#encanto reference

Piranha Comes Home To Bolivia

The Bad Guys were taking a private jet plane as their way to go on a trip round the world. Question was: Where would they go now?

Wolf was in the cockpit, piloting the jet. If he could drive a car, why not a jet? He put the jet into autopilot before leaving the cockpit to meet with his friends in the cabin. “So, any particular place we should go first?”

“Ooh, Mexico!” Tarantula raised her hand.

“The Caribbeans,” Snake said.

“Hawaii!” Shark shouted excitedly.

“What about Spain?” Piranha indicated.

“Why would you like to go to Spain?” Hornet arched a brow, giggling.

“Eh, I heard there’s a romantic city in Spain called Barcelona, and I would like to take you there,” Piranha gently held Hornet's tiny hand.

“Aww.” Hornet blushed at Piranha’s gesture.

Snake rolled his eyes at this. “Don’t tell me you want to go to Spain just for a date.”

“Well, yeah… why would it be?” Piranha smirked sheepishly.

Looking at Piranha, Hornet’s brain suddenly clicked as he asked his boyfriend, “Hey, Piranha, honey, why don’t we go to the place where you used to live?”

“What?!” Piranha exclaimed surprisingly.

“Piranha! Yeah!” Shark said excitedly as the rest of the Bad Guys chattered in agreement.

“You used to tell us you lived in Bolivia. Why don't we go there?" Wolf proclaimed.

Piranha was nervous about the idea of visiting his home as he said, “Umm, come on, amigos, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not? It’ll be fun to learn where you came from,” Hornet said while leaning himself on his Piranha's face.

“Plus, we want to know you even better,” Shark added.

“Come on, guys, it’s not a big deal,” the little fish pleaded.

“Oh, it is a big deal, hermano,” Wolf smiled as he walked back to the cockpit and took the wheel. “Let’s go to Bolivia!”

“But… but—” Piranha tried to stop his friends from agreeing with the idea, but the rest of the Bad Guys were too excited for their first destination trip. With that, they wouldn’t listen to Piranha in any way.

They’re going to Bolivia.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The jet plane landed in the Amazon rainforest to keep the destination of the landed jet hidden. The Bad Guys had to find Piranha’s home by foot if they wanted to lay low for their vacation trip. They had to bring a bag for each of them in case of an emergency and survival if they ever got lost in the forest. As they got off the plane, the other five Bad Guys wondered where they would go since they had never been to Piranha’s hometown before, and they landed in the middle of the forest to avoid getting caught.

“You know, you never told us where you lived, Piranha,” Snake pointed out.

“Aww, too bad. Guess we’re getting out of here. He thought he was in the clear as Piranha headed back to the plane.

Hornet hovered in front of him to stop his way and begged at him, “Come on, Piranha. Only you know where your home is. Could you at least lead us there? Piranha still felt hesitant, especially for his boyfriend, but Hornet let out his puppy eyes at him with a pleading, “Please!”

Those eyes again! Who would resist those eyes? Piranha groaned in defeat, “Fine, but it won’t be easy in the forest. Let’s just find a bus once we get to the street.”

Piranha decided to lead the way as the Bad Guys followed him. They trusted him since he knew his way around the place better than they did.

Eventually, they found the street and a bus stop. What a stroke of luck. All they had to do was wait for the bug, especially when Piranha was extending his thumb up by the street.

While waiting, Snake and Shark noticed a lot of wanted posters of himself and his friends.

So much for laying low.

Not wanting anyone else to know they were wanted, Snake and Shark quietly nodded at each other, agreeing to take all the posters off. They put them all in their backpacks so no one would see them, not even the rest of the gang. They didn’t want to add problems for their trip.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the bus arrived, the Bad Guys hopped in, but the bus was a bit crowded with not just people but also their bags and crates of chickens. Everyone in the bus must have squeezed in so that the bus had enough space for all of them.

Traveling through the forest wasn’t easy for a crowded bus. The driver had to drive slowly to avoid bumps, rocks, and potholes to keep the bus steady for a safe trip for the passengers. The Bad Guys were sitting at the back of the bus, as it was the only space for them to take.

“Well, the bus might be crowded, but at least we’re going to see your home,” Hornet nudged his elbow at Piranha, who was close to him.

“Yeah, I guess.” Piranha wasn’t so enthusiastic about coming home. He knew coming home wouldn’t be a happy moment for him.

As they took their time to wait to get to Piranha’s hometown, Shark could sense the silence in the bus, so he broke the silence, “I can get some Bolivian air right now,” he breathed the air from the window, “Kinda a little hot, huh?” Then, he let out an awkward chuckle, “Or more a little awkward when no one was gonna gossip about news and stuff?” When Shark said that, the other Bad Guys realized that no one in the bus stared at them as if they were strangers or unknown people to others. This meant that not everyone knew about the Bad Guys and their reputation. But Shark nearly gave them the idea.

To change the topic to avoid making things worse, he asked Piranha with an offensive question, “So, do you have a girlfriend back home?”

Surprisingly, Piranha punched Shark out of the bus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, the bus drove into the forest as Piranha called out to stop the bus.

“This is our stop!” The bus stopped at that spot as the Bad Guys got off the bus before Piranha told the driver, “Gracias!” and the bus continued its trip.

Piranha then turned to continue the journey to find his hometown and led his team with him.

Despite that, still following Piranha, the Bad Guys realized they were still in the middle of the forest. They weren’t in town or city at all. Just a lot of trees and flora everywhere.

 “Umm, Piranha, we’re still in the forest. You know that, right?” Snake pointed out.

“Just follow me,” Piranha said.

“Are you sure you didn’t get us lost?” Tarantula asked,

“If I intended to get us lost, I would’ve done that before when we left the plane.” The little fish said, feeling irritated by his friends’ doubts about finding the way to his town.

After a couple of miles of walking and trimming down bothersome plants, Piranha made the final stop between two giant trees.

“Well, here we are,” he declared.

The Bad Guys only stared at Piranha between the two trees, and they were puzzled by the place. There wasn’t anything behind the two trees, except the Amazon River was a few miles away. There was no town, no citizens, just another part of the forest.

“You’re seeing things, fish bro,” Shark spoke.

“Yeah, there’s nothing there but ahead was the Amazon River.” Wolf complained.

“You’ll be…” Piranha walked backwards until he suddenly disappeared. “Surprise!” His voice was still heard and echoed.

“Whoa!” The other Bad Guys gasped and widened their eyes.

Piranhas just disappeared when he walked backwards through the two trees. Where had he gone to?

“Piranha? Where are you?” Wolf was concerned for his little friend as he tried to find him by jumping through the gap between the two trees. This was where Piranha was last seen. Right before their eyes. But when he got through the gap, he also disappeared like Piranha’s, “Aahh!”

“WOLF!” Snake, Shark, Tarantula, and Hornet screamed. Wolf was also gone!

But to their surprise, half of Wolf appeared through the gap of the two trees, alive and okay, and told the rest of his friends, “Hey guys, take a look at this!”

When Wolf grabbed Shark’s fin, he pulled him and the rest of the Bad Guys through the gap.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Snake, Shark, Tarantula, and Hornet stumbled on Wolf, squishing him a little, but when they opened their eyes, they were surprised to see what was right in front of them.

“Wow!”

A small town with a big community. Most of the citizens were humans who lived in huts as their homes. Some of the homes were cemented with colored roofs. And everyone in town was working very hard and helping each other to keep the town standing.

The other Bad Guys were amazed and surprised with the place. Just one second, the town wasn’t here, but after crossing the gap of two trees, the town magically appeared. But Piranha didn’t seem to be satisfied to be back home.

Hornet looked back to where they came from and figured what they had passed through: “An invisible barrier covering the town?”

“Yep. Hermanos, Hermana, welcome to Buenafecto,” Piranha declared, showing the town where he grew up in. As he continued to guide his friends through town, the Bad Guys wandered their eyes around the place.

