The Power
After my first day of work, I told my aunt how it went, but I left out some parts of the story and almost got myself fired yesterday. Other than that, work went well, and not to mention before Benson got back, me, Mordecai, and Rigby, managed to finish cleaning up before he got even angrier, which I could at least count my lucky stars that I’ve still got my job without losing it on the first day.
Anyway, since I’ve got my own room at the house where Mordecai and Rigby currently have their own, my room was right next to there’s. It took me about a month to get myself a bed, drawer, a desk, and a medium-sized bookshelf. Ever since I moved in with my aunt, I brought some of my books that I owned from the last place I lived and moved it once again to the house where I now work.
But since last month, I have now started to make some friends. Pops was the easiest. Sure he was an old timer, but I could tell he had a heart of gold and sometimes was a kid at heart. Skips was a nice guy who knew a lot. I actually visited him a couple of times and I even asked him how he knows a lot, but all he does is shrug and say “I’ve seen a lot of things”. It wasn’t very cryptic, so I didn’t want to pry. Instead I asked him the little things like magic and monsters, now that got me somewhere, but he did warn me not to play with magic if I ever see it. He also told me that the world around me isn’t what it appears to be. I kinda figured that part out during the incident that happened on my first day at work. Somehow I got a feeling that there must be more of this so-called magic. But I guess I could care less, I mean, there’s a lot of things I probably wouldn’t understand.
Now about Benson...eh, I think he’s more of an acquaintance. He’s more of the hard-to-be-a-friend type of guy, but I think if I wait for another month or two, I’ll just have to wait and see. After all, he is my boss. As for Mordecai and Rigby, after our first meeting together, they're actually pretty fun to hang out with. Whenever I’m not working, those two have ways to make something fun and slack off a bit. Well, maybe perhaps too much, because sometimes every now and then they always slack off, and it's not the first time Benson has had to yell at those two and threaten them to be fired. But sometimes when I get caught in their messes, I usually bail them out sometimes by helping them work.
But after an entire month so far, things were turning out swell.  
Speaking of swell, I was riding my bike that I brought from my aunt’s back at the apartment. I just got back from the bookstore and I got myself a new book that was hanging on the bike’s handle with my hand keeping a grip on it. After going inside, I decided to read my new book since I don’t have any work at the moment. But then I hear Mordecai and Rigby screaming.
I had no idea what was going on, even after I reached the stairs I called, “Guys.”
The door opens and out pops Rigby, looking around he notices me as I wave to him, “Hey there.”
Rigby gasps then slams the door.
My eyebrow cocks in confusion and I scratch the side of my head. Placing my ear at the door, I hear Mordecai’s voice, “Dude, who was that?”
“It’s Barney, he’s here!”
“Oh man, worst timing for him to be here!”
Now I was really concerned, something was up and as usual, I gotta help them in any way I can. Tapping at the door, I answered, “Hey guys, what’s going on in there?”
“Ah, nothing!” I hear Mordecai say.
“Yeah, everything’s fine!” Rigby said.
I had a feeling that something wasn’t fine in there, the reason why was because they screamed. “Then why did you freak out all of a sudden?”
I heard them “uhhh”, almost likely there trying to come up with some story.
“We were watching wrestling.” 
“Yeah, just me and my bud.”
Crossing my arms, I nodded at that. Seriously, that’s the best they can come up with. Trying a different question I asked, “Really, then why did Rigby slam the door in my face. It looked like to me he was panicking.”
I didn’t hear another comment from them knowing they were trying to hide something from me.
“Alright, I’m coming in, I want to see what’s going on.” 
Gripping the door handle I was about to open it, but I felt the weight being pushed. Are they seriously trying to keep me out? I am their friend after all, and as the saying goes “friends stick together”.
“No, no dude, everything’s fine!”
“Yeah man, there’s no reason for you to come in here!”
Actually there was a reason, and these guys are seriously not letting me in, now I know they're trying to keep me from knowing. Sure my relationship with those two is a little slow, but hey, I am trying to be good friends with those two. “C’mon you guys, I’m trying to help you out here. So…” Charging at their door with my shoulder I yelled, “EXCUSE ME!”
I hear two bodies land on the floor as I open the door all the way. I looked at Mordecai and Rigby who were sprawled on the floor, landed on their fronts since I charged through, and they both turned at me while rubbing the backs of their heads as Mordecai says, “Dude, what the H man!”
“Well, you could’ve at least let me in,” I said while closing the door, then crossing my arms. “It wasn’t going to kill you to let me know what’s going on.”
Looking around, I noticed there were straps of cloth tied to the drawers then at the filing cabinet, looking down I noticed a wrestling doll on the floor and then I noticed more pieces of cloth tied on the bed. Putting two and two together, I realized they were playing wrestling with a doll as their opponent. “Seriously,” I chuckled slightly while covering my mouth. “Aren’t you guys a little old to be playing like that?” While nodding, I notice their wall had a hole, deciding to get a closer look, Rigby decides to block my view. Cocking my eyebrow and crossing my arms again, I asked, “What’re you doing?”
“Nothing,” Rigby shrugs his shoulders, then leans back while placing his hands on his head. “Just chillaxing on the wall.”
“Alright, move over.”
Rigby just moves only an inch.
“Okay, now you're just acting silly, move over.”
Moving Rigby away, he yells, “Wait, don’t look!”
Too late, already have. Looking at it closely, the hole was huge. What did they do, throw their own bodies at the wall? Giving them a confused look, I said to them, “Seriously, this is the reason why you didn’t want me to help?”
“No man,” Mordecai sighs. “It’s not that.”
“Is it about Benson?”
“Well...” Rigby says while rubbing his arm. “Yeah something like that.”
I see what they mean.
“Oh, so you think I’m going to rat you out over this.” I pointed my thumb behind me to simplify. Before Mordecai could say something, I stopped him by raising my hand. “Ah, before you say anything. The answer is no, I’m not going to rat you out over to Benson.”
“No dude, it’s not that.” 
