RESCUE RANGERS:  DARK MILLENIUM

                                PART FOUR

Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (C) Disney, used without permission.
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CHAPTER NINETEEN  The Next Morning


	When everyone awoke, it was the next morning, and the almighty
Mevos still had not returned.
	"I'm concerned," Po said, watching a window and drinking a cup
of coffee.  "I mean, our leader should've been back by now.  I don't
suppose your sister could've secretly offed him, by any chance?"
	"Nah," Mademanna denied, also drinking a cup of coffee.  The only
sign that she might possibly be a prisoner (yea, right) was that one
of her arms was tied to the arm of the chair she was in.  The other arm,
of course, was holding a proper cup of coffee.  "She woulda told us
something like that."
	"If you say so," he surrendered.  Finally he got up, and asked
"You still feeling energetic this morning?"
	"Nah, some of the fight went out of me in my sleep."
	"Oh, is that so?"  Po walked over, slowly, threateningly, and
viciously untied her hand from the chair.  As he so maliciously freed
her, he actually did things that in truth *were* undignified--such as
hoisting her right out of the chair, and insisting on carrying her to
the practice room (If you must know, he was actually trying to persuade
her to attack him, to get the rough back in "rough and ready").  The
child, well used to treatment like this, however just kept innocently
drinking her coffee, though she did manage to mumble out an order to
be put down.
	"You getting mad yet?"
	In answer, she took what was left of her coffee and splashed it in
his face.  Fortunately it was only mildly warm at the moment, so it's
not like it hurt, but it did cause her to be dropped and him to have
coffee stains on his shirt (and hair).
	"All right, now *I'M* mad!"  He stated.  Just as he was about to
release some of his anger, the child grabbed one of his legs, and began
giggling.  Unfortunately, since Po was not the absolute heartless jerk
Max Alpha had been, he felt he could do nothing but try to move his leg
and demand she let go (which of course she didn't).
	Finally, however, the invertibrae grew some vertibrae and decided
to kick her, which while it didn't hurt her too much, did cause her to
lose her grip.  However, before he could do something more drastic, she
quickly stood and elbowed him, causing *him* to fall to the ground.
Fortunately for whatever seriousness this story still has, neither of
them threw corny comments at each other.

	Getting away from the above playfulness, the Rangers, having just
gotten up, were preparing to go on their rescue mission.  Unfortunately
they had problems, for unlike Mademanna, they had not gotten over the
problems caused by the affects of Pennywinkel's Chaos Magic.  Chip was
still in his blissful state, Dale was still obsessed with pencils, and
Gadget was still a cyborg (though she didn't consider that a problem,
and neither did anyone else, really).
	Gadget was surprised to find that Chip and Dale had both sat in the
backseat of the Ranger Wing, with Pennywinkel in the middle of them, and
Monty up front in the passengers side (Frog was feeling woozy in the head,
possibly a side effect of his experience last night, and had elected to
stay home, and Nowhere Man felt he would just take up space).  Even more
she was surprised to see Chip and Dale *sharing comic books*.  As far as
she knew, Chip of the ever-serious nature had always hated comic books...
and monster movies... and video games... and cartoons (ironically)... yet
here he was, reading and enjoying some comics along with Dale.
	Just as Gadget was about to question this, she thought better of
it, and decided not to.  After all, excellent circumstances like this
never lasted for long.  Perhaps when this mission got underway, Chip
would resume his former self.
	Even as Gadget turned the thing on, however, the sounds her ears
picked up told her that Pennywinkel was just not gonna let it be.
	"So, Chip," she heard the only other girl present ask, "Do you got
a plan worked out for when we get to their headquarters?"
	"Plan?  Ha, who needs a plan?  There's only two of them, and you'll
be able to handle both of them by yourself.  We don't even have to come
along!  In fact, I wanna stay home."
	Now Gadget was just alarmed, and got the thing up off the landing
pad before Chip could carry out his desires.  Going up, she told
Pennywinkel "Now remember, this is only a rescue mission.  We do not need
a body count, understood?"
	"Yes, ma'am!"  Pennywinkel affirmed.  Somehow, Gadget still had her
suspicions, but she kept them to herself.  Perhaps Pennywinkel had been
made crazy as well, and for Pennywinkel, being crazy meant being normal.
Thus, the mouse concentrated herself fully on driving this thing towards
the intended destination.

	Po and Mademanna had finally stopped play-wrestling and finally got
around to real wrestling, on a real practice mat, like the kind you see
at Karate schools.  The two had been at each others throats for minutes,
and... the best that could be said was that Po was impressed with how
good a newbie to fighting like Mademanna really was.  For every punch,
every kick, every tackle, every time he had to scratch an itch, she had
a dodge or counterattack one step ahead.  Only a few time did he manage
to catch her, and then it was always at an odd angle where he did no
real harm.  He did however notice that while she was fine at defense,
she rarely ever launched her own attack.  Perhaps, he thought, she
simply wasn't any good at those.
	"Aren't you going to fight back?"  He asked, stopping for the
moment to get a response.
	She shook her head.  "You do not want me to fight back."
	"Oh, come on!  Don't be a chicken now!"
	With that, he made to tackle her again, and discovered first hand
that her fighting back probably *was* a really bad idea, and immediately
he felt stupid for prodding her into it as one of her counter fists
landed right in his chest, propelling him across the room and making an
indentation of him in the farthest wall.
	"Told ya," she pointed out.
	Climbing out of his hole, he mumbled "Why you little... well, you
did warn me."
	She stood and tried her darndest to look innocent, and giggled.


CHAPTER TWENTY  So What's So Special About a Pencil?


	You'll find out.
	As the Rangers were flying into the great blue sky, Chip was reading
Dale's comic books.  Dale, however, decided to stop reading comics, and
instead pulled out his pencil, and admired it.  He began to wonder if
there had not been some reason, some higher purpose, for him finding
this wonderful object.
	Suddenly, a thought struck him, a deduction actually:  What are
pencils used most for, he thought?  Writing, of course!  Perhaps this
pencil's special power had something to do with writing!  Dale hurriedly
looked around, but, unable to find any paper, he instead grabbed one of
his own comic books (a stack of which Pennywinkel was holding for the
two) and opened it to one of the Letters to the Editor pages.  On one
of the stretches of white space just big enough to write on, he wrote
"We got to" but then, forgot where they were going to!
	So he asked "Where are we going again?
	"West Wenson," Pennywinkel answered.
	So Dale finished his writing, and the full sentance read "We got
to West Wenson just as Monty was about to say 'Criminy!'"
	Immediately Dale noticed a startling coincidence.
	"Criminy!  We sure got there fast!"  Monty commented.  Dale looked
down, and sure enough there was a large building right below them, and
they were coming in for a landing.
	"Is this West Wenson?"  Gadget asked for confirmation.
	"Yep, sure is."  Pennywinkel assured her.  "There's the roof door
me and Chip used last time."
	"Sure is," Chip confirmed, "Let's smash it!"
	By this point, Chip acting out of character (to say the least) was
becoming a natural occurence.  And this time, someone actually agreed.
	"I'm with ya, Chip-me-lad," Monty chimed.  Hastily Zipper, who had
been on Monty's shoulder, decided to jump to Gadget's instead.  However
before Monty could actually attempt to break down the door, Gadget stopped
him and pointed out "Wait, we need to use the Resize Medallion first!"
	"Oh, right."
	That being generally known, the crew piled out, Chip leaving the
comics hidden in the luggage compartment under the seats which they
had put in there for when they all decided to go on vacations.  Dale,
however, continued to carry his pencil, which he pocketted as they all
gathered around, and put their fingers on the Resize Medallion.  When
Pennywinkel said the magic word, they were all suddenly of human
proportions.
	*Now* Monty smashed that door.
	"GEEEE-REAT!"  Chip cheered.
	But, suddenly, Dale found a scrap of paper, obviously something
discarded by either Mevos or his cronies while they were up here, but
which had been caught by the wind in a ventilation shaft.  Wether it
was anything important Dale did not know, as it seemed to be just trash.
But Dale reached for it, and pulled it out, and, with his pencil, wrote
"Chip returned to his normal self."
	"Monty!"  He heard Chip bark, "Why did you destroy that door?!"
	"What, me lad?"  Monty called.
	"But Chip!"  Gadget exclaimed, "You told him to!"
	"I did?"
	Dale hastily added onto his original writing, adding "...for five
seconds."
	"Oh!"  Chip ohed, "Of course I did!  Silly me, I don't know what
I was thinking.  Anyway, let's continue onward, shall we?"

	Mademanna had successfully pinned Po down when both of them heard
the commotion on the floor above.  Immediately Mademanna began to fear.
"It's Mevos," she thought aloud, "He's back."
	But Po listened.  "Hmmm... ten feet, that means five people.  Four
sound like they're barefoot.  Come on!"  He stood and hastily grabbed
Mademanna's arm, "I've gotta get you ready, quick!"

