Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Magic Kid. Enjoy!
HELLO THERE! The chains of writer’s block and responsibilities have finally loosened, so I could finish up this last episode! So I have a couple things I’d like to say, but I’ll save it for the end. 
Enjoy! (Or catch the previous one here, or start from the beginning here.)
ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES, ALWAYS ZOMBIES!
A Zomberry Series
Episode Twenty: The Gambit and The Antidote and The End
Mr. Gambit (AKA Samuel Brains) was pacing his study in a controlled sort of panic. His empire—his beloved, powerful empire—was in danger of extinction.
Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but with the fact that all his prisoners escaped and nearly all of his employees were confused and no longer under his command, he felt like it was the truth. At least his zombies hadn’t gotten out of where he was keeping them. At least, that!
But still, Poptropica wasn’t quite under his grasp anymore. Mr. Gambit had to be careful. He had to gather his most loyal followers and salvage this somehow, before it was too late. Mr. Gambit held his watch up to his face, pressed a button, and spoke into it.
Mr. Gambit
All staff, report to my office at once!
He knew, at least, all the loyal ones would come. He had to figure out this mess. If anyone got their hands on anymore antidote—Mr. Gambit didn’t want to think about that. Luckily, he locked it away in a place only he, and a handful of carefully selected others, would be able to access.
Knock, Knock. Someone was at the door! He walked forward and peered in the eyeglass.
Mr. Gambit
Oh!!
His heart stopped. There were only three people standing outside the door!?
That means he has only three people left on his side. Mr. Gambit opened the door and saw Agent Thorn, Dr. Romero, and a worker (Mr. Gambit didn’t know his name but recognized him).
Mr. Gambit
Thank you all for coming, you may have noticed we have an issue—
His words were interrupted by a loud crash from outside, probably from the escaped zombies causing destruction. He continued as though nothing had happened.
Mr. Gambit
And it needs to be resolved. We need a way to zombify everyone outside, and regain a grip on this or else—
Agent Thorn
We got it!
Dr. Romero
Slight problem, sir! But we’ve run out of the blueberry smoothie as far as I’m aware—
Mr. Gambit
WHAT?!
Dr. Romero flinched but continued.
Dr. Romero
Perhaps we could take some of the antidote and—
Mr. Gambit
WHAT?!
Dr. Romero flinched yet again.
Mr. Gambit
THE ANTIDOTE WILL NOT LEAVE WHERE I’VE LOCKED IT UP AT! IT’S FAR TOO DANGEROUS RIGHT NOW TO EXPOSE THE THING THAT COULD TAKE DOWN MY EMPIRE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND??
Agent Thorn, Dr. Romero, and that one unnamed worker all flinched back and looked slightly alarmed at that little fit. Mr. Gambit cleared his throat and held his head up higher, looking more professional.
Agent Thorn
We understand, boss.
The worker adjusted his glasses.
Worker
I believe if we get the antidote and use it for—
Mr. Gambit
THE ANTIDOTE?
Worker
Y-yes?
Mr. Gambit
And what exactly would we use it for that would be so important to risk the rest of my years and years of work being destroyed?
Dr. Romero
I’m sure young Toothpick here is suggesting that we take the antidote and, and…
Mr. Gambit
And what? Don’t you have a plan?
Dr. Romero was quiet, apparently trying to find the right words.
Mr. Gambit
No? It doesn’t matter anyway—
Mr. Gambit laughed like he was deranged. Romero, Toothpick, and Thorn exchanged worried glances.
Mr. Gambit
That’s it! Am I the only competent one in this room? Ha! I guess so! I didn’t think it would ever come to this, but you leave me no choice.
He strolled over to a painting of a fruit bowl on his wall and once he took it down, it was revealed that there was a safe behind it.
Thorn
Wait— what are you doing?
Mr. Gambit
What I should have done long ago.
After swiftly unlocking the safe, they saw inside several vials of antidote.
For one wild moment, Thorn thought that he might take it out. But he didn’t. Instead he reached in the back of the safe and pulled out a remote. It took a moment for Thorn to realize what it must be for. To control the zombies.
Uh oh.
Mr. Gambit
Aha!
Thorn
Wait!!
She needed to buy time for her backup to arrive. She needed to—
Mr. Gambit
There is no more waiting… Anita.
Thorn gasped. How did he know her real name?
Thorn (Anita)
You knew??