“Then what is it?” I asked Rigby.
Mordecai sighs then says, “We don’t want you getting in trouble because of us.”
“Huh?”
I was surprised to hear him say that, but he continued explaining, “The last time you helped us, which I’ll admit was really cool what you did, you almost got fired because of us.”
“Yeah,” Rigby said, joining in, “it wouldn’t be fair if you got fired for what we did, so we thought it would be best if you didn’t help us.”
Oh, so that’s why. They were worried that I would get fired because of them. 
“Guys,” I sighed while pinching the bridge of my nose. “I understand your concern for me, but it’s my decision what I do. So if I decide to help you guys, even if it risks getting fired, I’ll do what I think is best.” They gave me surprised looks, not knowing that I would go that far for them. Shrugging my shoulders, I said to them, “Besides, I think you're cool to hang out with.”
“Dude…”
I put my hand up, silencing Rigby. “It’s cool, you don’t have to say anything. I mean, sure we have hung out a little bit and our relationship is a little slow. But hey, I can at least try to make some new friends.”
They both smiled at me.
“Now then,” I rubbed my nose then sniffed, “what happened you guys?”
“Well…”
Mordecai explained to me that they were play-wrestling. He wanted to go to work first, but Rigby convinced him to play wrestling with that doll. He also tells me that he slammed dunked Rigby on a trampoline, which made the hole in the wall right before I arrived.
“Wow,” I whistled, “you made the right choice in choosing to do work, but made a poor decision in playing wrestling.”
“I know,” Mordecai groans while covering his face. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Rigby and gone out to do some work. But no, let's wrestle this stupid doll it’ll be fun.”
“But it was fun.” Rigby said.
I sighed, “Sure it may be fun for you, but someone could get hurt, or worse...” I pointed my thumb to simplify the hole. “Like that for example.”
“He’s right,” Mordecai says, “we’re twenty-three years old, we shouldn’t be busting holes in walls. We’re going to get fired for this.”
“You mean, you're going to get fired for this.” Rigby points out.
“What?”
“You're the one who threw me too hard, you hole!”
“Don’t call me a hole! You’re the hole who wanted to wrestle!”
“Okay stop!” I said to them. “It doesn’t matter who started this hole, both of you are at fault here for wrestling. So in short terms, you’re both going to get fired for screwing up.”
Rigby was going to say something, but Mordecai covered his mouth. “Dude, he has a point.”
Rigby pushes Mordecai’s arm away from him then says, “Okay.” He sighs then continues, “Now how in the H are we going to fix this S?”
“That’s easy,” I say to them, “just buy some concrete, slam it to the wall, and bam, good as new. Plain and simple.”
“Yeah, maybe to you.” Mordecai sighed.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, even if we get the concrete, we don’t even know how to use it.”
“I do, I know how.”
Both of them gave me a surprised look.
“Whoa, seriously?” Rigby said.
“Yeah, in fact I could teach you guys how to handle it. That’s once we do get the supplies we need.”
“Uh, yeah,” Mordecai scratches the back of his head, “that’s also going to be a problem. Because, we don’t have any money.” He looks over to Rigby. “Unless you have some money.”
“No,” Rigby said glumly, “besides I don’t even know how much it costs to fix a hole like this.”
“Close to 300 or 800 dollars.” I said. “Maybe even higher, depending on how bad this hole is.”
“What!” They both said in unison.
“Dude, that’s crazy!” Mordecai says.
“Yeah man,” Rigby also says. “Why does it have to be that expensive!”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Money doesn’t come cheap.”
“Well, don’t you have any money?” Mordecai asked.
“Nah, sorry man,” I nodded while showing them my new book that was still in the bag. “Already used it to buy this cool new book.”
“Ah dude, books are so boring.” 
Rigby’s arm got punched by Mordecai, making him groan.
“What Rigby really meant was. What kind of book did you get?”
“Here, see for yourself.”
I took the book out of the bag, and gave it to him.
“No way!” Mordecai gasped. 
“What, what is it?” Rigby asked.
“Look, dude!”
Mordecai was showing Rigby the book. What they were seeing was a red book that had a black skull with yellow fire surrounding it, and the title was called: Hell’s Game by: Barker Cleaver.
“Dude, remember the movie we used to watch?”
“Not really,” Rigby shrugged, “can’t say I remember much.”
“Dude, that movie was scary back then. I heard that it was based on a book, but I haven’t really read it.”
I took my book back and said, “That’s because you guys don’t know the joy in reading books.” Putting the book back in the bag, I continued, “Anyway, let’s not get out of topic. Don’t you guys have any money?”
“No, not one,” Mordecai said.
“Seriously, not a single penny.”
They both nodded at me.
I sighed while pinching the bridge of my nose. “Honestly, did you guys burn holes in your pockets?” They were going to say something, but I cut them off, “You know what, don’t answer that, forget I asked.” I honestly wondered what they do with their money? Do they waste it by buying games and other useless junk? It wasn’t any of my business, so I decided to put it out of my mind. “Well, there’s only one solution now.”
“Wait, I know exactly what you're about to say, because I know what you're thinking.”
“Oh really,” I said to Mordecai while crossing my arms. “Care to elaborate?”
Mordecai smiled then said, “We convince Benson to give us raises so we can afford the tools to fix this wall.”
I was surprised, it seemed Mordecai got the right idea.
“Dude,” Rigby said, “you are a genius! Of course, raises!”
I clapped a little bit. “Very good Mordecai, that’s using your noodles.”
“Okay, guys, here’s-”
“Let me stop you there.” Rigby interrupted. “Because I know what you're about to say.”
“Oh really, Rigby,” I said. “What’s Mordecai about to say?”
“Simple...hamboning.”
“Huh?” I gave Rigby an odd look.
“What?” Mordecai had the same look I did. I had no idea what “hamboning” was, or why would Rigby suggest that?
“Barney, pretend that you're Benson.”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay.”
“Now, we just go up to Benson and we’ll be all like, ‘We both want raises’.”
