As with "Tripping Through the Rangerverse" my "Second Season" began to
dawn on me, thus forcing me to revisit my past and work on my present
in order to enter my future. I wasn't going to post either of these
fics, but I somehow felt it would be wrong to let them be lost. I
warn you that "Dumb Frog," being only my second fanfic, is not terribly
high in quality.

The story begins below this line. This is the complete, original text.
Save for some re-formatting, not one word has been changed or omitted
(geez, I sound like I'm releasing some sort of Special Edition DVD!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dumb Frog and the Rescue Rangers

- By 8-Bit Star

Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied with my original
four-part "Tripping Through the Rangerverse" story,
so I started ever from scratch and decided to do
better.

Flames, criticisms, suggestions? E-Mail me: nes_star@hotmail.com

-------

FORWARD TO THE REDONE EPISODE ONE:
Well, finally, someone reviewed my first entry into my
new series, and found tons of problems. While I didn't agree
with all that he said, I ended up noticing most of the same
problems he did.
(Course, if I had, say written drafts or something...)
So I'm correcting my errors before releasing the complete
series to an unsuspecting world which probably doesn't really give
a darn.

Flames, criticisms, suggestions? E-Mail me: nes_star@hotmail.com

-------

EPISODE ONE: .... (Errrr, Actually, this is just called "Episode One")

A girl walked into some small, mildly populated mouse
cafe (No, not the Acorn Cafe or the Ranger Coffeehouse) located
somewhere between one of the roads of the city and the Ranger
Headquarters, and sat down. She had long brown hair and dressed
in a lab coat, though with rather typical clothing underneath.
She also wore velcro shoes.
Some peculiar details about her were her small size, she was
about four and a half feet tall (By mouse incremints, that is), and
therefore had to be a child, and the fact that she looked more like
a mouse-sized human than an actual mouse (which is because that is
exactly what she was), but many of the residents were more interested
in that wooden mallet she carried.
Some of the local roughnecks thought she could use some
pickin' on.
"Hey. babe, you lost? This is our territory, we don't
take kindly to strangers, especially children."
The girl didn't answer.
"Hey," He pointed out, "You ain't even a mouse, are ya?"
She still didn't answer.
"And what's this for?" He grabbed the mallet.
The girl made a growling sound, and said "Put the hammer
down."
"And what if I don't?"
She quickly stepped on the guy's foot, grabbed the hammer
he dropped, and hit him square in the chest with it hard so was
almost out of breath but not hard enough to break his bones or
anything.
The guy's two buddies saw this, and said aloud "I Think this
girl needs to learn some manners!"
The girl wasn't looking at them, and responded "When you find
less corny dialogue, then maybe I'll listen."
She seemed oblivious to the fact that they were right behind
her, ready to pounce. Oblivious, that is, until she picked up the
table--with only her left hand--swung it around, hitting both of them,
and put it back in place in about a second and a half.
Then she turned to the three of them and said "Now, you won't
be trying that again, will you?"
She then stayed, ordered a drink, then left.
One of the roughs managed to live, as did another--one hit by
the table--but only after days of unconsciousness. The last one was
pronounced dead after a three-day coma. Perhaps he was lucky.

The Rescue Rangers were having a field day at Central Park's
water fountain. It was during the hot of summer and today was a
slow crime day. And since it was all bright and beautiful, why not?
Dale came running off the side, and yelled "Cannonball!"
and caused a great big splash big enough to hit all of them, but
only because they were in the water.
Then, suddenly, their fun day of sploshes and splashes was
interrupted by the sound of fighting. They looked around to see where
it was coming from, and found it was coming from the other side of the
fountain's rim.
What they saw was a girl, apparently a kid, and a boy in his
mid-teens wearing a black hat and overcoat with grey fur and blue hair,
battling it out. With weapons even. The girl had a seemingly ordinary
mallet, and the boy had a longsword.
While their weapons constantly clinged, they yelled non-stop
at each other, and finally, the girl, who seemed incredibly upset over
something, kicked the guy square in the stomach and beaned him over the
head with the mallet.
The Rangers ran up there immediately, and Chip asked the girl
"What is going on here?"
Gadget went up to the boy, and asked "Is he all right?"
The girl responded "He isn't dead if that's what you mean, and he
isn't going to die any time soon. Poor moron didn't approve of my ways
of handling myself. Well, tah-tah for now."
"Hey wait!" Chip said, just before the girl jumped off the rim
of the fountain, and disappeared.
"Come on, guys! We have to get him back to Headquarters!" Gadget
said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
They had been waiting for minutes in this one bedroom of the
HQ to see if he would wake back up, when he started acting up, kinda
talking in his sleep. He seemed to be having a heated conversation
with himself.
"You infinite moron! I should pound you into a copper pound!
Well, I should pound you into a penny! I should pound you into a
quarter! Then I should pound you into a quarter pounder with cheese!
I oughtta make you a guinea! I oughtta pound you well into New Guinea!
I oughtta pound you into New Work! Well, how about into New York
Peppermint Patty? Strength of the bear! By everything in the ever
straining thread of life, I oughtta...."
The Rangers, being able to take no more of this, yelled "Wake up!"
in unison.
Suddenly the kid woke up, shook his head, and said "Whoa, where
am I? Gyah ga... Gadget?"
Gadget responded "Have we met?"
The kid stopped, as if he had just realized something, shook
his head some more, and said in a way that sounded forced "That's your
name?" Studdering, he added "I meant that I had some gadgets I carried
with me, and was wondering if they were here... Why do I have all this
fur on me?" The fact that he was a mouse seemed to surprise him.
Monterey responded "Well, lad, mice typically have fur."
The kid seemed to respond, absent-mindedly, "I'm not a mouse,
though."
"Eh, you took a harder blow than we thought. You'll get
straightened out."
Gadget handed him a small backpack containing two devices she
couldn't identify, and said "Are these the things you were wondering
about?"
The kid looked, and said "Why, yes, these are my thingamabobs.
This is Mr. Recorder, and inside him, Mr. Tape. They listen to every
word I say after everyone has gotten sick of me. And this is Mr. Laptop,
who plays games with me. Say hello, everyone!"
He made motions to make it appear like these things were talking,
and, imitating a Mickey Mouse voice, said "Hello, everyone! Good morning,
Dumb Frog!"
The Rangers couldn't be sure wether he was just trying to be
funny or if he really thought these things were talking.
"So, Mr. Laptop, any new evil armies advancing on the galaxy
today?"
"Well, the Spudniks from the fourth planet of the Quantumverse
where everyone is a braindead mathmetician are marching on the third
planet of some other universe and are about to collide with the evil
forces of Lord Xeen and Dr. Wily is building yet another set of robots
which he intends to leave to rust in a bunch of square rooms and--"
"Mr. Frog," Gadget said, grabbed his wrists, "I think you'll
feel better after you get some sleep." Now the Rangers were sure
that he wasn't joking.
"Please, just call me Frog. Anyway I feel pretty fine right
now. A little hyperactive but then I just got beaned in a fight...
Right, Mr. Recorder? Oh, I see, Mr. Recorder is giving me the silent
treatment. Can't see his problem, I told him days ago that I don't
carry breathmints and now he treats me like a bad guy. HAL 9000 here
isn't any different, either."
"Well, we better be going," Gadget said that in an "I'm embarassed
to be talking to this looney" kinda way that Frog didn't seem to catch.
"You just try to get some sleep, okay?"
"Oh, all right." He put Mr. Recorder on a dresser right next to
him, and activated his laptop. The Rescue Rangers, satisfied that they
should leave him alone for now, left.
Outside his room, Chip said "I've never seen anyone who carries
on as much as him!"
"Ah, the little blighter probably just had a hard hit in the
head," Monterey offered up, "He'll be feelin' better later on. Besides,
he is a kid, after all, he's bound to have a big imagination."
"Golly, I wonder if his parents are out looking for him?"
Gadget suddenly thought.
"We'll let him sleep first." Chip ultimately decided. Everyone
knew that if they went back in now, they'd probably be interrupting a
big showdown between Mr. Laptop and Mr. Recorder.
Whatever Dumb Frog did during the night, he awoke at nine o'clock
in the morning, and managed to trip and bump his way around the hall.
Woulda helped if he had actually gotten anywhere but heck, maybe he was
doin' this for fun.
"Need help?" Gadget had come up behind him in the hall and had
noticed he seemed to be having trouble navigating.
"Oh, no, I just need to keep my hand on the wall until I fall
through a doorway or something, then I'll be unconscious, but after all
is said and done I'll continue making my way to the front door and--"
"Let me help. You're blind, aren't you?"
"Not all the time, it's kinda on and off. Sometimes I'm as blind
as a flippin' dingbat, and other times I can see as if the Good Father
lent me his glasses."
He turned, keeping his hand on the wall in the classic "Feel your
way around" method. Suddenly he tripped, and would have fallen face
first on the floor if Gadget hadn't caught him.
"What happened?"
"Oh, it's my left leg, there's a muscle in it that keeps pulling
and pulling and pulling, ya know, like the Energizer Leg--errr, Bunny."
"Golly, does it hurt?"
"Yep, hurts like a some guy with a buick singled it out and ran
over it until the cows came home, and then gave the cows a turn--"
Gadget interrupted, having gotten a little tired of his rambling,
and said "Where did you need to go again?"
"Just outside."
Gadget put his arm around her neck, for support, though the
fact that he actually didn't make any remarks, become shy, or even
seem to think a thing of it gave the indication that he doesn't think
like most boys.
They got there eventually. Frog was an indoors person, but
he had always felt some special, spiritual connection with nature,
and always went outside from time to time, often for no more reason
than to let wind pass through him or to feel the heat or cold, or
to admire the sky, or something like that. He explained this to
Gadget, who was sitting near the Ranger Wing, who didn't really
think much of it after his past behavior.
Chip wandered outside, and said "Oh, there you are, Frog,
we've been looking for you, since you weren't in your room."
"Yes?" Frog wasn't really listening.
"We were going to take you back to your legal guardians, and
need to know where they live."
Frog suddenly stopped staring at the sky, and looked at the
ground. His smile became kinda awkward for a minute, as if he was
having to actually try to keep it up.
"Is something wrong?" Gadget asked.
"No, its just that, I don't have parents."
"Well then," Chip asked, "Do you have any living relatives?"
"I have a sister," Frog sat down, "I'd rather not mention it,
all right?"
The two sat down next to him, and Gadget asked "Did something
happen?"
"I'd rather not mention it, as in let's change the subject."
He was trying to be nice but it was clear he was becoming agitated.
"Your sister--is she the girl from yesterday?" Chip asked.
"Pennywinkel? Yea, that's her."
"Well, in any case, its hot out here, let's go inside." When
Gadget stood up, she thought and said "Can you see now?" She briefly
explained to Chip that he has occasional bursts of blindness.
"Yes, I can see." He got up, turned, and began walking to
the door.
And tripped.
And said "I can also fall to my death but I've gotten used to
that."
The two helped him up.
Pennywinkel was, at the time, busy hatching an evil, complicated
scheme, which no living thing in our universe or theirs could ever
understand.
"And what makes you think we couldn't?" Chip asked when Frog
stated that.
"Well, it's a long story," He checked to make sure the
credits of the movie they were watching were still rolling, since
this would give Frog more time to talk before he got wrapped up in
another film. All the Rescue Rangers were waiting for the rest of
the explanation. He continued "I don't know all the pokes and prods,
but her mind is trained to an advanced way of thinking which allows
her brain to think in more than just the normal three dimensions.
Since we don't know how many dimensions she thinks in, we just call
it 'Multidimensional.' She is probably five times as effective as
any supercomputer, both in terms of pure thought and because she
is almost totally free of the restrictions humans and computers
both have on their calculations, since she is, after all, human.
Sometimes it seems like she outright defies reality."
"Wow! Sounds like she's gonna be tough." Dale commented.
"Actually, Frog, that story sounds about as realistic as
one of Dale's monster stories to me," Gadget replied. She didn't
mention that everyone there knew for a fact that Frog tends to
exagerate details, as proven earlier when they first met him.
"Gadget's right," Chip said, "I'd love to see this new way
of thinking in action."
"So you will," a distinctly feminine voice said.
Frog and the Rangers were all looking around, wondering where
the voice had come from. It had seemed to originate from everywhere
at once, as if they had speakers in every foot of the wall.
"Hey guys! Check out the television!" Dale said.
The picture on the television looked like the inside of a
kaleidoscope.
And what should happen, but that Pennywinkel herself--the same
brown-haired girl from earlier, even down to the exact same clothing--
jumped right out of the television, and landed right behind the sofa.
She turned to Chip, and said "Was that proof enough?"
Chip's immediate response was "All that proves is that you can
do magic, real magic. We've dealt with the supernatural before and its
all old news."
"Well then," Pennywinkel held up a rubber baseball, "Let me use
brainpower then. I calculate that if I hold this ball with this exact
grip, and throw it using these exact arm and hand motions, it will
ricochet between the floor and ceiling until it reaches that side of
the room. The inverted wall will make it bounce over there, in which
instance it will, and then will repeat it's motions in reverse until it
gets to this point, where it will go off-angle, bounce off the television,
and right into Chip's head."
Chip wasn't impressed, and said "Gadget?"
"There is no way her calculations could be so exact."
"Right-o," Monterey said, "That's blinkin' impossible. More
than likely it'll go awkward and end up on the other side of the room."
"Oh really," Pennywinkel rolled her eyes in amused disbelief,
"Watch."
She threw the ball, using that exact grip, those exact arm and
hand motions, and it did exactly what she said it would.
When it got to the part where it went off-angle from the ceiling
and went strait at the television screen, and flew towards Chip, he
dodged to the right.
And got hit in the head.
Pennywinkel went around, picked up her ball, and said "I forgot
to mention that I expected Chip to play clever and attempt a dodge."
Chip rubbed his head, and said "You simply made a lucky guess,
and how did you know my name?"
Pennywinkel rolled her eyes again, and said "So, are you agent
Scully, or agent Mulder on an out-of-character day?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, and furthermore you
still haven't told me how you know my name."
"Fairly simple act of perception. You struck me as someone who
would be named 'Chip' so I assumed that was your name. And he's Dale,
and he's Monterey Jack, and she's Gadget, and that's Zipper, right?"
"Golly! You mean you figured out our names just by looking
at us?" Gadget was trying to figure this out.
"Well, for the chipmunks yes. For the rest of you I took into
account where I was and figured there might be a pattern to your names,
so I Mind Scryed--a trick which enables me to figure out the particulars
of your personality by hearing you talk--and found out that you're an
inventor and that he has an obsession with cheese.
"That and 'Zipper the Fly' is the most cliched pun I've ever
heard."
"Rediculus!" said Chip. "You could have figured out our names
easily. You probably were simply listening from inside the television
when we introduced ourselves to Frog."
Pennywinkel sighed, and said "Well, no use trying to convince
a stubborn little nobody of anything." She started towards the front
door.
"See, Frog?" Chip said, "She's not even a criminal, she's
just a show off."
Pennywinkel stopped at hearing that, and said "Actually, as
of now I'm a murderer."
"Oh, really." Chip wasn't exactly believing her.
"Yep. A local roughneck crossed me. He managed to get out
with only a chest pain. A friend of his wasn't that lucky."
"Suppose I don't believe you?" Chip's tone said he really
didn't.
Pennywinkel produced a mallet, turned, and said "Then suppose
I killed you."
She then zapped a bolt of lightning at him. It was slow enough
that he could dodge, fortunately enough, but that allowed her to come up
close and attempt another strike. Fortunately enough he dodged this too,
managed to grab her arm, and say "All right. Now you're guilty of
aggrivated assault."
"Nope, just assault." She somehow, with just one arm, managed
to flip him over herself and flat on the floor. Then she kicked him
square in the stomach, and walked towards the door again.
Before she left, she added one last line. "That makes it assault
and battery. I hope that's a start." She didn't even bother to open
the door before walking right through it in a ghost-like manner.
"Gosh Chip! Are you okay?" Dale asked.
"I'm fine, Dale. But when I get my hands on her..."
"Whoa, tiger," Frog said, "You've seen what she can do. As you
probably figured, we ain't gonna get that girl just by brute force."
"Frog," Gadget asked, "Why didn't you tell us she could use
magic?"
"It's not magic. It's glittery, glitzy, and full of pizazz, but
it ain't no magic."
"Then what is it?" Monterey asked, "I can't think of another way
to describe it."
"It's just that her thought pattern--"
"Oh give us a break from it!" Chip exclaimed.
"--Her thought pattern allows her to manipulate reality. That's
all it is, twisting reality to whatever end she wants. It just so
happens that she's also fond of theatrics."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Chip exclaimed.
"He's right, lad," Monterey confirmed, "If she can mess up reality,
why don't she just manipulate it to put everything in her favor, or to
make it so she's already done whatever she's out to do?"
Frog put a hand to his head in that "Lost in thought" pose, and
said "She probably wants to toy with us for awhile. She likes to play
around and just changing things to her advantage would, for her, take
the fun out of it. There's no fun if you know you can't lose."
"Well, no matter what the case may be," said Chip, "I still
think she's just a loud-mouthed upstart."
"If thou sayeth soeth." Frog sighed. If he could remember
the show, he would doubtless make his own "Agent Scully" remark.

