Mouse steps into the Treehouse

and once again admires the fine work doen by Spyral, Twig, and all the Scapers that have restored it to exceed it's former glory. It's a rather grey, boring, dreary day here at the Mansion and Mouse has decided it's about time she get her act together and get started on the Christmas Spirit.

Hmmm, I'll help you dig out all the decorations though.... Just where are those wreaths and runner things and tinsel and wall hangings and santa figurines and reindeer.... oh, in the basement catacombs of course. I wonder if we can get Velorek and Larraq to help lug it all up and decorate on the high scary places?

to try... A kit for making gingerbread houses. When the thing finally gets delivered I'll make one up for the treehouse. But it's only to LOOK at until after 12/25, ok?

being thrown around?" Velorek said as he, Jila, and Larraq entered the Treehouse. Jila was still chuckling from Larraq's attempt at humor while crossing the bridge to the Treehouse.

"That was me!" Chryse called from her place on the floor amidst tangles of Christmas lights that she and Mouse were trying to De-tangle. "I was hoping to find you two. We need the Christmas decorations brought up from the Basement catacombs."

"You look like you're in a better mood Jila." Mouse smiled, and nodded her head. Meanwhile Larraq and Velorek sat on the coffee table next to Chryse and listened intently as she explained which room of the catacombs the decorations had been stored.

"Yeah." Jila looked at the two Mandroids, rolled her eyes and shook her head. "These two remembered that Rae had told them to keep on schedule and they invited me to foam-bat day. See usually Crais is there with them and Rae referees from the sidelines. This time they had no referee and no third, and since I was in such a lousy mood they thought it would be perfect for me to join. Well, one thing led to another and pretty soon I was having fun, and so were they. Now they're trying their hand at humor so you'd better be prepared. They're not real good at it yet.

"So what else needs doing? I'm not even going to Attempt to help with the light strings. Popcorn and Cranberry strings maybe? Or maybe I could throw together a snack for while we wait for the rest of the decorations."

"Here Kay, lets do some planning first", Jilla said, helping Kay pull out some of the decorations in some semblance of order.

around her neck as she untangled them, Mouse looked very Christmas-y herself. It was the easiest way to keep track of the lights and, hey, she liked the look, so it was doubly awesome!

"Well, Kay, I didn't actually get a tree to put up here, I kinda thought since we were IN one we didn't need one in here. BUT, you can decorate the parts we can see!"

Mouse walks over to Jila and says, quietly, with a wicked grin on her face, "Hey, can I get in on foam bat day next time? I owe Velorak a few from some comments he made about my Grand Unification Theory."

hae been detangled and strung around the rafters and windows, Mouse heads off to the New Basement to find some more decorations.

(Ok, folks, go with me here. Head down to the New Basement, and whoever gets there first, pick a new board for me to end up. Then the next person to find me, find a new board for me to go. or you to go. Doesn't matter. Let's see if we can get another Easter-egg hunt type of thing going.

Mouse got a flashlight and started looking for boxes. *Those other Christmas decorations must be in here somewhere!!* she thought to herself, swearing that after Christmas this year, she'd do it right and label everything IN ONE PLACE!

The purple blob watched her efforts from the hottub, occasionally spouting out streams of water in an effort to aid Mousey's lousy sense of direction, but just succeeding in getting her wet.

"Thanks, but I'll find it myself." she smiled and replied to the blob. Such a cute little guy. She wondered if he was mobile. Then in the back, her flashlight caught the reflection of what looked to be a huge star. She made her way carefully cack to it, and examined it. It would make a nice wallhanging, it was so big, and Mouse wondered about the tree that had this star on it's top. Next thing she knew, the floor fell out from underneath her, and she was tumbling down one of the Phantom's secret passages, no doubt.

