All Smiles in the Darkness
By RedSwift
Chapter 4
As Chip returned home, he came in the door, and looked to see Dale reading a comic book on the couch, Foxglove sleeping with her head in his lap. “Did Monty, Zipper, or Gadget get back,” he quietly asked his friend.
“Nope,” Dale nonchalantly told him, going back to his comic book.
Chip went out on the veranda and watched the stars through the trees for awhile.
He heard Monty, Zipper and Gadget enter the house together from the garage, and got up to meet them. Sitting down at the table, while Dale and Foxglove stayed on the couch, not paying much attention, Dale reading with the bat still sleeping in his lap, they went over what they’d found out.
“Well, I found nothing,” Chip told them.
“Nothin’ at the docks either mate.” Monty replied.
“Golly, I’ve been busy all day. I went to the station and was watching the files and I saw a great gizmo. I didn’t know what it was, so I went to investigate, and when I pressed a button on it, the two metal prongs on the end had an arc of lightning pass through them. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I know if we really needed one I could whip it up in about ten minutes…”
“Gadget luv, did you find anythin’ interesting?” Monterey interrupted her.
“Oh yeah, I did, there was a jewelry store robbery last night and no clues were found, or a way for the crooks in.”
“Sounds like Fat Cat to me,” Chip said while pounding his fist into his palm. “We’ll look into it tomorrow first thing.” Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, except Dale who obliviously went on reading his comic book.
“Dale, did you hear that?” Chip shouted over at him.
“Yeah, I heard you,” Dale replied without looking up. Chip shrugged and went off to bed since the day had worn him out. Everyone except Dale and the sleeping Foxglove followed suit.
As Chip awoke the next morning, he went through his normal everyday routine, stumbling down to the kitchen for his morning coffee. He sat down with a thud with the cup Monty handed him, drinking the hot liquid. As he came to, he finally noticed that Gadget was already there and also nursing an already half gone cup of coffee. She looked up at him, and smiled over her coffee, he looked over and smiled back to her. “So where we hittin first today?” Monty interrupted.
Broken out of his reverie, Chip quickly responded, “Fat Cat’s Casino, we’re gonna snoop around while everyone sleeps from last night’s activities.”
“Sounds good to me mate.”
“Guess I better go get Dale up,” and Chip got up and left the room. A few moments later he came back, “Have you guys seen Dale today?”
Zipper buzzed something to Monty, and Monty translated, “Zipper says he saw ‘im on the couch sleepin’.”
“Well, I’ll go get him up.” Chip walked into the main room and saw Foxy in pretty much the same position as the night before. Dale was also just like before, except his comic book open face down on the floor and his head hung over the back of the couch with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. A quiet snore Chip quickly recognized emitted from Dale, and Chip almost didn’t have the heart to wake them up. *I’ve been pretty hard on him lately, maybe I’ll let ‘em sleep in today.* As he tiptoed back to the kitchen, he hit a squeaky part of the floor and heard Foxy yawn. *Curse that hearing of hers,* he turned back around and saw her head poking up from behind the back of the couch.
“Is it morning already?” she asked groggily.
“Yes it is, I was gonna come get you two to go out to Fat Cat’s, but I thought I’d let you guys sleep in.”
“That’s OK, I’ll get him up,” and she proceeded to nuzzle his neck. Not wanting to see this, Chip headed back towards the kitchen and started on the breakfast Monty was just finishing up.
*Of course, cheese flapjacks, oh well, just grin and bear it Chip.* A few minutes later Dale and Foxy came in. Dale hungrily began on his flapjacks while Foxglove just had a glass of orange juice, saying she’d catch something to eat later.
Once everyone had finished and the dishes were done, the team piled into the Ranger Plane, as Foxy flew alongside, and took off towards the Happy Tom Cat Food Company where Fat Cat’s casino was located. Along the way, Dale said something about wanting to stop at the music store sometime today, and no one objected.
