Resurrection--Part III, Episode 2 Thursday, 16-Mar-2000 10:26:21 The summary up to this point: Part I The Rangers, Kuwani, Kat, and Triple-S had gathered the Dragon Balls and called forth the Eternal Dragon, hoping to wish Leviathan back. But with the interruption of Vegeta and a anthropomorphic jaguar, Mole walked in unannounced and wished for a candy bar. With that wish granted, the Dragon Balls turned to stone and flew away--knocking Vegeta out. After teleporting the unconscious Vegeta to Earth, Kat and the others learn that the D-Balls are scattered in seven regions of the Dragon Planet: "The Ball of Fire is located in a volcano, the Ball of Ice is near a glacier, the Ball of Urban is in the city, the Ball of Wind is on a mountain, the Ball of Darkness is deep underground, the Ball of Power is located within a strong castle, and...the Ball of Cheese is...inside of a cheese factory." (Mister Kerr) But before the adventurous group (which includes the Rangers, the Jaguar, Triple-S Kat, Kuwani, Lawhiney, Shake-a Bake-a, AtticRat, Wiseguy, and Shadow) can get the quest started, Puar and Oolong manage to shapeshift into Dale and Gadget so they can find the Dragon Balls and wish their dead friends back ("There is always someone dead in DBZ" - JEF). With the Jaguar's suggestion of using the original scents to determine the impostors' identity, the group manages to weed out Puar and Oolong and kick them out of the Coffeehouse. --- Part II Triple-S, Kat, Lawhiney, and Shake-a-Bake-a head off to find the Ball of Urban north of the Coffeehouse at Dragon's Rest, the only city on the Dragon Planet. They take one of TPL's hoverbikes, and after fifteen miles or so arrive at a large metallic building. Meanwhile, Back at the coffeehouse, Chip suggests dividing up to find the rest of the Dragon Balls. Monterey Jack immediately takes off after the Ball of Cheese, with Zipper following him. Kuwani volunteers to go after the Ball of Power with Chipper the JediChipmunk, and forms a portal to go get him. The J.A.M. volunteers to quest for the Ball of Wind, and Dale and Foxglove agree to join his party. Suddenly Pikachu appears at the door and joins their group, and "The Feline, the Rodent, the Chiropterid, and the PokÈmon thus walked out the door. . ."(The J.A.M.) After some humorous banter, Attic Rat, Wiseguy, and a rather unwilling Shadow head off to a nearby volcano to find the Ball of Fire. They buy a map to search the Mystery Caves in the volcano, but the caves are closed. "'I'm guessing they haven't been closed very long, guys. Can anyone here guess why they might have been closed recently?' Shadow, a streetwise sort himself, grinned. 'A ball of fire suddenly showed up in the caves?' 'That might do it, yes.'" (Karl) This leaves only Chip and Gadget at the Coffeehouse to go after the Ball of Darkness deep underground, or the Ball of Ice, somewhere by a glacier. (Summary courtesy of Mister Kerr) --- Part III--Episode 1 "Team Wiseguy" manages to reach the inside of the Mystery Caves, with Wiseguy distracting the guard (quite rudely) while Shadow and AtticRat snuck in. While remaining outside, Wiseguy dozes off and has a dream about finding the Dragon Ball of Fire with the others, but when the guard he cursed out wakes him up without being rude, Wiseguy must find another way to distract the guard so that AtticRat and his reluctant partner Shadow can sneak back out once they find the Dragon Ball. *Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Dragon Planet...* "Team Strider" runs into a bit of a snag when an old acquaintance of Strider's, Jennifer, uses her Evil version of Magical Female Powers [TM] to place Strider under a trance, revealing to Kat that once the Dragon Balls are gathered, she plans to wish Strider into another dimension (::snicker::), but her MFP don't last, and Strider and Kat quickly tie her up and head back to the hoverbike, but they find that the bored Lawhiney and Shake-a Bake-a are gone. The Insipid Islanders, however, manage to stumble onto the Dragon Ball of Urban inside the Dragon's Rest, but flee the place (with Ball in tow) after a dragon's egg starts to hatch. Will the other teams ("Team Kuwani" and "Team J.A.M.") find their respective Dragon Balls? What Ball will Chip and Gadget go after? And who will volunteer to go after the final Dragon Ball? Find out, in this "episode" of the thread known as... "Resurrection!" --- {Thread Editor's Note: From this point on, I'll only post the summary for