Turning his attention back to me, I realized what he meant by “hamboning” as he began by slapping his body rhythmically and advancing towards me as he started slapping my body as well. Glaring at him, and knowing this was a stupid idea, I slapped Rigby on top of his head, making him cry “Ow” as I said, “If I was Benson, I’d say no.”
“Dude, he’s right,” Mordecai says, “we just need to ask him for a raise and just explain all the-”
“No, no, no, that’s not gonna work! What are you 65?” He bends down while clutching his back, pretending he was old, “Excuse me sir, can I have a raise?”
I snorted while covering my mouth, I’ll admit that was funny.
“Come on! I’m telling you, guys. Hamboning.”
“No, Rigby,” I said. “That’s never gonna work.”
“That’s because you haven’t tried it yet.”
He began to use his “hamboning” on me again, and as he began to slap my body again, I slapped him on his head again as he cried “Ow”, then I began to slap his head in a drum like beat, my way of hamboning him as he waved his arms and yelled, “Quit it!”
It was Mordecai’s turn to snort at the way I did to Rigby while covering his beak.
“Then first of all, stop ‘hamboning’ me and I won’t hambone you, and two, it’s annoying and it’s distracting!”
“Rigby, he’s right,” Mordecai said. “That’s never gonna work.”
“Hamboning will save your life someday.” Rigby said to Mordecai, “It’ll be all like, ‘What, you trying to mug me?’.”
He began to hambone himself as he makes his way to Mordecai then slaps his body a bit, making me nod at how stupid this sounds.
"No!” Mordecai yelled as he shoved Rigby’s arms away from him. “We’re not doing that!”
“Indeed we’re not,” I said to Rigby as I bent down. “So get this through to your tiny brain.” I tapped his head while he shoved it away and glared. “Hamboning is not a good idea, it’ll only make Benson angry so that’s out of the question.”
“Fine,” Rigby’s ears drooped in defeat. “You got any better ideas?”
 “Yeah, we convince Benson, plain and simple.” I psht at that. “It’s not like you can sing it to him and make him give you a raise.”
Rigby’s ears pricked up as he gasps then grabs my face with his paws. “Barney, you're a genius!”
I gave him a confused look. “I...I am?”
“Yeah, I know what to do!”
He runs on all fours as he goes to a pile of clothes at the corner of the wall. I haven’t noticed it until now. But seriously, doesn’t he know anything about cleaning up? While I was thinking about what he was getting out of that pile, I stood back up and looked at Mordecai, hoping he knew the answer, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Are you ready for raises? Boop-bweep-boo-boo-boo-boo-boo-boo-boooo!”
We turn our attention back to Rigby as he shows us a red electronic keyboard. Seriously, how did he get it?
“Woah-ho-ho-ho, how did you get that?” Mordecai asked, who had the same thought I did.
“I have my methods,” Rigby chuckled.
I crossed my arms and cocked my eyebrow, I had a funny feeling he didn’t buy it from some store.
“I don’t know, dude,” Mordecai says. “How’s that gonna get us raises?”
“Yeah, how’s that gonna work?” I said.
He sets down the keyboard. “Just come check it out.” He motions us to get close as we bend down and look at it. Rigby starts playing it as electronic music begins playing. I was impressed, the keyboard had some great music. But still, I had this weird feeling about this thing, and just how is this going to get them raises.
“This is the answer to all our problems.” Mordecai says as he rubs the keyboard.
“Okay, I’m going to have to stop you right there guys. Do you even know how to play this thing?”
“No,” Rigby answered, “but we can hit this button,” he points to a button. “And it’ll play for us.”
“Yeah man,” Mordecai said. “Unless you know how to play?”
I sigh as I hand him my bag containing the book. “Here, hold this.”
As Mordecai was holding the book, I sat close to the keyboard. It has been a long time since I last played a keyboard or piano, but let's see if I still got it. I cracked my knuckles, then took a deep breath, my fingers near the keys as I started playing the music. It followed the beats to my fingers each time I pressed one, and ended it as the sound went ba-bump. I looked at my friends as I nodded at them. Yep, still got it though as Rigby’s jaw dropped and Mordecai’s beak dropped in shock “Oh, I made your jaws drop! Oh, yeah, I did!”
I place their jaws back up as Rigby comes to first as he says, “Dude...that was awesome!”
“Yeah man,” Mordecai joined in. “You never told us you could play a keyboard!”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I play all sorts of instruments, but the one I like best.” I play an air guitar to show them my reason. “It's a guitar, baby!”
“Woah!” They said in unison.
“Still, do you guys really think that’ll work.”
They both looked at each other, then back at me.
“Yes,” Mordecai says. “Yes we do.”
I sighed as I relented, “Alight fine, but if this doesn’t work, you need to convince Benson. No excuses, understand.”
They both nodded to me in agreement.
“Okay then,” I rub my hands together. “Let’s get this over and done with.”
“Hold it,” Mordecai stops me, “first we need to name her.” He turns his attention next to Rigby. “Speaking of which, have you named her yet?”
“Actually, I thought you could do the honors.”
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You know,” Mordecai looks at the keyboard. “I’ve always wanted to date a girl named: The Power.”
“The Power?” Me and Rigby said.
Mordecai nods his head. 
I shrug my shoulders. “I think it sounds cool, what do you think?” I asked Rigby.
“I like it.”
Light began to shine on the keyboard as I covered my eyes. After the little light show, the name “The Power” was etched on the keyboard. Now my weirdness just went up a notch, ‘cause now I have a bigger feeling this is no ordinary keyboard.
But what a second…
Oh geez, I just played the darn thing and I have no clue what I just did!
“Cool!” My two friends said.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
__________________________________________________________________________________
I was sitting on the grass with the keyboard named “The Power” on my lap. We’ve been going at this for almost an hour.
“Alright, this time with feeling.”
“Yeah, yeah, ready?”
“Yeah, ready Barney?”
I sighed as I answered Mordecai, “Yeah.”
