"Resurrection"--Part V
Tuesday, 11-Apr-2000 10:29:03
**Summary**
*Resurrection--Part IV*
The plan to stop J.A.M. is set into motion, and it seems that all
will go well...until the grease that had been set down by AtticRat and Co.
causes a gigantic explosion, due to the Jaguar's incredible speed.
Once everyone recovers, they find Dale--in very bad shape. Hurrying
back to the Coffeehouse, the group places Dale in TPL's Med-Lab,
while Chip and Gadget try to find J.A.M. and Pikachu.
"Gadget stormed out of sick bay and burst into TPL's control room,
followed by her eternal admirer, Chip, who was following her with a
great deal of concern...Her portable tracker may have been destroyed,
but TPL's computers *hadn't*." (The J.A.M.)
Using the computers, The J.A.M. and Pikachu are eventually located.
Kuwani makes a portal, and Chipper, Chip, Kuwani, Kat, and Strider get
the two on a stretcher, with The J.A.M. hanging on the brink.
Is there a way to bring J.A.M. back to full health? And if so,
does it require the Dragon Balls?
Find out now, in Part V of..."Resurrection!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
J.A.M.'s vital signs were very weak. The whole group was very quiet,
and all that could be heard was a sleeping Pikachu snoring ("Piiiii...
kaaaaa...piiiii...kaaaaa...") and the EKG as it beeped slowly, indicating
the Jaguar's fading heartbeat. Dale was in the next bed, and since he had
gotten considerably better in the short time he had been in the Med-Lab,
he was sitting up in his bed, looking on as well.
Suddenly, Strider broke the silence.
"I need to ask you something, Kuwani. Is there any way you can transfer
the life force of one being to another?"
"No, I can't do that...Why do you ask?" Kuwani asked.
"Because I don't think J.A.M.'s gonna survive, and I want to do
something to save him." Strider had a very determined look on his face.
"It's my fault you guys went on this quest, and I have to do something
to make up for it."
The Tari looked at him and sighed. "There -is- something I could try.
It's very risky, but it should work." Kuwani then looked at Kat. "Kat,
go to the Lair and get my Elixir of Youth."
Kat's eyes went wide as she replied, "You're going to risk casting
'Limited Wish'? But what if the aging side-effect -kills- ya?"
"It won't if you stand by with the elixir, Kat, so go get it! J.A.M.
is barely hanging on!" Reluctantly, Kat teleported away. Kuwani sat down
near the bed and prepared to cast her spell. Strider approached her.
"Kuwani, what exactly did Kat mean by 'aging side-effect'?" he asked.
"Every time I cast Limited Wish, it ages me." the Tari explained,
while pouring some sort of powder out of her pouch and into the palm of her
hand. "That's why I don't use it much."
"So -that's- why you asked Kat to get that youth elixir."
The Tari mage nodded. "Even so, there's still the risk that it will
age me too much."
"What? There's no way I'm gonna let you risk your life! There has
to be some other way!" Strider exclaimed.
"I see no other way. Besides, -I- was the one who threw a fit about
Leviathan and the Dragonballs were -my- idea..." Kuwani looked into Dale's
eyes, "I'm sorry that my friends were hurt in my foolish quest."
Strider opened his mouth and began to protest, but Kuwani interrupted
him by saying, "And besides, you were going to do the same thing."
She looked away and began chanting.
"Kuwani, NO!! Please, don't do it!" Strider shouted.
Kat materialized in the Med-Lab.
"Don't interrupt her, bub! If she blows this spell, it will take hours
for her to memorize it again. And to be honest, I don't think El J.A.M. has
that kinda time." Kat removed a clear bottle from her backpack. It was corked
and a yellowish liquid, about 300ml deep, could be seen inside.
"There's only one dose left." Kat commented as she removed the cork
and stood by the mouse-like mage.
Kuwani stopped chanting. "I wish for the feline known as The J.A.M.
to be restored to full health!"
She glowed briefly. As the Jaguar's vital signs returned to normal,
the Tari began to age right before the group's eyes. Her hair turned grey,
her fur lightened, and even her thick fur could not conceal the fact that
she was losing her muscle tone. Strider looked away expecting the worst to happen.
Kat quickly brought the bottle to Kuwani's mouth and poured in the
elixir. The Tari drank the fluid, and the aging seemed to stop.
Moments later, the aging effect actually reversed until she was restored--much
to everyone's relief. Yet, the whole process left the Tari breathing heavily.
"Are you okay, Kuwani?" Strider asked, rushing to her side. He, of all
the Rangerphiles, didn't want her to die--he would've felt like it was his fault.