	"Now where do you suppose they keep an elevator in a place like
this?"  Gadget wondered.
	"Forget that, Gadget-luv," Monty responded, "Any elevators they have
here probably don't work."
	"I could change that."
	Dale and Pennywinkel happened to lag behind, and suddenly Pennywinkel
put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.  Before he could ask, she handed
him a scrap of paper.  "You know what to do," she quickly said.
	"But how did you--?"
	"There's not a whole lot I don't notice, and being able to pull
small things like paper out of your sleeve is a very simple magic.  Will
you just hurry up and write something already?"
	"Okay, okay!"  He said, and finding a hard enough surface, began
scribling down "We found ourselves in a big room where we saw our friend
Mademanna tied to a chair."
	And no sooner did Dale look up than he saw that he and everyone else
was in fact in a big room, with young Mademanna in the smack dab center,
tied to a chair.  Just as everyone was wondering about this, they heard
a door open to their left, and looked to see Po entering the room, as
confused as anybody (for he had not been mentioned in the description,
which caused the otherwise impossible anomaly of Mademanna, who had
been right behind him, suddenly being ahead of him and already tied up).
But when Nor entered the room from a door behind them a second later, all
confusion was lost, and Po stood erect.
	"So, you came.  I knew you would."  He said, trying to sound evil.
"I'll keep it simple:  If Pennywinkel surrenders, this child can go
free, and that's my final offer."
	"We won't--" Gadget started, but Pennywinkel then interrupted with
"I accept!"
	"You do?"  Po asked, rather surprised that it had actually been that
easy, but he regained his composure and said "I mean, so you do.  Well
then, come into this room and--"
	But Dale was having none of it.  He quickly began writing yet again.
Within moments "everyone was back at home, and just got done enjoying
a pleasant evening dinner."  But just as the effects went into play,
Dale realized his mistake of having written it as a pleasant *evening*
dinner, meaning...
	"It's night time!"  Chip pointed out, looking out a window.
	"That's it!"  Pennywinkel snapped.  Getting up, she grabbed Dale by
the ear, and pulled him along, saying "Come on, Daley boy, we've got to
have a long talk."
	Mademanna cocked her head as if looking at everything from an angle
would suddenly clear it up.  "I'm confused," she finally admitted.

	In the hallway, Pennywinkel let go of Dale's ear, and said "I did
not want to be rescued!"
	"Why not?"
	"Because I want to be there when Mevos returns!  Do you understand?"
she lowered her voice and whispered, "When he gets back I'll already be
on the inside, and I'll be able to break out and eradicate them all!"
	"But what if they--?"
	"Look Dale, if it came down to me and that little kid, who do you
think would win?"
	Dale couldn't argue with *that*.  With a sigh, he hastily amended
his earlier statement, adding "...except Pennywinkel, who for her own
reasons chose to stay behind."
	Suddenly, Pennywinkel was no longer there, and Dale was almost
tempted to throw her orders out the window and bring her back.  No matter
how intelligent or demanding she was, in his mind, she was still only a
twelve-year-old girl, and Dale could just imagine the torments she must've
been suffering all day, the jeers, the pain, the tortures.  Perhaps they
had her locked up in a stinky basement or strapped under--but he forced
himself not to think of these things.  This was what she had wanted,
after all.
	That being that, Dale decided to let matters be, and returned to
eating.

	"I *know* you're up to somethin'!"  Po stated to Pennywinkel, whom
was bound to the same chair Mademanna had been in, "I know you, you
wouldn't surrender without a fight like that.  So what gives?"
	"That... is a secret!"  she giggled.
	"Whatever.  We'll get it out of you somehow."
	"Do your worst!"  She said it in a challenging tone.
	"All right.  Nor, take her to the extra bedroom on floor sixty-three
and do a search.  Try everything you can think of, but do *not* kill her.
Remember, our leader wants this one alive!  But wait!" Po suddenly
thought.  "First, I wanna know something... It may be me, but you seem
particularly inclined to hate our leader.  Why?"
	"You wanna know why?  I'll tell you why, because--"
	"Besides that kidnapping and stuff.  We know about that.  We know
the whole deal about you being from another world and all that.  Really,
is that it?  I don't believe that."
	Pennywinkel hmphed, "You're more intelligent than you look.  Right,
Mevos.  Okay, he already told you all that.  What he didn't tell you was
that, despite his acting, he's anything but a patriot."  she breathed,
"Well, he says he is, but he's a really self-styled kind.  Told me so
himself when he kidnapped us.  He's playing the stooge for now, only until
he finds a chance to return America to it's 'Glory Days' which, in his
thinking, was back when there were only thirteen states."
	"So... you hate him because he has a good idea?"
	"You idiot!  Yes, he has a good *intention* but you know the saying,
'The road to hell is paved with good intentions!'  Mevos, the deluded,
socially-conditioned stooge, has just not figured out that you can't
work within the system you're trying to fix.  To put it in perspective,
no matter how many times you play Wolfenstein 3D, it won't magically
morph into Doom or Quake," since the concept of the first-person shooter
was alien to this reality, Po was totally lost on this line of thinking.
But he allowed her to continue, "You've got to get the necessary tools
and make a whole new game!  The idiot should learn to work *outside* the
system!
	"Even then, the philosophy behind his goals is totally screwed up.
No matter what he thinks, there is no 'Perfect Government' if he did,
somehow, revert America back to it's 'Glory Days' all it would do would
cause the whole cycle to start over again, and in a thousand years he or
a descendant would have to 'fix' it again, like Microsoft and Windows."
Again, Po was totally lost, and wondered if Pennywinkel enjoyed confusing
him.  "Instead of trying to fix something that is almost invariably going
to simply break again, he should instead learn to manipulate it from the
outside to use for his own purposes.  That's about the only way a
Government *can* work, since that's the only way the Government can still
have power but the citizens have presence of mind enough to know when
they're overstepping their boundaries."
	"Ha.  Your whacked.  Such a chaotic system would fall at the first
sign of trouble."  He yawned with boredom.  If this was going to turn into
a political ramble, he wanted to leave.  But he decided to content himself
with sitting there and laughing at any stupid suggestion this girl had.
	"Wrong!  As you said, it is chaotic, and chaos *causes* trouble, but
used rightly can also prevent it!  Ancient wandering nomads used to do
one of two things if they met another tribe:  Either they would try to
barter, or they would slice them to ribbons.  This is because both ways
usually avoided any sort of trouble."
	"Oh, then tell me, what happened to these tribes?"
	"They settled down, and became 'civilized' and orderly.  Then they
were taken out by a less orderly civilization.  In short, Order equaled
death.  There's only one way to be strong and maintain world peace, and
that's through Chaos--"
	She was going to say more, but Po interrupted with "Right, right.
Okay, actually, I think you're a looney babe and think you should be kept
here.  Is that really it?"
	Pennywinkel sighed.  "Okay, yea, that's not it.  That's part of it,
but the real reason is very simple."
	"And that is?"
	"That the masked freak has the gall to keep dragging me into his
silly schemes."
	With that, Po sighed, gagged the girl, and decided to just leave the
room to plan a good punishment session.


CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE  Limits, Invention, and Knowledge


