RESCUE RANGERS:  DARK MILLENIUM

                     PART THREE

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

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CHAPTER TWELVE  An Unused Room in a Fancy Hotel


	Both Pennywinkel and Mevos came back, finding themselves standing
in a richly furbished, devinely suitable, expensive-looking room, which
luckily for them had two seperate beds, and Pennywinkel was still
clutching the bright ball which was known to them as the Millenium
Orb.  "Ahhhhh," Mevos went, "I see now.  So, that orb grants wishes!"
	"Of course, you fool.  'Three uses'?  'Changes time and disrupts
reality'?  'Will surrender your dreams'?  Did you actually need any more
of a clue?  My goodness, you're more hopeless than I at first believed."
	"Well, excuse me if not all of us can be born with mutagenic
defects that enhance cerebral functions!"
	"It's not a defect if it enhances something, you idiot."  She put
the orb down on a bed immediately behind her.  Turning back to Mevos,
she added "Anyway, We better get this room boarded up if we're gonna
sleep here."
	"Sleep here?  US?"
	"Yes, after a long day of almost constant fighting, I need my
beauty sleep.  You should be tired by now too."
	"You foolish girl.  What makes you so sure I won't kill you in
your sleep, or steal the Millenium Orb and go back to my headquarters,
leaving you behind?"
	Pennywinkel turned away and, cradling the orb in her arms, layed
down upon the bed, apparently fixing to fall into a slumber.  Then
she answered "Because you need me.  You yourself made that quite clear.
Even though your plan with Fat Cat failed, you not only need me, you
*want* me."
	"Just what are you getting at?"  He wondered darkly, already
believing he had a faint idea.
	"Quit trying to fool yourself, and me.  All you Military types
ever think of is the size of your army and how to make the better
soldier.  Anyway, I still remember the kidnapping.  I know the truth,
John," she emphasized the name, "It's time you recognized it."  With
that, she stopped talking.
	"You were always the bright one."  Mevos said silently, "I guess
that's a trait carried over from your father."  He ended, but when his
only response was rythmic breathing, he knew the girl had fallen
asleep.  "She's right," he continued, "I won't kill or abandon her.
Her and the remainder of her family are all too important to my own
future.  Still, I wonder if she doesn't have something planned..."
But, even as he said that, his mind began to fog as the desire to sleep
gradually came over it.  Mevos did not fight it at all, and soon, he
was no longer awake, nor would he be for eight hours.
	When he woke up, however, a certain little girl knew he was in
for a surprise, as she decided to put the remainder of her plan into
action.  A thousand thoughts popped into her head about what she could
do with the Millenium Orb behind Mevos' back.  She could wish for
anything, she was certain.  Perhaps she could wish to go back home--
no, wait, no telling how the orb would take that.  Okay, how about
wishing Mevos no longer existed?  That would be nice, but no reason
to waste a wish on something she could accomplish with her own power.
Perhaps, she thought, she could get rid of all the evil in the
universe!  But wait, she realized, that would take all the fun out of
it, and besides there is no telling what the orb considers 'Evil' and
it could very well end up changing everyone into a straight-laced
goodie two-shoes.  Pennywinkel thought about all this, while Mevos
kept droning on in his sleep "Get back to West Wenson, West Wenson..."
	All this daydreaming aside (if it was indeed still daytime) she
knew for a fact that she did not know exactly what hotel she was in
or where.  For all she knew, her and Mevos could be in France!  Thus,
if she wanted to get back to Midwest, New York and regroup with the
others anytime in the next week or so, she would have to use a wish.
How to word that?  She knew very well that wishing gizmos like this,
especially in cartoons, have a tendancy to backfire, so she had to be
careful.  Finally, she said:
	"I wish I was back in the park in Midwest, New York, where me,
my semi-brother Dumb Frog Helsing and my robot sister Mademanna have
been living in a tree with a group of rodents called the Rescue
Rangers."
	It may have been wordy, but if her next subsequent disappearance
was a sign of success, then it was worth it.  Meanwhile Mevos was still
there, sleeping.

	"No one ever expects the good girl to be treacherous."
	This line was what Pennywinkel later was telling Mademanna as
the two sat on the sofa, joshing about each other's various adventures.
Mademanna, and everyone else, had been back at the Ranger HQ for about
four hours since the ordeal at Fat Cat's.  Gadget and Nowhere Man had,
upon returning, shrunk to make themselves rodent-sized like everyone
else, and Nowhere Man was now relaxing in some far off corner of the
same sofa.  Gadget was on the other side of Mademanna, also listening
to their stories, and occasionally laughing along.
	Calming down, Mademanna asked "So you abandoned Mevos in some
hotel?"
	"Yep.  He just went to sleep.  That means we have a bare minimum
of eight hours with which we can work without worrying about his
interference, plus whatever it takes for him to discover where he is
and, from there, return to here."
	"Well then," Gadget asked, "What about this Millenium thing?"
	"This?"  Pennywinkel hoisted up the Millenium Orb.  "I'm going to
keep it.  I have plans for it.  Until my plan has it's opportunity to
come into fruition though Gadget, I want you to keep it in the same
strongbox the Remote was kept in.  Do not let anyone know that you have
this.  It's going to be our little secret."  She glanced at Mademanna
and said "That goes for you too."
	"Okay!"  The little girl sheepishly agreed.
	"But isn't that kind of selfish?"  Gadget questioned as Pennywinkel
handed her the orb, which had with Pennywinkel also been shrunk down to
rodent proportions with use of the Resize Medallion, "Why not allow one
of us to make the final wish or something?"
	"Okay, who?"
	Okay, now Gadget started thinking.  "Well, Chip would... well...
Dale... no, he'd want a comic book collection.  Hmmm... And Monty's
had his experience with wishes.  Me, I couldn't make one for myself,
it would have to be one that would benefit the team... but we only
get one, and I can't think of anything we could wish for that would
help us, except maybe getting the time remote back.  I mean, I don't
know how I managed to build it, but then, I *Did* build it, so that's
something we could get by other means and... Hmmm... I guess you're
right, Pennywinkel.  There's nothing I can think of that would
benefit the team, that we can't get by other means.  Unless we can
wi--" Gadget caught herself, realizing that using the word "Wish"
could cause her to accidentally make one, "--I mean, use this orb
to get more uses out of it.  I mean if only one of us got to use
it, I guess it would still be unfair to everyone else."
	"So now you see my point."
	Gadget nodded, and decided to comply.  So she carried the orb with
her to her workshop, where she proceeded to lock it up nice and safe.
Pennywinkel glanced back at Mademanna, and asked "So what became of
those boys?"
	"Which boys?"
	"You know, Mevos' lackeys."
	"Oh, *those* boys!... Ummm, Actually Miss Pennywinkel, I wasn't
really paying attention.  I guess they escaped."
	Pennywinkel clapped her hands, "Fantastic!"  She stated, "That is
just perfect!  I need to find Chip real quick."  She got up, and began
to run into the kitchen when she stopped herself just before running into
the object of her inquery. "Oh, Chip," she greeted, "You wouldn't be
adverse to a little recon, would you?"
	He looked at her suspiciously.

	Within moments, she had manage to talk him into joining her on a
recon mission, where he was flying the Ranger Wing.  "I don't know how
you talked me into this, or why you talked me into going without the
others..."
	She laughed, a laugh that sounded like an odd mix between humor
and an evil cackle.  Chip looked over to her, and saw her stop laughing
and look ever onward.  Despite her smile, he somehow got the impression
she was brooding as if over some dark secret.
	She eventually did answer "They need their rest for when Mevos
returns, and anyway, this is something that we can handle ourselves.
In fact, I don't even need you for anything more than to fly me there."
	"And I suppose you're saving your energy by not simply flying
there yourself?  Where did you say we were going again?"
	"West Wenson."
	"Well, we're here," he said, landing on top of a tall building.
"I remember this place, this was once a grand office building before
the fire, and by then they were working on a new one so they decided
to just let this one rust.  By the way, you never *did* tell me why
you wanted to come here."
	Jumping out of the Wing, she realized he was right, and said "Oh,
because this place is somehow important to Mevos.  It may even be his
base of operations!"  With that, Pennywinkel turned around, and skipped
merrily towards a door on the roof, meanwhile Chip couldn't shake the
feeling that there was something else she wasn't letting on.  She turned
to see if Chip was following, he was, so before they proceeded any
farther she pulled out the Resize Medallion and said "Let's use this,
just to be safe.  Put a finger on it."
	Chip complied.


