ROCK & ROLL IS HERE TODAY
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All "Rock & Rule" characters are property of Nelvana, & all GMD characters belong to Disney, while the rest are mine.
Enjoy the story!
Chapter 1:
Singing Beauty
December 3, 3010
Even though it was dead winter in Montana, snow did not emit from the dark clouds that gathered over Ohmtown, only lightning & thunder. In a deep, dark forest on the outskirts of the city, a large, lavish mansion sat on the crest of a hill, overlooking the world below. In his opulent throne room, Mok Swagger was pacing the floor, looking quite anxious, as his three menservants, the Schlepper brothers, watched on in concern.
It had been the same for over a year. After his big downfall during what was to be his comeback concert (not to mention his escape from Hell, which is best not discussed here), Mok immediately grew depressed & moody. Of course, his failure to return to stardom wasn't the only factor of his condition; he also had a particular lady friend who had stopped dating him once he became unpopular. And as you can tell, Mok did not take this very well.
"What am I to do?" he lamented in his gravelly voice, continuing to pace the floor. "What am I to do? I haven't had any woman callers for over a year, & if I don't have some company soon, I'll surely go mad! I must be the loneliest musician on the planet, without a mistress to entertain me with song & dance!"
It was then that Toad, the eldest of the Schleppers, finally spoke up: "Hey, boss, remember dat time machine you built a month ago? Maybe you could travel back to da 20's! Dere were lots of girls back den!"
"Yeah!" Sleazy added, beaming. "You could get one of da flappers & use her as your singing mistress! I hear dey sing & dance really good!"
"It's settled, then!" Mok exclaimed, all smiles again. With that, the rock star went over to his time machine, a behemoth device (which looked like a cone-shaped capsule) with different assortments of controls & a small computer inside, along with a small, strange-looking box on the side. Mok began to press the randomly-beeping & colorful buttons, until a date appeared on the screen. Then he pulled the switch, & disappeared in a flash of blinding white light, along with the time machine. But he didn't hear the Schleppers' warnings that he had punched in the wrong date...
December 3, 1902
The snowy night was chilly enough as it was, but the evaporating seawater made the area near the Rat Trap even colder. But Justin Adams didn't seem to care, as he drew his green army jacket around himself tighter.
Justin, a strapping young mouse of 21, was a handsome one, indeed, with strawberry-red rocker's hair, tan fur, & a prominent nose between his steely gray eyes. Along with the aforementioned army jacket, he was dressed in matching trousers, a black shirt, & combat boots. A red-&-white six-string guitar was slung over his shoulder, & it bounced along his back with every step he took towards the Rat Trap.
The family restaurant was a welcome sight to Justin, who could see children & their families having a good time, eating their food, coloring on their placemats, & chatting with the staff, who loved to get to know their patrons on a more personal level. On the stage, a juggling octopus, Jiggy, was doing his routine, as the younger customers watched on in amazement. But Justin didn't come here just to see the entertainment. To be honest, he was looking for someone...
Suddenly, Justin's eyes lit up when he saw a younger female mouse arrive. Going over to hug the girl, he cried merrily, "Jaclyn, great to see you!"
20-year-old Jaclyn was a beautiful creature, with pale blonde hair in a ponytail, peach fur, & sparkling eyes of violet-blue. Dressed in a black tank-top, a pleated white miniskirt, & fishnets with black high-heels, she also had a smile on her angelic face, which was adorned with small amounts of makeup.
After hugging her boyfriend & kissing his cheek, Jaclyn parted from the embrace, & said happily, "Nice to see you, too, Justin. So, how was college?"
"It was great," Justin replied, smiling back at her. "And you'll never guess what degree I received..."
"Music!" Jaclyn replied, beaming. "Oh, that reminds me, I have to go work on my routine for Talent Time tonight." She bustled off for her dressing room, Justin & his guitar following close behind.
Mok finally stirred, but no sooner had he awakened from his blackout than he immediately curled up in a fetal position, huddling himself for warmth. "Great heavens, it's freezing out here!" he said, his breath showing in the air. Then he gasped. "Wait a moment; this doesn't look like the Roaring 20's!"