the previous part / "episode". And please hurry up, guys--I think Leviathan wants to be wished back really soon! ;) } --- "Hurry, Shake-A, honey!" Lawhiney called out as she ran for her life. The Hawaiian mice were both carrying the Dragon Ball of Urban--with Shake-A doing most of the actual carrying--and running from a baby dragon that, while still a baby, was much larger than them. "Or do you feel like being dragon chow?" "I'm ::huff:: going as ::huff:: fast as ::huff:: I can, ::huff:: Lawhiney!" Shake-A said, panting as he ran quickly down the long hallway. "Do you ::huff:: see the exit ::huff:: yet?" "Yea, it's just ahead!" The Insipid Islanders managed to reach the door, but instead of having to open it, it opened for them, with Strider and Kat looking down at the duo. "Hey, you got the Dragon Ball!" Kat exclaimed in genuine surprise. "And a dragon, too!" Strider followed, petting the little baby dragon on the head. The little dragon smiled at Strider. "Can we keep him, Kat, huh, can we, can we, huh?" Strider joked, imitating a little kid. "I think maybe his mom might have something to say about it," Lawhiney said in a monotone, looking up directly behind her. The rest of "Team Strider" looked up to see a giant dragon frowning and snorting smoke out of her nostrils. "I'll take that as a 'no'." --- Triple-S --- I forgot "Team Monterey". Dang, I'm getting bad about this... Triple-S --- Back at "The Caves of Mystery". The "Ball of Fire", in a most un-adventurous way, simply rolled down the cave, past Shadow and Attic Rat who had pressed themselves back into whatever recesses they could find in the cave walls, and came to a stop. "There! See? We weren't in any real danger!" Attic Rat put his shoulder to the Dragon Ball and began pushing. "Unless we get stuck behind this thing and starve to death." Shadow seemed unconvinced, but helped push. The Dragon Ball began rolling again, though slightly uphill. Shadow added, "It's getting steeper, can you guess what would happen if we slipped" "Good point! Let's find a rock to put under the ball when we get tired." Meanwhile, Wiseguy had been visiting the gift shops. He'd found a couple of paperback novels by the same author the guard had been reading. "A good apology should distract him as well as a good cussing, and he'll be less likely to chase me afterward." Wiseguy congratulated himself on his brilliant plan. "And maybe I can talk someone into paying me back for my expenses." Inside the cave, the two laboring rodents had just begun to see daylight from the mouth of the cave, when the Dragon Ball topped the rise and began rolling on it's own again. "It's about time to get this show on the road." Wiseguy muttered, putting himself into the proper frame of mind for an apology. He approached the guard's shack. "I'd like to apologise for my outburst earlier, you see, I..." He was interrupted, standing there holding out the books, by a shout..."Look out!!!" Darting a glance toward the sound, Wiseguy saw a star-filled ball twice his size bouncing erratically toward him. The guard grabbed him and jumped out of the way as that careening symbol of draconic power passed through the space he had been occupying a moment earlier. The two erstwhile spelunkers ran after it completely unnoticed. "Well, that worked." Mused Wiseguy. Having assured each other they were "OK",Wiseguy and the guard parted company, and Wiseguy walked casually away in the general direction the ball had taken. At this rate the ball would be back at the Ranger Coffeehouse this very evening! Karl --- Meanwhile, somewhere else on The Dragon Planet. . . . . . Monday, 20-Mar-2000 22:54:11 [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************ The Jaguar was having a rough time climbing that mountain. He was arboreal, after all. Dale and Pikachu were holding on to his shoulders, and hanging on tight, for the wind was increasing. He had to stop and rest for a moment, so he kneeled on a ledge and waited a bit. Finally, the bat lady flew down. "Well, what did you hear?" he asked. Foxglove replied, "There is something round and smooth up ahead. I'm not sure how far it is because of all the wind!" "Okay, you can perch on me now. That MUST be the Dragon Ball!!" Foxglove thus sat on the Jaguar's head, and he climbed on. Suddenly a rock gave way from under his footpaws, and all of them were now left dangling from the mountain, held only by the Jaguar's front paws, which were getting sweaty, due to his