CHAPTER THIRTEEN  Consequences


	Meanwhile, the Endo boys were sitting around a lone desk and chair
in an otherwise unfurnished room, Day was making a plan, for until Mevos
returned, he was assigned the duties of an acting leader.  "Right," he
said, "Our enemies will probably use our friend and leader's disappearance
as cause to attack.  Thus, our priority should be on defense.  The only
thing I can think of is retreat, yes, we must hide from our enemies, that
way our base will not be discovered."
	"Hey man," Nor wondered, "Are you suggestin' we run?"
	"Nor, They outnumber us three to one!  We can't take them all on,
even with what all we can do!  We've got to--"
	But suddenly, the door to the room was violently kicked open, and
there, walking towards them menacing, smiling a dark smile, was
Pennywinkel.  "It's too late to run," she said in a sinister tone, "And
too late to hide, because now I know who you are and I know where you
live!"
	Momentarily, Chip managed to get himself through the doorway, but
stopped just as he entered, staring to watch the strange scene unfold
in front of him.  Pennywinkel seemed aware of him, for she turned sideways
and motioned him to stay put.
	"We've been discovered!"  Day realized aloud, but then, "Wait...
Don't tell me it's just the two of you!"
	"Yep," Pennywinkel answered.  "But that doesn't matter, because
you can't even handle *one* of me."
	"Ha!"  Day stood erect, confident, "As I remember, last time we
defeated you.  Brothers!  It's time for another Fancy Dragon attack!"
With that, Day jumped over the desk and into action, making a grab
at Pennywinkel, knowing full well she would step to the side and be
caught in a pincer attack by either Nor or Po.
	Surprisingly, that's not what happened, as Day suddenly realized
when Pennywinkel began cackling an evil cackle.  "You idiot, didn't you
think it possible that your Fancy Dragon attack worked last time might
be because *I allowed it to*?"   Suddenly she kicked him, sending him
landing on his rump.  And she disappeared, only to reappear right next
to Nor, radiating a pinkish lite.  Somehow, she managed to flip the
big man over her head, bringing his own in contact with the floor, all
the while saying "When I am serious, I am deadly!"  With that, she left
Nor's unconscious form laying sprawled on the floor, as she disappeared
again, coming up right in front of her real target.  Day stammered and
tried to scream as he was lifted right off the floor with one hand.
Holding him, Pennywinkel told him thus:
	"Remember when I told you that when I was free, I would kill you?
I wasn't kidding."
	First using her other hand to cause a rushing Po to run into a
small forcefield, Pennywinkel then drew back the hand holding Day...
	...and then, through him over the desk, and into the glass window
behind.  As the glass shattered all around him, the forces of gravity
pulled young Day ever downward as he tried to make several desperate
grabs.  A pole, a bird, a window ledge, anything was worthwhile in these
few moments.  In his falling and desperate attempts to save his life,
he turned and saw where he was headed, and he was filled with horror
as he realized that all he was going to land on was clear pavement,
and that nothing he could do would save his life.
	Po, who had run to the window the moment he recovered, could not
bear to watch his brother's final moments.  At the last second, he
closed his eyes and turned away just as the sound of impact reached his
ears.
	Pennywinkel stood on firm ground, satisfied with what she had done.
Turning gracefully, she walked towards the door.  Upon passing Chip, she
was about to say something, but in only a second knew that glare she
was recieving, and pretended not to notice as she passed by.  Chip
watched her walk away, then looked back at Po.
	Po Endo, the pride and fast-footed joy of the Endo family, was at
this moment little more than a pathetic mass of sobs on the floor.  This
time, Chip found it not hard at all to pity his enemy.  For a brief
moment, his duty entered his mind, and he realized he should probably
capture the felon, but as he took a step, his conscience held him back.
After what just happened, he did not need any more of this.
	The least Chip felt he could do was check on the big one whom
Pennywinkel had (he hoped) merely knocked out.

	"Why?"  Chip asked, after having driven the Ranger Wing in silence
for quite some time.  The horror and confusion and anger at what his
passenger had done still enraged him.  "Why did you do that?"
	Pennywinkel looked to the side, away from Chip, making no answer.
He kept driving, his mind going through thoughts of exactly how he was
going to handle this.  Simply sending her to her room was not enough
(and it's not like she would listen anyway).
	"Answer me!"  He demanded.
	She sighed, and slumped in her seat.  There was still silence,
but just as Chip was about to demand her answer again, she finally
said "Because he kissed me, without my consent."
	And now Chip was not only horrified and confused and angry, but
he was in disbelief as well.  "You killed him over a *kiss*?!"
	"Have you ever kissed a girl against her will?  Try it, and you'll
get the same results!  Girls don't like being touched in those kinds of
ways without consent."
	"But it was just a kiss!"
	"You're a boy!"  She snapped, "Of course you wouldn't understand!
As far as you're concerned he could have taken me into a dark room and
done unspeakable acts and you'd still think--"
	"That is not the same thing!"
	"--It's EXACTLY the same thing!  But as I said, a boy would never
understand.  Try kissing Gadget against her will sometime and see what
happens."
	Chip was about to answer, but he realized that he really did not
know how Gadget would react to something like that, though he doubted
she'd be driven to murder over it. Either way, the discussion would
have to wait until they got back to headquarters, even if mostly because
Chip didn't want to risk the chance of meeting his own doom as a smear
on the concrete.

	The atmosphere of mistrust did not go unfelt when Pennywinkel
and Chip stepped through the door, Pennywinkel with her head down and
arms in front, as if she was a criminal being led to her cell.  For once,
everyone was in the main room, most of them wondering where Chip and
Pennywinkel were, ironically enough.  Even dense Frog and innocent
Mademanna could tell that something was wrong, horribly, terribly wrong.
	"Frog," Chip indicated, "Please escort Mademanna out of the room."
	Just as Frog was about to comply, Mademanna stood, and brushed
him aside, saying "I don't need an escort.  You *could* just tell me
to leave, ya know."
	Chip almost apologized, but instead just stifled it.   He watched
as Mademanna stepped out of the room, presumeably to lay down on a bed
somewhere.  When he was certain she was gone, he looked around.  For
a moment, he thought about discluding Nowhere Man, but realized there
was no good reason to *not* keep him here.  Anyway, the jury was
assembled.
	"Heya, what's goin' on?"  Dale wondered.
	Much to Chip's surprise, the first thing Pennywinkel did was run
towards Gadget and say "I need to talk to you alone!"
	"Okay," Gadget shrugged, leading Pennywinkel into her workshop,
the nearest private place they could find.  Immediately Gadget shut the
door and, with Pennywinkel's urging, jammed it with a chair as well.
She heard Pennywinkel silently say "Chip's telling them about it right
now."
	"What?  What happened?"
	"I... I don't know how to put this..."
	"Calm down," Gadget put a compassionate hand on Pennywinkel's
shoulder, "Now, just say it as clearly as possible."
	"All right... I... me and Chip found Mevos base," she said,
constantly trailing off and choking on sobs, "Well, we went in and...
those three boys were there, those ones that were always following Mevos
around, and... I..."
	Gadget was listening.
	"I... I ended one of their lives."
	With that, Gadget gasped, involuntarily removing her comforting
hand.  Immediately she placed it back, and said "You mean accidentally,
right?"
	But Pennywinkel's silence told her the answer.
	"Oh Pennywinkel... but why?"
	Pennywinkel took a breath, as if she was about to recall an awful
memory.  "Because he kissed me, against my will."
	"And...?"
	And there was more silence, then Pennywinkel asked "What do you
mean 'And'?  What more do I need?  He made -that- kind of bodily
contact with me without my consent."
	"Well, in terms of legality what he did would be considered Sexual
Harrassment, not what you're making it out to be.  It really was not
that bad..."
	"Have you ever been kissed against your will?!"  Pennywinkel
snapped.
	Gadget, apparently, only registered the question.  "Well, no, I
mean, there are men who've tried, and usually I do make sure to put them
off when they start acting like that, but still, to *kill* over it?"
	"You're kidding me!  With your temper problems you've never once
even been driven to kill?"
	"What temper problems?"
	"Oh you know what I mean.  'Let's tear him out by his dirty rotten
diapers!' remember that line?  Or how about when you outfitted yourself
with pretty much every G.I. Joe device you could build and infiltrated
the Cola Cult?!"
	"I was never driven to kill!"  Gadget strongly retorted, "A little
ticked off maybe, but still," and now she put both hands on Pennywinkel,
"We can't have people thinking the Rescue Rangers are a bunch of
bloodthirsty vigilantes!"
	When Pennywinkel stood up, Gadget realized she had said the
wrong thing.  Pennywinkel tried her best not to look at Gadget as she
made her way slowly and broodingly to the door of the workshop.  Reaching
it, and removing the chair, she said thus, starting in a silent brood
and ending with what was almost a scream:
	"I thought you would understand, but if all you're concerned about
is the reputation of your organization, then leave me alone!"
	Pennywinkel was at least respectful enough to open and walk through
the door, even if she slammed it on her way out.  On the other side of
the door, she did not decide to bear looking at whatever dark gazes she
was getting from anyone else.
	If she had, she'd probably realize she wasn't entirely without
sympathy.  But she didn't, instead, she ran, crying, to her room.  After
watching her leave, Frog went face-to-face with Chip, and said "One
thing you haven't told us is *why* she did it."
	"It's not important," Chip said, cross-armed, "She didn't have a
very good one.  If you must know, she says it was because he stole a
kiss."  Chip looked onwards with confidence.  Of course he had expected
for Frog to sympathize with his friends first, but he knew Frog was
logical enough (even if not always in his right mind) to see things his
way once he knew the facts.
	Chip's confidence was broken by sudden surprise, however, when he
realized that was not the case.
	"You're an idiot!"  Frog accused, "No wonder you haven't nailed
yourself a mouse yet, you don't know anything about women at all, do
you?"  With that, Frog turned and walked, almost marched, out of the
room, perhaps to go find Pennywinkel.
	"Wait a minute!"  Chip began, but Frog wasn't stopping, and Chip
decided it would be best just to let him go.  He still had the rest of
his team.
	But then Nowhere Man popped a whopper, and Chip began to regret
not having made him leave the room.
	"Okay, so she killed this guy, but so what?  Can't say I really
get her reason, but he was one of the bad guys anyway, right?  So does
it matter?"
	"Nowhere Man, you haven't been in real society long enough to--"
	"@#$% real society!  I've been in it long enough to know what it's
like, and it's not anything to strive for!  I don't want to live my life
trying to pretend I'm better than I really am, and neither should you.
Anyway, it was either them or you anyway, right?  She eliminated a threat,
and now if you would get off your high-and-mighty throne and realise
it was not only the *right* action, but the *only* action, and to hell
with your morals!"
	"You should--" Chip immediately forgot what he was going to say,
for here Monty interjected.
	"Well, Chip-me-lad, I won't say Pennywinkel was right, and I don't
agree with everything Nowhere Man 'ere says, but he does have a point:
it's survival of the fittest, and when it comes down to it, things like
that are inevitable."
	"How?"
	"Because Mevos and his dogs 'ave, so far, not only succeeded in
killing most of us once but then tried to hand us over to our enemies,
who also woulda killed us.  The blighter clearly wants us dead, Chip-
me-lad, and he won't stop until he's breathed his last.
	"I will say one thing though, Pennywinkel probably shoulda
waited until she had no other choice and had a more legitimate reason.
Even if this murder business was premeditated, at least then she could
claim it was in self-defense."
	Chip sighed, it was at least refreshing to know that the whole
world wasn't going to turn against him, even if it wasn't altogether
on his side.  "But Monty," he argued still, "She doesn't need to be
doing this *at all*, there are other ways..."
	"Like what, puttin' the blighters in jail?"  Monty had him there.
As far as Chip knew, Mevos and his group had only attacked them and
their home, and were virtually unknown to the human population of the
city.  This was a problem only the Rangers could solve, and they were
on their own.
	"Still," Chip concluded, "None of this justifies blatant, pre-
meditated murder."
	And Chip heard a mocking, disbelieving "Ha!"  come out of Nowhere
Man's mouth.  He turned to face the homeless human, and discover what
new thought's had entered his mind.
	Nowhere Man's words were thus:  "Yea, you say that now.  But you'd
feel differently if it was you holding the knife!"
	"Huh?"  Chip stared dumbfounded.  "What's that supposed to mean?"
	"Oh, now you're feigning.  Gee like I didn't see that one coming."
Chip wasn't feigning, but nor did he want to interrupt whatever Nowhere
Man had to say, "Did I ever tell you I was raised in a religious
orphanage?  I know morality like the back of my hand, and I know it's
all false.  No one really does good because they want to, they do it
because they're afraid of some holy retribution if they don't!  Yea,
Now you criticize that poor girl, but that's just 'cuz you're all
high and mighty!  If it had been you, you'd be claiming innocence,
fabricating stories, or even pulling rank!"
	"Why you little..."  Obviously Chip was angry.  It was rare
that the moral integrity of the leader of the Rescue Rangers had ever
been questioned, the only other time being due to a mix-up when they
had been mistakenly suspected of stealing peanuts at a Zoo, and that
had been (as stated) a mere mix-up.  He almost leaped on Nowhere Man,
but suddenly Dale stopped him, grabbing his jacket and saying "That's
enough!" Then, looking at Nowhere Man, Dale added "Doncha think you're
goin' a little too far?"
	Nowhere Man turned to leave the room, the last thing he said
being "You're right.  Those in power will never admit they're wrong."
	By the time Chip had gotten free of Dale's retaining grasps,
Nowhere Man had been out of the room for five minutes.  Finally, Chip
simmered down.  Turning to Dale, he asked (still with some anger in
his voice) "So where do *you* stand on this?"
	"Oh no, you're not draggin' *me* into this!"  Was Dale's immediate
answer.
	"You're a member of the team, you're already a part of this!"
	"No way!  I'll follow orders, I'll help ya catch crooks, but I am
*not* goin' to participate in these discussions!"
	"But--"
	"No matter what you say, you are *not* going to make me join a
side.  I am staying totally out of this!"
	"But--"
	Monty put a hand on Chip's shoulder.  "It's okay lad.  He's made
his choice.  Let 'im go."
	Chip sighed and for once tasted something that closely resembled
defeat.  With that, Chip, too, stalked out of the room, only just then
realizing that he had not discussed with anyone exactly what he would
plan as proper punishment.  Surely though they may or may not agree
entirely on either side, everyone would agree that she shouldn't be
allowed to get away with it!  Keeping that thought in mind, he ran
to his and Dale's room.