Mok looked at his surroundings. He could see lone hansoms traveling down the cobblestoned, snow-covered streets, & all sorts of humans, much like the ones from the days before World War III, were walking around, dressed in the height of Victorian fashion...Victorian fashion?! Then a great wave of realization swept over Mok. Struggling to his feet, the musician made his way down to the docks, hoping a friendly fisherman would give him shelter for the night...& perhaps tell him what was going on.
It was now 7:30, & almost time for the big talent show. In her dressing room, Jaclyn was playing a tune on her piano, as Justin lazily strummed his guitar. Looking up from her sheet music, Jaclyn asked, "So, Justin, I've composed a swing number for us to perform together, & it's called 'Good Old Jazz'. Do you wanna take a look at it, J?" When Justin didn't reply, Jaclyn rolled her eyes & flipped a page of her piano book as she said, "I figured you wouldn't."
"Hey, Jackie," Justin snapped, "do you mind? I'm rehearsing for my special guest appearance before Rosie & Ned come on." Just then, Justin stopped playing, & he put down his guitar as he asked, "Wait a second...where are they?"
"Probably in the back room again," Jaclyn replied, going back to her piano practice. "You know how Ned loves his video games..."
"You cannot defend your planet alone. Prepare to die, Space Cadet," droned the video game as a little brown newt wearing a blue-&-yellow-striped shirt struggled to get his lone rocket to dodge past the holographic enemy spaceships. "Come on, Ned, we're on in five," warned a fat green frog (wearing a pink shirt & purple-&-lavender-striped pants) as she checked her watch.
"No, nyet, not yet, Rosie! I gotta unwind!" Ned said, never looking back from his video game. Just then, Ned pulled the controls down, as a laser beam shot past his head. "Look out!" he cried as he ducked.
"You've got company at 3:00," said the game in its robotic tone of voice.
Rosie The Ribbiter rolled her eyes at Ned, annoyed that he'd rather play a video game than do his job. Just then, Rosie smiled wickedly as she got an idea...
Meanwhile, Ned was still playing his video game...which began to die down. As the game slowly turned off, Ned's eyes changed colors rapidly as he said in a slow drone, "Oh, no...Magnetic forces slowing...down...my brain...help...me!"
"You...lose...cowboy..." sputtered the video game, before it finally shut down. Rosie was waving the unplugged cord in her chubby green hand. Ned glared at Rosie, & was just about to snatch the cord back from her, when Justin & Jaclyn arrived. "Come on, superstars, we've got a song to play!"
"Two songs, Justin," Jaclyn reminded.
"Uh, right, I forgot your little number," Justin apologized.
Shaking her lizard friend, Rosie directed in her Rosie O'Donnell-type voice, "Come on, Ned, snap out of it!"
Ned said nervously, "OK...but I'm still not relaxed."
"You're gonna be fine," Rosie encouraged him. "You're just nervous, is all. Now take a deep breath..."
Ned did just that. When he let out some air, he said perkily in his Rocko-type voice, "Hey, it worked! I'm not nervous..." Then he added in a panicked tone, "I'm scared!"
The audience at the Rat Trap immediately hushed, as the lights dimmed & a spotlight shone brightly against the red patched curtains. Evelyn Rosedale, a buxomly waitress in her late 30's, smiled at the customers as she said, "OK, lydies & gentlemice, may I 'ave yer attention, please? Tonight, we're going to have a superb show for you! We'll start it off with Jaclyn & her boyfriend Justin..."—she winked—"& then we'll move on to Rosie & Ned with their famous unicycle act." The audience applauded, & Evelyn left the stage.
The curtains then opened to reveal Jaclyn sitting daintily on a piano stool, getting ready to perform. However, Justin immediately started playing a loud rock-&-roll tune on his guitar, causing quite a commotion. The Rat Trap patrons, especially the dozens of children, began to clamor & hold their aching ears in pain. Even the teenagers couldn't handle the noise!
"Turn it down!" Evelyn shouted, but Justin didn't hear her. "Say what?" he screamed over the noise. Evelyn wanted to shout her orders again, but decided it was no use. Instead, she just pulled the plug to the amplifier, shutting the system down. When Justin tried to perform his song again, nothing could be heard. A security goon immediately grabbed Justin, & dragged him to Jaclyn's dressing room, where he was flung into the couch & his guitar broke as soon as it hit the floor.