It wasn’t like living in the city. People were working by hand, working very hard. They struggled, but they stood up and kept working. They greeted each other with happy faces, polite words, and giving thoughtful gifts. Children and young teens played with each other with electronics and old toys. Everyone was good and happy all around. The town was decorated with flowers, triangle flag banners, and music all around.

“Wow, Piranha, your hometown, it’s... it’s beautiful,” Hornet commented.

But Piranha wasn’t amazed as his friends, “Yeah, well, nothing changed since I left.”

“And what is that invisible barrier we passed through?” Tarantula questioned.

“Hmm, oh, it’s a long story.”

“You can tell us,” Hornet requested his boyfriend to tell them.

Piranha sighed but surrendered to tell the story about his hometown, “You see, years ago, before I was even born, my family found this place while swimming in the Amazon River, and this place, it just appeared right in front of my family’s eyes. Then, newcomers kept arriving, finding new homes. Then, everyone wants to stay here so they can live in peace and away from the chaos of the outside world.”

“So, this place is… magic?” Snake guessed.

Piranha rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“But why did you want to leave this place anyway? There’s nothing wrong with it,” Hornet said.

As they walked around, the residents of the town started to notice them. They dropped all of their routine and started staring at the team. They also started gossiping at each other while staring back at them.

The Bad Guys also noticed the citizens staring at them and probably gossiping about them. “Umm, why are people whispering while staring at us?” Tarantula alerted her friends quietly.

“Do they know who we are?” Snake inquired.

“No. This place and everyone in it were isolated from the outside world. They don’t check famous criminals or even the new president of America,” Piranha explained.

But the citizens weren’t gossiping about their new visitors at all. They were gossiping about Piranha. Their eyes were on him since he arrived, and Piranha knew this. He chose to ignore them because he knew how the citizens of his hometown would react upon his return.

News spread so fast as the gossip kept passing all over this hidden town until it passed down to a mystery person who was so shocked at the return of Mr. Piranha,

“Is it…” Piranha heard that familiar voice that echoed as he tried to not look ahead, but he couldn’t resist. He knew that voice. Ahead on his path was a female piranha wearing a dress and a hair tie wrapping around her head fin. The female piranha was. Very happy when she saw him, and rushed towards, “It’s true! It’s all true!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Piranha held his fins up, but he was caught in a hug.

The female piranha squeezed the young fish tightly before throwing him into the air and catching him back into her arms. “Aah! My little hermano has finally come home!” At first, the other Bad Guys were a little cautious that someone was running after Piranha.

They thought someone was attacking him, but they were surprised that a female piranha hugged him happily. Though, Tarantula and Hornet chuckled at this that someone snuggled Piranha that tight.

Piranhas felt embarrassed as he tried to struggle out of the embrace. “Come on, hermana, not in front of my guests.”

The female piranhas put him down before noticing a group of animals behind him. “And who are these muchachos?”

“Prima, these are my amigos.” Piranha introduced his friends to the female piranha before he introduced her to his friends. “Guys, this is my sister, Prima.”

Now this was a surprise.

Wolf gently took Prima’s hand and kissed it, “It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Good to see you,” Hornet greeted.

“Hi,” Tarantula waved her hand.

“Hello,” Snake waved his tail.

“You look like our friend here,” Shark observed.

“It’s good to meet you too,” Prima smiled before ruffling Piranha's head fins. “Pepe, I missed you, Chico! You should visit sometimes.”

Tarantula snorted as she tried to hold her laughter. “’Pepe’?”

The rest of the Bad Guys snickered as they tried not to laugh now that they finally knew what Piranha’s real name was.

Piranha felt so ashamed that his friends finally knew his real name through his older sister. He wasn’t ready to tell them his real name yet. His friends might not be either since their names are too confidential. Now, they’re gonna remember his name forever!

“Aww, ashamed to tell your friends your real name?” Prima cooed while pinching her little brother’s cheek before asking his friends, “What did he want to call with?”

“Just ‘Piranha,’” Hornet answered while gritting his teeth from laughing.

“Well, it’s not shameful to call yourself the name of our species,” Prima ruffled Piranha's head fins again before giving him a big hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Okay, Prima, you can let go of me now,” Piranha said, gently forcing Prima to let go of him.

 “You should come to our house. I’ll tell our Papà and the rest of our family. We’ll throw you a welcome home party tonight,” Prima announced.

“I… I don’t think it’s necessary…” Piranha hesitated with the idea, but he heard his friends excitedly murmur in agreement.

“A party?!” Shark squealed.

“Oh, we’ll definitely go,” Tarantula nodded.

“Yeah, we would be happy to meet the family,” Wolf added.

“Excelente. I’ll get back home to tell the others; you should go later,” she told them before running off to tell the entire family about Piranha’s return.

“Prima, no, please,” Piranha called out, trying to convince his sister, but it was already too late. She was already far away,

“Wow, Piranha, your sister is kinda cool,” Shark commented.

“Yeah, how come you never told us you have a sister?” Tarantula questioned.

“It’s not that I don’t like my sister. I love her, but we don’t get in touch with each other since I left,” Piranha replied.

“Maybe because you didn’t give your contacts,” Snake guessed, making Piranha roll his eyes.

“And your real name is ‘Pepe’?” Wolf snickered, making the rest of the Bad Guys release their laughter.

Piranha sighed, “It’s worse than I thought.”

Hornet hovered himself down at Piranha’s level and caressed his face. “Relax, sweetie, don’t be so hard on yourself. Besides, when we meet your family, you might introduce me as your boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Piranha chuckled doubtfully.

When his friends wanted to continue walking forward, Piranha followed his friends, hoping nothing bad would happen once they met his family at his childhood home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bad Guys made it to Piranha’s family house, and it was not what they expected. The house was big, fit for like hundreds of people. It was like a protruding mansion with wider spaces and just 7 stories tall and many small balconies located on the outside walls. The other five were so speechless with their mouths dropped that they couldn’t say anything about what they thought of Piranha’s childhood home. He could’ve been a rich kid. But Piranha wasn’t nostalgic about the place. He had been here before, so it wasn’t a surprise how big his house was, but he did miss this place. He just didn’t like to admit it. He only made a small smile to show the house that he missed it. To his friends’ surprise, the other Bad Guys noticed one of the window doors just waved at him back. They freaked out at first, but it was probably the wind… a light wind.

Before they could enter the house, they already noticed a lot of humans and piranhas walking in and out, getting ready for the “Welcome Home” party for Piranha. It would be a busy town then.

When they entered the house, the house wasn’t full of just people; it was full of lots and lots of anthropomorphic piranhas, who all looked a lot like Piranha but had different clothing and hairstyles. They were all working together to make the house clean and decorative for the party. They were playing each other’s part to make this house ready.

As expected, everyone paused when Piranha first stepped into the house. They all stared at him. It was real. It was all true. The young piranha finally came home! Some of the piranhas greeted him with open arms and cheerful smiles, delighted to see him again after being gone for years, but some of them weren’t so delighted. Not a lot of piranhas liked their missing relative. They rather just ignored him and got back to work. Few of them made a small wave “hello” at him before proceeding to their work. Once happy greetings were done, the piranhas returned to their work.

Though the only thing Piranha expected was a greeting from his father.

And there he was, standing at the 2nd story railings and looking down at him. Piranha only stared at him, waiting for any response from his father, but the latter gave him a small smile and a nod before heading back to work and instructing his children and nephews what they would do.

Piranha knew his father wouldn’t give him a welcoming greeting or anything. Just a nod and nothing else.

But his sad thoughts were interrupted when Wolf gave him a nudge.

“Wow, Piranha, you had like hundreds of relatives,” the team leader complimented.

“900,542 brothers and cousins to be exact,” Piranha mentioned.

“Guess your records weren’t kidding about that number of relatives,” Tarantula remarked.

“Hey Pepe, I have a gift for you,” a young woman named Ria approached him with a basket of things. Quickly, Piranha took a hold of the basket when Ria dropped it in his arms. “It’s my welcome home gift with all of our famous Bolivian food and stuff.”

“Thank you,” Piranha grinned.

