*~*

*~*

After the convention I took Josh and went with Merton back to his parents and sisters house. Merton couldn't wait to see his lair again. I think he wanted to make sure that Becky hadn't ruined anything, but he shouldn't have worried about that because despite all of her meanness she was quite smart and was now studying at Seaton Hall down in New Jersey.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he pulled open the basement door to reveal that every thing had stayed in its rightful place. Even his python was in a cage and looked like it had been properly fed and watered through out the year.

"home." He said grinning. "God I missed this place."

He threw his pack down on his bed and flopped down onto the couch.

"Cool snake." Said Josh, tapping on the glass.

"I used to talk to that snake." Merton sighed. "He helped me plan almost everything."

"Merton, half the time you didn't even know where it was." I pointed out.

"Tommy, you're ruining the moment!" Merton got up. "If I decide to live in Europe I'll have to decorate another lair."

"So you're serious about going then?" I looked at him pointedly.

"I told you, I'm not staying here for ever." He purposely avoid my eyes.

"Is there another girl?"

he gave me a wry grin, but no answer.

"I was wondering why you and Lori didn't go through all that mushy stuff you did last time." I continued. "Who is she? A Parisian, English, Italian?"

"She's English, and her name's Cally Anderson." He muttered. "Damnit. I still can't keep my mouth shut. You won't tell Lori, will you? I want to tell her myself."

"I won't tell her." I promised.

There was very significant pause before he offered me another smile. "so," he shook himself, and regained his dignity. "are TnT still in their senior year?"

*~*

As the sun was setting Merton, Lori, Cass, Josh, and I were going back to the convention site. Cass realized that she'd left her purse at one of the booths and of course, she wanted to go retrieve it. People were leaving, and we were the only ones going towards the big bubble.

Cass was pretty sure she'd dropped it by one of the food stalls. Unfortunately there were about fifty food stalls in the entire place. So you can see the problem we faced. But again, unfortunately, Cass was a very determined person, so she dragged around the place to every food place we could find. That is, until we reached the section with all the 'stand up card board people', or the 'thingies' as Cass had called them earlier. It was darker now, and they looked even more ominous as they loomed above us.

"Well, c'mon. It's your purse we're after so I suppose we've got to go in there." Lori tried to push Cass who was frozen to the spot.

"we can come back tomorrow." She said. "when it's light out."

"Mommy's scared." Josh teased.

"Not scared," she said crossly. "worried. Now let's go."

She stared at the figures for a moment, and jumped.

"what's the matter?" I approached her but she transformed into a full wolf before I could reach her. she trotted deeper into the shadows, and a few minutes later we heard a loud yelp. Cass came running out at full speed. We turned to see what was scaring her. at first we saw nothing, but then we saw three moving lights emerging from the darkness.

"Who the hell is that?" Merton said, staring at the people that had stepped into the light.

"I d'know, but something tells me we might wanna leave now." Said Lori backing away

One of the people noticed us. She hit something on her wrist and something like a laser beam came out. I pushed Merton out of the way. We rolled across the ground and landed behind some loose boxes.

"Thanks." Merton gasped. "Those girls, they look really familiar."

I took another look at them. All three were women, and they were all about half dressed. Each one had a weapon attached to their wrist and something else. One looked dazed and confused, but the other two looked ready to fight.

"Voice?" said one.

One of the others said something back but we couldn't here them. Just then a small gray wolf came up to us. Lori and Josh were beside it. Cass reverted back to her human form, and started to talk immediately.

"Cleopatra 2525." She said frantically. "that's Hal, Serge, and Cleo. When I went in there they just sorta walked out of the cardboard figures. Infact they were cardboard figures! And they're more I saw a really pissed off Ares, and an even more pissed of Creegan. There's also an Andalite and something else, but I have no idea what it is."

"Let me get this straight." Lori looked stunned, "Ares as in Xena and Hercules? Creegan as in Cleopatra 2525? Andalite as in Animorphs?"

"As much as I hate to say it, you're right." Cass hit her forehead. "and guess what's causing it?"

"You know?" asked Merton. "This'll be a first. We never know what's causing the problem until after the problem has cause at least some sort of damage."

"Your little friend with the tricorder." Cass jerked her head to where she'd run from. "she's back there."

"They're leaving." Reported Josh. He pointed at the Cleo girls.

"Shit." Mumbled Cass. "Those girls can not get out into Boston."

"Omigod." I said. "Let's go now!"

"What?" Cass looked like she wanted to hyperventilate.