“5,6,7,8!” 
That was my cue as I started playing the keyboard, paying close attention to what my friends showed me when playing the keyboard as they danced and ended it by pointing and saying, “Give us a raise, loser!” After I finished, which must’ve been like the twentieth time already, they both chuckled as I groaned while pinching the bridge of my nose. This was completely stupid, I knew I should’ve just tried harder to convince them to talk to Benson about a raise.    
“Hey, it's Pops.” Rigby says as I look up and see him.
“Hello!”
“Hey Pops, what’s up?” Mordecai greeted.
“Is that the sound of music I hear?”
Mordecai and Rigby huddled up on me.
“Guys, let’s use The Power on Pops.”
“No way Rigby, out of the question.”
“C’mon Barney, at least try.”
“I don’t know Rigby.” Mordecai said. “I’m kinda with Barney on this, Pops is kind of weird.”
We look as we notice Pops staring at a butterfly. It’s like I said, Pops was a kid at heart, but he at least has a good spirit, that I can always tell.
“Exactly, at least we can test it out on him, and he won’t get mad at us if it doesn’t work.”
He does have a point, Pops was never the type of person to get mad at somebody. He was just too good.
“Okay,” Mordecai agreed, “but let’s not call him a loser.”
“Why not?”
“He’s sensitive. I don’t want him to cry, I just want him to give us a raise.”
“Yeah,” I said to Rigby, “you wouldn’t want somebody to call you a loser.”
“No.” Rigby sighed, “Okay, let’s do it.” We turned our attention back to Pops as he said, “Pops, check it!”
“Barney, hit it!” Mordecai says.
“5,6,7,8!” I said as I started playing the music.
They started dancing as they ended it by pointing and without calling a loser to him, “Give us a raise, Pops!”
Pops chuckled a bit, clearly enjoying the music. “Good show, and good show to you as well Barney! Jolly good show!”
I took a small bow to him.
“A pay increase, yes, yes, of course. Just let me get my billfold.”
He takes out his wallet, but to my surprise, instead of dollars it was lollipops. Seriously, don't Pops know anything about money?
“Butterscotch Ripple?”
He offers two of those lollipops to Mordecai and Rigby, who then take it from him. Then Pops comes over to me as he takes out another lollipop as he says, “I think you deserve this as well, for being such a great pianist.” I shrug my shoulders then take it from him. I mean, he did offer it to me and I guess I couldn’t refuse such generosity.
“Ta-ta!” Pops said as he left us.
We didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds...until I broke the silence. “Well, that went well.” I put my lollipop that Pops gave me in my pocket.
“Guys, I think that just worked.” Mordecai said
“Yeah, I know.” Rigby says.
“I mean, if Pops wasn’t so weird, he might’ve given us actual money.”
“Totally.”
“Whoa, time-out for a second, you guys.” I said to them as I formed a T-shape from my hands. “That was just too easy. I mean, Pops was just too good for his...well own good.”
“Exactly,” Rigby said to me, “which means it actually works. Now we could definitely get our raises!”
“Dude, he’s right,” Mordecai also says. “This plan rules, we should definitely try it on Benson!”
“I don’t know, you guys.” I said with doubt in my voice. I looked at the keyboard that was still sitting on my lap. I couldn’t shake off this feeling with this thing. Standing up as I carried the keyboard, I said, “I think we should just call this whole thing off. I’m going to carry this thing somewhere else.”
As I was walking, Mordecai and Rigby literally jumped off the ground and ran right in front of me.
“No dude, we need you!”
“Yeah man, I mean, where are you going to take The Power at?”
Now that Rigby mentioned it, there was one person that came to me...That person was Skips, he may know more about this than I do. But I didn’t want to involve my two friends with this keyboard so I said to them, “That’s for me to know, and you guys not to find out.”
As I started to walk away from them again, they blocked my path as Mordecai says, “Dude, what’s up with you, why are you acting this way?”
I sighed as I answered him, “I’m worried man. About this plan and about this.” I pointed at the keyboard.
“What, it’s just a keyboard.” Rigby said.
“Yeah, and where did you get it from, hm?”
“Like I said, I have my methods.” Rigby chuckles.
“Oh really, did you get it from a store? Did you get it from a pawn shop? Did you get it from a yard sale?” As I gave Rigby my list of questions, the only answer he could give me was “uh”. I grew a serious face as I asked him a serious question, “Did you steal it from somebody?”
He gave me a shocking look, then gave me his answer, “Uh...no.”
I knew he was lying from the look on his face, or even if he tried to hide it from me, I could see it in his eyes. Rigby shakes off his stupor as he changes the subject, “Look man, the point is, what are you so worried about?”
“Yeah man,” Mordecai said. “What’s wrong with it that’s got you so worried?”
I pointed at the top of the keyboard that had the name “The Power” etched on it as I explained, “The name appearing, Pops giving us lollipops. Not only does this seem weird, but doesn’t that bother you?”
“Nope.” They said in unison.
I was surprised as I cocked my eyebrow, “Really?”
“Really, really.” 
“Huh?” I scratched the side of my head.
Mordecai places his feathered hand on my shoulder. “Look dude, if you're that worried then do us a solid and help us get our raise, then let us have it.”
“I don’t know?”
“C’mon Barney, please?” Rigby begged, “We need you, just do it for us, then will leave you alone, and besides,” he shrugged his shoulders “We like The Power, and if you don’t like then let us have it.”
I sighed, “Alright, but promise me that you’ll be careful you guys. You don’t know what this thing will do.”
“Okay, we promise. Right Rigby?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Alright,” I sighed again, “let’s get this over with.”
We walked away as we went to find Benson. I just hope that karma doesn’t slap me in the face.
__________________________________________________________________________________
We found Benson at the garage, the reason why was because the cart was parked right next to it. “Alright Barney,” Mordecai said. “You know what to do.”
“Alright, but I strongly suggest that-”
I was cut off when Benson opened the door, carrying a garden hoe and sheer.
