Part 27
With that, they headed back from the border and took the bus back to dreamer's house. Back to silverchair stuff
"Wow, dreamer, your house is cool..." said Daniel in disbelief.
Just then dreamer's mom burst in the door and gave her a huge hug. "Where have you been? I was so worried about you!" her mom cried. "Now go tell your little friends to come back after you clean out that cat box!"
With that, her mom left and went in the kitchen.
"Ummmm, you guys better leave," dreamer said, winking.
"But I thought we were going to figure out the meaning behind that CD," whined Robin.
"We *are*," said Ash, hitting him in the ribs as the pioneers walked out the front door. They walked around the house to dreamer's bedroom window.
"How do we get in there? We can't climb over the rosebushes!" said rockstar.
"Umm, are you guys you are forgetting that I have telepathic powers?" asked Ash. She then used her powers to lift the pioneers individually through the window.
"Just don't let my mom hear us," warned dreamer.
"Jolly good idea!" Daniel announced rather loudly. "Wouldn't want her to hear our activities, now would we!? Hahahaha." He bounced upon dreamer's bed while singing his new song, 'God Save the Queers.'
"Daniel! Quit bouncing on my bed!" she hissed. "You'll wake the cat!"
"What's going on?" Kelnino asked. "So many people are acting so strangely wherever we go...I don't think it's that CD, dreamer. This had been going on long before Daniel had that thing..."
"That is true, KelNino..." dreamer pondered, as they watched Daniel try to keep her cat from licking the fake fur trim on his coat.
"There is a traitor among us, I think..." KelNino glanced around the room full of bathroom pioneers when she noticed a small, sheepish looking figure huddling in the back. She ran towards him and slammed him into the wall.
"You! It must be you!" she screamed into his face.
"Um, KelNino, that's my life-size cardboard cut-out of Hello Kitty," dreamer pointed out.
Kelnino opened her eyes. "Oh yes, I suppose it is...hehe, sorry. Well who could it be. It can't be me or you, or Robin, or Kearbear. It couldn't be Daniel. Nor Nathaniel, because we completely cleansed him...who is it then? Who's been making everybody act so strangely?..."
dreamer and KelNino stared around the room until dreamer's eyes fell upon Sweep, who was sniffing dreamer's other cat (the jittery shy one). "Careful, Sweep," she warned the little dog. "He's got claws." Then she realized something else. "Ben...why are you looking through my CDs?"
"Uh, we need some music in here. It helps me think, ya know, and it'll keep your mom from bugging you, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Which album scares her the most?"
dreamer popped in Spit by Kittie. "That ought to do it."
"Now then," Kelnino said, "Who could it be?"
"I'm cold," junta announced as she grabbed Steve's hooded sweatshirt, pulling it off of him. As she began to slip it on, a microphone fell out of the pocket.
"Have you been bugging our conversations?!" fireangel screamed.
"Ssshhhhh, we don't want my mom to hear us!" whispered dreamer.
"No, no, it's not what it looks like!" Steve said in his own defense.
"Then what?" asked Ash.
"Oh, really? Well, let's just see about that!" KelNino grabbed Steve by the shoulders and duct-taped him to the bedpost. "Okay then, 'Steve,' let's hear it. What are you up to?"
Steve opened his mouth to protest, but seemed to give up. "Okay, okay. I'm not Steve."
"Ah-ha!" shouted Daniel.
"Shut up, Daniel," dreamer said angrily. "What's your story then, Mister?"
"You think you could untie me or something?" the nervous Steve-lookalike asked. KelNino ripped off the tape and he pulled off his mask.
"Ryban?!" shrieked a shocked KelNino. Sure enough, the masked man was Ryban, counterpart in the neo-bathroom pioneers underground association.
"Ryban - I thought you were on our side?" said dreamer.
Ryban nervously twiddled his small fingers. "I am, really. The NBP sent me to track what sort of tactics all you fellows used in your conquests so we could use them in the future."
"So, you're not responsible for all this mayhem?" dreamer said.
"Certainly not, Ms."
"Now what?" interrupted Shayla.
"Well, we could go over that CD of Daniel's, I guess, if that's all we have left to look over," dreamer answered.
"Wait - I think I might know what the problem is, though," Ryban said. "It could have something to do with the slowly diminishing atmosphere."
"What on Earth are you talking about?!" asked Ada.
"Let me explain. When the world was created, it was clean. Water was clean. Air was clean. The ground was clean."
"Yeah, yeah, get to the point," said Ash.
