Y2K, The Thread--Part4 -------------------------------- Y2K the continuation John was getting a bit cramped so he decided to step out and get a breath of fresh air. After walking around a bit he spots someonethat looks very familair in the distance. As he gets closer the person he calls out. "Just what in the name of Sir Gerald Manly Hopkins are you doing here?" John said in an accusing tone. "That is none of your concern, John" The man said as he took a puff off of his cigarette. "You should not be involved with this you have no idea what you are getting yourself into." "Stop trying to act all high and mysterious on me. And there is not really much you can do to stop me. As they say I have low friends in REALLY high places. So tell me why are just standing in the middle of nowhere smoking your filthy little life away?" "You know I cannot tell you that. You have your agenda and I have mine. You would not reveal your's to me." "I guess you do have a point smokey, just remember whatever you have planned I and the others will stop you." "So I guess that's all we have to say, well John it's been fun but I have places to go and things to take care off. Seya around." The man throws his cigarette to the ground and walks away. John steps on the cigarette extinguishing it. "Filthy habbit." John takes one last look at the sinister man walking away and heads back to the others. But before he gets back he trips over something buried in the ground. After getting back to his feet John starts to dig up the object. After a few minutes he realizes what it is. Now you continue ut " John D ------ Problems? "About how long do we have to stay here?" asked Dyglo. "Until we can figure out a way to get out of this universe. I must admit though... I've always wondered what it would be like to be anime." Unbeknownst to the two, three figures were watching them. two boys and a girl to be exact. Well, they couldn't see Chris all that well. "A new pokémon!" exclaimed the boy in the hat. "I'm gonna catch it!" "You have to weaken it first, remember? And why should you be the one to catch it?" commented the girl. "Sometimes I question if I should have stayed in Pewter City..." said the third to himself. Dyglo looked around. "I think we're being watched." "You're just being paranoid," replied Chris. _________________________________________________ Mike looked out of one of the hotel lobby's windows towards the Sazerac and saw the crowd of people gathering there. "Hm, I don't recognise several of those people. I wonder where they came from. I mean, Chateau Pax isn't exactly the easiest place to find." "Maybe they just got lucky? I mean, how else do you think people find here?" replied Khan, Chateau Pax's resident hedgehog. "Good point." _________________________________________________ Rose sat in the Café area observing the now quite familiar layout. "I guess the Rangerphiles are going to be coming here soon. J.A.M. is just the first of many, well, unless you count Kat and her group, that is." _________________________________________________ "GO! POKÉBALL!" (o==)(=o=)(==o) The pokéball flew through the air towards the unsuspecting dragon. Dyglo ------- Meanwhile... ((I apologize for not trying to involve anyone else, but I get so lost on these things, I can't even quite keep track of what *I'M* doing. ^^;)) Julie was in the Ranger Wing, with Dale, not quite sure what the heck was going on in the world, although she did have the vague notion that it had to do with the year 2000 coming up. She scratched her head. "I'm saying things I never thought I'd say, doing things I didn't know I'd ever think of doing...it's as if I'm turning *evil...* And what's wrong with Dale, anyway? Who the heck uses Minidiscs? Even my rich friends don't have those stupid things! And this one sounds kind of funny...and why is Dale flying this thing? And how come I'm not airsick?" Dale landed the Ranger Wing. "What's going on?" Julie asked. Dale jumped out. "I just got the urge to play some video games!" He led Julie into a rodent-scaled arcade. "C'mon. Let's play this one!" The game was Tekken II. Julie tried to resist, knowing that Tekken brought out the bad side of her, but she finally gave in and held the joystick. In a matter of minutes, she was trying to beat the crud out of Dale (in the game), shouting, "Yeah!" as her player threw the opponent down and snapped his arm. Julie laughed maniacally. Around the corner, someone laughed. "All according