“And good luck on the party. Your whole family was devastated when you left. I bet tonight is gonna be great." Ria gave two thumbs up before glancing at the other Bad Guys without knowing who they were. “Oh, hello.”

The five waved hello at Ria before she left. While Piranha was still holding the basket, Shark took the chance to pick whatever was in it and held a Salteña before throwing it into his mouth.

As Piranha proceeded with his friends behind him, the house was filled with busy people arranging the furniture to add a lot of space and putting up some decorations. They also tried to avoid falling down into a huge circular pond in the middle of the main living room that was occupied by a Victoria Boliviana water lily. All they had to do was pass around it.

“That banner should be a little higher, please,” Piranha’s father, Primo Sr., instructed a town citizen who put a “Welcome Home” banner on top of Piranha’s bedroom door. Primo Sr. then instructed his twin sons, “Paz 67, Perez 67, help Inigo out.”

“Got it!” Paz 67 and Perez 67 saluted as Perez 67 stood up straight and Paz 67 jumped on top of him to help their human neighbor pin the other end of the banner on the wall.

“Perico 1 089, could you put the Bombo drums upstairs?” Primo Sr. ordered his nephew.

“I’ll handle it, Tio!” Perico 1 089 slowly put a stack of chairs down and ran past Piranha and his friends, “Careful, cuz!”

The Bad Guys moved out of the way to avoid the fast piranha’s path.

Pasqual 731 carried 2 towers of boxes and barrels with both of his little arms, and tried to balance them all, “I don’t know where I can put these barrels and boxes!”

“Can we put some more decorations up for this party?” Patricio 11 called out while holding a clipboard and pen.

“Don’t worry, I got it!” Pedro 1, the family’s golden child, exclaimed as he carried a tower of flowerpots and vases and gently put them all in a decorative arrangement.

Most of his relatives and the citizens cheered for him, but Piranha thought of him as a show-off, not that his friends and boyfriend knew that, as they were as impressed as everyone else in the whole town.

“Please, don’t clap. I’m doing my job here,” Pedro 1 chuckled before giving a woman flowers.

“Thank you, Pedro 1,” the woman said appreciatively.

“De nada,” Pedro 1 said before accidentally bumping into his little brother that he never got along with, “A little brotherly advice: if you weren’t always trying too hard to welcome yourself back home, you wouldn’t be in the way.”

“Actually, Pedro 1, I was gonna help out with the party since it’s my party. And I’m not in the way. You are,” When Piranha walked away while talking back to his older brother, he didn’t see where he was going as he bumped into a nearby pillar.

Feeling the pain on Piranha’s face, Shark and Hornet pulled Piranha from the pillar that had his face stuck onto it.

At the kitchen, another one of Piranha’s brothers, Prospero 172, was preparing the plates for the party but noticed his brother coming with a basket, and his friends were trying to help him.

“Whoa,”

“Excuse me,” Piranha grunted when he put the basket on the counter.

Wolf then noticed Prospero 172 and gave him a wave of his paw, “Hola!”

“Hola to you too,” Prospero 172 greeted nicely at who might’ve been Piranha’s guest. He turned to his brother and asked, “Mi hermano, you okay? You don’t have to work. This is your party of your return after all.”

“I know, Prospero 172, but I just want to do my part like the rest of the family,” Piranha said as he put the earthenware vase from the basket on the table.

“You don’t need to,” Cousin Paz 2 222 cut in, showing himself to be bruised. “Ever since you left, Papà was devastated, but sometimes, his feelings were mixed. We don’t want you home, or Papà will explode, but we didn’t expect him to be this calm.”

Cousin Palomo 480 joined the conversation as well, “And you didn’t leave a letter or any contacts when we tried to reach you, but instead, you just came back on your own, and you brought… unexpected guests,” he turned to stare at Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantulas, and Hornet.

“Hi,” Tarantula spoke.

“You know, I always know you have different taste with making friends,” Paz 2 222 complimented.

“Shut up and eat, Paz 2 222,” Prospero 172 shoved a Cuñapé into his cousin’s mouth to make him shut up before he could say anything hurtful towards Piranha and turned to comfort his youngest brother, “Pepe, if you ever wanna talk about what happened to you and where you had been…”

“I gotta put out the stuff. The house isn’t gonna decorate itself,” Piranha said, making the house squeak and the triangular banners lower. “Sorry, you could. You look great.”

The banners rose up again.

Once again the Bad Guys freaked out, and this time, they did notice the house just responded to Piranha, which was strange and scary.

 “Did the banner just… move?” Shark whispered.

“Did the house just squeak?” Snake added.

But when they noticed Piranha was walking out of the kitchen with the now-empty basket, the five Bad Guys tried to catch up with him.

“Hermano, remember!” Prospero 172 called

“Yeah, remember!” Palomo 480 repeated.

“You have nothing to prove!” The three piranhas chimed in unison.

As he walked off, Piranha responded with a soft, “Mm-hmm.”

Prospero 172 added when he watched the other 5 animals following his brother, “And take your friends with you! They’ll keep you company!”

Only Piranha’s thumb came back in sight as a response before disappearing.

As his brother and his friends were gone, Prospero 172 was free to say what he thought about the guests, “I like Pepe’s friends.”

“The wolf one was cool,” Paz 2 222 complimented.

“Funny. I like the spider one,” Palomo 480 admitted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, despite the effort of his family telling him not to help, Pirnaha ended up wanting to help anyway. He set up doilies that had each of his relatives; names on them and placed candles in the middle of each of them, including his father's. Pirnaha wanted to do it all by himself, but he would mind if he let his friends help. To be safe, Snake, Tarantula, and Hornet volunteered since Piranha had too many brothers, cousins, and a sister, and he couldn’t do all of these by himself. Wolf and Shark were wandering around the house while staring at photos of Piranha’s family. They even noticed the longest portrait of the Piraña Family, as its name was labeled at the bottom frame of the portrait.

“Wow, Piranha, I never thought your family could be this… big,” Wolf noticed as the rest of the Bad Guys gathered around to see the whole portrait.

The portrait definitely captured the whole family. All 900,546 of them.

“Aww, I saw the little you!” Hornet pointed Baby Piranha in the portrait.

Piranha stared at his own image as a baby. He did look cute that time. His baby self was carried by a female piranha, who was his mother, smiling at the camera. They were so happy that time. Oh, how he missed her.

Snake then turned his attention to a glass display next to the portrait. “Hey, what’s that?”

Inside the glass case inside the wall was a white water lily flower. It was kept there, protected, and it looked healthy and young.

“That’s our family’s prize possession. This was what my family found when we found our home,” Piranha answered. There was a story involving this flower. It was a life-changing flower for him and his family for years.

“Dinner at sunset!” His father’s voice was heard, making the Bad Guys back away from the portrait.

Piranha was startled and accidentally stepped on his father’s doily, making the candle tip and fall and causing its flames to burn a quarter of the doily.

Piranha quickly took the candle and tried to put the fire out. “No, no, no!” He tried waving the doily and even stepped on it, but it was unfortunate timing when his father came in front of him, and his friends stepped aside.

“Maybe you should leave the decorations to someone else?” Primo Sr. suggested.

“No, I actually made these as a surprise for you.” Piranha showed his father the doily, but it was already burned. “Ooh!” He threw the doily on the ground and stepped on it to stop the fire from spreading.

“Pepe, I know you want to help. But you just came home, and tonight must go perfectly, especially for you,” Primo Sr. explained, “The whole town relies on our family, on our reputation as the good family of piranhas. So, the best way for some of us to help is to step aside. Let the rest of the family do what they do best. Okay?”

Piranha was disheartened that his father didn’t want him to be included to help for the party. He could sense that his father was disappointed in him for leaving, and his return didn’t make him happy at all. But Piranha wanted to put on a brave face and understood without questioning the issue. He wanted to prove himself that he can be as good as the rest of the family, just like his father wanted, “Mm-hmm.”

“Besides, since you bring guests, why don’t you show them to your room? Let them know where you grew up,” Primo Sr. offered this idea, which Piranha slowly nodded in agreement.