devastating fear of heights. "I think I'm going to need a little help here!!" he growled. "Pika!!" yelled the electric mouse. "Pikachu, what are you doin'?" asked Dale. The Pokémon climbed down the Panther, held on to the tip of his tail, and- "Hey, what the-" "Pika-CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" With that, he sent an electric shock onto the Feline's posterior, which, of course, caused him to roar in pain and suddenly find himself 10 meters above from where he was just at. As he sat on the higher ledge, panting and with smoke coming out of his fur (and Dale's and Foxglove's as well, not to mention all of them had their fur standing on end) he noticed that all the smoke was being blown away by a strong wind. He patted his fur down and cleared his eyes a bit, and then located the source of the wind. He stuck his paw into a hole in the mountain. Moments later, he pulled out again. "Too far inside. Dale, can you get it?" "Mommy, can I put chocolate on my broccoli, at least-huh? What?" The J.A.M. waited until Dale's brain came back on line, and he asked again, "I said that the Dragon Ball is inside that hole, but I can't reach it. You're a burrowing mammal, so I think that you can get it." "Um, sure." The chipmunk climbed off the Jaguar and crawled with difficulty into the hole. Some scratching was heard, and a few moments later, Dale crawled out, rolling out the Dragon Ball. Foxglove was covering her ears because of all the harsh wind, but then the Panther picked up the Ball and placed it in his black leather kangaroo pouch. "Well, that's one. I wonder how the others are doing." "I wonder how we'll get down," asked Foxglove. "Well, it can't be harder than how we came up. If I *run* down, I may be able to place some warps along the-" "Prepare for trouble!!" "Huh?" asked the Feline, the bat lady, and the chipmunk, while Pikachu just said, "Pi?" "Make it a double!" "Oh, no," grumbled the Jaguar. "To save the world from devastation!" "To unite all peoples within our nation!" "To denounce-" Jesse and James stopped their trademark intro when they heard their lines being chorused by four other voices, who weren't exactly happy in saying them. In fact, they were saying their lines in a very bored and annoying way: "To denounce the evils of truth and love," "Pika pi pikachu kachu ka pi ka pi," "To extend our kingdom to the stars," "Pi chu kachu pika pi kachu," "Jesse, James," "Pika, pika," "Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light," "Pika pika kachu ka pi ka pi kachu pi," "Surrender now or prepare to fight," "Pikachu ka pi pi pikachu ka pi," "Meowth," they moaned, "Pikachu," he added. The J.A.M. turned and saw Team Rocket looking at them with their trademark Animé I-don't-believe-this takes, and he said, "Honestly guys, that intro is getting *really* old now. And just what are you doing here anyways?" It took a while for Team Rocket to snap out of it and scream (again, in Animé, their heads got four times as big as normal, and the Japanese kana of their dialogue popped out of their mouths), "HOW DARE YOU MOCK OUR INTRODUCTION!!!" The wind they generated blew their fur a bit, but Team J.A.M. stayed calm. Team Rocket panted for a bit. "I asked what are you doing here and how did you get here?" Jesse replied, "We got to this planet much the same way *you* got here, Jaguar. If you can answer us, we'll answer you." "Fair enough. But how did you get to this mountain?" asked Dale. "We followed the Ball, like you did. Now, hand it over!!" demanded James. The J.A.M. looked at his companions for a moment, and then explained *very* calmly, "Uh, guys, that wasn't a Pokéball, it was a *Dragon Ball*. You got your series mixed up." "Well, hand it over anyways!!" demanded Meowth. "And I *haven't* forgotten what you did to me last time, Onça!!" The Onça looked at Meowth and said, "Really? I thought you would have forgotten with that ball of yarn we gave you. So, you still want to remove my spots and take away my extended characters?" "Meowth," was his only reply. "And hand over the Pikachu as well!!" added Jesse. "Well, this is certainly getting complicated," commented the Jaguar. "Look guys, we *really* don't have time for you. The rest may already be back with the other Dragon Balls, and we're all kinda in the middle of something important. So if you don't mind-" Team J.A.M. was suddenly facing a HUGE cobra and a large three-headed-poison-ball-thing. Foxglove froze when she saw the snake, the memories