to plan..." Julie ------ Or not... Is that really Julie in the post above? Does that post even exist? Who knows? Julie ------ Here comes help "Captain, I am reading a temporal convergance wave heading towards us" The Android Data called out. "What is causing it?" "It seems that a crucial point in history is changing, It seems that the group of individuals that stopped the Y2K crisis is unable to get together and accomplish their goal." "This is most serious is there anything we can do to correct the problem?" "Yes If we go back to the year 1999, and transport all of the members form Earth to Alaska." "Make it so prepare the ship for time warp." John D ------ Back in Kat's Lair... "I think we should go to Mobius & check this out. Heck, we needed to go there, anyway, to ask Rotor to help us fix the Magic School Bus." Kat replied to Rotor's message with: "We're coming over." and sent her reply. The jaguar waited impatiently as Kat shut down the IDWW connection and exited the program. "Let's go!" declared the cat-earred human as she led her friend toward the window to Mobius. Kat ------ Finally, on Mobius. . . [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************* Kat and The J.A.M. stepped into Mobius, at Knothole. Sally greeted Kat with a slightly worriesome hug. The Jaguar, meanwhile, searched for a certain Lagomorph. . . ************* Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. ------ Getting up to speed... Kat followed Sally inside her hut. "What's this about you losing your Magical Female Powers(tm), Sal?" "I realized it earlier when I tried to coax Sonic into helping me." began the chipmunk/squirrel hybrid. "Tried? I assume it did not work as it usually does..." noted the cat-earred human. "You assume correctly." Sally replied with a sigh. "Any idea how I can get them back?" "I'm no expert on the subject...hmm, where are Bunnie and Dulcy?" Kat's train of thought switched tracks as she wondered if it was just Sally or if -all- the girls in Knothole have lost their MFPs. "This sort of thing isn't Robotnik's style...heck, such a thing would be beyond his ability!" thought Kat, "Isn't he -dead- in this continuity, anyway? It's so tricky keeping everything straight..." "Dulcy is sleeping in the tree by the meadow...Bunnie should be in a training session with Tails. Why?" Realization suddenly hit Sally, "Oh, my gosh! Do you think they may have lost their Powers, too?" "Only one way to find out..." declared Kat as they left the hut. Kat ------ Encounter [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************* Bunnie and Tails were walking toward Sally's hut. Both appeared to be exhausted. [UNWARP!!!] Both gasped when The J.A.M. suddenly appeared in front of them. "J.A.M.!" exclaimed Tails. "How did you get here??" The Jaguar wasn't listening to the kit. Instead, he had his eyes fixed on the Lagomorph, trying to recreate the encounter they had at the Coffeehouse. And he tried. . . . . And tried. . . . . "Oh.. . . . . .dear. . . . . ." he mumbled. . . ************* Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. ------ Last time... We find our two unlikely heroes in the same situation. In the midst of their conversation, someone shouted, "GO POKÉBALL!" Almost immediately, a red and white ball beaned Dyglo upside the head. The ball popped open and emitted a reddish light. The light surrounded Dyglo and sucked him into the ball as he shouted, "Hey! What's the big-!" The three figures stepped out from behind the bushes. The one in the cap exclaimed, "All right! I got it!" Eventually, the ball stopped rocking and the kid went over to pick it up. "Hey! What's the big idea of doing that to my friend? Waitaminute... Ash? That you?" Chris stepped forward. "I caught him fair and square! Hang on... Chris? The creator of Rose?" "One and the same. You were at the Ranger Coffeehouse a little while ago. I suppose I should explain a bit. Could you let Dyglo go please?" Ash looked at the pokéball, then grinned sheepishly. "Heh heh... sorry. Chris, meet Misty and Brock. Misty and Brock, meet Chris. We met a few months ago. You look... different." Ash opened the pokéball and Dyglo popped out. "-idea?! Huh?" Dyglo noticed the three others. "Oh... hi." Misty looked quizzically at Dyglo. "You're friends with a pokémon? Where did you find it?" Chris motioned for them to sit down. "Okay, I'll take you back to the beginning. First, Dyglo is not a pokémon. He is a dragon. Not