Author's Notes: Well, I had announced it in the last story I posted, but just in case, here's what's new besides what's going on IRL: I think it was sometime last year that I was on Netflix looking for something new to watch and by chance I stumbled upon a TV series that ran from 1982-1986 called "Knight Rider". I remembered that I had seen the first episode a very long time ago but I had never gotten into it. I watched the series all the way through and now I'm a "Knight Rider" fan. I've even seen the "Knight Rider 2000" movie, but I've yet to see any other series that are part of the franchise (I'm particularly eyeing the 2008 one) and I hear there's some scuttlebutt going about that it might be making a comeback in the future. Anyway, I'm now watching the series through for the second time, I've read and favorited a bunch of "Knight Rider" fanfics here on the site, and as I do so I'm typing up this story. It'll basically cover the whole 80's series start to finish with some extra inbetweeners for character development and such; I've already got four one-shots that are companion pieces and one full-fledged story that was brought on by me watching a new movie last night waiting in the wings that I might post separately after adding them to the story itself so that you can read them without having the hassle of searching through the chapter list. I'm even thinking of doing some separate reflection pieces inspired by the fanfic "Brother Much Loved: Brother Much Respected" by ScribeofHeroes. So, yeah, I think it's safe to say I'm on a roll with this thing.

Now, in regard to the other half of the equation, I have a feeling I know what you're thinking: "What are you doing?!" I know, I know; it's probably not smart of me to just pop these guys in without at least having put something up with them in it first for backstory, and I should do the same thing with my horse OC, Salas. Maybe I will once the fancy tickles me again, but I'm afraid we're stuck until this one runs its course. Now, just to put things in perspective, I've kinda fudged the timeline a bit; this adventure occurs before the "Brainwashed Trilogy" in their spin-off series, but after the episode "A Legendary Tail" (due to some more fudging on my part the other segment that accompanies this one, "Project B.R.A.I.N.", has been moved to the beginning). It's a lot of…wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey…stuff. (groan) Do you think it's wise to give us Authors this much power?

Anyway! Anyway, getting back on track here, let's handle the formalities: I only own one character here, and that is my OC Salas, who is based on an actual stuffed animal I've had since I was four or five on Christmas. I do not own the series "Knight Rider"; its characters belong to Glen A. Larson, who came up with this fantastic series, and the series also belongs to Universal Studios. I also do not own the duo of Pinky and the Brain; they belong to Steven Spielberg, Amblin, and Warner Bros.

Whoops! Oh dear, I almost forgot: This story does take place in my fanfic-verse, but in a dimension outside of the one that features Vicky and the Godzilla family. In other words, Pinky and Brain's take-over-the-world shenanigans aren't part of a show; they are in a Toon-like universe, but the adventures are for real.

Now, as the saying goes, let's start at the beginning: The pilot/first two episodes "Knight of the Phoenix". Now, I've watched them on Netflix, so you'd think I'd go with that. However, I wanted a way of watching it without disrupting my spot, so I turned to the Internet…and would you believe I found the movie version? I mean I saw stuff that was cut when the movie got put into a two-parter format! This was amazing! So, I've decided to go along with that while also applying what I've learned of the series' continuity from my first time watching the best I could. I hope I did an OK job.

Now, this starts the night Michael Long was shot by Tanya Walker in the Nevada desert and Wilton Knight found him. This is what went on back at the Knight Estate…


Chapter 1: "The Guests"

He couldn't believe it. He just could not believe it. This did not compute. He had everything planned to the letter. At least, he had thought so. Of course, the efficiency of the building's security and the antics of his one comrade were some expected factors, which he had quickly taken into account during the planning stage, so what on Earth went wrong? His other friend kept his whimsical cage mate busy as they kept a look-out, he had just about managed to hack in and completely download some schematics, and then…

Then what? As part of accounting for security, he thought he had made it past all the security encryptions and firewalls; anything that could trip an alarm. Maybe he missed one? As his equine friend had often gone out of his way to point out—much to his annoyance—he often had a tendency to look over the simplest things.