“Quick man, go, go!”
Mordecai and Rigby quickly shoved me, making me move fast as I said in annoyment, “Ok, ok, I’m going already, geez!”
I walked over to Benson with the keyboard still in my hand.
“Yo, Benson!”
Benson turns his attention to me. “Ah, Barney, what a surprise, I was just on my way looking for you. I need you to handle something.”
“Ah, yeah can you hold that thought, there’s something I need to show you.”
I pulled out the keyboard as Benson saw it.
“Wow, where did you get that?”
“Just listen and watch.”
I played the keyboard as Benson nodded, clearly liking how I’m playing the keyboard.
“Wow, not bad Barney, you're really good at that.”
As I continued to play, I looked over to Mordecai and Rigby while they were hiding behind a tree. Mordecai nods at me, knowing what I must do next. I sighed as I said in an unenthusiastic voice, “5,6,7,8.”
“Huh?”
Mordecai and Rigby came out of their hiding place and did their dance, just like they practiced.
“Barney, what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry man, I’m doing a solid for them.”
Benson turns his attention back towards them as Mordecai and Rigby finish by pointing at him and saying, “Give us a raise, loser!”
After I finished the music, I groaned and slapped myself. That’s it, those two are so going to get-
“Y’know, you guys have been working harder, I think you deserve a raise.”
Yeah, they're going to get a r-Wait what!
“We can negotiate your new rates later in the week,” Benson takes out his wallet and digs out some dollars, “but for now, how’s twenty bucks sound?” He shows Mordecai and Rigby two twenty-dollar bills each as they had the same look as I did, shocked looks. After they’ve taken the two bills, Benson turns his attention to me. “I think you deserve a raise as well Barney, for being a great musician.” He takes out another twenty-dollar bill. I was still shocked, but my body moved as I grabbed the bill with my two fingers.
“Keep up the good work, and that goes double for you as well, Barney.”
Benson left us while I still had a shocked expression. I was like this for over a minute as I saw a feathered hand wave in front of my face.
“Dude, you okay?” Mordecai said to me.
I was too shocked as I said, flabbergasted, “But how...I just...I thought...how...huh!” My jaw drops after what just happened.
“Oh, we made your jaw drop!” Mordecai said.
“Oh, yeah, we did!” Rigby finishes for him.
Mordecai closes my jaw.
They both chuckle as Rigby says, “Do you realize what this means?”
“We can fix the hole?”
“No, we can do everything we ever wanted!”
While those two were discussing, I looked at the keyboard. Now I know for a fact this thing was not normal. Not only had the weirdness level hit the roof, but my bad feeling just hit the max as well. “I don’t know, you guys, you can count me out on this.”
“Really?” Rigby said. “You’re going to miss out on all the fun!”
“Remember, the solid.”
“Oh, yeah.”
I handed Mordecai the keyboard, but held on tight first, making him look at me as I gave him a serious look. “Remember the promise you made to be careful with this.” I let go of it as Mordecai was now holding The Power.
I backed up slightly, then turned around in a slight jog, but Mordecai yelled, “Wait dude!”
I turned around and faced him.
“Tell us, what is that you always wanted?”
That was surprising, but I shrugged as I told him, “Well, there was this new guitar that caught my eye a few days ago. It’s called: The Blue Thunder, it’s got great music, and not to mention the coloring of it along with the streak of lightning etched on it. It’s really great for anyone who loves guitars.”
Right before I was about to shove off, Rigby asks, “Dude, where are you going?”
“Uh…” I thought for a moment as I came up with an answer, “I’m going to find some work, be careful with it guys, and don’t do anything stupid.”
I took off running. I didn’t like to lie, but I had to for this case. The place where I was really going was Skips’ place, and I pray to God he knows what to do.
__________________________________________________________________________________
After I arrived at Skips’ place, I took a moment to catch my breath after running all the way to his house. I started banging on the door, trying to get his attention, but Skips didn’t open the door as I started banging it again. Man, my nerves were shot, so I decided to take out the lollipop that Pops gave me as I took off the wrapping and started sucking on it.
Huh, the butterscotch ripple flavor actually tasted good. However, I like exquisite candied lollipops better. Other than that I’ve never actually tasted other candies other than the exquisite ones made by professional candy makers. But don’t ask why I know about exquisite candies, that’s something for another time.
Anyway, while savoring the flavor and calming down my nerves a bit, I started banging on Skips’ door, but again he didn’t answer, what if he wasn’t-
“Hey, why are you banging on my door?”
I yelped as I turned around sharply while my back was against the door as I saw Skips. “Geez man, don’t scare me like that!” I took a deep breath to calm my beating heart.
“I see, there’s something wrong, and you went to find me?”
“Huh?” I cocked my eyebrow.
“You ran all the way out here, just to know what’s going on and what’s about to happen. But you need my help to do it.”
I was surprised, he has great deduction skills.
“Uh, yeah and Skips,” I take out the lollipop. “We need to talk, it’s something important.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
We were walking around the park as I explained to Skips about the keyboard. I’ve even shown him the lollipop that Pops gave me, and the twenty-dollar bill that I kept in my wallet from where Benson literally just gave me a raise as proof to my story.
“Mm-hmm,” Skips nods his head in acknowledging my story. “Yeah, I’ve seen this somewhere before.”
“You have?”
“Yeah, this is no ordinary keyboard that you described, it’s definitely magical.”
I knew it, I knew the keyboard was acting strange so it had to be magical!
“This keyboard has the power to grant any who so desire, but the way you described it, there are two ways. It has to be when someone is facing the user so they can do what the user asks for, or by granting anything they ever wish for by playing it.”  
I whistled, “Wow, it’s kind of like a genie in a lamp. Instead of granting three wishes, you get an unlimited amount of wishes.”
Skips shrugs, “Yeah, something like that.”
“One question,” I said. “How come I was given the stuff since I never said anything or wished for anything?”
“I’m not sure,” Skips shrugged. “Maybe the magic works differently when playing the keyboard. Wait a minute...you didn’t actually play it did you?”
