With that, I give you...
Passing the Torch
by Robert Hollingshead
"What we establish in life should not be taken for granted, for it impacts the future in more ways than we can comprehend." -- Personal Quote
The main room of RRHQ was nearly motionless. It had one occupant, Chip, sitting down on the blue sofa and thoroughly engaged in a very suspenseful mystery book.
Outside of the headquarters, which was a giant oak tree standing proudly in Central Park, there was noise every where. Children were running around and laughing loudly. This was expected in the park during summer vacation when all the kids had a chance to take a break from learning for a few months.
Just beside the tree, two children were playing Frisbee. They were exhibiting some good skill at throwing the plain red disk when the kid farthest from the tree made a mistake. He threw it too far to the left of his playmate and hit the oak tree head on.
The sudden thud made Chip jump up, automatically alert to any trouble. He was the best at this, always alert even when the situation was in the "all clear." He bolted to the door and opened it. Running to one side of the long front "porch," he tried to figure out what had caused the disruptive noise.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw what was laying at the base of the tree. The kid closest to the tree playfully ran to the Frisbee, picked it up, and threw it back.
Chip walked back in to the tree, closing the door behind him. "One of these days Chip, your going to have a heart attack." Chip smiled, he realized how unlikely that was. Being the one who tried to keep in shape most of the time, his last visit to the doctor months before confirmed that he was in tip top shape and had next to no risk for a heart attack.
It was just then when his mind processed a chain of thoughts. He realized why. "Heart attack, one of these days, the future, the future of us, the future of the Rangers," his mind snapped into gear. It was a thought trigger. Everyone has them. One minute you're thinking of something, your mind hits a key word and instantly your thinking of something else, no matter how related or remote it may seem compared to the original subject.
Chip looked down at the book he was carrying with him. He noticed he had lost his place. It did not really bother him because he had just finished the first chapter and was working on the second one.
He sat back down on the blue sofa. Then shifting his mind into full gear, he started thinking, thinking about the future. The future of the Rangers. An inseparable team of regular heroes, although pint size, but heroes nonetheless.
It had been about 9 years since the team had formed. They had a strong bond to each other. Everyone knew or had an idea about everyone else was thinking. Except for Dale. Dale always seemed to be the one who was a little "out of sync" with reality. Reading comic books and watching television was his idea of a good time.
Yet Chip couldn't help but admire his best friend. True, Dale was a bit of a goof off. But that was not a weakness. It was a strength in him. He had a tendency to be unpredictable. Okay. Maybe he was for the most part predictable, but when worse came to worse he could be unpredictable. His unpredictability when used against their adversaries was very effective.
His other strong point was the fact that he did know how to have a good time. In a sense he was the team cheerleader. Keeping high spirits when the situation looked hopelessly grim made him very important. It kept the other rangers psyched and on the task at hand instead of just giving up.
Next was Monterey Jack, or "Monty" as he was popularly called. He was definitely the enforcer of the team. Chip had always associated Monty with the phrase about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. Monty was dependable. That was his greatest strength.
Of course, Monty was one tough mouse, and he knew it. He got the Rangers out of many cuts and scrapes and when Gadget's "lock-pick failed, Monty would always be there to forcefully pick the lock or bend the bars, whichever came first.
Unfortunately, Monty did have a weakness. It was put best in one word, cheese. Monty was a mouse, mice liked cheese. It was a universally accepted fact. But what Chip could not figure out was why Monty took that fact to the next level and beyond. He was crazed by it when he was around it. It got them into trouble on countless occasions. There was only one time that he really got into the proverbial cheese souffle ("Mind Your Cheese & Q's"), but he quickly learned his lesson when Gadget was in danger and his mind snapped him out of it. All the other times, the Rangers inwardly forgave him of his fault, citing his invaluable importance to the team as a whole.
Then there was Gadget. By far the jewel of the Rangers. Smart, mindbashingly high IQ, beautiful, and talented in the arts of aviation, machinery, and inventing. She was definitely unique, being also the most mysterious, as only Monty knew much about her past but said very little.
From bits and pieces they had heard over the years, Chip was able to get at least a small chunk of the big picture that was Gadget's past. Although admittedly he didn't know how big that picture was. It was what he knew of her personally that had the biggest impact if nothing else did.
Gadget was very compassionate. During a case she was always worried about the bystanders. If the situation went haywire, he would always notice Gadget uneasily glancing around to make sure nobody was around who could get into any trouble. Both animals and humans were the objects of her compassion and sympathy if they were in serious need of assistance.
He had absolutely no idea where it came from either. She was always the stoic in the crowd, showing little of her true emotions. Chip always had thoughts of what was going on in her mind. If she was going through some type of crisis, she definitely hid it well. Chip always found himself worried about her. Heck, so did the entire team. Monty and Dale expressed it countless times, Monty more than Dale.
But what made her the most valuable asset to the team was her technological prowess. The Rangers had good vehicles and two planes at the ready in case they were needed. Even though Gadget seemed a little clumsy when it came to her inventing, winding up with left over parts being an example, she always came through with an invention that worked reliably. She had more successes than failures.
And then little Zipper. The scout of the team. Being a fly, his smaller size than the rest and his ability to keep his feet high above the ground, allowed him to be a first alert" of sorts to danger around a comer or in an old abandoned warehouse.