CHAPTER FOURTEEN  The First Fragment of the Tale of Mevos


	Meanwhile, Pennywinkel was busy making her own plans as Nowhere
Man finally found her in her room, packing... not that she had much to
pack.
	"Are you going somewhere?"  he quite stupidly asked.
	Pennywinkel had already known someone was going to ask this, and
prepared her response:  "I can't stay here any longer, not after all
that's happened."
	As she was moving some trinket or other into her backpack, Nowhere
Man caught her hands, and said "Just so you know, I'm on your side."
	"Thank you," she said, sounding totally sincere, "It's nice to
know there's someone I can trust."
	"Trust" was a word Nowhere Man had not ever put such faith in, as
his life had taught him several things, one of them being that, to put
it bluntly, trust can't be trusted.  Trying not to think about it (and
thus hopelessly confuse himself) he asked "So, what's up with that
Mevos guy anyway?  I mean, on the street, it sounded like you knew him."
	"It's nothing to worry about," she continued packing stuff, until
she got done (Which was fairly soon), "John's really just a schmo who
got lucky."
	"John?"
	"Mevos."
	"Why did you call him John?"
	"Because that's his name, John Sovem.  His last name is simply
'Mevos' spelled backwards."
	"Okay, so what's the deal with the guy?  How do you know him and
why does he keep chasing you?"
	Pennywinkel stood, shouldered her backpack, and taking a breath
said "Follow me, I'll tell you outside."
	And so, the two walked down the hall, out through the mainroom, and
outside to the landing pad.  There, Pennywinkel used a bit of the less
amazing and more practical side of her powers to help them get down to
the ground, where finally she used the Resize Medallion to make them
their natural human sizes.  While she had been walking down the hall,
Pennywinkel had noted with curiosity that Chip had ducked into his room,
seemingly with some sort of thought in his head.  In the mainroom, Monty
and ever-loving Zipper had greeted the two, acting as if nothing was
wrong, whereas Dale had begun to turn his head (he had been watching a
TV Show) but then abruptly stopped and went back to his show before he
got a good look at who was there.  This strange behavior told Pennywinkel
all she needed about the situation at the Headquarters, information she
thought might be useful later on.
	Keeping her word as they walked out of the park and towards a
sidewalk, she continued, "You still want to know about Mevos, right?"
	"Right."
	"Well... it's a long story.  Even longer because you don't know
the full story of me and Frog."
	"And the toy?"
	"Yes, and Mademanna."  With that, Pennywinkel proceeded to recount
to Nowhere Man the general details that her, Frog, and Pennywinkel were
in fact travellers from another universe who had ended up inside a
cartoon (Fortunately, Nowhere Man had actually gotten to watch a cartoon
while he was there, so no explanation of that was needed), and had been
living there ever since.
	"Okay, you're confusin' me with all this talk of universes and
stuff.  I think I get it so far, but I feel like my brain's gonna
blow up."
	And Pennywinkel giggled.  This caused an emotion to ping in Nowhere
Man's heart, as he found it... was the word "Charming" or "Adorable"?
	"Anyway," he asked, not knowing why he was putting his arm around
her, "Your world--or whatever--couldn't have been so bad if it had people
like you and your toy, could it?"
	"Even the darkest worlds have their rays of light.  The opposite
is true as well.  No offense, but I'd never suspect someone like you
could exist in a Disney universe."
	"Yea... neither did I..." he said, half-thinkingly.  The more he
looked at this girl, the more he seemed to have some strange attraction
to her.  After giggling at his witless comment, she happened to look
up and notice this.  "Is something wrong?"  She asked.
	"Yea... something's wrong... very, terribly wrong."  He said, not
realizing nothing was wrong at all.  "I keep getting this strange
feeling...  Oh, never mind, tell me more about this John Mevos guy."
	Pennywinkel giggled, Nowhere Man felt that pinging in his heart.
Finally Pennywinkel continued, "Yea, it's time I finally told someone
the story of John Sovem."  With a sigh, she stated "As I was telling you,
my world was becoming increasingly dull and apocalyptic, and not because
of any war, either.  What happened was that strict countries like Iran
kept taking away more and more freedom from their citizens, while
the United States kept rewriting it's Constitution, at first to make
it less free, because violence was becoming an issue (and also to give
a leg up to the corperations who were slowly beginning to dominate the
land).  They had started using the entertainment industry as one huge
scapegoat, and began to censor movies and especially video games.
	"And then, I guess Devine Intervention set in, because someone in
Washington realised right then and there that the situation was becoming
no different than what George Orwell had depicted in his book, 1984--"
	"--Oh, and what did he say?"
	"--Essentially that people would resort to enforcing total
conformity in order to keep the peace.  It was not a good vision, but
what ended up happening wasn't much better.  As I said, someone in
Washington realized what was happening, and had decided to reinstate the
original Constitution, however the document had been lost in an accidental
fire... well, supposedly accidental, but that's another story.  So he
set down and began to draft a new Constitution.  However a terrorist
attack killed him, but left the draft undamaged.  After which, the
corperates as well as those who would rather make America a new-age
tyranical monarchy got their hands on the document and began to make
provisions which supported themselves.  That process took about a year
during which there was no law."
	"So, things got out of hand.  But where does Mevos come into this?"
	"Well, after everything got back together and people saw that the
new Constitution, well, sucked, people began rebelling, though since the
active rebels were often males (who of course can't do anything right)
their attempts at rebellion were pitiful at best.  Nevertheless, the
paranoid white-haired old men decided this was a tangible threat, so
they looked over military and naval records and began to expand the
already existing United States Secret Service.
	"That's how John Sovem got into it, as far as I know.  I'm not
sure of the full details, because they're classified and frankly I
don't really care.  But I know him anyway because he's the one who was
sent after me and Frog's fathers."
	"Fathers?"
	"Yea, my dad and his dad."
	"But I thought you two were brother and sister!"
	"That's what everyone thinks, but really we weren't at all related
until Mademanna was born.  Since she was made by cooperation between
both our fathers, she's technically half-sister to us both, but other
than that we are not in any way, shape, or form related.  Course the
Rescue Rangers would be confused if we tried to explain it to them, so
we decided to let whatever they think stick."
	"Umm, right."  For some reason, Nowhere Man had found the revelation
that Frog was *not* Pennywinkel's brother to be somehow worthwhile of
his concern, and though he knew not why, it caused him some resentment.
	"Anyway," Pennywinkel continued on, having, in a brief glance,
seen said resentment written on Nowhere Man's face.  "Our fathers
weren't actually doing much, however their experiments had begun to
alarm the Feds, so they sent the Secret Service after us.  Our first
encounter with them was maybe a year or two before the completion of
the PortalMaster Project.
	"John Sovem was the head of a team consisting of himself and two
more men in black, and their original plan was very basic.  They had
staked out until our fathers had left, and then had invaded our home.
Mademanna was seven at the time, making Frog fourteen and myself only
nine.  Anyway, they came in on us, grabbed us, and stuffed us all into
a van--"
	"A kidnapping?"
	"--Yep.  They took us to a small white house just up the street
from our actual home, and locked us in a room.  Sovem himself kept
watch over us while one of his men left a threatening message on our
answering machine--our fathers were housemates--saying (from what I
could hear) that our dads had to turn all our research over to the U.S.
Government or never see us again.  Of course they planned to double-cross
him and keep us anyway, because they knew about my special mental
abilities and because Mademanna was, to them, a part of our technology
and thus a part of the trade-in deal (and because a U.S. Agent couldn't
have an original thought if his life depended on it).
	"As I said, John watched us personally.  He wasn't a bad secret