Through this scene, the other Bad Guys could sense that Piranha and his father didn’t have a good relationship, probably before he left to join the team. It must’ve been a rough childhood for Piranha when it came to impressing his father. They felt bad for their little muscle. Not everyone respected him in this household.

Suddenly, the railings shook as Primo Sr. and Piranha knew where it came from.

From across the room, Primo Sr. called out to one of his paranoid sons, “Prudencio 12! You’re chittering hard again!”

“I know, Papà, but I’m nervous for this evening! What do you want from me?!” Prudencio 12 shouted in panic as he marched away.

Without hesitating, Piranha led his friends to his bedroom while hiding his distraught face. The rest of the Bad Guys could sense his sadness too. They felt bad for him that he was forced to step aside and be less helpful to his family. All 6 of them could hear the conversation of Primo Sr. and Prima from the stairs.

“Papà, be nice to Pepe, okay?” Prima pleaded, “You know tonight will be hard for him now that he has returned.”

“This is why I’m worried. Your brother came home for the first time in years. I don’t want this celebration to be perfect just for the family or the whole town, but for him too,” Primo Sr. told his daughter about his worries.

The Bad Guys wanted to hear the whole conversation before entering Piranha’s room and shut the door. Now that they were inside, no one would hear them talking about what they had just discovered new about Piranha, and they all put their bags down. It wasn’t what they had expected from him. He was known as the bravest and toughest guy around, but it turned out that he had a hard time connecting with his biological family.

“That… was a little intense, right? Heh,” Shark tried to lighten the mood a little, but it didn’t work.

“Piranha, your family is… good… and perfect,” Wolf observed from Piranha's relatives when they came in.

“Yeah, they were like… not bad, like we are now,” Snake added.

“They weren’t like you,” Tarantula commented, recalling that no one was crazy or a fighter like Piranha.

“At least your father was happy to see you, and your sister and some of your brothers and cousins are, too,” Hornet smiled, trying to cheer his boyfriend up, but Piranha was still sitting sulking on his bed. “Piranha, are you okay?”

“This is exactly why I left, guys,” Piranha responded as his friends were silent for a moment to listen to his reason why he left a perfect family behind. “My family… had this reputation. Since my family found this hidden town, and newcomers arrived and lived here, my father wanted our family to set up a good example for the whole town. He wanted our family to show us piranhas that we’re not harmful or not as bad as the rest of the world described us, so he wanted us to be perfect and proper. To be the good family of piranhas the whole town expected us to be,” he looked out the window and watched a few of his brothers and cousins help the townspeople lift heavy objects and arrange the garden ornaments.

“No wonder no one in this town was afraid of us, or you or your family,” Wolf recalled from earlier.

“Well, each of us serves the community without talents, like my older brother Pedro 1, who is a florist; Cousin Paz 2 222 was like a piranha shield; Prospero 172 was one of the cooks of this family, and Prima has good hearing. Each of us has a part to serve the community, and this is how we showed ourselves as examples of good role models for the town,” Piranha explained.

“But what about you, Piranha? It seems like you don’t have one." Snake pointed out

Wolf gave Snake a hard nudge, not wanting to hurt Piranha after what happened to him and his father. “Shh, Snake!”

“It’s true,” the little fish admitted, “I didn’t serve much, because… this isn’t what I want. Because… I want to be free. I could do what I want, good or bad. And ever since my Mamà was gone, my father pressured me. My father wanted me to be something I don't want to be. He wanted me to be a good model, but it was too much. That was how the chaotic side of me was triggered. I want to fight. I want to be bad. I want to be something my father was against! That is why I left. I want to find my own life. Then I went to California, and I met all of you.”

From Piranha’s story, Hornet realized that his boyfriend almost had a similar dark story with family as his, but a lot different. More like their stories were polar opposites, but it didn’t change the fact that they were both the “black sheep” of their respective families. “Oh, Piranha, I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

“And I don’t want to come back. I tried to tell you guys.”

“You should’ve told us before,” Shark suggested.

“Yeah, and I regret keeping secrets from you guys,” Hornet reminded.

“I thought my life before wasn’t so important,” Piranha described.

Suddenly, the floorboards raised up and down, which made Piranha smile a little.

The other Bad Guys freaked out when the floor suddenly made the bed jump.

“Okay, I’m gonna say this: What is up with this house?!” Tarantula yelled in panic.

Piranha chuckled, “You guys won’t believe me when I tell you.”

His friends glanced at each other before Snake said, “Okay, then we don’t wanna know.”

Piranha rolled his eyes, confirming he was sarcastic about what he said, but he knew his friends were eager to know, so he confessed, “Fine! I’ll tell you! The flower you guys saw, the flower when my family found this place… well, it’s kinda magic. That flower is our light. Our way of finding our new home is like this town. And it just… made our house like this, this living house, Casamilia, and the magic barrier too, to keep us safe and hidden from the danger of the world. That flower never died down since my family found it, so we kept it protected… to keep this magic alive.”

The five Bad Guys were very speechless. Magic? Exist? In their world? They wanted it to be new and impossible to believe, but hearing from Piranha, it sounded so true and serious.

“Wow, that... incredible,” Hornet complimented, then finishing his sentence, “And totally impossible!”

Piranha clicked his tongue and groaned, “Grr, I knew you guys wouldn’t believe me.”

“No, Piranha, we do! It’s just that… It sounded crazy,” Wolf admitted while trying not to make fun out of it.

“Yeah, knowing you, you don’t look like a magical type,” Tarantula added.

“Well, it’s different when you look at other people,” Piranha stared at the window, looking outside and frowning, “All that flower ever did was bless us and protect us from the outside world when I feel like I belong in the outside world.”

To change the topic, Wolf then questioned, “So, did your family or any of them know what you had been up to while you were gone?”

“No. They don’t. I never stayed in touch with my family since I left. With that, I never told them I became part of a criminal gang. That’s why I never talked to them or visited them ever since,” Piranha answered.

“It explains a lot that nobody knows about us when we arrived,” Snake acknowledged from when they first came to town.

“Well, the good news is no one knows about us,” Tarantula sighed in relief.

But when Hornet hovered backwards, he accidentally bumped into their bags, but Snake and Shark’s bags were left unopened. He could see what was inside each bag, and two of them were filled with papers. Curiously, Hornet opened Shark’s bag and noticed the wanted posters of him and his team. “What the?” Hornet opened Snake’s bag next, and it contained the same waned posters. “Shark, Snake, what is this?”

This caught everyone’s attention as Wolf wanted to look for himself. He took the wanted posters from the bag, and it have his and his team’s pictures on them.

“Where did these come from?” He inquired, showing Snake and Shark the posters.

“Snake and I found these at the bus stop. We took them all so no one would recognize us,” Shark replied.

“And you didn’t throw them in the trash?” Tarantula queried.

“There was no trash bin back there, and the bus arrived when we finished taking them off,” Snake noted.

Piranha hopped off the bed and looked at the posters himself. The posters also have his name and face on them too. “If Papà finds out about this, he’ll be furious, guys! And he depends on our family to have a good reputation for the whole town!”

They all turned to Wolf. As the team leader, he knew what to do. As they waited, Wolf stared at the posters and imagined how Piranha’s family would react if they found out about this. Not only the family but the whole town will be distraught and angered, and their homes will fall and crumble, like a disaster movie.

“We say nothing,” Wolf suggested as he gathered all of the posters, crumpled them, and put some of them in his pockets while lowering his voice into a whisper. “I know your dad wants this welcome home party tonight to be perfect. Until the party is finished, we don’t have these posters. We’re not criminals. We’re not called ‘The Bad Guys.’ We’re just good, perfect role models. No one will know that we're the Bad Guys, and no one will know we're infamous criminals. No one will know. Just act normal. No one has to know.”

Piranha’s door suddenly slowly opened and revealed that Prima was standing in front of the door this whole time and probably heard everything the Bad Guys just said. She made a small squeak, causing the Bad Guys to hear her, and slowly turned around to see her with her eyes widened, and she was frozen in place.

“I know,” Prima whispered and squeaked again before running away.