"I'm so sorry about that, folks," Evelyn apologized a few seconds later. "I've told Justin to keep the noise down when performing, & rest assured, he'll make note of that in the future. But in the meantime..." Just then, the sound of knocking interrupted Evelyn from finishing. The waitress went over to the front door, & opened it.
In the threshold of the Rat Trap Family Restaurant, there was a man. He was tall, but not much taller than a rat. He had bluish-gray hair (that looked sort of like Beethoven's), a strange light-orange nose, tan fur, & plenty of wrinkles on his face. He wore what appeared to be a maroon vest with matching trousers, as well as small black boots.
"Welcome to the Rat Trap," Evelyn said to the man with a smile. "Can I be of any assistance t'ye?"
"Yes, my dear lady, I do need your help," said the tall man as he smiled roguishly. "My name...is Mok."
"Oh, Mok..." Evelyn said as her smile turned from cheerful to nervous. Somehow, the strange looks of the man & his unusual name unnerved her...but nonetheless, she tried to be polite as she said, "That's a very interesting name, there..."
"Why, thank you!" said Mok as he bowed & kissed Evelyn's hand, causing the woman to blush profusely. Looking at the scene jealously from behind the counter as he served some Fizzy Fountain Soda to a young teenybopper, Auburn Patterson snarled sarcastically, "Better get some antiseptic on that before it festers..."
"Oh!" Evelyn gasped in shock. She had completely forgotten her manners! "I don't believe I've properly introduced myself..." Evelyn cleared her throat, then led Mok over to Auburn as she said flightily, "I'm Evelyn Rosedale, & this is Aubie...I mean, Auburn Patterson..." Evelyn corrected, noticing her co-worker's glare. "So, Mok," she added with a coy grin, "what brings you here to the Rat Trap?"
Mok froze for a moment, then hurried to think of a good lie. Smiling once again, he said, "I'm a talent agent from New York; I'm looking for a brilliant young lady to represent." It was then that he noticed Jaclyn on the stage, preparing to sing as the Rat Trap Band warmed up. "Evelyn," he asked, "might I inquire who that girl is?"
"That's Jaclyn," the waitress replied. "One of our brightest entertainers at the Rat Trap, she is. If you'd care to watch her, there's an empty table over in the corner." Mok smiled, then went over to the table & sat down, watching Jaclyn intently as she began to sing & dance to a rousing swing number performed by the Rat Trap Band:
All y'all mice in these mean ol' streets
There's a groove that's hard to beat
Now, why don't y'all get on your feet
And dance to this good old jazz
There's music playing in the air
It's time to loosen up your hair
And start to dance right in yo' chairs
To this good old jazz
This song's so funky, you'll start to swoon
And wanna howl right to the moon
And then you'll wanna get up & croon
To this good old jazz...
Unbeknownst to Jaclyn, Justin was watching her performance from behind the curtains, looking quite impressed despite himself.
It's enough to make you scream
And yet you wanna sing
'Cause you just can't beat the ting-a-ling
Of good...old...jazz!
Yeah!
As soon as Jaclyn had finished her number & taken a grand bow, the audience burst into wild applause. Mok, however, was beside himself with excitement. "That's her!" he cried elatedly. "She's perfect! She'll make a great singing mistress!"
"Come again?" asked Evelyn, suddenly appearing.
"I mean, what a talented young lady to represent!" Mok said, trying not to look nervous. "Is there any way I can see Jaclyn?"
"Just give 'er a few moments to freshen up," Evelyn said, "& I'll take ye to 'er."
Feeling quite upset, Jaclyn stormed into her dressing room, slammed the door shut, & sat down in a chair, grunting in exasperation. She was not surprised to see Justin sitting on her couch, attempting to strum his broken guitar with a lackluster look on his face as he said flatly, "So, what's eating you, Jackie?"
"You already screwed things up for one night!" Jaclyn shouted, trying not to cry. "I trusted you, you jerk!"
"Yeah, but you were good!" When Jaclyn didn't say anything, Justin repeated, "You were good!"
"So whatever happened to duets?" Jaclyn said, still looking a bit hurt.
"I don't know, Jaclyn," Justin said, looking embarrassed. "I guess I just want it all now."
"I want everything, too, Justin!" Jaclyn said, going over to her boyfriend. "It takes time..." The two mice then looked deeply into each others' eyes...