FanFic: The Bonds of Family

[redBoobergurl]

Oh yea! Kermit and friends to the rescue! And poor Scooter! Oh no! You just put that boy through so much in your stories. But it's still really good. *anxiously awaits more*

 

[The Count]

Yeah... But remember, Scooter hasn't gone through any of that stuff yet... At least according to when this one is set. Think of this story as the prequel, coming before the others in Sadie's Stories. Hmmm, maybe that way it could be snuck in with the rest? But it's up to Sara, after all, she has to know when it's time to send the stories she's got to print and off to all who've contributed something.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Oh, man. Scooter would stay behind with the jeep while the others went off. Eli would be hiding in the foliage near where the jeep was parked. Cruel, cruel fate, to allow such a nice young kid (Scooter) to end up the prisoner of such a nasty old man (Eli).

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Chapter Seven

Scooter was unconsious, against the tree. His glasses had fallen off, he couldn't see very well just then, but it didn't honestly matter because he was still unresponsive to the outside world.

"Well, hello there young man.....a fancy meeting you here in these putrid swamps.." Eli said, while grabbing Scooter's chin and hauling his face up towards his own. "A pitiful excuse for a boy. Unless your Uncle pays up, you won't get to see the light of day you scrawny excuse for a GOFER!!" Eli screamed at Scooter, jerking him awake.

The poor muppet tried to lash out at Eli, but it wasn't possible. He was held tight by the vines that incircled him tightly. He wished he was back home, at the boarding house. He closed his eyes, and looked away. Eli grinned maliciously at him.

"I take it you can't stand the sight of me?" He chuckled, a smirk playing across his face.

Scooter merely kept looking down, as Eli pulled off one of his thin red leather gloves, and traced his finger down along Scooter's chin, down to his neck. He stopped when he reached the boy's yellow shirt, and ripped the shirt down to it's base. He took his clawed hand, and streaked it quickly across his stomach, causing red welt to rise immediately on
contact with his claws. Scooter whinced, and tried to pull away, but although his stomach was completely exposed, his ankles, knees, and wrists were still bound to the tree. His head flopped forward onto his chest, and he let out of a soft moan of pain.

"I've grown fond of you boy." Eli stated simply, looking down at the boy with an odd endearing expression. "....I'll see to it, that you will suffer slowly, dearest Scooter. Something....that no one will even detect..."

He laughed, as he pulled out a syringe, and looked at the clear liquid inside of it. Scooter looked up at Eli, and he saw the syringe in his hands, and he blanched.

"W-What is that?!" He managed to stammer out, while Eli was smiling down at the needle.

"Oh, don't worry....your...family already has this. It's just a booster shot!" He said, as he drove the needle straight into Scooter's abdomen.

Scooter's anguished yell could be heard ringing throughout the entire swamp.

-----------

"I can't believe you, Hopper." Kermit spat out, glaring at him. "You've sunk so low as to capture...my family!?"

"Well, ain't all frogs your family, Kermit? These ain't no different then before...ain't I right Max?" Doc stated, glaring over at Max.

Max just nodded absentmindly, his thoughts were towards that scream he had heard coming from deep in the forested shade. He wondered what poor animal was being tortured back there.

"Right! You're not just messing with me, frog. You're messing with quite a formidable person. Moneywise is what I'm getting at here....he can sue your shoddy little theatre, and those...dreams you spoke of." He laughed and got right in Kermit's face then. "Your singing and dancing...and making millions of people happy....will be all out the window in a flash, should you cross me, Kermit."

Kermit frowned, and got a little worried. He had to help his family, but he didn't want to give in so easily. He also didn't want to lose the theatre, to this horrendous man....he turned away, worry and fear evident in his eyes and expression.

"Kermit?" A lone soft voice asked. It was Jane, she was standing at the edge of the cage, the part that was still on land. She extended her hand outside of it, and motioned him to come over.

"..." Kermit didn't know what to say just then. He worried about the theatre, about the station in San Fransisco....it was all almost too much for him to bear now.

"Kermit....just do what your heart tells you to do. It's lead you before, let it lead you now." His mother said softly, placing one arm around her son's shoulders. "It makes things worse to worry so much, just follow what you believe. That's what got you where you are today. You and your friends following that one dream."

"....making people happy....." Kermit mumbled, as he looked at the few friends who were gathered. He noticed one face was missing. It was Scooter's. Then he remembered Scooter said he would stay in the Jeep, incase they had to....run.

Piggy stepped forward and gave Kermit a hug, she planted a gentle kiss on his cheek then, and looked at him. "Your mother's right Kermie. Your heart has never failed us before. Don't fail us now."

"But...but Piggy...what about the theatre and..and KMUP?" He asked softly.

"As long as moi has vous, I'll follow you wherever we end up....even...even if we live here, in the swamp with your family." Piggy said that from her heart, normally she detested the swamp, but she cast those petty excuses aside and let her heart lead her for what she said.

"Just...follow my heart?" Kermit seemed to ask to both his mother and Miss Piggy. They nodded, and Fozzie and Gonzo agreed as well.