Now someone else knew about their secret; the Bad Guys knew they screwed up.

“She’s gonna tell everyone,” Piranha said quietly.

“Time to eat!” Primo Sr. called out that it’s dinner time.

“Mierda,” Wolf said in Spanish. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the dining room, the very large dining room, the eating table was wide and large for all 900545 family members and guests to get together and eat together. The Bad Guys sat on one side of the end of the table, where they could keep an eye on Prima, who sat across the table. They had to make sure she won’t tell anyone.

Primo Sr. hosted the party as he announced to the entire family, “We are gathered here tonight to celebrate the return of little Pepe. The prodigal son has finally come home." He was referred to his youngest son. He sounded so calm and gentle, but Piranha tried to hide his grudge as he knew his father wasn’t so happy to have him home. Primo Sr. had to put himself in a ”loving father” mode to protect his family reputation as the good piranha family, “I’m so happy that my youngest son has finally returned to where he truly belongs." He then referred to the rest of the Bad Guys, “And we welcomed his friends, uh…” He hadn’t gotten their names yet.

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula, and Hornet never shared each other’s names yet, and they couldn’t reveal their real names yet as they were too ashamed to speak about their real names.

“Um, my name is Oliver Poodleton,” Wolf reused his fake name before introducing the rest of his friends, “And my Snake friend is Greg Scales, the Shark is Craig Seawell, the spider is Charlotte Arachnidia, and the little Hornet is Buzz Stingerson.”

“Whaaat?” Hornet wasn’t satisfied with Wolf’s fake name for him.

“To Pepe and his friends!” Cousin Patricio 11 raised his glass, “Salud!”

“Salud!” The rest of the family cheered.

While the other piranhas were talking to each other, the Bad Guys kept their eyes on Prima, making sure she wouldn’t do anything to tell the others about their secret. Even if they had to scoop their own food onto their plates, they had to have their eyes on her.

Prima was a bit afraid when her brother and his friends had their eyes on her. She also had her eyes stare back at them, but she kept making soft squeaks, feeling nervous to try to keep the secret to herself.

The Bad Guys still had their eyes open for Prima, without even a blink. That was until someone shoved a bowl of avocado in front of them.

“Avocado,” Paquito 4 007 said while serving the avocado to his younger cousin and his friends.

This distracted the Bad Guys as Piranha held the bowl, and they all turned their gaze back at Prima, but she had already turned her gaze away from them and whispered to her Cousin Perfecto 45, who was sitting next to her.

Prima’s news startled Perfecto 45 as he choked on his food and gritted his teeth in shock. Primo Sr. and some of his sons and nephews noticed Perfecto 45’s cough but tried to ignore him as he looked okay from their sight.

His brother Pablo 61, noticed the look on Perfecto 45’s face as he whispered to him, “Perfecto 45. Relax your face.”

Perfecto 45 shook his head to relax his face from cringing. Now Perfecto 45 knew about his youngest cousin’s secret.

The Bad Guys gasped in worry, but someone offered a pitcher of water in front of them.

“Water?” Piranha’s brother, Prospero 1 333, served water to his little brother.

The pitcher blocked the Bad Guys’ sight of Prima and Perfecto 45 as Wolf tried to move the pitcher aside; they saw Perfecto 45 telling the news to his brother.

When Pablo 61, learned about the news, it was a surprise to him as he spat water onto Wolf, which startled everyone.

Realizing he made a fool of himself because of the news about his cousin and his friends, Pablo 61 cleared his throat and tried to act casually.

“Pepe,” Primo Sr. called to his youngest son, “The cream, please.”

The small cup of cream was next to Snake as Piranha requested him, “Greg, the cream.”

Snake chuckled softly and nervously as he kept gritting his teeth while shakily giving the cream to Piranha to pass it on.

Piranha then noticed Pablo 61 passed the secret to his cousin, Prudencio 12, who suddenly chittered while shaking the table as he learned about his little brother being a criminal.

“Prudencio 12, you’re chittering.” Primo Sr. said when he noticed the table was shaking.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down,” Prudencio 12 whispered while trying to calm down.

His eyes were on the shaky table as Piranha failed to notice that his brother told Prospero 172 about this secret, which shocked him as well while staring at him with concern.

Piranha tried to look away from his brother’s gaze while drinking a glass of Chicha de piña.

But then, Hornet hovered towards Piranha and whispered to him, “Piranha, why is the floor cracking?”

“What?” This was new to Piranha, or in this house. There were never cracks in this house in forever. He looked under his chair and noticed the crack started growing. He didn’t know why these cracks grew, but this was unusual. There was no earthquake. The cracks just appeared and grew. Piranha looked closely at the cracks as he put his head under the table.

“Pepe?” Palacido 1 112 called for his little brother as Piranha bumped his head under the table before freeing himself up and rubbed his head, “Everything okay?”

Piranha didn’t know what to answer to his concerned brother until “Craig Seawell” answered for him.

“Everything is great. He was just happy that he’s finally home.”

“Yep, very happy,” Piranha lied but tried to smile for it.

“That’s very good. I do hope you’ll stay here forever.,” Primo Sr. said as he poured some wine in his glass. This shocked Piranha, as this wasn’t part of the idea once he came home. Even the other Bad Guys didn’t want that either. They didn’t want to leave without Piranha. Primo Sr. started to question his son, “So, Pepe, where were you these past few years?”

“Well, I…” Piranha tried to think of something without revealing much about his crime life.

“Do you have a job?” Pedro 1 asked, hoping his brother didn’t have one.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Cousin Perdido 9 questioned dreamily.

“Are you famous?” Panchito 7 017 inquired.

All three questions were too confidential for Piranha from his family. What would he say to the ones who haven’t found out his secret yet? His job is being a criminal and a vigilante. He didn’t have a girlfriend but a hornet boyfriend? Is he even famous or infamous?

“Well, I am famous for something.” Half of it was a lie.

“Tell us,” Pio 9 231 asked excitedly as the rest of his family were all ears, wanting to hear the whole story.

Piranha couldn’t come up with another lie as he stared at Prima, Perfecto 45, Pablo 61, Prudencio 12, and Prospero 172, hoping they wouldn’t say a word about the truth of his real criminal life.

But his friends cut in to save his rear end.

“Why don’t we tell you for him?” “Charlotte Arachnidia” volunteered,

“Yeah, because we’re… Pepe’s best friends!” “Buzz Stingerson” added, not wanting to reveal he was Piranha’s boyfriend, and he would lie about his life for him.

His family stared at them in confusion if it was necessary for the youngest piranha to let his guests speak for him.

“Yeah, let them tell you!” Piranha chuckled as he got off the seat and watched his friends and biological family talk to each other.

Since this was about saving Piranha’s little butt, they might as well come up with some stories to cover up their crime lives.

“Well, Pepe is a good singer, and he’s good at defending us when we’re helpless…” “Greg Scales” explained that his indication for Piranha’s being a good singer was true, but “defending” was a translation of Piranha’s good side of being the team’s “muscle.”

While his friends distracted his family, Piranha heard a crack growing behind him. Piranha jumped on the crack to cover it with his whole body. This caught everyone's attention as they all looked at Piranha, thinking he was acting weird.

“You’re doing great,” Piranha winked at his friends, complimenting them on making up lies.

The Bad Guys continued with “Craig Seawell” adding the story, “And he also cooks breakfast for us every morning.” It wasn’t a total lie. Piranha did cook breakfast for the team.

But then, Piranha noticed his older twin brothers, Paz 67 and Perez 67, sneaking crumpled paper from Wolf’s pocket without Wolf himself noticing as he was busy distracting Piranha’s family. They were as better pickpockets than he was.

“No, no,” Piranha whispered, trying to stop his brothers, but they were alerted by him as they quickly took all the crumpled papers from Wolf’s pocket and rushed off under the table.

Even if the other Bad Guys’ made-up stories were true, Primo Sr. had doubts about his youngest son, “My Pepe wasn’t all perfect, you know. Did he do something… bad?”

Piranha watched in horror as Paz 67 and Perez 67 uncrumpled the papers, half-revealing the wanted posters right in front of their very eyes.

