RESCUE RANGERS: DARK MILLENIUM
PART TWO
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (C) Disney, used without permission.
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CHAPTER SEVEN Street Combat
Back at the Ranger HQ, Chip ][ Pennywinkel had just made it to
was anxious to know Pennywinkel's ][ the Midwest Movie Shop, the events
whereabouts, for as far as he could ][ at the bookstore still fresh in
could tell, the girl had no way of ][ her mind. Three boys had caught
knowing she was in danger from a ][ her lifting a book, and had tried
crazed, masked looney from another ][ to intercept her. Yet somehow
world. ][ they did not seem to be just honest
He could think of only one ][ good simaritans. Something was
course of action. So, walking into ][ amiss.
the den (where he saw Dale keeping ][ But what did it matter? She
close to Mademanna, as ordered) he ][ had been able to beat all three
went to find Frog, who wasn't far ][ of them once already. The strong
away, about to play dummy for some ][ one was stupid and easy. The fast
other Gadget Invention Test. ][ one couldn't concentrate, and the
Right before Gadget could say ][ smart one couldn't combat, so he
"There, it SHOULD work" Chip cut in ][ simply cowered down. Rather
and said "Sorry to interrupt, ][ disappointing, really. Where was
Gadget, but I need Frog to do some- ][ the huge conspiracy with magic
thing." ][ users and hired thugs? Of course,
"Sure, what?" Frog asked. ][ not in this universe. The most
"First, do you have a way of ][ that ever happens here is that
re-sizing yourself to human pro- ][ Fat Cat begins to crave fish.
portions?" ][ But ah well, she thought. This
"Ummm... yea, there's a ][ only meant that the already in-
Resize Medallion around here some- ][ competent police force was not
where." With that, Frog began to ][ ready for real criminals, even a
search his pockets. Eventually he ][ simple shoplifter like herself.
found one, but didn't have a chance ][ Knowing that, she looked towards
to announce it. ][ the movie store, scoping it out.
"Good," Chip said, "I need ][ There was only one entrance, she
you to go out and find Pennywinkel. ][ noticed, and it had sensors. She
She's probably totally unaware of ][ almost laughed. The desk clerk
the danger she's in. Oh, and take ][ seemed to always be distracted by
Nowhere Man with you. See if it ][ something, and only half payed any
takes his mind off of his self- ][ attention to the store. This would
destructive thoughts." ][ be so easy, Pennywinkel considered
"Or gets him exactly where he ][ trying this *without teleporting*.
wants to be," Frog thought. Never- ][ With that self-imposed challenge,
theless, he agreed, and walked ][ she walked in.
outside, where he deftly lowered ][ With her eyes, trying her second
himself to the ground. Putting a ][ best to look like she was just
hand on the Medallion, he said the ][ browsing the store, she scoped out
word "Resize!" And was instantly ][ the security peripherals. As
human size (he managed to hit his ][ predicted, one camera was turned
head on the landing pad, but that ][ towards the desk clerk himself.
didn't hurt him too much). ][ As usual, there were very few
Nowhere Man hadn't moved from ][ (Visible) cameras spread throughout
the moment he had been put there. ][ the store, seemingly placed in
Perhaps he saw no point in doing ][ such a way that it seemed more
so. But whatever the case, Frog ][ like the installation guys had just
turned to him and said "Come on, ][ placed them over where someone had
we've got a mission." ][ dropped a donut rather than in an
"We? As in, me and you?" ][ intricate pattern where every nook
Nowhere Man stood, "Ummm, okay... ][ and cranny of the store could be
what?" ][ monitored.
"We've gotta find my half- ][ This would be easy. Now to
sister. Chip thinks she's unaware ][ decide on what she should get.
of danger. I say Chip's paranoid, ][ Looking the shelves over, she went
and we all scream for Ice Cream, ][ for the Sci-Fi section. It was
but anyway, orders are orders, and ][ nice for the division to be as
I haven't seen her since five days ][ simple as genre once again, since
forward, so I guess maybe Chip ][ she was in a reality that did not
isn't being paranoid after all." ][ yet (and probably never will) have
"Right..." Nowhere Man said, ][ DVD Players. She stopped and
wondering how he got stuck with ][ began to look around, already
the crazies. Of course, only a ][ finding something else to get
crazy person could find any hope or ][ irritated about, for this was the
joy in such a hopeless, joyless ][ type of placed that stashed the
world, so maybe it wasn't such a ][ Fantasy movies in with Sci-Fi.
surprise. "So, what does she look ][ Nevertheless they had quite an
like?" ][ interesting selection, particularly
Frog started walking as he ][ movies by "Dishnee" such as "The
gave a description. "Long hair, ][ Tiny Mermaid" or "Aladdun" (Gee,
hangs down (the hair, that is. The ][ how original).
girl herself tends to stand up) ][ As she continued to look around,
blue eyes if I remember. Oh yea, ][ she decided that Frog would probably
and she wears a rather distinctive ][ dig some 50s Sci-Fi B Movie, but
lab coat. Actually, I call it a ][ this universe had too many of those
white trenchcoat, but ya see it's ][ as it was. Mademanna would want
dark-colored if it's a trenchcoat, ][ a cartoon (besides, it would be
but hers is white so it's a lab ][ interesting to see what anime was
coat. Oh, and she's about yay ][ like in this particular existence).
tall. She's only twelve, and kids ][ Finally, she decided on three
that age are only kids, after all. ][ films, one which she picked for
Eating health food helps her ][ herself which seemed like it was
maintain that figure, or would if ][ this world's version of the Chinese
she ever ate it, since actually ][ Monkey King legend. Perhaps it
it's maintained by--" ][ would match up to her world's
Frog stopped. "Where should ][ version (or, more likely, be mind-
we check first? I can't think of ][ bogglingly dull).
all the places Pennywinkel would ][ It was at this stage that she
go. Maybe she's in Wisconsin? ][ decided to try for the exit...
Wait! She did say something about ][ ...and saw she had company.
being amused by this world's ][ For standing right outside the
entertainment, so... hey, are there ][ front door were those three boys
any movie shops around here?" ][ whom she had beaten earlier, along
"Actually, yea, I believe I ][ with some strange masked fellow.
kept passing by one somewhere ][ Pulling off a heist without
around here. Follow me." ][ teleporting would be impossible
"Rokay," Frog agreed, and ][ now, so she decided to swallow her
followed as Nowhere Man led the ][ loss, put it all right back, and
way. ][ walk out the door.
By some coincidence, Frog and Nowhere Man had made their way to
Midwest Movie Shop at the exact same time Pennywinkel was leaving, both
just in time to meet the masked one and his crew. But Mevos did not
see any but Pennywinkel approach, nor did his followers. Upon the girl
leaving the store, Nor Endo put his huge hands on her small shoulders,
apparently intending to hold her there.
"I thought I might find you here," Mevos claimed. "You weren't
up to any sort of mischief, were you?"
"And what would you have done, called my parents?"
"Your dad was called a long time ago."
If it hadn't before, recognition showed now in Pennywinkel's knowing
smile. "I knew you sounded familiar. So, you followed us across all
these worlds."
"Aren't we gonna--?" Nowhere Man asked in a whisper.
"Wait, I wanna hear this," Frog answered back.
"So I did," Mevos said back at Pennywinkel. "It took what seems
like thousands of years, but my mission is nearing completion."
"Ha! You should be so lucky."
Since it was obvious this was going to degrade into cheap talk,
Frog motioned for Nowhere Man, and walked up to Mevos. Right behind him,
he drew and pointed his sword, and said "Okay, let 'er go."
"Ahh," Mevos replied without looking, "So the little girl still
needs big brother to play the bodyguard? Well, now that I've found the
two of you, where's the other one? the Robot?"
"In a place you'll never find her, in a galaxy far, far away."
"You mean she's not in a tree?" Mevos replied sarcastically,
finally turning his whole body to face Frog.
"Oh, sure," Frog answered, "built her own little hideout on the
Yggdrasil, she did! Nice, cozy place where anything can happen, sorta
like a strange mix of the Ramada Inn and McDonalds. Even has a guest
room for travellers on the Path of Sephiroth, and no, I don't mean the
Final Fantasy 7 character. Anyway..."
About halfway through the above, Frog had begun to forget what
he was doing, while the Endo Boys (those that weren't using both their
hands at the moment, anyway) were scratching their heads in confusion.
Using his distraction as an advantage, Mevos somehow managed with a
swipe of his arm to knock Frog's sword away and yet not cut himself
(a cling heard on impact would probably have clued a listener off to
some sort of protection, but Frog wasn't listening).
"Now!" Mevos flicked his hand, and out of his huge sleeve fell
a sword, much shorter but broader than Frog's. He pointed this at the
kid with the lopsided brain and continued "I've got you, I've got her.
All I've got now is to get that robot. And don't bluff me, I know where
she is!"
"Uhh, Boss..." Nor suddenly said in a concerned voice.
"What?" Mevos turned, and saw what was going on: Pennywinkel had
begun glowing very brightly, and the radiance seemed like some rock-solid
addition to her skin.
"Don't underestimate the power of a little girl," Pennywinkel said,
and then suddenly, she grabbed Nor's arms, and using them to allow this
manuever, swung her feet, both of which had to leave the groun, travelling
upward in an arc, until finally her shoes collided with Mevos' masked
face. While Pennywinkel (who's feet made it back to the ground without
further incident) was unharmed, Mevos' mask was shattered, and was
obviously going to fall right off in pieces.
His reaction was very surprising. He knelt and cried as if he was
feeling some indescribable agony, keeping his hands to his face as if he
was determined to keep the shattered mask on. After awhile, he looked
down so far that no one could see his face, though they did see the
pieces of ivory falling onto the sidewalk. Out of the same sleeve that
had held the sword then came another ivory mask, exactly the same in
every way to the one he had worn. quickly he slipped his new mask on,
adjusted it until it was just right, and then got up, himself so mad
that you could almost feel it. With a tone that clearly communicated
anger, hate, and revenge, he exlaimed "Do not shatter the Mask of Mevos!"