agent and I'll admit we were fairly treated, except for Mademanna who
he still thought of as just a machine, but still he never really went
out-of-bounds.  But it was obvious he had his plans on his mind even
then.  Every move he made with Frog was an attempt to train him to be
a soldier, every time he talked to Mademanna, he asked her stuff like
what kind of CPU she ran on, how her fuel systems worked, the exact
source code that allowed human thinking...
	"But when it came to me though, he was really messed up."
	"Meaning?"
	"... Well, okay, he did get me to use my mental capabilities, but
mostly he asked me if I could figure out... let's say hand signals and
gestures.  Simply put, he was interested in me as more than just a
genius."  Fortunately, Nowhere Man, already confused enough, did not
push for an explanation.  "Anyway, one day I got tired of it, and told
him quite blatantly that if he did not stop, I was going to kill him.
Well, he pretended not to take me seriously, but I know he must've,
because he *did* stop.  Since he was no longer toying with me every
second of the day, I had time to formulate an escape plan--"
	"Just a question," Nowhere Man asked, "And I don't know why I'm
asking this, but did John's doing whatever he did have anything to do
with your hating guys and the United States?"
	"--Umm, no and no.  Girls naturally have a superiority complex
when comparing themselves to boys.  You've heard the old jumprope rhyme
about how 'boys go to Jupiter to get even stupider' right?"
	"I think so."
	"Well, not every girl who says that has been manhandled by a
government agent at some point in her life.  And anyway, I don't hate
the United States government, I just hate government, period."
	"All right.  Continue."
	"So anyway, I formed a brilliant escape plan--so you've heard.
Well, what I did was I played along with Mevos plan, encouraging Frog
and Mademanna to do what I was doing and constantly demonstrate the
skills we had in whatever Mevos was interested in.  We pretended to
fear and respect all of them any time they entered the room to keep
up appearances.  Finally though, I made an intentionally offhand
remark about the possibilities of using Mademanna as a blueprint for
a line of robot soldiers.  He heard me, and asked me about it, and I
said that her computer brain allowed her to aim so well that she could
hit a target over fifty feet away and never miss.  Of course, the moron
still thought she was only a machine, so he set up a target range in
the basement of the house, and handed her a gun, in fact *his* gun.
	"Then she demonstrated her *real* usefulness by throwing the gun
to where I was waiting, right next to one of the secret agents.  When
I caught it, I immediately turned and shot out his leg, and he fell
over.  Frog, who had also been nearby, also acquired himself a weapon
while I took care of the other secret agent.
	"Sovem was another matter altogether.  I didn't want to kill him,
because after all, I said I would only if he continued manhandling me.
So instead, I told Frog and Mad to go outside and wait for me, while I
made Sovem walk upstairs.  See, he was required to check in with his
headquarters every six hours to make sure everything was going alright,
and it was almost the right hour.  So I told him to make the phone call.
He had a gun at his back so he couldn't refuse.  I also coerced him to
add that something had come up and he may be out of contact for awhile.
After that, I made sure he didn't have any James Bond stuff on him by
forcing him to remove all his clothing.  Then, in an upstairs room, I
found a large window which allowed a lot of sunlight in during the
afternoon.  I forced him to lay down in the sunbeams, and with a length
of rope I had found in another room, left him tied and gagged.  I then
used some solid objects to bust the window, then left while he layed
there in the sunbeam."
	"Why?  What's a sunbeam gonna do?"
	"Give him sunburn, for one thing.  UV rays emitted by the sun can
also give you a version of a disease called Cancer.  Basically I was
hoping he would die.  From heatstroke, from UV Radiation, from starvation,
I didn't care."
	"My god, you're a mean little #$%@& aren't you?"
	She wondered when someone was going to say that, and someone finally
doing so caused her to laugh, which Nowhere Man found somehow pleasing.
Finally Pennywinkel added "I am not a nice girl to kidnappers."
	Nowhere Man smiled, almost laughed, and asked "So what happened
then?"
	"Then we went home, told our dads what happened--course we
simplified the story a bit--but whatever the case, my dad at least was
worked up, and both knew they now had to finish the PortalMaster Project
as soon as possible.  After that I dunno.  I just know that when we
started transversing--transporting between universes--our dads were
supposed to follow us, but never did.  Since Mevos is here, I think we
can guess what happened."
	Nowhere Man didn't even bother to guess.  He *knew*.  He also
knew he had a question.
	"Okay, one last thing and it does not have anything to do with
your story.  Now, don't get the wrong idea, but... for as long as we've
been out, I've been getting these strange feelings and they cause me
to react to you somehow."
	Pennywinkel giggled again, and answered "I've noticed," putting
her own hand on the hand at the end of the arm that had been wrapped
around her.
	"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even know--"
	"Course you didn't.  Hmmm... let's duck into this alley here."
	Actually, she kinda pulled him into the alley, where they stood and
faced each other, and Pennywinkel ordered "Kiss me, you fool."
	Suddenly but with no reaction from Pennywinkel, there was movement
in the back of the alley, and some bemohawked thugs stood up, one of
them mockingly stating "yea baby, we wants a kiss two!"  and puckering
his lips.
	At this, Pennywinkel turned, putting fingers together as if about
to flick something, and said "Back off, creeps."  With that, she
completed a flicking motion, sending laser beams towards the two not-
quite-assailants, knocking them both down.  After sending more beams
all throughout the alley to make sure there weren't more, she turned
back to Nowhere Man.
	"Wow," he wowwed.
	"My magic powers are a byproduct of portal travel, and they've
been growing since I first got them.  Science and technology cause
more problems, but with this, I could do more for the greater good
in one hour than the Rescue Rangers could do in an entire day.  But
for now..."
	Since she was smaller than him, her feet had to be off the ground,
but finally, the two did get around to kissing, and Nowhere Man began
to seriously feel that maybe there was some hope for the world...

	Meanwhile at West Wenson, Po and Nor had just got done having the
best funeral ceremony they could, prayers and all, for their friend
and brother Day.  As they could not find a real coffin, they instead
had to entomb his remains in an unused refridgerator which they had
found in the alley.  A flower was stuck in the handle.  Having nowhere
to bury him, the next best thing was to keep his body in an unused part
of the building--and as only four (now three) people used this building
as a hideout, they could take their pick.
	And now that that was done, both the boys got up.  "What now?"
Nor asked.
	Po answered, with a sour note in his voice and a personal fire in
his eyes, "Now we find that girl and demand payback.  It's going to be
an eye for an eye."
	With that, he left the room and began making plans.


CHAPTER FIFTEEN  Questions and Answers


	After awhile, Mademanna had sauntered back into the room, joining
Dale for a monster movie, though barely paying attention to it (actually,
it was an evil robot movie, which probably had something to do with her
not really caring for it).  Having no better idea, she snuggled up and
asked "Dale?"
	"Yes?"
	"Why is everyone mad at Miss Pennywinkel?"
	Dale sighed.  He had hoped he'd be able to keep that off his mind.
So he answered "I'm not."
	"Well, everyone else..."
	"Frog isn't."
	"Well..."
	"Nowhere Man isn't."
	"Where is he, anyway?"  Mademanna suddenly wondered.
	"I think him and Pennywinkel went somewhere."
	Mademanna sighed, "Probably back to the bookstore.  She likes to
shop there."
	"Or to a fancy restaurant," Dale mused.
	"Why would they wanna do that when it's Monty's turn to cook?"
Mademanna naively asked.  Course, she wasn't really that ignorant, but
she hadn't caught the inference of Dale's musing.
	"Never mind," Dale said, patting her on the head, "You'll understand
someday."
	She caught the patting hand and held it in place.  While doing so,
she asked "Hey, shouldn't we be out capturing the bad guys while Mevos
is away?"
	"Good question!"  Dale stood up, "I shoulda asked Chip that.  I'll
go find him, there's only so many rooms in this place he could be."