The Rangers started their next day as usual. First some
breakfast, then some news, and was there ever news!
It seemed that, last night, there had been a rash of robberies
of paint shops! Well, that's news to me, anyway, and it was news to
the Rangers, too.
"Who would go to so much trouble, just for paint?" Dale
wondered.
"Who knows?" Chip said, "But it doesn't seem like there is
anything else happening, and it is wierd. Besides that, small
things like this always turn out to be big cases. So, Rescue
Rangers, away!"
Frog limped, fell, and limped some more into the room, and
said "Hey, guys? If its not too, well, whatever the word is, can
I come with you?"
The Rangers looked at each other with the same thought in
their faces, then Chip responded "I don't see why not, but why
would you want to?"
"Because," Frog got to his feet, "That way I have a chance of
finding Pennywinkel. Maybe I can help catch her or something."
"All right, but watch out for yourself and don't do anything
dangerous."
"Right-o, sir!" Frog made a saluting motion.

During the whole trip, the Rangers were worried at the way he
kept staring at the ground. Most kids are scared of flying, especially
this high up, this kid seemed to be enjoying the height.
"Frog," Gadget said, "Don't lean over the side like that. You'll
make us lose control."
"Oh, sorry."
"Hey, look!" Chip said, and pointed downwards to a bunch of
windows with paint splatters on them.
"Well," Frog said, "Someone painted the town red, and blue,
and green, and yellow, and blue... perhaps Rainbow Brite is the
culprit."
"Who?" Chip asked.
"Oh, she's this girl who lives in this world called Rainbow
Land and comes to Earth every once in awhile to put joy and color in
the world. I remember one time, when she had to go to this diamond
planet..."
Chip secretly thought this kid was even more whacked than Dale
at times.
Dale spoke up, "Didn't ya have any superheroes or anything where
you came from?"
Frog thought, and said "Oh yea, I watched a lot of superhero
shows. Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
Thundercats..."
For the rest of the trip the two stayed locked in conversation
on things Chip knew nothing about, but the surprise here was that
Dale didn't seem to recognize these things either.
The trail of paint splatters led them to a secluded area of
another park, hidden behind some bushes. The paint cans were all
there.
And, oddly enough, so was Pennywinkel, and two bottles. Just
as they landed, she popped the lid off one of them, apparently by
hitting the very bottom of the bottle with her hammer while a clamp
planted firmly in the ground held it at an angle. In one centralized
location of this place was a makeshift forge of some sort, and
surrounding it were small tubs of red, green, blue, yellow, orange,
purple, and pink.
"Woweth!" Frog said, "It looks like she has one small tub-o-
water for every color of the rainbow! Well, okay, so I'm not sure
wether pink is really one of its colors or not, but anyway..."
Despite that sudden outburst, Pennywinkel seemed oblivious to
their presence as she took the bottlecap to the forge and beat the
living daylights out it it to the tune of the Iron Man theme. When
she finished, she held up the reformed bottlecap, now some star-shaped
thingy.
"What is she doing?" Chip wondered.
Then she held one of her hands up, and the water in the tubs
suddenly gushed upwards, and it started raining amazing colored rain.
Then Pennywinkel threw her little metal star right at the sun, which
apparently fired some sort of beam right back, hitting her square on
the chest, and she became...
"Wow," Frog exclaimed, "It's an amazing technicolor Pennywinkel!"
Well, that's exactly what she looked like, for she had suddenly
become multicolored all over her body and clothing, and even her hammer.
Only then did she acknowledge their presence when Chip asked
"So, you mean you stole all that paint just so you could screw
around and color yourself?"
She looked at Chip in an amused fashion and said "Of course,
what else would I do with paint? What, you thought I had some deep,
complicated plan?"
"Uh-huh." Gadget answered for him.
"Well," Frog added, "You had only been behaving like a homicidal
maniac for the last twenty-four hours."
"Well, it would just be redundant to tell you you're wrong, so,
here, join the fun." She swung her hammer, a beam flew, and all the
sudden we had an amazing technicolor Chip.
After a fit of childish laughing, Pennywinkel looked again and
said, "So what exactly are you doing here?" She indicated Frog.
He walked up to her and said "Well, I was going to attempt to
talk you out of your reign of terror, but it seems you haven't even
started yet."
"True, by the way, Frog..." she reached into her coat, and
pulled out a bag of M&Ms, "Have you had your weekly candy?"
I guess I, Omnipresent Narrator, should tell you that among
Frog's health problems is a sugar deficiency which causes a lack
of energy, and could kill him if he's not given something sugary
once a week.
Well, Frog got down to a sitting position, begged like a dog,
and said "No, Gollum does not have his precioussss, but he wantsss it,
yessss, give it to Smeagol! Smeagol wants it! Smeagol will take care
of it! The milk chocolate will melt in Smeagol'ssss mouth, not in hisss
handssss!"
Did I mention said sugar deficiency results in weekly sugar
crazes?
Chip lifted Frog and yelled "How can you think of candy at a
time like this?"
Pennywinkel kicked Chip right square in the stomach, pushed
him over, and said, mildly, "No one hits my brother but me, is that
understood, Mr. Technicolor Throw-rug? Good." She dropped the Nimmy-
Nimmies in Frog's hands.
"Are you sure there isn't more to this than you're lettin' on?"
Monty asked in a curious tone.
"Well," Frog answered for Pennywinkel, "Throwing star-shaped
stuff at the sun gives her superpowers."
"But I thought she could manipulate reality!" Gadget said,
though in a more "So try to explain this one" kinda way. That's
not even mentioning the fact that she happens to be throwing welded
bottlecaps at something that is millions of miles away.
"She can but as I said she likes to superimpose limits."
"No, no, no!" Pennywinkel said, sitting down next to her
brother, "Not 'Superimpose limits' rather, leave reality open for
experimentation. Hmmm, I wonder," Pennywinkel got up, "What would
happen if I used this bottle cap...?"
She popped it off. Before throwing it, she read the lable which,
oddly enough, said "Coca Cola" and then, after a shrug, threw it at the
sun. A beam hit her, turning her skin back to normal but dressing her
in an outfit of red, white, and grey. It also turned her hair a nice
shade of black and removed Chip's discoloration error.
"What happened?" Gadget asked.
Frog turned and looked, and said "She's either become Caffeinated
Girl or the Coca-Cola Warrior, you decide."
Pennywinkel's face had a look of disbelief as she said "Ah well,
time for some action."
For no reason anyone could remember, she decided to kick Chip
square in the stomach again.
"Hey!" Monterey Jack said, rolling up a sleeve, "No one picks
on my friends and gets away with it!"
Just as he tried to do anything about it, though, she jumped
into the air, came down, and kicked him square in the back. A few
inches higher and a bit more force and she could have broken his neck.
As she landed, Gadget and Dale tried the last thing they could
think of, and grabbed her arms.
Pennywinkel was going to make a corny one-liner, but couldn't
think of any, so she just started spinning around really fast and ended
up ramming the both of them into the ground.
Then she just left.
When Frog got done with the candy (He's the type that makes
it last) he turned around, and wondered what had happened while he
was off in his own little world, helping the Trix Rabbit file a
lawsuit.
"Hey guys, what happened?"
"Well," Chip said, "That girl of yours kicked me, almost killed
Monty, and grounded Gadget and Dale."
"What about Zipper?"
They looked around, Frog having said that.
"Hey!" Chip said, "Where is Zipper?"
Then a brick flew right over Dale's head, and landed nearby.
"Hey! there's a note!" Gadget pointed out. She picked it up,
and read it.
"What does it say?" Chip wondered.
"It says 'There are two types of pests, insects and men (Though
I fail to see the difference). Unless you work fast, you'll never see
this fly alive again.' Golly, that's horrible!"
"Oh Gadget, she's just bluffing. It's probably a trap." Dale
suggested.
Frog, however, was all the sudden more grim than usual, and
said "No, Pennywinkel doesn't think like that. If she says she's
gonna kill the fly she means it. And she isn't going to leave any
clues behind, either. Let's get into the Ranger Wing and see if
we can follow her."
Pennywinkel had only flown to the top of a nearby restaurant,
with the fly in a little pouch. She switched back to her normal
clothing. She pulled Zipper, frozen in a crystal, out of the
little pouch. She stuffed the crystalized fly in one of her
pockets, then took out some red paint that splattered on her,
and put it in the bag.
She sighed in aggrivation, and said "In the name of a
G-Rating..."
The Rangers happened to fly right over the very restaurant
Pennywinkel was hiding on, and flew towards her. She saw this, got
up, and ran a small distance. Just as the Rangers landed, Chip saw
but didn't really take notice of a little bag that she flew at the
Wing.
The Rangers all stepped out, walked towards Pennywinkel, and
Chip demanded "What have you done with Zipper?"
"Zipper, Zipper? You mean the fly I threw at you in that little
bag?"
That horrified them, each and every one. Chip and Dale were
the first ones to gain enough courage to turn and look. They had no
way of knowing that the red stuff spilling out from inside the bag
(Which was stuck under the Ranger Wing's wheels) was just paint.
Gadget exclaimed "I can't look."
"It's better you don't, Gadget." Chip said in an attempt to be
soothing. Dale was still staring horrified at it.
"Why you little--!" Monterey couldn't think of a good insult,
so he instead said "I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do!"
"As will I," Said Frog, seriously. He walked up to Pennywinkel,
sword drawn, and said "I thought you valued human life."
"Human life is one thing," Pennywinkel responded, "I killed a
fly, a mere bug, he wasn't even useful."
Frog stared her right in the eyes and said "He was a fly they
knew personally you infinite amount of null comprehension."
Corny and non-insulting as it may sound to the average joe,
that happens to be the one insult that struck home with Pennywinkel,
who had been yelled at, called names, and cussed out hundreds of times
before, with little effect except for a short craving to break someone's
kneecaps.
Right now, Pennywinkel felt as if she could kill this arrogant
kid standing in front of her, and all his little friends too. However,
she managed to keep calm, remembering that this was, after all, her
brother. Anyone else she would have mangled in whatever brutal fashion
struck her fancy at the time without a second thought.
So instead she knocked him unconscious for a second time, then
she walked off, eventually jumping off the side of the building and
disappearing.
Gadget was continually getting more and more upset, her anger
constantly building. For a moment, she felt as if she would kill
this little thug who had stepped into her life and ruined everything,
but just as she was about to, Chip grabbed her shoulder, and said
"No."
"Why not?" Gadget was still a little too angry.
"I don't know about all that 'Altering Reality' Frog mentioned
earlier, but we know for a fact that this girl can take on all four
of us--by herself, mind you--and if she killed Zipper, we should
assume she's capable of doing so to the rest of us, as well."
That stopped Gadget, but she was still mad.
They lifted a Ranger Wing, and got the bag, not daring to look
in it. None of them said anything on the return trip home.