"You can do this Kermit." Gonzo affirmed, smiling.

"Go get 'em, Kermit. We're behind you all the way!" Fozzie said, smiling widely.

Kermit nodded, feeling more brave then he had all day today, and he turned to Doc Hopper, and he smiled with an air of confidence that none of them had seen in quite sometime in that frog of theirs.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Hurry up, Kermit, Scooter's in danger!

I don't know what was in that syringe, but it'd probably explain why Scooter winds up in the hospital in "The Search for Sadie." Maybe it contained the Hep C virus?

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Chapter Eight

Kermit stared Doc Hopper straight in the face, and grimaced. He didn't want to say this, but he felt he had too. Otherwise his family may never be heard from again...

"What do you want me to do, Hopper?" He said, with a harsh undertone, no one normally heard the frog speak with. It was unlike him at best.

Hopper laughed happily, glaring down at the frog. "All you have to do, my little froggy friend, is do what I asked you to do nearly 15 years ago....sell my frog legs."

Kermit's face blanched slightly, even though he knew exactly what Hopper was going to say, it still shocked him somewhat. It was almost as if his worst nightmares were coming true.

He looked down, feeling defeated. Someone had just punched him in the gut and was rearing to punch again, right in the same spot. It was sickening to him. He wished he could just run to that jeep, and escape his clutches, taking his family with him. He was right in his eariler thoughts....bring his family to Manhattan with him. Tell them to leave the swamps they grew up in....but he knew, even then, they wouldn't leave for the world. The farthest they ever went was into Hensonville, when his mother had her treatments....and that was it.

Nothing farther then that was ever taken. It was a sad fact that slammed into Kermit's mind, very well his soul. He finally looked up at Hopper, and sighed.

"If I agree...you'll...let them go right?" He asked, frowning all the while. Hopper smiled, and sat down on another empty crate, one of the many littering the sides of the swamp.

"Well of course, Kermit. I'll let them go, just as soon as you sign this." Hopper then took a thick stack of papers from Max's hands and handed them to Kermit, indicating another empty crate which he could sit and read them on. Kermit skimmed through it quickly. He grabbed the pen from Hopper's hand, and after reading though it one more time, he reluctantly signed his name on the last page.

He handed the stack of papers to Hopper, who snatched them up from him with lighting quick reflexes.

"You are going to let them go now, right??" He demanded, as he noticed just how smug Hopper was looking now. Beth was clinging to Kermit's side, she couldn't wait to hug her parents again.

"I'll let them go..." Hopper said, quite sweetly. Then he looked over to the side of the swamp, and he smirked. "I'll let them go, into the PRESSURE COOKER!! REEL 'EM UP HORACE!!" He shouted, jumping to his feet and running towards that same place he had been looking at eariler.

"WHAT!?!?" Kermit screamed, as he saw the large cage being hauled into the air quickly. Beth wailed, as she saw it being lifted higher and higher now. Kermit shook his head, and took a mightly leap upwards. He hung onto the bottom edge of the cage as it was now nearly 20 feet up in the air. It was attached to a large crane, which eariler had been hidden in the deep marshy bushes to the side.

"HOPPER!! You let them go, or I'll go with them!!!" He yelled, after he had clambered up ontop of the cage, sitting on it's top. Hopper's face blanched, as he saw the frog inch it's way towards the release cable.

"Kermit!! Don't do anything rash, son!!" James shouted, seeing his son risk his life like that.

Beth was clinging onto Piggy now, who was getting madder by the minute. She gently pushed Beth towards Fozzie, who wrapped his arms around her protectively. She pushed her sleeves upwards and snorted loudly.

"DOC! HOPPER!!" She shrieked, glaring at him. Her fists were balled, and she was ready to charge. Gonzo was even getting worried now, neither he nor Fozzie had ever seen her that mad before.

"I'll make you into bacon next you boar!" He yelled back at her. He didn't remember the fight that she had, when it was him, his lackeys and Professor Crassman. It was just a fuzzy memory to his old mind.

She stormed at him, her boots flying off, till she was bare feet in the mud. Her hair was flying wildly, as she catapulted herself through the air, onto his chest. She landed with a satifying thud ontop of him.

"LET. KERMIT'S. FAMILY. GO!!" She shouted, inbetween punches to his face and upper chest. His white suit was muddied now, his hat had flown off, and he was getting bruises on his face now from her punches.

"MAX!! Get this wild pig offa me!! DO SOMETHIN'!!!" He was yelling, between her punches, he glared back at Max, who did nothing but stood there, dumbfounded. He had believed that Hopper would let his family and friends go...but...he had gone back on his word. He truely was horrendous.

"NO! You take care of her, I'll take care of Kermit and his family!!" He shouted, with determination, as he ran towards the crane operator. He pushed the man off of the seat, and tried to operate the controls, but he didn't know how to do it properly.

Then....the pin slipped out. The tiny pin, that held crane to cage, fell out with a tiny splash into the swamps murky waters.