      As Dale left the room,        ][      Leaving the room, Dale went
Mademanna resumed her questioning   ][ to look for Chip.  After having
as she got up to go into Gadget's   ][ looked in a bunch of rooms, finally
nearby workshop.                    ][ he came to where Chip actually was.
      Gadget looked up as the robot ][      "Hey Chip!" he began.
robot child walked in.  "Oh, Hi     ][      "Don't bother me right now,
Mademanna.  Is something wrong?"    ][ Dale.  I've got to finish making
      "No, I was just wondering     ][ up a proper sentence for
something.  Why is everyone mad at  ][ Pennywinkel."
Miss Pennywinkel?  And why aren't   ][      "Oh?  did ya forget the proper
we out trying to catch the bad guys ][ noun?"  he joked.
right now?"                         ][      "Very funny.  In any case,
      While Gadget had the time she ][ I want to see her back in her room
had not the inclination to answer   ][ in thirty minutes.  In the meantime
the child's first question, after   ][ I want you to make sure she does
all how do you tell a little girl   ][ not leave the house!"
that her big sister is a killer?    ][      "Too late for that, Chip."
So instead she skipped right to the ][      "Whaddya mean?""
second question, saying "Well,      ][      "She went somewhere with
we're making use of Mevos' downtime ][ Nowhere Man a couple of minutes
in other, more inventive ways.  For ][ ago."
example, right now I am working on  ][      "Drat!"  Chip said, standing
a series of new inventions that I   ][ erect.  He turned to Dale, and
hope will aid us in his capture.    ][ said "A few minutes?  Well, she
This here, for example."  She       ][ couldn't have gotten far then.
pulled out what looked like a Jack- ][ We'll find her.  You go fetch
in-the-Box, "This, once I get it    ][ Zipper."
fixed up, should allow us to dis-   ][      "Okay," Dale almost complied,
rupt Mevos' magic.  What it does is ][ but suddenly he remembered why
that it takes energy, and pulls it  ][ he had come here in the first place,
into itself, then sends it back out ][ "Oh, before I do that Chip,
in a continuous wave.  This makes   ][ Mademanna wanted to know why we
that energy to chaotic to be        ][ weren't out catchin' bad guys like
harnessed.  Magic uses energy, just ][ Rescue Rangers are supposed to be
like electronics.  Of course, that  ][ doin'."
also means that, if it's too power- ][      Chip looked at Dale with
ful, the surround area might suffer ][ confidence and thoughtfulness, and
a blackout.  It also means that you ][ a hint of sarcasm.
are strictly staying at home when   ][      "The reason," he stated, "Is
we go to confront Mevos."           ][ actually threefold.
      "Why?"                        ][      "First, we tried just going
      "You run on electricity,      ][ for the badguys, remember?  All
right?  And electricity is a raw    ][ it took was me and Pennywinkel,
form of energy.  If you were in the ][ and you know how *that* turned
range of this thing when it goes    ][ out.  Besides that, those boys
off, you'd be shut down, and I'm    ][ were pathetically weak.  There is
not sure if it would actually       ][ no real reason to waste time on
damage your circuitry, either.      ][ them.
Even then, it could cause you to    ][      "That leads me into the second
lose the entirety of your power     ][ reason, that being that Pennywinkel
cache, and we don't know how to     ][ has probably already thought of
refill it."                         ][ that and is out eliminating them
      "I see."  Mademanna admitted. ][ right now.
With that, she left the room, and   ][      "Finally, me and Gadget are
went back to her own.  In there,    ][ preparing ourselves for Mevos'
she layed down on her bunk, the     ][ eventually return.  Even now our
bottom one.  Thinking it over, it   ][ beloved mouse inventor is working
all seemed so ironic that she had   ][ on a bunch of new contraptions
just gotten over one obstacle, only ][ which should, used properly,
to continue being left out of the   ][ render Mevos' powers ineffective,
fight by something Gadget had       ][ making him easy pickings for us.
invented.  If it wasn't her being   ][ At the same time, I've got a
a child, it was her being a robot   ][ meticulous plan ready for his
that got in the way.  If only she   ][ return.
had some means of protection.       ][      "But that's later.  Right now
      Until then, though...         ][ we must find Pennywinkel!"


CHAPTER SIXTEEN  The Search is On!


	Chip, having heard that Pennywinkel had left the house, something
he had forgotten to explicitly order against, gathered Dale and Zipper,
and the three went outside.  "Guys," he explained the situation, "Our
friend Pennywinkel is out there somewhere, and we must find her!"
	Zipper shrugged questioningly.  Chip caught this, and explained
"Are you kidding?  After what she did, and with the emotional state
she's in, she's a danger to the community!  Even if she's simmered down
enough to think rationally, there's the possibility that the victim's
friends will be after her, and we don't know if Mevos is back or not."
Chip then happened to look up, and saw that the sky was darkening.
"It's almost night," he stated, "All the crazies are about to come out.
We've gotta work fast!  We'll take the Ranger Plane."
	"Umm, why not the Wing?"  Dale wondered.  "It's faster."
	"Because Gadget might need that in case she decides to go to the
junkyard for spare parts, which she'll need to finish some of her new
contraptions."
	Dale may not be a great detective, but as he climbed into the
old and outdated Ranger Plane, he had noted that Chip seemed to consider
a new invention more important than the safety of a twelve-year-old girl,
and it became clear that the real reason he wanted to catch Pennywinkel
was because he wanted to keep her somewhere where he could keep an eye
on her as opposed to being worried about her safety.  But Dale made no
comment about this, as now was neither the time nor the place to get
into a fight.
	"Zipper," Chip ordered, "You go and patrol the area to that side
of the park," he pointed South, "We're go and patrol the west side.
She couldn't have gone even half a mile with just her feet, so if you
don't find her within thirty minutes, come back to the Ranger
Headquarters.  If you find her, try to convince her to return home.  If
she won't or she becomes violent, leave her be and report to me."
	Zipper saluted an understanding, and buzzed off.

	Then there was Po, and he was still mad.  And he was not totally
unable to carry out his ambition of vengeance, either, as Mevos had
been smart enough to, in the instance of him getting seperated from his
friends for a long period of time (such as right now), left them a
stash of weapons with which they could protect themselves--or launch
their own offensive.  Mevos had disallowed the use of these in his
presence, being a conservationist and believing his own powers more
than made up for it.
	Out of the secret stash, Po pulled:  A double-barrelled shotgun,
a bazooka missile launcher, and a short sword. These last two he told
Nor to hold, though not to use.  Po did not feel as strongly about Nor
as he did about Day, he in fact felt that Nor was more often than not
just dead weight who's only real feature was his massive bulk and
subsequent strength, or in this case, as a waiter.  Nor could very well
die on this mission and Po would not think twice of it.  His relationship
with Nor, to say the least, was not what his relationship with Day had
been.  He wasn't really sure Nor had the capacity for being anything
more than a tool, and perhaps he was right.
	"Come on, Nor," he said, "It's time to go all out."

	Chip and Dale were looking down, and having trouble really seeing
anything that even barely resembled Pennywinkel.  "Where could she have
gone to?"  Chip wondered aloud, "I just hope she's not out causing
trouble."
	"Impossible.  She may be a little crazy, but she's not stupid."
	"What makes you so sure?!"  Chip virtually demanded.
	"I actually *know* her.  You think I'm the only one who stays up
at night and watches Monster Movies?"
	"So, you're taking her side."  Chip sighed.
	"I'm not taking anybody's side!  I just think you're not aware
of all the facts when it comes to this case."
	"What facts?  Her story was that he kissed her, so she killed him.
So we've got a case of murder with a weak motive.  Furthermore it
suggests that she's got a temper as volatile as a stack of dynomite--"
	"Did you ever think that she might be *lying*?"
	That suggestion caught Chip totally off guard, as indicated when
he responded "What?"
	"Think about it:  She came from a world where law and order had
been so twisted that they were just not good things.  Then she ended
up coming here.  She's not going to adapt overnight.  Not after having
been hunted by the Government itself."
	"Wait, hold on, am I missing something here?"
	So Dale sighed, and recounted to Chip some of the stories about
life in her world that she had told Dale on many of their sleepless
nights, though he kind of generalized the story a bit and did not say
anything about John Sovem (otherwise known as Mevos) instead just
calling them "Spies."
	"So you see," Dale concluded, "She does not see law and order the
same way we do.  Let's not forget she's got magic powers, which to her
probably makes her superior to us, and she's not afraid to use 'em...
you of course remember I was the same way when I was Rubber Bando."
	Chip remembered the superiority part, sure--Dale had even went so
far as to call everyone else his "Comedy Relief."  But Dale had used his
Rubber Bando powers almost solely for the purpose of doing good.  Of
course, however, that's only natural, seeing as to how Dale had already
been a Rescue Ranger for some time before the Rubber Bando incident
(and one of their best friends was a former detective's dog, after all).
	"I don't remember your heroics leading to any unnatural deaths."
Chip defended.
	"My heroics didn't, but it's not like we haven't killed before."
	"Whaddya mean?  We haven't, and--"
	"Yes, we have!"  Dale virtually screamed.  "Or did you totally
forget about what happened when we first discovered the Time Remote?"
	For Chip, the memory came screaming back at him like an embarrasing
photograph in the school yearbook.  "But that..." Chip began to stutter,
stalling until he could think of something.  "But you killed me first!"
Even as he said that, Nowhere Man's words from earlier came back to his
ears:  "You'll feel differently when you're the one holding the knife!"
Chip then added, "For something that hadn't happened yet!"
	"And you killed me in return for something that never happened!"
Dale pointed out.  And it was basically true.  In the instance the two
were discussing, Gadget had used the time remote to see her future, and
eventually came to a point where Chip stepped in her room and proposed
marriage.  Gadget, wanting to know what being married was like, had
accepted.  This had made Dale jealous, and he had killed Chip in the
dead of night.  Gadget had used the remote to rewind time, bringing
Chip back to life, however he had remembered who his murderer was, and
made many attempts to kill a guilt-ridden Dale in return.  Gadget had
tried to stop them, but Chip finally succeeded, and Gadget had to revive
Dale.  In technical terms, neither murder had ever happened (since both
participants were obviously still alive) but in reality they had (and
who says reality ever gets technical?).
	"But... but..."
	"So you see, we're not really any better than Pennywinkel.  She at
least chose to off someone who was a part of a direct threat to her and
her whole family."
	"How?  Was that boy one of those U.S. Secret Agents?"
	"No, but Mevos is."
	And now Chip stopped watching the road, and turned questioningly
towards Dale, who had stopped watching the road a long time ago.  "How
do you know?" he asked.  Dale, too, had heard about John Sovem, and the
kidnapping.  Ironically he heard it just before Mevos showed up.  "Well,
I asked her how 'Sovem' was spelled because I wasn't sure how to pronounce
it--I forgot why I cared--and she said it was spelled S-O-V-E-M.  Now,
spell that backwards.  M-E-V-O-S.  Mevos.  Coincidence?"
	Chip, however, was not going to answer.  Instead, he took one
final glance at the street, and said "We better go back.  Zipper probably
found her anyway."

