The Rocking Chair (conc)

"A QUEST!" Rae cries, walking over to Jila, her balance a little off because of the straight-jacket. "We will go on a quest, my faithful Sancho Panza! We will slay as many windmills as it takes to return to you what is rightfully yours!" Rae turns to her granddaughter. "You, faithful squire! My steed and arms!"

no one had seen Scorpi in her White lab coat, sneak into the kitchen and pull eggs and meat from the fridge. She quickly opened the secret door behind the pantry and dissapeared.

Soon she found her way to the vent that spread heat throughout the mansion. Sitting the meat and eggs inside the vent, she silently hoped all the Scoobs would be able to take the smell in a couple hours.

Kay tried not to laugh at Jila's prank. This caused a coughing fit and as a Reality guard came up to try to help her, she backhanded him so hard, he fell backwards. "Sorry sonny", she said when she quit coughing. "Just a reflex."

Out back, a little ways from the house, a grey haired kitten that never grew up, sadly lowered her head and walked into the burial plot. It was a trip she made often over the years and she almost always left a tear or two behind.

She lowered herself down and gently patted the ground. She really missed the old hound dog. Back then she had never thought him any different than herself but Elvis was a real dog, and real dogs grew old and...die. Elvis had been all to real.

She sniffed a little. She always did. Even with all the Scapoers about she was still lonely somedays. No little kittens for her. No Tomcat to ease her days. Just kittten, much as she'd always been, only greyer and slower. Even the IQ's didn't know for certain how long she'd live.

She listened to the sound of other children playing. Kittens mewing, puppies barking. She didn't dislike any of them but there was only one Elvis. Oh how she missed him...

She had heard what the Reality people had said that morning when they came here. That's why she had gone with the others. They, the adults, thought she was only being mischievious but she had heard. They were going to tear this place down and that meant they were going to tear down this little place as well...this little place...the last little piece of Elvis she had. Wipe his grave from the face of the earth like it had never been.

Inside her a little burning ember was brewing. Small, bright, and intense. There was something. It would come to her. She was not one of the adults and that might be good. She didn't have to play by the adults rules.

"Oh!" A warm look came across little Gracey's face "He was her mostest bestest buddy in da hoo widest worlds" Gracey said as she stretched her arms as wide apart as she could.

Standing on her tippy toes little Gracey gave Artic a big hug and kiss on the check "Silly Granny!" Garcey giggled "I don't want her ex...expee...expeetisa...I just want her to show me how!"

Artic watched little Gracey skip off and then let her eyes shift back to Kitten off in the distance. It had been so hard for Kitten when Elvis had passed away. It was all Artic could do to get Kitten away from the grave back then. Those had been dark days...but Kitten was better now...Her telling little Gracey all about the Elvis and Kitten antics proved that...except that there was always a shadow of sadness behind Kitten's eyes even when she smiled...as thou she knew the good times would be even better if Elvis was there.

*sigh* Rubbing a paw against Elvis's dog license hanging on her collar, Elvis had always been so proud of his license *sigh* Kitten wiped her other paw across her checks and cleared her throat. *sniff...sniff* Kitten absently rubbed the license again without realizing it...Elvis had insisted that Kitten take it because he hadn't wanted her to forget him...as if she could. Elvis had been the only one who truly loved her. Artic loved her but she loved her in-spite of her faults...Elvis had loved her because of them. "What an arrogant little cuss I was...how did you ever put up with me? I can never thank you enough for that." *sniff* "Ironic...isn't it? You were always afraid I would leave you...and in the end it was you that left me."

The small ball of fire in her chest got bigger and bigger until she let out a growl. She had lost Elvis once and she wasn't going to loose him again. "If the Reality Channel thinks they will get SCIFI land without a fight they have another thing coming." As Kitten stood and shook out her fur all emotion left her face "I will keep you safe Elvis...just like you always kept me safe...I promise!" Walking away from Elvis's grave she had just one thought "If it was WAR they wanted it was WAR they would get!"

The Scoobs were in rare form, and enjoying the heck out of running off the Reality guards. As one of them walked past the guys checker game, Ragnar kicked out his leg, and tripped the guy, sending him sprawling. All the old people laughed. Some of the guards started wrinkling their noses.

