Chapter Text
It was early morning at the fountain headquarters in the center of Umi-City, where the city’s famous superhero team resided: Team Umizoomi. In the headquarters, the tiny team was preparing to go somewhere. Milli, a girl with a pink dress wearing two ponytails that were annoyingly commonly mistaken for pigtails, was packing spare clothes for the team as a whole. Suddenly a blue blur sped by followed by a streak of electricity which sped by, filling the three colored backpacks of pink, blue, and green with various tools that may prove useful on their trip. The blur then stopped and revealed itself to be a boy in a blue outfit with an orange belt with shapes and roller skates, Geo.
Milli then looked at one of the tools in the backpacks, it was of all things, a trowel. “Geo…” Milli said in an annoyed tone. “We’re going camping, why would we ever need to use a trowel?”
Geo chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, “Hehe, I mean, you never know! It might prove useful eventually.” Geo said nervously.
Milli sighed and then chuckled. “Okay, but it goes in your suitcase not mine.” Milli declared.
“Okay.” Geo said as he moved the trowel into his suitcase.
Then, a green robot with a blue mouth and a screen on its belly and an antenna walked into the room, this was Bot. Bot was helping the two kids pack for their camping trip by preparing snacks but also by gathering the big items such as their tent materials. Bot then wiped the metaphorical sweat from his forehead and then looked at what they had packed. “Are we all ready?” Bot asked Milli and Geo.
“Yeah!” Milli and Geo cheered.
Bot then helped close up the backpacks and then carried them to Umicar’s garage. “Well then, we should head out now so that we can get to the camping grounds before dark.” Bot explained.
Milli and Geo nodded as they followed Bot down the clear pipe slide down to Umicar’s garage. Once they arrived in the garage, Umicar projected a trailer for Team Umizoomi to place their backpacks. Once the backpacks were safely secured in the trailer Bot ushered Milli and Geo into Umicar so that they all could get to the campsite before it got too dark. It was a long drive there after all.
“So how long until we get there?” Geo curiously asked.
“Only a few hours.” Bot said simply.
Geo groaned slightly at the thought of not being able to move and skate around for a few hours but he gritted his teeth despite his displeasure. Milli however sensed his discomfort at the idea of sitting in an enclosed space inside Umicar for a few hours at a time. “I’ll sit in the front, that way you’ve got the back all to yourself. Does that work for you?” Milli asked.
Geo nodded slightly at Milli’s offer, feeling a bit better at her telling him he could have the backseat all to himself.
“Glad you’re okay with that.” Milli responded. She then got in the front seat next to Bot as Bot sat in the driver’s seat. Geo then got in the backseat where he had enough space to feel at least decently comfortable.
Geo then had an odd thought that came up “Are we one hundred percent sure that there won’t be any problems in Umi-City while we’re out?” Geo asked.
Bot looked at geo, “Yup, i made sure to check with the authorities like the police chief and the firefighters so they will deal with any problems we’d usually deal with. That way we get to spend time with each other without disruption. Which is something we haven’t gotten to do recently and I’ve wanted to do again for a while.” Bot explained.
Geo smiled at the explanation. “Okay, then let’s go!”
Milli, Geo and Bot then shouted in unison to get Umicar to speed out quickly “Umizoomi!” and then Umicar sped out of the fountain headquarters and blistering speeds. But he proceeded to slow down as the team got on the road. It would be a few hours before they would get to the campsite at a safe speed due to the distance from Umi-City the campsite was.
Milli then poked her head behind her seat to look at Geo who seemed to be mostly fidgeting to make up for his inability to move much. Milli then had an idea. “Hey Geo!” Milli said, calling out Geo’s name.
‘Wha- Huh?” Geo cried out, confused as he had been zoning out a few seconds previously.
“Geogeogeo!” Milli repeated, “How about we play a game of I spy?” Milli suggested.
Geo thought about it, and nodded his head as he had nothing better to do. “Okay. Can I start?” Geo asked.
“Of course!” Milli cheered. And just like that, the game began.
“I spy with my little eye something….white!” Geo said, having made his decision.
Milli then looked out on the road, there were all kinds of vehicles on the road, from red, green, yellow and the like. But no white ones. Milli racked her brain to try and think of what geo might have seen. Then she looks up and figures it out. “Is it a cloud?” Milli guesses.
“Uh…yeah, it was.” Geo responded. Milli giggled in response to this. “Well, I guess it’s your turn to spy huh?” Geo suggests.
“Yeah.” Milli says, then she looks around trying to find something to spy that might be a challenge for Geo, but not too difficult or specific either. “I spy with my little eye something…green!” Milli says, making her choice.