Kermit wasn't sure what happened next...one moment he was on top of the cage, trying to open it up...the next moment....

Muddied blackness.

 

[The Count]

Aw... Come on, you can't leave us with a cliffhanger like that... Come on, just post whatever happened next... Please?
And the passage between Eli and Scooter is quite touching, if it weren't for the forebodding sense of doom that orange go-fer will have to go through later.

 

[Smiles]

Geewow.

That darned Eli, he's always messing everything up, Doc too. But really Kermit, don't you know better than to just skim a legal document? *shakes head* Oh and I know it was like alot of chapters ago, but I loved the reference to MFS.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Chapter Nine

Scooter felt the syringe depress, the liquid searing through his stomach. He felt like throwing up from all the stress that was on his body now. His vision was still double, and he felt hungover.

The bonds loosened on him, and he fell forward into the swamps waters. He gurgled a few times, until he managed to raise himself up from the depths of the thin murky pool. Coughing out the nasty water, he looked around, he saw no one he thought.

A heavy boot came crashing down next to his hand. It was that man again. The man in black....who...had tortured him to within an inch of his life.

"Dear Scooter....I must take my leave." He sneered, looking down at the pitiful gofer, who was nearly covered from head to toe with thin, dripping muddy water now. "I hope I get to you see you once more....before you meet the fate of your family."

He coughed a few times, and looked upwards into the black clothed man's face. "Wha...what do you mean...by that?? My family....my...uncle?" His speech was slightly slurred, the throbbing in his head would not subside for a second, and he felt like he was going to pass out, but he fought it valiantly.

Eli crouched down, and put his face right beside Scooter's. He turned to whisper into his ear.

"I mean....you will meet the same fate....as your father did..." He whispered softly to him, a sweet tone making it all the worse to Scooter's hearing.

Scooter bolted up, and looked directly at the man...but he was gone in an instant. Almost like he vanished out of thin air. He sat back in the water, which was lapping against his knees now, and he heard the cries and shouts across the way.

His friends were in trouble. He stood up, and zipped his jacket up, so they would not see his wounds, he had to help them as best he could.

-------------

Fozzie gently lifted Kermit off of the cage, while Gonzo opened the cage, with the key Max had handed to him. Hopper was still pinned underneath Piggy's weight, protesting.

"MY FROGS!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!!! YOU SIGNED A CONTRACT FROG!!!" He was screaming. Piggy frowned at him, then slipped one of her gloves off.

"Oh shut up, Hopper!!" She then shoved the glove into his mouth, where it muffled his cries. She turned her attention to Kermit, who was still unconsious in Fozzie's arms. "Is Kermie going to be okay??"

Fozzie gently cradled Kermit in his arms, and patted his face. "Come on Kermit....wake up...."

The fall had caused Kermit to black out. When that pin had come loose, the crane's holding latch had swung back and clocked the poor frog with all it's tensile stength. He had a nice red welt forming right behind his left eye now, and although he was breathing, he was pretty much out for the count.

Gonzo made sure all the frogs were alright, as they hopped out of the cages, those that lived in Crystal Springs swamp didn't stay for long, after they collectively wished Kermit well, they left. Except for the Bullfrog family.

Fozzie laid Kermit down on the ground, and his family gathered around him, worried. His sister, Maggie reached down and grabbed his shoulders, tears forming in her eyes.

"Come on, Mit....get up!! You've had worse done to you!!!" She was about to break down crying. His friends worried for him so much....Croaker wrapped his arms around Maggie's and gently led her back towards the main throng.

"Kermit'll be fine, Maggie...I..I hope." He said softly, as she shook her head. He looked really bad, she thought.

Piggy slugged Hopper solidly, and he passed out then. She checked him one last time, across the cheek, then walked over to Kermit. She sat down and gently picked him up into her lap. Tears were already flowing from her eyes, and she closed her eyes, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips.

'I've heard that kissing a frog, causes them to turn into a prince...so...my prince of frogs...please...please wake up!' Her mind screamed as she silently kissed him again.

Nothing happened to the leader of frogs, as she kissed him once, twice, then the third time. She felt no movement in his limbs, not even his lips moved an inch to kiss her back. She thought him for dead now. She sobbed, holding him close to her, without smothering him.

"Oh Kermie!!! Please...please come back to me.....please!!" Her ungloved hand, stroked up and down his back with some light pressure, she hoped that something, just a simple touch would bring him back to the consious world.

Sara was crying, as was many of the frogs in that large circle that surrounded Kermit and Miss Piggy. The frog they looked up too, that many of them modeled after, and had hailed as the bravest frog of the swamp....was dead.

 

[redBoobergurl]

*JAW DROPS* What? Kermit? Dead? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Cliffhanger, ack! Need more story!

Seriously, you did some great writing on this today sis. Very suspensful and wow. I don't know why, but it made me smile when Piggy pushed Beth off onto Fozzie and he hugged her protectively. Maybe cause I love bears.

Anyway, great stuff, I love it, I want MORE! Please!!!