“Well, just a little, but I didn’t know it was magical at first until I had this feeling.”
He sighs then reaches his hand. “Alright, let’s see it.”
“Huh?” I gave him a confused look. “See what?”
“The keyboard, don’t you have it?”
“Uhhh...” I scratched the back of my head as I explained, “I kind of...gave it to Mordecai and Rigby.”
He gives me a serious look while crossing his arms and nods his head.
“Hey, I had to do a solid!” I raised both my hands in defense. “That thing was making me nervous, and besides,” I psht, “they promised they would be careful with it. It’s not like they're going to go stir crazy with it.”
We hear laughter coming our way, we look up as we see Mordecai and Rigby flying. Yes, flying while running through the air. Okay, I stand corrected, they're going stir crazy, after what I just told them they don’t know what that thing will do.
“You really need to not trust people when making a promise.” Skips says.
“What, how the heck was I supposed to know?” I sighed. “What do we do once we get the keyboard from them?”
“Leave that to me.”
“One other thing, what happens if they go overboard with it?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
We stood right in the middle from where Mordecai and Rigby were running as they crashed right into Skips, dropping the keyboard that Rigby held.
“You guys shouldn’t be doing what you just did.”
“What,” Rigby says, “the flying or the hole?”
“What hole?”
Rigby looks at me then asks, “Barney, what’re you doing here?”
I sighed as I answered him, “I told Skips.”
“What, you ratted us out!”
“Not cool bro!” Mordecai says.
“No, I said I wasn’t going to rat you guys out over to Benson, and it’s nothing like that!”
“Barney, what’s going on?” Skips asked. “What are they talking about, and what did they mean about you ratting them out over to Benson?”
I sighed while pinching the bridge of my nose. “Look, this is something personal, and I don’t think you should know-”
“5,6,7,8!”
We turned our attention back to them as they began to sing in unison.
Using The Power in your faces
Sending y’all back to your places
They were pointing at their crotches while continuing.
Don’t look at our crotches
While we synchronize our watches
They began to make their watches do beeping sounds, making their own flow of music while also saying “boop-boop-bweep-boop-boop-boo-bweep-bee-boo” then they got into our faces while also saying “beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep”.
Synchronized
I look at Skips while giving him an odd look as he shrugs his shoulders. Looking back at them, they took out red shirts while putting them on as they made the air in their bellies go up and down while also pushing it.
Go away guys, it’s time for you to go away
(Mordecai): “It’s time for y’all to go to your room!” His air belly points straight at us.
(Rigby): “Yeah, guys, it’s time for y’all to go to the moon!” His air belly also points straight at us.
I felt kind of funny, I looked down as I was lifted up slightly, then my body merged with Skips and like a hole being sucked up...we literally disappeared!
We both screamed while facing forwards, then vanished again. I first landed on Skips’ chest, then rolled on the strangely soft ground. I groaned while Skips asked me, “Barney, are you alright?”
“Yeah,” I stood up then dusted myself. “Just a little sore, but I’ll live.”
We look around as we see nothing more but hills and craters. However, when I looked up, the whole sky was completely dark with so many stars twinkling in the night sky. But this was so weird, I’ve never been this close to seeing the stars, not since I’ve been camping several times before in my life. Then a gasp escapes my lips for what I saw next…
The earth was right there in the dark sky, but what a second, this isn’t just some dark sky, it was space, literally outer space!
That would also mean...were literally on the moon!
My fists clench as my teeth chomp down on the stick of my lollipop while looking at the earth. I felt a hand on my shoulder as I looked at Skips as he asked, “You okay?”
“No, I’m not okay.” I said with tension in my voice. “Once we figure out how to get off of this rock...I’M GOING TO FRICKING KILL MORDECAI AND RIGBY!”
Skips winced as I finished yelling as I took some deep breaths.
“Feel better?”
I took another deep breath as I answered, “Yes.” However, I noticed something odd as I sniffed the air. “Wait a second?”
“What, what’s wrong?”
I took a few testy breaths and noticed I’m actually breathing in outer space while on the moon. “I don’t get it. How come we're not suffocating to death?”
Skips thought for a second, then he says, “It could be the magic of the keyboard that’s keeping us alive.”
Something landed hard on my head as I yelled “Ouch!” then landed right in front of me. While massaging my head, I look down as I see a roller skate. “How did this get here?”  I picked up the roller skate as Skips looked at what I’m holding, but then another roller skate just dropped right next to me. “What the…”
We look up as we notice something dropping on top of us. We both yelped as we jumped away in different directions. I looked as I noticed a red rocket that crashed from where we were as it was smoking. I got up and turned around, only to yelp again as something yellow crashed right onto my chest as I collapsed, but then I heard the sound of quacking as I looked and noticed a duck was on my chest as it climbed off along with a bunch of baby ducks as well. Seriously though, how did they get here?
I stand back up again as I look around and notice other junk started appearing, but then I felt something wet on the tip of my white sneakers. Looking down, it was some kind of brown water that was going like a stream. Following it, I noticed a machine. Going over to it, I knelt down as I placed my hand in it and tasted it. “Soda? How did this get here?”
Skips came over to me as I looked at him and asked, “What’s going on here?”
“I have no idea.”
I felt a weird tremor.
“Uh, Skips, please tell me that you felt that?”
He nodded at me as we felt the tremor getting closer and closer to us. We turn around slowly...then my eyes widen and my jaw drops, dropping the lollipop that was in my mouth.
“Oh my God!”
We were looking at a very big, but bizarre creature that had Rigby’s body, Mordecai’s tail feathers, a golden belt buckle, and had a face that looked just like the face of that doll that I noticed not too long ago.
“Skips, what is that thing?”
The creature looks at us.
“I don’t know.”
“Please tell me you got an idea?”
“Yeah, just one...”
The creature roars.
“RUN!”
We took off in a sprint as the monster was chasing us.
“Barney, split up, it can’t catch us if we go in different directions!”
