AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story came from a movie poster spoof I did entitled "Nevada Nesmith Down in Fraggle Rock." I had done several "Nevada Nesmith" movie poster spoofs before this one, but this is the first time I'm writing a fanfic to go with it. Part of this was also inspired by the movie "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird." Anyway, all Fraggles, Doc, and Sprocket belong to Jim Henson and the Jim Henson Company, Jerry Crystal, and any other "Silly Creatures" belong to me, and Nevada Nesmith is an expy of Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, so make of that what you will (hopefully, you make that I'm a Monkees fan). And if anyone has any questions about this fanfic, please send me a personal message so I can respond.
Down in Fraggle Rock, all the Fraggles were playing about. Some were singing songs, some were swimming in the pond, some were munching on Doozer sticks, and some were involved in their own activities, such as the Fraggle Five. Mokey was in her cave, painting a portrait of her pet plant, Lanford. Boober was doing the laundry. Red was practicing her diving at the pond, and splashing everyone nearby (they didn't mind it). Gobo and Wembley were going up into Outer Space to retrieve the latest postcard from Gobo's Uncle Traveling Matt.
"Do you ever wonder what's beyond Outer Space, Gobo?" Wembley asked.
"All the time," Gobo said. "But I don't know if I'd want to go out there just yet. That's why Uncle Traveling Matt sends us postcards."
"Yeah," Wembley said. "I wonder what beyond Outer Space looks like?"
"You've seen the pictures on the postcard Uncle Matt sends."
"I know, but I wonder what it looks like in person?"
"Forget it, Wembley. You're too scared to go into Outer Space with me, you know that. And if you're too scared for Outer Space, what makes you think you can tackle what's beyond Outer Space?"
"Yeah, well, I guess that's true."
Gobo looked out the hole to Outer Space. There he saw the Silly Creature, Jerome "Doc" Crystal, tinkering with something, and the Hairy Beast, Sprocket (Doc's dog), sleeping in his basket. Gobo was about to venture out when there was suddenly a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" Doc asked. There was another knock, as Doc put his tinkering down, and walked over to the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he shouted. "Hold your horses!"
Doc opened the door, and found two young men standing there. The taller of the two looked to be in his mid-twenties, with black hair and brown eyes. He wore a brown leather jacket, khakis, dark brown ankle boots, and a brown fedora, with a whip attached to his belt. The shorter of the two was in his late twenties. He had dark brown hair, and brown eyes, and wore a red and white baseball shirt (no logo), blue jeans, white sneakers, and carried a camera case over his shoulder.
"Surprise!" they both shouted. Sprocket began barking. He jumped up, and nearly knocked the shorter young man off his feet.
"Whoa, take it easy, Sprocket!" he shouted.
"Jerry, what are you doing here?" Doc asked. "Why didn't you call me?"
"Now if I called you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it, Grandpa?" the shorter man, Jerry Crystal, said, as he walked inside. "Oh, this is my friend, Nevada Nesmith. Nev, this is my grandfather, Jerome Crystal."
"Hello, Nevada," Doc said, shaking the taller man's hand. "Very please to meet you. Please, call me Doc, everyone does."
"If that's the case, then, what's up, Doc?" Nevada said, with a laugh. Doc noticed he spoke with a distinct Texas drawl.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Doc said, "but is your accent Texan?"
"Yeah, that's right," Nevada said. "I'm a native Texan."
"Then why is your name Nevada?" Doc asked.
"Because Texas Nesmith doesn't have the right ring to it," Nevada said. "Now, if my last name was Taylor, then I'd use Texas, but since my last name is Nesmith, I went with Nevada. Sounds better."
"I see," Doc said, though he wasn't sure if he understood. Sprocket cocked his head to the side. He wasn't sure he understood that explanation, either.
"So, Jerry, what brings you and Nevada here to our neck of the woods?" Doc asked, as he and Sprocket stepped aside to allow the two young men to come in.
"We heard that somebody found a cave opening in a pile of rocks near the park," Jerry said. "And Nev just has to be the first one to venture into unknown territory."
"Oh yes, I remember now," Doc said. "This is the friend that's the . . . . what did you call it?"
"Adventurer, explorer, and treasure hunter," Nevada explained, giving Sprocket a scratch behind his ears. "I explore it, Jer photographs it. There was the time when I was in the middle east, lookin' for this famed treasure of Persia . . . . that one was a doozy of an adventure, let me tell ya! I was chased by guards with scimitars, faced deadly cobras, once I nearly got my head lopped off . . . ."
"I can only hope you don't partake in these adventures, Jerry!" Doc shouted. "After all, you are my only grandson, and my namesake!"
"Who me?" Jerry asked. "No way, Grandpa. I may go with Nev to these far off destinations, but I stay where it's safe! You couldn't get me to go spelunking in a cave like he does! And this trip will seem tame compared to some of his other escapades! Tell him about the Eye of the Tiger, Nev."
Doc groaned. It was about all he could do. Even though he didn't seem enthusiastic about the conversation, Gobo sure was.