Geo nods, having processed Milli’s choice and looks around at the open road to try and guess what Milli’s choice was. He then looks out and sees something that he thought was Milli’s choice. “Is it a tree?” Geo asked, confident in his guess.
Milli giggled, “Nope, try again!” Milli said plainly.
Geo pouted at that revelation having thought he would have gotten it in one try like his sister did. But he disregarded it, it didn’t mean anything. Right? “Hmmm…Is it that car over there?” Geo guessed as he felt slightly less confident now that he had gotten one wrong.
Milli shook her head with a smile on her face, “No siree!” Milli said with a giggle.
“Wha-!?” Geo cried out angrily. “How is that not-” Geo inhaled angrily. “I give up, what is it?” Geo said, annoyance in his voice.
“It's Bot!” Milli said in a cheerful voice.
“Huh? Oh.” Bot uttered as he kept his eyes on the road.
Geo pouted more grumpily as he was sour at not being able to guess what Milli had spotted. “That isn’t fair!” Geo shouted.
“Huh?” Milli uttered in confusion.
“You can’t say you spy something in the car! It has to be outside!” Geo cried out angrily.
“Woah, sorry Geo! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Milli said, trying to diffuse the situation.
‘It…it’s fine…” Geo said inhaling. “I think I just want to take a nap.” Geo said sleepily. Geo then began to doze off in his seat.
Milli then yawned herself and leaned up against Bot as she began to fall asleep too. Bot looked over at the two kids sleeping and felt his internal processors heat up from how warm and cuddly he felt. Bot continued to drive towards the forest where they would set up camp.
After an hour or two, the team arrived at the entrance to the forest. Though it seemed ominous as there were three forest rangers at the entrance to the forest.
“Huh.” Bot uttered, just as Milli and Geo began to wake up from Umicar slowing down.
“What’s going on, are we there?” Geo asked as he groggily awoke.
“Yeah! We’re here!” Milli cheered.
Bot chuckled nervously as he didn’t know why there were three forest rangers at the entrance to the forest. “Umicar? Can you get us closer?” Umicar beeped and drove up to the rangers.
Not yet noticing Team Umizoomi, the rangers talked amongst themselves. “I don’t know Bob, this can’t be a good thing. Especially for any travelers that happen to be the size of an Umi.” One of the rangers said.
Bot, Milli, and Geo then hopped out of Umicar and walked up to the rangers. “Hello!” Milli said sweetly, announcing their presence.
“Oh! Team Umizoomi!” One of the rangers called out in surprise, “What a surprise to see you three here? Is there a problem here?”
Milli, Geo, and Bot simultaneously shook their heads in response. “Nope, we’re taking a little break for ourselves!” Geo said, though the reaction the rangers gave was less than expected. Geo saw their bland expressions turn more judgmental as they whispered things to each other that they could not hear.
“What’s wrong?” Milli asked, noticing the sudden shift in tone of the area.
One of the rangers spoke up, “Well, it’s just that you don’t usually take breaks so it’s a bit unusual to us.”
“Well, we need one to spend time with each other not just as teammates but as a family…” Milli explained.
“Oh, that’s understandable. But then why are you here?” The tallest of the rangers asked.
“We’re here to go camping, we hear this forest is beautiful this time of year!” Bot said, showing photos of the forest on his belly screen.
“I-” One of the rangers began but the tallest one stopped him.
“By all means, enjoy yourselves.” The tall ranger said, moving out of the way for Umicar and Team Umizoomi to come into the forest.
Once Team Umizoomi was out of earshot the younger and shorter ranger shouted, “ARE YOU INSANE!?” to which the taller ranger glared at him but he continued to speak, “I mean, a critter that could be a danger to them is lurking about and you just let them in?”
The taller ranger sighed, “Look, it’s only been a danger to mice, rabbits, small birds and lizards. It’s no larger than a cat. Besides we’ll be keeping an eye out and with their mighty math powers they won’t be in any danger.” The taller ranger explained.
“I hope you're right.” The younger ranger said. “I just hope that they can enjoy their little camping trip in peace.”
—Meanwhile—
Bot was leading the rest of the team into the first along the forest trail, looking for a good place to set up camp. It was odd though, not only those forest rangers all gathered around the entrance but they had also passed by several possible camp places and there was no one else here. It was a little creepy, though Milli and Geo didn’t seem to mind at all as they seemed to just be chatting up a storm and looking at all the different birds and trees they saw.
Soon enough, they came upon a spot that was basked in sunlight but was also decently shaded too. It looked perfect, and was in good condition too.
“Alright you two. You got your things?” Bot asked as Milli and Geo took their backpacks out of Umicar’s trailer and Bot extended his arms to grab his own. Then Milli and Geo put their backpacks on and nodded as they went onto the new campsite.