of Bud were still fresh. "Hand them over," repeated Jesse. "PIKACHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Another electric shock coursed through Team Rocket and their Pokémon, stunning them temporarily. The J.A.M. took the Dragon Ball out again and sent a wind blast against them, blowing them several hundred meters back. "Time to run," he said, so he grabbed his three friends, and ran down the mountain. . . ************ Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. --- Speaking of Team Monterey. . . Monday, 20-Mar-2000 23:43:40 "Well, Zipper, me pal," Monterey Jack said as they strolled through the Dragon Planet's countryside heading toward the planet's only cheese factory, "This is my idea of a bonza adventure. Searching for a Dragon Ball, strolling along in the nighttime countryside. The moon shinin' down and the cool breeze flowin'. Just take a whiff of that ol' fresh air. It'll do your bones a bit o' good!" He proceeded to take a deep breath in, but somehow never got to the forceful exhale. Instead he had caught a whiff of something that had been carried by the wind. Something familiar, and tantalizing. Zipper couldn't place it at once, but Monty recognized the scent immediately. "Chu-hEEZE!" His eyes welled up in strange colors and his moustache began to twitch. "Come on, Zipper me pal!" he cried. "The factory's not too far!" With that he seized Zipper by the scruff of his red shirt and barreled down the remaining distance of the country they had been strolling in. The cheese factory was an enormous structure that looked like a large mad scientist's laboratory, with pipes coming out this way and that and a large picture of a cheese wedge emblazoned on the outside. Monterey immediately leapt inside one of the pipes, scrambling through at an attempt to satisfy his cheese attack. Zipper merely zipped after him, buzzing to himself, "I wonder why dragons would want a cheese factory anyway. It's not like a dragon's biggest craving is cheese, at least not as far as I know." Inside, the place was deserted, for all the workers had gone home for the night. Monty immediately dove into a pile of Muenster nearby as Zipper buzzed around, searching for any sign of the Dragon Ball. He noticed a hole in the skylight and following the trajectory came to a large storehouse of balls of Swiss cheese. In an attempt to unearth the Dragon Ball which was no doubt buried betwixt the dairy delights, he grabbed the nearest cheese ball and pulled it free with a cheesy sort of "squeak!" Immediately a rumbling noise began. It welled up within the cheese as Zipper's face took on a certain look. The kind of look that can be only expressed in two short syllables: "Uh oh." The store of cheeseballs seemed to explode into a veritable river of aged dairy product. Zipper managed to fly out of the way just in time, but the stream headed past him straight toward a certain pile of Muenster on the other side of the factory! Looking up, the glazed look in his eyes gone, the brawny Australian rodent licked his fingers. "Cheeze!" he stated in a satisfactory tone with a half delirious smile. That's when he was hit by the first of the Swiss brigade. For several seconds cheese ball after cheese ball pummeled the poor mouse until one ball that was much heavier and less cheesy than the others SMACKed right into him, sending the both of them flying out the window. In a near panic, Zipper raced out the window after them. The situation outside was not pretty. The small brook that ran near the factory was now not only carrying water, but a large amount of Swiss cheese balls as well. Before Zipper could worry about the Dragon Ball, though, he had to find his closest compatriot. Soon he spotted him, lying face down in a muddy bank. "Monty! Nooooo!" He flew to the large mouse's side and fanned him, trying to wake him up. Soon, Monterey emitted a large groan and managed to lever himself into a sitting position. Looking over his various bumps and bruises, Monty stated, "Crikey! I've had plenty of cheese attacks before, but never one where the cheese attacked me!" He then looked over the brook. "Tsk tsk. What a waste of perfectly good Swiss. Ain't no way we'll ever find that Dragon Ball now, unless we can find where this river winds up." Zipper buzzed his agreement and immediately took off to get an aerial view of the stream. Noting where it flowed, he flew back to Monty. "You're saying that this entire stream flows right to a big dragon