As Jila walked up the main stairwell of the Mansion she heard the yell which seem to ring through the whole place. Where was it coming from, and who could it possibly be? Whoever it was they were definitely Not doing what they wanted to be doing. Jila stepped off the last stair and started down the hallway. Suddenly Jila heard a <<thud>> and an "Oof" behind the door to her left. Carefully opening the door she saw.....

thought Chryse. She thought she heard something while walking out toward the kitchen for a snack. *Hmm, I better investigate* Chryse walked around the mansion trying to follow that sound and bumped into Jila as she was opening a door.

"You aren't going to believe it." Mouse said as she pulled the arm of a straightjacket off her head. "I fell through a hole in the floor of a storage room in the basement and ended up here."

"You're right, I don't believe it." Jila took Mouse's hand and pulled her to her feet, the rest of the straightjackets falling to the floor. "But Rae always did say that this place was more like an Escher (sp?) painting than anything she'd ever seen before. What were you doing in the Basement storage room?"

"of course." Jila chuckled and slapped herself lightly on the forehead. "Did you know that some were stored up here on this floor?"

So Jila lead Mouse into the hallway and over to a large folding double door. Opening the doors Jila fumbled with the lightswitch with no results.

"It's okay." Mouse said, realizing that she was still holding on to the flashlight. "Here." Mouse turned on the light and shined it into the closet. "Looks safe enough." She said to herself as she entered, Jila going in right behind her.

Shining the light around Mouse saw another of the huge stars that had been in the storage room of the Basement. Too late she realized she was falling.

through a hallway when she heard an <thump> "oof" <thump> "Oof" "whoa" <thunk, thunk, thunk>. Curious, she opened the door to the Library and saw Mouse and Jila on the floor with books scattered around them

"well there aren't any in here. So be on your way AFTER you put those books back." VanMac turned around and settled down the readers. Snatches of "...don't worry, they will be gone soon..." could be heard as she walked away.

As they put the books away on the shelf, Jila noticed that one book seemed to be stuck. She tugged on it hard and it slid out part way.

But it was too late, the book slid clear, tilted up and opened up another secret passage. Mouse, Jila and Chryse fell into another secret passage.

The tree of them banged on the walls of the tunnel, and after a bit, they realized no one was able to hear them. Then they went for the forceful approach and all sat next to each other, facing the end of the tunnel.

The kicked at the end of the tunnel, and instead of it opening, it tilted, and they fell out of the tunnel from underneath.

make their way closer to the dim light and see a couple lightbulbs that aren't lit around it. Mouse reaches up to pull on one, and as she hears Chryse yell, "NO!" she pulls.

The girls get swept sideways into a tunnel by a stream of air. As they slide sideways through the tunnel, Jila grabs an outcropping. Chryse slides by her and Jila grabs her arm, and Chryse grabs Mouse's shirt. Jila hauls them into the door that has opened with a mother's strength, and Chryse is able to haul Mouse in, with the same strength.

There was Pilot's Den in one corner where Pilot was busy pushing buttons and listening to Moya's every creak and groan. In another corner was the Command Center, which actually looked like it had gone through a few modifications... very sleek and polished looking. Although... on second thought, this could be Talyn's Command Center. Yes, it was. There was the pulse weapon that defended the area. In a third corner was Moya's crew eating around the large dining table. Jila, Chryse, and Mouse had come out in the fourth corner but in between the three scenes were other significant areas of the two Leviathans.

Jila moved first over to Pilot's Den followed by Chryse and Mouse. All three were eager to speak to Pilot again. They each climbed up on the console and greeted Pilot in turn.

"Yes." Pilot answered while continuing to depress buttons. "You are familiar to Moya and I. Moya says she remembers seeing the three of you before. It has been some time."

"Since our first adventure in the Treehouse." Chryse said nodding her head and smiling. Now that had been quite the adventure.

"Watch where you step Jila." Chryse cautioned as Jila moved two steps to the left. Unfortunately Jila didn't notice the button with the star on it when she stepped down and the three Scoobettes fell... UP!!

Stepping carefully thru the extraordianry Kraken like mass of christmas lights, Spyral looks at the large stacks of decorations that the Scoobs have found.

The Whysp them flies out from the angels wind, trailing behind her a neverending strand of fluffy purple and pink garland.