For fun, did anyone catch these references:
The Might & Magic reference?
The Mega Man reference?
The rather obvious Lord of the Rings reference?
The reference to M&Ms Commercials?

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

8-BIT STAR'S RANDOM THOUGHTS

[The opinions of Minor God Force are a joke and do not
actually represent anyone].

I was talking to my good friend, Minor God Force, a being
who's eplanation is rather long, but in general his only reason
for existence is to watch over the Rescue Rangers universe and
all its fanfiction. Min-G (as I call him) is usually very strict
about RR Fanfiction, tending to overreact to small things. Never-
theless, when I have trouble, or when something is really bothering
me, he's the one I turn to.
He can take any form he pleases, however, usually--to show his
years of wisdom--he takes a bearded old man form, which is the one
he is using now.
We were talking in some restaurant somewhere. A human
restaurant. I think it was a McDonalds.
"Hey, Min-G" I asked, "I assume you know what a Mary Sue
is, right?"
"If ya mean author avatar characters, aka the bane of
fanfiction, the Rangerverse, and my existence, yes."
"Well, I have a question about them, which I've been wondering
for ten minutes now."
"Go on."
"Is it considered Mary Sue to be dumber than Dale?"
The whole restaurant went silent at that, Min-G glanced a
suspicious look at me.
"You didn't cross the line, did you?"
"Nah, just wondering."
Every last person in the bar sighed, and returned to their own
little conversations.

---------

EPISODE 2: THE RETURN OF RUBBER BANDO

Quick recap for those who somehow got into the series late:
The Rangers rescued Frog after he had been knocked unconscious by
his evil sister Pennywinkel, who's thought pattern allows her to
manipulate reality. In one of their early battles with her, she
had kidnapped and later made it appear that she had killed Zipper,
thus making the battle personal for the Rangers.

Frog was with Gadget in her workshop, watching her build
something that he had more than likely never seen before or
couldn't remember. He had always had some sort of fascination
for crazy gizmos but didn't know exactly why.
It was morning.
"So, what is it yer buildin' again?" Frog asked.
Gadget didn't know what to think of him, especially since
he said "Again" despite this being the first time he had asked.
"Well," she explained, "This is a 55MPH Bola-Filled Sidearm.
You see, when you pull the triggering mechanism this part here moves
and causes a reaction, whcih makes the user feel a slight jolt but
is otherwise harmless, which puts pressure on the trapped air and
causes these two marbles laced together with twine to propel forward
towards the target. Understand?"
"Not really, but if I'm reading right, you pull trigger, go
BOOM! and you get twine twined around bad guys' legs, right?"
"Right, I guess."
"So whatcha building the gun for?"
"Well, I had actually anticipated we'd be using it on mouse-
sized criminals, like Rat Capone--no one you've heard of, I'm sure--
and now, it seems, possibly even Pennywhatshername."
"Pennywinkel?"
"Yea, her."
Chip walked in the room about this time, but no one noticed.
Frog asked, "So then, what we doin' today?"
The Rangers had discussed this last night, and Gadget figured
it was time someone said "'We' aren't doing anything. You are staying
here this time."
"Why?"
"Because you aren't exactly a useful asset. Here you're okay,"
Gadget wouldn't be the one to say anything about his mental health,
"But on the field, you'd only get in the way."
"Oh no no no," Froggy boy was in denial now, "I can be useful!
I mean, I'm fully trained with this sword here!"
"That may be," Chip said suddenly, startling Frog, "But then
we've got your health problems, your mental problems, your weakness
for candy..."
"Oh no no no, the candy thing only happens once a week."
Chip didn't exactly believe him.
For once in his life, Frog got the message without it having
to be beaten into his head. He seemed quite upset when he left the
room.
"I think we hurt his feelings," Gadget said.
Dale, as usual, had to go get the flippin' walnuts so Monterey
Jack could make his famous Walnut Waleroos. He had been out for an
hour or so gathering them, and was heading back in. Ironically at
the same time Frog was heading out.
"Hey, Frog, watcha doin'?" of all the Rangers, Dale got along
with Frog the best.
"Finding me a suitable training ground."
Dale detected a note of not-quite-happy in Frog's voice, and
asked "What's wrong?"
"Well, Chip just got done telling me that I'm useless, and so
I'm gonna prove to him that I'm not."
"Ah, don't let Chip get to ya, he's always saying stuff like
that. He says it to me all the time."
Frog was only half-listening, and asked "Exactly how do I get
down, anyway?"
"Ya climb down, of course!"
"Hm," Frog was too lazy to say "Ohh, right." He walked over
to the edge of the landing strip, or whatever this little flat
area of oak tree was called, and looked downward.
And his left leg muscle pulled again.
The brief yelp of pain caught Dale's ears, and he asked "What's
wrong?"
"Oh, just my left leg again, I can walk, I can walk, I can--WAA!"
He only said he could walk, no one said he could do a particularly
good job of it, since he happened to somehow walk right off the edge
of the landing pad.
Dale managed to grab one of his hands, just in time, but Dale
isn't exactly strong, and couldn't get him high enough to hold on to
the platform.
After five second of struggling, Dale fell over too.
Now, as it happened, Dale managed to fall right through a
strange anomaly. There was a flock of stars in a patch of night,
for some strange reason, between the landing strip and the ground.
Dale somehow ended up ahead of Frog, and hit the ground first,
which oddly enough bounced him up, into Frog, and high enough to
get on the landing strip.
Gadget came out just in time to see this.
"Golly, what happened?"
"Well," Frog tried to explain, "I fell, Dale tried to help me,
but he fell too, somehow he ended up bouncing off the ground and
we ended up back here, or something like that."
"Yea, that was neat! How did I do it I wonder?"
Frog got up, and looked over the edge.
"It probably has something to do with whatever that is, down
there."
Gadget and Dale came over and looked down, too.
"What is that?" Gadget wondered out loud.
"Looks to me like a patch of midnight that never went away."
Frog offered up, "In any case I'm wondering what it did to Dale."
Dale had been wondering the same thing, and tried to inflate
his fist.
It worked.
"Wowie! I got my Rubber Bando powers again!"
Frog wasn't catching this. "Errr, umm, Rubber what?"
Gadget explained, "Some time ago Dale found a meteor fragment
that gave him powers similar to what he seems to have now," Dale was
bouncing around as a spring, "But last time he let his powers go to
his head," Gadget remarked.
"Oh, don't worry Gadget," Dale said, getting back to normal
form, "I've learned from my mistakes."
Frog asked "Well, that's great, so can ya help me down from
here? I still got to get in a lot of training so I can help you
guys find Pennywinkel."
"Sure," Dale said, extending his arm down to the ground,
allowing Frog to slide down it. "Come to think of it, maybe
my powers here are just the thing we need to beat her, right?"
"Wrong," Frog grabbed his arm and began sliding down, "Powers
are a start but we're not going to handle her like that, if we handle
her at all."
After a few second, he reached the ground, and Dale retracted
his arm.
"Training?" Gadget asked.
"Yea, Chip said he was useless, so he's improving himself or
something."
"Golly, I didn't think he'd take it that hard."

The first thing Frog did was find himself a log, a big fat
log, and cut a few chunks out of it. He used these chunks to create
himself a wooden training dummy he named "Woodman" who he hang up
using some string he found near the area.
Then he started beating the living daylights out of it. It
was actually more like he was releasing anger than training himself.
Either way, his sword swings weren't really scratching the guy.