"What is that smell?", one of them asked. Retreating behind her hand, to hide her grin, Kay looks for Scorpi and Sophi to help. "Well, sir, " said Sophi, matter of factly. "These are old people in case you didn't notice. There ARE certain unpleasant odors to deal with sometimes."

"Oh man", said one of the guards. "I sure am glad we aren't going to stay here long." The Scoobs almost shouted with relief. "Jila came running back into the room, and attacked the closest man to her. "I told you I want my dollies back!" She said, hitting his chest. "Listen lady!" I didn't take your dollies. And thank goodness we won't be here that long to put up with you people." The gang wanted to laugh with joy, thinking their ploy was working. The next words out of the guards mouth, however, caused all breaths to be held. "As soon as they move you people they are tearing down this place."

"Oh wow. They had forgotten that. Now what?" For a moment, The Scooby gang really resembled defeated old people. About that time, though, the ground rumbled. As if trying to say something to them. At the moment, it didn't mean anything to anyone. To Kitten however, who was walking back to the mansion, and had always looked at situations in her own way, it was as if the ground were communicating with her.

Back in the mansion, Rae (not human by birth, but with no particular quarrel against the species) is chasing an imaginary night-vision sniper across the kitchen floor as a horrified Reality Channel security guard looks on. His cell-phone rings. He listens for a minute, then gestures to a second guard.

Rae stops in mid-jump (fortunately, the guards are too busy to notice that she's suspended in mid-air) and smiles with anticipation. She hasn't seen Marvin and company in years.

Mr. Real seethed. Didn't anyone understand anymore? The Toons had been the hardest ones to contain. Slithering in and out of childrens minds and impossibly hard to trap. The old film depository had seemed like the perfect spot...well the perfect spot after they dropped a mountain of concrete and dirt atop it!

He dropped back into his chair. This was bad, really bad. It might change everything. True much of Reality's control over the lands was by force but much of it was by belief as well. It took generations of weening children off their imaginations and onto computers and other distractions that the propoganda department developed. If you could control the minds you could control everything. Control the schools and raise the children to think as you wanted and you could control the minds.

The last thing he wanted was playful imagination on the loose. His chairmanship was to be the crowning event of decades long struggles. The Scifi channel was the last and that had mearly required waiting until Reality developed much of the Scifi imaginations INTO Reality. When once outlandish Scifi became common everyday even that bastion had crumbled. It was only groups of lunitics like those elder Scapers that kept what imagination there was going. They would die out soon enough.

He reached for the red phone. The toons would have to be contained and quickly. He couldn't have children laughing and imagining cartoons when they should be hard at work playing video games designed to lead them around and keep their minds mushy. Advertising had to have a certain pliability if it was going to keep the sales quotas up.

in a classroom close by, some small children are studying earnestly. Thier faces were so serious for such young children. The teacher looked tired. There were no smile lines etched into her face. Rather, their were worry lines. It was not much fun to be serious all the time.

All of a sudden, a rabbit by the name of Bugs appeared in the open window. Seeing the children he jumped right in and perched himself on the teachers desk. Teacher jumped back in horror. The children gasped. What was it? Bugs, not at all swayed, just crossed his legs, and took a bite out of his carrot, and said. "What's up doc?" He looked so comical, that the children laughed. "Listen", said Bugs, "Can you help me out?"

Children being children, no matter what they were taught, were intrigued. This comical creature was asking them for help. "I'm going to get you, you silly wabbit." was heard from outside. "Uh oh", said Bugs, "Gotta go. See ya around", and Bugs was out the window like a flash. The teacher fainted, but, the children didn't notice. They ran to the window and laughed at the site of this comical looking rabbit running from an even more comical little man with a hunters cap on.

Rae's granddaughter, Kattie, asked with a slight smile as the Reality men huddled in the center of the ballroom, talking quickly together. If there was one thing that she enjoyed more than all others, it was watching bullies suffer. Rae, of course, encouraged this.

Kattie slid out of her lab-coat and laid it on the bar, unholstering Raegun. PK leathers looked even better on her than they had on her grandmother in her prime. "Gentlemen!" she called.

The reality men stared. Kattie had that effect on people, men especially, but it wasn't that which caught their attention. It was the stream of daisies popping out of Raegun's barrel.