a dragon type pokémon, just a dragon. We aren't from around here..." Chris then began to explain what had happened to them. _________________________________________________ Rose once again looked at the trenchcoat hanging in her room. "Is he coming?" She then sat down and began thinking of a certain hedgehog, and I'm not talking Sonic. _________________________________________________ Khan stared off into space as Mike paced the floor. "I tell you, there's something about them. Why would they be here? How did they get here?" Mike looked over and noticed the glassy look on the hedgehog's face. With a mischevious smirk, Mike raised his voice a bit. "Why, Rose! What an unexpected visit!" Khan's head snapped up. "What? Rose is here?" Then he noticed Mike's grin. "Very funny. You can stay here if you like, but I'm going to go see what's happening over at the Sazerac." _________________________________________________ Rudolph looked over the growing pool of acid. "H*ck!" Dyglo ------ This time . . . "So what are you guys doing in Pokeworld?" Ash asked. "Actually," said Chris, "it's been so long that I don't remember, and thus feel it best not to comment. However, I'm sure it has something to do with the pending Y2K disaster which is being planned for all the realities by some Malignant Will." "Team Rocket?" all three Poke regulars asked. "I have no idea. But we've somehow got to join together and meet at the Rescue Ranger Cofeehouse, the confluence of all the realities, where the attack will be centered," Chris mused, his hand on his chin. Ash-san. "Huh? Who said that?" Ash exclaimed in surprise. "Who said what, Ash?" Misty asked him. "You mean . . . you guys didn't hear it? It was a voice," Ash explained. The other humans and Dyglo shook their heads. Ash-san. "There it goes again!" he exclaimed, behaving in a very typically exaggerated but low-animated way. "Pikapi?" his best friend asked, a question all now shared. Close your eyes, my son. Only then shall you see me. The voice was soft, majestic, and calming. Ash did as he was told. In the blackness of the backside of his eyelids a form appeared, as bright and distinct as it had been in the real world. At first Ash couldn't make it out, but then he realized that the form should be familiar to him. If only he could recall . . . I am the Golden Bird, my son it intoned without moving its beak in any way. I am the one who sought you out when you began your Pokemon journey. I blessed you and your Pikachu with my glitzy tail dust after you defeated the Spearows. And I have been your patron on your journey. You sought me out? But why? Ash communicated with his thoughts. Because you were young and innocent and pure of heart my son, not knowing the ways of the world. Others have judged you by your youth, recklessness, and unperfected skills, but I have judged you by your heart. "Do you think he's okay?" Misty asked, waving her hand in front of Ash's closed eyes. His head was down, and he did not respond. Go with these friends the Golden Bird said, go with them to the Coffeehouse, for all the goodness of Pokeworld must help to fight this dread evil. But how can we get there from Pokeworld? Ash asked straightforwardly. I have summoned a friend of all Pokemon to gather you. Together you will also collect the Rangers, the Rangerphiles, and all the Forces of Goodness for this great mission. Then the great Bird dipped its head slightly and said in a lower and softer voice I will be your patron in this matter also, but you must be prepared. The Malignant Will is strong. All of you must work together to defeat it. Prepare yourselves, and I pray that we will prevail. Then, almost seeming to smile at Ash and looking on him kindly, the image blurred and vanished. "I think he's coming out of it!" Brock said with tremendous relief as Ash blinked and raised his head. "Ash, what happened to you?" asked Misty, "It was as if you were in some sort of trance!" "I saw it again," Ash said solemnly. "Saw what?" the other four asked him. "The Golden Bird. The mysterious Pokemon Pikachu and I saw right after he saved me from those Spearows," Ash said in an awed voice, "Dexter had no data on it and Professor Oak said people have searched for it all their lives and never seen it. But it communicated with me!" Four skeptical expressions met his. "You don't believe me?" he asked. "What is 'the golden bird?'" Brock asked, puzzled. "You've never heard of it?" Ash said, shocked, "you