Then Nowhere Man, having been nothing but a bystander all this
time and not really caring much for it, decided to do something suicidal.
In moments, his elbow had a meeting with Day Endo's face, and the smart
one soon found himself being hoisted in the air, and then thrown at his
many-muscled brother, who, stunned by having someone connect with his
own head, released Pennywinkel involuntarily. The girl used this
time to manuever to the other side where Mevos stood between her and the
Endo Boys, and began to make a plan. Meanwhile Nowhere Man looked at
Nor Endo, and made a fighting pose, clearly challenging the guy to spar
with him, a fight he honestly did not think he could win. He hoped he
was right.
In all this confusion, Frog made a run for his sword. Mevos,
however, expected this kind of move, and moved in front of Frog, stating
"Oh no you don't!"
"Watch me," Frog retorted, suddenly pushing the big man backward.
As this was the curb of the sidewalk, he fell and landed on his back,
whcih normally would've cracked his very skull, but seemingly he was
wearing some form of protection and thus was only temporarily out of it.
Still, it allowed Frog to get his sword, and when Mevos stood back up
only moments later, Frog was facing him and ready.
"So, both the cats have become fierce." Mevos thought aloud,
when suddenly out of his sleeve came a pole with a golden knob at the
end, which which he swung at Frog, who ducked with a stylish manuever,
and then got back up.
Himself taking a swing (and being blocked) he responded "And
Shakespeare wears a mask!"
"Did you mean to say you think I'm a literary genious?"
They broke off, seperated by a few feet of concrete. Cars were
stopped as these two continued their duel. Let us cut now back to the
sidewalk, where Nowhere Man had unwisely picked a losing fight with
Nor Endo.
But it was not Nowhere Man who was losing. But it was not he who
was fighting, either. Just a few minutes back, he had been standing
there, ready to take his final blow, one which never came. Opening his
eyes, he saw the young girl from earlier, spiting his adversary for him,
using a tactic he hand seen coming. From this girl came thousands of
maces, all flying at one target, all hitting and presumeably hurting (for
the big one was trying to cover his face). Nowhere Man didn't quite know
where those maces were coming from, nor did he really care.
Finally, the big man fell over, unconscious if not dead (he really
couldn't tell). Then Pennywinkel turned around, saying "Well, that felt
better. I hate it when big fat sweaty boys put their arms on me."
Suddenly, her tone became suspicious and accusatory, and she looked up
at Nowhere Man, asking "Okay, what's this about? Why did Frog bring you
here?"
"Ummm..." Nowhere Man just shrugged, "Ummm, something about a
guy in a mask and hair that hangs down and Chip being paranoid."
"Oh, so Chip's the reason you're here." She didn't seem to think
about the fact that she did not know this boy or how he knew Chip,
"Listen, you and Frog walk right back to their little treehouse and
tell them to leave me alone, okay? I can handle John, and..."
"Look!" Nowhere Man suddenly grabbed her arms, actually showing
some backbone, "You just stopped me from moving on to a more peaceful
existence, and besides that me and your brother are already going through
hell because of you, so you're coming back with us wether you want to or
not! FROG, WE'RE GOING!"
Frog heard, but he was a bit preoccupied as his fight had gotten
to the point where Mevos was using TWO poles as opposed to Frog's one
sword, and Frog was somehow still handling himself. Finally, Mevos
thrusted forward with his two poles, but it was to no avail as Frog
seemed to roll under them, then jump into the air well above Mevos
himself, and come crashing down, the hilt of his sword meeting Mevos
mask.
"Sword, meet mask!" Frog joked, "How ya doing?"
Now, this didn't shatter the mask (didn't want that to become a
joke) but it did cause Mevos to lose his balance and fall, landing flat
on his back. If you listened, you could hear him breathing (once you
got over the screaming and honking horns in the background). Frog turned,
and began to walk away, but first he looked around. He couldn't place
it, but something was wrong with this scene, something was missing...
ah well, he thought, I'll remember it later. So he walked away, making
one last comment:
"I never really liked Shakespeare."
As he began walking, Nowhere Man picked up Pennywinkel, hoisting
her over his shoulder, and they began walking home. An officer who
just arrived on the scene, however, stopped them, and asked "Hey, what's
going on here?"
Nowhere Man began to talk, but Frog quickly answered "This girl
here is my sister. She ran away and almost got involved with a street
gang. We found them, beat them to a bloody pulp, and are now taking
the young lady back home where father will have to give her a nice
talking to!"
Seeing as to how that either sounded legit to the cop or gave him
no end to the confusion, he just shrugged, and let them be on their way.
Meanwhile, Pennywinkel kicked and struggled, threatening to yell that she
was being kidnapped, but since they were in a world where an
anthropomorphic tabby cat could be mistaken for a realistically-built
German shepherd, nothing about the trio seemed out of the ordinary to
any passer-bys.
Finally, they returned to the tree of the Headquarters, and only
then did Nowhere Man put down Pennywinkel while Frog pulled out his
Resize Medallion. Holding it, he said "Okay girl, you know the drill."
"Is he coming too?"
"Of course. What's he gonna do, sleep out here? Nowhere Man,
put your fingers on the medallion..."
"Forget it, I'm not going." He said. "I'd rather sleep out here."
"Fine with me," Pennywinkel said. Then silently but just loud
enough to hear, she added "It'll probably kill ya anyway."
Now, as it happened, Nowhere Man heard that, and he said "No, never
mind, I'm coming." And put his fingers on the medallion, at which point
Frog said the magic word.
And, of course, no one was dead, but now everyone was small.
"Great," Nowhere Man said in dismay, "So how do we get up the tree?"
The two had started to climb, but then stopped and sighed with
exasperation when they remembered that this guy probably did not have
the experience they did. Looking at Frog for a moment or two, as if
pleading, Pennywinkel held out an arm and said "Hold on to me, and I'll
get us up there."
So he did, and quit as a gunshot he found himself being pulled
upward as if he had been shot out of a slingshot. It was no time at
all before they were on the landing pad and in front of the front door
(well, for them anyway--Frog was climbing).
Just before opening the door, and after letting the guy go,
Pennywinkel added "Oh, by the way, I was lying. Resize Medallions can't
kill you. Tell Frog I'm going to bed and not to disturb me, ever.
Good night."
With that, she went in, and slammed the door violently before
Nowhere Man could correct her by saying "but it's mid afternoon!...
not that it makes a difference," he ammended upon glancing at the sky.
CHAPTER EIGHT Troubled Youth
Mademanna was always a strange child, and not just because of the
well-kept secret that, despite being human in appearance, she was in
actual fact a robot, but also because she engaged in behavior that would
be seen as odd no matter how you looked at it.
Like right now, in fact, when she was seen lifting weights.
"Excuse me," Chip asked, just walking into the main room of the
headquarters after having taken a break from helping Gadget with some
new project (and getting himself a glass of OJ), "but isn't that kind
of pointless?"
As it was, Mademanna (who of course had no problem lifting the
weights) answered only "Well, Dale said that it makes people stronger,
and I was wondering if it worked for robots, too."
Chip hmphed, "Well, it can't hurt, unless you stand there doing
that all day, that is. But you're not going to become superhuman.
Anyway, it's useless for you anyway." He watched as Mademanna put the
weights down, "Your strength is determined by your internal machinery.
Whatever your build can already handle, that's how strong you'll ever be."
He continued watching as she sat in the sofa after seeming to have somehow
been hurt (emotionally, that is). "Why the interest in becoming strong,
anyway?"
The girl stayed silent for a moment, during which time the
be-fedora'd chipmunk sat down beside her on the same sofa, awaiting her
answer, which finally came.
"I've been told... that strong people can overcome anything."
"Someone mislead you, kid. Physical strength can not overcome
everything. Monty is strong, and he can't get over his cheese attacks."
"Except when the safety of his friends depends on it."
Chip stopped to think of a better example, remembering that there
had been, in fact, a case in which Monty had been forced to confront his
cheese cravings, and was able to overcome them. Unfortunately, his
addiction turned out to have merely been repressed, not totally destroyed,
and he had immediately reverted back to his cheese-loving self.
Finally, however, Chip found the perfect example.
"Well, Captain Planet is strong," he began, acknowledging the
little girl's favorite cartoon superhero, "But all it takes to bring
him down is to be sprayed with toxic waste!"
This the child had no answer to.
"What is it you're trying to get over, anyway?"
A Sigh, a deep breath, some hesitation, but finally she said
"Do... do you think... Gadget... could deactivate by inhibitive systems?"
"Your what?"
"The parts of me that keep me from fighting and hurting anyone.
I want them turned off, to stop holding me back!"
"Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Because..." having begun to be excited, she calmed down before
continuing. "Because I don't want to be left behind when everyone
else goes off to have fun on an adventure, while I stay here alone...
and defenseless." She added, under her breath.
He looked at her hard, "Look, even if we did disable that system
of yours, you would still stay at home. Fighting or not there's no
way I'm taking a ten-year-old kid along on a mission, instead of
leaving them somewhere safe..."
"Like here, you mean?!" She said, suddenly becoming excited
again, "The place where I was attacked, *when I was alone and you
were on a mission*?! Where Max Alpha also managed to kidnap me
*while everyone was here*?! And now we have this Mevos freak who
*destroyed* this place and killed nearly everybody..."
Before Chip could say anything (not that there was anything he
could) suddenly the door opened, and in came Pennywinkel, closing the
door violently behind her. She didn't even glance at the two sitting
on the sofa as she made her way across the room, to the hallway which
led to her quarters. She was barely halfway across the room, however,
when Mademanna ran up and blocked her path, bluntly asking "You would
know, how do I shut off my inhibitive systems?"
"Not right now, child. I'm not in the mood."
"Just tell me!"