I nodded as I went left while Skips went in the opposite direction of where I was going. However, I felt a tremor as I sneaked a peek behind me as the monster was chasing me.
“Seriously, why me!?”
I lost my balance as I tripped and fell on my front. I turned around while trying to crawl away from it, but it was no use, the monster was literally right in front of me as it was reaching down towards me. It didn’t come close as it stopped for a minute as a rock was thrown at the back of its head. It turned around and faced Skips as it roared and began making his way to him.
“Barney, go!”
“But Skips I-”
“Just go!”
Skips began backing away as the monster was slowly coming towards him. I only glared at the beast because I didn’t want Skips to get hurt. I stood up as I crouched low, then with a powerful burst I ran fast while yelling “Hey!” to the creature. The monster looks at me as I make a powerful leap and bring my kick out. “Waaaaachaaaaaa!” I cry out as my kick connects, but the monster brings out its arm in defense, but couldn’t prepare the shockwave that it felt as it was pushed back slightly. I couldn’t believe it, that monster can actually take a hit! Using both my legs, I push myself away from its arm as I land on the ground while somersaulting. Now I know you're wondering how I was able to do that? But that’s something I’ll tell you later in the story.
Anyway, while somersaulting, I backflipped as my feet skidded on the ground and my hands dug on the ground, breathing heavily as I came to a complete stop.
“Whoa, dude that was cool!”
I look behind me as I see Benson who had a shocked expression with Rigby next to him holding-Wait a minute, Rigby! I glared at him as I made my way to him, ignoring Benson as I grabbed Rigby and shook him while saying, “You little S I’m going to F-ing kill you, and once I’m finished with you, Mordecai is so dead!”
“Barney!” Benson yelled while grabbing my shoulder. “Easy, you can kill Mordecai and Rigby later, right now we need to get Skips!”
The monster roared as I looked behind me as the monster had Skips in its hand. Looking at Rigby I said to him, “This isn’t over yet.” Then I dropped him into the ground.
Rigby places The Power in front of us as we bend down. The monster roared again as Benson yelled, “C’mon!”
“Give me a break, I have to come up with the words y’know!”
He muttered as he was trying to come up with some words. I grabbed Rigby on his shoulder and said, “Hurry it up, it doesn’t take that long to come up with the lyrics!”
“Don’t rush me!” It took him a few seconds as he said, “Okay, I got it!” He starts playing the keyboard as he sang, “G-G-G-Go away big monster, Go-Go-”
All of a sudden, I heard the music for just a second, then it faded away and died.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”
“What?”
Rigby played the keyboard again, and not a single strand of music was heard. This is not good.
“Dude, I think the batteries just died.”
I slapped Rigby upside his head as he rubs it. “Ya think, you idiot!”
The monster roared again as I stood up. “Okay, new plan, we need to distract this thing...Wait a second?” After I mentioned the word “distract” I remembered what I said to Rigby and what he said to me.
“Hamboning will save your life someday!”
“It’s annoying and it’s distracting.”
“That’s because you haven’t tried it yet.”
“It’ll be all like, ‘What, you trying to mug me?’.”
I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose at how stupid this plan is, but it’s the only plan I got.
“You got the same idea I got, hm?” Rigby said while elbowing my hip slightly.
I sighed again, “Yes Rigby, and this time I’m going to try it.” I bent down as I shoved my finger into his chest. “But don’t think you're going to get out of this one, you and Mordecai are still dead meat. Understand?”
Rigby nods at me.
“Good.” I crouched down, then sprinted. “Now let’s go!”
“Hey, wait for me!”
While sprinting, Rigby manages to catch up to me by running on all fours. “Dude, how can you run this fast?”
“A lot of practice.” 
We looked as the monster opened its mouth and was about to swallow Skips.
“Noooooo!” Me and Rigby said.
I skid my feet on the ground as I came right next to the monster's leg while Rigby was on the other. Ah man, I can’t believe I have to do this, I’ll probably look stupid while doing it, but hey, at least this’ll save Skips.
Me and Rigby were hamboning on the monster's legs, I looked as the monster noticed us. Seeing this chance for Skips, he uses his strength as he pushes open the monster's hand, drops to the ground and skips his way to Rigby first as he grabs him, making the monster miss them both as it slams a fist on the ground. It turns its attention back to me as I stop hamboning it. The monster raises its next fist as I jump away at the last second and roll away when the fist comes down. Looking ahead, they were already driving the cart away with the others who also arrived, while Skips who was carrying Rigby made it to the cart. “Hey!” I get up and run fast while waving my arms. “Wait for me!”
They turn around as Skips reaches his hand out and yells, “Barney, grab on!”
I grab a hold of Skips as he pulls me into the cart as Mordecai was the one who drove. Looking behind, the monster was literally right on our tail!
“Use your keyboard!” Skips said.
“The batteries are dead.”
“Guys!” I yelled. “Hurry up, it’s getting closer!”
I heard something get smashed as I looked and noticed Skips hit the inside of the cart and pulled out some electrical wires that were sparking with electricity. He shoves it in the hole of the keyboard, a light beeps as the keyboard is back to full power.
“Play it!”
Rigby started playing the keyboard as we all chanted, “Take us home, take us home, take us home, take us home!”
We all vanished, leaving the cart behind as we were pulled forward while we all screamed. Then we all crashed landed hard on the floor as I heard the sound of cracking walls coming apart then dust slightly surrounding us as it dissipated. I coughed slightly as I sat up. Looking around, I noticed we were back at Mordecai and Rigby’s room. Unfortunately, their entire walls were completely destroyed as it was showing the wood here and there.
I hear Rigby laughing while raising the keyboard. “Ha, ha, ha, we did it! Yeah!” Benson snatches the keyboard from him. “Hey, that’s mine.”
“Nope, you sent both Skips and Barney to the moon, so the least you can do is give them your keyboard. Right Skips?” 
He hands the keyboard to Skips as he answers, “Right.”