	Zipper's search had, in fact, gone much more favorably, since he had
been given the right side of town to search on.  As he glanced around, he
happened on the two crazy kids leaving an alley.  Zipper thought it best
not to think about what might've happened there (maybe they just kissed
and killed some thugs?) and instead zoomed to the spot.
	As he neared the two, they were not totally unaware of him, for
he heard Nowhere Man say as he passed by their eyes "Oh, a fly, I'll swat
it..."
	"Wait!"  Pennywinkel stopped him, "That's Zipper."
	Zipper nodded an acknowledgement as he stopped in midair.  Then,
using miming and pantomiming, he tried the best he could to tell
Pennywinkel that she was wanted back at headquarters.
	"What the heck is this little guy saying?"  Nowhere Man wondered
aloud.
	"That we should go back to headquarters."
	Zipper kept prodding, and pleading, and generally made them feel
like a piece of meat, but Pennywinkel just stood there resolute, not
wanting to give in to the demands of a fly.  Finally, she told him
"We're not going to come back just because Chip wants us to.  Come back
when you have a *real* reason."
	Zipper, now thoroughly enraged, decided to do just that.

	As Chip and Dale were nearing the Headquarters, they spotted someone
climbing up the side of the tree, a small figure, and a bigger figure
armed with what seemed to be a shotgun and some sort of rocket launcher.
"This looks like trouble," Chip commented, bringing the Ranger Plane
in for a landing.  After the thing was fully stopped, the two chipmunks
an inside, and hastily called out "Intruders on the premises, and they're
armed!  Hide!"
	With that, everyone dropped what they were doing and hid, hoping
to be able to catch their armed adversaries with a surprise defensive
manuever.
	Finally, Po and Nor came in the door.  Po was now holding the
shotgun (which he had decided to take into his holding when they got on
the landing pad) and pointing, ready for blood.  But he was dismayed to
find that there was no one in immediate sight, but it was just as well.
He probably (he thought) would've done something impulsive, like waste
a bullet on one of the lesser beings who inhabited this tree.  He was
saving all his ammunition for Pennywinkel.
	Nevertheless, he took the Bazooka from Nor, and, aiming it generally
inside the house, said "Okay, you all come out.  I've got a bazooka and
if you don't come out, I'm going to blow things up!" that almost would've
sounded funny, except that it was a potential truth.  Still, the Rangers
(as well as Frog and Mademanna) kept hiding.  After all, this could be
a bluff.

	Zipper, outside, was just returning, when he saw the figures of
Nor and Po in the doorway.  From where he was, he could see Po carrying
what looked like a Bazooka.  "Uh Oh" he thought to himself, and immediately
the heroic little fly began to rush to the rescue.
	But then he stopped, and thought, and had a better idea!  If these
guys had the others cornered (as what seemed to be the case here) then
he must find Pennywinkel!  Only she would be able to get them out of
this fix (well, maybe not only she, but she'd help).
	So, Zipper zoomed back to where she had last been sighted.

	Pennywinkel and Nowhere Man, yet again, had begun walking down the
road, when Zipper the fly again whizzed like an excited Tinkerbell right
in front of their faces.  He stopped in front of Pennywinkel's, and
behaved very erratically.
	"Calm down little guy!"  Nowhere Man stated, but then he saw the
worried look on Pennywinkel's face.  "Something's wrong, right?"
	Without answering, Pennywinkel turned and began running back to
the Ranger HQ, Nowhere Man in close pursuit.