Sadly, not much could be said about Zipper. Zipper didn't seem to mind. He was Monty's long time friend almost like family. Zipper did have a place in the team, and contrary to what might be said he was very valuable.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Chip looked out the window again. The laughing outside had subsided a little. Noon had struck and the little energetic children were probably eating lunch, accounting for the yelling being more infrequent than it was just a moment or two before.
Chip turned his attention back to his thoughts. There was one last team member he was thinking of, himself. He was Chip. The unchallenged and accepted leader of the Rangers. His first strong point was his leadership abilities. He was also a somewhat skilled but good detective, allowing him to figure things out before anyone else could.
He could not take all the credit for solving so many cases though and he knew it. It took more than just one person to wage war against crime, it took a team, and the Rescue Rangers were that team.
Chip was always the one to understand that more than any of the others there, and in a way he felt unbraggingly like he was the one who was able to keep the team together, reminding them of their duty and convictions of protecting the innocent and solving cases when everyone else could not. Maybe that was his strongest point.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The kids outside must have finished lunch quickly, because the chatter outside picked up intensity. "I wonder if they will be here tomorrow?" he thought to himself. This had the effect of bringing him back to what he was originally thinking about, the tomorrow, the future of the team.
He did, on small occasions, seriously question the idea that the Rangers would be there to stay. Something could always happen. They had discussed this before as a group and believed they were prepared for the worse. Although the preparations brought uneasy thoughts.
Some of those preparations involved recruiting new team members. Though they had been sort of procrastinating at this task, people like Tammy and Foxglove expressed great interest in becoming members of the team. They kept in touch with the Rangers all the time, and they always seemed interested in joining.
Chip found himself questioning whether or not they were prepared for the business of being Rescue Rangers. They would of course need some sort of training in how the team works. The current Rangers themselves had never had any training because they founded the Rescue Rangers, but Chip felt it had to start somewhere.
Then Chip started to think about how he would be able to take having more Rangers to deal with. He quickly shook that thought off, realizing how self-centered it was. Since he wasn't the only one who'd have to deal with new recruits.
Why would the Rangers need to last past the members already here?" Chip thought, then realizing how simple the answer was. "Because our mission is to help people in danger and fight crime." Evil and villains would always exist in the world as long as there was the good of diversity. Someone had to fight it. Someone had to make that difference.
If the Rangers were to simply disappear, who would watch the next generation of Fat Cat's and Professor Nimnul's. Nobody. Why? Because nobody knew them and what they were capable of doing like the Rangers.
"What do I owe who we help?" he thought again. Playing devil's advocate was so easy when you were talking to yourself. "Simple, I owe them for trusting us to fight crime and protect them." Chip always enjoyed his line of work, and he had no doubt he'd continue doing just that, enjoying it. The answer he just gave himself was more satisfying.
He felt he had the answers about the future. But something was missing. Was that it? When it came time for them to step down and let someone else take over, how easy would it be? For Chip, that would mean the end. He had many adventures left, more than he knew, and he knew the end was nowhere near. Why was he still worried about it? His end would mean the beginning for someone else, another leader for the Rescue Rangers. That would be great, he would be "passing the torch," so to speak.
"That's it!" he smiled, "passing the torch." What was that torch made up of? His experiences. They'd live on. He'd have someone to teach them to. That's what the future of the Rangers would consist of. A new generation who knew the history of the team. They'd learn from their own experiences and learn from the original 5. The cycle would continue for who knew how long. Each generation teaching a knew generation.
Passing the torch meant more than he had thought. The future, he knew, would be an interesting time. The Rescue Rangers would live on. Eventually humans would find out that they were not the only sentient beings on the planet and then they'd know about the Rangers. They would have made a place in the history books.
He could see it now. A chapter in history books about humans discovering that animals were sentient, and in that would be an entry about the Rescue Rangers and what they had done all these years for humans, who had no idea they were being helped.
That was the missing piece to the Rangers future. Who cared if it was a prediction? The consequences of the future would be good or bad. Either way, Chip understood that the Rangers would continue. How could they not. They were going to pass the torch.
Chip looked out from his mind and noticed the other Rangers coming in from the door. "Hi team!" he exclaimed happily.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Authors comments:
I know this isn't a very long story. I cobbled it together in one day so I could get it down in written form before I forgot about it completely. This is the result of a thought I had when I woke up the morning I sat down and wrote this. For about more than half the day I was sitting down at my little Macintosh 512k writing the draft.
This story is designed to get you to think about the Rangers' future. There are a whole bunch of fanfiction writers out there with their own take on the Rangers. But none whose stories I have read seem to really tackle the idea of the Rangers living on. That is what inspired me to write this. I hope you enjoyed it.
I NEED INPUT PEOPLE. If you have any comments, I would like to hear them. It is important to me because it gives me good reason to keep on writing stories. If the comments are good it helps me to write knowing that my work is being appreciated. I don't consider what most people would call bad comments to be bad comments. Rather, I see them as constructive criticism. Knowing that "I could do better," gives me the incentive I need to continue writing. Of course, insults will be subjected to my "twit filter," (my right index finger on the delete key).
Just send your comments to robonerd@cottagesoft.com...
Thanks.
Robert "Robo|\|erd" Hollingshead
robonerd@cottagesoft.com