don't believe me!" "Well Ash, you've been under a lot of strain lately," Misty said, her concern evident. "Pika-pi! Pika-chu!" The little Pokemon's voice was solemn and also filled with awe as he tugged on his trainer's pant leg. "Pikachu!" Ash said, overjoyed, "You . . . you saw it too?" "Pika." "Did it--did it speak to you? Did it tell you something?" "Chu," it nodded. "Of course! The Golden Bird has been watching over both of us!" Ash said, snapping his finger and suddenly dancing an Anime jig, "It is our destiny, Pikachu, to go to the Rescue Ranger Coffeehouse and help our friends defeat the Malignant Will!" "The Rescue Rangers?" Dyglo asked, happy at the thought of meeting his animated heroes once again. "Yes! You remember, we stopped by at their Coffeehouse a while back and had the pleasure of meeting them!" Ash said, "And now their Coffeehouse, which is the point of juncture of all the realities, will be where Evil will strike and where we must defeat it!" "Cha!" agreed Pikachu. "Well, I don't know about this," Brock said, his brow furrowed. "But Ash, how are we going to get to the Coffeehouse from here in Pokeworld?" Chris asked. "The Golden Bird said it was sending a friend of all Pokemon who would gather us and the others," Ash mused. "I think we'll be going by the Ranger Treehouse, and all the various realities to pick up our friends, and then to the Coffeehouse where as usual I save the day for everyone!" And he puffed out his chest. "Well, that's not crazy for him," Misty said sarcstically. "But who is this friend of all Pokemon?" Misty asked. "All aboard!" They looked up to find a camper with "Magic Bus II" written on the side, its door open to receive them. Where it had come from or how they did not know. "Julie!" they all exclaimed as they hopped on board. "The one and only!" she said as she closed the door and strted the machine moving again. "So this is the famous Magic Bus, huh?" Dyglo said in wonder, looking about him. I've always wanted to see it." "Actually, it's just Karl's camper," Julie said, "but between the equipment installed by E-Man and Indy (who are either on board or back at the Sazerac; we got a little confused there for awhile) and a little magic tail dust from The Golden Bird, it'll do in a pinch!" "You saw it too!" "Of course! Now on to our next stop!" "By the way," Misty asked Julie discreetly, "do you have any idea why Nurse Joy and I have lost our Magical Female Powers(tm)?" "We think it's all tied in with that Y2K thing and the Malignant Will," Julie said softly (as neither she nor Misty wanted the males to know they were currently without their characteristic superiority), "I've lost mine too, and it's awful hard getting some poor guy to write a term paper for you, believe me." "Oh. This is serious," Misty said, though she was a bit distracted by the autographed picture of James which Julie had attached to the dashboard. And so the it began, as Julie prepared to canvass the far flung realities and points of the compass to bring everyone to the Sazerac where everyone (including, apparently, the SS Enterprise) was waiting to transport to the Coffeehouse and prevent the greatest catastrophe in the histories of all the realities! * * * Rudolph struggled against his bonds as he saw the locomotive headed relentlessly his way. "H*ck!" he said. "The Enduring Man-Child" ------ Another passenger Dylan sat typing away frantically at his computer. A disaster was in the making and he didn't know what to do about it. "If I could get to the Coffeehouse with the other rangerphiles perhaps we could figure out how to stop y2k." he said to himself. A loud honking came from outside the house. Dylan grabbed his notebook computer and assorted equipment and threw it into a bag. Picking up the bag in one hand and a portable generator in the other he heads outside. Sitting in front of the house is a large camper, labeled "Magic Bus II". "Hi Julie," he says as he climbs on board. "Hi; do you know what's going on?", Julie asked. "Yes, Y2K. I noticed a lot of strange internet activity and some rumors about a Malignant Will but I haven't been able to find out anything. Whenever I try to find information on Malignant Will the search engines crash with some time of SQL date error." "We're gathering up everyone and heading to the Coffeehouse," said Julie. "That's where the Malignant Will is going to strike. There's a seat open back by Dyglo. He can fill you in on what's been