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  Chaos Battle


	Pennywinkel's arrival would not be for a few moments, however, in
which time more than enough damage had already been done.  Po, not
wanting to waste his one and only rocket, instead elected to waste one
of his bullets.  Turning his gun, he shot at the sofa.  The bullet went
right through it, and just barely missed a hiding Monty.  However Po
did hear a sigh of relief.
	"You better come out."  He threatened, "Next time, I won't miss."
He actually hoped he would not have to waste another bullet on this
insignifigant drivel.
	His hopes were met as he heard Monty say "I think we better do as
he says, lads." as he stood, hands up.  Gadget, hiding near the far arm
of the sofa, also came up.  Frog and Mademanna, who had been in the
kitchen, also came out.  The only ones who did not come out were Chip
and Dale, who were behind the open door.
	"Someone's missing..." Po mused.  "Where's that girl?"
	Guessing correctly that Po meant Pennywinkel, Monty answered, "She
stepped out and didn't say when she was comin' back."
	"Ah well," Po replied.  "She won't mind if we wait here for her."
He, without looking, gave the Bazooka back to Nor, telling him to hold
it.  Nor grabebd it, however he had tried to sling it over his own
shoulder, and ended up throwing it over the landing pad.  First an
"Oops" from Nor, then a distant explosion, told him the whole story.
Po fumed, but immediately controlled his anger.  "No matter," he said
aloud, "This little doozy will work just fine on her."
	While he was saying that, Chip was activating his trump card.
Looking at his electronic wristband, he pressed a button on it, and
hoped against hope that the situation did not blow up in his face, all
the while cursing Pennywinkel for having caused this in the first place.
Having his plans all set, he decided to make a more drastic move.
Jumping from behind the doorway, he elbowed Po while Dale hastily slammed
the door in Nor's face.
	"What do you think you're doing?"  Po demanded.  Chip did not
answer, however, as he wrestled to free the gun from Po's grasp, and
succeeded only in failing.  Finally freeing himself from the attacking
chipmunk, Po whacked him with the butt of his shotgun, sending him
falling to the floor, off-balance.
	Just as Po was readjusting himself, however, the front door
reopened, and in rushed Pennywinkel and Nowhere Man (Zipper stayed
outside).  Po aimed, and said "Stay right where you are!"
	With that, Pennywinkel turned and replied "What're ya going to do,
make me?"
	Po wasn't answering, he was getting ready to fire.  Just then,
Gadget seemed to remember something, and started to make her way across
the room.
	Chip chose this inopportune moment to get up and try again.  He
knocked Po down, but his sudden attack caused Po's fingers to
unintentionally pull the trigger.  As this was a double-barrelled shotgun,
two bullets rang out, each headed in the general area that the unfortunate
Gadget was about to be standing in.  The impact was made, and everyone
looked onwards in shock as the mouse inventor fell limply.
	But Pennywinkel had foreseen this, and acted fast.  Raising her
arms, she gathered a large grouping of energy, with which she commanded
the word of power:
	"Chaos Magic!"
	And suddenly, everything went truly bizarre, as is wont to happen
when this particular spell is induced.  Suddenly Frog heard two voices,
both of which sounded like males trying their darndest to sound like
females.  He looked, and found two demonic-looking men, dressed as
women, standing around him.  And their form of chatter was not very
comforting.  After a second, one of them noticed Mademanna, and said
"You don't mean to say you'd rather hang out with a girl instead of
*us*, do you?"
	Meanwhile Monty was experiencing his own personal nightmare.  Having
been given a piece of cheese, he began to devour it... only to discover
that it tasted just like gunpowder.  He tried to resist a second slice,
but this time could not overcome, and ended up trying his best not to
taste the gunpowder.
	Chip, however, actually experienced something wonderful.  In this
chaotic state, he was seeing the world as a bright, colorful place, like
a typical episode of Rainbow Brite.  Suddenly, all the villains seemed
to be silly people who could be defeated just by being looked at funny.
Gadget, in this vision, was of course still very much alive and well,
and probably had never even known shotguns existed, as he and her lived
a peaceful existence in Strawberry fields.
	Meanwhile Dale was in a foreign land, and just happened to dodge
a dragon in time.  He managed to run into a little fellow, who also ran
into him, and started talking.  "Oh, hello!" he offered a hand, "My
name is Tasslehoff Burrfoot, and I'm here fighting dragons.  Oh, you
don't know how to fight dragons, do you?  I've faught plenty of dragons,
and brought many down single-handedly.  See this?"  He pulled out what
looked like a plain, ordinary number two pencil, "They always brag about
those blasted Dragonlances, but *this* is the real power!  With *this*,
you can create or destroy anything you can think of!"
	Zipper, fortunately, was outside the range of the spell, so he
did not experience anything.
	However, the same could not be said of innocent Mademanna, who
happened to look down at her feet.  At which, she saw a cute, adorable
little kitten.  Not bothering to think twice (if it's in the Ranger
HQ and is at her feet, it's one small kitten) she picked it up, exclaiming
"Awww, what a cute kitty!" and hugged it, gently.  Suddenly, she heard
maniacal laughter, and looked up to see the one face she only recently
wanted to see again:  Max Alpha.  Max pointed, and claimed "I want that
kitten!"  Mademanna, however, set the kitten down, smiling, and told it
to run off.  This she had been waiting for, the opportunity to show
her former oppressor that she was no longer weak and defenseless.  With
that, she threw a punch that sent him flying into another galaxy!
	For those who are wondering, all of these are illusions.  All,
that is, except for the demons haunting Frog, and what was happening
to Po (in his case, the shotgun was claiming he had murdered his brother,
the Bazooka, and was wrapping around his leg like a snake) and finally,
what happened to Gadget.  For Gadget, in the process of falling, fell
into some blue vortex.  As soon as she entered it, however, she seemed
to shoot back out of it, and none the worse for wear, in fact somehow
better.
	All this, despite how long it seemed like, actually only took the
space of a few seconds to accomplish, and upon normality returning,
everyone was confused all over again.  Pennywinkel had, fortunately,
done absolutely nothing in response to whatever she had experienced,
and thus was able to get her bearings first, Gadget second.  As they
did so, they heard Po, on the floor, screaming "Get it off!  Somebody
please get it off!"
	"Here, let me," Gadget said, coming over to inspect the situation.
It seemed to be that the shotgun, while it had returned to it's normal,
lifeless self, was still coiled like a snake around Po's leg.  Using
two fingers on her right arm, she snapped it into little pieces.  If
Po was afraid of that he was even more afraid of Gadget's strength, and
everyone else who had at least witnessed this act (except Pennywinkel)
was put off by it.  Unfortunately, only Pennywinkel, Monty (who had
gotten out of his illusion first due to it being a total nightmare for
him) and Zipper had noticed.  "Gadget-luv!"  He exclaimed, "How did you
become so strong?"
	"Oh," Gadget turned towards Monty, and said "A sweet old man used
cybernetics to save my life.  Isn't it wonderful?  Gee, I wonder what
sorts of modifications I could make to myself..."  with that thought in
mind, she went to her workshop, seeming to totally forget the events of
the day.
	"Well, ain't that somethin'?"  Monty mused.  Then he looked at
Chip, who was just staring onward as if there was a really blissful
sight in front of him.  "Uhhh... Chip-me-lad?"
	Chip did not hear him.
	Po, getting over his own shocks, decided first thing to get up and
leave this crazy place.
	"Pennywinkel," Monty asked, "What did you *do*?"
	"Made a desperate attempt to save Gadget's life."  She replied,
"It's really dangerous, but a magic-user can use a technique that
requires summoning up a lot of magical power to one spot, and just
letting it run loose.  It's called 'Chaos Magic' and while it's results
are unpredictable, there is no other way I know of to revive the dead."
	"Revive the dead?!"  Monty said with a hint of rage.  "You mean
Gadget was dead?"
	"She took two full shotgun shells, she could not have lived."
	"AND YOU REVIVED HER?!"  Monty was and had always been against
magic, and had only let it slip with Frog and Pennywinkel because they
were, for the most part, good kids.  However, like many believers in
sorcery, he regarded reviving the dead as the ultimate wrong, strictly
taboo.  "YA FOOL GIRL!  YA DON'T REVIVE THE DEAD!  THAT'S JUST--"
	"Oh, so it's okay to revive them using a remote control but not
with magic?"  Pennywinkel counter-argued.  "In any case, I didn't revive
her, whoever was on the other side of that portal did and he was very
obviously a scientist!"
	Monty calmed down and backed off, and sighed.  "Well, I guess
if Gadget didn't mind, then it's okay.  Sorry 'bout that Pennywinkel."
	At the same time, Pennywinkel assumed a more happy, chipper mood.
"All is forgiven, Monterey!"  Then she looked at the floor, where Nowhere
Man seemed to be deep in some sort of thought.  "Nowhere Man?" she asked.
	"Uhhh... I think I choose to remain here."  Nowhere Man answered.
	"What?"
	"Pennywinkel!"  He said, looking up, "Thank goodness!  Okay,
I finally got it, I finally got my wish!  I actually died!  It was so
great at first, I thought, but then I was just in some sort of hallway,
and on one side, there were these beautiful things in colors I didn't
even know existed, and to the left of me was some strange, mist-filled
place that was equally attractive, and they asked me to choose which
one I wanted to go to..."
	"And?"  Both Monty and Pennywinkel asked.
	"... I chose neither.  I wanted to stay here, with you guys."
	Just before they were congradulating him on making the absolute
right decision, they heard Mademanna stomp in frustration.  "Drat!"
she said, "So that wasn't *really* Max Alpha I beat up!"  As they were
looking, they saw the two demons who were still pestering Frog as he
stood there, not knowing what to do.  Mademanna, still frustrated, decided
to beat up the two demons in compensation.  Being unable to take the
beatings as dished out by a little girl, the two disappeared and left.
Pennywinkel, seeing the door was open, decided to close it.

	Right outside, after having bolted, Po ran and, leaving the door,
tripped immediately over his floored brother Nor.  Immediately he got up,
asking "Nor, why are you sleeping?"
	"Ummmm..."
	However, the fall had been just the thing Po had needed.  "It
doesn't matter.  Suffice to say, we didn't win.  We didn't even get
any sort of compensation for our failure."
	"Can we go home now?"
	"No!"  Po stood, "we are not going home defeated!  Ah,"  Po just
happened to find the sword they had brought with them to the raid.
"This won't kill that girl, but we can still find some use for it that'll
help us accomplish that purpose, I'm sure."

	!AUTHOR'S NOTE!:  For the complete story on what really happened
to Gadget, read my Mega Man fanfic "Mouse of Two Worlds" which is (or
will eventually be) available on the Mega Man section of my site.  It's
not absolutely essential, but you may enjoy it anyway.


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  The Rest of the Day


	Anyone who was still thinking clearly did really not understand
the rest of the day at all.  First of all was Dale.  No one could
fathom why he had developed a sudden interest in Number Two pencils.
An example:
	"Hey Gadget," he had said, going into Gadget's workshop where she
was tinkering with her own now-cybernetic hand, "Could you, umm... I need
a pencil."
	"Sure," She handed him one she sometimes used as a harpoon dart.
"Will this do?"
	Unfortunately, it would not, for Dale wanted one he could carry
around with him.  He explained as much to Gadget.
	"Oh," she ohed.  "Hmm... Well, I suppose I could do something."
	"Nah, I've got a better idea."  Dale said, leaving the room
hastily.  Only a moment afterwards did Gadget acknowledge it with
"Ooo-kaayyyy..."
	Dale himself had run to the kitchen, where Frog and Mademanna were
helping Monterey cook (seems like he's been cooking all day, but that's
only because constant attacks and other assorted happenings kept messing
up his complex recipe which required just the right timing, and thus he
always had to start over).  Passing by, he barely placed a glace towards
the sofa.

      In said sofa, Pennywinkel and ][	Making his way to the kitchen,
Nowhere Man were toying with a      ][ Dale found Frog where, well, where
dazed Chip, who was still stuck in  ][ I said he was!  And proceeded to
his perfect bliss.                  ][ ask "Hey, Frog, ya wanna join me
      "So, Chip," Pennywinkel       ][ on an exciting, insightful mission
asked, "You don't mind me killing   ][ full of danger and intrique?"
anyone, at all?"                    ][	"Yea."
      "Nah.  They probably enjoy it ][	"Well, that's not what I'm about
anyhow."  Yes, Chip was really      ][ to go on, but still I need somethin
*that* out of it.  "If only they    ][ from you before I decide to do it."
could see this..."                  ][	"What?"
      "Oh, and what about Dale and  ][	"Can I borrow yer Resize
his comic books?"                   ][ Medallion?"
      "Comic books are great!  I    ][	"Oh, sure."  Frog quickly took
sure wish I had read some instead   ][ it off and tossed it onto the table,
of wasting away being so dull and   ][ quickly getting back to the cooking.
serious.  But I'm over that..."     ][ Dale began to pick up the shiny
      "So, who do you like better," ][ thing as he looked around.
Pennywinkel nudged up against him,  ][ Mademanna, of course, was still mad
"Me or Gadget?"                     ][ as possible, and she seemed to cook
      "Nice try, but there's only   ][ with extra passion, as if the food
one mouse for me."  Since           ][ were her mortal enemy.  Fortunately,
Pennywinkel was not a mouse, there  ][ she was beating some eggs, so it
was only one person he could be     ][ wasn't like it was a bad thing.
referring to.  "You're too young.   ][	Putting the medallion around
In fact, I could almost treat you   ][ his own neck, Dale decided to leave
like a daughter.  In fact, I think  ][ the room.  Quickly he zipped by
I'll do that right now.  Have you   ][ the den, again neither noticed nor
done you're homework?"              ][ noticing the sofa, and went outside,
      "Wait a minute!"  Nowhere Man ][ where he deftly ignored and was
suddenly pointed out, "What about   ][ ignored by the two Endos.
Mevos?  You know he won't be gone   ][	"Hey guys!"  He said, "I'm off
forever!"                           ][ to get me a number two pencil!"
      "Ha!"  Chip stood heroically, ][	"That's great, by the way would
"Mevos couldn't stand a chance      ][ you mind being a hostage?"
against me and the Pawser Tank now! ][	"Nah, being a hostage isn't my
I'd beat him with one hand tied     ][ thing.  I prefer to rescue people,
behind my back!  Heck, I almost     ][ especially girls.  Oh, and don't
eradicated him last time."          ][ ask Mademanna unless you want a
      Neither Nowhere Man nor       ][ visit from the tooth fairy.  Well,
Pennywinkel could think of anymore  ][ gotta run!"  and with that, Dale
to say, so they just clapped.       ][ scurried down the tree.