	After having got done eating, Dale decided to muck around with his
apparently magic pencil some more.  Finding some scrap paper and sitting
down at the sofa in front of the TV, he began to write some more.
	"I was watching an excellent movie on TV, Foxglove right next to
me..."
	Suddenly he heard Foxglove's pleasant voice saying "Oh honeybumpkins,
isn't this romantic?" and he put down his pencil and paper, put his arm
slowly and romantically around her and said "Yea."  Granted, he said that
in response to a comment made about a spy flick, but hey, who says action
movies can't have a little romance?
	Suddenly Gadget wandered into the room, asking "Hey Dale--Well
Hello Foxglove!  I didn't realize you'd be back so soon."
	"Oh," Foxgloe began explaining, "Well, it just so happened that I
was... I mean, I *had* gotten back, but when I did, that poor child had
been vegitalized by some calamity and... come to think of it, what *am*
I doing here?"  Foxglove suddenly thought, "I mean, I do remember that
I decided to skip my magic class since I had already heard it once, and
after time reversed I felt no need to hear it again, but I didn't think
I'd be home this early... it seems like I've been here for hours!"
	"Yea, strange," Gadget began to think, "That's been happening a
whole lot today.  We've been getting places faster than usual, or suddenly
finding ourselves somewhere we weren't before... I wonder if Pennywinkel's
spell has anything to do with it?"
	"Spell?"
	"Yea, Chaos something."
	Foxglove turned, horror on her face.  "That child actually casted
a Chaos Magic spell?  Dear lord, why?"
	"Oh come on!"  Dale interrupted, "It's not like it was a bad thing!"
	"I guess not," Foxglove slumped back down, "But that was really
dangerous of her.  Chaos Magic can have pretty much any unpredictable
effect you can imagine, and even some you can't.  It's totally wild.
Sometimes it allows extreme good, other times extreme evil.  Usually,
however, it meets some sort of non-medium where everything it does is
both good *and* bad all at once!"
	"Ummm... is that even possible?"
	"With perfect order, no, but when you're dealing with complete,
utter chaos... What happened, has anything gone wrong?"
	"No, in fact, I'd say everything's gone totally right..."
	"Dale?"  Foxglove asked, "Is there something you're not telling me?"
	"Ummm, actually Foxglove, I had something to say, but you got
distracted.  But since I've got your attention," he reclaimed his paper
and pencil, "I'm going to show you something wonderful!  Now, tell me
something you would like."
	"I would like to know what's going on!"
	So, Dale hastily wrote "Foxglove knew what was going on."
	"The Unipencil!"  Foxglove suddenly explained.  "Dale!  Chaos Magic
changed your fate and gave you the Unipencil!"
	"Ain't it great?!"  Dale asked in response, "Here, you try!"
	"NO!"  she said suddenly, "That can only be used by the person it
was fated for.  If I touched it... there's no telling what would happen,"
was the best she could explain it.
	Now doubts were starting to enter Dale's mind.  "Okay, so I've got
this pencil, that only I can use, but it can make anything I want happen?"
	"Well, yes, but--"
	"Cool!  I know what I'll do, I'll get rid of whatever it is that's
blocking out the sun!"  And then, Dale began to put his pencil to the
paper... but the results were not what he expected.  As soon as that
Pencil touched the paper, he found it suddenly refused to move.  "Hmmm,
it's stuck," Dale mumbled, and he tried to force it to move, but found
that when he did, he felt the keenest of pains, starting in his hand,
working up his arm, and throughout his chest...
	Finally, the pain became too great, and he stopped.  "That's odd,"
he commented, "It won't let me change the color of the sky."
	"--As I was trying to tell you, you can't affect things of cosmic
importance.  And by cosmic I mean something that affects a large part of
our entire reality.  Causing inconsistencies in the space-time continuum
is one thing, since the universe can fix those, but... hmmm... odd that
the color of the sky would be important..."
	"Well, what else can I not do?"  Now Dale wanted to know.
	"Hard to say.  Your limit is based on your Spiritual Power.  You,
not being religious or a magic-user, probably don't have a lot of that,
so I'd have to do some evaluating.  I think the cap for you though is
that you can't bring back the dead or do anything that could cause a
great onrush of energy--such as causing huge buildings to appear out of
nowhere."
	"How huge we talkin about, here?"
	"Twenty stories, at least."
	"Well, that's okay.  There's still small things I can do, right?"
	Foxglove smiled.  "Besides all that, sugar, the only limit is
your imagination."
	"Yahoo!"  Dale cheered.  He didn't have much of an imagination, but
he didn't know that.  So immediately, he began putting to pencil things
like that boquet of flowers in Foxgloves hands, stacks of toys and
comic books, and... "Wait a minute," Dale suddenly thought.  "I'm gettin'
too much stuff.  I can't let other people know I have this!" he said
as he began striking out some of what he had written (he let Foxglove
keep the flowers).  That, of course, took no explanation.  Dale knew how
others would be in a situation like this, they'd ramble on about the
values of sharing and stuff like that (and of course by "Sharing" they
meant "You should write something for me!" and from there they'd all
just want better and better things).  There were only two people he
knew he could count on to keep a secret (as well as use the real, honest
definition of "sharing"):  Foxglove and Gadget.  He decided to go a
step farther and not even tell Gadget.  After all, the best way to keep
a secret is to not spread it yourself.
	"Well," Foxglove began musing, "Maybe you could use it for a
practical reason if you won't use it for fun."
	"Oh, I'll use it for fun," Dale said secretively, "Just in less
obvious ways..."  However, he put the pencil in a shirt pocket and
put the paper down, and resuming his arm's position around Foxglove,
he stated "But that can wait.  For now, I'll just spend time with you."
	"Oh Dale, you're so sweet..."

	Gadget, as soon as *she* had got done eating, had something on her
mind as well.  "I'm done, excuse me," she said as she hastily left the
kitchen, ran into her workshop, and began working on another gizmo she
had forethought.  Several gizmos, in fact.
	"Let me check these first," she said to herself, pulling out an
arm-mountable grappling hook.  She had five of these little babies on
a shelf, four for the Rangers (save Zipper, since he could either fly
or simply ride the other rangers) and two more for either Frog,
Pennywinkel, or Mademanna, depending on the mission.  Because of the
lack of space for it in the Ranger Wing, only two of them ever came
along for the ride.  Whoever was left out usually stayed home, alone.
Usually that person was Mademanna, and at first it had been presumed
safe to do so, but that was before Max Alpha.  Since then, Gadget had
been trying to work out ways to make sure *everyone* could fit in the
Ranger Wing, but no plans had the chance to finalize in the light of
recent attacks.  Since Mevos' first attack, Gadget had been working on
the energy disruptor device she had previously shown Mademanna, as well
as these grappling hooks (which would allow easier navigation through
enemy bases).  Thinking now, she looked at her own now-cyborg hand.
She had shown Zipper that she had modified *it* into a grappling hook,
so really, she didn't need an extra one.  That meant there were hooks
for the whole team!
	"Golly, how lucky," she thought.  But then she thought of something
else:
	The Energy Disrupter, a device which pulls in energy and sends it
out after twisting it into totally chaotic randomness, had a terrible
side effect of shutting down anything that ran on electricity.  For this
reason, she did not want Mademanna present in the final showdown with
Mevos, but now the situation was worse, for Gadget did not know what
her own cybernetics ran on.  For all she knew, at least half her body
would possibly end up suffering the same fate as Mademanna would have
once the device was activated.  This, potentially, meant that she would
not be able to turn it on herself.
	And that meant it would depend on Chip, Dale, Monty, Zipper, and
Frog to take on Mevos.  But then, if her device worked, then that would
be no problem.  Mevos may be big, but he was still only one man.  Even
if Pennywinkel for some reason let his remaining comrades live, it would
be three versus five.  The battle, thought Gadget, seemed like it had
already been won.
	What she didn't know was that she soon would get a chance to find
out.  But even though she didn't know that, she still kept on working.
Her eyes came to another, more recent invention.  This one needed
testing immediately.  So she left her workshop and went back to the
Kitchen, where she found just who she was looking for.
	"Monty!  Would you mind helping me with something in my workshop?"
	Now, Monty of course had helped her before (And always regretted
it) so he answered "Ummm... can't one of the boys help ya?"
	"No, Monty, I need *you*!"  she insisted, pulling him along against
his will.  Reluctantly he decided to see what the fuss was all about.
"Here, Monty," she said when they reached the workshop, and she handed
him a pair of sleek, silverish metal boots, big enough for the big mouse
to wear.
	Monty sighed.  "So this is what ya wanted to show ol' uncle Monterey,
Gadget-luv?  A pair of new boots?  Well, all right, I'll try 'em on."
Which he promptly did.
	"Thanks Monty!  Now, I want to test out the anti-gravity thrusters."
	"Oh no!"  Monty KNEW there would be some catch.  Oddly, Gadget
handed him what looked like some sort of laser.  "Gadget-luv, what's with
the Buck Rogers outfit, eh?"  He wondered, referring to some movie that
Frog had watched with him.
	"Oh Monty, this is just a new invention I'm testing out."
	"That's what I'm scared of," he mumbled.
	"The theory," she explained, heedless of his comment, "is based on
a scientific adaption of magical principles.  Not too long ago, me and
Pennywinkel had a long talk about this very thing, and she explained that
what I--and we--had mistaken for flying was, in her words, simply her
using magic to change the pull of gravity so that instead of being pulled
towards the center of the earth like usual, she is instead pulled towards
an object or space of her own choosing.  I did some researching, and
eventually found out that this could be done in a similar fashion
scientifically.  Since we all know that gravity is caused by a magnetic
force that holds the earth together, I figured that I could at least
emulate the effect.  That laser beam you hold will fire a laser straight
to wherever you point it.  Upon reaching it or some other obstacle, the
beam, which is compressed magnetic energy, will cling onto whatever the
beam hits, causing a strong magnetic pull.  Those shoes your wearing
will be magnetically attracted.  Essentially, you'll be semi-flying."
	"I think I follow ya.  So, in layman's terms, I can defy gravity."
	"Not defy, Monty--Manipulate!"
	"At least in a manner of speakin'."
	"Right.  So far, I have not perfected anything that would allow you
to be magnetically pulled to just a clear patch of nothing like the kids
can do, but for the current situation this should suffice.  But remember,
you are causing a magnetic pull, meaning--"
	Monty, wanting to test this out as much as Gadget (and wanting to
get this over with before something explodes) shot an invisible beam up
at the cieling.  Instantly, he found himself flipping to a headstand
position, and flying up towards it.
	But, there was a problem when he saw what Gadget had been trying to
tell him:  For his magnetic pull had not pulled only his shoes but also
many other metallic objects as well!  Soon, Monty found himself stuck
underneath (or rather, above) a pile.
	But then, something else happened.  After about ten seconds, his
magnetic field weakened as things began falling back to the floor (Gadget
had to catch the energy disruptor, which had been pulled up in the rush)
Finally, Monty himself fell, and with the remaining material as well.
Fortunately, a strong mouse like him, despite the rough landing, was not
hurt much.  Nothing a few (currently being applied) bandages would not
fix.
	"Well, all said and done Gadget-love, ya've outdone yourself this
time."
	"You really think so?  Oh Golly, thanks Monterey."
	"Any time, Gadget."