"So then, I just bounced right back up and caught Frog on the
way!" Dale had got done recapping the story.
"That's bloomin' fantastic Dale!" Monterey commented.
"Hey, where is Frog?" Chip asked.
Gadget answered "He said he was gonna be out training. I think
we hurt his feelings."
Chip sighed, and said "I suppose I better find him before--"
"News flash!" The television yelled. "This is Dan Blather
reporting. It appears that armies of superpowered mice are over
running the city! The police are at a loss to explain the situation.
Citizens are urged to stay in their homes until this whole mess
clears up."
"Omigosh!" Gadget said.
"Ya think this could be connected to that thing that gave me
my powers?" Dale said.
"I don't know," Chip answered, "But we've got our work cut
out for us. We've not only got to find Frog, before someone else
does, but we've also got to keep this situation from getting out
of hand! Me and Gadget will look for Frog, You and Monty will
patrol the city."
"Hold on!" Dale said, "Why do you get to go with Gadget?"
"Because you have super powers, and Monty is strong." Even
Dale could see the logic in that.
Dale stretched himself into a glider, with Monty as a
passenger, and they were flying over the city, surveying the
situation. Dale had changed into his Rubber Bando costume before
they left.
As expected, there were a lot of those portals, each having
a different effect apparently. Some of the mice could now fly,
others could shoot lightning bolts out of their hands, and all
other manners of things. Some of the mice (and squirrels, chipmunks,
and other small forest creatures) were totally unaware that anything
had happened to them, whereas others were using their powers for any
concievable reason, wether it be to commit crimes, to get revenge on
someone who had crossed them, or simply to have fun.
"How are we ever gonna get this under control?" Monty said.
"Same way they do in the comics, I guess."
"And how is that?"
"By beating the bad guys, of course."
"Yea, lad, but we can't assume they're all evil, just because
they have powers. Some of them might have decided to be superheroes,
like you."
Dale had to admit, Monty had a point, and this made it that
much harder. How were they ever gonna tell the good ones from the
bad?
Some had made it more obvious than others.
Over the course of the last few hours, Monty and Dale had
tangled with many mice. One group who had superpowers had decided
to try to rob from a wealthy human, using a simple plan that required
they all climb in from different sides. Dale and Monty managed to
concoct a simple plan that had them leading all the burglar mice
into one room, and then Dale kept them tied until Monty could get
some rope. Their powers weren't much, one could run fast, another
could generate electricity from his body (Which meant nothing to
someone made of rubber), another had super strength, and one of
them could fly as well as being made of stone (He had gone through
two portals).
Another case involved a guy who could shoot laser beams from
his eyes, trying to get revenge on a thug who had attacked him in
an alley a week before. Dale and Monty thought about it, and decided
to leave him alone.
Among all of them though, the one that stood out was their
last adventure of the night.
Dale noticed a regular-built mouse in a black full-body
superhero costume (Which didn't disquise his silver hair) sneaking
around. He decided to follow, his suspicions raised. It didn't
take more than ten minutes until he got to where he was going.
"He's going to Fat Cat's casino!" Dale exclaimed, loud but
not loud enough to give away his presence.
"Now why would someone wanna do that?" Monterey asked, more to
himself than anything.
"Let's go down and find out."
Dale glided down, intercepting the mouse just before he reached
the Cat Food factory that the Casino resides atop of.
"Wait!" Dale said.
The mouse stood silently. Obviously he was in no real hurry.
"You weren't gonna go into the Casino, were ya?" Dale asked,
rather stupidly.
"In fact I was." the mouse replied.
"Crikey, that place is crawling with cats, lizards, and all
sorts of critters! Why would you ever wanna go in there?"
"A personal matter," The mouse jumped over them, his fingers
busting holes in the building, allowing him to climb up, "Fat Cat's
gang killed my brother, and several of my friends. That's not even
mentioning the dozens of mice I never knew."
"We're sorry for that, mate. Are you sayin' your gonna off
with Fat Cat?"
"Yes. Ever since that day," He was climbing the wall as he
talked, "I had decided, if I ever had the means, that I would use
those means to free our city from the criminals who run it. These
Portals of Power have given me that means, so I put on a mask, gave
myself the name Mus-Kyu-Lar--Because I was granted strength--and
have begun my quest. Afterwards, I'll gather all the other heroes
in this city and, with our combined efforts--" by this time, he was
so far up Monty and Dale couldn't hear him.
"Gosh, Monty, I'm not sure what to say about this."
"I dunno about you, Dale, but I think we should help him. After
all, Fat Cat's been a thorn in our side for the four years we've been
Rescue Rangers."
Dale stretched himself until his head was even with the guy, and
he kept stretching to keep up with him.
"Hey, Mus-Kyu-Lar, we talked it over and, we wanna help. Fat
Cat's caused us problems too."
"Your assistance is accepted." Was his final answer.
Dale lowered to normal size, briefly instructed Monterey to
hold on to him. Monterey complied. Then Dale stretched up to the
top grabbed the ledge, and pulled in his legs, Monty with them. Dale
lifted Monterey over the edge and then pulled himself over. Mus-Kyu-Lar
got over just after Dale.
"Now we need a plan," Dale said, though in truth he actually
thought it would be sufficient to just bust in and break loose. Monty
was strong enough to handle himself, and Dale and Mus-Kyu-Lar had
super powers, in any case.
"I didn't come unprepared," Mus-Kyu-Lar said. "By the way,
what are your names?"
Dale answered "I'm Da--Err, Rubber Bando, and this is MJ."
Dale wasn't sure wether he should give Monty's real name or not,
after all, someone might be able to trace Monty back to him. It
didn't help that Monterey wasn't wearing a costume, but Dale didn't
think of that. "So what's your plan?"
"First I was going to throw in this bomb," he pulled a home-made
bomb out of a pouch, "I don't have the material to make a real one,
so I modeled this one to be convincing. While the inhabitants are
cringing in fear, we'll run to the elevator, and ride to Fat Cat's
office." He obviously had planned to do this alone, not expecting
help.
"That sounds fine to me. MJ?"
Monty didn't think long before saying "That's good enough for
me."
Mus-Kyu-Lar didn't wait for confirmation. He went up to the
main entrance of the Casino. Dale and Monty followed close behind.
The only thing Mus-Kyu-Lar hadn't considered was the two
guards, but then, he didn't need to. He himself lifted and threw
one of them to a side, his head hitting a wall, knocking him out.
Dale tied up the other one and made him fall over, then Mus-Kyu-Lar
gave him a hard hit to knock him out.
Then they entered the Casino. At his word, Dale lifted Mus-
Kyu-Lar to a high shelf, where he broke a vase to draw attention
to himself.
"All present," Mus-Kyu-Lar said, "This bomb has the explosive
power to take out this whole casino! Everyone get to that corner,"
he pointed towards the Southeast. When they complied, he called
Dale back, and told him to put the bomb on the table nearest the
wild, scared assortment of cats, lizards, and other predators of
mice. Then he continued "This bomb happens to have an invisible
beam spotlighting all of you. If any of you move out of that beam
it will explode. Have I made myself clear?"
The visitors to the casino were too scared to answer.
Mus-Kyu-Lar jumped down, and said "To the elevator, now."
They went.
"So, which one of these leads to Fat Cat's office?" Dale
asked.
He didn't need to, because then the elevator started moving.
It stopped seconds later, opened up, and there was Fat Cat, just
as surprised to see them as they were to see him.
Fat Cat didn't recognize the costumed ones off the bat, however
he did recognize Monterey Jack.
"So what brings the Rescue Rangers to my humble abode?" He
said in his usual calm manner.
"Were no Rangers, I'm afraid," Mus-Kyu-Lar said, "I am Mus-Kyu-
Lar, and I am here for my own reasons."
"Oh, well, I'll have to get back to you, I have pressing
business elsewhere." Fat Cat tried to get in the elevator.
Mus-Kyu-Lar, however, picked up one of his feet and caused
Fat Cat to fall over backwards. Then he picked up and carried the
fallen Fat Cat to a nearby window.
"Wait!" Fat Cat said, "What's this all about?"
"If you must know, you had a close friend of mine killed last
week, what's more you've killed hundreds of other mice, some I knew,
some I didn't. I want retribution."
"Can't we work this out?" Fat Cat was getting desperate.
Mus-Kyu-Lar was ignoring him, however. "No, if a small mouse
like me can lift up a big cat like you, what is making me think I
couldn't chuck you out that window and into the street?"

Let's go back in time a bit, to the moment after the Rangers
devided into two teams, and Dale had just flown off.
Chip and Gadget had just climbed down the tree, and began
searching for Frog. Their search didn't take long, since he was
only at a nearby pond, beating the daylights out of a wooden figure.
Either that was some strong wood or he wasn't hitting it very hard,
because he wasn't making a scratch.
The two were about to go out and talk to him, but when they
heard someone approaching, they hid back behind the root the came
out from.
To their discomfort, it was Pennywinkel they had heard coming.
She walked up to Frog, and said "Well, of all things."
"'Ello." Frog didn't seem either glad or sad to see her. In
fact he didn't seem able to feel any emotion that didn't end in
attacking Woodman, the training dummy he made earlier.
Pennywinkel immediately asked "Okay, what happened?"
"Its long, but essentially Chip told me I'm useless on missions,
so I'm out here training so I won't be so useless."
Pennywinkel rolled her eyes, and said "Oh please. Who cares
what that egotistical, juvenile jerk thinks?"
Chip didn't particularly like that comment.
"Well, All you did yesterday was offer me candy..."
"And I suppose he made an issue out of it," Pennywinkel sighed,
"If he's too dumb to understand your health issues, that's his problem."
Chip didn't like that either.
Pennywinkel continued, "I still don't see why you even care that
much about them. Bad enough that you idolized them as a kid."
Chip and Gadget looked at each other as if to say "What?"
"But," Frog swung at Woodman, "I idolized pretty much every
other cartoon character, too."
He didn't know what Gadget was thinking, but Chip was already
thinking that Frog must have lost his grip on reality after that
comment.
"Yes, yes, but I can understand those others." She grabbed his
arm, and said "You're doing this all wrong. Try swinging at this
angle. Yea, that should be right." She backed off, and he swung
in a diagonal motion.
"Swing harder," she said. He did, this time he left a huge
cut. "Good enough," she commented.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following reflects the opinions of a FICTIONAL
CHARACTER and is there for the purposes of character and story
development. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE DO NOT REPRESENT MY OWN
IN ANY WAY.]
"So," Frog said, "What makes idolizing any other show any
better?" He was still swinging at Woodman while asking and during
the subsequent response.
Pennywinkel started pacing around, amking a circle around
Frog and Woodman. "Well, first off, those other shows aren't Disney,
and the only thing Disney ever gets right is their stupid songs anyway.
The writing is terrible, the premise is stupid, the plots are stupid,
and the characters are generic stereotypes."
"I don't see that," Frog was swinging just a bit harder at
Woodman, "Okay, so the plots do tend to be a little silly, but the
characters aren't stereotypes, nor are they generic. Have have to
remember, I've met them."
Pennywinkel wasn't at all phased. Still smiling, she responded,
"Real people can be undeveloped, too."
"Okay then, explain to me why they've been discussed, theorized
over, and the more mysterious elements of their pasts made into every
possible interpretation in fanfiction? Gotcha there!"
Pennywinkel laughed, continued pacing in a circle, and said
"Umm, no, you don't. You forget, fans like to intellectualise things.
After all, Final Fantasy was made out to be classic literature, too.
You yourself called them obsessive fools."
"I did?" Frog asked, not really surprised but still mildly
curious. "Well, sis, I've got one last thing to say. Many of that
series' critics jumped on the Complainer's Bandwagon to make themselves
look mature. How am I to be sure that isn't the case with you and
the Rescue Rangers?"
She stood right up in his face and said "A confessed Rainbow
Brite fan, disguising opinions due to being insecure about maturity?"
then she burst out laughing. Eventually she calmed down, and said
"Only college boys think like that. I'm too far above that way of
thinking."
She backed off, and started her circular pacing again.
"But," she continued, "I suppose I'll give you some leeway,
and say that I was mostly trying to antagonize Chip--who, by the way,
is hiding behind that root--and I think I've succeeded, for the most
part. I can hear his teeth clinching."
His teeth were clinching. Him and Gadget ducked down.
"So what do we do now?" Gadget whispered.
"Nothing," Chip responded, "She's guessing. We'll call her
bluff."
He looked back over the log. Pennywinkel was gone, Frog
carried on as if nothing had happened.
"Where is she?" Chip asked to himself, before being turned
halfway around and kicked square in the stomach for the third time
strait. He was really getting tired of that.
"I'm honestly not sure," Pennywinkel said, "Which of you I
should kill first. On the one hand, Dale is just stupid, on the other,
this is the second time you've offended my brother."
"What did we do?" Gadget asked.
Pennywinkel resisted the urge to kick Chip again--she did it
more because it was fun than because of anger--and answered "I don't
suppose he's on a guilt trip without a reason."
"Well, we came to apologize--" she stood up.
"Well, that's great." Pennywinkel picked up and threw Chip
right into that nearby lake, which was a distance past Frog and his
training dummy. Frog didn't notice.
"--But golly, do you have to respond so violently?!" Gadget
exclaimed.
Pennywinkel laughed a bit, and said "You can't reason with
complete and total jerks."
While she said that, Chip had gotten out of the lake and was
walking back over to behind the root, dripping wet. Frog's attention
stayed firmly attached to his wooden, lifeless enemy.
"How can you think that?" Gadget said, "You don't even know
Chip. He is rational, responsible, and all those other things you
think he isn't. Furthermore he has always made up for his mistakes!"
Pennywinkel was filing her nails now, more to pass the time
than anything.
"Yes, I know. Yelled at Dale, yelled at Dale, yelled at
Tammy, yelled at Dale some more, again, again, repeat, repeat..."
"He has always apologized!"
"It doesn't matter if he just goes off and does it again. It
is quite clear that the lesson is never going to get through his thick
skull."
At that moment she ducked, just as Chip tried to jump her.
She was going to comment that he could be less predictable, but decided
against it.
"But still--"
Chip cut her off, "Gadget, give it a rest. It's quite clear that
she hates me and won't change her mind."
"Well," Pennywinkel rolled her eyes, "I guess I'll say at least
he got that particular point rather early."
"But what I want to know," Chip ignored the comment as he got
up and brushed himself off, "Is how she found out about all of those
cases!"
Pennywinkel bopped him on the head lightly so she wouldn't knock
him out, and said "If you're anything resembling a real detective, you'll
put two and two together." She started to walk off.
Chip quickly thought, and said "You don't expect us to believe
that lame story about us being a TV show, do you?"
Pennywinkel continued to walk off, not answering.
"Wait!" Chip said, getting Pennywinkel's attention, "If that
is, in fact, true, then--"
"Uh-Huh, yes?"
"I was right, wasn't I? You really don't have any super patterns
of thought or any ability to mess up reality, do you? It was all just
glitzy magic tricks, luck, and calling on your own memories, wasn't
it?"
Most people faced with such accusations would pinpoint and
nitpick every little detail they could that would shift the arguement
in their favor. Pennywinkel could have mentioned her little scene with
the rubber ball yesterday, or the fact that her type of magic is totally
unseen in their universe, or she could have mentioned that there is no
spell to teleport to a certain television set.
Instead, she simply said "Then how did I know you were behind
this root?" and walked off.
That was enough to shut Chip up.
After Pennywinkel finally walked out of sight, and their minds,
Gadget suddenly remembered, "We better check on Frog."
Frog was still beating on Woodman like nothing had happened.
The two Rangers walked up to him.
"Umm, Frog?" Gadget said.
Frog didn't seem to acknowledge her presence as he decided to
get playful and carve a "Z" on Woodman's stomach.
"Frog," Chip said, "We're sorry about what we said earlier,
we hadn't realised that you'd take it this seriously..."
Frog still seemed to be oblivious to their presence. It was
now probably noon.
"Well," Gadget finished, "Promise to return home when you're
done, ummm, training."
He was now playing tic-tac-toe on Woodman's stomach.
"Well, ummm, bye."
No response. They left, knowing full well he was stuck in his
own little world, populated only by him and his inanimate enemy--and
also his sister from time to time.
They had gotten in the Ranger Wing and had decided to find
Dale and Monty, which took a few hours because it was such a big
city, but they eventually spotted the two, and some third mouse
they couldn't identify, going into Fat Cat's casino.
"Now why would they want to go in there?" Chip wondered aloud.
Gadget parked the Ranger Wing, and they headed into the casino.
They got there just in time to see the elevator door close. The cats
were still huddled in a corner.
Chip climbed onto a table, and asked "What is going on here?"
One of Fat Cat's crew, Mips, the orange cat, recognized Chip
and said "It's the Rescue Rangers! We're saved!"
They all cheered.
"Hold on!" Chip said, "What is going on here?"
Mips explained briefly the scene where Mus-Kyu-Lar had put
the bomb on the table and told them that if they moved out of that
corner, they would be blown to pieces.
"So where's this Mus-Kyu-Lar fellow now?" Gadget asked.
"Him and Rubber Bando went in the elevator," was the only
detail Mips could give them.
Chip and Gadget themselves went into the elevator, using
the Ranger Wing to help press the buttons.
They got to the top floor just as Mus-Kyu-Lar mentioned his
plan to throw Fat Cat out the window.
"What is going on here?" Chip yelled for the third time
as the Wing rolled out of the elevator.
"Chip!" Dale said, "Mus-Kyu-Lar is helping us finish off
Fat Cat once and for all! He's gonna throw him out the window
and--"
"No!" Gadget yelled, "We can't do that, Dale."
"Why not, Gadget-love?" Monterey asked, "Hasn't he been our
number one enemy since the beginning?"
"That doesn't justify doing this!" Gadget said, "After all,
this is something he himself would do. Do you really want to sink
down to his level?"
Mus-Kyu-Lar had turned and was listening with sudden interest.
"She's right," Chip said, "Besides, what would it say to the
other crime fighters if we started offing our enemies?"
"Well..." Dale was trying to think of a good rebuttle, and
failed.
"I'll tell you exactly what it would say. It would say that
that it's fine to kill. Now, can you imagine that? We throw Fat
Cat out the window. With that example set, little Timmy would
kill his family, then claim he was neglected or abused, and wouldn't
even need evidence! Think about it, hero."
There was five seconds of silence, and then Mus-Kyu-Lar dropped
Fat Cat, started walking towards the elevator, and said "You're right.
I don't want to add to this city's already dismal reputation." He
turned to Dale, and said "Rubber Bando, it's time we left."
Chip then offered "Get in the Ranger Wing, and we'll fly out."
"Good idea," Fat Cat said, "I'll open a window..."
"No," Mus-Kyu-Lar said as everyone climbed in the Wing, "I have
some business to take care of in your casino. Which floor is it?"
"Umm, ninth," Fat Cat hesitantly answered.
Rubber Bando didn't have to be told to press the button.
In the casino, the Rangers air-lifted the "Bomb" off the table,
and outside, over the street.
"How destructive is this bomb?" Gadget asked.
"It's not," Mus-Kyu-Lar answered, "As I told Rubber Bando, I
didn't have the materials to make a real bomb, so I instead made a
convincing model."
"Well then," Gadget pulled a lever, and the model dropped into
a street below.
"I must get off here as well," Mus-Kyu-Lar said, "I have business
to attend to. I mentioned earlier that I was going to get all the super
heroes together in an organized fight against crime."
"You sure you don't want to stay with us and be a Rescue Ranger?"
Chip asked, "We could use someone with your talents."
"I'm flattered by the offer, and may consider it, but I'm not
ready to make commitments now."
With that, he jumped from the plane to the neaby top of a
building.
"Well, that was fun," Monterey said, "What did you think, Dale?
Ummm, Dale?"
Dale was asleep.
After putting Dale on the sofa, the Rangers decided to see if
Frog had come in yet. Seeing that he hadn't, they looked outside
in the spot where he had been training. Sure enough, he was still
attacking the wooden training dummy, but now he had gotten wild,
excitedly slashing like a video game character and even using
jumping attacks.
The Rangers came up to him, keeping distance because of the
wild unpredictability of his attacks, and Gadget said "Golly, have
you been out here this whole time?"
This time Frog acknowledged them.
"Yep. Woodman here has kidnapped princesses, trained dragons,
and done everything else in the name of world domination, but I had
just enough free time to stop all his evil schemes."
"Still, we think you better come inside. It's getting dark
and, with the clothing your wearing and the temperature out here,
you might get heat sick."
Frog finally simmered down, and said "Well... okay."
Just as they were about to walk back to the HQ, Frog suddenly
yelled "Hadouken!" The Rangers turned around just in time to see
Woodman fall into two halves.
Frog sheathed his sword, and said "Never could leave unfinished
business. So, tell me about your day."