happening." "Alright." And Dylan sat down as the bus pulled away. dxkelly ------ A near miss Aivars was having the headaches, but that wasnt the worst. He was stuck. Together with two mice that now were same size as him, and one of them had a great grudge against him. He touched his head and winced. That blow hurt. The problems got ony more complicated, because the mice apparently were stuck too. No plan B, C, D or quite few others had worked so far. "Lets try plan I," Lawainee claimed into cheerful voice. Aivars cringed, into his memory immediately appeared reference to the Russian comedy of 50ies "Operation 'I' and other Shurik's adventures". "Are You sure? What if they think us being one of these new viruses running around the internet?" he objected. "You have no vote here, so shut up and let me work!" Lawainee went forward to the group of blinking links in the room's wals. They had passed about few dozens of them already, each a little different, but no one ever lead them out from the net. And the rows of the numbers of them told Aivars nothing, and he suspected, Lawainee felt same. "If i ever get hands upon that one who game me the idea, he's cat food," she promised darkly. "Ok, this one! Follow me!" They jumped through the link. "Well, nothing's working." Alex declared, looking around. Similar room, all walls covered with myriads of symbols. "I really had to remember hec coding," Aivars whispered, trying to pull up in his ming the hex-ascii conversion table. Too bad, he had all times relied upon his hex-dec calculator for conversions. "If i could read this info, we could try go to the Acorn cafe and try post message for the help," he said. "Well, all the time is jours, go ahead," Lawainee offered. "Or maybe i could try to get to the some mail server, and send help message... I think, i remember Kat's email, she's a prof with computers, maybe she could help me? Her email was on hoom... what ot was..." "Kat? The one with the cat's name? We dont need her. Yet." Lawainee declared proudly. The word 'yet' was added silently. "Well, lets try this. One of them shoud lead us to some good place where we could do something!" They jumped into another link. ****** Somewehre the Malignant will chuckled. Aivars ------ A game of Doom 2 Meanwhile, back in the Coffeehouse... Lawhiney and Shake'a Bake'a were playing a game of Doom 2 via the terminals at/in the tables of the Coffeehouse. They have teamed up against Wescott and Tammy. On Wescott's terminal, we see the view spin clockwise and stop on an image of Lawhiney. "Hey! Didn't I ask you not to use a custom graphics this round??" Wescott shouted from across the room. Lawhiney pressed a few buttons and sent a message to his screen. "That's not me, sweetie" followed by "I'm the -Red- Player this round" We see a rear view of the Yellow Player in Lawhiney's screen. She grins evilly and opens fire. "Hey!" shouted Tammy as she made her on-screen persona strafe left in response. "Uh, did somebody join our game?" Shake'a Bake'a asked as he pointed to an image on his screen that looked similar to Lawhiney. Lawhiney glanced over at S.B.'s screen and saw it, along with 2 other images. "What the...?!? What's going on here?!?" she asked, surprised. "Is this some kind of joke??" *** Inside the Doom server, to which all 4 players' terminals are connected... Alex, Lawainee, and Aivars found themselves in a room that looked like a cross between a space station and a slime pit. "Where did that last link take us, dear?" asked Alex. "Will you shut up?" fumed the other mouse. Aivars (who is familiar with the game) had a good idea. "In big trouble..." he commented. Kat ------ Yaaay! Dyglo was bouncing up and down happily in the back of the bus and partly singing, partly chanting, "I'm riding on a bus! I'm riding on a bus! I'm riding on a bus!" After about ten minutes of this, the other rangerphiles and the poké crew tied the dragon up and tied his mouth shut. "Now, be quiet until we stop somewhere," said Julie from the front of the bus. Chris was sitting in his seat and trying to learn the nuances of pokémon care from Brock, in the event that he should ever get one. "So, you can get a shinier coat by brushing it at least once a day?" "Yup. But that's not the only thing that can give a vulpix a shiny coat. There's also the food..." _________________________________________________ Khan arrived at the Sazerac saloon and walked up to the bar area. "Hey, Vic, do you know what's