	And speaking of Time, it's time we caught up to Frog, Mademanna,
and Nowhere Man.  Let's go for Nowhere Man first, since at this point
he was walking into the kitchen.  Carefully he stalked into the place,
and suddenly asked "Where's Pennywinkel?"
	Chip and Zipper, the only people still eating, looked at him
questioningly, and Chip answered "You mean you don't know?"
	"No.  All I know is that you guys are suddenly here, more than
eight hours after you left, Mademanna is back, but Pennywinkel isn't."
	"That's odd... she *did* come back with us..." Chip remembered.
Whatever had teleported them back home had, as far as he remembered,
teleported her too.  She *was* here... Hmmm...
	"That is odd, because she *did* come back with us... Wait!  She
had to tell Dale something, ask him."
	"All right."  With that, Nowhere Man left the Kitchen, and walked
into the adjoining den, where Dale was still hanging with Foxglove.
	"Hey you!"  Nowhere Man asked in a less-than-polite tone.  "Where
is Pennywinkel?"
	"Awww, she's alright," Dale said offhandedly, "No need to rescue
her."
	"Rescue?!?!"  Nowhere Man put a hand on his neck, "What do you
mean 'Rescue'?!"
	"Come to think of it, where *is* our young lady?"  Foxglove
wondered.
	"All right!"  Dale finally answered, "She refused to come home with
us, we tried to protest, but she wanted to be captured.  We had no choice,
she wouldn't accept anything else!"
	Nowhere Man let go of Dale's neck.  "So she surrendered herself...
why?"
	"Because she wants to be there when Mevos gets back."
	"My goodness!"  Focglove exclaimed, then thought, and asked "Who
is Mevos?"
	From there, Dale and Nowhere Man took chaotic turns fully informing
Foxglove of the whole Mevos situation, including everything he had done
while he was here, up to events that happened after his disappearance.
	"What a terrible man!"  Foxglove commented, "And poor Pennywinkel..."
	"Darn straight!  And these guys just..."
	"I'd never thought she'd lose her marbles."
	"What?!"  Both Dale and Nowhere Man virtually gasped.  "You're
kidding!"  Nowhere Man added.
	"Well, can *you* think of any explanation for what seems to be
her plan of random chaos?  Think:  She lets herself get captured and
kissed, which she tries to use as an excuse to murder.  She uses Chaos
Magic to revive Gadget, and then she surrenders herself--"
	"For a very good reason!"
	Here, Foxglove stopped.  If it were anyone else, she'd think the
plan was nuts.  She still did.  But it was possible that Pennywinkel could
just handle Mevos.  Everyone else seemed to be confident in her.  "I
don't know.  Something... just *feels* wrong about this whole thing...
There's something else, something more that's going on..."
	"What ya mean, Foxy?" Dale wondered.
	"I don't know, I just have this weird feeling... like there is some
sort of vast anomaly... and it is odd.  I mean, The sky, and suddenly
those three kids have been discovered by a man they used to hate, who
is wearing a peculiar mask... Come to think of it, hasn't much of the
danger you guys have encountered in the past year or so been related to
those kids?"
	Dale thought, "Well... Wait!"  He remembered, "That's right!  When
they first... Oh my, Nowhere Man, are Frog and Mademanna still here?"
	"Yea, why?"
	"Go get them, real quick!"
	Nowhere Man went and did as ordered.


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO  The Whole Truth


	"Okay, Mademanna," Frog said (and yes, dear reader, you DID cut
in in the middle of a conversation) "If we're going to act, we've got
to act *now*."
	"Yea, I know.  Let's just go already!"
	Just then, however, Nowhere Man bursted into the room, informing
them that they were required in the den.

	And then, everyone was gathered around the table, as this whole
meeting seemed climactically important to Foxglove.  As things went on,
she asked and gained information about the backstory of Frog, Pennywinkel,
and Mademanna, from their entering the portal to their arrival in the
Rangers' reality.  Then, she extensively asked about the various villains
they faced.
	"Well," Frog answered, "There was Miles Alpha.  He followed us
here..."
	"Had you met him before?"
	"Why yes.  We had helped other realities fend him off.  Some could
barely handle him, really..."
	After summing him up, Foxglove went on to ask about the Demon
Master Mind, the Trix Rabbit, Max Alpha, Mekizmo, and even The Last
Hope organization.
	After she was done, she asked "Frog, do you see a pattern?"
	"I do!"  Mademanna answered, "They're all somehow connected to us!"
	"Wait," Frog wondered, "How are the Trix Rabbit, Michael Jackson,
Jackie Chan, and Adam West related to us?"
	"They're people we knew about that they didn't."
	"Oh.  I see... and Demon Master Mind..."
	"Was," Chip finished, "created by a personality spin-off of the
fanfic author who claims to have created you three!"
	And now there was Mevos, they eventually got to, which made
absolutely one thing clear:  Nearly every villain the Rangers had faced
was somehow connected to their three new arrivals.  The exception was
the Last Hope case, where the Rangers confronted a familiar villain in
an unfamiliar situation and had to be rescued by people who were loosely
connected to the three.
	"In short," Frog figured out, "We're somehow at the center of
everything that happens."
	"That does seem to be what Foxglove is getting at," Chip commented.
	"Or, rather," Foxglove corrected, "That something about them seems
to... attract trouble, to put it bluntly (and no offense)."
	But suddenly, just as Frog was about to comment, a letter appeared
on the table.  No flash, no nothing, it was just suddenly there.  Post-
Haste Chip opened it, and read aloud what was written therein.

	"Okay guys, when this thing started, I thought it would be best to
leave myself out of it.  But the events revealed to me have shown me that
I can not possibly do that, or if I could, I possibly wouldn't.
	"You guys, in your little interrogation, overlooked one thing,
the *other* common thread between the events in your world.  Who else
would know about all those things being referenced?  Besides those three
kids?  Answer?  ME, YOU FOOLS!  The kids are indeed a part of it, but
only through their direct (or, from your viewpoint, possibly somewhat
indirect) viewpoint.  The real thread here is myself.  Indeed, moreso
than you may think, for events in your world seem to be directly affected
by my life.  Eventually I'll work out the meaning of this, but for now
we can continue on.
	"And there's something else you missed.  Things are beginning to
exist in your universe that normally could not.  And I don't mean mere
imports from another reality.  I mean people like, say, Nowhere Man.
In authentic Disney, a chap like him could not exist without being some
sort of parody, which he is not.
	"The reason I wrote to you is because I think I know what is going
on.  I know you're thinking 'We know that, you're writing this!' but
frankly, that's boo-el.  Just because I started typing on a keyboard
doesn't mean I know what is happening or will happen.  Your second
meeting with DiMM is proof of that.  How was I to know I'd be experiencing
an identity crisis when I wrote that?  Anyway, a writer doesn't write the
story, it's actually dictated to him.  But now I've mastered the self-
control to not go into a long ramble about what all goes into this kinda
stuff.
	"Oh, so what's going on?  Well, first you've got to understand the
way the whole reality thing works.  Since you guys were percieved through
our reality, technically you are a 'Lower Reality' on the ladder.  That
does not mean you're inferior, it simply means you guys were invented
first.  That, of course, means that I wrote this letter before I ever
wrote a fanfic!  Funny, ne?  Right, well anyway, all realities eventually
have a 'The End' point.  A variation of these 'The End' points occurs
in much mythology, especially religious mythology.  But those, of course,
are very narrow-minded in that they only consider Earth, not the entirety
of a reality or, as it seems in this case, all of existence.  Earth,
even all the Earths, are not the be-all-end-all of existence.  There's
more going on, there's always more.  But I think there's less and less
going on recently.  You yourself noted your own lack of recent cases.
The same thing is happening in my world.  Less and less is going on.
It's like some cosmic author is getting bored and just wants to
concentrate on bigger things.  Unfortunately, being on measly ol'
Earth, I have no idea what those 'Bigger Things' are.  But if recent
events are any indication, I think my world is reaching it's own
'The End' point, either that or we're all in for a heavy revision.
	"What I have yet to figure out, however, is why you guys are going
out first.  How do I know that?  Simple, there are all sorts of gradual
signs of deterioration, such as the out-of-character existences and
the sky--and I *know* you've noticed the sky.  Unusual stuff like this
is usually a sign of impending apocalypse.
	"Do NOT despair, however.  One thing I've learned recently is that
you should never expect anything, for you could always turn out to have
mispercieved, miscalculated, or otherwise just be completely, totally
wrong.  Besides that, if you have an apocalypse coming, well, I could
always fix that.  Even if I can't, it's not like there aren't other
fanfic authors, who's Universe spin-offs *aren't* encountering an
apocalypse.
	"And now for something more immediately related to your situation.
Mevos isn't entirely what he seems, either.  What you know so far about
him, however, is in fact truthful, but there are pieces of information
I am just beginning to percieve that you are missing.  I do not know
exactly what, but I will say this:  His mask is important.  I would *not*
break it if it can at all be helped.  I still have yet to fathom the
meaning of his cryptic phrase 'fear the millenium' but that could be
related to that apocalypse stuff I was mentioning.  Even so though, how
would Mevos know?  But Mevos is merely a nuisance right now, even if
he is powerful.  I'd worry more about Pennywinkel.
	"But that's all for now.  Ta-ta, and don't lose any sleep over
me.  Signed, 8-Bit Star."