Over dinner, they related to Frog the events of the day, starting
from when Frog had went off training and ending at the point where they
had dropped off Mus-Kyu-Lar. Dale had awakened just a few minutes ago,
and was disappointed to learn that, for some unknown reason, he no longer
had his rubber powers.
Frog finished his first serving, and while everyone else was
eating, said "I must admit, that bit with that muscle guy was excellent.
That's almost exactly what BraveStarr might have said in the same
circumstances."
Rather than ask who BraveStarr was, they just took it as praise.
"However, I feel that with that Pennywinkel scene, I'm going
to have to do a lot of explaining. I don't think you guys will believe
it, but me and Pennywinkel..." He was trying to think of how to word
it.
"You guys are really from another dimension?" Dale blurted
out.
"Universe, dude. A Universe is a system of logistics and inner
workings that people reside in, a Dimension on the other hand is an
alternative version of a certain Universe. Where I come from, there
are no talking mice, chipmunks don't solve crimes, there is no rodent
society living unknown to humans. All this is just part of your
television show."
"Golly! Then..." Gadget, as did everyone, had every concievable
question going through her head. She wanted to ask all sorts of stuff,
about the technicalities and scientifics of someone suddenly being a
character in a television show, a cartoon.
But she instead asked "So how did you get here?"
Frog put his head in his hands and said "I don't know. I can
remember a few details, but anything about my world, my life, anything
about that before I started going through all these Universes, those
totally elude me. Heck, I can't even remember what all Universes I've
been to. At first, I didn't even remember who Pennywinkel was!"
"Calm down," Gadget said, "You don't have to explain everything
right now."
"Good point," Frog stopped talking when seconds finally came
in.

There's only one reference in this episode (Blatant name-stating
doesn't count) and it's a doozy. Can you find:
The Street Fighter II reference?

----------------------------
8-BIT STAR'S RANDOM THOUGHTS

I was again talking to my good friend, Minor God Force, who
in case you missed it, is a supreme diety who keeps watch over the
Ranger Universe.
"Hey, Min-G," I said, "What do you think of Crossovers?"
"Blasphemous."
"Surely they can't be all bad!"
"Sure they can! I've seen what Crossovers do. I mean, Rescue
Rangers mixed with... Star Trek? Thundercats? ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS?
That was the last straw! I hate crossovers!"
Well, I had a question anyway.
"What if I said I once started a threaded fanfic where every
eighties cartoon in existence merged with the Rescue Rangers?"
He glared at me...
It was ten minutes before he stopped chasing me around the
table with a baseball bat.

----------

EPISODE 3: MADEMANNA - THE GREAT CRYSTAL BATTLE PART ONE
(that's pronounced "Ma-Dee-Mahn-Ah")

Just a little more tweaking here and there... there,
it's done. What is "It" you asked? Well, it was shiny, metal,
and humanoid. It was a robot, and it was about ready for the
world. This wasn't any normal robot, however, this one was
particularly special to Pennywinkel. So special, in fact,
that she refused the think of it, or rather her, as a machine.
She activated it, for the first time.
"Heh-Lo!" The robot said with a definately female
voice.
"Why hello! Do you know who I am?" Pennywinkel asked,
rather kindly.
"Umm...." the question seemed like it was giving the
robot difficulties, like she thought she should know but didn't.
Darn. "Uhhh... No...."
"Silly. I'm your big sister, Pennywinkel. Now, do you
know who you are?"
"I'm Maaaa.... Maaaa.... De..... Maaaannnn...... aaaa?"
"Very good!"
Mademanna was confused, and looked at herself in her
base metallic form. "What am I? I no look... like normal...."
Mademanna just looked at Pennywinkel. If she had her skin
on, she would have looked scared and confused.
"Now listen. I am currently trying to fix you, your shiny
ness is a reflection of how special you are. Soon, you'll look
like--well, you'll look human, but you'll still have your bright,
shiny core. Now, I'm going to put you to sleep, okay? Sleep is
fun, sleep is when you dream."
"Okay!" Mademanna was happy when she slept. She loved sleep.
Just as Pennywinkel reached for the power switch--which she
would soon flip back on to check the repairs (Then put it on disable
so there was no chance of accidental deactivation) the robot asked
the one thing we all wonder: "Do robots dream?"
Pennywinkel sighed, and said "Listen to me, you are not
a robot, you are a -person- and you must never let anyone tell
you otherwise." She put her hands on the switch, "And by the
way, yes, machines -Do- dream."
She deactivated Mademanna, hopefully for the last time.