going on?" Vic shook his head. "I think that the rangerphiles are gathering here before going to the Ranger Coffeehouse." "The Ranger Coffeehouse?? Do you think they'll take me?" "I don't know. Why don't you ask them?" _________________________________________________ Rudolph turned the corner and found an entire platoon of stormtroopers. "H*CK!" Dyglo ------ Rachel banged on the door of her cell. "Help! Someone, please! Let me out!" Rachel sighed. "Julie? Can you hear me? Somebody!" The evil clone of Roy Neal pressed his hands against his ears. At least she had stopped singing in Latin. That was the most annoying thing in the world. He chuckled under his breath. No one would ever find him or his stockpiled MFPs! Rachel stopped her noise and slumped down on the floor. Why was this happening? Why didn't anyone hear her? And why was Roy Neal acting so strangely? And, most of all, why did she still smell molasses? --Alright, can anyone shed some light on my peril? ::grins:: Rudolph stared at the marriage certificate in front of him. Sure enough, the name was Clarice. "H*ck!" he said. Much love, Rachel ------ Rescue! "Why are you two writing my name in those dishes with molasses and then laminating them???" Rachel asked, almost in a panic. "Because we love you," Man-Child and Jeremy answered in a single voice, "and we want to make you immortal." "In molasses???" she asked again. "It supports the local economy," they answered, again simultaneously. "Whenever we see your picture in Time," Man-Child began. "Or Newsweek," Jeremy continued. "Or Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine," Man-Child resumed. "Or National Geographic," Jeremy took up. "We cut it out," Man-Child said. "And eat it," Jeremy added. "Because we love you!" they said at once. "That's nice," Rachel said, "but . . . molasses???" Suddenly a glimmer appeared in the room which soon solidified into . . . DATA!!! "What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, amazed to see him. "Miss Rachel," he said in his staccato android voice, "I have been sent by either Q, the Golden Bird, or Mrs. Brisby (my memory banks are somewhat faulty on that account) to rescue you." "My hero!" Rachel said, clasping her hands together in the best damsel in distress tradition. "First of all, these are not really your friends," Data continued, "the one you call 'Roy Neal' is in reality," and here he pulled off the mask, "Totally Depraved Pete--the most hated and feared criminal psychopath in the Arctic!" "Sacre bleu!" Pete exclaimed as Data pulled all the pillows out of his clothes (with which he was attempting to mimic Man-Child's girth). "G*lly!" Rachel swore, in a most unladylike fashion. "And 'Jeremy' here is in reality," he again pulled off the mask,-- "Rudolph!" Rachel exclaimed for him, "The Red-Nosed Reindeer!" "H*ck!" said Rudolph. "Jeepers!" Rachel said again, causing even the scarred and hideous visage of Totally Depraved Pete to blush in shock. "The real Man-Child is at the Sazerac with more of us who are awaiting the arrival of the Magic Bus II" Data explained as the two exposed rogues discreetly made their escape. "Julie is using that vehicle to gather all the Rangerphiles she can, and the Rangers as well. After we have all gathered at the Sazerac we will use E-Man's dimensional portal to travel to the Rescue Ranger Coffeehouse, where we will attempt to prevent the greatest catastrophe in the history of all the realities." "That's great!" Rachel said. Then, remembering something, she asked, "Where is the real Jeremy?" "My sensors indicate a life form in the kitchen amongst all the molasses and shellac," Data said, "Let us investigate." They indeed found Jeremy scrunched up and seemingly in a trance. He was also covered in molasses. "My logic circuits indicate that he is either under the influence of the fumes of the laminating shellac," Data said, cocking his head in that annoying mechanical manner, "or under the spell of someone's Magical Female Powers(tm), those mysterious things even I do not understand." "I'm afraid it's my fault," Rachel said sheepishly, "I thought I would surprise him by letting him pick me up on the road and then zapping him. Since then it's been terribly confusing. I'll unzap him." Then turning to Jeremy she said, "GAZEINTOMEEYES!!!!!" No response. "AWAKEN!!!" Still no response. "Oh no! I forgot," Rachel said, "I've lost my Magical Female Powers(tm)," she confessed, "which means that I can