	"Why that blighter!"  Monty exclaimed, only mildly annoyed, "He
tells us all this, then makes it sound like it's no big deal?"
	"Calm down, Monty," Chip stated, "He said he might be able to fix
it, and you know 8-Bit Star--a stubborn crazy."
	"I guess yer right, Chip-me-lad, but still..."
	"Anyway, I think it's time we all decided on a course of action,
it's become increasingly clear to me," Chip said, sounding more and more
like his usual, serious self (Perhaps the effects of the Chaos Magic
were wearing off), "That tension mounts up the more we wait.  Dale,
where is Pennywinkel?"
	Dale, in answer, told only that she had surrendered herself to the
two boys, and why. He did, however, leave out any mention of magic or
the Unipencil, leaving the others to draw their own conclusions.
	And then Chip laughed.
	"I never thought I'd see the day..." Chip began.
	"Whaddya mean?"
	"I think I see," Nowhere Man butted in, "You're thinking of trying
to improve on her plan by having most or all of us wait for Mevos in his
own hideout, and then launching a surprise attack when he enters, right?"
	"Yes, exactly," Chip said enthusiastically, though secretly he felt
hurt that his plan to one-up Pennywinkel (Which is something he had wanted
to do for a long time) could so easily be fathomed by a mere street punk.
If he thought of it, the chances were that Pennywinkel might have as well.
Perhaps that was her scheme from the beginning!
	"Now that's my kinda plan!"  Monty chimed, "We should strike while
he's weak, not sit here talkin' about it!"
	"I am never weak."
	Everyone suddenly froze in surprise and terror as they recognized
the deep, dark voice.  Slowly they turned their heads to the direction
of the den, where the voice had originated.


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE  The Return of Mevos


	It, as everyone had feared, was Mevos.
	"So," he declared, "That foolish girl actually did something wise
and decided it was best to surrender.  May I inquire as to wether her
living relatives have had the same burst of wisdom?"
	At that, Frog stood, and walked almost face-to-face with Mevos.
Pointing at him, almost touching the mask, he replied thus:
	"Bite me."
	Then he tapped the mask, and added "I'm serious!  Bite the finger!
Come on!  oh, that's right, a mask can't bite, can it?  Silly me!"
	"I have never had patience for such jokes."
	"Oh, good one!"  Frog laughed, "And with that five-finger discount
of an outfit, too!"
	Frog suddenly found himself knocked back a few feet, though somehow
he managed to land on his feet.  He began to draw his sword, when Mevos
held up his hand.
	"This is neither the time nor the place," The bemasked one stated.
"I come on more meaningful errands.  Passing by on my way home, I was
to ask her something of importance, but since she is at my place of
residence, there is you instead.  Answer truthfully, where has she hidden
the Millenium Orb?"
	"The what?"  everyone in the room, save Gadget and Mademanna, asked
in unison.
	In answer, Mevos explained the story of how Pennywinkel had
teleported the two, by accident, to an island, how they had found a
temple, and inside it discovered the Millenium Orb.  He also explained
what the Millenium Orb does.  "I know you must have it," he concluded,
"Since Pennywinkel would not have surrendered herself to me if something
with power that great was not under surveillance by someone."
	Quick as a flash, however, he seemed to teleport fully around the
table, and when he was done, he was back where he had been initially
standing--except now he was hoisting Mademanna off the ground with one
hand, Gadget with the other.  "But you two knew that, didn't you?" he
sneered.  "You two did not seem confused by my mentioning it.  My training
taught me to recognize signs like those when searching for information,
now tell me, where has it been hidden?!"
	"We're not talking!"  Gadget defied.
	"Make me!"  Mademanna challenged, also in defiance.
	Now Mevos had some thinking to do.  The typical course of action,
one would think, would be to threaten Pennywinkel's life.  But Mevos'
years of training had told him just how wrong that was.  Theirs was not
the first time that someone he considered an enemy had chosen not to
give in to the threat, even when they knew it was real.  The basis for
those decisions, he knew, was because to those enemies, the fight had
been more important than any lives.  In this case, Mevos had the added
obstacle of their knowing the threat, should he make it, would not be
real, as it was known that he wanted all three of the kids kept alive
and converted into his followers.
	But perhaps another common tactic would have better success.  Softly,
he put the two girls back on their feet.  "I see I can not get the
information out using force, so I will try a more peaceful solution,"
oh, that was good, cartoon characters *love* to find peaceful solutions!
"If you tell me where the Millenium Orb is, I will let Pennywinkel free."
	"Don't believe him!"  Frog warned, "You guys know first-hand how
badguys are ever-so honest," he said sarcastically, "about keeping to
their end of the bargain!"
	Gadget thought, and knew that Frog spoke the truth, but she had
doubts:  "That's true, but Max Alpha kept his promise when he returned
Mademanna, didn't he?"
	Mevos listened as they discussed, and wondered who Max Alpha was,
for in everything he knew and read about this universe he had never heard
that name.  But he kept his question to himself, the matter at hand
dominating in importance over his idle curiosity.
	Gadget continued discussion, somewhat with everyone else (though
mostly with herself) but, with prodding, finally arrived at a decision.
Sighing, she said "Follow me."  With that, she lead Mevos to her workshop,
and to the strongbox, which he commanded her to open.
	As she did so, however, a sly remembrance came upon her, and she
sneakily reminded him "This thing can only grant three wishes, and
two of them are already gone."  Standing, and holding the orb, she handed
it to the big one, and concluded "You better really think about how you'll
use it."
	Mevos, of course, had still not decided how he was going to use it,
and clearly stated "I am not sure how stupid you people think I am, but I
am not so below intelligence as to waste something like this.  I will keep
it in my base until I have worked out the perfect wish for myself, and
then, make it.  Now, as for my part of the bargain..."
	He walked out of Gadget's workshop, carrying the Millenium Orb as
if it were a lightweight baby, and outside.  "Command the others to come
out as well."  He ordered.  She turned and, seeing everyone else already
there, winked, and motioned for them to follow.  Some of them were curious
or suspicious, and Monty openly voiced his concerns to Chip:  "Why is he
leadin' us outside?  It's almost like sheep to a slaughter if ya ask
me..."
	But eventually they all did get out to the landing pad, and found
Mevos there, still holding the Millenium Orb, but not seeming to pay
much attention to it now.  Instead he was looking out at the city, like
a king surveying his kingdom from a high tower of his castle.  Finally he
spoke, "As I promised, I will let her go free.  But, as you expected,
there is a catch."
	Suddenly from the crowd there were moans of dismay and three people
called out variations of "I knew it!  I KNEW there was a catch!"  Mevos,
however, stilled these all with an authoritive hand, and said "But!  The
catch is not one that will displease you.  All I require is that you come
and get her.  You know where.  I apologize, but I can not be bothered to
run errands for you people."
	With that, Mevos disappeared.  However, because of the condition of
his terms, only a few people (like a certain Nowhere Man) were particularly
peeved.  "Why that double-crossing sneaky--" he began.
	"Calm down lad!"  Monty calmed him, "All he really did was ask us
to pick 'er up."
	"But Monty!  It could be a trap!"  Dale pointed out.
	"I s'pose so, but we were gonna head that way sooner or later
anyway, right?  So really, we're right back where we were before, just
one less Millenium Orb, and we didn't even know about that!"
	Finally Frog outbursted "Okay, can we get moving, please?"
	"Yes!"  Gadget called, apparently having, in absence of notice,
climbed in and began getting the Ranger Wing ready for transport.
"Everybody!  Hop in!"