In fact, he felt that all of the bad things that had happened during each group's
quest was his fault. But that didn't matter now; everyone was fine (or was going
to be), and only two of the seven Dragon Balls remained hidden on the Dragon Planet.
"I...I'm fine..." Kuwani spoke inbetween gasps of air. "But...what about...
The J.A.M.?"
As if on cue, El J.A.M. opened his eyes and looked around.
"What happened?" he asked.
Strider sighed--he knew this would take a while...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(Special thanks go out to Kat, who came up with this scenario from one I
had proposed to her earlier.)
"Quote the Strider..."
"And Kat! Don't forget Kat!"
"...forevermore."
Triple-S and Kat
---
Attic Rat was wandering around, aimlessly looking up and down the scorched
and blasted walls of the gully. He kicked a small stone, followed it a few
steps, and kicked it again. Finally, he sat on a boulder and put his face
down into his hands with a deep sigh. "I thought it was such a good idea."
He looked up again, surveying the ugly soot covered wasteland he had created.
Shaking his head, he fell back into his angst attack.
Wiseguy had noticed Attic Rat's absence, and had been searching for
his friend. He was about to sneak up behind, and poke Attic Rat in the ribs,
when he noticed something shiny and silver-colored exposed in one of the
fractured stone walls.
He started chipping away at the rock around the object with a broken
shard of stone, momentarily putting aside his concern for his friend.
This was probably the best thing he culd have done, for Attic Rat's
interest was immediatly roused. "What's that?" He said, walking toward Wiseguy.
The object began to hum. A brilliant yellow-white beam leaped out,
flickered, and died. The device fell to the ground, completely inert once more.
"It's a #### lightsaber!" Shouted Wiseguy.
"Buried under solid rock? How? When? Why?" Wondered Attic Rat.
"Do you think we ought to tell somebody about this?" Was all he said.
Karl
---
Meanwhile, Grace Gigabyte and Widget Bernouli were sitting in their
usual spot near the talking cappucino machine.
"I've never seen the place so empty." Widget commented.
"Yeah; what's the deal? Are all the Writers -that- busy?" Grace asked.
"Well, there was a bunch of fictives in earlier." replied the
cappucino machine. "But they left."
"Really?" asked Grace
"Why'd they leave?" asked Widget
They saw Lawhiney and Shake'a Bake'a come in and sit down at one
of the tables.
"Ask them--they were part of the group." the cappucino machine said.
The two mice girls looked at each other.
"Should we?" Widget asked, uncertain.
"Dunno. They aren't what I'd call 'reliable sources'." said Grace.
Widget shrugged. "Nothing ventured..."
"...nothing gained." Grace finished.
"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to finish my
sentences?" the blue-eyed mouse asked rhetorically.
"Until it sticks?" quipped the brown-eyed mouse.
Widget gave her cousin a playful slap. Then the girls cautiously
approached the table (and the insipid islanders).
"Hi, Shake'a! Hi, Lawhiney!" Widget greeted the couple.
"Where have ya been?" asked Grace.
"Oh, out risking our tails hunting down some Dragonballs, that's all.
We even found one while Kat and Strider were goofing off." Lawhiney gave
them her 'charming' grin.
Widget thought, "Riiiight. I'll bet -they- were the ones goofin' off
instead" as she looked at the delenquent duo.
"Dragonballs?" Grace asked, with an impish grin.
"Yeah. There are 7 of them, dudette." Shake'a Bake'a started to explain.
"Big orange balls with stars on 'em."
The impish grin wasn't lost on Lawhiney, "What did you -think- we
were talking about?"
Grace stopped grinning, "Oh, I wasn't sure..." she gave them a sly look.
Widget changed the subject, "So, is that why there aren't many people
here today? They're out looking for these 'Dragon balls'?"
Shake'a nodded. "Uh, yeah."
"Some of them might be in the Med-Lab, though..." Lawhiney started.
"Somebody got hurt?" Grace interrupted.
"Why -else- would they be in there, sweetie?" Lawhiney said in a 'well, duh'
kinda way.
Grace glared at her and thought, "Miss Congeniality she isn't."
"Uh, I saw two dudes go ouside." added the surfer mouse.
Widget grabbed her cousin by the arm and dragged her in the general direction
of the Med-Lab. "Uh, bye!" Widget said hastily.
---
Back in the gully
Wiseguy had picked up the damaged lightsaber and was waving it around,
saying "Whummmm, whummmm".
"You're going to hurt yourself someday."
"What!? This thing isn't going to -"Snaphisssss...
