good guys and the bad guys happens to be the part I'm having the most difficulty with. It will come, eventually... but we need to be happy for a little bit first. And then we need to get really sad, and... oh shoot, I'm giving it away! <slaps self on wrist>

 

[TogetherAgain]

A Little Hope

Miss Piggy sat in the sands, her tears slowly subsiding as she watched Kermit sitting under the road sign. She wondered what he was thinking about. She wondered if he would forgive her. He always had before. But this time he had been so furious with her. Albeit he had every right to be angry. She knew she had screwed up. She had blown up at the worst possible time. How could she have forgotten that they were in this together?

She heard a pounding behind her and turned her head to see what it was. The bus was now completely unloaded, even the instruments were out, and Animal was releasing five weeks worth of pent-up energy into his drum set. The other muppets were sitting around the fire. Something outside of the circle caught Miss Piggy's eye. It was Kermit's banjo, silently leaning against a log, without a frog to play it.

She sighed and looked down at her feet. She should have controlled herself better. But it had just gotten to be too much. The hotels, and the restaurants, and the men... her tears began to flow once more, blurring her vision.

She didn't know how long she had been crying when through her tears she saw a blur of green. She stopped crying and dried her eyes with a gloved hand before looking again.

Two green feet. She knew those feet. She let her eyes slowly make their way from his feet to his eyes.

Kermit.

He felt his confidence sink as she looked at him. Seeing her so upset reminded him of how desperate their situation was. He swallowed hard.

She stood up. "Kermie, I'm sorry about... about- earlier. I didn't mean-"

"I know, Piggy," he whispered. "I know."

He reached for and held her hand. She was forgiven.

"Kermie?" she asked, "Would you really have left me?"

He looked at her sadly. "No, Piggy. I would have done exactly what I said. I would have let you decide whether you wanted to go or not."

She could see that he really meant it, and that it would have been a low blow to him if she had left. She was touched, and she felt terrible to have even considered it.

"Oh, Kermie..." And they gave each other a much needed hug.

Robin watched all of this from his seat by the fire. A part of him had been worried for his uncle. He knew Kermit had been upset. But he wasn't worried anymore. He could see that something had changed in his uncle. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it somehow made him feel better.

Kermit sat on a log by the fire with his banjo across his lap. His nephew sat on the ground near his feet, and Miss Piggy sat next to him on the log.

His friends all looked at him. By this time Animal was sitting with them. They were all tired, but none of them wanted to sleep.

"Well?" Fozzie asked.

Kermit gazed into the fire, quietly thinking for a moment.

"We don't know what's wrong with the bus," he said. "We'll try to start it again tomorrow. And if it works, we'll be right back where we were.

"But, like, what if the bus doesn't start?" Janice asked.

"Then we'll walk."

"In the desert?" Floyd asked.

"Without water?" Rowlf asked.

"Or food?" Fozzie asked.

"Listen," Kermit said, "We'll be alright. Some one is sure to come along and help us out."

Gonzo was critical. "And if that someone happens to be twelve men dressed in grey driving a blue van?"

Kermit looked at him. "We're not giving up."

An awkward silence descended onto the group. They weren't really sure what to think. It was good to see that Kermit was still hopeful, but what the heck was he saying? They didn't really have a chance, did they? It didn't really seem like it. But Kermit was still hopeful, and Kermit's hope had a way of being contagious.

Robin picked up a rock on the ground and started turning it over in his hand. His uncle was being awfully confusing. His defense for his hope seemed weak at best, and yet the hope itself seemed so strong, Robin didn't want to argue with it. In fact, he was comforted by it.

He absent-mindedly let the rock fall from his hand. It bounced once before dropping again to the ground.

bounce plop.

He picked it up and dropped it again.

bounce plop.

It had kind of a nice sound to it.

bounce plop.

Kermit lifted his banjo.

bounce plop.

A single chord rang out. dung.

bounce plop. dung-a-dung-a-dung
bounce plop. dung-a-dung-a-dung
bounce plop. dung-a-dung-a-dung
bounce plop dung-a-dung-a-dung

Gonzo and Rowlf sang a line together, "Somewhere in the distance is a mountain I must climb."

Camilla clucked along as Piggy and Fozzie sang, "Between that peak and I a raging river will I find."

Then Robin sang alone, "The obstacles are just as endless as my journey seems."

The six of them sang together, "Beyond that Golden Sunset rest my Silver Dreams."

They turned to the Electric Mayhem.

Floyd sang, "There's something in the air tonight that brought me to this place."

Janice joined him, "As quickly as I came I could be gone without a trace."

Dr. Teeth joined the two of them, "The thing that keeps me walking on life's crooked balance beam,"

And the whole band sang, "Beyond that Golden Sunset rest my Silver Dreams."

Then they all turned to face Kermit. He sang a line alone, and then they all started to join in slowly.

"I don't know how to reach them,
Won't you come and help me reach them,
Together we can reach them, wait and see..."

They all sang the last verse together.

"There may be times you doubt the person you have come to be,
With raging waters roaring for as far as you can see,
So if those times do come may you remember this one thing,
Beyond that Golden Sunset rest you Silver...."

They paused for a moment, letting themselves smile a bit before they finished.

"...Dreams..."

Kermit played a final chord on his banjo, and let the song hang in the air. They looked around at each other, satisfied, letting the hope in the song fill their hearts.

"Uncle Kermit?" Robin said.

"Yes, Robin?"

"I'm not giving up."

"Oh good."

"Yeah, Kermit?" Fozzie said, "I'm not giving up either."

"Same here!" Rowlf said.

"Why would we give up?" Gonzo said, and Camilla clucked in agreement.

"Yeah, man, why stop now?" Floyd said.

"Rully. Like, we've come this far," Janice said.

"GOT HOPE! GOT HOPE!" Animal agreed.

"Yeah, plenty of hope here," Dr. Teeth said.

"Yeah," Zoot mumbled.

There was a slight pause in which everyone turned to Miss Piggy, who still hadn't said anything. She smiled.

"We're in this together, aren't we?" she said.

Kermit nodded. "That's right... together." He smiled at all of his friends. They weren't giving up. They still had hope. Together.

"Do you guys here something?" Gonzo asked.

They listened. Sure enough, they heard an engine. And it was coming closer. They all turned and looked up the road, in the direction they had come from.

Headlights.

They were coming closer, getting brighter, slowing down, until they stopped just behind the Electric Mayhem bus. Then they- and the car engine- turned off. The driver's door opened. Someone stepped out, closed the door, and started walking towards them.

 

[theprawncracker]

Ok, here is my more detailed post.

TogetherAgain, I looove your fan-fic, it's great! I love seeing a sort of "darker" side of the Muppets.

Love the cameos you got in there. And the "Who the heck is Bill" line almost had me in tears! Great story, keep it up. And I'll keep mine up.

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

Lovely chapter, TogetherAgain (and, I must say, your new sig cracks me up!). Is that a real song that the group sings, or something you thought up yourself?

And if that driver turns out to be Galt, I'll...

-Kim

 

[TogetherAgain]

... Yes? If that driver turns out to be Galt, you'll... what? Come on, finish your sentence...

As for the song. I wrote it. And I REALLY wish that I had some way to tell all of you the tune... I mean the tune is what makes it a song, right? The melody?... but I suppose just the words will have to do.

And about the signature. Thank you.

Man, I did that sdrawkcab! Er... I mean backwards...