As they approached the cat statue, the guys hung over the sides trying to spot sentries. Seeing none, they landed on a building next to the factory. They got out of the Plane and proceeded to the edge. Gadget took out her plunger harpoon and shot it towards an air conditioning unit across the way. Foxglove stayed behind as the other Rangers made their way across the gap. Once everyone got over, the bat brought the end of the rope over to the others and Chip wound it up, handing it back to Gadget. She reloaded it onto the launcher while the team sneaked over to a ventilation opening.
Signaling to Monty, Chip pointed at the vent grate. Nodding and affirmative, Monty took it off in one big tug. Cringing at the loud noise of the screws being dug out of their housing, Monty put the grate down, and everyone slowly moved their way into the tunnel. Though it was dark, everyone knew their way from the numerous times they’d been here. They finally reached the spot where the vent went behind the bar, and Monty slowly took the grate off, and Zipper buzzed out to do a reconnaissance.
Once he gave them the go ahead sign, the team moved out and split up, checking each of Fat Cat’s “Secret” stashes that they all knew by heart. As Chip took away the wall panel of Fat Cat’s largest stash, actually a large soundproofed room, he saw the jewels stashed inside. Giving a whistle, the rest of the Rangers gathered around him, and they closed themselves in the store room, and Chip began, “Well it was definitely Fat Cat. I think we should go catch him and turn him over to the authorities..”
“Sounds like a plan to me mate,” Month answered, rubbing his paws together. “I’m always up for a good fight.”
“Alright, its settled, let’s go.” They removed the panel and went silently to the elevator. As they rode up, they each prepared for the brawl that would undoubtedly ensue. Monty cracked his fingers, Gadget prepared her plunger launcher, Zipper punched the air before him, Chip silently collected himself, Foxy stretched her wings, and Dale began making sound effects of fighting and machine gun noises, imagining he was gunning down the tubby tabby. As the doors opened, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw. There sat Fat Cat at his desk, a glazed look in his eyes as he twirled a young mouse by his tail, staring at it. The rest of his crew loafed wherever they could around his office, the same glazed look in their eyes. All except mole, who eventually saw the Rangers standing there.
“Uh, Fat Cat, the Rescue Rangers are here,” he said to his boss.
“Wha… who?”
Mole walked up to him and said slowly, “Resssscuuuuuue Rannnnngerrrrrrs.”
“Oh, them, dispose of them,” he ordered with a flip of his paw. Once done with his orders, he took out felt bag, and took a big whiff of its contents.
Mole looked around at Fat Cat’s other minions and said, “Uh, boss, could I get some help.”
“Sure, GET UP YOU LAZY IDIOTS!” With that, all his henchmen got up and stumbled around.
As all this happened, the Rangers just looked at each other with puzzled looks. The henchmen eventually saw the threat and staggered their way over. Needless to say, in their state, they were no match for the Rangers and shortly they were all tied up and the police were on their way. While waiting for the cops, Chip took the bag he had seen Fat Cat use, and held it up at arm’s length, the awful smell coming from it gagging him.
“Ugh, catnip!” he struggled to say between coughs and retching noises. He checked each thug, and sure enough each cat had catnip. The mice and rats all had cheese, which Monty instantly gobbled up, getting a glazed look in his eyes
“Ah, Gouda ’46, very rare, very potent,” he sighed. Chip watched this in wonder. Suddenly, he realized that Mole didn’t have any such substances and Wart was mysteriously missing. He thought back on the night, and knew that he hadn’t seen the slippery lizard at all. *Kind of odd, but no big deal* he mentally shrugged to himself.
The Animal Police Force arrived, and the Rangers left the criminals in their capable hands, the Rangers made their way back to the Ranger Plane. They talked about what had happened along the way home. Upon landing on the veranda, everyone piled out and suddenly stopped. Fixed upon the door was a note reading “Mr. Maplewood and Rescue Rangers” stuck into the door with a human sized smiley face pin…
Disclaimer: The Rangers, Foxglove, Fat Cat, Mole, Snout, and Wart are Copyright Disney. Used without permission but with the utmost respect. Smiles is a figment of my imagination trying to get out. You may post this story in any way, so long as you don’t modify my words or gain profit from it. (Boy, isn’t all this legal mumbo jumbo fun?)