“Right Barney?” Benson asks me as I stand up and march my way next to Skips.
“Yeah.” I looked over to Skips while he still had the keyboard and asked, “What’re you going to do with it?”
“Just this...”
He knees it, breaking the keyboard in two as Mordecai and Rigby groaned at their destroyed keyboard. But me, I just sighed in relief, I was glad that The Power was gone, that thing was just too dangerous for anyone to use.
“And let’s have it.” Benson says.
“What?” Rigby asks.
His face turns beat red as he shouts, “THE TWENTY DOLLARS THAT YOU TWO CONNED OUT OF ME WITH THAT STUPID KEYBOARD CRAP! I know you still got it, now give it back.”
Rigby sighs as both of them take out the twenty-dollars they got as they hand it back to Benson.
Benson’s red face goes away for the moment as he turns his attention to me. “Barney-”
“You don’t have to say anything.” I cut him off as I took out my wallet. To tell you the truth, I actually had a feeling that I wasn’t going to like this little scheme that those two planned. “I’m truly sorry for what happened today, and to show you how much I deeply apologize for letting this happen.” I take out the twenty-dollar bill out of my wallet that Benson also gave me as I show it to him. “Here, I believe this is yours.” 
 “No Barney, in fact,” Benson slams the money on my hand. “You’ve earned a permanent sixty dollar raise from now on.”
“What?”
“What!” Mordecai and Rigby said in unison.
I waved at Benson’s face. “Wait, your still not affected by the-”
He moves my arm away. “No Barney, I’m still not affected by the keyboard, I’m being serious.”
“Wow, sweet!”
“Wait a minute,” Rigby says, “how come he gets a raise and we don’t?”
“Yeah man,” Mordecai also says, “that’s not fair!”
“IT BECAUSE YOU GUYS USED HIM BY DOING A SOLID!” Benson shouted as his face turned red again. “HE EVEN RISKED HIS LIFE TO SAVE SKIPS, SO THE LEAST I CAN DO FOR HIM IS GIVE HIM A RAISE!”
Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other, knowing that Benson was right, but Rigby pouts while crossing his arms as I hear him mutter, “Yeah, but I risked my life too y’know.”
“What was that!” Benson yelled to Rigby.
“Ah, nothing.”
Benson takes a deep breath, calming down his nerves as he turns back to me while his face returns to normal for the moment. “Barney, word of advice, try not to hang around people who would use you like that, you’ll only end up in trouble in the end.”
“I agree with Benson,” Skips says as he places a hand on my shoulder. “Try to find some real friends if you want someone to hold on to a promise,” he gives Mordecai and Rigby a serious look, “without trying to break it.”
I nodded at their advice. “I understand, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Benson nods at me as he pats my shoulder. “Good, I expect to see you work sometime this afternoon and try not to be like them. I hate to fire you since I see you have some talent, so try not to waste it and disappoint me.” I nodded as he turned his attention back to them. “AND AS FOR YOU TWO, CLEAN UP THIS MESS OR YOUR FIRED!”
Benson, Skips, and Pops were leaving the room as Benson says to Skips while groaning, “Can you believe this?”
“No.”
“Oh, but did you see the way Barney just kicked that monster,” Pops joined in the conversation. “It was absolutely amazing!”
“Yeah, come to think of it, I didn’t know he could do that. Did you?”
“No, not really,” Skips says, “but I’ll admit, the kid’s got skills.”
Benson slams the door as I was left with these two, but I put my now sixty dollars that I earned from him in my wallet.
“Ah, dude, this sucks,” Rigby says.
I walked over to them as I first hit Rigby square in the jaw, then kicked Mordecai as they both landed hard on the ground and groaned in pain while Rigby rubs his face and Mordecai massages his beak.
“That was for sending me to the moon you A holes!”
Mordecai shakes away the pain then says, “Look man, were sorry. Right Rigby?”
“Yeah,” Rigby groaned, “but you at least deserve that for ratting us out to Skips.”
Mordecai hits Rigby’s arm as he yelps “Ow!” while rubbing his now injured arm.
“That’s B.S. right there! I was only trying to help, so I had to talk to Skips about the keyboard!”
“Yeah, but that’s still ratting us out.”
I smacked Rigby on top of his head as he yelled, “Stop that!”
“Look, I don’t care what you think! The point is, you both promised me that you would be careful with it. Now look around!” I spread out my arms to simplify my explanation in their room. “This is what happens when you don’t keep a promise! This’ll take all day, not to mention, thousands of dollars to get this fixed!”
They both sighed as they understood. Both of them stood up as Mordecai said, “Dude, you're right, we're sorry, and we kind of deserved that for what you did. So...can you forgive us?”
I sighed, “Alright, I’ll forgive you just this once. But know this, I can’t keep helping you every now and then. You guys gotta handle this yourselves without dragging me in your messes where I won’t have to risk getting fired, but you guys need to handle the consequences of your actions for now on. Got it?”
They both nodded at me. “Good,” I was on my way towards the door, but right before I left, I turned to them and finished, “Oh, by the way, the hole from earlier is still there.”
I left their room as I closed the door and made my way to my room which was right next door. After opening it, I closed the door as my back relaxed on it as I sighed. However, I looked at my bed as I noticed a weird looking object that was wrapped up in a gift wrapping with a green bow tied to it. Walking over to it, there was also a card on it as I take it and opened it as I read:
To our best bud, for being such a great friend
-Mordo & Riggs
Huh, I was surprised they actually gave me a gift, and it’s not even my birthday, not until the next couple of months.
I tear open the wrapping as my eyes widen as I couldn’t believe Mordecai and Rigby actually did it. They must’ve used the keyboard, but I didn’t care. What I was seeing before me was a blue guitar with a lightning streak etched on it. There was no doubt about it, this was The Blue Thunder!
I sat down with The Blue Thunder in my lap, thinking about all the craziness that I just experienced today before going back to work. I decided to take a little breather for the moment and play my new instrument.
Believe me, The Blue Thunder, was way cooler than The Power.