city? I think one of the teams were looking for another ball in thereabouts. C'mon, Zipper me pallie, let's get back to the coffeehouse. Maybe we can catch up to 'em before they get back!" With that, the duo limped its way back toward the Coffeehouse. . . Mister Kerr --- Meanwhile. . . Tuesday, 21-Mar-2000 22:43:04 [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************ The Jaguar continued running down the mountain, with the electric mouse, the bat, and the chipmunk hanging on to him for dear life. "Ok, we're almost down! I can take advantage of this speed and place some warps along the way, and we should be at the Coffeehouse in an hour!!" he yelled. "YOU MEAN YOU CAN RUN FASTER???!!!" screamed Dale. "WELL, I *DO* HAVE A GOOD TAILWIND AND A NICE JUMP START!!! HERE WE GO. . . . . . .!!!!!" *****WARP!!!!!!!***** The moment the Panther warped, however, he suddenly realised that something was wrong. His field of vision began to tunnel, and he accelerated to speeds which even *he* never thought he could achieve. "Oh dear," he said. "WHAT!!!!????" "PI!!!!????" "UH, GUYS, SOMETHING'S WRONG!!!! I CAN'T UNWARP!!!!!" The other three gasped in fear. "I THINK I'M ACTUALLY WARPING FOR REAL!!!!!!!" Indeed he was. His arms and legs showed no signs of fatigue, but instead moved of their own accord, continuing to increase his speed. "UH, J.A.M., DID YOU SAY THAT WE WOULD BE AT THE COFFEEHOUSE IN AN HOUR???!!!" yelled Foxglove. "YES, WHY???!!!" "IT'S COMING UP RIGHT NOW!!!!!" The Coffeehouse suddenly appeared in the Feline's narrow field of vision, and it was approaching fast. The J.A.M. couldn't slow down or unwarp. He wondered if at his speed the resizing field would allow enough time for them to change sizes and stop before smashing into a wall, but he decided not to take that chance. "FOXY!! LET GO OF ME AND PULL UP!!! WHEN YOU SLOW DOWN, FLY TO THE COFFEEHOUSE AND TELL THEM THAT SOMETHING'S CAUSING ME TO WARP FOR REAL AND I CAN'T STOP!!!!! GO!!!!!!!!" It was only one kilometer to the Coffeehouse when Foxglove released The J.A.M., but her momentum was enough to almost shoot her like a rocket. Pulling her wings close, she shot straight ahead while the Panther warped past the Coffeehouse and toward the horizon. Gradually, she extended her wings and began pulling up. At her speed, she ascended nearly one kilometer before she had enough control to begin a controlled spiral down to the Coffeehouse. As she spiraled down, she heard a sonic boom as The J.A.M. warped across the Dragon Planet, at the mercy of his own velocity. She then flew down to the Coffeehouse and entered. . . . ************ Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. --- A distraction...just what I needed! Thursday, 23-Mar-2000 12:59:34 The mother dragon sneered down over "Team Strider", smoke billowing from its enormous nostrils. "Hey, now, I was just kidding...I didn't want to keep him...Kat, do something..." Strider said as he started to inch his way backwards to the hoverbike, all the while doing the universal hey-don't-kill-me hand gesture. "We need a distraction," Kat whispered, imitating Strider's hands. The Insipid Islanders were loading up the Dragon Ball in the hoverbike, out of sight of the mother dragon. At that very moment, however... ***BOOOOOOM!*** A sonic boom (not caused by Guile ;) shook the ground, and everything and everyone on it. As the mother dragon covered her child with her wing, Strider and Kat looked at each other, nodded, then jumped on the hoverbike and sped off. "That was close!" Lawhiney exclaimed, riding in Kat's pocket. "A little *too* close. Next time, could you two at least try and wait for us?" Kat scolded. "Sorry, Kat-babe," Shake-A apologized. "Hey Kat, you know about the Dragon Planet, right?" Kat nodded to Strider. "Then answer me this--why is there a river of cheese?" "Huh?" Kat stopped the hoverbike, and looked over at the river Strider had noticed. Cheese had replaced water, and it seemed to go for miles. "Hey, wait...Monty was looking for a Dragon Ball in a cheese factory. And if something happened there that caused this, then that means the Ball"--Kat reached down in the river, and when she pulled her hand up--"could be in here!" Sure enough, Kat was holding the Dragon Ball of Cheese (covered in its namesake dairy product). "Way to go, Kat!" Lawhiney cheered. "Now let's get back to the Coffeehouse!" "Maybe the others wll have the rest of the Dragon Balls," Strider commented. With the Ball in