The Reality men gaped. Kattie just stood there. "I'm getting sick of you people!" she informed them. "NO ONE tries to push around my Gran!" She narrowed her eyes at them. "OUT of our mansion!"

"Stow it." Kattie dropped Raegun on the bar and picked up one of the Reality men instead, one hand clutching the scruff of his neck, the other gripping the waist-band of his pants. "Rude, inconsiderate, PUSHY..." Kattie muttered, carrying him to the kitchen door. "Didn't even wipe your frelling FEET on the mat! More work for the DRDs, as if they don't have enough already..."

"I think our cover's blown any way." Kattie informed her, pitching the Reality man out the back door. He flew ten feet and landed in Rae's herb garden. "Watch out for the thistle!" Kattie advised cheerfully before turning back to the rest of the Reality men who were staring in awe. She raised an eyebrow and took a half-step forward. The Reality men scuttled away.

Kattie advanced on the Reality men. "Gentlemen!" she said slowly. "I have always prided myself on keeping a good house. An OPEN house. But you have strained the bounds of my hospitality. You have been rude to the people living here, you have pushed them about and belittled them. YOU DIDN'T EVEN COMPLIMENT ME ON MY DOUGHNUTS!" Kattie stood in the kitchen with her fists clenched, trembling. "NOW GET OUT OF OUR MANSION!!!"

"WHAT?!?" the teacher screams hysterically. This was the last straw. The poor woman's brain just couldn't take it anymore. *Be serious* they told her *do not try and reach their imaginations. They will not need their imaginations when they graduate. Only textbooks and biographies for reading material. They need to be prepared for the REAL world.* So she tried, she taught what she was given. She ignored and ridiculed questions about anything other than Reality. "What if" questions were forbidden in her class room. There were strict consequences if anybody dared Whisper those words. And now This! The children jumped out of their chairs and watched the crazy cartoon Mallard with a cape and strange looking suit on run across the playground to a cigar shaped, cartoon vehicle. With Rockets!!! The rockets flare and the ship takes off into outerspace.

Back at the Mansion Jila grabs her son and daughter in law and disappear inside Jila's rooms. "Sweetie, Meagan, we've blown it. They don't just want the House, they want to tear it Down!" (As a bit of History, the two children Meagan & Calen from "Uh...under what tree, kitten" were enrolled in classes at the mansion where they met Jila's son and daughter. Meagan and Jila's son became high school sweethearts and got married after college. Isn't that nice?)

"What are we going to do mom?" They ask simultaneously, then look at each other chuckling. They'd been doing this for years and still hadn't gotten over how it could happen. They often wondered if at least one of them was a telepath.

"I don't know." Jila sighs "But if something isn't done quick I'm afraid that All of your Aunts and Uncles, and Myself, are going to Really end up in a home somewhere. And that you and all the little ones will be living in Their world. We've got to find a way to get the Elders together so we can plan what to do next."

"Daddy, Daddy!!" A voice cries with a touch of fear. A beautiful little girl runs in with a golden fire-lizard wrapped around her neck. (*That Pandora, she'll never get old.* Jila sighs. Yes, Jila sighs a Lot in her old age, it's a family trait. Rumor has it that fire-lizards have at Least the life span of a human, perhaps longer) "I hearda men inna suits say they was gonna be sendin' alla......uh," the girl stops and thinks a minute.

"Whisper it in my ear, honey." Jila says, picking up Danae and holding her close. Danae whispers the word quickly and then blushes. "Ah... well... yes you were right. That is a Very bad word." Jila looks at her son "He was talking about the Senior Scapers and Scoobs. Okay, where were they going to send us?" She puts Danae into her father's lap and talks a seat on the couch.

"They gonna put alla anties and uncles outta way somewhere, they said." Danae looks at the grown-ups in the room. "And then they gonna put us kids in reglar school. And they said they's gonna do it Now!"