"Not right--"
Everyone was shocked when, before Pennywinkel could even complete
a sentance, Mademanna lifted her half a foot off the ground, rammed her
into a blank wall, and outright demanded in anger "How do I turn off
my inhibitive systems?!"
And now, a shocked Chip, jumping the sofa to get to where the two
girls now were, attempted to pull the robot away while demanding
"Mademanna, what are you *doing*?" All the commotion, as well, caused
everyone else in the tree to come out from wherever they were. Monty
and Zipper poked out of the Kitchen where they had been working on a
new dish, and Gadget and Dale were popping out of Gadget's workshop,
everyone wanting to know what the heck was going on.
Chip, noticing everyone, himself demanded "Don't just stand there,
do something!"
Well, what happened is that Dale came out and tried to help, but
him and Chip put together could not pull her back or make her lose her
grip. Meanwhile Pennywinkel saw this, and said to him "I've got the
situation under control, you all just stay back! Mademanna, put me
down!"
Rather than just doing what she said, however, instead the chipmunks
kept up their efforts, and now Monty was helping. This time they
progressed a bit better, and she slid about an inch. But it took the
joining of Gadget and Zipper for there to be signifigant progress.
Mademanna then dropped Pennywinkel, now concentrating on trying to get
free of the grasp of everyone else.
Finally, however, the door opened, and in walked Frog, asking
"What's going on here? Oh, don't tell me you guys are babysitting
again..."
"Frog!" Chip explained, "Your sister--"
"Oh gee whiz," he said, clearing his way through the group, "What
has Pen--Mademanna?" He found himself surprised to see who exactly they
were trying to restrain. Fortunately, she was worn out from struggling,
and collapsed to her knees. Frog looked, and saw that Pennywinkel too
had collapsed to her knees, and the scene began to make sense. Kneeling
down, putting his arm around her, he asked "All right, what's this
about?"
Instead of answering, however, she turned, grabbed his trenchcoat,
and began to demand the same answer from him she had been demanding from
Pennywinkel. But before things could escalate too far, Frog actually
did something *right*.
He put his hands under her arms and began to tickle. Now, of course
any good-natured, well-built little girl is ticklish, which can be a handy
lifesaver at times when the kids are otherwise uncontrollable (as any
decent mother or father should but unfortunately usually doesn't know).
Finally, Frog managed to get her cradled, and asked again "What is goin'
on here?"
While everyone else just shrugged, Chip answered "She wants to know
how to overcome her inhibitive systems."
"That's all?" Frog went silent, his face, what little of it they
could see (since anything above his nose was shadowed out by a large
bunch of hair up front) contained first a blank expression, then a
smile, then suddenly began laughing. Getting up, her in his arms, he
added "Isn't it funny when kids overlook the oblivious? Anyway, I think
this one needs a nap... umm, right, I forgot where you guys put the
straightjackets..." despite that, he continued walking off down a
hallway, leaving everyone else scratching their heads.
"I'm not crazy." She denied.
"Oh now," he said in a nerdish, dorky-sounding country hick voice,
"nobody said anything about the crazies."
"You think I'm crazy."
"Nooo, now yer putting words in me mouth."
The last thing they heard was Mademanna still trying to assure Frog
of her sanity.
And then everyone had their attention suddenly diverted when the
door again open and shut, rather hastily. They looked, and saw the
rodent-sized Nowhere Man, who said "Hey, I heard some sort of commotion.
What's going on?" He looked, saw Pennywinkel, and thought he understood
the situation. Of course, his idea was totally wrong, but he acted on
it anyway. He walked over to Pennywinkel, rather rudely pushing away
anyone who was in his way, and helped her stand up. Allowing her to
use him as a crutch, he looked around, and began walking her towards the
front door, but she finally spoke up and said "My room is down that
hallway." Acting on that, he changed course. After a few minutes, it
seemed like the scenes of today were over, and things could return to
normal.
"Those kids." Chip remarked, mostly to himself. "They *are*
crazy."
"Oh, Chip," Gadget suddenly said, "I just remembered I wanted to
show you something." Without even waiting for a response, she grabbed
his arm, and pulled him into her workshop. Leaving only Dale, Monty,
and Zipper in the main room.
"Uhhh..." Dale was still trying to grasp the day's events.
"Well, that's that then," Monty concluded. "Back to the kitchen,
Zipper. I think our pot probably boiled over in our absence."
Zipper pantomimed agreement, and those two were gone, leaving only
Dale, who, still unable to figure out the situation decided it would be
best just to watch TV.
Frog, still carrying Mademanna, ][ Nowhere Man, finally managing
entered the bedroom that her and ][ to find the room in which Frog
Gadget were sharing, and sat down on ][ and Pennywinkel shared sleeping
the bottom bunk. In that instant, ][ space, finally put the girl down,
all joking, all playfulness, stopped, ][ sighing as he did, for she was
as Frog asked in a deadpan serious ][ heavier than he had anticipated.
voice "What is this all about?" ][ Finally he asked "Are you okay?"
Mademanna pouted in silence for ][ She did not answer.
a few minutes, carefully thinking ][ "Hey, girl... What was your
over what she was going to say and, ][ name? Perry-something?"
furthermore, if Frog would ][ "Pennywinkel."
understand. Then she stated her ][ She straightened her stance, and
problem thus: ][ crossed her arms. "So who are
"Okay, it went like this... ][ you? I heard Frog call you
After you all came back from your ][ 'Nowhere Man' but don't expect
investigations earlier, Chip and Dale ][ me to believe that's actually
went in another room. Dale came back ][ you're name."
soon, and watched TV with me." ][ "It's not, but it might as well
"Yea, so?" ][ be. I don't have a 'real name'
She sighed. "He wasn't looking ][ you see."
at the TV, Frog, he was watching me. ][ "Sit down, please." He did so,
I always caught him, glancing away at ][ however Pennywinkel continued to
the last moment." ][ stand, as if she were some sort
"Okay... so what?" ][ of dominant statue. "Continue."
She sighed again, and added ][ "It's a long story. I never
"He also didn't ever leave the room ][ had any real parents. I wasn't
without someone else taking his ][ born in a hospital, they couldn't
place. I heard him precisely say ][ afford me. They could barely
to Gadget once to keep an eye on me." ][ afford themselves. So I was
Frog thought... and replied ][ dropped off in a church. I was
"And?" ][ put up for adoption, but there
And now she groaned with almost ][ were no takers. I don't know
total frustration. She thought over ][ why, but I despised church life.
her next words carefully, and finally ][ they kept trying to get me
said "And... he put his arm around ][ interested in, you know, God and
me. He kept me from getting up, from ][ stuff, but it just bored me.
leaving the room." ][ I became not only bored but
And then Frog's mind got the ][ disillusioned as well when one
wrong idea altogether, and he began ][ of our pastors was arrested in
to laugh. "Somehow," he managed to ][ connection with a baby-brokering
say in his humored fit, "The artist's ][ operation. Those who had caught
interpretation of Dale as a child- ][ him in the act (he was stealing
grabbing moocher just doesn't seem ][ right out from under the nose of
to ring in!" ][ the adoption agency, you see)
And then, Mademanna exclaimed, ][ were immediately accused of
suddenly and violently, "IT'S NOT ][ being Devil worshippers or, at
FUNNY!!" ][ best, unfaithful. So I escaped,
And then Frog was shocked, and ][ and lived on the streets ever
his fit ended. He looked at his ][ since."
little sister again and asked "Oh... ][ "And you were found trying to
He didn't do anything... weird... ][ commit suicide," Pennywinkel
to you... did he?" ][ deduced.
"Never mind!" Her frustration ][ "How did you know?"
finally had won out, "You don't ][ "You know, I was only *there*
understand at all. That's it, I'm ][ when you decided to pick a fight
leaving!" Freeing herself from ][ with a guy who would have knocked
Frog's arms, she got up to do just ][ you dead in one or two blows.
that, but Frog too stood, and caught ][ Anyone could see what you were
her shoulder. ][ trying to do. Anyway I could
"Wait, so then what *is* going ][ think of no other reason you'd
on that's got you so worked up? You ][ be following the Rangers around."
were being kinda vague back there, ya ][ "Wow... I..."
know. Think maybe you should just ][ "You're impressed with my
outright *tell* me, or something like ][ mental capabilities. Yes, I know,
that?" ][ I get that reaction all the time.
Stopping to think, she turned ][ In any case, manic-depressive
back around, and silently said "You ][ boy, You seriously need a shower.
know, you're right." Taking a ][ There's a stall right over there."
breath, she began explaining "What ][ She indicated by looking in the
I was trying to say is that everyone ][ general direction.
is so protective of me lately. I ][ "I don't--"
finally managed to worm the facts out ][ "Just do it!" She commanded.
of Dale, and he said Chip had told ][ He walked over to the stall,
him to keep watch on me in case Mevos ][ opened it, and began taking his
should show up. Now, I don't mind ][ shirt off, but he stopped, and
being treated like a child, but I ][ said "But... but you're a girl...
don't like being treated like a ][ and..."