Mr. Gambit
Yes I did! It wasn’t too hard to figure out, mind you! I recognized you from the first round of this apocalypse Poptropica take-over attempt! You were quite annoying then, too! …I was always a step ahead of you, however! You’re quite predictable when it comes down to it! Freeing these two from my clutches was a good move, but don’t you think I would have backup?
Thorn was shocked, but she hid it. Toothpick and Romero, however, took a step back.
And then Mr. Gambit clicked a button on the remote and all the zombie groans outside stopped, filling the whole island with an eerie silence.
Thunder boomed and the building rumbled. The zombies were crowding around the building outside.
Thorn
Fine. Good job, you saw all this coming and made a plan to stop us. Cool! But don’t you think I would also have a backup in case something like this were to happen?
Mr. Gambit
What?
Toothpick
You’ll see in a hot second!
Mr. Gambit pressed another button and the rumbling grew louder. The zombies got closer still.
Mr. Gambit
Oh, it’ll be too late for that. By the time that—
But the window behind him shattered and a Poptropican on a hoverboard flew in, snatching the remote out of his hands. She flew next to Anita and the others , flashing a grin.
DJ Saturday Nite
You see honey, that’s how you make an entrance! Now let’s deal with this dude!
Mr. Gambit
Wait— but?
DJ Saturday Nite just smiled and pressed a button on the remote, just as the zombies climbing the sides of the building reached the window of the room they were at. The zombies retreated.
DJ Saturday Nite
Mmm, mmm. That ain’t gon’ happen on my watch. Go, now!
At those words, Thorn jumped at the safe to grab the antidote, but she was blocked by Mr. Gambit. Meanwhile, Toothpick ran around the desk and immediately started shoving the bright yellow vials into his pockets.
Mr. Gambit noticed and immediately turned to stop him, but he was blocked by Dr. Romero. DJ flew over their heads, grabbed a couple vials from Toothpick, and started to fly down, but Mr. Gambit grabbed the remote in her hand and held on.
Gambit
NO!!
But then DJ’s fingers slipped and Mr. Gambit had gained possession of the remote again. Toothpick ran out of the room, and the other two followed, being chased by Mr. Gambit.
Gambit
NO NO NO!!
He pressed several buttons on the remote, a maniacal glint in his wild eyes. Toothpick reached the bottom of the stairs first, where Birdy, Hawk, and Stone were waiting, fighting off the zombies and protecting the staircase.
Birdy
Pick!
Toothpick
GUYS GET AWAY FROM THE ZOMBIES! MR. GAMBIT HAS SOME SORT OF GIZMO AND IT—
But Mr. Gambit, who was now at the bottom of the stairs as well, clicked another button and the zombies were more vicious, more scary, more wild than ever before.
Hawk
UH— HELP!
A particularly big zombie was trying to get past him, and all Hawk had to defend himself was a broken signpost from the front entrance.
Toothpick
GUYS JUST DROP IT AND FOLLOW ME.
They all ran out of the building, closely pursued by the zombies controlled by Mr. Gambit. Anita was now in the lead. She skid to the side of the corner of the building’s exterior. There was a stash of water guns there.
Anita
THANK YOU DJ!!
DJ Saturday Nite was flying above them, already shooting some zombies with the antidote.
DJ
Don’t mention it, sugar, just help me out over here!
The zombies were far too big in numbers for DJ to take on on her own. They were already overpowering her. Anita swiftly loaded the water guns up with the vials that Toothpick handed her.
Anita
COME ON GUYS!! LET’S END THIS!!
They fired the antidote at every zombie, making a mess of pineapple-scented liquid sunshine.
The zombies that were brought back to normal Poptropicans looked around, confused, and bewildered. Everything was going amazing. But then—
Mr. Gambit had Hawk in his grasp. He put a hand over his mouth so he couldn’t scream.
The others were too busy to notice right away. But as they shot back the zombies, Stone, Birdy, and Toothpick started to notice something off. Where did he go?
But then Mr. Gambit, atop the building behind them, called down to them. They looked up and stopped in horror as they saw he was hanging Hawk from the rooftop dangerously.
Mr. Gambit
STOP THIS! DESTROY THE ANTIDOTE OR HE DIES!
Stone
No! Oh no!
Anita
YOU WOULDN’T!
Mr. Gambit
OH I WOULD! WOULD YOU LIKE TO TEST ME?
Anita froze in thought. A billion ideas rushed through her head, each just as unlikely as the last. There had to be a way out of this!
Toothpick and Birdy didn’t need telling twice, they dropped their guns at once.
Pick
PUT HIM DOWN!!
Birdy
NOW!
Mr. Gambit laughed.