tow, "Team Strider" boarded the hoverbike and headed back to the Coffeehouse. ----- (How's *that* for tying up some loose ends?) "Quote the Strider, forevermore." Triple-S --- Back at the coffeehouse. . . Thursday, 23-Mar-2000 17:00:48 Gadget started over. "If we go after the Ball of Ice, that means we'll need supplies and transportation to the North regions, not to mention a way to get it back to the Coffeehouse when we find it. . ." "Give it a rest, Gadget." Chip sighed. "We've been going over various possibilities, and there is no way just us two can get either the Ball of Darkness or the Ball of Ice without some help." "Well, golly, Chip, everyone else is out looking for balls already, and if we ask someone who wasn't here during the incident we could compromise the security of the mission and risk having the Dragon Balls fall into the wrong hands." "I know that, Gadget." He sighed again. "All right, continue." "Well, if we can scrounge up two heavy fur coats and a sled from. . ." Suddenly there was a commotion outside the Coffeehouse, followed by a WHUMP! and silence. "What was THAT?" Chip sprang to his feet and rushed to the door. Outside, in various sitting and laying positions were Wiseguy, AtticRat, Shadow, Triple-S, Lawhiney, Shake-a Bake-a, Kat, Monterey Jack, Zipper, and Foxglove, all rubbing their heads. They had all tried to enter the Coffeehouse at the exact same time and couldn't quite fit through the door. Also nearby lay the Dragon Balls of Fire, Urban, and Cheese. "What happened out-" But Chip never finished the sentence as his eyes alighted on the Dragon Balls and a wide grin broke out on his face! "You did it! And what's more, you made it back alive!" Most emitted a groan, still being too dazed by the unexpected collision to think of a coherent reply." Abruptly, Chip's tone of excitement changed to one of concern when he noticed Foxglove. "Foxglove," he asked, "what happened to the rest of your team?" "We had a run-in with team rocket that led to the J.A.M. warping without being able to unwarp! Now he, Pikachu, and Dale are somewhere and I don't know where they are! We've got to find a way to help them unwarp!" "That's terrible! Everyone back in the Coffeehouse. We've got to save Dale and the team before they fly off the planet!" With that, Chip turned and dashed back into the Coffeehouse. The rest followed behind him, grabbing the Dragon Balls before they entered. Mister Kerr --- Meanwhile. . . [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************* From high above the planet, one would have been able to see an orange dot speeding along its surface. From the ground, at quite a distance, one would see an orange *something* zoom its way from one horizon to the next, with a HUGE cloud of dust trailing behind it, and then a sonic boom as it passed. From the actual source, one would hear two mammals and one Pokémon scream: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" but heard so several seconds after they passed, as they had already broken the speed of sound. They were one-quarter the way around the planet now, unable to stop. . . ************* Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. --- Using an idea of yours, J.A.M.--hope you don't mind. "Golly!" was Gadget's reply to J.A.M.'s situation. "We've got to help him!" "We *could*, if we knew what was going on, Gadget-love," Monterey lamented. "The only thing I can think of is that the power of the Dragon Ball is somehow affecting his warp," Kat said. "We have to get the Dragon Ball away from J.A.M., or he, Dale, and Pikachu will fly off the planet!" [Somewhere in the distance, E-MC can be heard gasping in horror. ;) ] "But how? He's going too fast for us; if one of us tries to get that ball, we'll be doomed!" Foxgloved chimed in. "Hmm...if only Kuwani were here," the grou intoned. Then, as if on cue, a teledimensional portal appeared, and through it stepped Kuwani and Chipper the JediChipmunk. "Sorry I'm late...it took a little longer to find Chipper than I had expected," the Tari explained. "So what's up?" As was his duty, Strider quickly summarized the previous happenings of the groups of Rangerphiles, ending with the current situation of The J.A.M. "Whoa...we have got to help him, and fast! If he flies off the planet, then so does the Dragon Ball--and *that* means we can't wish Leviathan back!" Kuwani exclaimed. "But how do we go about stopping an anthropomorphic jaguar goign faster than the speed of sound?" Strider asked. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Meanwhile, as the Ranger Coffeehouse's visitors discussed the situation... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" "PIIIIIIKAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" ---------- (How's that, J.A.M.?) "Quote the Strider, forevermore." Triple-S --- Perfect (don't forget how Pikachu comes in this as well) The J.A.M. --- More complications [...unWARP!!!] Good evening. ************ The J.A.M., Dale, and Pikachu continued to speed along the surface of Dragon Planet. He didn't have a speedometer with him, but the Jaguar calculated he was running in speeds that surpassed Mach 10. Then, in his narrowing field of vision, he saw a large body of water up ahead. "OH GOOD!!! MAYBE THIS WILL SLOW ME DOWN SOMEWHAT!!!" he yelled. But no. He skimmed over the water's surface quite easily, and as he did, he looked back. Behind him was a curtain of water some 20 m high. And he showed no signs of slowing down. "WELL, I ALWAYS WANTED TO WALK ON WATER, BUT I NEVER KNEW I WOULD BE **RUNNING** ON IT!!!" "NOW WHAT DO WE DO????!!!!" yelled Dale. Before the Panther could reply, he zoomed off the ocean's surface and moved on to a land covered with ice. If he didn't know better, he was now in the southern ice cap of this planet, and soon he would be on the night side. "I HAVE NO IDEA!!! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE!!!! BUT AS LONG AS I DON'T REACH THIS PLANET'S ESCAPE VELOCITY, WE SHOULD BE FINE!!!!" "HOW FAST IS THAT???!!!" "SOME 38,000 KILOMETERS AN HOUR!!! BUT WE'RE BARELY AT 10,000 KILOMETERS, I HOPE!!!" "SO WE'RE GOING AS FAST AS AN ICBM????!!!!" "I THINK SO!!!!" "PIKA?????!!!!" Pikachu (who had his cheeks crackling with because of all the excitement) wasn't questioning the Onça's last question, he was questioning something he saw up ahead. Though it took less than one second, the three zoomed past something small and orange, which then was suddenly found on the Jaguar's right paw. He certainly didn't remember stooping down to pick it up, but the fact is that he now had the Ball of Ice. Bringing his arms closer, he pulled up his t-shirt a bit, opened his kangaroo pouch, and placed the Dragon Ball next to the other one- Suddenly, he lost control of his arms. All of his limbs were a complete blur now. Mach 20? Mach 30 now? His speed increased even further. Dale and Pikachu were now pressed against his chest, unable to open their eyes. *Huh? The Dragon Balls are doing this? Impossible!! Only the GIANT Dragon Balls can enhance someone's superpowers, which I DON'T have!!! What is going on???!!!* Of course, as he was thinking that, he, Dale, and Pikachu were saying, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The sun winked out behind them, the sky turned black, and the ice turned to land again. They were now in the night side, heading north, and closer and closer to escape velocity. . . . ************ Until next time, remember: I AM THE J.A.M. Good evening. [WARP!!!] The J.A.M. --- Kuwani's ideas "They're going so fast, they'd probably tear through a magical Spider Web spell like it wasn't there." Kuwani thought out loud. "We need to either reach them and get the Dragonball away from them..." "Too bad Sonic isn't here." quipped Chipper. "...or find a way to tell J.A.M. to drop it." "Shang Tsung's fireballs! They just picked up speed! What caused -that-?!" declared Kat, who had pulled out one of TPL's devices and was using it to monitor the trio. "Another Dragonball?" theorized Gadget. "Crud!" cursed Kuwani. The Tari turned to Chipper. "Is there a Jedi technique you could use to 'talk' to them, mind to mind?" Kat --- Wiseguy strolls up: "Hey there, Kuwani!" He greeted the powerful magess, "Just how many of those spiderwebs can you spin?" Kuwani looked at him as though wondering idly what he'd look like turned inside-out. Fortunately for the abrasive but well-intentioned rat, he went on to explain his comment. "If you put them one behind the other in a long enough row, our warped friend might slow down enough tearing through them for Jed-head over there to do a brain-dump on Foxy or Dale. I wouldn't suggest talking to the electric yellow guy 'cause he doesn't communicate all that well." --- Kuwani's response The Taris gave the rat an impish grin and replied, "Only if you don't speak Pikachu." She winked and continued, "That's just might work." Kuwani then looked at Chipper and asked, "Ready to try it?" Kat --- Karl