*stupid* child, who's next move would ][ Irritably she argued "Being of
be to stick a fork in an outlet, ][ the opposite gender is not an
wondering what will happen." ][ anomaly, and you should not be
Frog advanced, and put an arm ][ ashamed of it. Besides, you've
around her supportively, as a brother ][ embarrassed me twice already,
should in discussions like these. ][ it's only fair I get to embarrass
"Well, it's just that we care. And ][ you once in return."
you know, the first time he attacked, ][ He sighed, and continued his
you almost died." ][ undressing, realizing she was
"Exactly!" Suddenly she turned ][ indeed correct. She, however,
towards him, and once again became ][ was at least decent enough to
confrontational. "And you were there ][ turn her attention towards other
watching me then, too! And you were ][ things. "And now there is filth
also there when Max kidnapped me! ][ on my blankets," he heard her
Being watched didn't help then and it ][ comment silently, "And some on
won't help now! There is only one ][ my outfit..."
thing to do." ][ "So," Nowhere Man asked, having
She walked back towards the ][ closed the stall door, "How
bed, and sat back down, Frog joining ][ exactly did I embarrass you,
her. Finally, she completed her ][ anyway?"
thought. ][ She heard that, and some rage
"Frog, I need you or Gadget or ][ seemed to enter her, however there
Pennywinkel or someone to turn off ][ seemed to be a ring of falseness
my inhibitor systems. I don't want ][ about it when it reached Nowhere
to be a helpless damsel anymore. If ][ Man's ears.
those were deactivated, I could ][ "How?! Well, first off, a
fight back and help you guys on your ][ superpower like me does *not*
missions!" ][ like being carried through the
And again Frog laughed. This ][ street like any normal disobedient
time, a much less frustrated ][ little girl, especially by someone
Mademanna had to ask "What's so ][ she knows is--technically
funny?" ][ speaking--nothing special. Then
Frog stopped laughing, but ][ you 'rescued' me *right in front
maintained an amused smile on his ][ of Chip!*"
face when he said "You probably ][ "Yea, so?"
should ask Pennywinkel. You were ][ She sighed. "Me and Chip have
only, *ahem* 'talking to' her in the ][ been at each other's throats for
other room..." ][ a long time. Now that he's
Unfortunately, the realization ][ seen me in a weak and helpless
that Frog was going to be cryptic ][ state like that, he's probably
about it made her frustration return, ][ never gonna let me live it down."
and she failed to put any thought ][ "Well, no offense, but you were
into it. "Just what are you getting ][ already pretty weak and helpless
at?" ][ when I came in there. At least
"Oh, even better!" He ][ you didn't have to stay around
realized, "Remember the first DiMM?" ][ to hear the jeering." She
"Yes...?" ][ didn't bother to mention in
"Remember what happened to him? ][ correction that Chip does not
Think of something involving that ][ jeer unless he's getting back at
involved a bottle..." ][ someone, and he never holds
Frustrated anger made her blurt ][ grudges longer than a day. Let
out, "Yes I remember I..." but then, ][ Manic-Depressive Boy think he's
she remembered that particular ][ a complete jerk, Pennywinkel
journey, in which she had been ][ thought, it's not like he isn't
instrumental in his defeat, for... ][ or anything...
"... I smashed the bottle over his ][ "What happened in there, anyway?
head!" she completed in a silent awe. ][ Seemed like you got in a fight
"There ya go!" Frog concluded, ][ with someone."
patting her on the head, "And you ][ Pennywinkel sighed, "My sister.
said you couldn't fight! Ha, that's ][ See, she's a robot, and she was
adorable." ][ told she couldn't do anything
"But... why couldn't I fight ][ violent because of her inhibitor
before? I mean, as far as I know, ][ systems--"
I've always had a system that kept me ][ "Wait, wait, you're losing me.
from even joining in *pillow* ][ What's a robot? And what's an
fights!" ][ inhibitor system?"
"Someone misinformethed you, ][ Oh, that's right, she remembered,
kiddo." Frog joyfully replied, ][ with this kid's life he probably
"Well, actually, the real story is ][ did not see many Sci-Fi B movies
this. When you were first built, dad ][ and probably had no way of knowing
had seen so many Sci-Fi B movies that ][ anything about computers or
he took the safety precaution of ][ robotics.
building those inhibitors. But that ][ "Umm... do you know what a
was when the feds began to crack down ][ toy is?"
on us, and our dads then realized ][ "Oh yea. I once found a trashed
that maybe inhibiting you wasn't such ][ Pie-Eye Joe with batteries still
a good idea after all. We ][ inside. It still worked. Man,
deactivated your inhibitor while you ][ I loved that thing."
were asleep, and when you woke up we ][ Guessing that "Pie-Eye Joe" was
simply forgot to tell you, cuz dad's ][ probably this universes' pun on
mind was busy with the PortalMaster ][ G.I. Joe, Pennywinkel continued
Project." ][ "Well, imagine something like
Frog heard her mumble what ][ that, except it was about four
sounded like the word "Interesting" ][ feet tall, could walk and talk,
as she admired her own hands as if ][ and had a personality."
they were suddenly a great power ][ Silence filled the room except
source (and to her, perhaps they ][ for the running water, which
were). He raised his hands in ][ itself was soon stopped (and
defense as he saw her slowly turn a ][ she heard the knob turn).
mischevious gaze his way. Then he ][ Nowhere Man, blanketed in a
found himself flat on his back, ][ towel, poked his head out and
having been playfully tackled by the ][ asked "Wait, you mean a toy that's
ten-year-old robot. She fortunately ][ like a person?"
had enough control to not hurt him, ][ "Or a person that's like a toy."
and he retaliated with a tickle fest. ][ Nowhere Man sat down on the
This episode of fun and games lasted ][ floor. "This is whacked. First
for a few moments, but finally, they ][ I'm rescued by talking mice,
both stopped. Getting up, Frog ][ then there's all the weird stuff
decided it would be best if they went ][ on the street, and you have a
and rejoined everybody, to show that ][ toy for a sister. This is too
she was over her fit. Before that, ][ weird."
however, he decided that they should ][ "Wait until you hear about our
find Pennywinkel and explain it all ][ *Enemies*. Oh, and by the way,
to her. ][ I think you'll get to meet my
So they left the room. ][ sister right about..."
"...Now!" Pennywinkel said, just as the door to the room swung
open. In walked Frog and Mademanna. Pennywinkel watched with a
smirk on her face, while Nowhere Man gawked in awe. "Hey, Pennywinkel,"
Frog began, "Mademanna here has something to say..."
Mademanna stopped, and stood, trying to look her most naive and
innocent, finally she managed out "Ummm... about what happened in the
other room..."
"Forget it," Pennywinkel cut her off, "I understand. Did you
figure it out? The little secret about your inhibitor systems?"
"Yea, Frog explained it to me."
Pennywinkel looked at Mademanna, then at Frog, then back at
Mademanna. "*He* explained it?"
"Yes."
"And he actually made sense?"
"Yes!"
"Is *that* the toy?" Nowhere Man suddenly asked, looking at
Pennywinkel and pointing at Mademanna.
"What?" the "toy" asked.
Frog waved his hands, and turned to leave the room. "Right,
nevermind. Don't try to make sense out of this household. Can be quite
confusing. Your brain might explode."
And the girls laughed.
CHAPTER NINE Captured in Action
"Dale," Chip asked, moments after returning from Gadget's workshop,
"Why weren't you watching Mademanna when I came in here earlier?"
"Well... I sorta... told her what I was doing, and she got upset,
then Gadget needed me for something since you weren't around and... I'm
sorry."
"Oh, it's okay," Chip put a hand to his head and sat down, "But
I swear those kids will be the end of us!"
It was as he was saying this that Dale noticed a peculiar metallic
armband on Chip's left arm, with buttons and flashing lights, like some
sort of video game controller, and he asked "Hey Chip, what's that?"
"Huh? Oh, this?" He lifted it for clarity, "This is that thing
me and Gadget have been working on. You know the Pawser Tank, of course?"
"Yea?"
"Well, with this device, I can call out the tank at any time. I
also can control it from a distance, not having to be inside it. However
those functions are still in the preliminary stages, and then there is
a problem typical of remote controlled vehicles."
"If they go out of your line of sight, they're lost."
"Correct. Gadget's gonna set up targets outside, Wanna watch?"
"Sure!"
And thus, the two Chipmunks hastily went outside, like boys with
a new toy. And speaking of toys, Frog just then stepped into the room,
just in time to see where everyone was going, and followed. His knee
suddenly hurt, and he tripped, but immediately he recovered. It's not
like he was in any big hurry anyway. He got outside in time to see
the Pawser Tank rolling around on the ground far below, shooting out
cardboard cutouts of several of the Rangers' well-known enemies. When
he saw Chip fiddling with a wrist-mounted controller, he figured out
what was going on. He sat down, mostly for protection as, just then,
the world went black, and his blindness had set in. But as far as he
was concerned, all it meant was that he could now contemplate how much
a fully-functional Pawser Tank with accessories would cost at K-Mart...
or this world's variation of K-Mart, anyway.
His acute ears, however, picked up running feet, and heard
Mademanna's voice asking "Where is everyone? Oh, there you are." He
listened as she came outside. A slight difference in the stepping noise
made him aware that she was now outside the door, and the loudness of
it made him realize she was almost right on top of him. She sat down
next to him, and asked "Whatcha doin'?"
"Oh, Alvin and Simon are testing a remote controlled tank. Maybe
they plan to shoot down Mevos?"
Then, Mademanna began to panic. Tugging at Frog's sleeve, she
began saying "Frog? FROG?!"
"Yes? YES?!"
Realizing he was blind at the moment, Mademanna instead called
"Chip! Dale!"
"What?" They asked in return, turning around to have their question
immediately answered, for in what was to be the dusk of an eve of constant
peril, the great masked one had returned, and brought his companions along
with him.
"Frog! Get up!" Mademanna emplored, forcefully bringing him to
his feet. "Mevos is here!"
"Mevos? MEVOS?! Where, Where?!" Then Frog clapped his hands
while Mademanna got back, "I got an idea!" He outstretched his arms, and
stated "Marco!"
"Polo," came a deep-voiced response from right in front of him.
Frog may have been dumb but he was no idiot, and the moment he
realized Mevos was right in front of him, he immediately made a quick
elbow jab that came even with the man's stomach. He heard the man
"Umph" from the pressure but not pain, and used the opportunity to
uppercut him. Unfortunately, while it did connect, part of Frog's
fist hit Mevos' mask, and he hurt himself in the process, meanwhile
part-nulling the impact to Mevos himself. Just as Frog was about
ready for another move, he felt some sort of stringy substance overtake
him, like silly string, except not as fragile, and he found he was
having trouble moving. He almost fell, but was caught by small, feminine
hands--he guessed Mademanna's--and she lowered him softly to the ground,
finding herself wrapped in the substance while she was at it.