Frog was thinking that morning. No, seriously, Frog was
thinking! You can quit dropping your jaw in surprise now.
"Guys?" Frog said, "Is anyone else a little tense about
ze facto zat Pennywinkel has not done anything in days?" He was
doing a bad job imitating French accents.
The Rangers were just watching television that day. It
was, oddly, another slow crime day, and with Frog there to help,
all the cleaning, nut-gathering, and other daily chores got done
in no time. Frog was compulsively neat, to the point where he
was almost paranoid of mere flecks of dust.
"Now that you mention it," Gadget responded, "It is more
than a little strange that absolutely nothing has happened for
days."
"Too right, mates!" Monterey chimed in, "I'm just cravin'
for a case right now, Pennywinkel or otherwise."
Suddenly Frog was feeling quite noticeably dizzy, and as
is usually the case with noticeable things, it showed.
"What's wrong?" Gadget asked.
"Oh," He got up, "I just need to walk outside."
He walked outside, walking carefully around everything and
being sure to open and close the door approprietely, and leaving no
trail of any kind in his wake. Oh, the horror.
After having stood out there for five minutes, Frog's noticeable
dizziness was noticeably gone. "Maybe I shouldn't play dull games
starring egg people," he thought.
"Hey! Brother! Down here!" He heard what sounded like his
sister's voice cry out.
He lookethed down, and saw his sister, has well as another
girl, a human, smaller than her by about five inches. The new girl
was incredibly skinny, but not to the point of being anorexic, had
long black hair, and dressed in blue jeans, blue shirt, a red jacket,
and a red cap which she had on frontwards. Whoever that is, thought
Frog, must be a fan of Pokemon.
Despite that three days ago (Or last story, either one) Frog
couldn't even grasp the concept of climbing down the tree, he could
now do it expertly, and was sliding down it just fine.
Then his leg gave out, and he plummeted. Fortunately, his
sister caught him, and put him safely on the ground.
"All right." He walked up to the new girl, "Hmm, she's cute,
who is she?"
Pennywinkel giggled, "Dear brother, you don't even remember
the youngest child in the family?"
Realization struck Frog's brain just then, as he said out loud
so that he could hear it, "Oh, yea. I think I do now. Hmmm, it's
almost like every time I step out the door, it means there's going
to be a major plot development. Go through door, plot develops, go
through door, plot develops. What's her name again? Mad something."
Midways through this, Mademanna had run up and hugged her big
brother. Most people would have wanted confirmation first, but as far
as she was concerned, there was no mystery. Pennywinkel said it, it
must be true.
"My name Mademanna, silly!" she said gleefully.
"Well, since you're here, guess I should introduce you to
the Rescue Rangers." He picked her up, then realised he had no
way of getting back up the tree. "Yo drat, Houstin, we have a
problem. Heck, Texas, we have a problem. I'll go even farther,
USA, we..."
"What silly brother talking about?" Mademanna asked.
Still carrying her, he walked around the perimeter of the
tree. "Now, I know there be a ground level entrance. They have
to use it every time Gadget uses the Rangermobile. Since I don't
gots any free hands, can you knock on the walls?" Apparently, Frog
was incapable of telling a garage door from the rest of the tree.
She was glad to oblige, knocking on the walls, looking for
that elusive entrance. The fact that she was hitting said wall to
the tune of the James Bond theme prompted Pennywinkel to say "Sometimes
I think she takes a little too much after you."
"I'd pick the Poke-Rap myself."
Eventually, after three circles around and knocking on heaven's
tree to the full scores of Sailor Moon, Pokemon (the USA original theme),
Thundercats, and possibly some others, they found it, ironically while
knocking to the Rescue Rangers theme.
Inside was a garage, with the rigged-up rollerskate itself,
with a working (well, hopefully working--cuz, ya know, it "Should"
work with "No problems" and we know how THAT goes) elevator.
Pennywinkel announced "Well, I've got things to do, people
to go, places to see. I'll be back. I'll see you later, Mad."
"Byebye!"
Frog put Mademanna down. Ya don't carry people in elevators,
especially when there's a hundred percent chance you yourself aren't
going to be able to stand. They stepped in to the elevator, and Frog,
upon realising there were no handrails, began to worry.
"Now, sis, this elevator SHOULD work with NO PROBLEMS. That
being said, do you have a parachute?"
"No."
"Darn. Well then, an umbrella?"
"Yep!"
"Get it out and keep it open, okay?"
She heared and she obeyed. As it was, the precaution was
unnesecary, because the elevator DID work with NO PROBLEMS (Well,
actually, there would have been a problem but I hate tangents).
Dale had just gotten back from a superhero meeting earlier
that morning, and just plopped down on the couch.
"Long day, huh?" Chip said.
"Yep. Right now the League of Mousedom--" The newly formed
team of costumed mouse heroes "--is trying to work out a justice
system. Soon enough, the League and the Rescue Rangers will be
able to actually convict the likes of Fat Cat, rather than simply
ruining his plans."
"That's great, Dale." Chip wasn't lying when he said that.
Considering how Dale usually is, the fact that he happens to now
be a part of the solution is something to be glad for.
"We also found out why Jon kept his powers while everyone
else lost theirs." Dale added. The first day of the meeting had
been the day after the Portals of Power had initially appeared.
It had began with the heroes (Who all except Mus-Kyu-Lar had lost
their powers, just like Dale) unmasking themselves. Mus-Kyu-Lar,
much to Dale's surprise, had turned out to be Jon Nilkos, a famous
writer of Graphic Novels in the area. Dale was a fan of his stuff.
No one was surprised that Dale Oakmont turned out to be Rubber
Bando, since he didn't exactly do a great job of hiding it. From there
they had proceeded to work out an animal world justice system, and had
been at it ever since. They were about ready to write a form of rodent
constitution and set up a courthouse.
"Really?" Chip asked. He had been wanting to know himself
how one man managed to keep his powers.
"Yea. I checked a few facts over with Frog, and he told me
that jewelry is easy to enchant. It just so happens that Jon was
wearing a ring--a memento of his brother--when he stepped into
the portal that gave him his strength, and therefore, his superpowers
go away when he takes it off, and come back when he puts it back on.
"Speaking of Jon, he's also going to be penning our constitution,
him having been a writer and all."
"Why can't we just copy the human Constitution?" Chip asked.
"Because, Humans are the most powerful beings on the planet,
but us rodents, we're weak, and therefore have things to worry about.
Is it okay to kill cats, for example? We may have to, if our survival
depends on it, but on the other hand we wouldn't want serial cat
killers."
Frog silently came in about here. He wanted to hear the rest
of it, and as such kept himself and Mademanna in the shadows, and kept
her mouth covered. She was nervous but being a child, she could still
have a runaway mouth. Humans are humans, and It's not like she's a
robot or anything.
Dale continued "Among all this, we don't want the humans to
realise there is an entire rodent society under their nose. You know
how humans are, Chip. If they thought we were intelligent, they would
probably become paranoid, and try to eliminate us."
"Golly!" Gadget said, "Are humans really like that?"
Frog decided to make their presence known, and said "Probably
not in this universe. Remember, you guys have made many villains
aware of your existence, but I don't recall them becoming overly
paranoid about it."
"Well," Gadget said, "Nimnul is aware of the Rescue Rangers,
but--hey, who's that?" She was pointing at Mademanna, who stayed
hidden in the doorway.
Frog walked out in the open, and motioned for Mademanna to
follow. "Come on out, it's okay." Slowly, reluctantly, she came
out, managing to squeak out "Hello, everyone?"
"This, friends," Frog said, "Is my even younger sister,
Mademanna." He turned, and said "Sis, this is Chip, Dale, Monty,
and Gadget."
Everyone got a kick out of the fact that Frog had just
addressed the door and had named a chair, a table, another chair,
and Dale, in that order. Of course, Frog was lost, and would be
until his vision returned.
"Big brother fouled up." Mademanna said to Frog.
"Okay. If these ain't the Rescue Rangers," He again pointed
to the chairs and table, "Then who is?"
"Frog," Gadget called out, "We're on your left."
"But that's where I'm indicate..." He waved around his right
hand, and realized his mistake. Then he, too, burst out laughing.
Mademanna walked up to Dale, who lacked a mask and cape but
was still in his Rubber Bando outfit otherwise.
"Why you in funny clown suit?" She asked.
"Because I'm Rubber Bando." He said, simply enough.
"Rubber Dandy?" If Frog were listening, he wouldn't be able
to comprehend how someone could have trouble with the word "Bando."
As it is, Mademanna, having just been repaired, is still getting
re-oriented.
"No, Rubber Ban-do."
"Rubber Dandy?"
Dale shook his head. "Now, repeat after me, Rub-ber Ban-do."
"Rub-ber.... Ban-dy?"
"Close enough."
Dale probably hadn't realised it yet, but he had himself
a new friend. Not a romantic one, mind you, as Dale's feelings
are reserved for either Gadget or Foxglove and Mademanna is too
childlike to seriously consider romance, but a new friend never-
theless.
The Rangers quickly found out that their new friend loved
cartoons, and obviously she was from the same universe that her
siblings were, though why they had expected otherwise, they could
not place. In any case, whereas Frog loved his He-Man, Mademanna
seemed to like something called "Captain Planet." Unlike Frog,
however, she actually had a tape on her, which she said "Big sis
gave to me." The problem? It was a mouse-sized tape. The
Rangers have a human-sized VCR.
"Maybe it's self-correcting?" Frog suggested.
"Ooohhhh... tried that." Mademanna whined.
"Don't worry, we'll think of something," Gadget said
reassuringly.
Within seconds, however, Mademanna seemed to think of
something. "A-ha!" She exclaimed.
"What?" Frog and Gadget asked simultaneously.
"Me think of something!" She hopped off the couch, placed
the tape in the middle of floor, and said "Stand back!" then she
pulled out, of all things, a Magic Candycane, waved it in the air,
caused a lot of pink swirly special effects, and a big bright flash.
Then the tape thought of something it hadn't before. Maybe
viewing, it thought, didn't come from the store. Maybe viewing
meant just a little bit more. And then the whole tape grew three
sizes that day, and the tape found it had the strength of ten tapes,
plus two.
Mademanna turned and asked "This right?"
Gadget looked, and said "It should be big enough now."
And while the tape may be big and strong, Mademanna found soon
that it wasn't heavy, and was able to, all by herself, lift it into
the VCR. Then Dale, who had the remote, pressed the "Play" button.
For the first time, they enjoyed one of the things Frog and
his friends had watched back home, and were pleasantly surprised,
what with their idea of entertainment having been established by
stuff like "The Red Badger of Courage." For those that care, the
episode they watched was the two-parter "Mission to Save Earth."
The version where both parts are merged into a movie.
Frog had to hold on to Mademanna the whole time, just to keep
her calm. Yes, kids DO get that ecstatic about cartoons. Too bad
Frog gets ecstatic, too.
After some time, a knock arrived on the door. Captain Planet
had just reached its ending credits.
Mademanna stood and said "I get it." And walked to the door.
Opening it, she found a large box which she had no trouble bringing
in. On it was a note addressed "To my favorite brother and sister."
Opening that, she found a note saying "This is a game I'm sure Mademanna
will remember."
"What is it?" Chip asked, his detectiveness posing some natural
curiosity.
Mademanna, joined by Chip and Frog, opened the box, and found
a huge assortment of what looked like golf clubs and laser pistols,
more of the latter than the former.
"What is this?" Chip asked.
Mademanna was ecstatic when she answered "Crystal Battle!"
She demonstrated. She pointed a laser at Frog, and fired, trapping
him in a crystal. Everyone was shocked. "Watch," she said, and then
knocked Frog's crystal with one of the clubs, which broke it, freeing
him.
In the box also were some more pieces of paper, one an instruction
sheet for playing the game, which wasn't really complicated (Basically,
two or more teams try to crystalize the other teams while one member of
each team, the one with the club dubbed "The Decrystalizer", makes life
hectic by constantly decrystalizing his or her teammates) and a note,
addressed specifically to Chip.
It said, specifically, "I am giving up being evil. I can't be
that mean when I have a little sister to take care of, and I think
resolving matters this way would be easiest on all of us. Whenever
you're ready, I'm waiting. You'll find me. No tricks, no fancy
weapons, no altering reality, just pure thought and skill, by the
rules--well, scratch that, there's no decrystalizer. Oh, and you
don't have to be protective of Frog and Mademanna, as this is a
non-violent game."
Chip folded it back up, and looked over those instructions
again. Then he said "Mademanna, demonstrate that again."
"Wait a minute, I wanna do this." Frog said. He crystalized
Mademanna, then tapped her, lightly, with the golf club. "Ya don't
need to whack the crystal. Tapping it works."
Mademanna was already digging through the box, and she found
something else, which she presented to Frog.
"Well, Holy box of wonders, Batman!" Frog exclaimed as he saw,
and held, a pair of in-line skates, like the kind he used to wear back
in the day. Mademanna happened to get a pair of regular skates. She
sighed and said "Big sister still thinks I a baby."
"You probably won't need these," Frog said in a happy, reassuring
tone, "The Crystal Field is slippery enough as it is. But, if you really
want to, why don't you make use of that magic candycane?"
She smiled, and did, turning her Fisher Price regulars into
in-lines, like her brothers, but small enough for her feet.
"This is getting silly." Chip said, "What exactly is going on?"
"Pennywinkel has challenged us to a game we used to play, called
The Great Crystal Battle. It's kinda like Lazer Tag, but if you get
hit, you get crystalized. Apparently the girl doesn't want it to take
too long, since she doesn't want a Decrystalizer. One thing bothers
me though. Is she going to be alone on her team?"
Dale had just got done reading the instructions. "Well, this
sounds easy! We'll win this in no time!"
"Perhaps," Frog said, for once being confident, "Especially if
she meant it when she said 'No altering reality' which I believe she
did. She's said that before, and she's always kept her word on it.
However, we also must not use anything that would give us an unfair
advantage." He put a hand on Mademanna's shoulders, "That means no
magic candycanes."
She smiled, and said "All right." They never use magic
during Crystal Battle anyway, not unless they want the game to get
out-of-whack.
It didn't take long to find Crystal Field, as it seemed
Pennywinkel had turned the park, and parts of the city, into some
form of pink crystal. However Pennywinkel had turned part of it
into a maze with a center portion that was wide open. She had to
distinguish this one area or the playfield would have been too large.
They didn't need to look for a place to land, since there were
tons of open spaces around the maze.

Fat Cat himself had walked into the park when he noticed the
strange shade of crystal on everything. "Hmmm, Mips!"
"You called, sir?" Mips said in that voice of his.
"Do you notice anything different about the park?"
"Yea, boss. It's been crystaled. Warts and Mole can't even
walk."
"Interesting. Isn't this the same park the Rangers live in?"
"I dunno, boss, I've never seen their house."
Fat Cat had ultimately decided that this bears looking into.