	Suddenly, while Po and Nor were surprised to have their session
of torturing Pennywinkel in ways I'd rather not mention interrupted by
the abrupt appearance of the great masked one.  "Mevos!"  Po cried
upon recovery.
	"Be prepared, quick!  This is no time for idle greetings, the final
showdown is at hand!--Where is Day?"
	"This &#!@% murdered him!"
	At that, Mevos suddenly forgot his worries, and was overcome by a
seething rage.  "She did, did she?"  He looked at her with newfound
menace, saying "I was going to let you go, but this changes matters.
If they want you, they're going to have to come in and get you!"
	"I'm fine with that," she answered ever-so-smuggly.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR  The Final Confrontation


	On the roof, everyone else had gotten the same idea when they had
gotten there only to find there was no Pennywinkel.  "He tricked us!"
Chip fumed.
	"Man, I knew this would happen," Nowhere Man commented.
	"Only one thing to do, then," Monty stated, "Since we were gonna
have ourselves a showdown anyway, nows as good a time as any!"
	Thus, first they all turned human-size using the Resize Medallion.
Then, they all gave their simultaneous cry...
	..."Rescue Rangers, AWAY!"

	Entering the still-broken door, they made their way down the stairs,
and through a hallway, each step wondering if the same teleporting magic
as last time would kick in again.  Unfortunately, Dale remembered too
late to bring the Unipencil, and had left it at home.  He kept his relents
to himself, however, as they trudged through the mazelike building.
	"Foxglove, can you sense anything?"  Dale asked.
	Just then, Foxglove stopped, and closed her eyes, tuning herself
in to the building, in her mind mapping out every object on every floor.
After a moment, she opened her eyes, "Three floors below!"
	"We must find an elevator!"  Chip stated, stating the obvious.
Quickly the search began, as they all spread out in groups of four, looking
for an elevator.  After ten minutes of searching, however, one group called
out, and was heard by the other.  Rejoining, both having to use seperate
elevators (fortunately elevators always come in twos) to get both groups
down, they found themselves three floors below...
	and the elevators opened up to reveal a straight hallway.  Having
nowhere else to run, they ran ever ownwards.  As they did, flames suddenly shot up on the side of the hall as if to mark their progress, but after
a few surprises, they got quite used to this, and kept running.  They
ran even faster, however, when they found fire was spouting up rapidly
behind them, as well.  It was hard to rush when they were all bunched
together.
	Finally, however, the flames stopped, and a door slammed behind them
as they found themselves in the same room they had been in earlier, the
large, square room with barely any furniture save for a desk, and the
chair that Pennywinkel was now tied to.
	"So you've arrived."  Mevos greeted.
	"You tricked us!"  Nowhere Man immediately accused.
	"Oh, did I?  Well, yes, but, I had reason, for I found, on my return,
that your young friend here is a murderer.  I, being the good-hearted
American Citizen I am, could not let loose such a dangerous individual,
no matter what the price."  Suddenly, a sword came out of his sleeve,
pointed at the group.  "Are you ready?"
	Of course, they were, and the battle really began.

	They all thought it would be easy.  Three against nine.  But they
were immediately proven wrong.  Mevos outstretched his arms as he began
flying towards the center of the room in a bright glow.  Those who noticed
suddenly realized he no longer had the Millenium Orb, but soon that
question was answered when they saw a glowing object not far towards the
back of the room, which they had not seen previously.
	Just as everyone was about to rush, however, Mevos seemed to
appear and disappear in random places at a rapid pace.  Meanwhile, the
Endos had begun using their own personal strengths to launch an offensive
all their own.  Po, during his attacks, once cried "For Day!"
	Between Mevos' magic, Po's speed, and Nor's bulk, the whole group,
odd as that may seem, had been knocked down at least once.  All except
Monterey Jack, who now was arm to arm with Nor, and Mademanna, whom was
again proving that yes, she *could* fight.  However here Mevos cheated,
and launched a sneak attack on the young robot from behind, distracting
her long enough for Po to get the upper hand.
	Monty suddenly asked "You got anything metal on ya?"
	"Ummmm," Nor thought, "Maybe."
	"Good!"  At that moment, Monty summoned all his strength, speed,
and skill, and, freeing one hand, knocked Nor a good one to the jaw,
sending the behemoth reeling.  Quickly Monty pulled out the laser-like
pistol Gadget had invented, and slipped out of his own boots.  Quickly
he fired shots at a far side of the ceiling, rapidly, hoping the effect
was cumulative.  It was, and Nor, wearing a few necklaces, arm knuckles,
and belt buckles typical to thugs of his type, went flying across the
room, and into the wall.  The wind was knocked out of him, but Monty
knew he was not out of the game yet.
	"Foxglove!"  Gadget said, still laying down, hoping that by doing
so less attention was called to herself.  "Distract Mevos while I set
up my Energy Disruptor!"
	"I'll see what I can do!"  Foxglove replied, and immediately set
her sights on the masked one, who was ready to tackle Monty.
	A coupling of hands, a chant, a mass of energy and concentration,
and suddenly Mevos found himself with a lightning bolt through his chest.
Mevos, wondering who would be so foolish as to tackle him, immediately
put his attention on Foxglove, while Monty found that sticky residue
had suddenly left him stuck in place.
	Everyone had a chance somewhere, even Zipper.  When resized by the
medallion, Zipper had been made the size of a small cat, and that was
just enough for him.  Po had made the mistake of thinking he would be
an easy target, and concentrated most of his attacks on the fly
(occasionally delivering a good roundhouse to Chip and Dale, who were
trying to flank him).  But fast as he was, Zipper was faster, and managed
to dodge almost all his attacks, and landed his own blows like Superman
extremitized, until finally a lucky backhand made Zipper nearly lose
his consciousness.
	Nowhere Man, however, had only one thing on his mind since the
battle began.  He ran, and began to untie Pennywinkel.  "Don't worry," he
said, "I'll get you out of here."
	"Nowhere Man," she told him, "I want to ask you something.  Now that
you've seen, well, the good of life, do you still want to die?"
	And he paused, and he considered.  "No," he answered, with strong
certainty.  "No, Now upon looking back, I think I was being silly.  Before,
I had seen only the bad things in the world... but now..."
	"Now you've seen the good side.  So, is there anything you would
really like to do?  Something big, something special?  Does your revelation
make you want to change history?"
	"Oh man, if only!  I'd change it so that I lived the best life I
could, and would end up helping people, just like you guys!  And
perhaps..." he never finished the thought.
	"Well, I've already thought of a way that you could accomplish that."
	"How?!"  Nowhere Man asked with extreme interest.  But as she
stayed silent, the answer dawned on him like a beautiful morning sun.
"Of course!  But I have to untie you first!"
	"Ha, don't worry about that!  You think I'm here against my will?"
	Just as Nowhere Man was wondering what she meant, she ordered him
not to touch her or the chair.  As soon as he removed even the smallest
touched, she disappeared, and reappeared--right above Mevos' head!  She
fell, breaking the chair (and Mevos' dual concentration as he was
levitating both Foxglove and Frog off the ground and often right into
each other), an example of destruction that had the side-effect of
loosening the ropes.  Kicking off of Mevos' back, she flipped into a
standing pose and landed.
	"Yer not the only one who knows teleporting tricks," she pointed
out.  Turning towards Nor (who was having a heated fight with Mademanna
and Monterey Jack) she pointed a finger.  Suddenly Nor felt another pull,
like earlier, but this time it was his whole body, and he suddenly flew
towards Pennywinkel, who just in the nick of time jumped and landed on
his shoulders as if hitching a ride.  Nor found himself used as a weapon
against the mighty Mevos, who flew back and suffered a scar from Frog's
sword (which Frog had been holding out).  Nor meanwhile found himself
flying in a circular motion, spiralling outward, faster and faster until
he was forming a vortex not unlike your average Hurricane Cathy (except,
you know, he's in a building), disrupting skirmishes and occasionally
hitting people, any people, in his path.
	Finally, though, he stopped spiralling, and flew over the desk,
over the Millenium Orb, and out the window.  With terror he realized that
he was joining Day's fate, even down to the exact same pavement, and like
Day, made futile efforts to prolong his life.
	Pennywinkel had jumped off just before the spiral stopped, and stood
with a stance of victory well-deserved.