Mevos, having already taken care of what he considered to be the
hard part, turned towards the Chipmunks, who were also standing at the
ready. "What are you doing here?!" Chip demanded. He hoped Mevos
couldn't see that he was fiddling with a wrist-mounted controller while
he was at it.
"Such a silly question. I think I'll let Day explain. If you
will."
Day Endo stepped forward, and said "Thank you. We ultimately
plan to capture you, for reasons which will soon become out into the
open, alive."
"Why?" Dale asked, "Why not just kill us like ya did last time?"
Again Day explained "That is precisely it. The great Mevos never
uses the same plan twice. After his last--if you will excuse the term--
failure, he had time to think up a much more brilliant scheme which,
if it works, would give him a small but crucial amount of power in this
city. But for it to work, he needs you and he needs you alive."
"All of us?" Chip inquired.
"All of you."
"So, to foil your plan, all I'd have to do is jump off this ledge?"
Dale turned in horror, and emplored "No, Chip!"
"Trust me, Dale!" He ended, and then, shock of shocks, actually
did proceed to jump off the ledge. Far he got not, however, Before
Mevos himself managed to seemingly fly out into midair, and then fly
back, clinging to the side of the ledge as if he was being magnetically
pulled towards it.
And this was just what Chip wanted, for at this moment, announcing
"Now you fry, Mevos!" He pressed a button on his wristband, Just as
Mevos was wondering what vital mental functions this chipmunk didn't
have, he found himself, quite literally, shocked. A huge, pinkish blast
of electricity sent itself flying up at Mevos, totally engulfing him in
painful energy.
As Mevos cried in pain, however, Chip now faced the one drawback
to his plan, but fortunately it was a drawback he had seen coming, and
had already worked out an idea. For you see, Chip was falling. However,
he knew that all he had to do was angle himself towards the tree, and
find a handhold, thus stopping his fall. Failing that, his other backup
plan involved hoping Gadget was within eye and earshot, and calling out
her name. Thinking plan A was a bit unrealistic, he skipped right to
plan B.
And Gadget heard, and saw. Quickly she began to think and ponder.
Meanwhile, inside, Pennywinkel suddenly got the feeling that
something was wrong, and one thing she had learned is that you should
always trust feelings, even if they turn out to be mostly wrong. When
she heard Chip's scream, she knew something was up. Quickly she asked
"Nowhere Man, can you read?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now, I need you to hide, anywhere. Do not go outside for
the next ten minutes. If I'm not back by then, look for a message on
or around the front door."
"Why? What's happening?"
"No time! Just do it, okay?"
Nowhere Man shrugged acceptance, but Pennywinkel did not wait for
him to do so before she began rushing out of her room and down the
hallway. Just as she did, Nowhere Man noticed she had left behind her
Resize Medallion.
Gadget pondered, and saw a nearby bunch of flowers. Perfect! That
was just the thing she needed. She went over and began quickly collecting
a whole freakin' bunch, biting them off at the stem. Finally, she had
enough, and bunched then up close. Doing so, she placed and held them
under the area she calculated Chip would land.
She calculated right. Chip was now safe and sound in a bed of
flowers, though the fall did take a bit of wind out of him, and when
he saw Gadget on the flowers, he at first thought he must be unconscious
and having sweet dreams of his idea of heaven... or be dead and actually
be in heaven. But the moment he realized that for that to be the case,
Gadget would have to be dead too, he came out of it.
"Golly Chip, are you okay? What happened?"
"No time to explain, Mevos is up there! Quick, we've got to run."
Immediately he got up, pulling Gadget with him, and went running away from
the tree.
"Golly, we're not going to abandon the others, are we?"
"Trust me. If we get away, we can follow Mevos and rescue our
friends, but right now we have to worry about escape."
Gadget said nothing, and just took his word for it. It wasn't like
this was the first time she had been forced to abandon someone in hopes
of being able to come back for them later. If worse came to worst, she
had at least taken the precaution of placing the Time Remote in her
pocket early on.
"Anyway," Chip added as they stopped to hide in the niche of a tree,
covered by grass, "Hopefully someone else will escape. All I know is
that he's got Frog, Mademanna, and Dale so far. Besides ourselves,
That leaves Monty, Zipper, and Pennywinkel."
"And Nowhere Man."
"... Yea, and him, I guess." Chip admitted, less-than-enthusiastic
about the possibility of having his life in the hands of a suicidal
vagrant who would probably just as soon use the rescue as an excuse to
get killed than actually attempt to actually rescue anyone.
From where they were, Chip and Gadget had a clear view of the
landing pad. But unfortunately, the sight was not good...
...For the tank's beam had finally given away, revealing a Mevos
who had, if anything, *not* been shocked out of existence. Currents of
electricity still jumped around on his body, but otherwise he seemed
perfectly alive and unaffected. Seeming to half-fly, half-climb back
atop the landing pad, he laughed.
"Sir, are you...?" Day began asking.
"I am unharmed." To prove his point, he picked up a stunned and
sitting Dale, placed him (rather forcefully) next to Frog and Mademanna
(both of whom were trying their darndest to break out) and covered him,
too, in some of the sticky substance. When he was done, he thought
aloud "Let's see, two have escaped. And there are three here. That
means there are three more inside. One of them's a fly and will pose
no problems. You three stay here, I am going after the two escapees.
I want you three to watch and attack anyone who comes out of that
door! Understood? Good." With that, Mevos jumped off the ledge,
managing to slow his decent via some magical means. The Endo Boys,
having no better plan, decided to do what they were told... though
eventually Po Endo got a little playful, and went to check on the
prisoners.
"Hmm... ya know, I wonder what Mevos will do with these guys."
He said, though not really wondering any such thing. "Maybe he'll
let this girl turn into a righteous babe, and we can take her out to
dinner sometime."
"To put it in G-Rated terms," Day mumbled to himself. "Stop
messing with the captives. You have responsibilities you know."
"Yea, I guess you're right." He didn't get up, but he did keep
his attention on the door, only occasionally reaching over to mess with
Mademanna's hair (as much as he could through the silly string). Day
looked, and figured it was a good arrangement. Mevos had never told
them how strong the substance was, so it was just possible one or all
three of them working together could break out (even if it wasn't
bloody likely, judging by that they had been trying for awhile now)
and besides, it meant Po, the fast one, was not in immediate eyesight
to anyone who was looking out the door, thus allowing for an element of
surprise. Satisfied, Day looked back at the door.
He was glad he did, for he immediately found he was being rushed
by the twelve-year-old girl whom had defeated them once and was
instrumental in defeating them again. This time, they saw her coming,
and Nor and Day managed to grab her, and pin her up against a wall.
"Ugh!" She grunted, "Hey, what's goin' on here?"
"You are our prisoner!" Nor answered, like a neanderthal.
"And what do you plan to do with me?"
"Well, after handing the squirrels over to--UMPH!" Nor had met
an elbow in his side, as Day told him "Quiet, you're giving too much
away!"
Oddly enough though, Pennywinkel responded by immediately putting
her hands behind her back and saying "I surrender!"
Day looked at her suspiciously, "Okay, hands up!"
She complied. Seeing nothing suspicious in either hand, he had
another idea: "Okay, hands down." He noted that when she put her
hands down, she immediately also returned them to her back. Still
suspicious, he ordered "Turn around!" She did, putting her hands on
the wall. "Search her." He ordered, himself helping in the search.
After a moment, they had found nothing. Day scratched his head,
still knowing that something was amiss. Finally, he grabbed her, and
threw her to the floor of the landing pad, where she landed face down.
Pinning her down, he threateningly asked "All right, what's your
scheme?"
Instead of answering, however, she instead screamed "Monty!!!"
Within moments, The big mouse came a runnin. Just before he went outside,
he stopped, shocked at what he saw. With resolve, he challenged with
"No one bullies me little pallies like that!" And immediately threw
himself at Nor. Knocking the big one down (but not off the landing
pad) he proceeded to pick up and lift Day off of Pennywinkel.
"That's it!" Frog realized something all the sudden.
"What?" Po wondered, being right next to him.
"The street fight! Something seemed wrong when we left, and now
I realize that neither you nor the dorky one were there! I mean, you
were there, but then you weren't, and..."
"Hey, the 'Dorky One' is my big brother! And of course we weren't
there, Mevos had the whole fight rigged. Lure you into a false sense
of security, and we followed you home, where we took the time to set
up this trap... Man, there's no time for this!" He said, seeing Monty
beating on his brothers. Immediately he got up, and ran to their aid.
Pennywinkel, standing, barely had time to thank Monty before she
found herself quickly having to jump a sweep kick. She did, however,
think to jump at such an angle where her feet came down right atop of
her would-be assailant, knocking him into a groveling position. She
herself came to a stop in front of him, and sat down in a cross-legged
position.
In a clear mockery of Martial Arts training, she mocked "You learn
well, my son, but you still have a long path ahead of you!" finally she
giggled, and patted the boy on the head (or, if you're a sticker for
accuracy, tried her darndest to shove it into the wood of the landing
strip).
"I don't think we need to overdo it, Pennywinkel," Monterey
objected, but suddenly he found himself locked in a sleeper hold by Nor
Endo. This famous wrestling move, if you hold on long enough, causes
it's victims to pass out. Monty did the only thing he could think of,
which was elbow Nor. However Monty's own bulk prevented his blows from
landing, and he could not twist his body to take that into account
lest he risk breaking his own neck. Within moments, Monty was off
to la-la land.
That left only Pennywinkel, alone, to take care of all three boys.
She quickly stood, knowing that she had taken them on once, she could
easily do it again. Po, also standing, attempted to grab her, but
just then, she disappeared, only to reappear right in front of, and
with her back towards, Nor. He, too, set out to capture her, but she,
being a small girl, *was* able to elbow him like Monty had not, and his
effort was aborted. Then she suddenly disappeared again, and reappeared
in front of Day.