"Frog was right about one thing," Dale said, "This crystal ground
is slippery."
It was but they soon got used to it. Frog and Mademanna were
wearing their skates, adjusting to them. Despite this being her first
time with in-lines, Mademanna was doing quite well. Frog wasn't so bad
either, but then in-lines, despite common belief, are actually much more
user-friendly than regulars.
Pennywinkel stepped out in front of them, and said "You guys
actually ready or are you just training?"
"Geez, which one do you think? Let's see, we've got about
four new players..."
"Not me, mate," Monterey said, "I'm too old for games. Besides,
I don't like guns. I prefer me fists. I'll be a spectator."
"Fine then." Frog was sorry that he wasn't playing. He seemed
like a natural.
Frog turned to the remaining players, and said "Okay, I'll teach
ya how to play."
"So, the Rangers are playing a game!" Fat Cat said to himself.
"Oh, goodie! Maybe we can join them!" Mips said excitedly.
"You numsku--wait a minute, I wonder who they are playing
against? Obviously not themselves, if I heard that blue-haired mouse
correctly."
"They're playing against me," Pennywinkel said, suddenly appearing
on Fat Cat's shoulders.
"You? And you alone? That's not going to give them much trouble."
"You must be joking. They're simple minded fools. I know full
well that they'll simply try to gun me down, not even bothering to plan."
"Their leader won't. He's the one that makes all the plans.
And besides, even if you are right, its a five-to-one battle, you're
sure to lose."
"Nothing is ever certain, Fat Cat. However, I will admit, just
me alone is dull, even if I do win. Are you offering assistance?"
"Why, yes, assuming cats can play. The arena does seem a
little small..."
"Step into it."
He did. Just as he did, Pennywinkel opened her umbrella, and
Fat Cat shrunk to mouse-size.
"Boss!" Mips cried.

"What was that?" Chip wondered as he was decrystalizing Frog
(Chip seemed to be managing this game quite well).

"What happened?" Fat Cat asked.
"There's a magical field around this game. Anyone who doesn't
want to play is blocked from getting near it. Anyone who does want to
play is shrunk to mouse-size." This was demonstrated by Mips trying to
step into the maze, and being blocked.
Pennywinkel handed Fat Cat a megaphone, which he used to yell
"Mips! Do you want to join me?"
"Yes, Boss! Where are you--Oh!" Mips was instantly shrunk to
mouse-size, as well.
Just then, Chip ran around the corner, and stopped in surprise.
"Fat Cat!" he exclaimed, "How did you--? What are you doing here?"
"Why, playing the game, of course!"
"Pennywinkel! You said no tri--"
She instantly responded "There is no rule against new players."
Chip sighed. She was right. After hesitating, he said "But,
while I don't know you, I do know Fat Cat! He can't be trusted, he'll
cheat!"
"Oh? How would he do that? The only gizmo any of us are allowed
to use are rollerskates and the Crystalizers. Anything else he may have
brought in with him is negated while inside this arena's magical field."
Fat Cat would have said "Drat" except for he didn't bring anything
anyway.
Chip couldn't argue, so he just said "Fine then. We're almost
finished practicing."
"Boss, shouldn't -we- be practicing?" Mips said.
"For once, you're actually thinking, Mips. Would the young lady
mind explaining to us how this game works?"
Chip managed to get back to his team, and said "Bad news, Frog,
your sister has a team now. Specifically, she has Fat Cat and Mips!"
"Ah, wow, so she has two teammates." Frog said, not at all
surprised or worried by that. "Now this'll be the sorta hectic fun I
love!"
Chip slapped himself on the head for thinking this kid would
ever worry about something like that. Maybe he's right, maybe this
is nothing more than Pennywinkel getting some help, but still, he
was uneasy.

Pennywinkel taught her team the basics, which in her mind
was all they needed to know. So they passed time until the startoff
getting to know each other. She already knew about Fat Cat, and he
soon learned about her, including the part about her coming from
another universe. He had questions.
"So, the only reason I can never win--"
"Is because the Rangers had scripted victories, yes."
Fat Cat wanted to change the subject "This 'Altering Reality'
you mention, it sounds like a nice ability. How does it work?"
Pennywinkel sighed, "It's actually not as nice as I make
it sound. You've got freedom, but you can't do everything.
As for how it works, well, that's a long story.
"The reason I can do it is simple: I'm multidimensional,
which is an inborn trait. Simply speaking, a mystery that would
take Sherlock Holmes a week to solve processes through my brain
in about a minute, I can figure out many things just by putting
a little bit of thought into it. Therefore, I can figure out
in microseconds exactly how to get what I want to happen. It's
kinda like using a cheat device, actually.
"And there is another thing: I come from another reality
altogether. Any reality me and my siblings go to, we bring a
bit of it with us when we leave, small chunks that stay clinged
to us. The portal we use to travel universes mistakes these
clangs for stray strands of us, and therefore integrates them
into our physical and spiritual makeup. I soon figured out
that we could still use these powers, but didn't tell my siblings,
because I didn't want them to go crazy with them (that and I don't
want Mademanna messing with magic anyway). Because they were mixed
with us, and therefore our imaginations, we could also twist them to
our desires if we knew how.
"However, as I said, I can't just make stuff happen, if I
could, I wouldn't be telling you this, I'd implant the knowledge
in your brain--Being multidimensional does *not* make me psychic--
As far as making stuff happen without any real reasoning goes,
I can create stuff out of nothing, but only small things, like,
say, these lasers. I could handle this maze in seconds only
because it was mouse-sized, a human-sized maze would have taken
about two weeks.
"But the biggest restriction is that, I can hurt people
with logical magic--anything based in something I picked up
earlier--but I can't outright alter people themselves, with
the sole exception of myself. Well, okay, I can change people's
sizes, but I can't, say, teleport the Rangers to random locations
or snap my fingers and suck the life out of them."
"Tragic. If only we could do that, we could bring the Rangers
right here and zap them right now!"
Pennywinkel sighed, "Even if I could, I wouldn't do that. That
would just be too boring. I like to toy with my enemies."
To mark when the games would begin, Pennywinkel had put up
a Bottlerocket in the center of the maze. When it exploded, the
game officially began.
"So, Miss, what's our plan?" Fat Cat asked.
"Wait. the Rangers will eventually enter the very center,
when they do..."
NEXT TIME: THE GREAT CRYSTAL CONCLUSION!

Okay, this episode wasn't that reference heavy (again stating
names doesn't count) did anyone notice:
* The reference to the "Dizzy" series of NES and Commodore 64
games?
* The paraphrased line from the animated "How the Grinch
Stole Christmas"?
* The rip-off of the anime "Magical Princess Gigi"? (That's
pronounced "Ji-Ji" BTW)

----------------------------
8-BIT STAR'S RANDOM THOUGHTS

I was more down than usual on this visit to my old friend,
Minor God Force. I sat down, and said "Min-G, I don't think I'll
write any more fanfiction."
Now, this was nothing new. I've told him and others this
before, but as always I end up coming back and trying again.
"Bits, you've said that again and again..."
"I mean it this time. I'll complete five episodes of the
one I'm working on, plus a spin-off story, and that's it. This
silly fanfiction has gotten me away from my more important stories,
and besides, no one is reading them but me and like one or two
other people, so what's it matter?"
"Oh, you simply posted them at a bad time, that's all. In
any case, it probably is for the better. The last thing I need is
more silly fanfiction cluttering up my Universe!"
Geez, no wonder I'm manic-depressive when it comes to writing.
So I said "You don't like fanfiction, do you?"
"I don't like the thought that people go around, thinking they
can improve on my otherwise perfect universe! I mean, how many times
has Gadget died, or some dark show mixed with my perfect universe?
And why must they, especially Chip and Gadget, be forced to bear
unbelievable anguish, fanfic after fanfic? Can people not just
live and let live?"
"Live and let die, dude."
"Says the person who allows HIS evil psychopaths to manipulate
reality, made worse by the fact that I can't interefere or all the
fans would say I'm 'Deus ex Machina'!"
"It's not like Pennywinkel's gonna tear a hole in the fabric
of reality."
Just then, a hole in the fabric of reality (Which is quite
cheap material, by the way) opened up, and was sucking in all sorts
of shrapnel.
Me, I ducked, held on to something for dear life, and constantly
yelled for Min-G to do something.
Of course, all he had to do was duck-tape it.
"Whew!" I said, "What happened?"
"Oh, your little innocent harmless girl just tore her fifteenth
hole in reality."
I decided to just shut up.

-----------

EPISODE 4 - VICTORY! THE GREAT CRYSTAL BATTLE PART 2

Mademanna was tense, very tense. The rocket had flown and
blown, and the game had begun. Now her and her four teammates
(Chip, Dale, Gadget, and her brother Frog) were now sneaking through
the maze like they were movie spies who didn't want to trip a security
alarm.
She remembered Frog's command, "Now, if you see anyone who's
not us, and they don't see you, try to get a shot in, otherwise wait
for a better opportunity and make a run for it." Granted, he failed
to mention that he never took this advice himself, but still.
Soon enough, they'd have to break up. A large group like
theirs would make a perfect target for a random shot.
They soon came to a crossroads.
"All right," Frog said, "I'm going this way, alone. Mademanna,
you go with Gadget. Chip, Dale, you go that way. If ever these came
from the forge of the true king under the mountain--well, actually, I
dunno why he'd be making lasers, so if these ever came from the true
Man-at-Arms workshop--ah, to heck with it. Good luck!" He dashed off
to the west, the girls to the east, and the chipmunks to the North.
Dale whispered "No offense, but I really think he shoulda
let us choose partners, not paired us up the way he did."
"No," Chip whispered, "He, for once, knew what he was doing.
If he let us choose, we would have just fought over Gadget like we
always do. We probably still would be standing there arguing right
now, and probably would get crystalized early. At least now we have
a chance."
There was a turn, and another, and another, then finally
there was a two-way fork, one going west and the other leading
north. Chip decided he'd take the West way and that Dale would
continue North, since they didn't know when or where they'd
encounter enemies.
Gadget was having a hard time keeping up with Mademanna,
since the child had one thing Gadget didn't have. No, not an
enourmous amount of energy, she had skates! Gadget at first
thought this was an advantage. At least if Mademanna got
crystalized she'd know someone was ahead. She was surprised
at herself for thinking that way, then finally told her mind
to calm down, it's just a game, no one is really going to get
hurt. Anyone who gets crystalized can be revived later using
one of those golf clubs.
Okay, she thought, but she still didn't like thinking that
way. Of all things, she should be ahead to warn Mademanna, not
the other way around.
Mademanna suddenly stopped. On either side of her, the
walls had openings where she could get into another lane. Down
the west side there was a row of openings, on the other, only one.
Gadget caught up, and whispered "What are we stopping for?"
Mademanna's only response was the sit down, and press a
button on her skates. She then showed her skates to Gadget. The
wheels were still there, but now they were sideways and hidden in
a crevice inside the skate rather than being wheels. Same for the
other one.
"Morphing shoes," Mademanna whispered.
"Oh," Gadget looked around. The obvious question being "Which
way should we take?" But, we all know how decisive Gadget is. "If
you ask me, we could just keep going on, but we might run in to the
other team and get zapped, of course that might happen if we go this
way as well, or we could take this multitude of paths and systematically
scan every one of them..."
"Follow me," Mademanna went down the east side, which had
multiple paths. "That side edge of field, Pennywinkel never go
there. She always close to center, this way."
Well, this little girl knows, what choice did Gadget have?

Frog was proceeding carefully. He, like Mademanna, also had
morphing shoes, and the rolling sound would give him away if anyone
was nearby, so he had morphed his skates.
Walking, he made sure to glance through the walls. One thing
newcomers would overlook is one simple fact: The walls are made of
crystal, and crystal is translucent, which means images are fractured,
but if something blocks the light, you'll know.
His leg went out again. He got up, saying things your mommy
wouldn't let you hear, and with good reason. Sure, he had been down
for a second, but he had played this before. What if someone heard
him? Maybe someone ran by, fracturing the light, and he missed it!
Drat! He sometimes wished he could lop his leg off and get a
replacement.
Well, otherwise, nothing was happening with him.