"Okay, this is it. Danae, I need Pandora. She's got a job to do." Jila grabs some paper and writes some quick notes to all the Scoobs. Then she puts then in a large envelope with a note on the envelope that says "Take One". "Now Pandora, you've done this before. Go find the Scoobs, Kaybe, Spy, Rag, Rae, everybody. Quick!" Pandora takes the envelope in her front claws and in the blink of an eye the fire-lizard has gone /between/. "Now all we can do is wait."

clutching her chest from laughing so hard and pointing helplessly at her grand-daughter. "Kattie!" she gasps. "I... oh, I can't believe you PICKED HIM UP..." Rae shakes her head and disolves into gales of laughter.

"Well..." Kattie blinks innocently. "He didn't wipe his feet on the mat when he came in." She cradles Fluffy the DRD in her arms. "Such a mess for my babies to clean up... He was a very rude man, Gran. Like a little boy. He needed a firm hand."

"Woo-hoo!" Kattie says cheerfully, picking up the phone. "Hey. Can I talk to Mr. Smith? Thanks." She does a little tap-dance as she waits. "Sir? Yeah, it's Kattie Raven. Yeah..." Kattie nods and waits impatiently. "Yeah, I need a few days off. Personal time. Why?" Kattie raises an eyebrow.

Kattie takes the phone back with a smile. "Yes, sir, that's my grandmother. She is, isn't she." Kattie smiles at Rae. "Thankyou, sir. I'll see you next week." She hangs up and grins at Rae. "He says I can come!"

As Kattie bounds happily out of the room to go meet the others, Rae picks up Raegun. "Remember the good old days when you could go off on a one of these without asking for time off from your boss?" she asks him.

Kay walked over to her window to stare out into the garden, just in time to see Katee throwing the Reality men out on the tooshes. Laughing, she jumped in surprise when Pandora appeared right in front of her face. "Pandora, you scared me." she said, stroking Pandora's eye ridge. "Ah, what do you have there?" she asked. Reading "take one" from the envelope, she takes out a note and reads. "Thanks Pandora, I'm on my way." she said, as she quickly, headed to meet Jila and the others.

"You actually used to fight with these?" Kattie stared at her grandmother in wonderment. "Damn, you are a tough old broad, you know that? I mean, here I am using a gun and a baton in my work, and you're facing down the enemy with..." Kattie pauses and picks up another canister. Since she can't read Sebacian, the lable (WARNING, Nitrous Oxide) is totally lost on her. She turns it over curiously.

Rae and Katee loaded the canisters in bags, and taking Raegun, they snuk off with Sunny in the prowler. Just over the Reality headquarters, they started dropping the canisters one by one out of the prowler.

The toons made their way to the television stations. All of a sudden, there were cartoons all almost every channel. And the news channels, were doing nothing but talking about the toons. As old episodes of Deputy Dog, and Scooby Doo, and Mickey Mouse, along with several other old favorites started showing, Mothers stopped their cooking to watch, and fathers put down their newspapers. Children stopped doing homework and working on computers. All eyes were glued to the television.

At first, there were gasps and worried looks coming from the general population. But, soon, an amazing thing happened. People were smiling, and even laughing at the antics on their television screens. The Scooby Gang, all sat around the old big screen in the ballroom, and laughed at the memories of the cartoons they had loved long ago. Some of the ones playing, were even different than the ones they had taped and stashed so that their own children could grow up with their imaginations intact. Ragnar sat smiling, and nodding his head. It seemed like the answer to their dilemma had just presented itself.

to reach billions of people at once?" Rae demands of Raegun, racing into the crowded ballroom carrying him under one arm and her laptop under the other. Katee is trying desperately to keep up.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong!" Rae yells happily sitting down. She opens her computer, plugs it into the wall and waits, ignoring the eager inquiries being shot at her from all directions.

"YES!" Rae points at her and nods firmly. "E-mail. Just hop on a couple of school list-serves and e-mail the full text of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White to all the students."

"I will e-mail these to a thousand kids, who will e-mail it to ten-thousand, and before you know it, you've got kids living outside the mansion who actually know fairy-tales again."

On the news, the top story: Cartoon invade Reality territory, is replaced with a piece of Breaking News: Gas attack on Reality HQ has execs in stiches. It's the least literal headline that's been seen in years.

Chryse had a wonderful thought...*What if we send more than the story?* With a huge grin on her face, she quickly found her boys told them to grab their tools and some DVD players and follow her. Stopping by her room, Chryse picked all of her anime, WB, and Disney DVDs and headed for the Mansion's communications center.