Instead of making a move, however, he instead asked "I thought you
were going to surrender?"
"Perhaps I still am. Still, I like to rough things up a little
first."
"So do I. Nor! Do a Fancy Dragon, now!"
Hearing that, Pennywinkel turned towards the big one, expecting
some sort of attack. Much to her surprise though, Nor did absolutely
nothing. Pennywinkel just barely had time to grasp the trick and again
sidestep a rush attack from Po, which landed her right in Day's arms.
Quickly he turned her to face him.
Laughing, he jeered "I like to rough things up a little, too."
Saying that, he hugged her really close, and forced upon her lips
a kiss. The other two looked onward in shock, and Po eventually declared
"Hey, why do *you* get to kiss the chicks?"
Finally the two parted lips, and Day answered "If you wanted her,
you should've caught her."
But Pennywinkel wasn't taking this lying down. "You... The minute
I get my arms lose, I am going to kill you." she said in a dark,
foreboding tone.
She wasn't the only one with her mind set on getting arms loose,
for immediately, Day noticed a fly around his face. Since Day was smaller
than usual, Zipper seemed bigger than usual, and hit harder as well, but
still, he served as on a minor nuisance, as in his distraction, Po snuck
up on him, and caught him in his hands.
"Good work." He heard a deep voice say, and he knew Mevos had
returned.
Mevos' task had not been half as long or as hard as the boys'.
After he made his way to the ground, he first went to where the flowers
had been bunched together into a cushion of petals. Walking on them,
he looked all around. "Now, let me see... where could they have gone...
They couldn't have run far. They wouldn't, for to do so would mean
to not follow me, that would mean no chance of rescueing their captured
friends." He knew this would not be an easy search, for there were
many places they could be in just the areas he could see, nevermind
the whole park. But he had something they didn't: He had teleportation.
And he had fire.
Mevos contemplated. "Yes... that's it!" And, without further
ado, pointed at a large tuft of grass nearby, and set it ablaze. Within
seconds, the grass was cinders. But he had heard no screams, seen no
movement, and found no charred remains, so he knew he had picked wrong.
This, in itself, was not so bad. Perhaps the escapees were in a place
where they could see this, and would know what he could do. The only
things they could do would be to either stay hidden and possibly be
charred, or make a run for it and be discovered. It was a win-win
situation.
With that in mind, he began burning every concievable hiding place
in mind, from flowers to grass to small bushes, until finally he
threw a blaze at a tuft of grass near a tree.
This was a lucky break, for he heard someone scream. A girl.
Immediately the scream was stifled, but it was too late, they had been
discovered. Quenching out his own flames, Mevos teleported over to
the charred area, and discovered the niche.
"There! I knew you were hiding somewhere." Before exchanging
any more words, he immediately wrapped them up in yet more of the sticky
substance. Handling his two prisoners, he returned.
Now, back on the landing pad, Mevos evaluated the progress. "Let's
see... Yes, this does seem to be a complete set. No one is missing."
"Ha!" Chip mocked, "So what? You've got us all wrapped up. Big
deal! What are ya gonna do, take us to a dungeon and lock us up? Good
luck. Unless you live right next door, that'll take all day on foot."
"How observant of you, but you forget I am an inter-universal
traveller, just like these kids. I've gotten my powers the same way
they did. But my experiences did not mirror theirs, and I have powers
and relics all my own."
Suddenly he called out "I summon the Mevos Ball!"
A small vibration was observed, as a black dome-shaped thing came
into view on the landing pad. The bottom of the ball was allowed to
flatten to make a half-dome, and the top opened up. The inside was so
big, it seemed to Chip, that it could hold twenty Montys.
And immediately, the bad guys began loading up the good guys, a
process which, since little walking was needed, took no time at all.
CHAPTER TEN The Company of Evil
"Man, I hate this waitin' stuff! When's that dirty rat gonna get
here?" Rat Capone complained. "Ya know, I bet that sucker double-
crossed us!"
The problem here was that Rat Capone, as well as his sidekicks, a
lizard named Sugar Ray and a muscle-bound mouse named Arnold Mousenegger,
were not only waiting for an important person to arrive, but that they
were doing so on the desk of one of the Rangers' number one enemies.
In fact, the Rangers' number ONE enemy, the one who had been involved
in the very case that led to the forming of the Rescue Rangers. His
name was Fat Cat, and he was doing all he could to keep himself from
giving in to his annoyance and deciding to just eat the insolent mice
who call themselves thugs, now sitting on his desk. Meanwhile Fat
Cat's own cronies were just inside the door to his office.
"Patience, my fellows in crime. He will be here. The time of
his meeting with us is still five minutes away."
"Yea, and he told us to leave that window open too. I bet he's
plannin' some sort of sneak attack..."
But just then, the black ball of Mevos flew in through the open
window behind Fat Cat. It landed right there in the center of Fat
Cat's desk, and opened up. When it did, Mevos was already standing
erect, arms together. He bowed, and said "Good evening Fat Cat, and
you too Rat Capone. I am so very glad you made it. You can see behind
me what my, ahem, 'Special Delivery' was to be."
They were barely listening. Both villains and their henchmen
were staring in awe at what was behind him. The Rescue Rangers, perfectly
in line, each one tied with small rope to an individual pole. Off to
the side were Frog and Pennywinkel. Sitting on the floor right next to
Mevos was Mademanna, who was bound with a chain instead of rope. The
Endo Boys each stood at roughly even placements between the prisoners.
Fat Cat scanned them all over with his eyes. They were all bound
and secure, seemingly immobile. "Wonderful," he commented, especially
upon seeing Zipper. All the Ranger villains had, by this point, become
aware that the supposedly insignifigant fly was always the one overlooked
factor which had lead them to defeat, time and time again. But this
Mevos character was obviously not going to leave any stone unturned,
Zipper was so done up that he was virtually cocooned.
"Big deal." Rat Capone said, arms crossed. "We've caught them
all before, they'll just escape and come back at us."
"All of them?" Mevos asked, looking at Capone.
"Well..." Rat Capone thought. But before he could complete his
thought, Sugar Ray blurted out "Well, always a singular member of their
force seems to elude us."
"Yea, we forget one too!" Arnold agreed.
"Did I tell you mugs to tell him that?" Rat Capone asked
threateningly.
"Impressive," Fat Cat said, "Indeed, it can be said that, while
we have all come close, no one of us has ever managed to capture *all*
the Rangers. Would you mind telling us your secret?"
"A little magic and a keen plan." Mevos answered.
"Yea yea, skip the hokum!" Rat Capone demanded impatiently,
"What's the point? I'd be really mad if I was dragged here just to
see some mug in a corny outfit showin' off and braggin' about his
deeds."
"I'm afraid," Fat Cat agreed, "That my fellow criminal is right.
Amazing as your deeds are, I fail to see why you have decided to
showcase this to us."
"Forgive me, I have not made my intentions clear enough, it seems.
I did not come here to brag. The truth is that I have done research
into both of you, and I know of your wants and desires. Therefore, I
have decided to fulfill part of those desires, to split this treasure
quite evenly."
"As in...?"
"I know Rat Capone wants the mouse in the purple jumpsuit. If he
does, then he can have her. The rest of them are yours, Fat Cat, to do
with as you will."
Rat Capone immediately beamed. "Ho ho ho, this is my lucky day!"
He walked towards Gadget, looking her over, touching her face, "I've
wanted this dame for a long time. I wanted to break that spunk out of
her, to make her mine. Well, honeycakes, it seems like it's Daddy
Capone's birthday and he's gettin' himself a present!"
"Oooh, Presents? Where? Where?" Arnold asked, looking around.
"Knock it off!" Sugar Ray corrected, "He didn't mean for real!
Ummm... or I guess he did... the present part, anyway."
The only one who seemed to have a problem with this arrangement
(notwithstanding the Rangers themselves) was Fat Cat, who questioned
thus: "You mean to say you're just giving us the Rangers? What's the
catch? There has got to be a catch!"
"There is no catch." Mevos confirmed.
"You mean to say you are getting nothing out of this?"
"Oh, I'm getting something." Mevos confirmed. "I'm getting these
three," he said, indicating Frog, Pennywinkel, and finally Mademanna,
whom he picked up. He neglected to mention the *other* things he hoped
to gain, like the respect of the Animal Underworld, something that would
prove invaluable in later campaigns.
"And who exactly are these three? They can't be anyone special,
and they're certainly not Rescue Rangers."
"Begging your pardon, Boss," Mepps intervened, "But those look
like those kids I saw living with the Rangers on that scouting mission."
Of course, any of the Rangers who could, looked at him with confusion.
Certainly it was a surprise that anyone in Fat Cat's organization had
heard of Frog or his female companions, and they had never caught wind
of this "scouting mission" now spoken of until now.
"What? Just a second, let me check," Fat Cat said, getting
something out of his shirt pocket. Eventually he pulled out a monocle,
with which he examined the three. "Hmmm... Yes, they do look... oddly
human... What sort of anomaly is this?"
"One that could take all day to explain. Simply put, these are
humans, but they're not completely normal."
"Other than their apparent humanity, how?"
"He is a magnificient fighter. No matter what greek myths or
legendary epics you've heard, he's better."
"Awww, shucks..." Frog responded humbly. "I ain't *that* good."
"This girl here," he indicated Pennywinkel, "Is a genious who
I hope to make an advisor to evaluate my own evil schemes. Finally,
This girl in my arms," which would be Mademanna, "is a robot child,
perfectly human in every respect."
"And let me guess, You plan to make her evil using a violent
video game?"
Mevos didn't bother to wonder what kind of hairbrained suggestion
that was (Anyway, he knew about Tom, the robot cat whom the Rangers had
helped once) and instead answered "No, she's programmed to be almost
totally human. Simple reprogramming won't do. I actually plan to corrupt
her innocent mind, yes! I will mold her in my image, hone her into a
criminal genious! The only one capable, of carrying on my empire!"