"How long do we have to wait?" Mips whispered. Pennywinkel
didn't like Mips talking, as his voice is loud and audible even
if he's whispering. They were still waiting at an opening north
of the big, open area in the center of the maze.
"It may take awhile, especially if they split up, but some
of them are going to end up in the center, then we'll have them,
I'm sure!"
Fat Cat added "Come to think of it, Mips, since you're
impatient for some action, why don't you lure them here?"
"Great idea, boss! Where should I look?"
Pennywinkel replied "Look in the east, I'm pretty sure
there's some there. that is, if it's okay with Fat Cat."
He nodded agreement.
"Right-O, boss!... which way is east?"
Both Fat Cat and Pennywinkel pointed east.
"Right!" Within seconds, he was gone.
Pennywinkel put a hand on her forehead, and said "If you
don't mind me saying so, he annoys me."
"All my lackeys are dumb like that. I trained them for
manual work, not to be intelligent."
"Speaking of which..." She walked into the middle, towards
the west entrance that leads into the center, "Since he's down
there, and you're up here, I should be guarding the south west.
That way, all the bases are covered. Oh, and remember to watch
the walls. They're translucent, you can see through them to a
certain extent."
Dale, who had continued north, almost walked smack dab into
the center, when he spotted Fat Cat at the far side. Fortunately,
he was in another hallway with an opening, and simply ducked to the
left.
Fat Cat had been looking off to the west, but the sudden
movement caught his eye. He thought to himself "Did I just see
someone?" The walls were translucent, but for that knowledge to
be any good you had to get close to them. He thought he'd alert
Pennywinkel, but thought better of it. If someone was there, it
was better for them to think it was safe and scamper out into the
open, and get zapped.

Dale, on the other hand, was certain he had seen Fat Cat.
He peeked back around, and saw him waiting, patiently.
Dale remembered what Frog had said, "If you see someone, and
they don't see you, try to shoot. Otherwise wait for a better
opportunity." Dale decided to walk westward, down the hallway, and
get back to Fat Cat later. He walked cautiously, however, for one
of Fat Cat's helpers might be nearby.
As it was, he almost bumped into Pennywinkel, who was playing
sentry of the hallway. This little meeting was unfortunate for the
now-crystal Dale, as Pennywinkel has more confidence in her senses
than does Fat Cat. She didn't wait and wonder if she had just seen
her opponent, she fired.
Meanwhile, Chip and Frog had just rounded the corner. Chip
quickly remembered about translucency, and had been following Frog's
shadow, thinking he was the enemy. Frog had been following Chip's
shadow, as well. The two almost zapped each other, but Frog dodged
and he was able to free enough of his willpower to be able to avert
his own aim. Paranoia does make people act on impulse, ya know.
"Chip," Frog whispered, "Where's Dale?"
"Me and him split up a ways back. There was a two-way path,
you see, and--"
"I getcha. In that case, the safest thing to do is to
centralize your efforts, that means we should head towards the center.
One of us will lead, and watch the front, the other will kinda lag
behind a bit, and watch the back. That way, we can be sure no one
is sneaking up on us."
"Fine, I'll lead."
That was okay with Frog. They started walking, Frog turning
around occasionally. "Oh, Chip, don't take this the wrong way, but
don't talk unless you have to. Your high-pitched, squeaky voice is
very audible in any situation. The lasers make a sound when fired,
I'll know if battle starts."
He thumbed up, showing that he understood.

"This game of stealth, try keep quiet," Mademanna said.
Gadget didn't exactly need to know that, especially since
Mademanna did most of the talking.
Suddenly, from around the corner came Mips. Mademanna
ducked, and opened fire. Problem was that her aim bites, and
she missed. Mips, being incapable of free thought, instead
followed given orders and ran back towards the center,
occasionally checking to see if the girls were following.
They were for awhile, until they almost got to the center,
Then Gadget grabbed Mademanna, and whispered "Are we near the
center?"
"Yep! Let's get 'em!"
"No. We're being lured." Gadget surveyed the area. They
were at another intersection, the path they came from being the
east. The south led into a turn, the west and north were hallways
with openings, the west having a south and north opening and the
north having an opening leading west.
Gadget looked east again, and saw the crystal that Dale was
trapped in, and began to wonder how everyone else was doing. Had
Chip and Frog already been crystalized?
"Are we near the center?" Gadget asked.
"Yep, that there and there lead right into it." She indicated
the appropriate hallways.
"Okay, I'm going to wait by that opening." She indicated the
north, "You wait by that one, over there. Now, count to ten, and
when you get there, go in there and open fire on whoever you see.
Now."
They were counting, and getting into their appropriate places.

Chip and Frog were in a series of hallways, one on the north
and another on the south every step, and the passage they were in
now lead to the northern entrance of the center, where they saw
Fat Cat, waiting. His attention seemed focused on something else,
and both Frog and Chip thought they would have a clear shot if Mips
wasn't there, seemingly excited and pacing.
Their luck changed. It seemed to them that Fat cat had
indicated Mips to stand somewhere in the center...

"Six, five, four, three, two, ONE!"
At the appointed time, both Gadget and Mademanna jumped out,
opening fire. Unfortunately, their attack was not successful. As
I noted earlier, Mademanna's aim bites. She was crystalized by Fat
Cat almost immediately. Gadget's aim was better, and she managed
to take out Mips, but Pennywinkel got her.
When the shooting started, Frog knelt, holding his laser on
Fat Cat. He wanted to shoot, but thought if he did, someone would
see, and it would bring attention to himself. Besides maybe whoever
he's shooting at will get him.
It was soon apparent that the fighting was over, and Frog
decided now was as good a time as any. He told Chip to duck into
the hallway immediately to the north, then fired. His aim was great,
and he hit Fat Cat on the first try.
Unfortunately, and he expected this, his fears were confirmed.
The last enemy player standing was Pennywinkel, who had suddenly
come from around the corner and blasted Frog into a nice, round
crystal.
Chip saw this, and peered out, and just as quickly pulled
his head back in. Darn, the last one standing is an unrealistic
genius! Only one thing to do, he thought. He wondered if shots
could go through crystal, and as such shot Frog's crystal in a
location where the shot should not hit Frog himself.
It actually made the crystal bigger.
Then, suddenly, Chip started thinking, wondering, and he
had a plan. He moved Frog a bit to his left, so that he wasn't
totally blocking Chip's way out of the passage. "I hope she can't
see my foot" he thought, and he pushed Frog foreward, and quickly
ran down the hallway he was in, so that Pennywinkel couldn't use
the translucency of the walls to her own advantage. Now all he
had to do was hope.

Frog had to be double-decrystalized, as he seemed to be
the bearer of bad luck. Last of all was Pennywinkel, who was
quite surprised. "Feeling better?" Chip asked after he, with
the help of Mademanna (whom had been decrystalized first) had
decrystalized everyone, with the exception of Fat Cat and Mips,
who were still in the maze.
"I lost?" Pennywinkel asked.
"Yes, you lost."
Did I mention Mus-Kyu-Lar was here, representing the League
of Mousedom? Well, he said "And furthermore, when our system is
made official, you will answer to the charges presented against you.
The foremost being the charge of murdering one of the Rescue Rangers,
a fly by the name of Zipper..."
"This fly?" Pennywinkel presented a crystal containing the
fly. Everyone except Mademanna (Who had no idea what was going on)
was in shock. "Mademanna, tap the crystal."
She did, and Zipper, who was once thought dead, was now
back among the living, and everyone was happy to see him,
Monterey Jack most of all.
"I don't understand," Chip said, "Why make us think...?"
Frog quickly said "I can explain that. It's a really long
story, if you care to hear it."
"We do," Pennywinkel interrupted, "But I want to know how
he beat me first."
Everyone was silent, waiting to hear this one.
Chip sat down, and said "Well, okay, if you really must
know, it was really simple. See, first I shot Frog again while
he was still in the crystal, actually I was seeing if I could
shoot through the crystal and therefore hit you. When I saw
what really happened, however, I first thought that maybe I
could use Frog as a shield to get to the hall right across
from me. I was about to, but then I thought again and said
'No, that is exactly what she would expect' so, I instead
made it look like I had made the cross, then retreated back
down into my own hallway. Just in time, because you came
running, seeming sure I had run down the other hall. I simply
fired when I had the chance."
Pennywinkel laughed with surprise, and said "I suppose
you're more intelligent than I at first thought. Here," She
handed him what looked like a bronze medal, "That's because
you're the first boy who ever out-thought me."
Everyone clapped, then Frog said "Oh, and you were
wondering what this whole pretense evil was about, right?
Well, as I said, that is a long story.
"Now, a dream of everyone is to interact somehow with their
favorite TV show, this is why we have self-insertion fanfiction (Though
admittedly that sometimes gets a little carried away), however, our
father did research, and found that there was a way to actually physically
interact with our shows, one that didn't require becoming an actor or
buying the subsequent video games. That way, was to manipulate particles
of reality and open a gateway to the other universe.
"Pennywinkel, having multidimensional thought, knew exactly
how to do that, and did it. Thus her and dad put together worked on
a machine which we called the PortalMaster Project. We can enter and
leave universes pretty much any time. Furthermore, we always have
contact with our main universe via a program in both our laptops called
Dimadial. Many of our favorite shows and games are archived--Dad had
contacts--and if we want to see any particular show or game again,
we just have to ask for it.
"Well, anyway, universes ago, me, Pennywinkel, and Mademanna
would almost always fight evil, especially since in some of those
universes there were no heroes in the first place (There were, but
those were video game universes and in some of those the heroes are
created by the player). She, however, had soon figured out how
to pull the strings of reality and, while bashing monsters and
demoralizing villains was fun at first, she got sick of it, and
decided to try being evil herself. Of course, she seems to have
gotten sick of that, too."
"My brother nailed it on the head," Pennywinkel confirmed,
"I've now decided that what I need are not allies or enemies, but
a universe I can live in and have fun with. So I've decided to
stay here, in this universe."
"Golly," Dale said (Betcha thought it was Gadget, didn't
ya?) "Why couldn't ya guys live in the Universe of He-Man or
Captain Planet?"
"Background. He-Man's world is real developed, which is
fine from a literal standpoint, but also means its not open-ended
enough for me. Captain Planet's universe is too weak. After all,
the death of one person can destroy his whole planet. Other than
those minor problems, both would be fine.
"Besides that, the Ranger universe has some great fanfiction
writers--the series itself ended long ago--and the only established
thing is the main characters. Everything else is open-ended--which
is why those portals started popping up, by the way--giving me and
my siblings room to experiment, and possibly even be experimented
with, assuming anyone in our universe, through some means, realizes
we've arrived."
"Well, I hope so too." Chip said, "Because the arrival of
you kids and all the mishaps afterwards are the only exciting
thing to happen in about a year or so."
"Right," Monterey said, "It was almost as bad as not having
any cheese!"
"That," Pennywinkel said, "Is due to two things. One, your
series was cancelled, and two, all the fanfiction takes place in
an alternate chronology."
"Golly!" Gadget said, "Why?"
"Simple. To be put in the main chronology, it has to be
considered canon, and people do not consider fanfiction to be
canon to the series. Perhaps someone will think of something
and the series will be revived one day. Until then, I'm pretty
sure I can muster up something.
"But enough of that, I think we all need a break."
Afterwards, Pennywinkel turned from a villain to simply
being in the grey area of the scale. Frog continued living with
the Rangers, and Mademanna would switch over from time to time,
being with Frog one week and with Pennywinkel the next. As of
yet, the Rangers have not figured out she's a robot.
But don't you even think that was the end of their adventures!
If you do, you're downright wrong! Even now, a new menace lurks in
the shadows, awaiting the chance to spring out of his or her confines
and make dark this lovely little universe! Life will go on, things
will change, others will stay the same, and STUFF WILL HAPPEN (Dah dah
DAHHHH!)

Okay, did anyone catch these references:
* The line from "The Hobbit"?
* The reference to a character from He-Man?

----------------------------
8-BIT STAR'S RANDOM THOUGHTS

I was, again, talking to Minor God Force, yadda yadda,
blah blah. This time I says "Hey, Min-G, I'm thinking of
making my characters public domain."
"And THAT means...?"
"Handing out a universal literary license. Basically
it would mean that whoever wanted to could use my characters
and situations without the need to ask my permission. I'm curious
as to what others would do with them."
"Hah! More than likely, they wouldn't even think of
touching them."
"Perhaps, but still, I'm curious."
"Well," He sat down, "What I would do, is first off, I'd
kill Pennywinkel, make Frog a wisecracker and turn Mademanna
into something useful."
"Well, that certainly sounds interesting. Bet you or anyone
else couldn't do any of that without taking the characters wildly out
of whack!"
"I'm not going to, that would be direct interference. However,
I think if you DID make your characters open-ended, my universe--and
life--would become a living.... waste!"
"Nahh, I have confidence in my fellow Rangerphiles, they could
produce great stuff!"
"You wanna see?"
"Sure."
So, what do you guys on the Acorn Cafe think?

----------------------------
DISCLAIMER

Dumb Frog, Pennywinkel, Minor God Force, Mademanna, and Jon Nilkos/
Mus-Kyu-Lar are my own creations. Anything and everything else is
copyrighted by it's respective owners. Feel free to distribute this
fanfic for any non-profit purpose. If you would like to use my
characters or situations in one of your own stories, E-Mail me
at nes_star@hotmail.com or post a direct reply to this message.