The comm center was old and a bit outdated, but it could send images around the world. With a few modifications, it could be made to override many of the Reality channels with the sight and sounds of the animation she had gathered over the years. Working with her boys, they quickly set up all the DVD players in the comm center and began broadcasting.... They began with Classic Bugs Bunny, Disney's The Little Mermaid and the old Pokemon anime series (that the twins had always refused to part with).

"That'll do it. That'll help all the cartoon characters that are already breaking through. It may even wake up the ones that were hibernating." Chryse nodded to herself in satisfaction as her boys watched Pokemon again, turning back into the little boys that loved those little Japanese monsters.

Rae is putting the finishing touches on the e-mail message when Pandora arrived. Katee had downloaded the full text of several of the more seditious fairy-tales (the more magic and gingerbread the better) and was attaching it to the message when Pandora appeared with a note. "Thanks, honey." Katee takes the message, reads it quickly, then hands it over to Rae. She types 'PS, turn on the TV' and sends the e-mail'.

Soon children all over Reality territory are entranced. Parents look over their shoulders, curiously. Memories stir in the backs of their minds. Certain phrases stand out as familiar, and by the end of the first tale, all of these parents can say with confidence, before the computer tells them 'they all lived happily ever after'.

"I think we could use some more DVD players and DVD's of cartoon. Good thing a lot of them were released back in 2002. I think most of us picked up something or other. Maybe you guys can go and round up some stuff to broadcast.

We could use a power boost too. Rae, do you know if that old generator in the caves could be used to help power the signals? We need to cover as many tv stations as we can. The twins can you if you need it." says Chryse with a wink. Even now, she knows that Rae very rarely needs assistance with techy stuff.

Rae laughs and heads off to check the generator... and she thinks she could set up a more powerful antenna too or if her intergalatic tv 'cable' can be used to help this project. She's going to see to both.

Chryse stays in the comm center changing the discs as soon as they play through. Happily watching some of her favorite WB cartoons dance across the screen a great big smile creases her face with the old joy that Bugs Bunny always brought to her.

knocking on all the doors in the Mansion and talking to as 'Scapers as they could. Spare DVD's were easy to find. Almost everyone had a stash of old animated movies and cartoon for grandchildren, nieces, nephews, whatever. And DVD players? No problem. If it meant that the Mansion would be safe by the use of one more DVD player then there were more than enough volunteers. Even the third generation 'Scapers wanted to help, carrying electronics, tapes, and Anything.

After a couple of loops around the room the whole troop stops and shows Chryse their treasures. They had All the Disney movies, plus Jila's son's favorite Veggie Tales, All of the Muppet Movies and some Muppet Babies videos (Jila's favorite, lol, is titled "Muppet Babies: The Next Generation". It has a Star Wars/Jetsons twist to it), Rock-a-doodle, James and the Giant Peach, and the Piece-de-resistance......... SCOOBY DOO!!!

This was going to be Great! The kids got busy setting up tables, lining up DVD players, getting the cables ready. Everything was set. Now all they had to do was wait for Rae.

up equipment, and the others helped, they soon had every television and computer in the land, accesable to a whole new world of make believe. Mr. Real was losing his mind with rage. The Scoobs were chearing as the equipment showed them lights lit up all over as people turned on televisions and compters alike to actually enjoy themselves.

"Well, this is great for the day-time, but we need a Prime-Time line-up as well." Katee holds up a handfull of DVDs. "Farscape. The Invisible Man. Buffy. Freaky Links. Ooh, Dark Angel! That Logan is fine... Oh, sorry. What else do we have?"

"Here's one more show for your Prime-time line up, Rae. Remember when they Finally made the Pern series? I've got the six year run (well, I'd like to believe that it would go longer than that but I won't push my luck, lol) on DVD. Plus the movies Dragonheart, Dungeons and Dragons, and LadyHawke. This is going to be GREAT!!!"

Rae grabs a spare Datapad and starts making quick notes. Then she starts scheduling programs and work shifts to make sure that every machine is playing Something around the clock. "It's a good thing this is for a good cause or I'd have to think about hiring myself out to the Reality Network." Rae rolls her eyes and chuckles.