Somehow, Fat Cat thought that line sounded familiar.
Mevos didn't bother to add that he also had a backup plan, to use
in case the above failed, in which he would disassemble her and learn
how she was made, thus allowing him to create his own militia (Of course,
he'd have to remove their free will). He did not need Fat Cat thinking
of this possibility at the moment.
"Yea yea, that's great." Rat Capone said offhandedly. "Look, can
I just take my moll and go?" Rat Capone was already busy untying her
from the poll. Fortunately, he discovered, it would not be so difficult
to keep her under control, as she was still bound with a length of rope
under the layer that connected her to the poll.
"Yes, you may go," Fat Cat stated, not really caring if Rat Capone
decided to jump in the Mississippi using his "Moll" as a weight. Thus,
Rat Capone did leave, going under the door to Fat Cat's office. "I never
really liked that rat," Fat Cat commented aloud. "However, I think you
and me could be great allies. What was your name again? Mevos, wasn't
it?"
"Yes. And yes, I can see how companionship on our parts could be
a great virtue. Are there any more questions?"
This was working out well, Fat Cat thought. Having heard about
the kids, he had known right then and there that they'd be better off
as his own. Or at least that robot girl. He could not only disassemble
her and make blueprints, but he could also reassemble her, then continue
to hone her into a criminal genious! Why didn't this fool think of that?
The others he'd eliminate. He'd have no use for a warrior or a genious,
especially pint-sized ones. And if he somehow got that girl mouse back
from Capone, wasn't she some sort of mechanic? But first he'd have to
get this Mevos out of the way. And he had just the plan...
"Yes... I was wondering... don't take this the wrong way, but
why must you wear that wretched mask? Do you have some disfigurement
of some sort?"
"Ha. No. More like my face, under this mask, is so beautiful,
that I wear this mask to preserve it. Would you like to see?"
"Of course. Something like that must come along once in a blue
moon!" Of course, Fat Cat didn't really give a rat about it, of course,
but this would provide the perfect opportunity. Yes! He thought, seeing
Mevos put down Mademanna, walk a few inches (probably feet to him) away
from her, and begin to fumble with his mask, the fool is falling for
it! As he saw that, Fat Cat lifted up his paw, clinched in a fist...
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Unexpected Journey
...Suddenly, the door of the office was violent beat open, and the
suddenness of it caught them all by surprise. Those that could, turned
and look, and saw that the door had been kicked open by Nowhere Man,
who had presumeably regained his human size via the Resize Medallion
dangling clearly from his neck. What's more, behind him was Gadget,
who surprisingly was also human-sized.
"What is this?" Fat Cat wondered in bewilderment. Mevos didn't
have time to wonder, for he immediately jumped off the desk, putting
his fingers to his own Resize Medallion and saying the magic words.
Now, Mevos' irregular size in rodent measurement is not half as bad
as his size in Human measurement. He wasn't exactly Richard Kiel,
but he was close. Nevertheless though, Nowhere Man was undaunted
as only the insanely suicidal could be, and lunged at the guy full
force. He was, however, met with a knee in the head. While he was
reeling from the blow, Mevos shot a magic beam of some sort at him,
and Nowhere Man was dematerialized.
"Nowhere Man!" Gadget called in in shock. Quickly did she
overcome it, however, and reached into her pocket, where she grabbed the
remote, and hastily pressed rewind. Within milliseconds Nowhere Man
was a material whole again, but Gadget rewound too far to just before
he entered the room.
And she hadn't reckoned with Mevos' quick thinking. When she
stopped, he grabbed the device. "So, *that* is your secret!" With
this realization and her attention, he proceeded to destroy the remote,
crushing it in the palm of his hand, until it was nothing but wires,
chips, and plastic, with a few batteries falling out.
It was while he was performing this amazing feat of strength,
however, that Nowhere Man came in and rushed him again. This time,
however, Mevos had been so preoccupied that he did not have time to
react. He was driven to the floor, where Nowhere Man pinned him down,
and proceeded to beat him into next Tuesday.
He even broke the mask.
"No one touches the mask and lives!" Mevos managed to threaten
between blows.
"So who wants to live?!" Nowhere Man responded, still handing out
the suicidal fists of fury.
"What are you waiting for?" Fat Cat called, "Get them!"
"Uhhhhh..." Mepps, understandibly, was quite reluctant, as was
every other one of Fat Cat's cronies. Gadget was only the biggest
mouse they had ever seen, after all.
"Who is he?" Day Endo was wondering, "And why is he here?"
He was surprised to hear sudden laughter, and he looked over at
Pennywinkel, and instantly he knew. "The fatal factor... there is
always one that they forget!"
"That's right!" laughing girl answered. "Remember the search?
It just so happened that I was carving the name of where you were going
to take us into the wall and floor while you were pushing me around,
looking for some hidden device!"
Day, quite infuriated, walked up to her, and looked like he was
about to do something violent. But suddenly, he caught himself with
a better idea.
"Po, weren't you saying earlier that you wanted to kiss a girl?"
Po looked with a mix of joy and surprise, "You mean...?"
"Be my guest!"
"Oh boy!" Po cried as he ran up, and himself smooched Pennywinkel
on the lips. Being only a kid, however, he couldn't bring himself to
make it any more than a brief touch. However, he showed his satisfaction
by saying "Man, that rocks!"
Pennywinkel didn't even react this time, for in her mind there was
a difference between doing it of your own will and following someone
else's orders, and she was already thinking of killing Day anyway, how
much more mad could she be? So instead she turned and called out "Gadget!
Untie me! Before Mevos gets up!"
"Okay, justaminute," Gadget called, working on untying Chip. She
found it made it easier to, first, remove him from the pole by simply
pulling him up, and then working on the underlayer of rope from there.
Mostly she found her own fingernails could just cut them.
"No! Untie me *first*!"
"Be patient!"
"Look, if you don't get me out of this Nowhere Man is going to get
killed and this time there'll be no--"
"Okay okay!" Gadget said, leaving Chip half-undone to instead work
on Pennywinkel, using the same technique she had been using on Chip.
It only took a second, and immediately she went back to working on
the unofficial leader of the Rescue Rangers.
Pennywinkel, now free, quickly ran to Frog, grabbing his Resize
Medallion which he kept hidden under his shirt and trenchcoat, and
putting it on herself while running, managing to call out that she'd
give it back later. Finally, she jumped desk and activated it, becoming
her human size.
She wasn't a second too soon, for Mevos had finally managed to
stun Nowhere Man, and was about to deliver a killing blow with a shard
of a mask now broken (Pennywinkel didn't have time to notice that he
was wearing a different, undamaged one now) when she managed to push
Nowhere Man off and into Fat Cat's cronies. She dodged Mevos strike,
and grabbed his arm.
Then they both disappeared.
"Gadget!" Chip asked, "How did you get away from Rat Capone?"
"Nowhere Man rescued me. He came up, human-sized, said to let
me go, and Rat Capone and his men both bolted for it," she answered
while proceeding to free everyone else. "Then he became mouse-sized
because he had trouble undoing the knots otherwise, and then decided
to make us both human. Sized, that is."
And then, the most surprising thing in the world happened.
Fat Cat started crying, burying his face in his arms on the desk.
"It's hopeless!" he cried, "Hopeless! Bad enough you've got
brains and gizmos and that fly, but why, WHY did the Lord Almighty have
to give you some magic that allows you to be bigger than me? Why can't
I, for once, have the upper hand?!"
"Oh, Cheer up Fat Cat," Gadget said, feeling something she never
thought she would--sorry for Fat Cat. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly)
So did others in the room. "Failure is not the end of the world."
"It is for me! I'm doomed to failure! I've been cursed with
failure ever since Claurdaine was put away! Before that, everything
was fine. Before that, there were no Rescue Rangers!"
"Well," Frog thought aloud, working on freeing Mademanna who's
chains could not be penetrated by Gadget's nails, "That's kinda your
own fault. I mean you were responsible for their coming together."
And now Fat Cat stopped crying, and he looked at Frog. "I was?"
"Yea. Claurdaine stole that ruby. You planted evidence that
placed suspicion on Detective Drake, whom these two chipmunks were
fans of, and they were also friends with his dog, so they undertook
the case for personal reasons. Then, you took the ruby from Claurdaine,
which you took aboard a ship which these two followed you on. There
they met Monterey Jack--this mouse here--and his partner, the fly you
seem so apt to complain about. And through Monty, they met Gadget.
So, ummm, yea, you really can't blame anyone else, except for Claurdaine
for starting your downward spiral in the first place."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you meddling heroes have to interfere!"
"Of course it does!" Gadget argued. "Stopping crime is our
business!"
"Yea, interfering is sorta what meddling heroes *do*." Frog
pointed out. "Ya know," he added distractedly, "I bet Mevos has the
key to this darn chain. Well Mad, it looks like we're going to have
to brush up on Houdini before you'll get out of this one."
"Awwwwwwwww...." She awwwwwweed in a begging manner.
"Ya know," Frog thought aloud, again, and offhand, "I'm actually
a cat-loving person."
"You are?" Fat Cat seemed surprised.
"Yea. They're such complex, personified creatures. I think
Leonardo Da Vinci summed it up best when he said 'the smallest feline
is a masterpiece'."
"The great artist? He said that?"
"Yeppers. There's actually a lot more cat-lovers in the world
than you would think. In fact, in Japan, they've got these cat statues
called Maneki Neko, which they place in business areas because they're
supposed to attract money. Heck, that country is obsessed with cats.
I mean, cat statues, cat demons, cat-like cartoon characters dominating
their television, like Doraemon and Hello Kitty..."
"Guys, I just thought of something," Dale suddenly blurted out,
"How are we gonna get home?"
"Easy!" Chip answered, "Nowhere Man can carry us!"
"Why not Gadget?"
"Because she wears a skin-tight jumpsuit. Her pockets could
suffocate us."