Well, whatever it was, he certainly had had a great deal of time to ponder over it; almost two months, to be exact.

He turned to look at the scratches on a small box that had been placed inside his little prison and let out a sigh, his ears falling to the sides of his rather large head. Two months. He wondered what had happened to his time machine during those two months; probably confiscated and dissected by those humans who wore the symbol of the knight chess piece on their coats, or else destroyed by a careless passerby or ruined by the elements. Why, oh why couldn't he have had the sense to park it inside a structure?

His ears perked up when he heard another sigh, one in a voice that was in a slightly higher pitched tone and differently accented than his own. He turned to see the cause, which was the seated form of a mouse. He knew who it was right off the bat, even with the lack of proper lighting in the room, but seeing him slouched with his ears down and his tail coiled around so that it was in reach of his hands caused him to feel a slight pang in his chest.

He shook himself. This would not do. This was not how he was expecting his friend to be acting. He thought he would be sound asleep by now, snoring his usual nonsensical verbal tics, not brooding over their incarceration; that was his job.

Putting on his usual sardonic demeanor, he walked over to the other side of the cage and stood behind his companion, holding his hands behind his back as his fingers involuntarily began to twiddle. Once again, his slight failing in the realm of emotions began to set in as he tried to formulate what to say.

"Do you think he's okay, Brain?"

The sad, soft, slightly Cockney accented voice that came out of the mouse in front of him startled Brain slightly; it sounded so loud in the quietness of their prison.

Brain let out another sigh; when the trio had been caught, the two mice had been separated from the young Quarab horse who had been their friend for almost six years now. They managed to briefly see each other on some occasions, but for the most part the mice and the horse were kept in separate locations on the grounds.

"I'm…sure he's being treated well, Pinky," Brain told the taller mouse, hoping that he was giving something that resembled comfort. "Much better than we are," he added under his breath.

"Can't we go see him?" Pinky asked, turning his head to look at Brain, the sadness painfully evident on his face as well as in his voice.

"I'm afraid not," Brain replied bluntly. "Not in our present location, not at this present time, and certainly not with the eyes of this Foundation constantly on us," he added, giving a distasteful glance to a camera hidden somewhere in a corner of the room.

Pinky sniffed, his blue eyes starting to look watery.

"But…perhaps…if we ask our…host…" Brain said slowly, steeling himself against the look his emotional partner was giving him as well as the phantom bad taste in his mouth from calling the man who put them in their cage their "host", "we might see him tomorrow."

"Promise?" Pinky asked, a small smile starting to appear.

Brain was about to say "It's possible", but something told him that to say so would make Pinky depressed again, something he wasn't up to dealing with for the rest of the night, so what he ended up saying was: "I promise".

That was enough to raise Pinky's spirits slightly, as evidenced by the corners of his mouth turning upward a bit more, but the tears he had been holding in finally escaped his eyes when he blinked.

"Poit…" Pinky said softly as he began to wipe his eyes.

Again, emotions weren't Brain's forte, but between Pinky and their equine companion, plus the almost-six years of experience, he was starting to get some idea of how to handle situations like this. Slowly, Brain put a hand to Pinky's back and began to do an up-and-down motion. After a couple of seconds he decided that that was enough, but a content and happy hum from Pinky changed his mind. What he didn't expect was to soon feel Pinky wrap an arm around his left shoulder and start rubbing his upper arm. This made Brain sit down next to him and the two mice sat in silence for a bit, taking in each other's company.

The moment was soon broken by Pinky quickly sitting up straight as if startled by something.

"What?" Brain queried.

"I heard something," Pinky replied.

Brain sighed patiently and said, "Pinky, you've been 'hearing things' for the past few weeks now. Don't you think it's time that you at least try to accept the fact that there's nothing here?" There a minute's pause before he asked, "What do you think you heard?"

"Those loud bangs again; you know, the ones that I heard in my dreams along with seeing a bright flash once?"

