In the hallway next to the theater, Arthur and his friends shared their feelings about the prospect of being cast as a Bionic Bunny sidekick.

"All I can say is," said Binky, "they'd better pick me, or I'll clobber 'em."

Binky imagined himself as Ham Fist, fighting criminals alongside Bionic Bunny. He threw one of his oversized fists at a masked hoodlum, who dodged out of the way. Before Ham Fist knew what had happened, his fist had made a gaping hole in the wall of a building...

...which then promptly collapsed, as the frightened residents hurried out through the doors and fire escapes.

The embarrassed Ham Fist glanced around at the horrified citizens who had witnessed the destruction. "Uh...it was that way when I found it?"

Meanwhile, Sue Ellen imagined herself driving down the street in a run-down jalopy. A light started to flash on the control panel. "Bionic Bunny needs my help!" she exclaimed.

She struck a gong that hung from the rear-view mirror, and suddenly the jalopy morphed into a jet plane and took off into the sky.

"This is job for...Chop Chop Suey!" she said, her lips out of synch with the words.

In the center of the city, a 100-foot-tall gorilla smashed buildings while Bionic Bunny punched it repeatedly and ineffectually. Chop Chop Suey landed her jet plane near the creature's enormous feet and jumped out.

"Time to use ancient Chinese book of martial arts," she said, and once again the movement of her mouth did not match the words. She pulled a large, well-worn book from her pocket, then struck the beast on the leg with it. The giant gorilla suddenly lost consciousness and fell on its face.

Moments later, Bionic Bunny shook hands with Chop Chop Suey. "Thanks for your help. I couldn't have done it without..."

Suddenly Buster, dressed up as Doctor Ector, wedged himself in between the two heroes. "What do you mean?" he asked Bionic Bunny. "One blast from my particle gun, and it would've been over."

Binky forced his way into the group. "What you need is some bigger fists to back you up," he said to Bionic Bunny. "You may be bionic, but when you're faced with something the size of the Sydney Opera House..."

Arthur, as Cyberpunk, entered the fray. "You should have let me soften him up with my eye laser."

Then Fern walked up and started to recite poetry. "I grow old, I grow old. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled..."

Brain was the next to contribute. "The sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse..."

Last of all, Floyd Walton joined the group and tried to shout over them. "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them..."

Suddenly their collective fantasy was interrupted by the sound of a door closing. Floyd had entered the hallway, looking somewhat downcast.

"Hey, Floyd," said Buster. "So, how soon do you leave for Hollywood?"

Floyd pretended not to hear Buster. He extended his hand to Arthur, who shook it. "Congratulations, Yacht Boy," he said with a hint of bitterness.

As Floyd walked away, the other kids watched him with puzzlement. "What was that about?" Brain wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Arthur lied.

A second later, Wilbur Rabbit and Will Call entered the hallway, stood in front of Arthur, and smiled. "You're the one we want," said Mr. Call. "Congratulations."

Arthur was stunned momentarily, then smiled broadly. The lenses of his glasses morphed into a star shape. He turned to his friends. "Did you hear that? I'm gonna be on Bionic Bunny!"

"Way to go, Arthur!" said Buster, giving him another high-five.

Sue Ellen embraced Arthur and kissed him on the cheek. Arthur blushed.

"We'll be calling you in a few days," said Wilbur Rabbit to Arthur. "I look forward to working with you."

As Wilbur and Mr. Call turned to leave, Brain eyed Arthur curiously. "Yacht Boy," he muttered. "Yes, it's coming back to me now..."

"It wasn't my yacht," said Arthur. "It was Muffy's."

"You don't think Wilbur Rabbit picked Arthur because of that incident at sea," Fern said to Brain.

"Show business is like any other business," said Brain. "It's not what you know that gets you ahead, it's who you know."

----

"It's because of kids like Arthur that I keep going back to Elwood City," said Wilbur Rabbit into the camera. "The talent pool there is so incredibly rich."

"Indeed," said the smiling Fox Hansom. "I've been there a few times myself. They have a great ice cream shop called the Sugar Bowl. Now, Arthur, what was your first thought after being told that you had won the role?"

Arthur took the microphone from Fox. "I didn't really have much time to think, since so many things happened right after that. I had to plan my trip to Hollywood, get some fashion advice from my friend Muffy...and something else happened, too...something bad..."

----

Arthur was in his bedroom, practicing superheroic poses, when D.W. rushed into the room, wearing a barette over her eyes.

"Hey, look at me!" she said gleefully. "I'm Slobberpunk! Duuuuuh! I shoot lasers out of my eye thingy! Lalalalala..."

"That's Cyberpunk," Arthur said to D.W. as she waltzed around the room.

Arthur heard the doorbell ring at about the same time that the sightless D.W. tripped over a toy airplane and fell on her nose.

"Arthur," called Mrs. Read, "it's Francine."

Arthur hurried down the stairway to greet his friend, and was surprised to see her on the verge of tears. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I just want to talk to somebody," she said, struggling to remain composed. "It's bad, Arthur, it's really bad. Something awful has happened!"

(to be continued)