"Well, then people came. With people came a plague, a plague that has lasted generations. Only a few people know of this plague in this present time. The humans did not mean to let it out. It came from the evils of pop culture soon to be. Pop culture is the spawn of this plague. As more and more pop sensations are born, the Earth is polluted more and more. So if this is the case, it means that we really have a lot of work to do."
"So the pop masses have been screwing with our brains!" said Shayla.
"Yes, indirectly. We need to put a stop to this," said Ryban.
"Shall we consult Timmy?" asked KelNino. "Wait, guys, I hear something!"
Before their eyes, a time portal opened and two red-clad figures stepped through.
"Yo! Word up to your mother, Redwing! What's up, Saurus?" KelNino announced.
Redwing smiled and replied, "Greetings, good to see you all again. I saw on our time-playback screen that you discovered Ryban." He nodded his head at the thin brunet. Ryban ducked his head slightly in embarrassment. "No matter. But I understand you have been having problems within the group?"
"Yeah, you can say that, I suppose." KelNino rolled her eyes. "I keep having these awful flashbacks from my test-tube days, worse than LSD if you ask me..."
"Yeah, and Daniel keeps falling into these weird conversations with himself." said Heath. The group turned to see Daniel talking with dreamer's Eiffel Tower lamp. "And, uh, with inanimate objects too," he added.
A worried look spread across Saurus' face. "Sorry, where's dreamer?" he asked politely. "Is - is she not still with the bathroom pioneers?"
"Of course!" dreamer stepped forward. "I'd never leave our little sect. Did I worry you, Saurus?"
Saurus blushed. " I did not see you..." Saurus and dreamer joined hands affectionately.
"Okay, enough of THAT now!" Robin barked. "All that mushy stuff will surely make me bloody puke!" dreamer and Saurus broke hands abruptly.
"Back to the important matters..." Redwing shot a glance at Saurus. "The plague is affecting you very negatively. I hate to interfere with the past, but I believe a vaccination will help. In the future, all Neo-bathroom pioneers must take it."
"Sounds posh to me!" Robin said excitedly. "Do we get to use needles?!"
"I'm afraid so..." Redwing said.
"Wickedeebo! I love needles!" Robin jumped with glee.
"Oh dear, the plague really has hurt Robin especially, hasn't it?" Redwing asked.
"Oh, naah. He's always like that, an odd sort of fellow," explained KelNino. Redwing pulled out a little case and gave each bathroom pioneer an anti-popper vaccination. Daniel immediately returned to normal and started talking to Sweep rather than dreamer's lamp. Robin was intent with sitting on the carpet and playing with the needles, so the group sat down for some coffee and brownies.
"Say, what are these wonderful little pastries?" Ryban asked through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Oh! Aren't they great?" KelNino was pleased. "I made them myself, with the top-secret special ingredient. I call them 'God's good brownies.' Great nutrition, full of vitamins A and B, T, H and C..."
Robin had devoured 3 brownies and said loopily, "Gee...hehe...look, hehe, the hair on my arm is growing...hehe. Whoa, the wall is moving. Hehe wickedeebo..."
The group ignored him as they sat back for their own enjoyment of the brownies, but they were interrupted by dreamer's mom, who burst into the room with a big kitchen knife, which she raised over Robin. "Why don't I just rid my lovely home of you all!"
"Yeah, lady..." drabbled Robin. "Can't you see, hehe, we- we're busy. Duuuhhhh...."
"You useless punks!" In a flash, dreamer's mom brought the knife down, unfortunately, Robin was too fast for her. "And no more pets allowed in my home! I told you! No more pets!" She was clearly addressing Sweep.
Sweep yelped as the knife grazed her belly and dragged herself to Daniel painfully. "Sweepy! I thought I told you to stay out of the ketchup - omygod!" screamed Daniel. Daniel scooped up Sweep. "Ack! Blood! Oh, how awful! Quickly, somebody! We need band-aids! Eeeeeeh!"
Ada so the opportunity to strike. She leapt up and straddled the maniac, somehow yanking the knife from her hand. KelNino whipped out what was left of her duct tape and strapped dreamer's mom to the bedpost.
"This is worse than I thought..." Redwing said in shock as he looked around the "The plague is not just affecting you. Our history books told of the mass insanity caused by it, but nothing could prepare me-"
"Quick! Band-aids!" Daniel was running around the room aimlessly. KelNino grabbed him and slapped duct tape across his mouth. She took Sweep from him and ran her to the bathroom, where dreamer helped her clean Sweep up. The mess was cleaned up fairly quickly. While the bathroom pioneers waited for Sweep to finish drying out, Redwing offered to take them back to his own time. The group assented.