"Does anyone know how I could remove these flippin' chains?!"
Frog emplored as if to the world.
"May I try?" Fat Cat offered.
"Sure."
So, Fat Cat turned the part with the lock towards himself, and
again made use of a monocle, as well as one claw. Managing to dig into
the lock, and wiggling it around a bit, finally something clicked, and
the lock unlocked. And the lock was removed. And the chains did fall.
Mademanna stood, and all was peaceful.
"Thanks, Fat Cat!"
"Anytime, my lady."
With that, Nowhere Man, ever obedient, began allowing the Rangers
(And Frog, and Mademanna) into his pockets. As they walked away, Frog
and Mademanna waved goodbye, and they left the room. Though none saw
it, the sun shone for a brief moment that day, as the Rangers all
realized that today had probably been the first step on the road to
Fat Cat's redemption.
Meanwhile, an island in the Atlantic was about to be the beginning
of another series of strange and wonderful events. It was on this
island that two teleporting travellers arrived.
Upon appearing, Pennywinkel lept away from Mevos. However her
strength failed her, and she found herself on he knees like she had
been before, except this time she was panting heavily.
"Where are we?" Mevos wondered aloud. "How far did you take
us?"
"Two... hundred... miles..."
"Two hundred miles?! That's impossible, do you know how much
power that would take?!"
"I... do... now..."
"And now you're drained. What direction did we go in?"
This time she didn't answer, and Mevos saw that, unless she got
a drink really quick, she would die. "Here, Drink!" He demanded,
pulling a carton of water out of one of his huge sleeves. Hastily
Pennywinkel did open the jug, and she did drink. Even though a carton
is a carton is a carton, Pennywinkel was still dry, and she needed
one more carton of water before she really felt she was healthy again.
Setting down the second empty jug, she said "That's better. Thanks
Mevos." Though she knew fully well that her living was only due to
Mevos wanting her to, for his own purposes.
"Now," he asked again, "What direction did you take us in?"
"Ummm..." Pennywinkel looked around, examining the island, "Well,
I *thought* I had taken us to the Southeast..."
"The Southeast? We should be in the Atlantic Ocean! Fool girl,
if this island hadn't been here, we would've died at sea, You of
dehydration since you obviously can't fill yourself up on salt water!
But never mind, no use crying over spilt milk." He glanced around,
"I don't remember there being an island like this two hundred miles
Southeast of New York City..."
"I don't remember there being a Midwest, New York City, New York."
"Excellent point. Hmmm... this area might be useful if we explored
it a bit."
Pennywinkel stood up. "We?"
"The other option is that I abandon you here and go off alone."
"Don'tcha think maybe I would *prefer* that?! I'd rather be alone
by myself than with a sicko maniac Fed whom I still have bad memories of."
"I care not what you prefer. You are accompanying me on this and
that's final!"
Crossing her arms and after stating some explicative under her
breath, she finally complied. "Okay, where to?"
With that, Mevos stood still, and silent. Pennywinkel didn't
mind, for she knew he was using some trick that would allow him to
see for miles around. Finally, he snapped back into action, saying
"There's something to the south, a large structure, some sort of
pyramid, similar to Mayan it seemed." Without waiting for Pennywinkel
to say anything, he began walking Southward.
In mere moments, the two had come upon the temple which Mevos had
seen from the sky. As he had surmised, it was built in a style that
eerily resembled Mayan Pyramids. Mevos openly wondered, "Hmmmm. The
Mayan Civilization supposedly existed in Mexico. What would a Mayan
temple be doing up here?"
"Ever think that just maybe this isn't a real Mayan temple? If
a mouse in this world can make a car out of a rollerskate in less than
a minute, one of these could be constructed in less than three days."
Mevos laughed, "Of course! Some lousy tourist attraction! I
wondered why this island, being only two hundred miles out, had never
been seen!"
"Get a grip, moron."
"What?"
"Even if it's an imitation, look at the moss and vines and erosion.
This temple has to have existed for at least a thousand years at most.
And if it's a tourist attraction, where are the tourists? I see no
signs saying 'come see the cheap imitation temple, only two dollars a
pop!' do you?"
Mevos looked around. Sure enough, there were moss and vines.
Cracks here and there indicated erosion as well. This may not be a
legitimate Mayan temple, but it was a legitimate temple, period.
That being realized, Mevos knew that the only thing to do was to climb
the steps. "Right, then come on."
Pennywinkel didn't argue, for she as much as anyone with a spine
for adventure was eager to walk into the temple and see what secrets it
held. Up the steps the unusual companions climbed, finally arriving
at what they had expected to be a door, but instead was simply a large
opening into what seemed like it was going to be a long, dark hallway.
Unfortunately, there were no torches. Fortunately, neither of the
two required any. As Pennywinkel stepped into the darkness, she
activated her own light magic, which caused her entire body to shine
light all around her. She looked back at Mevos, and found that his
mask had a similar function. It was almost more frightening in the
dark than anywhere else, as it caused him to look like some sort of
ghost (Pennywinkel began to wonder if his entire outfit, mask and
all, hadn't been lifted from a Halloween shop).
"What are you staring at?" He asked, "If you're afraid of the
dark, then you--"
"Oh no, I was just realizing how stupid your costume was." With
that, she continued onwards down the long, dark tunnel, Mevos close
behind.
They continued down the hall for about half an hour, each slowly
beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, this was one of those trick
tunnels where you go in, and keep going in, only to find the entrance
is always right behind you. But that belief was dispelled when they
both turned around to check, and did not see the entrance. Then,
knowing that they were making real progress, they both turned again
towards their destination.
And were surprised that something was actually there. Right
there, where nothing had been before, they saw a large, rectangular
room, with an altar in the center. On this altar was a golden plaque,
and a look around revealed such plaques were so numerous that this room
seemed to be essentially made of them. Also on the altar was an orb,
like a gypsy's crystal ball, radiating some sort of fantastic light and
energy.
Pennywinkel looked at the plaque on the altar, and was surprised.
"Hey, this is in perfect English! It says--"
"It's *what*?!" Mevos pushed her aside, and looked at it himself.
Then he looked up with disgust, "Is this some sort of trick? This is
written in Arabic!"
"Arabic? Look, I can't help it if you can't--" she got up while
she was saying this, and looked at the plaque herself. But this time...
"--Hey... That's Chinese."
Mevos looked again. "No, that's Japanese."
"Hey wait, there's some sort of spell at work here. When you
looked, it changed from Chinese to Japanese. Wait, I can read Japanese,
let me..." But unfortunately, she made the mistake of turning her head
ever so slightly, but enough to not be looking directly at the plaque.
When she turned back, it was in Greek.
"Hmmm." Mevos pondered. "I wonder..." He stepped away, and began
to look at all the plaques around the room. Centering himself on two
that were side by side, he kept looking from one to the other. As he
had expected, the language they were written in kept changing, and
unfortunately, never to English.
"Any theories, child?"
Pennywinkel clapped her hands, "Yes, one. It's a long shot, but
think about it: When I brought us here, we both did *not* expect there
to be an island. When you looked around, you did *not* expect to find
a temple. And now, we did *not* expect these to be in English. Do
you get what I'm saying?"
"Yes, when I looked at it, expecting English, it changed it's
language! So the key is to not expect what you hope to find!"
"No, but rather not to expect *anything at all!* Remember, when
we looked behind us, expecting to see the entrance, we instead saw
nothing. We looked back, not expecting anything, and found this room!
So basically, this place is founded on the concept of 'those who don't
expect, shall find'. You follow me?"
"Loud and clear. Ah, I just saw a plaque that mentioned the
Spanish Inquisition!"
"And no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" They both said in
unison. "Boy," Pennywinkel said to herself, "Whoever built this place
had a weird sense of humor." Offhandedly, she looked at the plaque on
the altar, and kept her eyes on it, for yet again, it was in English.
"The Millenium Orb..." she read.
"The what?"
"That's what this plaque says this thing is." She said, pointing
but not taking her eyes off the plaque.
"All right... so what is it?"
"It doesn't say, it only says that this is the Millenium Orb and
that's that. Okay Mevos, I've got an idea. You try to gain information
from the plaques around this room, me, I'm not taking my eyes off this
altar or this orb."
"Agreed." With that, Mevos cleared his mind of expectations,
something any real magician is skilled in, and began looking at the
plaques. Despite that, however, he could still read but a few, and
at best, they were fragmented. "This one says something 'Was destroyed
over 19,000 years ago'... and this one, says 'changes time, disrupts the
universe'." After another few minutes, he found one that said "Will
surrender your dreams..." and finally, one that said "...three times,
and no more until..."
"Okay!" Pennywinkel said, "I know what this is!" With that, she
grabbed the orb, and held it in her arms. It was only slightly heavy,
even though it was the size of a basketball. "Come on, Mevos, let's
take this and leave."
"Why, what is it?"
"Oh, I'll tell you, but only when I feel like it."
Mevos turned and looked at her, and the orb. "Thankfully, it
seems that orb will not disappear. Do you want to perform a test?
Quickly, we'll both look up."
They both looked up... and surprisingly, there was a large hole in
the ceiling. "Hmm, how convenient. Pennywinkel, do you know how to
change the pull of gravity?"
"Of course."
"Then do so!"
Having used a concept that was not quite the same as flying (but
gets the same job done) the two managed to exit the temple, which, upon
them looking back, did no longer have a hole in the roof. They knew
that for a fact, as they were both standing on it. And thankfully,
Pennywinkel was still holding the orb. Mevos turned to her.
"So, what is the orb's secret?"
"Well, I'll have to perform a test first, but I have my suspicions."
"Please, perform your test."
Pennywinkel grinned mischeviously. "All right... then, I wish we
were in an unused room at a fancy hotel!"
And the two, yet again, disappeared.
TO BE CONTINUED in Dark Millenium, Part Three.
Back to the stories
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (C) Disney, used without permission.