The three, one by one, slid out a small square hole at floor level into a new room, and in front of them was the working side of a bar.

"Sorry," She said as she took another drink of her Reslac. "I couldn't resist. I'm LtCommanderLewis. How'd you get back there without anybody seeing you?"

Great seeing you again. It's been a while...about how we got here.. well, we were looking for Christmas decorations. Do you know where there might be some around here?

"I'll work on your location, and get back to you. There seems to be a lot of interference and I can hardly read your signal. Raegun out."

"Uh, guys? Mouse, Jila, and Chryse are trying to get more decorations, but they've been rerouted a bit. Can someone go see if they can find them? They must be pretty deep in the mansion, because I can just barely make out their signals." )

BethS runs into the PK Officers Lounge just in time to see the trio fall through a star on a barstool. "Dren! I'm late again!" she thought to herself. "Lewis, where does that lead?"

Lewis didn't know, so BethS had no choice - she jumped onto the stool and disappeared. She found herself inside a large room resembling the stock exchange, with many Scapers shouting things like, "I get to keep this one!" and "It's mine already!" Yep, she was in...

Loki shrugged her shoulders, "They were here. They went searching for some Christmas decorations, though I don't think we have any here." Then Loki rubbed her hands together in a very disturbing manner...and BethS decided it was a good time to move on. (snort)

to escape being "kept", Mouse, Jila, and Chyrse ran behind the staircase and hid. These people were SERIOUS about what they kept, and as flattering as it would be, Mouse didn't want to be part of anyone's permanent collection.

They were kicked out on their feet - the Scoobettes were getting used to this by now - and landed on a pile of paper. Chryse smiled. She had spent a lot of time here recently. Luckily the pile they landed on said "November".

"I wish I had known. I always went the long way around to check out the birthday posts. I wonder if Kara knows about this?" asked Chryse.

"yes please. It took alot of time and effort with a bunch of people to get this place organized." agreed Chryse as she carefully got off the pile of "November" papers.

Beth, Mouse, Jila and Chryse carefully cleaned up the mess they had made when they slid into the room and carefully made their way to a side door. They stood there for a moment, wondering if they should go through the side door or the main door. None of them had ever gone through the side door in this room and didn't know where it led.

resist opening a closed door, along with Jila and Chryse, who simply COULD NOT, help but follow behind, (Cuz the monsters ALWAYS get the person in front, that is unless one of the two behind are more scantily dressed ((you'll find that in the Official Rules of B-Horror Movies of course))).

AND THAT'S WHEN THE HAND REACHED THRU, SEIZING HER BY THE ARM AND PULLING SO HARD THAT SHE LITERALLY TUMBLED FORWARD, JILA AND CHRYSE HAVING JUST ENOUGH TIME TO GRAB HOLD OF MOUSE, ALL THREE SCREAMING FOR DEAR LIFE AS THEY WERE YANKED FORWARD THRU THE DOOR.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the three shrieked, as the arms suddenly released them, and they tumbled forward onto their assailant, collapsing in a tumble on the floor, realizing that even as they stopped screaming, that someone else was, as well as struggling to extricate himself from beneath the three of them.

It all seemed so surreal to Mouse, as she stared at the ceiling, millions of tiny points of light seeming to swim before her eyes, like the heavens themselves.

Chryse saw the open door and grabbed a bottle of Jolt. "Here is what you were looking for." and handed it to the Angel. "Do you have any Christmas decorations here?"

The Angel pointed to a box in the corner. The four of them headed over there and, too late, realized there was a star on the box. "Whoosh" they went and found themselves standing....

"But it's so confusing here'" replied Chryse, getting a little panicky. "It doesn't look like there is an exit to this place!"

but knowing they had to, the Scoobettes and Spyral, as a group, move toward the closest wall. Passing through the nightmare by the wall made the group hold hands for fear of losing each other. Without a word they each knew that sleep would not come easy when they each made it back to there own beds. Finally Mouse was close enough to put her hand on the wall.