"Isn't that Darth Vader?"

"Let's move." Cass started snapping her fingers. "I don't want to be here when all of these guys meet up with each other."

"Shh!" hissed Lori. "They'll here us."

Josh had transformed into a small white wolf and was already on his way out of the convention center. I went wolf and caught up with him. Lori, Merton and Cass stayed close behind us. We made it out the gate with out any trouble. Then we caught view of Hal, Cleo and Serge. They were standing by the road talking.

"This is gonna be bad." Merton's tone was heavy. "I don't even wanna imagine what's gonna happen when they all meet up. It's bad enough that some how they're in Boston."

"we should go after that girl." Said Cass. "I think we need that tricorder thingy."

"You're big on the word thingy." Commented Merton.

Cass threw him a look and continued. "we can't let these people get out of the convention center. Notice how she only brought three good guys to life, and they weren't even acting like good guys. I don't even know what Boston will be like if Ares gets a hold of it."

I heard something coming from the gates. When I looked over I saw someone walking out of the center. In the dark his red and white makeup was barely visible, and neither were his many earrings.

"It's Creegan." Lori and Serge said it at the same time, but they didn't know that.

"Should we go after him?" Merton was staring at Creegan's silhouette.

"he'd kill us." Said Lori reasonably.

Next through the gate came the girl that Cass hadn't been able to identify. We couldn't either. But Merton had a guess.

"I think it's some one from one of those WB sci-fic shows. Maybe Andromeda."

"you watch that?" Cass asked in disgust. "You've sunk beyond low."

(A/n- no offense intended. I've been know to watch it on occasion, but then again I'm a staunch Trekkie…)

"It came on once before Buffy." He said through gritted teeth. "You're going to tell me you've never seen it?"

"Once." She admitted. "That's Trans (A/n- it's something like that. I'll correct it later) right? The one with the purple skin, and the tail."

I let out a low growl in Creegan's direction. He was quickly moving down towards Boston, which was only about a mile down the road.

"Shit, double shit, triple shit, and damnit!" Cass stood up and started moving towards Creegan, but I bit her pants leg and pulled her back.

"Tommy!" She started pulling at her jeans, but I kept them in my mouth. "He's going down to Boston, and sooner or later he'll probably end up in Pleasantville."

In one swift movement she managed to yank her jeans out of my mouth. She transformed to her werewolf state and walked silently down the road.

"I'll go too, just to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Volunteered Lori.

Soon it was only Merton, Josh and I. We were perfectly fine for a few moments. Then I picked up a heavy sound from a few feet behind us, and from the corner of my eye I saw a pinkish light waving around.

"Get down." I whispered, transforming. Merton ducked down deeper into the bushes. The pinkish light moved above our heads.

"Let me guess," Merton said dryly. "That would be Darth Vader's light saber."

We started to crawl further away into a forest. Darth Vader hadn't noticed us…yet. We were going towards a girl. It was Char, and she was still holding her tricorder.

"Char!" Merton said urgently. She looked down at him, grinning.

"get up." she commanded. "So Merton, not a Trekkie eh?"

we just stared at her. Josh turned back to human again and I picked him up. Char just stood there shaking her head.

"You lied then in Europe, am I right?" she persisted. "You told, what was her name? Oh, Cally that you were a Trekkie."

"What's this got anything to do with all these sci-fic characters running around here?" I glared at her.

"Every thing." She said. "I was trying to a spell, but my mind was so upset from Merton's lying that I couldn't get it right. That's why the cardboard figures came to life."

"But…" Merton started, but Char hushed him.

"Listen, my name is Cally Anderson." She said. "Not Char, and I'm a witch. Accommodo."

As soon as she said that her body started to change. Her tresses changed to a lighter brown, and her face became thinner. She grew an inch and her eyes changed to a sort of violet.

"Cally?" Merton was stunned

"Yes," she eyed Merton. "and you didn't have to lie y'know. You're perfectly fine the way you are."

"You're a witch?" he asked.

She nodded. "I usually don't go bandying it around, but I was going to tell you. And get that look off your face, I know you're not incredibly surprised."

"Can you reverse all this?" I asked.

"There's a possibility." She sighed. "but it's not a very large one, seeing as I don't know the spell that caused all this. I told you, I was trying to do another one."

"So these whacko's are gonna be around for awhile?" said Merton.

"Correct." Cally looked around, and gasped. "Oh bloody hell, here comes Aries."

"further into the forest." I suggested.