	Po could not stand it.  Sure, he may not have liked Nor, but this
little brat just got away with murdering his *other* brother!  He had
known, had *promised* himself that he would not allow that to happen!
But it had, and it had happened so ironically... the same means of death...
almost as if she were mocking him.
	And then he lost all his marbles.  Breaking his fight with Chip and
Dale, he ran for this mocking &!#@% with all his speed and power, and
delivered the strongest, fastest, best blows he could.
	And believe it or not, they connected, every last one of them.  And
Pennywinkel was not faking, not secretly sucking it up.  For Po had,
unknowingly, discovered the same flaw that Max Alpha had with Pennywinkel's
supernatural thinking abilities:  No matter how strange or whacky her
deductions, foresights, and ideas were, there was always logic, patterns,
involved.  She could not handle something that did not have logic or a
pattern to it.  Something like total, uncontrolled rage where the only
semblance of logic was a fixation on killing the intended target.
Pennywinkel, for one of the few times in her life, actually suffered real,
physical pain that she did not have a defense prepared for.  She felt
the one feeling she had not thought she would ever feel:  the state of
being in so much pain that it was impossible to think.
	When the blinding fury finally stopped, she found herself falling
to her knees.  "Owwwww..."
	But Po was not finished.  "Want more?"  he threatened, "Here's a
kiss!"  he said, kissing her on the lips, just like his brother had done,
except he did it out of some attractive sort of rage, not out of any
sort of semi-romantic draw.  "Now what, &!#@%?!  When we win this, I'll
do *worse* than just kiss you!"
	Now Pennywinkel *did* find the strength to fight back, but only in
a small way, as she pushed him off and away from herself.  However that
exhausted her, and she decided to use her time trying to rest.
	Fortunately, just as Po was about to get back at her, Chip and Dale
grabbed his arms, but they were stronger than expected and they nearly
couldn't do it.  But now they had Monty and Mademanna helping them, as
they no longer had their hands full with Nor and Mevos seemed (oddly)
preoccupied with just Frog and Foxglove.
	"Don't!"  Po said, seeing Mademanna, "You saw what she did, you
know I've got to get back at her!"
	"Well, you guys *were* trying to kill *us*."
	"Forget you, then!"
	Mevos, however, somehow found time to break from his agitations
from Frog and Foxglove, and turned to survey the scene.  Seeing what was
going on, he made a snap decision.  Quickly he sent a bolt of energy at
Po, and the youngster found himself suddenly aglo.  With little effort,
Po now found he could shove aside all four of them.  He made his way
towards Pennywinkel again.
	But Foxglove saw what was happening too, and she wasn't about to
let it.  Quickly, she summoned up winds directed at Po, blowing him
to the far end of the room, catching him in a whirling dirvish.  Meanwhile
the four kept up with him, finding the miniature cyclone having dropped
him near the window.  But he was still glowing.
	"Ya give up, mate?"  Monty asked, approaching.  But suddenly, Po
picked up and threw the big mouse very near to where Nowhere Man was now
standing (Nowhere Man had been walking up to the Millenium Orb, carefully
going over the wording of his wish in his mind).  Nowhere Man jumped back
with surprise, and just as suddenly, Chip rushed at Po, hitting him with
his shoulder.
	And causing him to be just barely standing on the edge of the
window.  Chip, reacting on impulse rather than good sense, pushed him
even farther, and he met the same fate as his brothers...

	...and there was silence.  In this silence, Chip was overcome with
shock as he realized what he had done.  This realization made him faint,
and he almost made himself small compensation for the murders except that
Dale had the good sense to catch him just in time.
	But Chip was not the only one who not only heard, but felt the
silence.  Everyone realized, almost in tandom, that the fighting had in
fact stopped.
	And there was Mevos, staring onward.  One would imagine that he
was probably displaying some emotion under that mask, but to the naked
eye, he was simply staring blankly.  Then he looked downward, and he
made a sound.  At first it was quite unintelligable, but as they listened,
everyone in the room learned that it was not some weird noise or strange
chant like they feared, it was a rather common, ordinary sound, one that
seemed odd placed in context of such an evil man.
	Mevos was crying.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE  Nowhere Man's Wish


	It continued, the only sound in this deep silence.  And as it did,
everyone in the room found that they were not only interested in this
man, but that they sympathized with, and even pitied him as well, for
rare was it that an evil man would cry over lost servants, and all began
to wonder if this, if everything, hadn't been some massive mistake.
	This was what finally pushed Nowhere Man to make his wish.  For
once, he had looked underneath the shell of evil, stereotypes, and
conformity and saw that men are men, women are women, and children are
children.  Nowhere Man found he could no longer simply point a finger
and call people evil, corrupt, or simply stupid (though the claim may
be legitimate at times).
	Perhaps, his mind said, if things had been more favorable, perhaps
this huge mistake he had witnessed and participated in could've been
prevented, easily.
	Nowhere Man, finally, had a real point of view, knew what he had
got to do, not a bit like you or me.  He didn't need to be told the world
was at his command.  It was time to put one of his Somewhere Plans into
action for Somebody.  Everybody.
	With his resolve, he put his hands on the Millenium Orb, and
immediately wished thus:
	"I wish to start all over again, with a better family, in a better
home, with a better life."

	A baby opened his eyes.  Looking around, he saw a room like what
newborns usually go to, which their parents pick them up from.  He
looked around with curiosity.  Almost immediately, he turned his head to
the sound of a door opening, and saw a doctor, followed by a middle-aged
man and woman.  The came his way, and stopped in front of his cradle,
and looked at him.
	"Oh, isn't he so precious?" The woman raved.
	"Oh yes, he's daddy's little boy!"
	"Precisely," the doctor said, "The tests say that he is a perfectly
healthy baby boy.  That means, Mr. and Mrs. Mann, that little Noah is
free to leave the hospital."
	And both the parents cried in joy while little Noah wondered whether
his first word should be "Mama," or "Dada."

	Unfortunately, Nowhere Man's wish had no effect on the current
situation, for he had wished to *restart* his life, thus it had been
so done that he had gotten to a certain point in his life and pressed a
universal Reset button.  He had gone back in time, but had not rewritten
history.  Which was just as well.  He would not have stopped the war with
Mevos in any case, and it could've turned out so much worse without him,
as there would, in that instance, have been no Nowhere Man to save Gadget
from Rat Capone, or everyone else from Mevos and Fat Cat, and finally
no Nowhere Man to use the Millenium Orb, thus preventing it from being
used for evil.  Very few realized that lowly Nowhere Man had in fact
been the most important person in the whole affair.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX  Striking the Final Blow


	"This was not supposed to happen," Mevos mumbled to himself, "They
were not supposed to die, no one was supposed to die, not this time!
Yet somehow, you killed--murdered--my three most loyal assistants, mere
runaways who I took in and trained to the upmost of their abilities,
and suffered no casualties!  Oh, no, you did, didn't you?  But you always
somehow managed to cheat death.  I guess it's true then, cartoon heroes
really *can't* die.  Very well," he stood, and began to eerily glow,
"But if I must go down as well, I will not make it easy for you!"
	And the room trembled as Mevos glowed a brighter and brighter
red, and all were shocked as Mevos sprouted wings, large, furry red wings
as if from a bat out of hell.  Looking onward with horror, they saw his
white latexed hands outgrow their fabric and form into the paws of
monkeys but with long nails.  His feet became like the talons of an
eagle, except with the fat and thickness of a gorilla's feet.  The only
visible change they could not see was whatever was below his purple cloak
that reached down to his ankles.
	And his face.
	"Fools!"  He shouted, "Did you think I wore this mask as a fashion
statement, or that I call myself Mevos because I want to?  Ha!  The truth
is this mask was given to me as a sign from a tribe of Demon Worshippers,
who saw me as the living incarnation of their god!  The demon, it happened,
was named Mevos, which was my name backwards!  He and I developed a
close kinship, and now we share our powers.  I his magic, and he my
experience and knowledge!  Together we are unstoppable!  The ultimate
demon Mevos!"
	"He's wacky," Frog said to himself.
	"Gadget!  Quick!"  Yelled Chip, "The Energy Disruptor!"
	Quick as a flash, Gadget got out the little box, as Mevos was just
beginning to understand what was going on.  Quickly, Gadget activated
it, and threw it in the direction of the masked one.
	Nearly everyone, however, felt the effects of energy being disrupted.
Mevos found himself flexing between being a demon and being a man,
Pennywinkel was paralyzed, losing touch with half her mind which only
existed in the spiritual realm.  Gadget herself, due to the energy that
was screwing up in her cyborg parts, found she was now limp.  Realizing
that, she looked at Mademanna, who had ceased functioning altogether.
Foxglove, however, seemed to simply be a little dizzy.  So was Frog,
but he managed to remain standing, and he looked on with hope, as did
all, for it seemed like now, Mevos would surely fall!
	But this was not to be, for unexpectedly and suddenly, the energy
disruptor just stopped working.  Suddenly everything was fine.  Gadget
was still limp, but she could feel her arms recharging (she made a
mental note to examine herself and see exactly how she works, anyway).
She passed a glance at Mademanna, and was pleased to learn that she
seemed to be sleeping.
	"A great attempt," Mevos complimented, "But you must've known a
machine that works by screwing up the flow of energy would've nullified
itself."
	"Oops!"  Gadget hadn't thought of that.  She looked at Mevos again.
	"Surprised?" he commented upon seeing her reaction, for his demon
features were still there.  "Yes, we are still the ultimate demon.  Your
toy merely stunted my transformation, which I am going to resume right
this minute!"  Suddenly, Mevos was engulfed in a red ball of what seemed
to be flame which no one could glimpse into.  No one had to ask.  They
all knew what must be going on.  And their hope faded, with only one
person having any ideas.
	"Gadget," Frog said, sitting down with the mouse inventor, "Get
Mademanna, tell Chip to get Pennywinkel, and everyone get out of here."
	"Why?"
	"Because I'm going to try and fight this guy."
	"Frog, that's...!"
	"You got any better ideas?  Sorry, but I'm done running home,
resting, recuperating, and then throwing myself back into the fray.  We
came here for a showdown, and we is gonna have us a showdown!"  Frog stood,
"Besides, it's not like it wasn't all that long ago that I fought this
guy *in the street* and nearly beat 'im."
	Since Gadget couldn't, Foxglove (now over the temporary dizziness)
had gotten Mademanna instead.  Chip was still a bit in shock, so Monty
got Pennywinkel.  "Eh, lad," he said, "She's got somethin' to say."
	"Frog," she said, sounding healthy but talking silently, "Come
on, you *know* I can take him... maybe not right now, but after we
get some rest..."
	"Look, kid," he explained, "You are adequately explained as battered,
bruised, and beaten.  Besides that, you had your field day with Mevos.
It's my turn.  Anyway, this is a family fight, and Mademanna isn't
exactly awake, so who's left?"
	"Never mind," Pennywinkel surrendered, "Take care then, and have
fun.  Oh, by the way," reaching around her neck, she pulled out her
Resize Medallion.  "Nowhere Man had mine.  Dale's holding onto it."
	Frog took the Medallion, and placed it around his own neck.  "Ah,
good.  Now I can sneak under doors in the dead of night."  With that,
he gave Pennywinkel a goodnight kiss and a "see you soon," and they
parted ways, at least for the time being.
	And then everyone who was still in their right mind also gave Frog
farewells (but no one else kissed him) and he returned them as everyone
scrambled out the door.  Everyone also tried to talk Frog out of it, but
he was adamant with his decision.  So finally, it was Frog, all alone
in a room with a big fireball, which he turned to face.
	"Well, here goes somethin'!"