Brain had to restrain himself from gripping a handful of fur on Pinky's back too tightly. As their imprisonment reached its second month, Pinky had started having these strange dreams; they were nothing concrete, just sounds and abstract images. One time Pinky told Brain that he thought he had heard a sort of whooshing sound. The next time, the sound was accompanied by a red light going back and forth, sort of like the eyes of the Cylons from that Battlestar TV show. Another time, he thought he had heard a car engine. One night, Pinky had woken up from a nightmare that featured those very bangs and the flash of light; what Brain soon interpreted it to be, much to his horror, was that Pinky had dreamed of a gun going off…right in his face.

And now Pinky was hearing those gunshots when he was awake. Either this meant Pinky was starting to crack under these conditions, or those dreams meant something.

"Brain? You all right?" Pinky asked his friend in a tone of gentle concern.

The big-headed lab mouse with the crooked tail was about to reply when suddenly the lights in the room turned on, making the mice squint and rub their eyes at the sudden reintroduction of light. This was followed by a hum of activity as the place seemed to come alive.

"Aah! I'm blinded!" Pinky shrieked.

"What the devil is going on out there?!" Brain yelled as his vision slowly came back into focus, ignoring Pinky's outburst.

Soon, the sight of a quaint bedroom greeted Brain's eyes. It wasn't as lavish-looking as some of the other rooms; sure there was a fancy mantle and fireplace as well as some expensive furniture, curtains, and objet d'art, but the bed was simple; no fancy headboard or canopy.

Soon, the sound of helicopter rotors outside reached the mice's ears, but there were too far from the windows to see what was going on.

"What's going on, Brain? Poit! What's happening?" Pinky asked in concern.

"Whatever it is, Pinky," Brain stated, "I have a feeling that it won't spell good news for us."


Brain has probably been thinking that for the past two months I've been having it easy. OK, I'll admit; he's partially correct. From what I've seen of this billionaire, he doesn't strike me as the malevolent type, and he's treated me rather well; given me plenty of space to run, a roof over my head, and plenty of food. He's also given express instructions for no-one to ride me or muzzle me. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not kept under watch, which is probably the downside to this whole thing. That, and being away from my friends.

The young Quarab snorted as his ears lowered, expressing that last-thought statement. Multiple times he had thought of asking if it was really necessary for the three of them to be kept apart. If it was just due to the fact that it wasn't exactly proper to have a horse sauntering down the halls of such a stately manor, he would have understood completely. Unfortunately, it wasn't. What it really came down to was that one of the three animals was a potential danger, and keeping all three together would equal an attempted escape and possibly somebody getting hurt.

At least they're keeping Pinky and Brain together, Salas thought. I wouldn't be able to forgive Mr. Knight if he said otherwise.

Salas had been together with the mice long enough to tell that from first meeting each other six years ago to the present day—that is, the present day where they came from—that the two rodents had—whether to Brain's cognizant knowledge or not—formed a tight bond akin to close friends as opposed to just being co-workers in this never-ending fight to try to take over the world. It seemed that like Mary's little lamb, wherever one went, the other was sure to follow.

Salas allowed his thoughts to linger on that for a moment. Sure, he had become good friends with the mice as well, but deep down he was getting the feeling that he was starting to turn into a third wheel. When did that even start, he wondered. Stepping back onto Memory Lane, he recalled when he had somehow gotten shrunk; when he first stepped into Acme Labs and, spooked by his surroundings, literally crashed into Pinky. Salas had been so frightened that even Pinky's voice, which had been slightly deeper in tone back then, scared him. Then he had met Brain and soon all three came together. Salas and Pinky had bonded immediately, but it wasn't until that one Christmas that really helped Salas and Brain lower their barriers toward each other. After the times of meeting both Brain and Pinky's parents, Salas told the mice about what had happened to his family, confessing that he had been envious of the two getting the chance to see their parents again when he never would. There had been that one Halloween where Pinky had done the unthinkable in selling his soul so that a frustrated Brain could have the world. Salas never told either of the mice this, but, despite being overrun with his emotions, which really tested Brain and Salas' friendship, the event had really opened his eyes to just how strong the mice's bond had grown. Maybe that was where it had started. He certainly couldn't think of a more emotional time when the realization came to mind.