Mr. Gambit
It needn’t have come this far! But I’m afraid if the rest of you don’t destroy your weapons, I’ll have to.
Dr. Romero glanced at Anita for help.
But Anita just thought of something. It was risky, but it was the best option. She looked at DJ Saturday Nite and pointed her head up at the scene.
Anita
NEVER!
Birdy gasped.
Mr. Gambit
Ha! If you insist!
And he let go of Hawk.
Birdy and Toothpick started running. Anita turned around and started spraying the last of the zombies with the antidote.
Dr. Romero was in shock. But DJ was flying up fast on her hoverboard, ready to catch Hawk.
Mr. Gambit looked angry. He had forgotten about the hoverboard. So his threats hadn’t meant much at all! And DJ caught Hawk and flew him down just as Anita finished off the rest of the zombies.
Birdy, Pick, and Stone rushed over to Hawk.
Pick
HAWK!
Stone
You good?
Hawk
Well apart from the fact I nearly died, I’m great, how about you?
Stone chuckled. Anita came over as well, followed by Dr. Romero.
Anita
Come on guys, let’s go fix the rest of the zombies! We have all of Poptropica left to save—
She was interrupted by a short Poptropican running towards them. He had apparently just snuck onto the grounds of the base and he was geared up in all sorts of zombie fighting stuff. He was followed by two blueish zombies, who were both on leashes.
New Poptropican
Aww, I missed the fighting?
He looked genuinely disappointed. Hawk recognized him.
Hawk
Hold on— You were one of the very last survivors! The one who disabled his camera? Everyone called you Jeff!
New Poptropican
Ha! Actually, it’s Jorge! Close! Does anyone have any antidotes or something to eat? I need to help my friends, but all that running made me hungry!
Anita lent Jorge her water gun and he splashed the two zombies. Their indigo melted away, and soon two normal Poptropicans stood, confused, looking at Jorge.
Jorge
GUYS! OLIVER! MYA!
Oliver and Mya
JORGE!!
They hugged.
Mya
Uh wait— why are me and Oliver on leashes?
Jorge
Uh, I’ll tell you later. Does anyone have any food with them?
No one did. Jorge didn’t mind too much, because now he had his friends back!
Anita cleared her throat.
Anita
Okay, everyone! There’s a lot of work to be done to fix Poptropica—
She was interrupted again by Mr. Gambit stumbling out of the tall building, blinking around at all the un-zombied Poptropicans.
Mr. Gambit
Uh—
Anita
But first let’s deal with this guy.
A few weeks later, Poptropica was returned to almost normal.
Everyone had been turned back into normal Poptropicans, and all the destruction caused by the zombies was being repaired. Mr. Gambit (Samuel Brains) had been imprisoned. Everyone who had helped save Poptropica from another Apocalypse had been awarded medals. Good stuff, good stuff.
Hawk, Birdy, Stone, and Toothpick were walking along the streets of 24 Carrot Island. The sun was just setting, casting a warm gold light to the town.
Hawk
Well, that was an adventure!
Stone
You’re darn right it was! I’m never going to look at fruit the same way ever again!
Birdy
I’m never going to be able to look at anything the same way again!
Pick
Ha! Fair.
Birdy laughed, and the others joined in. A feeling of giddy relief was in the air.
Hawk
Well, I’m glad I have you guys as friends!
Stone
Wait, are you about to get sappy?
Hawk
Nah, but still, you guys are awesome!
Pick
Well, buddy, we think you’re pretty awesome too!
Birdy
Yeah!
They sat down on a bench at the end of the street, looking at the sunset. The moment was perfect.
But the silence was broken by Toothpick.
Pick
Ah. I’m glad we won’t have to go through a zombie apocalypse again!
Stone
Don’t jinx it!
They laughed.
But in the alleyway a few buildings away from the four friends, yellow eyes peered from the dark, waiting.
BLeharagroannnn…
THE END
Afternote:
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! WE MADE IT TO THE END OF THIS FANFICTION!
Thank you guys so much for all of your support through all the episodes. Your comments and likes were greatly appreciated! You guys are awesome!!
This fanfiction has been really fun for me to write this past year or so! (Cheese and crackers, I’ve been working on this for over a year, dang!) And it was even more fun because of all of you guys so thank you yet again! See you guys! 
Art: Character doodles and DJ Saturday Nite by Magic Kid.
-Magic Kid 
Over n’ out
Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Magic Kid. If you did, you might also enjoy their Pop Quiz: Which Pop Character Are You? post.
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