The Funky Phantom and his friends went into Aunt Annie's shop to search for something.
"Boy, this reminds me of our bubbie's house, but dustier." Augie told Skip.
"And no mothballs." Skip added.
The group looked around as they walked further into the shop.
Just then, Aunt Annie came out of her office and saw Mudsy, Kate, and the boys.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite customers?" she deadpanned.
"Nice to see you too, Aunt Annie." Skip retorted.
"Likewise." Annie sighed.
"So Aunt Annie, do you have anything new today?" asked Augie.
"Nothin new today, child." Annie deadpanned.
"I guess the usual, huh?" Skip added.
"Bingo!" Annie deadpanned.
At that same time, Boo was making faces at Elmo, who started to chase him around the store with Kate innocently following them.
"Run! Run!" She giggled.
Elmo and Kate chased Boo to a shelf filled with bottles of potions, dusts, and powders. Elmo tried to grab Boo on a shelf, but the cat vanished at the last second and appeared right on top of the shelf holding a bottle.
"Ruff! Ruff!" barked Elmo.
Boo snickered as he watched Elmo trying to think of a way to get up the shelf and get to him.
Elmo then walked over to the other side of the store and grabbed some kind of grappling hook. He then tossed it up and started to climb the shelf.
Seeing Elmo climbing up the shelf, Boo snickered as he found a bottle nearby and decided to push it towards the edge, near where the grappling hook was at. Elmo continued to climb, when the bottle that boo tossed fell down on him, smashed, and turned him into a sheep.
"Baa!" said Elmo.
Boo snickered at Elmo and Kate giggled to see such silliness. Boo then tossed another bottle, which also smashed and turned Elmo into a squirrel.
Boo and Kate laughed even more.
Elmo looked around and spotted a mirror nearby and saw his reflection in it.
"Eeekkkk!" He yelped.
Boo and Kate laughed more.
Elmo got more irritated and finally made it to the top of the shelf to confront Boo.
As he moved to confront Boo, Elmo tried to growl, but unfortunately, he only ended up making some sort of chattering sound, making Boo laugh more. Elmo charged right towards Boo, only to be flicked away and flattened right onto the wall.
Boo laughed so hard, that he accidentally spilled another bottle onto Kate, who was laughing as well.
Before both Boo and Elmo knew it, Kate had suddenly vanished after a puff of smoke.
Boo and Elmo both saw what had happened and screamed their heads off (just in time for Elmo to change back into a dog, too).
"Heavens to Delaware!" Mudsy gasped. "It's Boo! I must help him!"
Mudsy quickly floated over to his cat and asked, "What's the matter, boy? What happened?"
"Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!" Boo pointed to the floor.
"Honestly Boo, I cant understand a word you're saying, don't you know?" Mudsy replied. "But if you're saying ya have to go, that would be impossible for you to do."
Boo slapped his forehead in annoyance.
"Hey Mudsy!" Augie walked over to the ghost. "Where's Kate? Wasn't she with you?"
Mudsy looked around and saw that Kate was nowhere to be seen.
"Egads! Where is she?" Mudsy gasped.
Just then, they heard some giggling coming out of nowhere.
"Yikes! Wh-what was that?" Mudsy shivered.
Elmo and Boo shared a look with each other.
Apr 14Just then, Augie felt something on his leg.
"Yaahh!" He jumped up. "What's going on here? Something is touching me, and yet there's nothing there!"
Just then, Skip felt something climb up his back and pull his hair. "Ow! Hey! Who's doing that?! Augie..."
"It's not me this time!" Augie shook his head. "If I was, it'd be a lot more painful."
"Good point." Skip nodded.
The group looked around; there was more giggling, but not a sound was heard. Just then, Skip felt something or someone kiss his cheek many times and snuggle onto him like a cat.
"Something's touching me, but there's nothing there!" Skip reminded them.
"You don't think it could be Mudsy's niece, do you?" asked Augie.
"But how? She's not anywhere." said Skip.
"Perhaps she somehow became invisible?" Augie suggested.
"I guess that makes sense." Skip shrugged.
"Heavens to Murgatroyd!" Mudsy gasped. "I've got an invisible niece! What to do? What to do? What to undo, even?"
As Mudsy wondered what to do, Skip and Augie turned towards Elmo and Boo.
"Do you two have anything to do with this?" They asked their pets.
Boo and Elmo shared a look with each other. They both sheepishly shook their heads.
"Well, whoever's responsible will come in good time." Mudsy said. "Right now, we have to find my niece and turn her visible. She could be anywh-"
Just then, the store door opened and some giggling was heard.
"Aaaahhhh!" Mudsy and the boys shouted.
"We can't let Kate go into town! Who knows what kind of trouble she could get into?!" Mudsy gasped. "We must stop her! Quick! To the exit, stage left!"
The Funky Phantom and the boys headed right out of the store, while Elmo and Boo stayed behind to find a possible antidote.
Meanwhile, April and Maria looked on as the boys all turned their attention to Francesca.
"You really think this'll work, April?" asked Maria.