"Wow, can you believe it, Wembley?" he asked. "Silly Creatures go exploring, too!"
"Yeah," Wembley said. "I didn't know they did that. And this one's adventures sound a lot more scary than your uncle's! We'd better get that postcard and go, okay, Gobo?"
"Yeah, in a minute, Wembley, I want to hear the rest of this story."
Gobo was riveted by the stories this Nevada Nesmith was weaving. So was Wembley, except he was getting more nervous by the second. These were scarier than the Storyteller's tale of the Terrible Tunnel.
"Well, as adventurous as all of that may seem, boys," Doc said, "I don't think it's going to be a good idea to go exploring in that particular cave."
"What makes you say that, Doc?" Nevada asked.
"Well, we've been dealing with some minor tremors around here lately," Doc said. "As a matter of fact, that's how come there's a cave near the park. A small earthquake broke open those rocks."
"Earthquakes, huh?" Jerry asked.
"Yeah, what is this, the San Andreas fault or somethin'?" Nevada asked.
"I don't know, Grandpa, sounds like of far fetched," Jerry said. "I mean, this isn't really earthquake territory, you know what I mean?"
"I know that, but that doesn't mean it's impossible," Doc said. "After all, twelve thousand to fourteen thousand earthquakes occur every year. You just don't hear about them all because some aren't very strong. But we've gotten quite a few ones we've felt in the past couple of weeks."
"Hey, we've been feeling the Rock moving a lot, too," Wembley said.
"I think the Gorgs are causing it," Gobo said. "I wonder if the Silly Creatures can feel it, too?"
"I don't know," Wembley said. "Let's just get the postcard and go, Gobo, please?"
"Okay, Wembley," Gobo said.
Just as the orange Fraggle stepped into Outer Space, a low rumbling was heard, the windows began to rattle, and the floor began to move.
"Oh no, here comes another one!" Doc shouted. Sprocket began whimpering and he dove underneath Doc's table.
"Hit the deck!" Nevada shouted, as he, Jerry, and Doc went down as well.
"Gobo!" Wembley shouted. "Come back in here! Quick!"
Gobo raced back into the Fraggle hole, and grabbed onto one of the pipes. Wembley whimpered and did the same thing. Everything stopped shaking about thirty seconds later. Gobo looked around, and let go of the pipe.
"Come on, Wembley!" he shouted. "Let's get back to the Rock! We'll come and get Uncle Traveling Matt's postcard another time!"
"Right, Gobo!" Wembley shouted, as he and Gobo ran down the tunnel to return to Fraggle Rock (but not before Wembley wound up smacking his head into that one low hanging pipe that he always hit).
When Gobo and Wembley returned to Fraggle Rock, all of the Fraggles were talking at once, wondering what in the world was going on.
"Is everybody all right?" Gobo asked.
"Yes, but look what happened to my painting," Mokey said. Her picture had a huge, jagged red stripe down the center of it.
"It was another rock shake," Red said. "The Gorgs must be dancing or something."
"They felt it in Outer Space, too," Gobo said. "I wasn't able to get my Uncle Matt's postcard."
"Something has to be done about those Gorgs!" Boober shouted. The others noticed he was soaking wet, and covered with soap suds. "If they keep happening, I'll never get the laundry finished!"
"At least it wasn't a big one," Mokey said. "The only damage it did was knock over some Doozer buildings."
"Snack time!" Large Marvin, the fattest Fraggle in the Rock, shouted, and began slurping up the fallen Doozer sticks.
"Good thing we've got a reliable clean up crew," Red said. "At least it didn't cause the place to cave in on us!"
"Oooohhh, don't talk something like that, Red!" Boober shouted. "Don't even think about it!"
"Calm down, Boober," Gobo said. "Everything's going to be all right now. The shaking's stopped, and nobody was hurt. It was just a small one, anyway."
"But all these small shakings could lead up to a big one!" Boober shouted. "And then we'll all be doomed! The roof will collapse, and we'll all be buried alive under falling rocks! They'll be no hope for us all!"
"Well, look on the bright side," Feenie, the dumbest Fraggle in the Rock, said. "If the roof collapses, we'll get plenty of sun light down here!"
Everyone groaned, and glared at Feenie. Feenie, however, just looked around, confused.
"Well, forget the earthquake," Gobo said. "Have I got something to tell you!"
"Yeah, Silly Creatures go exploring just like Gobo's uncle!" Wembley shouted. "And boy, were his stories scary!"
Red, Mokey, Feenie, Large Marvin, and several other Fraggles gathered around Gobo so they could hear about this Silly Creature's adventures, all talking at once.
"There was one story where the Silly Creature explorer was looking for something called the Eye of the Tiger," Gobo said. "It was this rock that fit into the eye of a statue! And then he went to a cave where sharp chunks of ice grew from the ceiling, and nearly fell on him when he was looking for a crystal called the Icicle of Doom! And then he went looking for the Bird of Paradise!"
"What's that?" Red asked.
"I don't know, but it sounded like a big tree creature," Gobo said.
"I don't think I want to hear any more of this," Boober said, as he went back to his hole to finish the laundry.