The rock, fractured by the previous blast, crumbled away where the focused
plasma energy stabbed deeply into the gully wall.
Attic Rat wondered how he had ended up lying face down in the dirt.
Looking up at the new crater near where his head had been, he decided he
rather liked lying in the dirt, all things considered.
Then, next to his face, he noticed a boxlike device with blinking
lights across the front. Looking around a bit, he saw several more odd
bits of high-tech scattered about.
"What is this, some kind of science-fiction landfill?"
Wiseguy just stood there, staring blankly at the hole he'd created.
"I almost killed you." He mumbled.
"Are you planning to try it again?"
"Uhmmm... No..."
"Good, let's haul some of this stuff back to the Coffeehouse and see
if anyone there can figure out what it is."
On the way, Wiseguy stopped, then said,"I just rememebered something
about this planet. It's artificial, it was created by TPL a long time before
the Coffeehouse was built."
"So this stuff might be something TPL left behind for some reason?"
"Yeah, maybe to him, this was all worthless junk... Maybe it is a landfill!"
"Well, one rat's trash.." Began Attic Rat.
"Is another rat's treasure!" Finished Wiseguy.
"You don't suppose there's any Gadget plushes in there, do you?"
Wondered Wiseguy aloud.
"Sometimes, I worry about you." replied Attic Rat.
Karl
---
Time for a recap
[...unWARP!!!]
Good evening.
************
Gadget sat on the edge of the bed while the Jaguar rubbed his sore face
with his paws. As the medical team proceeded to remove all the tubes from his
body, Gadget asked,"How much do you remember?"
"Well, I saw the three green arrows pointing to a cliff face. I was about
to push to the right but something kept me centered on those arrows. I think
I then entered a canyon or something, then there was this huge flash of fire.
Um, Pikachu then zapped me for no reason, and my speed began to drop. I started
stumbling--and that's about it."
Gadget then explained,
"Chipper used the Force to lead you into a gully which was filled with
Kuwani's magic webs, to slow you down. It was also unfortunately lined with grease.
Attic Rat thought that was a good idea, trying to make you slip, but he didn't take
into account the high temperatures you were generating. That was the flash you saw.
Chipper was also trying to send you a message to drop the Dragon Balls, *they*
were causing you to warp out of control. He says that your mind is shielded
and he couldn't reach you, so it was Pikachu and Dale who got the mess-"
"DALE!!" he interrupted, sitting upright. "I dropped Dale!! Where is he??"
"I'm right here!" he called out, from the other bed. The Panther looked over
and saw him in quite a rough shape, but all right nonetheless. Gadget continued.
"When Pikachu zapped your pouch, he also hit Dale, and he fell off.
The explosion caused by the grease nearly killed him, but he's all right now."
The Jaguar sighed in relief.
"And Pikachu?"
"He's still sleeping. You see, you hit a lake at 250 kilometers per hour.
You must have shielded him somehow, because when we found you, you-you-"
"Yes?"
"You were nearly gone. We brought you here, but even TPL's sickbay couldn't
do much for you. So-Kuwani had to use her powers to save you. She made a wish
for you to recover, and she nearly killed herself in the process."
The Feline sat stone still upon hearing this.
"How did that happen?"
"It seems that when she makes that particular type of wish, her body ages.
Kat was standing by with some youth elixir,so she recovered just in time.
Strider didn't want Kuwani to risk her life doing that, but she insisted. J.A.M.,
this whole quest has nearly killed some of us, and Strider's wondering if it's
worth continuing."
"Continuing? Didn't I get the last of the Balls?"
"No. We need two more."
"Then what was everyone doing while I was warping around this planet?"
"Trying to stop you from reaching escape velocity, and you almost did."
The Onça looked at the mouse for a moment, his whiskers quivering. While he knew
he had plenty of friends, none of them had risked their lives the way these ones
had done. With a determined look, he jumped off the bed-and noticed something.
"Where's my t-shirt-" He looked down and saw it on the floor. He picked it up,
and saw that it had a HUGE hole on the lower right side, right where the word
"MEXICO" began. The eagle seal was also charred on its bottom right.
"Seems that every time I visit this planet I lose a shirt. Where's my
kangaroo pouch, then-" The item in question was on a shelf. Upon examination,
The J.A.M. saw that the word "B'klin" had melted, and that all its compartments
had been charred open by Pikachu's electroshock. The rearmost compartment hadn't,
though. So, he opened it, pulled out another t-shirt, and pulled it over his head.
He then turned to Gadget and asked,
"Where are Kuwani and Strider?"
TBC. . .