Once the three had set up their things, and had Umicar lie down to rest, they began the process of setting up their tent. The tent was a large and spacious one that was made for families though large is relative considering Team Umizoomi’s size. The tent had different room compartments that were color coded to each member’s color scheme.
“Alright, we’re all ready. Now how about I prepare us some lunch?” Bot suggested.
“Okay!” Geo said as he rubbed his belly in hunger.
“Hey, Bot?” Milli called out in a questioning tone as she walked up to her guardian.
“Hmm, What’s up?” Bot asked.
“Can I go on a nature walk? I want to see all the birds and flowers, trees, and other animals.” Milli asked.
“Uhhh…I’m not sure…” Bot said, quite indecisive about Milli going out on her own to walk around the forest.
“I’ll go with her!” Geo announced upon hearing the conversation, “We’ll stay on the trail too!”
Bot sighed and chuckled, “Alright you two, just be safe and keep a careful eye on one another. And stay on the trail.” Bot said.
Milli and Geo waved as they went out on the trail, backpacks on their backs as they left whilst Bot prepared lunch for them.
Milli and Geo then wandered down the trail opposite from where they came to explore the forest. They went down this path, Geo skating ahead of Milli while Milli’s head was on a swivel looking at all the different flowers at the base of the forest’s trees.
“This is all so pretty!” Milli said in awe.
“I’m glad I can finally stretch my legs out here.” Geo commented as he skated beside Milli.
They then noticed a small bird caught in the vines of a tree, chirping frantically as it struggled relentlessly. But they could see that it was in trouble.
“Look Geo, that birdie’s in trouble! We should help it!” Milli said, Geo responded simply by nodding. “Bouncy Shoes, On!” Milli called out as springs erupted from the bottoms of her shoes and she jumped up to the canopy the bird was trapped in. “C’mon up Geo!” Milli called out.
Geo activated his bouncy shoes too and leaped up into the canopy with Milli.
The bird was panicking and thrashing about in its struggle due to being caught in the vines.
“Geo, can you widen the area of this branch so that we have a place to put the birdie down once I release them from the vines?” Milli asked.
“Uh, sure.” Geo responded, “But how are you going to release the bird?” Geo asked.
“Simple, by chopping the vines!” Milli answered as her ponytails extended in a golden glow and grew slightly more intense and sharper.
Milli then swung her ponytails at the vines farthest from the bird and sliced them up then started on the ones closer to the bird, but was careful not to accidentally cut the bird. Soon, Milli had released the bird onto a platform that Geo had created and thus were able to remove the excess vines constricting the birdie.
“Now they’re okay!” Milli cheered.
“Are you okay?” Geo asked the bird, in which it chirped back in response.
“Is it too shy to talk?” Milli asked.
“Maybe, I don't know.” Geo responded
“Hey little guy-” Milli started, "We're Team Umizoomi and we’re here to help you.” Milli explained
The bird hesitated but began to utter, “U-umi?” It stuttered.
“Yes, we’re Umis. But we are a team known as Team Umizoomi!” Milli stated again.
The bird simply nodded and chirped. “Tell friend.” It stated simply.
“Yes, tell your friends that team Umizoomi is here to help if any of them have any problems!” Milli explained
“Are you sure you should let them know about us?” Geo asked.
“Yeah! In case they need help they can call us!” Milli answered.
“True, but we are supposed to be relaxing.” Geo said.
“Well-” Milli began but was interrupted by her Umi-phone ringing. “Oh, that must be Bot. See you later birdie!” Milli chirped. As she and Geo bounced down to ground level and ran back to their campsite.
Meanwhile, the bird flew off from the platform it had been talking with the two Umis on. It flew across the forest towards a rocky portion of the forest with a cave on a cliff face. It was across the entire forest from Team Umizoomi’s campsite. It landed at the mouth of the cave and chirped. There was silence.
The bird walked into the darkness of the cave and kept chirping as it walked over rubble that it cared not to distinguish. It walked up to the sleeping form of…something. It looked like a goblin with tusks and draconic reptilian scales but a humanoid frame. Yet, it slept, its chest rising and falling as it dreamed.
The bird then spoke, “N-Nil…visitors.” it said.
There was no response other than growly grumbles.
“U-Umis…t-two.” The bird said, and then there was a more noticeable response as the beast began to arise.
Its rising made the cave rumble despite only sizing in at the size of a bobcat. Its tail slammed against the cave walls as it awoke. Then, its most striking feature was revealed, it opened a single cyclops eye with a red circle with a line struck through it instead of a typical pupil. The beast bellowed a roar that frightened the bird and the birds of the forest causing them all to fly off.
Now left alone, the beast wandered to the outside of its cave. Adjusting to the light of the sun it stared across the forest and could only utter one thing.
“Umi…”