neither zap nor unzap anyone. I'm afraid poor Jeremy must remain under my spell until I can get my Powers(tm) back." "It is at times like this that I am grateful that I am an android," Data said quite truthfully, "and can never fall victim to those strange, powerful beings known as . . . WOMEN!!!" He spoke the word with some awe. "Well, I'm responsible for him, so I'll keep him with me and see if I can protect him from mischief," Rachel said. "I can beam us all to the Sazerac right now," Data said, "just as I beamed here from there. There is no need for you to wait for Julie and the Magic Bus II." Rachel's lip quivered ever so slightly. "But I was so looking forward to it!" she said. "It was so much fun last year!" "Oh, very well!" Data said. Then, using his superhuman android strength, he tore a hole in the wall of the locked building and stuck something small and magnetic to the outside. "This homing device will bring them here immediately. You're in luck. I believe they were just passing through on their way to Mobius." "That's good!" Rachel said. "Just as Data flickered and disappeared the Magic Bus II suddenly appeared from nowhere and the door was opened. "Welcome aboard!" said Julie. "It's so good to see you again!" Rachel said as she helped her ensorcelled companion onto the camper where Dyglo, Chris, and the cast of Pokemon were waiting. "This is going to be ever so much fun!" "Now I know something's wrong," Brock said in a serious voice, "all the women must have lost their Magical Female Powers(tm), or else I'd be in the same shape as that poor guy there." He indicated Jeremy. "Next stop, Mobius! I think," Julie announced as she flickered the bus back into trans-dimensional warp. "The Enduring Man-Child" ------ Amidst a weak sparkling of lights and odd noises.. A wavering image half-formed in an empty seat on the "bus", and as it solidified into a recognizable face, Karl said scratchily, "Sorry, I can't keep the portal open for more than a few moments - I'm no E-Man, y'know!" Then he vanished, leaving his magic notepad and mechanical pencil on the seat... "H*ck!" Said Karl's fading voice. Karl ------ Disaster in making... One look on the surroundings immediately raised up all hairs on Aivars body. "No..." he gasped. "What 'no'? At least, we get out from those one-room-similar-to-other-down-to-the-details rooms!" Lawainee chirped, taking in the different surroundings. "You know where we are, Aivars?" Alex asked. "In a game." Aivars answered grimly. "Into Doom." A bit of looking around, and he corrected. "Sorry, its sequel. Doom II. And we arent alona." Into warious positions in the room were standing four figures into the space marine costumes, with different coloring, all frozen in mid-action. "The question is, will they shot us on the spot, or we can convince them let us live..." Lawainee waved hand at the closest marine. "Hi! Do you know where there is closest exit from the 'net?" she flashed her smile at it. Aivars ------ Green Marine's surprise At the Coffeehouse, Wescott's terminal... One of the images seemed to wave at him. Then text appeared: "Hi! Do you know where there is closest exit from the 'net?" The image then seemed to smile at him. "Great feems of lightning!" exclaimed the squirrel. Lawhiney saw a similar scene via Shake'a Bake'a's terminal. She examined the image. "Isn't that the Lait girl I met on opening night?" she asked herself out loud. "Yeah! the other mouse is her mate, and the human looks like one of the Writers." Lawhiney sends a message to Wescott, which appears on his screen in red text. "Wes, those are a Writer and his fictives." Wescott examined the images. He vaguely recalled seeing the mice in the Coffeehouse a while back. He nods and types "Looks like they pulled a 'Tron'." A reply, in red text, replaced the old message: "What?" Wescott shook his head and typed: "Movie reference" then "Nevermind. I'll try to download them" Kat ------ The imminent death aversed... Lawainee smiled, when the closest to her figure shifted position a bit. "Told you it will be easy!" she grinned at her two followers. The robotized voices made all three lost travellers jump up in surprise. "Wes, those are a Writer and his fictives." appeared in red from the other trooper. "Looks like they pulled a 'Tron'." first one answered. "What?" "Movie reference. Newermind, I'll try to download them." The trio in silince watched the exchange. "Anyone can tell me what is going on?" Alex