"wait," said Merton while we were walking. "if you're a witch, what's with the tricorder?"

"Ah," she laughed "the tricorder. That's just for show, so it doesn't look like I'm actually psychic. Sometimes I get things wrong on purpose. Now, come. We should get your friends."

Merton and I exchanged looks. One thing was certain, we didn't need Lori meeting Cally just yet.

*~*

Meanwhile, down the road Cass and Lori were engaged in a bit of a struggle with Creegan. He'd caught them trailing him and had taken out two guns. He shot at them, and almost hit Lori.

"now it's personal." Lori muttered. She and Cass pounced on Creegan, and left all thoughts of stealth behind. They kept throwing punches, and he kept shooting blindly. Then three ladies came and settled the score. Two lasers wee shot at the same time, and Creegan fell, unconscious.

"Thanks." Cass said, turning to look at their rescuers. "Hal, Serge, and Cleo right?"

they nodded. "we'll take it from here?" said Serge, shaking out her red hair.

"huh?" Lori scowled

"we'll take him back to the underground." Said Hal. "you two girls shouldn't be up here on the surface."

"The underground? The surface? Cass, help me here." Pleaded Lori.

"In the show, there's a small human resistance underground, because the Bailey's have taken over the earth." Cass summed it up in a neat package.

What do you say to that? "Oh." Said Lori.

No, that's not exactly what you say to that, but it's all Lori could come up with at the moment.

"Um, Hal, this isn't 2525." Cass said slowly. "It's 2005."

"Creegan must have done this." Serge jerked her head at the fallen body. "But he doesn't have any of his usual defenses. It shouldn't have been that easy to take him out."

"That's 'cause he's not real." I said, coming up behind them. "Turns out that they are cardboard."

"It's my fault." Cally came forward, and bent down by Creegan's body. "he seems slightly alive; low pulse."

"How is this your fault?" asked Cleo.

"It just is." She said quickly. "There'll be more coming. I'll take his body."

"what're we gonna do with them?" asked Cass, pointing to the three women.

"This." Cally stared at them. "frenum"

The three of them froze in place.

"That spell only works on people who are mortal, so I'm afraid it won't work on Aries and maybe some others." Said Cally.

"Who are you?" Lori looked utterly surprised.

"My name is Cally Anderson."

"and how'd you do that?"

"I'm a witch. I accidentally brought the characters to life. And they're going to follow me, because unfortunately they consider me their mistress." She said walking slowly.

"where're you staying?" asked Merton.

"Pleasantville Bed & Breakfast."

*~*

On Saturday morning I woke up tired, and annoyed. Friday I had to play peace maker between Merton and Lori. Merton had tried to dump Lori gently but, it didn't really work. In the end Merton had almost ended up being stabbed .

So anyway, I pretty annoyed when the stupid alarm clock woke Cass and I up. She turned over in bed and groaned.

"Do we really have to get up?" she asked.

"It's Saturday, so no." I pulled a pillow over my head.

"yeah we do." She made a face. "we've got a kid to feed."

"Fine." I rolled out of bed. "Hey Cass, wanna get married and move to England?"

she laughed. "Methinks Tommy needs to go back to bed."

"Merton wants to know if we want to move back with him and Cally."

"Merton needs a reality check." She said dryly

"He said it bounced."

She smacked me with pillow. "You really need to go back to sleep."

*~*

Cass and I got together with Merton and Cally later that day (Lori was still mad at Merton). Merton had been helping Cally search through his books for a possible counter spell. They'd found four that might work. Merton handed the spells over to Cally (Ever since the little incident with the zombies I haven't really trusted him with spells) and when we arrived she was looking over them trying to find the right one to stop the sci-fic characters, which unfortunately for Merton were being stored in his Lair. They were all frozen, so it wasn't like they were walking around, but it was still pretty eerie to see people like Darth Vader frozen in place with a light saber up and ready to slice your head off. And more were coming by the hour. Since three days ago Merton and Cally had accumulated a new assortment of hero's and scoundrels to add to their frozen collection; some including an angry Klingon, E.T, Mulder and Scully, Jar Jar Binks, the three kids from 'The Journey of Alan Strange, the red Power Ranger, The X-Men team, Willow from Buffy (much to Merton's delight, sadly Cally froze her), Batman Beyond, and about twenty other people. Only one character was still walking around, Aries. Cally had caught up with him once, but since he's a god she hadn't been able to freeze him and bring him back here.

So as you can see, Merton's lair was extremely crowded. Cass and I could barely get in without bumping into people.