Salas shook his head and brought himself back to the small yet roomy stall that had been his "home" for the past two months. It looked like somebody had renovated a garden shed to accommodate an equine guest, but Salas knew better than to take his host's offered quarters for granted. Besides, he had slept in less than this back in his younger days.

Speaking of his host, Salas decided to focus his thoughts on him next.

Wilton Knight; a wealthy man who apparently had a strong sense of justice, if his talk of believing that no criminal was above the law was anything to go by. Oh yes, Mr. Knight talked to him often over the past two months, and despite initially trying to pass himself off as a normal horse, Salas very quickly dropped the act when it was clear Mr. Knight wasn't falling for it. So the two ended up having many conversations, although there were certain details that both kept guarded. However, in recent weeks, Mr. Knight had started opening up a bit more, giving small and vague details about a "special project" of his; a project that would put his belief of one man making a difference into practice. There had been many setbacks, two of them rather serious—Mr. Knight wasn't specific—but things were starting to come together. Salas would have been a bit suspicious of this if it weren't for two things: One was what Wilton said about him during one of their conversations:

Salas had asked: "Why are you telling me all this? Why do you trust me so much?"

The response had been: "Despite your participation in a potential robbery, I have a feeling that you have a strong sense of right and wrong. You know where to stop before you cross the line. You care about others, whether they're your friends, like those two mice, or a complete stranger, like this old man whom you know next-to-nothing about," Wilton said with a chuckle. He then continued, "But to put it simply, you're a good kid, Salas. And I hope that when the time is right, you will get a chance to put all those traits to work for a great purpose."

The second was what Salas's horse senses were alerting him to: Wilton Knight was not well. In fact, if Salas hadn't known any better, he would have said that Wilton Knight was a dead man walking. That worried the young Quarab; despite only knowing the man for a short time, he had grown pretty fond of him, and he had been touched by the fact that Mr. Knight trusted him so much that he gave him a small insight into what was going to turn out to be his final work. …One that he might not live to see come to life.

Salas let out a deep sigh, lowering his head. He wished that there was something he could do, but Mr. Knight's circumstances were beyond his control, as were whatever plans were being made for this "project". Which, of course, made him curious about it. Again, Wilton never gave away any significant details, but from his explorations around the pasture he had been fenced in, he figured that it had something to do with that large structure just off to the side of the manor, where people dressed in technician's garb filtered in and out like an assembly line, which Salas realized had been the very building that he and the mice got caught in. When he came to that realization, he actually felt relieved that the three of them had gotten caught; if Brain had been successful, then Mr. Knight would have lost everything he was working for.

But, like Brain, he had to wonder how the premises had been alerted to the animals' presence…even though he already had an idea of what did it. What Brain didn't know was that while he had descended into deep focus—Salas called it "tunnel vision"—to get the information he needed and Salas began his work of playing lookout while also keeping Pinky from doing anything that would get them caught, something had caught his eye in the dark. Salas initially shrugged it off, but when he spotted it again just out the corner of his eye, anxiety began to sink in. After telling Pinky to get Brain quick, Salas slowly walked over to where he had seen it. He then stopped for a moment and looked around. Maybe he had been seeing things. He was soon found wrong when a bright red square lit up right in front of him, making him go stiff and his heart hammer in his chest. He couldn't move; he didn't know if it was an alarm that Brain had glaringly missed or something else. However, he couldn't help but grow a bit curious about it and slowly started making movements, first with his ears, then his facial muscles, then his tail. Nothing happened. Salas then decided to risk stepping closer, and, in the extremely limited light, found himself in front of a machine; he didn't know what type it was, but it looked to be something small with wires on a table. Then, he decided to do something a bit crazy; he started tapping his hoof against the floor in a pattern:

**** ** (Hi.)

Just as Salas was wondering what the hay he was doing, the red light began to blink:

**** * *-** *-** - - - (Hello.)

Salas had been astonished; apparently this…thing knew Morse code! They were communicating! Once he had recovered, Salas decided to go for a more direct approach and asked, "Who, or what, are you?" The response he got was the red square turning off, and the next thing he knew, security had been alerted and him, Pinky, and Brain had been captured and placed in the custody of Mr. Wilton Knight.