“Uhh…” the five Bad Guys tried to come up with another lie, but they couldn’t think of anything else.

“No!” Piranha shouted as he jumped under the table to chase his brothers, but the twins ran with the posters under their possession.

The cracks started to grow more at the ceiling, causing leaks with a few amounts of water dropping down, and birds started to fly inside through open windows, flying around chaotically and in fear.

“What is happening?!” Perfecto 886 cried in distress.

Prima couldn’t take it anymore as she screamed out loud, “Pepe is a criminal, and he and his friends are a wanted criminal gang called ‘The Bad Guys,’ and our reputation is ruined!”

Unexpectedly, Piranha caught Paz 67 and Perez 67 on top of the table and pinned them down, causing the twins to release the uncrumpled papers from their little fins and the posters to slowly fall down on the table, revealing Piranha, Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula, and Hornet’s faces with the word “Wanted” under them, and other posters revealing all 6 of them together as a group with their title “The Bad Guys.” Primo Sr. and the family were shocked by the posters. They stared at the posters in horror as they realized the prodigal son and his guests were infamous wanted criminals. They all turned to the Bad Guys with horrified faces.

The Bad Guys stood up frozen, not knowing how to explain all this.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Wolf grinned sheepishly.

That was until cracks started to grow and spread more across the room; the walls and the floor, starting from behind the Bad Guys. The cracks at the ceiling got bigger, causing more water to come out, and the windows and doors opened, revealing the citizens of the town standing outside with a big “Welcome Home” banner for Piranha.

“¡Bienvenido a casa!” They shouted cheerfully until they noticed something was wrong inside, as it wasn’t a happy party anymore with water dripping down on the family like rain.

Primo Sr. stared at Piranha in shock. He couldn’t believe that his son, his youngest son, was a criminal, and he was friends with other criminals. He couldn’t believe that he ruined the family’s good reputation, and his son’s reputation was so sinister. He ruined his own life. He left home just to live a life of crime.

Piranha and the other Bad Guys were speechless. Their cover was finally blown. They never expected this dinner and meeting the family was a total disaster. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire house went into chaos as the Piraña family ran around in panic, thinking that their lives were changing. Now that they knew their little Pepe was a criminal, they couldn’t imagine how this would affect the family and the entire town.

“Everyone, please, calm down!” Primo Sr. tried to calm his sons and nephews. Some of them ran out of the doors, thus alerting the town that everything was not okay.

“Papà, please, let me explain!” Piranha tried to reason with his father, but the latter was distracted by keeping the family calm.

“I hate you!” Pedro 1 shouted at his youngest brother while marching away angrily.

“We’re so doomed!” Palacido 1 112 cried.

“What did you do?!” Cousin Pasqual 405 scolded while trying to help his uncle and his brothers and cousins to stop panicking.

“Why are you doing this?!” Piranha’s brother, Primo Jr., added while crying.

“I… don’t… know,” Piranha slowly answered as he looked around and watched his panicking family. He didn’t know why he was doing this anymore.

He was trapped in his thoughts as he failed to feel that Wolf was grabbing his fin. “Piranha, come on,” he dragged the little fish with him when the Bad Guys were rushing upstairs to hide in Piranha’s bedroom to avoid being part of the chaos or being finger-pointing about Piranha’s family.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Primo Sr. walked outside, where the citizens of Buenafecto showed their concerned faces about what was going on in their households.

“Look, nothing is wrong here. We are good! We are not evil! We are the Piraña Family! We do good for Buenafecto!” Primo Sr. declared before shutting the door, but his voice can still be heard from both inside and out, “Pepe!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Piranhas’ bedroom, Hornet took a peek through the window and watched as a lot of piranhas were arguing, chattering, and panicking with each other about what they should do now.

“Things aren’t looking good out there,” the insect observed and told his friends.

Wolf, Snake, and Shark were packing up everything and putting them in their backpacks if they had enough space for their things.

“We should leave quickly, right now, before they come after you, Piranha,” Shark told Piranha, but the latter was still silent while sitting on his bed and staring at the floor. He was still lost in his mind.

“Maybe we should sneak through the window and find the way out to where we came from,” Snake suggested with the plan.

“Good plan, except someone might see us!” Tarantula shouted, pointing out the obvious backfire of Snake’s plan.

“Piranha, what do you think we should do?” Wolf asked him if Piranha knew about this town, so he might know where to escape without being seen, but the little fish didn’t answer. He was still in the middle of his mindspace, “Piranha?”

Piranha didn’t speak for the past five minutes. His head was in the air, trying to reflect on what he had caused tonight or all his life. He was thinking that if it was worth leaving the family to start a new life in America just to get away from his father and begin a life of crime, but this hurt the family in the process. He didn’t want to hurt his family. He loved his family. But he wasn’t happy for a long time when he lived here, not even since his mother passed away. He couldn’t do anything for himself anymore as long as he was living under his father’s will or this town’s satisfaction.

“All this time, I thought I was meant to live under my family’s shadow…” Piranha paused for a moment. “That I should be good… like them.”

The other Bad Guys thought he felt bad for ruining his life and his family for joining the crime world. They felt bad for him that he had a perfect life, and he ruined it just to be with them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back with Primo Sr., he was busy trying to calm his sons and nephews down while scolding Prima for knowing the truth and not being able to tell right away before the dinner.

“You should have told me the second you heard that Pepe and his friends were criminals,” the elderly piranha bellowed at his daughter. “Think of the family.”

“I was thinking of my brother, Papà,” Prima glared back at her father.

Primo Sr. could hear more chattering as he told another one of his panicky sons, “Pablo 12, calm down!”

“I’m doing my best!” Pablo 12 tried to stop himself from chattering his teeth.

“Yes. He’s trying, Papà,” Paciano 83 said while trying to calm his brother down.

"You’re lucky he didn’t shake the whole house,” Prudencio 12 commented.

“Papà, you’ve always been too hard on Pepe, especially ever since Mamà died,” Prospero 172 pointed out.

Primo Sr. noticed another crack as he told his children, “Look around. We must protect our family, our Buenafecto. We cannot lose our home.”

The door opened when Ria came in to speak with the patriarch, Señor, perdon. People in town are becoming anxious about the town, the magic, and everything that is going on with the family. They want to see you.”

Primo Sr. sighed as it was his duty to ease the whole town. He turned to Prospero 172 and Prima and instructed, “Find your brother. I must have a talk with him when I return,” he said as he headed outside as the door shut behind him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Piranha’s room, the five Bad Guys tried to comfort Piranha from his shameful feeling while wanting to snap him out of his reflection so they could leave as soon as possible.

“Piranha, we’re sorry about tonight. We didn’t want you to humiliate us or your crime life with us,” Wolf said.

“Yeah, we tried to impress your family that you were good, but…” Shark admitted with a sigh, “It’s not that easy, just like when you tried to have your life that was against your father’s wishes.”

“Come on, Piranha, bring it in,” Hornet said as he opened his arms to give his boyfriend a hug. The rest of the Bad Guys did the same. Though Snake didn’t have any arms, his tail is still open for Piranha too. But Piranha was still frozen out of realization. He couldn’t speak or move or engage in a hug. “Umm, Piranha, honey,” Hornet called it, waiting for Piranha to hug the team.

But instead of rushing into his friends’ hug, there was something inside of Piranha that he had been dying to release, especially in this house. Something he had always wanted to do his whole life. He never felt free when he was still under the roof before, and he could finally release that feeling that he had been bottling inside.

Piranha: I just made something unexpected Something crazy, something bad “Piranha, uhh, maybe we should...,” Wolf called out, but Piranha continued to sing. Piranha: It's not good or perfect But it's amazing and it's me What else can I do?

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: Wait. Bring it in, bring it in Piranha: (What else can I do?)

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: Good talk, bring it in, bring it in Let's walk, bring it in, bring it in Free hugs, bring it in, bring it in

Piranha: I show a good reputation to the world. Actúo amable, all the while. I make perfect, polite words So much hides behind my smile What could I do if I just thought what I was feelin' in the moment?