************
Until next time, remember:
I AM THE J.A.M.
Good evening.
[WARP!!!]
The J.A.M.
---
Speak of the Tari...
"Gee, I didn't know ya cared." Kuwani said with an impish grin, while
holding a cup and leaning in the doorway. "Strider is waiting with the others."
"Golly!" Gadget exclaimed, surprised that she hadn't heard Kuwani approach.
El J.A.M. wanted to thank the mage but, "How long have you been standing
there?" came out instead.
Kuwani grinned warmly at the jaguar. "Long enough. And Gadget was only
partially right--the spell ages me no matter -what- I wish for. As I told Strider,
that's why I use it sparingly. Afterall, I don't have any phenominal, cosmic powers."
She winked. "Nor any SEMI-phenominal ones." she added.
"So why..."Gadget began.
"If you're going to ask 'why didn't you use Limited Wish to bring back
Leviathan', the answer is 'I cannot.' It's called a -limited- wish for a reason."
"Well actually, I was going to ask 'why are you holding a cup?'" Gadget clarified.
The Tari looked a little embarassed. "Oh." Kuwani lifted her cup.
"Orange juice. Helps me recover faster." she explained.
Kat
---
Meanwhile, in the waiting room
"Okay, you can stop dragging me, Widget." Grace said, annoyed. "It's not
like I'd actually smack her or anything."
Widget released Grace's arm from her grip and replied, "Oh, I dunno;
sometimes I think you inherited her temper..."
"Don't start -that- again!" griped the brown-eyed mouse as she opened the door.
Inside the waiting room, Chip, Chipper, Kat, Strider seemed to be in the
middle of a rather animated (pun intended)discussion.
"Wha?? You can't be serious--we already got five of the Dragonballs!" Kat
declared in Full Rant Mode.
"But there have be so many close calls. Too many people have gotten hurt.
I'm not sure if it's worth it." explained Strider.
"The Rescue Rangers have had -lots- of close calls, Strider. It goes
with the territory." Chip stated.
"Uh, excuse me? What's going on?" Widget cautiously interrupted.
"It's a long story." answered Kat.
"Is everybody okay? Who got hurt?" blurted Grace.
Kat looked at the brown-eyed mouse and muttered, "What was my Writer
-thinking- when she named her 'Grace'?"
Chip overheard and bonked her with his fist.
(Everybody's on the same scale inside this place, remember?)
"*Ow!* Grr..." snarled Kat, while rubbing her head. "Since when did -I-
start looking like Dale to you, bub?" she whispered threateningly to the chipmunk.
"When you started misbehaving." he replied cooly. "Speaking of Dale,
I should go check on him."
The chipmunk walked toward the Med-Lab while Chipper described the
situation to the 2 mouse girls.
---
Time for acknowledgements
[...unWARP!!!]
Good evening.
*************
The J.A.M. took one look at Kuwani and gave her a BIG hug.
"Thanks. . . .Kuwani. . ." She was a little suprised and wondered if this
was simply the Mexican way of showing gratitude. It *might* have been, because
the Panther strode out to the waiting room, where he stood in front of Strider.
"Strider, whatever team goes out for the last two balls, U can count on me for it."
Strider looked at the feline for a moment. . . .
*************
Until next time, remember:
I AM THE J.A.M.
Good evening.
[WARP!!!]
The J.A.M.
---
Re: Even -good- guys make mistakes O|o
"And that razzafraggin' chipmunk just made a big one!" The words came
from between his clenched teeth as Wiseguy struggled to get at Chip.
Attic Rat continued to hold him back, "Do I have to remind you, the
fair damsel who's honor you'd defend is a 100-percent-pure high-powered
pull-down-lightning-from-the-sky Tari mage???!"
He pulled Wiseguy around, face to face, "She is fully capable of protecting herself!"
Kuwani heard some of that, but turned away quickly when they looked up.
here was no way to tell her expression.
"You cooled back down yet?"
"Yeah.. OK. I guess."
"Let's show off some of that techno-junk we found and see if anyone
can figure it out, then."
They wandered over to Gadget, and tried to get her attention.
Under the circumstances, this wasn't an easy task...
---
Is that a story part?
Wasn't aware those two walked back inside...
[:shrugs:]
I'll assume that everybody migrated to the waiting room...
Wiseguy said:"And that razzafraggin' chipmunk just made a big one!"
A female 'voice from above' proclaims: "Don't blame Chip for what a
Writer made him do (especially when that Writer is an "Anti")" ;D
--- (
geocities.com/televisioncity/set) (
geocities.com/televisioncity)