Chapter Text
Swampy’s shower pipe rattled and shook as Swampy turned the tap, eager for a nice shower of cold water with Ducky. What actually came out was a shower of purple-and-pink poison water, filling the bathtub no sooner had Swampy had leapt out of it.
“Argh! That’s the third time this week!” Swampy exclaimed. “We’ll never be clean at this rate.” He added to Ducky. As if things couldn’t get any worse, a bag of trash suddenly slammed into Swampy’s bathroom window, exploding its contents all over it and yucking it all up.
Swampy gave an exhausted sigh as he walked out of the bathroom, setting Ducky down in the living room, and grabbing a nearby brush. Living in a sewer certainly had its downsides, and one of these was the mess that seemed to manifest no matter where you went, no matter how hard you scrubbed. Swampy’s den, by contrast, was like an island of cleanliness in an ocean of muck.
Speaking of muck, Swampy stepped outside and began to clean it off his bathroom window, and after what seemed like hours but was really only a minute or two, the window sparkled. Swampy wiped his brow in spite of his inability to sweat.
“Well, that should do it.” He grinned a white, toothy grin, heading back for the door. “Wha-HEY!” He cried, suddenly having to dodge a pile of sticky, smelly mud that hailed down on him from above. The mud splatted all over Swampy’s doorstep.
A quick look at the nearby sewer flow revealed the culprit: Cranky, who was floating down the river on his back, laughing like a robber at the mischief he’d just caused.
“CRANKY!” Swampy yelled, shaking his broom at the enormous alligator. “Stop flinging mud at my doorstep!”
“Oh, that’s not mud!” Cranky laughed as he drifted out of sight. Swampy took a sniff at the ‘mud’, bolked, and quickly headed indoors. He’d clean that up later.
For now though, he took a breath of fresh air in his den. Stale air, yes, but as fresh as it could get. He sighed, putting the broom down and sitting on the sofa next to Ducky.
“You know Ducky,” he sighed, “I’m starting to think we’re in the wrong neighbourhood. I mean, the shower spews poison water, there’s trash everywhere, and I’m pretty sure Cranky is behind half of it.” He sighed again, sinking into the sofa. “No-one seems to appreciate the hard work we do keeping this sewer clean. I mean, there’s Allie, and she’s nice, but Cranky, Karl, Pushy, Shovey and all the others…just a little appreciation for us, Ducky! Would that be so hard?!”
Ducky didn’t say anything. He just stared.
“Exactly!” Swampy huffed, folding his arms crossly. “Why, if-”
The shower pipe suddenly rattled and groaned, and from the sound of it, something thick, green and sticky was beginning to pour out of the showerhead and into the poison-filled tub.
Swampy sigh-groaned, rolling his eyes. “And now there’s ooze in the bath. Great…” He muttered. Then his eyes opened at what that meant. “Wait, OOZE-?!”
KABOOM!!
The combo of poison water and ooze went off like a bomb, exploding the bathroom and blowing Swampy and Ducky to a window from its shockwave. As the two lay there against the glass, another bag of trash exploded against the window.
“That’s it.” Swampy mumbled, his face smushed against the glass. “Ducky, we’re moving.”
“You’re moving?!” Allie was aghast at the news that Swampy, the gator she had a crush on, was leaving the sewer.
“That’s right.” Swampy sighed, checking on his belongings one last time. In the traditional manner, he had bundled his belongings up in a checked bag, tied it to a stick, and slung it over his shoulder. Ducky remained on his other shoulder. “The sewer is just too filthy for me and Ducky. I mean, you’re great and everything, Allie, but everything else is just filthy.” He slung the stick and bag over his shoulder again.
“B-But!...” Allie stammered. “Where will you go?”
“I don’t know.” Swampy sighed again. “I’m thinking of some kind of beach area-ooh! Or a cabin in the woods! I hear the humans have been cleaning up lately!” Somehow, Allie found that last part hard to believe.
“But how will I see you again?” Swampy paused at this question. “Uh…I’ll come and visit every now and then. I’ll miss you, Allie.” He sounded wistful, and Allie was, for a second, basically heartbroken.
“Then…take this.” She replied, taking her beloved pink bow off her head and handing it to Swampy. Swampy was taken aback-never in a million years would he think Allie would give her bow, the bow that Swampy had found, back to her! “So you can remember me.”
Hesitantly, Swampy took the bow. It was soft and velvety, and in spite of the sewage, it smelt like something incredible. “Thank you.” He said, before putting it in the cloth. “I’ve got to go now. Goodbye, Allie.” And with that, Swampy walked off, though he did not look as enthusiastic as he had imagined he would.
Allie futilely reached out to him, tears already beginning to form in her eyes. “Goodbye, Swampy…” She whispered, before Swampy walked around a corner, and she could see him no more.