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: (Do you know where you're going? Whoa)

Piranha: What could I do if I just knew it didn't need to be good or perfect? I just needed to be? And they'd let me be?

My bad streak runs salvaje y loca! Intense fights

Shark: (Yep)

Piranha: Thrill of crime!

Wolf: (That was fine!)

Piranha: Sin sensación de miedos fills the air as I climb And I push through What else can I do?

The floor of Piranha’s bedroom suddenly rise up with Piranha on top while his friends trieds to catch up with him from below.

Piranha: Can I create a wave of chaos and come anew? Wow, man, my heart is racing; but it's so fun too! I wanna feel the shiver of something new I'm so sick of pretending, I want to be true, don't you?

Hornet: You just seem like your life's been a dream Since the moment you opened your eyes

Piranha: (How far do these roots go down?)

Hornet: All I know is how much you grow

Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: But it's awesome to see how you rise

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula, Hornet & Piranha: How far can you/I rise? The Bad Guys: Through the roof, to the skies Let's go

All the way up to the ceiling, the Bad Guys were sent up on top of the roof of the house.

The Bad Guys: My bad streak runs salvaje y loca!

Piranha: Intense fights

Snake: (Go!)

Piranha: Thrill of crime!

Tarantula: (Yeah!)

Piranha: Sin sensación de miedos fills the air as I climb And I push through What else, what else?

The Bad Guys: What can you do when you are deeply, madly, truly in the moment?

Wolf: (Seize the moment, keep goin')

The Bad Guys: What can you do when you know who you wanna be is bad and imperfect?

Piranha: But I'll still be okay

Hornet: Hey, everybody clear the way, woo

The commotion caught the whole town's attention, including Primo Sr., who was trying to reason with the townsfolk. When he looked at the top of the roof of his house, he saw his youngest son singing and dancing with his friends, which made some conclusions about them that disappointed the patriarch.

  Piranha: I'm comin' through with un amor por el lado mala!

Shark: (He's comin' through with that boo-yeah)

Piranha: Making waves

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: (Making waves)

Piranha: Changing minds

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: You've changed mine

Piranha: The way is clearer 'cause you're here, and well I owe this all to all of you What else can I do?

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: (Show 'em what you can do)

As they hugged, they noticed the white waterlily glowed, and the cracks of the walls around it started to disappear.

Piranha: What else can I do?

Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula & Hornet: (There's nothing you can't do)

Piranha: What else can I do?!

As they dove down, they were caught by a giant waterlily around the circular pond, landing them back on the ground safely.

“You guys are bad influences,” Piranha threw one of the small lilies as the Bad Guys laughed joyfully.

“What is going on here?!” Primo Sr. shouted as he entered the house with a mix of confusion and anger on his face.

“Papà, it’s okay! Everything’s okay.” Piranha jumped out of the lily and landed on his feet out of the pond.

The other Bad Guys followed as well, very carefully, when Wolf, Snake, and Shark avoided touching the pond. The rest of the Piraña family heard Primo Sr. yelling as they came out from every

“Mr. Piraña, everything’s gonna be fine,” Hornet spoke.

“What are you talking about? Look at our home! Look at my son,” Primo Sr. pointed at Piranha, who was standing straight and looked down, feeling trapped in a box of shame again.

“Please just… Piranha wasn’t happy,” Tarantula pointed out.

“Of course Pepe isn’t happy. You made him turn into a criminal!” the elderly piranha scolded.

“No, no, no. He didn’t want to be perfect like the rest of you. He wanted to decide for himself. And then we did all this!” Shark exclaimed.

Wolf cut in, “We can fix the cracks too if you could let us…”

“Enough!” Primo Sr. shouted, halting the Bad Guys from rambling. He turned his glare to the leader of the gang, “Mr. Poodleton… Mr. Wolf, or whoever you are. You made my son into a bad guy. You all do! You are all bad influences on my son! If my son hadn’t met you, he wouldn’t leave this family, and he would be a good and perfect example of a piranha for our town! You ruined his life! You ruined his future! You even ruined this family!”

Wolf had nothing else to say to defend himself or his friends. The rest of the gang couldn’t say a word. They wanted to prove themselves to Primo Sr. that it wasn’t their fault, or this wasn’t what he thought of them. It hurt them. His words hurt them more than being seen as criminals. They would try to understand a parent was looking out for their children, but they would never intend to ruin someone else’s life, especially if it would be their friend. They realized they would never be good enough to be part of Piranha’s life if his father never approached them.

“Bad Guys, I think you should leave. Leave now, and never come back,” Primo Sr. ordered strictly at the Bad Guys before passing through them and commanded his son, “Come on, Pepe. Go to your room." But Piranha just stood there, frozen, and his fins clenched. Primo Sr. noticed out of the corner of his eye that his son didn’t move. He turned and demanded, “I said, go to your room, Pepe!”

Piranha turned to face his father with glaring eyes. “You know what, Papà? You don’t have the rights.”

“Excuse me?” Primo Sr. inquired sternly.

“You don’t have the right to say all that to my friends!” Piranha yelled, much to his entire family and friends’ horror. They've never seen anyone stand up to the patriarch like that.

“Do you even listen to yourself?!” the piranha father spoke through his gritted teeth.

“Oh, I am! I am listening! I’m defending my friends from the likes of you!” Piranha shouted.

“Enough, Pepe! Would you rather defend your friends over your own family? You'd rather choose them over us?! You want to be with this big bad Wolf, a sinister Snake, a dangerous Shark, a menacing Tarantula, and a stupid Hornet?!”

“Shut up, Papà! Don’t you dare call Hornet stupid! Don’t ever call that to my boyfriend!”

All of his brothers, cousins, and sister gasped in shock. It wasn’t the fact that their youngest brother/cousin was in a relationship with a guy, but it was his relationship with a bug. A Hornet. A different species. It has never been planned by their father/uncle.

But, out of all of the piranhas in the room, Primo Sr. has the most disappointed reaction. He never planned for his son to be matched with someone outside of his species. His son wasn’t just a criminal, but also a disgrace of his kind. “No! Are you out of your mind?! Do you know what you put yourself into?!”

“I know where I am now, Papà! This is my decision! This is me! This is what I want to be! It was never my friend’s fault. I wanted to take this path for my life! I would feel bad if I hurt you, but we both know I didn't do that. I tried for so many years to make it comfortable for all of us to have this family, but it was never enough. The only reason I have sacrificed my own likings and happiness from your pressure and expectations for all of us to be good and perfect is for this family to be happy and complete and to satisfy you like everyone else did for you and the whole town,” Piranha blinked and panted, finally unleashing all his anger onto his father that he had kept holding for a long time. “I can’t do this anymore! I want out! Now!”

“What do you mean, out?”

“I mean out! Out of this place, out of your roof! I’m leaving this family FOR GOOD!”

“HOW DARE YOU!“ Primo Sr. marched forwards as Piranha shrank backwards, looking slightly frightened of him. “What do you think the rest of the Buenafecto will think?” He lifted his fin and didn’t hesitate to hit his son, “And Pepa—!”

Piranha caught his father’s fin, stopping him before he could hit his face and cutting him off, “Leave Mamà out of this! And I’m already 26, so I’m old enough to make my own life and my own decisions myself. So, it’s over! I’m done!”

This was the first time ever that Primo Sr. had his fin stopped from hitting his own children and nephews.

Both father and son stared intensely before the father pulled his fin away from his son in a silent rage. “Fine! I don’t want any criminal to stay in my house. You’re a disgrace, Pepe. A disgrace to our family, our town, and our species. You have fallen from what little dignity you had, and I know you'll pay for it.”

When Primo Sr. walked away, Piranha got a chance to glance at his brothers, cousins, and sister, who silently watched the entire scene. He could sense they were disappointed in him for bringing disgrace to their family and ruining their reputation in the town.

It was true.

His family wanted nothing to do with him anymore. It was his fault he chose this life, and they didn’t want to be part of it. They all left the area, turning their heads away from him, showing their disapproval for Piranha behavior and life decisions.