Soon everything is moving like clockwork. Since there are so many people willing to help shifts are only about 2 hours long (and since most tapes and DVD run exactly two hours it's a perfect shift).

Meanwhile, in Reality Land, Mr. Real paces nervously in his office. His flunkies buzz his office non-stop with reports. None of the equipment they have has yet been able to cut into the signal coming out of the FarScape Mansion.

*Stupid! STupid* Mr. Real rants to himself as he continues to pace. *What kind of equipment do they Have over there that We can't break through?? They're living in Illusions over there, what is the problem??*

"Give me that!" Mr Real grabbed the letter. Every inch of the envelope was covered in stamps, except for a tiny portion in which the adress for the Reality headquarters had been scribbled. Scowling, he ripped it open:

It's been some time since I've been compelled to send a letter via 'snail mail' :) so I'm not sure of all the proper protocols any more. I DO hope that I've put enough stamps on it...

At all events, as you may have noticed, we've managed to start quite a Station of our own out here, with one of the best line-ups that's been seen in ages. Not that I'm bragging, as this letter DOES have a point...

No, I'm sorry, it actually doesn't. I'm just bragging :) Coincidentally, I'm also declaring vendetta against you and your assorted minions. ;p This war shall not be fought on the battle-field, but in the minds and hearts of the human race. I think you may, therefore, find yourself somewhat disadvantaged. Too bad...

Mr Real stood in the middle of the bustling Reality headquarters clutching the letter in a shaking hand. On a giant TV screen above his head, the world was finding out who the father of Scully's baby was...

Mr.Real shouted, "NO! They can't do this to me! Fantasy and fiction have no place in this world. It 's a world of facts and figures and money! MONEY! You hear me you Farscape rats! Farscape isn't even a real word! It's made up too! People have to live in the REAL WORLD! There is no such thing as imagination!" he pounded his fists against his desk and collapsed into his chair.

His aide had quickly left the office right after he delivered the letter, but he could hear Mr. Real's shouting from out in the hall. He quickly snuck into the broom closet where he had stashed a tv set and began watching more episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Mr. Real, in the meantime, glanced up at the screen and something that clicked a memory. It was Star Wars: A New Hope. He gasped in recognition. He tried to turn the tv off, to turn off that awful movie that had been the source of his rejection of the imagination. But his hand stopped, trembling above the remote as the opening lines of the movie finished moving across the screen and the huge Empire ship started to come into view. Mesmerized, Mr. Real watched the movie, and slowly, oh so very slowly, he started to feel the little boy in him come alive with imagination and wonder as this precious movie played on his tv screen.

around the world, as Headline News announced the fall of the Reality network. They may make future attempts. But, as long as there were immaginations, and Scoobies. It would never happen.

Waking up from her nap, Kay looked out the window to see the Scoobs going about their activities. A feeling of panic made her jump up. She must warn them! Then, giggling she remembered, it was just a dream. Thank goodness. What a scare that had been. Looking down at her hands, she was also so relieved to realize that she was still young, and not old yet. She didn’t want to rush that, even though the gang had shown that they could still overcome adversities. Still, not wanting to take any chances, Kay went on down to the ballroom, and over to the cabinets where they stored the movies. Taking one out, she also got a blank tape and started fast dubbing it. Jila walked in and watched her as she hooked up yet another machine so that she could work twice as fast.

“What are you doing Kay?” she asked with amusement, seeing the look of determination on Kay’s face. “I’m preparing for the future. Not taking any chances.” Said Kay. “We have to make sure that we have all these movies and cartoons as ammunition when the Reality people try to stop imaginations.”

“You feeling okay?” Jila asked her friend. “Imaginations are just fine Kay.” Jila couldn’t help but chuckle. Grinning, Kay sat down and admitted, “I had a dream Jila. I dreamed that we were all old and the Reality people had stopped people from having any minds of their own. And, we had to save the world from this.” “Old, huh? Said Ragnar having walked in on the end of the conversation. “Kay, you won’t have to worry. The Scoobs can handle anything that comes along. No matter what our age.” Smiling, he turned to leave. Jila looked at Kaybe. “Just one question, Could we still kick ema?” “You bet we could,”, Kay said grinning. “We are, after all the Scooby gang.”