"It has to!" April replied. "After all, I've saved all my issues of Dreamy Teen Magazine, and I know this quiz will prove everything!"
"I hope you're right." Maria said as they turned towards where Francesca was at.
After a few minutes, the boys left the scene and Francesca came back to the girls.
"What happened? Where are those guys going?" Maria asked Francesca.
"Well, they said they were busy and asked me if I could come with them to their bonfire are the beach later." Francesca explained.
"Please say you mentioned us..." Maria bit her lip.
"Sorry, I guess I got so wrapped up, that I forgot." Francesca shrugged.
"Ugh!" April slapped her forehead.
"So...can I still hang out with you guys?" Francesca nervously asked.
April and Maria shared a look with each other.
April trailed off. "Well...I guess we could give you another chance."
"How?" asked Francesca.
"I guess we could go mini golfing and find some guys there." Maria suggested.
"Sounds like fun." Francesca remarked.
What followed was some awkward silence between the trio.
"What?" Francesca asked, breaking the silence. "What's going on? Why is everyone so quiet?"
"I honestly don't know." Maria said as she turned to April.
"Uh, Franny...could you excuse us for a sec?" April said as she and Maria turned around to have a side conversation.
"Um...sure." Francesca replied unsure.
Once Francesca was out of earshot, Maria turned to April.
"Okay, we convince her to go to the bathroom and when she does, we'll get the heck outta here!" She whispered to her blonde friend.
"Maria! We can't do that!" April scolded her. "We should give Francesca another chance. I mean, she is relatively new to winging us."
"Oh come on!" Maria retorted.
"You know very well that what you suggested was very rude." April folded her arms.
Maria rolled her eyes. "Whatever, April."
April sighed. "Listen Maria, when we first met Brenda, she wasn't so good at helping us the first time, right?"
"Nope, she was the worst." Maria deadpanned.
"Yep." April nodded. "But when we started hanging out with her more, she got better at it."
"So, what exactly are you trying to say, April?" Maria asked her friend.
"We really should give Francesca another chance." April deadpanned.
Maria thought it over for a moment. "Okay. We'll give her another chance."
The two then turned back to Francesca.
"So, is there a problem here?" She asked them.
"No Francesca, there isn't." April assured. "Come on, let's go golfing!"
The girls left the outlet mall and walked down the neighborhood to the mini golf course. Just then, they saw Mudsy and the boys across the street looking for something.
"Gee, I wonder what the guys up to now?" April wondered.
"Something stupid I'm sure." Maria deadpanned.
"Tell me about it." April nodded.
While the girls were watching from afar, Mudsy and the boys kept looking for the Funky Phantom's invisible niece.
"Kate! Kate!" Skip called out.
"Here girl!" Augie whistled.
"Come out wherever or whenever you may be, sweetheart!" Mudsy added.
As the boys looked around, the girls observed them from across the street.
"So...should we see what they're up to?" Maria asked them.
"Whatever will move this plot line along." April shrugged.
The girls then walked across the sidewalk to see what was going on.
"Uh, hey guys...what's going on?" April asked them, awkwardly.
"Is something wrong?" Maria added as she noticed the panicky looks on their faces.
"Oh nothing, Maria." Skip replied. "We're just looking for Mudsy's invisible niece who is probably in mortal danger right now!"
The girls stared at them with blank faces.
"Uh...could you repeat that...and in a less insane tone?" April raised an eyebrow.
"What exactly are you guys looking for?" Maria added.
"We were babysitting Mudsy's niece and when we went for a walk, she accidentally got into one of Aunt Annie's strange potions and turned invisible." Augie explained.
"Now we have to look everywhere for her!" Mudsy panicked. "Up, down, low, high, highbrow even!"
April and Maria shared a look with each other.
"Hoh boy." Maria remarked.
"I always knew you boys were nutty, but not insane." April deadpanned.
"April, this is serious! If I don't find Kate soon, I'll have to stay invisible forever just to avoid Brittany's wrath, don't you know?" Mudsy shivered.
Just then, something climbed up Maria's leg.
"Eek!" She yelped as she felt the strange thing on her.
"Maria, what's wrong?" asked Augie.
"There's s-s-s-something on my leg and it's climbing up me..." Maria stammered.
The others looked and saw nothing there.
"I don't see anything." Francesca pointed out.
"It must be Kate!" Augie quickly said.
"What makes you say that?" Skip asked his brother.
Just then, Maria felt something on her lips, as if someone was kissing her.
"Call it a hunch." Augie deadpanned.
"You sure?" Skip asked skeptically.
"You got any other explanations?" Augie folded his arms.
"Good point." said Skip. "Alright Kate, hold onto Auntie Maria. We're gonna take you back to the store and make you visible, okay?"
"Uh...okay." Kate said.
"Come on, let's head back to the shop and see if Aunt Annie has found a cure." Mudsy said. "To the shop, stage left!"
Mudsy and the kids walked back to the shop, when unbeknownst to them, the invisible Kate saw a balloon vendor and wanted a bright, shiny red balloon to play with. She started to attempt to climb off of Maria.