All that was left was his sister. Piranha hoped Prima would understand him. The two have always been inseparable, but this was the first Prima hesitated to defend him. She was as disappointed as the rest of the family. She still loved her brother, but she didn’t want to be part of her brother’s criminal life. She sadly hung her head down and walked away.

That was it. Feeling hopeless, Piranha accepted his family didn’t love him anymore because of his choice. There was nothing for him left in this house anymore.

The Bad Guys approached Piranha closely to check if he was okay. Piranha turned to his friends, and he had no response to their comfort, but he appreciated their gesture.

On their way across town, the Bad Guys were heading back to where they came in. Along the way, the townsfolk started to glare at them and spread gossips about them silently. When the Bad Guys got here, the people didn’t know about them and were happy to welcome guests, but now, they were angry at them and finally knew that they were the Bad Guys. They were no longer welcome in this town anymore. Instead of hearing screams or being thrown by garbage and rotten food, it was more hurtful to watch other people talking about them so cruelly and harshly.

The Bad Guys made it to the entrance, or exit. When they passed through the invisible barrier, Piranha gave one last look at his hometown. No one gave him a smile or a goodbye this time. Everyone hated him now. He accepted this fate as he stepped out of the barrier.

He was back in the Amazon forest with his friends. There was no turning back now since he was disowned by his family, and he was self-exiled. It was his choice to leave, and he had no regrets for this. He had no regrets for defending his friends and joined them out of town. This was the life he wanted now.

Hornet could help but felt sorry for Piranha. He didn’t want him to defend him and the team from his father. It was the bravest thing Piranha ever did for them. He hovered down to his boyfriend’s face to look at him. “Piranha, are you okay?”

Deep down, he wasn’t okay. He just got disowned. But he still has no regrets about choosing his friends over his biological family. His friends are his family now too, and he would do whatever it takes to defend his family. “Yeah, I’m good.”

It was an intense trip. Wolf sighed as he declared to his team, “Come on. Let’s get back to the jet, even if it means we’ll be walking back.”

As the team agreed and followed Wolf’s lead, Piranha was done sulking. He stood up and decided to walk with them. The Bad Guys are his home now. He would stay closer to them, wherever they go.

“Too bad we never get to see Piranha’s girlfriend,” Shark mentioned.

Piranha instantly punched him on the side, causing Shark to stumble into the bushes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Buenafecto, the town remained the same, untouched and calm, but the Casa Piraña still had cracks all over. There weren’t any more cracks formed or disappeared either. Just the cracks that were already formed. Casamilia remained normal but silent. The glowing white waterlily was still safe… but began to lose its glow.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cast:

Anthony Ramos - Mr. Piranha, Paciano 83, Panchito 7, 017

Sam Rockwell - Mr. Wolf

Marc Maron - Mr. Snake

Craig Robinson - Mr. Shark

Awkwafina - Ms. Tarantula

Rhenzy Feliz - Mr. Hornet

Adassa – Prima

Mauro Castillo – Primo Sr.

John Leguizamo - Paz 67, Perez 67

Pedro Pascal - Paz 2 222

Cheech Marin - Pablo 61, Pablo 12

Harvey Gullian - Palacido 1112, Palomo 480, Paquito 4007

Diego Luna - Pasqual 731, Pasqual 405

Andre Cisneros - Patricio 11

Freddie Prinze Jr. - Perdido 9, Perico 1089

George Lopez - Perfecto 45, Perfecto 886

Rico Rodriguez - Prospero 172

Danny Trejo - Prudencio 12

Melissa Villaseñor - Ria

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author aggimaginary

Co-Author MasterClass60 TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next on The Bad Guys: The Baddest Trip...

Hornet: I always wondered what it was like to be in the origin of my species. I was called an “Asian Giant Hornet," but another term for that was a "Japanese Hornet." But I don’t feel Japanese.

Snake: It’s because you’ve never been to Japan.

Shark: Why don’t we go there?

Hornet: But you promised me we'd do something Japanese.

Piranha: Mi amor, I know you wanna see Japan... but we're down to our last million yen.

Shark: It's a crane. The Japanese believe they bring good luck.

Hornet: Oh, it's beautiful, Shark.

This chapter might be one of the longest chapters I’ve ever written in season 2 due to many, MANY references and a song inserted.

This chapter was mostly referenced by Encanto. I loved this movie since it came out in 2021. Its story made me come up with an idea for Piranha. It wasn’t my intention to make this concept of Piranha’s origin story to be magical, but I had to incorporate some elements from Encanto to make this story accurate and enjoyable. The only difference was that none of the characters in this chapter had magical powers, but only talents and skills, in contrast to the Madrigal Family. So far, Casamilia, the Piraña household, the invisible barrier, and the glowing water lily were the only elements that were magical. The water lily flower of the Piraña family was equivalent to the Madrigal Family’s candle.

Casamilia was based on Casita. Like the latter, Casamilia’s name came from the word “Casa,” which means home or house in Spanish, and was combined with the word “familia,” which means family.

The invisible barrier around Buenafecto was based on the barrier from The Smurfs (2011), protecting the whole town from the outside world.

The Buenafecto town got its name from the words “Buena,” which means good, and “Perfecto,” which means perfect, which both described Piranha’s family.

Speaking of that, Piranha’s family was named “The Piraña Family, which “piraña” means piranha in Spanish. Most of Piranha’s brothers and cousins shared the same names, and adding numerical numbers next to their names will tell the difference between relatives. Since there were 900,542 brothers and cousins, there were a lot of them who shared the same name. Primo Sr.’s name meant “first,” as he was the patriarch of the family. Prima and Piranha (Pepe) were the only ones to have unique names. Prima was named after her father, and it was short for “Primrosa,” which means “first rose,” as she was the first and only daughter. Besides his real name being based in the books, Piranha was named after his late mother, Pepa. Sometimes, their names gave meaning to their personalities. They also shared each other’s talents and skills, but in different ways.

I got a few elements from The Bad Guys Book 10 where Piranha’s family appeared, and they appeared as bad as him. In this adaptation, it was quite the opposite. Piranha’s family tried to maintain a good and perfect reputation in their town to avoid being judged by stereotypes of their species. And like in Book 10, Piranha’s real name was revealed. I don’t know if his real name will be kept for the animated movies and (possible) series either, so, for now, I decided to use his real name in the book. So far, Piranha is the only one of the Bad Guys with his real name revealed while the rest still remain confidential. He was also the youngest of all in his family, like his book counterpart. I also added a sister for him since it was never revealed Piranha had female relatives. His mother never appeared or was mentioned in the books, but his mother appeared in pictures and was mentioned a few times and revealed to have passed away years ago. Since then, only Casamilia and Prima stood out as Piranha’s mother figures.

Some of the Piraña family members were also based on the Madrigal Family members in Encanto: Pedro 1 shared the same characteristics as Isabela Madrigal for being the golden child, a florist, and a bully to his youngest sibling. Most of the panicky Piraña family members, notably the ones with the names “Pablo” and “Prudencio,” had the same characteristics as Pepa Madrigal. Prima was based on Dolores Madrigal, who had sharp hearing and couldn’t keep secrets. They also shared the same squeak.

The scenes about Shark mentioning if Piranha had a girlfriend were references to Amphibia: Quarreler's Pass.

Piranha and Primo Sr.'s argument was referenced in Helluva Boss: The Circus.

The song in this chapter, “What Else Can I Do?” was a parody of the original song with the same name from Encanto, with some lyrics changing.

Spanish translation: Hermano – brother Hermana – sister Chico – boy/kid De nada – You’re welcome Mierda – (You don’t wanna know) ¡Bienvenido a casa! – Welcome home Actúo amable – I act nice salvaje y loca - wild and crazy Sin sensación de miedos -  Without feeling of fear Un amor por el lado mala - a love on the bad side

Special thanks to Masterclass60 for helping me with this chapter, and thanks to an acquaintance, TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3, for helping me too with names

Well, I'm glad you guys enjoyed this chapter so far. I hope you do. Tune in for more chapters soon!