"This'll work." Cally said finally holding up a spell book. "Now we've just got to get them to agree to go back to a cardboard state."

"And I'm sure that's gonna be the easiest part." Cass said sarcastically. "I don't think that they're going to like it very much. Can you do it while their frozen?"

"Have we ever gotten out of anything that easily?" Merton laughed. "It would be the answer to all my prayers of she could do it frozen. You think I like going to sleep with Gabriel and her cleavage standing above me?"

"No you love it." Said Cass. "and if you hate it so much, just move her."

"There's no room to move anything in here." He said honestly. "Tommy watch out."

I stopped just before backing into the red ranger. If I'd knocked him over it would've created a nasty domino effect and knocked over a whole bunch of other characters.

"and it needs to be in an open air space." She said.

"we need to do it out side?!" I gave her an 'are you crazy?' look.

"You expected this to be easy?" she asked. "So when should we do this?"

"Start with the reasonably calm characters tonight, like Jar Jar Binks, and the Journey of Alan Strange kids." I said. "maybe Trans too."

"Let's start moving them then." Cally was about to pick up Jar Jar when we heard a distinctly familiar battle cry coming from the front of Merton's house. It wasn't a screech but more like a loud trilling.

"dear Lord, what on earth did we do to deserve this?" Merton groaned vehemently. "who's got dibs on handling the warrior princess?"

"I can't freeze her." Cally said. "She's half god. She ate ambrosia in one episode."

"Cass you're the Xena fan, you can take this one." I smiled at her and pointed to the door that led out side.

"fine." She sighed and walked to the door. "If she puts the pinch on me, and I survive, I'm going to kill you all."

"Just punch her out or something." Merton mimicked punching someone.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose for a minute before wolfing out and leaving.

*~*

The night was slowly getting darker as I helped Merton carry the frozen characters into the park. We were carrying the last three of the bunch; there were fifty-six in all. I won't give you a full list of names. At about 3:00 they'd finally stopped arriving at Merton's lair so we'd thought it safe to start moving them to the park.

"Ouch." Said Merton as he set Batman down on the gazebo. "I think I pulled a muscle."

"Well, we're lifting dead weight, of course it's going to be heavy." I said grunting while trying to stand him upright.

"here come the girls." Merton pointed to the girls. They were getting out of Merton's hearse carrying and unconscious Xena behind them.

"Took you long enough." I said when they approached.

"she took off through the forest and started doing all that fancy stuff, like walking on the trees and ambushing us from the sky." Cass said with anger laced through her voice. "You try fight an Amazon warrior one day and tell us how easy it is. It was a half an hour before I even hit her twice. Oh, and Lori's still pissed, she's not coming."

"yes I am." We turned and looked at the gate running around the park. Lori was standing there smiling shamelessly. She easily hopped over the fence and walked over to Merton and I.

"But before I join in on this little jaunt I have one thing to do." She reached out her hand quickly and slapped Merton around the face. Merton looked a bit stunned as he felt his cheek. Cass glanced at me, she was giggling under her breath which set me to laughing.

"It's not funny." Said Merton, but even he was smiling a little now.

"Depends at how you look on it." Cally was giggling along with Cass. "But back to business. Let's start, shall we?"

To be continued…

(A/n- cliffhanger! La de da, please review. Gosh I posted a lot today. I'm really sorry it took so long! But I'm grounded so I've gotta wait till I'm home alone to use the computer and then bribe my little brother not to tell about it. Little brothers are soooo evils aren't they? Anyhoo, what d'ya think? Do you like Cally, because she'll be back in my next story? They're moving to London, mwhahaha! I figure that there's a lot more supernatural stuff in England, y'know the Stonehenge, the tower of London, all of those primordial graveyards? Maybe they can travel around Europe, hmm… the Bastille in France, or all those Myths about the great Gods in Greece and Norway. Oh the possibilities! I'm lovin' it! But sadly I've gotta go get ready to go to a stupid family reunion now. I hate these things. My relatives pinch my cheeks and then tell me about my enslaved ancestors, and their journeys on the Underground Railroad. Arg! It's not that I don't care, it's just that I' rather stay here and write. Get this; they don't have a computer out there! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, I've gotta go stuff clothes in my suitcase now.

Peace outJ!

Loonybin (aka- a very bored person who's gotta go sit on a plane for two hours with no laptop, only a note book. I hate writing by hand! One might call me lazy, but I'm a very modernized person!)