"Uh...Mudsy, guys?" Maria called out.
"Yeah?" Skip asked.
"I think Katie is trying to climb off me, and I think she wants one of those balloons." She said as she attempted to hold onto Kate.
"Katie, maybe it's best if you stay with us until we find you a cure, then you can get that balloon." April said when she saw the balloon vendor.
"No! I want balloon! Katie balloon now!" Kate whined.
"Come on sweetie, Uncle Mudsy will get you a balloon eventually, right now we need to see you so we can figure out which one you want." Mudsy tried to calm her down.
"Balloon now! Balloon now!" Kate continued whining.
"I'll let you watch extra magic picture box..." Mudsy tried to reason.
Kate started crying some more. No matter what anyone did, they couldn't calm her down.
"Uh guys..." said Francesca.
"We'll get you a new toy!" April grinned.
Kate kept crying. That didn't work either.
"Guys..." Francesca tried to talk again.
"Come on Katie, I've got a nice chocolate chip cookie for you at home..." Augie said as he tried to find her cheek.
That didn't work either and Kate kept crying like a baby.
"Guys..." Francesca tried to talk again.
Mudsy and the kids kept trying to tell Kate to calm down, but nothing worked a bit.
"Guys..." Francesca started to get frustrated.
The Funky Phantom and the kids kept trying to coax Kate out of her little tantrum.
"Guys!" Francesca shouted.
She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, which finally got the gang's attention.
"What is it, Francesca?" April asked.
"I think I might know a way to calm down Mudsy's niece." She said.
"How?" The others asked.
"Hand her over, and I'll show you." Francesca softly replied.
"We will, once we can find out where she is." Augie said as he and Skip felt Maria for Kate.
Fortunately, Maria had managed to held onto Kate during the tantrum, and the kids were able to hand her over to Francesca.
"Hold onto her tight." Skip instructed. "She's affected by this invisible potion, so you can't see her and won't notice that she's gone."
Francesca started gently rocking the toddler from side-to-side and humming to her, which made Kate start to calm down and fall asleep. "Heavens to Murgatroyd, I think she's fallen asleep, don't you know?" Mudsy remarked. "If I could tell, that is."
"Wow Francesca, how'd you do that?" asked April.
"I look after my baby sister's all the time, and this is usually how I calm them down when they get too crazy." Francesca replied.
Skip and Augie both shared a look with each other.
"Now that we've taken care of that, we should get going and find a cure." Mudsy urged.
Mudsy and the kids headed back to the shop. Maria put a barrette on wherever Kate's head was, so they would know where she was.
They arrived at the shop, where they found it to be in a bit of a mess.
"Oh, please don't tell me..." Skip sighed.
Aunt Annie pointed to Boo, who was laughing on top of Elmo, whose eyes were all googly and stars were spinning around his head. Boo snickered at Elmo's predicament.
"Next time, why don't you bring your animals with ya, child?" Aunt Annie deadpanned.
"Sorry Aunt Annie." Skip smiled sheepishly. "But the good news is, we got our niece back! See?"
Maria showed Annie the invisible Kate.
"All I see is a floating barrette." She deadpanned.
"Anyways, do we have a cure for the potion?" Augie asked.
"Fortunately, the visibility potion is the only one that hasn't been destroyed by your two beasts." Annie said as she handed them a vial with some green liquid.
"Alright." Skip said as they held the vial of potion.
Skip couldn't find Kate's mouth, so he just poured it on her, and in just like that, she was back to being visible.
"Well..." Augie remarked. "That worked."
Mudsy picked up his niece and hugged her. "Oh Kate! My sweet little niece! What joy, what rapture! What pleasantry even!"
"And we couldn't have done it without you, Franny." April turned to Francesca. "Maybe you'll be a great wingman after all. Right Maria?"
Maria was filing her nails, not paying attention. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure."
"Say, how is it that you're not surprised to see Mudsy here, Francesca?" Skip asked Francesca.
"What so you mean, 'not surprised? He's just some really pale guy in outdated clothing." Francesca replied. "What's so scary about that?"
April, Maria, Skip and Augie shared a look with each other.
Augie gulped. "Well, uh..I, uh...you see..."
"We'll explain later." said Skip, who then turned to Aunt Annie. "Hey! Aunt Annie, thanks for fixing Kate! How can we repay you?"
"Well child, ya can clean up this place." Annie said as she handed Skip a broom and walked into her office.
"See ya boys!" April said as she and the girls walked out of the store, taking Kate with them to get her that balloon she wanted.
Skip sighed. "Oh well, better get started."
Skip, Augie, and Mudsy started to clean up the mess that Elmo and Boo made. It was gonna be a long day.
THE END
Author's Note:
Looks like it's the end of another misadventure for the Funky Phantom and his friends. Mudsy and the boys have to clean up the place, while the girls get off easy.
In our next story, we're going to meet someone in Brenda's family, who Brenda is not too excited on seeing again.