A Battle of Watts

Chapter 22: Bittersweet Success

Chapter 22: Bittersweet Success

As the smoke cleared from the area, Loumine lay on the ground lifeless. Her bulb was grey and she was a pale shade of pink. Sparx was on the ground as well, unconscious and giving off a blue glow. The rats and other appliances began to wake up, saw the aftermath of the fight, and lowered their heads. Phil hugged Ellie as she sobbed into his feathers and Wattson was embracing Loumine in tears. Matilda, Augustus, and Squeakly were assisting Sparx. Augustus and Matilda lifted the fallen lamp onto a small stretcher and carried him off with the other rats following behind. Squeakly walked over to Wattson and sat next to him.

"I'm so sorry this happened." Squeakly said in a mournful tone.

Wattson said nothing. He kept hugging and crying on Loumine, wishing she would wake up.

Jaws hobbled over with a large smile. He tapped Wattson on the lightbulb with his antenna.

"Hi, Wattson." he said calmly. Jaws rotated his dial-like eye towards Loumine. He scratched his head with his plug. "Why is Loumine sleeping?"

Wattson couldn't help bursting into tears hearing this. Jaws didn't understand the truth at first, but once he saw Wattson bawling hysterically, Jaws realized Loumine wasn't sleeping at all...

"Oh..." Jaws thought for a second and grabbed the golden lightbulb from his mouth. He handed it to Wattson. "Here you go."

Wattson looked at Jaws puzzled. He glanced at the lightbulb very confused.

"Wh-what's this?" he sobbed. "It looks like a lightbulb... I don't think Loumine uses lightbulbs, Jaws."

The lightbulb began to glow brightly. It illuminated the entire jungle in a blinding, golden light. At last, the light faded and the bulb shut off.

"W-Wattson?"

Everyone quickly looked up and gasped. Loumine had returned to her normal state, still comatose as her lightbulb turned pink again. Wattson, now crying tears of joy and laughing, embraced Loumine tightly and kissed her. The others were cheering in the background. Phil fluttered in the air, Potter was bawling like a baby, Ellie and Helga embraced, Rover and Waffles were shouting with happiness like two men who just won the World Series, and Mish-Mash hugged Vinyl with Fuzzy warbling cheerfully. Squeakly looked at Jaws in amazement.

"How?" he said. "How did you get that?"

Jaws looked at the lightbulb and gave it to Squeakly.

"My friend Rover helped me get it." he said. "Does it belong to you?"

Squeakly stared at his reflection in the golden sheen of the lightbulb. He shook his head with disbelief.

"I can't believe you found the Sacred Lightbulb... Many have tried to take this from the shrine, but nobody ever returned functional." Squeakly pat Jaws on the head. "This thing is said to bring those who have passed back to life! You didn't happen to meet a knight by chance, did you?"

"Haha! Nope!" Rover hopped over to Squeakly. "We did have a close encounter with a boulder though!"

"Squeakly," Loumine said. "Thank you for your help. Is there anyway I can repay you? You could finally leave Sparx and go back home. I heard of a magic wishing well on the far side of the forest. I'm pretty sure it's only a myth, but a blue crane supposedly found it. You can be a bug zapper again."

Squeakly paused and looked at everyone staring at him. He smiled and laughed.

"I would love to, but your brother needs me. However, I will make sure he leaves you and your buddies alone. His highness will be out for a good two weeks anyway. As for the outlets, they should have returned back to normal again." Squeakly pointed to a waterspout behind two large mushrooms. "If you want the easy way out, hop on here. It should send you through the drain in the washroom. I highly recommend you seal the hole in the storm cellar. I will block the waterspout afterwards with some friends. Farewell, Loumine."

The group bid their goodbyes and hopped onto the waterspout, leaving the jungle for good. Once they left, Squeakly realized he still had the Sacred Lightbulb! He quickly dug a hole and buried it.

"The last thing I want is this to fall into the wrong hands."

Squeakly dusted off his paws and returned to the palace. Once he was gone, a purple light began to glow...

And an elegant female voice began to speak...

"How dare he betray him... How dare her to abandon my darling... How dare them all to do this to him..."

The light grew a darker shade of purple and enveloped the area in ultraviolet light. The source of the voice moved toward the mound of dirt and dug up the Sacred Lightbulb.

"Now it's my turn..."

Back up above, Ellie and the others reunited with Elizabeth. Blenny, now cured, hopped over to Ellie with Sweetie wheeling behind.

"Yay! You're safe!" Sweetie squealed as Elizabeth zapped them with the shrink ray.

"Mama! Mama!" Blenny bounced over to Ellie and hugged her. "I love my Mama."

"Wheee!" Fannie was fluttering by overhead. "I can fly again!"

As everyone was embracing and celebrating from their long, perilous journey, Phil was looking up at the ceiling with a frown on his face.

"What's the matter, Phil?" Sweetie asked. She nuzzled Phil, tipping him over. "Oops! Heehee! Sorry! I'm turning into my dad!"

"Heheh... That's okay." He looked up at the ceiling again and sighed. "I just want to be a lamp again. Being a bird is fun, but I miss messing with Ellie from the ceiling. There's only one way birds mess with humans from above, but I think I'll pass on that option..."

Loumine hopped over to Phil with her one-hundred Sparklings peeping overhead. She looked at the ceiling, then back at Phil, and zapped him with her plug. There was a bright flash of red light. Once it cleared, Phil was a lamp again.

"Hahah! Yay! I'm me again!" He spun around on the ceiling happily. "Wahoo! No more feathers..." Phil looked at one of his cables. A black feather was stuck to it. He lowered himself next to Loumine on the ground. "Pardon me, miss Afro-Lamp... But why didn't you do that earlier?!" squawked Phil.

"Well..." Loumine smiled at Phil. "You see, you never quite know what I'm going to do..."

"Oh?" Phil gave Loumine a perplexed look. "And why is that?"

"I'm so spontaneous..." Loumine cracked up as Phil had a deadpan expression on his face.

"Loumine?" Ellie asked. "I'm happy you're going to be staying with us, but may I please return to being a human? I think it's time I put the 'T-Ellie-phone' on hold."

Loumine and Ellie laughed at the joke together. She zapped Ellie with her plug, enveloping her in a red light, and turned Ellie back into a human once more. She picked up Loumine and hugged her. As long as Ellie was still alive, no man nor appliance would harm them without a battle of watts.

Over by the bucket, Wattson was staring at Loumine from a far. He was overjoyed to be by her side, but still bashful as ever.

"Maybe someday it won't be a secret anymore..." he murmured.

"What?" Potter came out from under the bucket, startling Wattson. "Are you talking about your relationship with Loumine?" Wattson turned bright red. "Don't look at me, she's your girlfriend."

Wattson quickly hid under the bucket with sheer embarrassment.

"It's mutual!"

The End!

Author's Note: I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting this story! The B-Gone, Intruders stories have gained so much love during this incredibly long adventure! I cannot express my gratitude without writing another novel, so in a nutshell, special thanks to everyone!

Sincerely, Lampi01