looked at the troopers. Faces in masks, and guns at ready, they looked extremely dangerous. "Well, Aivars, we are getting out of there. Told you, plan I should work!" Lawainee made a piruette and stuckt her tongue at the third member of their group. "Always wanted to do that," she confessed. "We aren't out yet," Aivars answered grimly. "Who cases! They are gonna pull ous out, right?" Lawaine objected. "Yes, adn that's what is worrying me. I dont know how You managed to get me in but look wat it did to me. What could hapen when they pul us out?" "Are you complaining for your mouse size?" "My previous size was well acquisited for me," Aivars snapped at Lawainee and turned toward the trooper, Lawainee had talked to. "Mind You tell us, who You are? We..." CLANG! Lawainee lovered frying pan with a dent. "Dont turn back on me when im talking with you," she hissed. ---- Somewhere far away, Magnificent evil twisted it's face in rage, nticing the activities both in and out of the game. "Bah, too easy. Lets make things... a bit more interesting..." With a few fast commands, it set RESPAWN to 5 seconds. "Well, lets see now..." it shuckled. Aivars ------ Knee Deep in the Respawned NOTE: the Doom 2 level I had in mind was mission 4 ("The Focus"). The 4 space marines are in the area close to the blue key card. BTW, the subject line is an homage to one of the "episodes" in the original Doom. ;) ***** Suddenly, several brown forms and one pink one rose from the floor. Lawhiney stared at her monitor and exclaimed, "What the..?!? They shouldn't be respawning!" Her red marine used his shotgun to take out the nearest Imp. Inside the game... "What's going on?!" asked Alex, who was beginning to panic at the sight of the creatures, which resembled mutant Wookies. Blue text appeared and the blue marine spoke them, as if reading his lines for a play: "Whoa! What happened?" The blue marine pulled out a chainsaw. Then red text appeared: "Monsters R respawning!" The red marine pulled out a shotgun and fired at one of the brown monsters. Then yellow text appeared:"Wes isn't finished." The yellow marine shot another Imp before it could aim a fireball at Aivars. More yellow text: "Protect that Writer!!" The pink beast started biting the blue player (Shake'a). The blue marine looked angry as he used his chainsaw on it in response. Lawainee Lait grimaced. "Eeeww! That is so -gross-!!" Red text appeared: "Follow me!" The red marine ran toward a wall, through some slime. Part of the wall then slid upward and the marine entered a small room (which contained -no- monsters). Aivars looked at the slimey stuff, uncertain if he wanted to go through it. A near miss from a fireball convinved him to run through it and into the small room. Lawainee and Alex quickly followed and the door closed. "Small room..." commented Lawainee. "At least no Imps are here." replied Aivars. "What now?" asked Alex. Back in the Coffeehouse... Lawhiney was -not- a happy player. "We didn't set the game to respawn...so WHO did?" she muttered. A message appeared on her screen: "What now?" Lawhiney typed, "We wait. Don't open the doors" Kat ------ Re: Knee Deep in the Respawned The trio of travellers were definitely looking shaken and paler. "Can someone at last tell me what is going on there?" Alex asked, with some doubt looking at the door, that hold him apart from the canonade coming from outside. "Excuse, is this Deathmatch?" Aivars joined the questoning of the red trooper. Lawainee was busy at the moment, trying to clean her legs from the green slime. "That hurt, you know," she complained. "What a stupid place to land in." Aivars ------ Downloading...X seconds remaining Inside the Coffeehouse... Lawhiney was puzzled. Somebody was obvioulsy trying to keep that Writer and his fictives from reaching the Coffeehouse--and they were going to a lot of trouble by cracking the Doom server. A message came up on her terminal: "Excuse, is this Deathmatch?" Lawhiney typed "It WAS." and sent the message. She then sent a message to Tammy. "How much longer?" Inside the game... The yellow marine was busy covering the retreat. The blue marine was, too. The green marine was inactive & was taking several hits. Tammy's terminal... Red text appeared:"How much longer?" Tammy typed "He's almost done." and sent the message. Inside the game... The red marine declared in a robotic voice:"Wes is trying to get you out." and then "but somebody has cracked our Doom server." Kat ------