That little red square, whatever it was, had to have been responsible; Salas was sure of it. But then again, could he blame it? After all, it was somebody else's property; if you found out someone you didn't know had come in to pretty much steal you, wouldn't you have done the same?

"What am I saying?!" Salas yelped, shaking his head as if to check if some of his marbles had been lost. "If anyone was to blame, it was me! What was I thinking, playing 'Secret Messages' with what was obviously a hidden security system?! I don't know what I was thinking; it's not like it was alive."

Or was it?

The sound of beating helicopter blades reached his ears, stopping all trains of thought. He then remembered that Mr. Knight had gone out earlier, and word was it that he was going to get something. Something very important. Maybe he had found it, or maybe he didn't. Either way, Salas was curious to see what was going on.

Taking a cue from Brain, Salas used his tail to lift up the lock on the door, gently bumped it open with his rear right hoof, and, once he gotten himself turned around, set off at a canter towards the action.

By the time he got to where the fence stopped him from getting any closer, there was a whole group of people around the copter. From where he was, he could see Mr. Knight get out one side of the copter, but the other people were too densely packed around the other side for him to see anything. He did, however, pick up calls of "Careful now!", "Easy! Easy!", "What's the condition?", and, most disturbingly, "Do we have a pulse?"

Salas tensed and stepped about nervously. Somebody, not Mr. Knight, had been badly hurt. Then he spotted a stretcher as whoever was on it was rushed in the direction of the manor. All Salas could do now was send up a prayer that whoever it was would pull through.


Well, if you know what happens, you know who's just arrived and what his condition is, but we'll get there next time.

So, yes! Pinky, Brain, and Salas have traveled back in time from the 90's to the early 80's, but why? What brought them here? How will this new arrival affect things? Again, all will be answered in the next chapter.

Now, I have a feeling I should apologize for my terrible attempts at foreshadowing. Come on, you can be honest with me. You know what Pinky's dreams are about. You know what that little red square was. I hate to say it, but there's more coming in the next chapter, but only one instance of it in the beginning and then that's it, I'm sure of it. I guess it's because throughout this story the main characters are going to do some "growing up", so to speak, that I'm going to try and apply some recurring themes as well as a hint to an overarching event that's part of my fanfic-verse. If you can spot them as the story goes on, you've got sharp eyes.

Yep, I did use Morse code. I had to do some looking up for the right sequences, though. Here are the letters I used:

* = "E"

**** = "H"

** = "I"

*-** = "L"

- - - = "O"

I feel that I should also apologize to all hard-core "Knight Rider" fans for my glaring lack of knowledge on the series in regard to any further backstory on its characters; I'm afraid I've only had the series and whatever I can find online to fuel my knowledge. I've been made aware that there are books out there, but I currently am not in possession of any of them, so please, forgive me if something doesn't look right.

Now, for some questions:

If you had been with Pinky, Brain, and Salas that night when Salas encountered that red square, what would you have done?

How would be taking your two-month house arrest in Wilton Knight's custody? How would your opinion of the billionaire change (if at all) as time goes on?

What would your thoughts be on Pinky's dreams and him now hearing those gunshots when he's awake? (For this particular question you'll have to pretend you don't know anything about either series)

Where would you be when the helicopter lands? What would be your reaction to the activity?

OK, that's it for now. Next time, prepare yourselves for a rather long chapter that will introduce our time-travelling trio to Wilton's newest guest, their first impressions, tell the story of what brought Pinky, Brain, and Salas to 1982, and reveal a few things. Oh, yeah, also prepare yourselves for some very obvious references. (If you spotted the references made here, kudos to you! :) )

Until then, please read and review. Thank you!