"Because there's no star on it." Mouse pointed out. "Every time we've gone to a different room it's because of those glowing stars. We've got to keep looking."

Jila whined softly but kept going. The four walked through nightmare after nightmare following the walls. Jila watched either her feet or the wall beside her trying to keep her thoughts away from the hideousness going on around her. Soon they came to three doors side by side, all three having stars on them.

"Who cares?" Jila asked as she grabbed the doorknob closest to her. "All three have stars and that should mean that all three are safe. I'm outta here!" And with that she ducked through the doorway and fell.

The ride through felt like a Roller Coaster this time; up, down, around corners, straight out, and sideways. Where would they end up this time.

When they finally slid out of the secret passageway the Scoobettes and Spyral found themselves sitting in the middle of a Huge map with X's all over it. Jila was standing by Vermont and there were only four other x's on there.

Jila said looking a little closer at the map. "Must be when Hurricane SCIFI came through it wiped some of the marks off. What about your states?"

sees some decorations in the New England region. She gathers them up in a box, and sees that the other Scoobies have done the same. Beautiful blown glass from California in tiny wine bottle shapes, ornaments from each state with their birds and trees on them, just beautiful. They gathered up a good amount, then went looking for the star. Mouse found one near her home state, and they all jumped in together and slid through another tunnel, and landed on a pile of papers that had a sign next to them that said, "November". Next to them was a pile that said "April".

"I don't see any decorations down here, but maybe while I'm here I'll put up my birthday!" Mouse says, heading for the April pile.

There was a pathetic looking little man with a crazed look in his eyes. He was rocking back and forth, talking to an imaginary crowd...

"We WILL stand up and BE COUNTED!! NO MORE FARSCAPE! Are you with me?....That's the spirit! United, all of us can make a difference!"

and very difficult for just Jila to move. All the scoobs get down and try to move the box together. They have it out from under the sign when.....

"No! Stay back!" Spyral yelled, and stretched out his arm to stop the man's approach. That was all it took for the portal to open and the Scoobs to get sucked in.

*Too weird!* Jila shuddered as she slid through the entrance and slid along the secret tunnel. She was definitely going to put up a sign in the map room about that passage.

When they finally reached the exit to the passageway, the Scoobs slid across a polished hardwood floor. Jila finally let go of the box of decorations she had been holding on to and laughed as she changed poses a dozen times. Ragnar had done such a good job on the floor that the group slid almost the length of the room. They hadn't skated on this floor for a very long time.

"That room or this floor?" Chryse asked. She knew the answer but couldn't resist asking. BethS grinned, shook her head, and shivered. The feeling, of course, was unanimous.

so this is where you've been hiding. We've been looking for Christmas ornaments and decorations, but we keep falling into secret passages. =( Did you store any ornaments down here Rag?

"What's up guys?" Kay said as she saw her friends sitting by the box of Christmas decorations. "Looks like we're just in time to start decorating the Livingroom."

"Then why is everybody in here?" Castor frowned and grinned at the same time. He was getting almost used to the Strange goings on in the FS Mansion. So once again the story was told about the Crazy adventure the group had had finding the Christas decorations and why they were sitting in the Livingroom with them instead of in the Treehouse.

I think Hurricane SciFi must have accomplished the impossible and emptied all the closets around here. I haven't seen any decoration here since.

asked Jila. Ragnar looked at the several boxes of ornaments and decorations the girls had gathered and said, "Well, it looks to me like you girls have more than enough stuff. Let's go back and decorate the ballroom."

It's been so long since we started this chase that I forgot we started in the Treehouse.... we are going back there now with all the ornaments and stuff.

Come back into the treehouse and finish decorating the tree and the treehouse. Spyral and Twig pitch in to help... Spyral even found MORE decorations in his wing! ("Darn we should have looked there first!" sighed Mouse) Raegun gave advice on where things should go and how to put them up. The Mandroids got ladders and got the highest branches of the tree and treehouse decorated with lights and ornaments.

This was the nicest Christmas she can remember. All the happiest memories from her holidays involve activities shared with family and friends. Scapers have become both, really.