	Stepping into the fireball (The only thing Frog could think of to
at least test) Frog found that it was almost like another world, or rather
a dimension where worlds, time, and space have no meaning.  The visuals
usually looked like colorful swirling masses (The colors were sometimes
bright, sometimes both, usually mixed and terribly clashed) or could
depict mountains, canyons, forests, lakes, and even living rooms and
cities.
	It didn't take Frog long to find Mevos.  He was right there in
front of him.  He was kneeling as if in rest, but he had watched Frog
enter, and he stood.  Neither said a word.  Both knew what must be done.
	Frog drew his sword.
	Neither was about to let the other have the first strike, and
thus both attacked at once, efectively blocking each other's blows.
Mevos jumped to the side and launched an attack from the air while
Frog backed away and did an upward slash, catching the demonoid offguard,
but he responded by sending a trio of fiery will-o-wisps Frog's way, and
will-o-wisps don't miss.  Frog decided then it was no longer time to play
around.  He was serious.  Starting with a rush, each of his stabs, swipes,
and swings seemed like a blinding flurry, to say nothing of Mevos'
counterthrusts and mixing it up with magic, with which he spared no
expense.  Piling it on Frog with lightning, wisps, magnetic pulls,
and at one point he seemed to send the *background* to attack our hero,
but Frog masterfully ducked that, and with an upward swing jumped at
a once-again flying Mevos, nailing him.  Then, Frog used a bit of his
own magic.  For a moment, he flashed, but then Mevos found himself being
attacked by Frog at least fifty times from all sides per second!  This
attack was devastating, but Mevos was not beat yet.  Immediately he
countered with something great and powerful, seeming to make Frog
implode into a ball, only to suddenly become himself again, in extreme
pain and full of electricity.  In a fight between two of the most
persistent men in this city, it seemed like it could never end.  But
Frog, suddenly, became totally surrounded by electricity, which formed
the shape of a large bird around his body.  Instantly he was rejuvenated
and felt better than ever!
	So, they both could trade blows for infinity, Mevos realized.  It
was useless to depend on force alone.  He needed strategy.  But not much
strategy was possible, considering there were only two warriors and on
a relatively plain battlefield.  Immediately Mevos tried one of his
favorites, and teleported behind Frog, ready to bash him atop the head,
but Frog had immediately executed a spinning attack, and had caught Mevos
offguard.  The masked one realized that the boy was indeed clever for he
had seen that one coming (or perhaps "programmed" an impulsive response
against it into himself).  So he backed away.  Frog ran at him, and leaped,
apparently intent on doing a leaping thrust.
	Mevos spared his magic, and countered with a simple manuever.  He
walked forward, and caught Frog in midair.  His claws grew, and made a
few red stains on Frog's outfit as they dug into his skin.
	Frog made the only move he could see:  He changed his grip on his
sword, and stabbed it down, right into the masked one's back.
	There was a shriek of pain as he fell to the floor, to his knees,
then to his side, seeming to go right through the sword to do so.  As
Mevos fell, the strange unreality of the demon totally disappeared.  Frog
was back in West Wenson, with what was now a perfectly ordinary Mevos
down beside him.  His sword had, somehow, became impaled in the ground,
and it was no pain in the neck to remove it and replace it in it's
proper sheath on Frog's side.
	And then, Frog looked at Mevos again.  This time, one detail was
strange.  It was his face.  He was still wearing the mask, but he could
make out panting, breathing, eyes locked in shock.  The mask itself had,
somehow, become Mevos' face, at least for the time being.
	The eyes looked up at him.  "Yes, you've won."  He said.
	"Am I talking to Mevos or, well, Mevos?"
	"Neither.  Or both.  At this point I am unsure.  Surely some of
my thoughts now are my own, whereas others are his.  But let me warn you,
young fighter, I am not dead, and I can not die while my mask still
exists.  Where there is a mask, there is a Mevos.  It's funny.  I can
create a new mask any time I want.  You can't defeat Mevos without
destroying the mask, and you can't destroy the mask without defeating
Mevos.  Yet unless the skills and powers of your family start to wane,
I will never lose.  Portal travel makes one ageless, if I remember.  Tell
me, are the Rescue Rangers ageless, or is that just our perception from
watching reruns?"
	"It *was* our perception... they don't know it yet, but they are.
When we were kidnapped by DiMM, that was when the Rangers went universe-
tripping.  Thus they are also without age."  Frog briefly summed up the
story of that encounter.
	And Mevos laughed.  "Ha!  Avatars, fanfiction authors, Demon Master
Minds!  You have certainly led an interesting lifestyle!"  Mevos chuckled,
"Maybe *I* should become a Rescue Ranger!  I wonder... I wonder if I
myself am not merely a fragment of some kid's fanfictions?  It would
certainly be interesting to meet my author... perhaps he could learn to
love me, and thus always allow me the upper hand, or at least a less-than-
bitter defeat.  But I'm growing delirious.  Mevos is dying, this Mevos
is dying.  Soon I will be nothing but a mask, which you will throw until
the street and shatter!  But there is another mask, from which I will
return.  You can not find it, do not even try, for I hid it extremely
well.  As long as there is a mask, there is a Mevos!  And as long as there
is a Mevos, there is a mask!  Break the circle, and only then can I be
defeated!"
	At that, his body crumpled into fine powder, leaving behind nothing
but Mevos' ivory mask, which Frog picked up.  Admiring the artwork, he
briefly entertained thoughts of wearing it, but stopped himself short
of doing so, knowing full well that doing so could lead to possession,
which he did not want.

	The odd thing about unrealities is how time works for them.  In all
the time Frog must've took fighting (he imagined it took at least an
hour) it seemed to the Rangers like they had just gotten outside when they
saw Frog running out after them, triumphantly waving Mevos' mask.  None
of them had yet shrunk to rodent size.
	"Frog!"  Pennywinkel greeted.  "I knew you would win!"  She ran
and hugged him.
	"Oh, you know, nothing can defeat the almighty Dumb Frog Helsing!"
He laughed, "Oh, I gotta do something real quick, to *really* secure my
victory."
	With that, Frog walked to the side of the building.  After looking
down, he lightly chunked the mask off the side.  It, as he had hoped, fell
straight down, reached no obstructions, and shattered into billions of
pieces in the street, shattering moreso as cars went by (and gaining the
Spare Tire Industry a truckload of good income).



TO BE CONCLUDED in Dark Millenium, Part Five.

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Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (C) Disney, used without permission.