By Jareth
Chapter Twelve: 100,000,000 volts
The Rangers couldn’t believe who it was. Standing at the back of the room with his head down, was none other than Sparky, the statically charged lab rat that they had encountered on a case not to long ago.
“Hi Sparky,” Gadget greeted cheerfully as they all walked in, relived it wasn’t a burglar “what are you doing here?”
“Yes,” Growled Chip, stepping in front of Gadget “what ARE you doing here?” Chip hadn’t forgotten about the last time Sparky had stayed with them. The flirty way Gadget looked at Sparky, made Chip want to strangle him.
Sparky didn’t look up. It was as if he was completely oblivious to their presence.
“Who’s that?” Foxglove whispered to Dale.
“His name’s Sparky.” Dale explained “We met him a while back during a case. Don’t worry, he’s a good guy.”
“So then why does Chip seem so unhappy to see him?” Foxglove asked quizzically.
Dale choked back a laugh. “Because,” He explained “last time he was here, Gadget paid more attention to him than Chip. He’s jealous!” Dale noticed Foxglove wasn’t laughing. “Well I guess you just had to be there.”
“I suppose so…” Foxglove was staring at Sparky. There was definitely something strange about him. Apparently, judging by the look on his face, Zipper thought so too.
“You alright mate?” Monty asked Sparky.
Still no response
Chip leaned over toward Gadget. “I think his battery’s dead.” He whispered, as to avoid Sparky hearing.
Suddenly, Sparky’s head shot up and starred directly at Chip. His eyes looked very different then they did the first time the Rangers met him; almost evil. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at Chip. “I’m going to kill you now.” He said, almost emotionlessly.
“I don’t know what your deal is, but if you want to hurt me friends, ya hafta go through me first.” Monty said, stepping in front of Chip and rolling up his sleeves.
Sparky made a slight evil grin. “If you insist.” With that, an enormous bolt of lightning shot out of Sparky’s finger and struck Monty in the chest, hurling him backwards into the wall. Monty then proceeded to collapse onto the floor.
Immediately, all of the other Rangers rushed over to assist their fallen comrade. “Monty, are you okay!?” Chip asked, shaking Monty.
“He’s not dead.” Came Sparky’s voice from across the room. Immediately, the Rangers all turned to face him.
“Why did you do that Sparky!?” Asked Gadget, surprised by this sudden change in Sparky’s personality.
“Why?!” Yelled Sparky, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Why?! I’ll tell you why! Back at MIT, I awoke one night and realized that you and I were made for one another! We’d probably have been together already, if it weren’t for those idiotic chipmunks, always trying to make sure that you favored them the most, like some kind of spoiled pets! I realized with them out of the picture, we could finally be together!
Gadget was becoming extremely frightened. “Sparky,” She began “I could never love a murderer, I—”
“ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!” Sparky grabbed his forehead as if it were about to explode. “N-n-n-NO! Must k-k-killllll!!!” Resuming concentration, he pointed at Chip and Dale who were now hugging each other in fear. “Goodbye Deadweights!”
Sparky’s finger charged up as if he was about to fire, when an enormous metal pole struck his head. Behind him, hovered Zipper, who was obviously experiencing an enormous adrenalin rush.
“Way to go Zipper!” Cheered Gadget.
However, Instead of collapsing, Sparky gripped the pole, sending a strong electrical charge through it, and causing Zipper to flash and his skeleton to become temporarily visible.
“Zipper!” Gadget cried helplessly as she watched the poor fly hit the ground. She looked at Sparky, her eyes filled with rage and sadness. “You-you monster!” She yelled, beginning to cry.
“Ha!” Sparky laughed emotionlessly, before turning back toward Chip and Dale. A large glowing sphere appeared in his hand. “Die.” Said Sparkey as he prepared to throw the sphere.
Chip and Dale cringed, awaiting the inevitable… but it never came. The two chipmunks opened their eyes, only to see Sparky, just standing there, looking as if he had just run a thousand miles. He then proceeded to collapse, revealing Foxglove, standing behind him, holding what appeared to be a large (by rodent standards) stainless steel capsule.
“Foxy!” Dale yelled, overjoyed that she was all right.
Foxglove stood there for a moment, staring at Chip and Dale before she timidly asked, “What are you guys doing?”
It was at this moment that the two chipmunks realized that they were still hugging each other. “Yech!” They both yelled, shoving each other away.
Gadget stared at Foxglove in sheer amazement. “Foxglove,” She began “what did you do?”
“Well,” Began Foxglove “you know how when I first got here, you were explaining how the lightening rod on top of the tree works? You told me that you had some kind of electricity absorbing device to eliminate the need for a grounding wire. When I saw that rat shoot out electricity, I figured that I could stop him if I used that device, so I flew up to the roof, pulled out the device, stuck in on his back, and it worked!” Foxglove paused for a moment. “…You’re not mad at me for breaking the lightning rod are y—”
Before, Foxglove could finish, Gadget ran up to her. “Foxglove, you’re a genius!” She yelled, hugging her.
“I… I am?” Foxglove said, smiling.
At this point, Chip came over, dragging Monty, while Dale came over, carrying Zipper. “Zipper’s okay, he’s just asleep.” Dale informed the others, laying Zipper down on the couch.
“Same with Monty.” Followed Chip, as he pushed Monty onto the couch as well.
“What did you do to make him that mad!?” Demanded Dale, kicking Chip in the shins.
“Nothing!” Chip yelled in defense. “Gadget, do you think that I… Gadget?”
Gadget was busy tinkering with her energy meter and the capsule. She was beginning to look very tense and confused again.
“What’s wrong?” Asked Chip, walking over to Gadget.
Gadget didn’t look up. She remained focused on the meter’s reading. “This just can’t be right.” Gadget mumbled to herself.
“What?” Demanded Chip.
Gadget looked up at him. “The readings are way too high!”
“Too high?” Chip was confused as to what Gadget was getting at.
“Last time we saw Sparky, his energy measured around 10 volts.”
“So?” Chip still didn’t understand what this was leading too.
“This time,” Continued Gadget “Sparkey’s energy is measuring at over 100,000,000 volts! That’s like a bolt of lightening! Not only that, but its 99.9999999% negative energy, just like the hole at the bank!”
“You don’t think Sparky…?” Began Chip.
Before Chip could finish, Dale interrupted him. “Uh, guys?”
“What is it Dale?” Said Gadget as she turned to face Dale.
Dale was holding up the fur that was previously covering Sparky’s forehead. “What’s that?” He asked, pointing at Sparky’s forehead.
The other rangers ran over to get a good look at whatever Dale was pointing
at. On Sparky’s forehead, was a large, black, curly ended letter “W”.