	Oddly, the only people (besides Nowhere Man) still worried about
Mevos were Gadget and Zipper, who were in Gadget's workshop (even if
Dale didn't notice Zipper), working on adding something to Gadget's
arm (well, Gadget was.  Zipper was just sitting there waiting for
something to happen).  "There," Gadget finally said, "It's finished."
	Zipper flew over to look around, but saw nothing.  He shrugged.
	"Oh, this!"  Gadget pointed her harm.  Suddenly, her entire
cyborg hand flew right off, and into a wall.  Zipper stared on with
horrified fascination, until finally he saw that her hand (which, being
cyborg, did *not* leave a mess lying around) was still attached to her
wrist via some sort of wire.  "I've got it rigged up," Gadget explained,
"So I can operate it with some controls on my side, where that man had
to repair me.  See, when I was there I was a real mess,  at least half
of me was totally missing, so I needed a *lot* of cybernetics to be
brought back the way I am.  I forgot wether I thanked him or not. I think
I left him a note.  Would've had to, actually, since he didn't understand
me.  Oh yea," the little train in Gadget's head finally built itself the
right track, "That reminds me, I'm trying to make grappling hooks for
everyone.  But I can't see well enough to make one your size, Zipper."
	Zipper, however, nodded a negative, indicating he did not want one,
and pointed out that he could just fly.
	"Yea, but I thought your wings might get tired at times..."
	He shrugged, and flew around in a horizontal figure eight (otherwise
known as the symbol for infinity).
	"Well, if you say so.  Ya know, it's a wonder that no one else got
any sort of power or something from Pennywinkel's spell.  I mean, you'd
imagine it would be a benefit to everyone, not just me.  Granted maybe
she casted it with me in mind, so it did something for me and not for
everyone else... but that can't be right because Chip is, well, acting
up... well, okay, not acting up, but not acting up in a good way.  I
mean, he's acting funny.  Well, I guess strange would be the better word
for it.  Actually, I better check on Chip."
	And so, she stood, and began walking towards her workshop door,
which she opened, went through, and closed (Zipper had gotten through
right before she closed it),  Then she went over and asked "Hey Chip!"
	"Hello Gadget," Chip stared at her with that blissful look that,
when directed at her specifically, made her feel uneasy.  It was as if
he were paying her some special kind of attention, and that made her
uncomfortable.
	So, she answered "Ummm... I just... wondered how you were...
holding up... yea... bye!"  She quickly ran back into her workshop.
	"Talk to ya later, Gadget," Chip said, waving.
	"Chip has officially lost it," Pennywinkel commented.  Chip,
however, heard this.
	"Yes, I have.  I have lost my heart to that mouse."
	"Oh boy," Zipper squeaked.
	Suddenly Dale came back in, holding a pencil.  "Yippee!"  he
cheered, "I have found a pencil!"
	"I'm so proud of you, Dale," Chip praised.
	"Oh Boy" went everyone else buy Dale, who said "Thanks, Chip!  It
was easy to get.  All I did was use Frog's Resize Medallion to make myself
human size, picked up a pencil--a good one of which I found just lying
around in a trash basket--and then shrunk back into being chipmunk-size."
	"How clever of you," Pennywinkel mumbled.
	"Yes, that was clever!" Chip agreed, not knowing Pennywinkel wasn't
serious.
	"Thank you, Chip," he said, bowing, "And you too, Pennywinkel!"
	"Uhhh... you're welcome."
	Dale left the room, happy in his elation, to see if he could
actually *do* anything with this wonderful and unique object he had
searched so long and hard for.  As he left, Chip slumped down in the
sofa, saying "You know, before whatever happened earlier, I would not
have admitted to Dale that he's a better detective than me."
	Now even Pennywinkel was surprised to hear *that* one.  "What
did you just say?"
	"Dale is a better detective than me.  It's true, after all.  He
figured out the truth about Mevos before I did, and it was he that came
up with the hide-behind-the-door plan... And that worked better than
we thought it would!  It's funny, at the time, I was soooo cynical..."
	"Okay, now *I'm* scared," Pennywinkel stood, "Ummm, Nowhere Man,
Let's... go somewhere else.  Okay?"
	"Okay," he stood, "Where?"
	"Ummm... It doesn't matter, let's just go!"
	And like that, they just went.
	"In fact, Dale had a lot of good ideas.  So has Monty.  So has
Gadget.  So has Zipper even.  Hmmm, I guess I'm not the smart guy of the
team after all.  Hey!  That makes me the comedy relief!"  He somehow
decided, "I can be funny.  Yea!  I *am* funny!"  Like that, he tried
to make a funny face, to show how funny he was.  A laugh track went off
on the television.  "Aha!  They think I'm funny!  I guess that's my
official role from now on!  Hmmm, I need to borrow some of Dale's
comic books."  And, like that, Chip went to borrow some of Dale's
comic books.

	Stuff like that went on all day.  It wasn't until immediately after
dinnertime that something seriously started to pick up.
	At the table, Mademanna was still fuming, mumbling all sorts of
things to herself about how she never gets into the action and stuff like
that.  Generally, the little girl was still steamed (*Someone* should've
installed a cooling system!) and really wanted to hurt something, just
to prove she could.  After eating (and having recieved absolutely no
support save from Chip, who didn't count) she waltzed outside, where
she found Po and Nor waiting.
	"Oh, you two," she mumbled.  They didn't seem to notice her.  She
decided to sit down, and seriously thought.
	Meanwhile, Po looked over to where she was, and an idea struck his
mind.  So he walked over to Mademanna, and sat down in front of her.
	"Hey girl."  He opened.
	"Go away.  I'm tired of being kidnapped."
	"Well, that's just fine, because I don't want to kidnap you."
He seriously didn't.  Po may not be the brightest villain in the bunch,
but he knew one thing:  That he would not be able to hold *any* of the
heroes against their will.  Only Mevos, it seemed, could actually do
that, and was probably the only living being brave enough to even try
to capture this group of utter wackos.  There was only one way, he
figured, that one of them would be his prisoner, and that would be
by their own free will.  So who could he trick into being dumb enough
to actually agree to something like that?  He hoped this little girl
would be the thing he needed.  "I do, however, want you to come with
us to our hideout."
	"What do you think I am, an idiot?"  she sneered.
	"Geez I hope so.  I've seen what crazy geniouses are like."  He
stood up.  "In any case, I'm not leaving until--"
	He didn't have time to finish his sentence, for just then
Mademanna lunged at him and wrestled him to the ground.
	Catching his breath, Po commented "Wow, you're pretty good."
	"Really?  I just recently learned I could fight..."
	And *this* gave Po an idea.  "Well, actually kid, ever since your
sister killed my brother, I've been in need of a new training partner,
to keep my fighting skills up.  You seem like you'd be just perfect."
	"Really?"  Mademanna was excited.  Wow, actual training!  THAT'S
a unique concept!
	"Sure!  I only have two simple requests before we go.  The first
one requires you getting off of me."

	The others had just got done eating when suddenly there was a
rap-tap-tapping at their HQ door, and all of them ran to get it.  Standing
there was Po, and behind him Mademanna, being held "against her will"
by Nor.
	"Isn't she cute when she's struggling."  Chip pointed.
	"She's not struggling," Pennywinkel counter-pointed.
	"Ummm, yea, but whatever the case," Po interrupted, "I thought it
fair to inform you that I am taking this youngster hostage.  She is
going to be locked up on a high floor of our hideout at--"
	"West Wenson?"  Pennywinkel completed.  "You know we've been there."
	"Don't remind me!"  Po threatened, "You forget, I have your sister.
Suppose I try to get a more exact version of revenge!"  Regaining his
composure, he added "But being the civilized person I am, I am simply
going to take her back with me, where we will hold her until... until
either she's rescued or we decide to dispose of her.  That will be all...
but please at least wait until tomorrow, because I seriously need sleep."
He glanced at the assembled group, and added "And you guys could use it,
too."
	With that, he turned and said "Come on Nor, let's go." and closed
the door.
	Pennywinkel yawned.  "Well, I think we all need some shuteye."
	"But Pennywinkel!"  Gadget objected, "Mademanna--"
	"Is in no danger.  She wasn't seriously struggling, in case you
didn't notice, and she's strong enough that I figure she could've taken
both of them.  I don't know why, but she's decided to help them out.
In any case, I think we can safely take our time--unless Mevos gets
back, but... it's been eight hours, he would've been back by now."
	"I hope your right, wee lass."  Monty hoped.


TO BE CONTINUED in Dark Millenium, Part Four

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