Arthur walked up to the front door of Brain's house and rang the doorbell. "Come in, Arthur," came Brain's voice from inside.

As he entered, he saw a large group of kids gathered in the living room. In addition to Brain, there was Buster, Muffy, Francine, Fern, George, Jenna, and Molly.

"D.W.'s got rhinocerosis," Arthur announced sadly as he took his place in the circle of kids. "She's one of them now. I barely made it out of the house before she could attack me."

"Rattles is a rhino now," said Molly. "It didn't take him long to figure out that all he had to do was wish really hard. I'll bet all the other Tough Customers have turned into rhinos too."

"This isn't good at all," said Brain gloomily. "One kid turns into a rhino, then another kid turns into a rhino to be equal with the first kid, and so on, and so on. It's a chain reaction. If we don't stop it soon, we'll all be rhinos."

"But what can we do?" Jenna wondered. "We can't stop people from wishing that they were rhinos."

"Maybe not," Brain continued. "But we can reason with them. Show them the advantages of being human as opposed to being a rhino. Civilization and the rule of law, versus brutality and the law of the jungle, and all that."

"Can you possibly condense that into a five-second sound bite?" asked Muffy.

"You're going about it all wrong, you know," said Buster. "I say we put on rhino costumes, sneak into the alien base, and blow up their transmogrifier."

"But what about the kids who have already turned into rhinos?" said Francine. "Without the transmogrifier, you can't change them back."

"Uh...well..." Buster stammered, "while we're in the alien base, we'll steal the blueprints, and then we'll build our own transmogrifier, and change them back."

"But the aliens have superior minds," said Fern. "Only they can understand the blueprints."

"And they're written in an alien language," George added.

"And on top of all that," said Arthur, "we don't even know where the alien base is."

Buster sighed. "They make it look so easy on Star Trek."

"I'm still waiting for my sound bite," said Muffy impatiently.

"How's this, Muffy?" Francine suggested. "Humans good, rhinos bad."

"I like it," said Molly. "It's simple and catchy."

"Then it's settled," said Brain officiously.

----

Later that afternoon, George was strolling casually down the sidewalk, eating a donut and wearing a shirt with the slogan, HUMANS GOOD, RHINOS BAD. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by four large rhino kids, including Binky and Rattles.

"Hey, little buddy," said Binky. "How's my bestest friend in the whole world doing?"

"Uh...I'm fine, Binky," said George nervously.

"Look at his shirt," said Rattles, pointing.

"What does it say?" asked one of the other rhinos.

Binky tried to read the message on the shirt. "Hu...mans... The first word is 'humans', I think."

"It says, 'Humans good, rhinos bad,'" said George. When he realized what he had said, he put both hands over his mouth.

"What does that mean?" asked Rattles.

"Uh, I think it means that humans are good and rhinos are bad," said Binky, "but don't quote me on that."

"Humans are good...rhinos are bad..." mumbled the other rhinos thoughtfully.

"Man, you guys are getting dumber all the time," said George candidly. Then his eyes widened as he realized how much trouble his big mouth was getting him into.

"He just dissed us," said Rattles angrily. "I say we beat him up."

Binky glowered at Rattles. "I say we don't. George is my friend. And someday George and I are gonna have a place of our own, with pigs, and chickens, and cows, and goats, and rabbits. Isn't that right, George?"

"That's right, Binky."

Rattles glowered right back at Binky. "Fine. We'll beat you up, too. C'mon, guys."

George racked his brain for ideas while Rattles and the two other rhino boys advanced menacingly towards him and Binky.

"Don't be afraid, Binky," he finally said. "We've got them outnumbered."

"Outnumbered?" said Rattles with surprise.

"Yeah, outnumbered," said George. "Two to three."

Confused, Rattles and his two friends started to count on their fingers. As they were distracted, Binky and George started to run down the sidewalk to safety...or so they thought.

"Hey, three is more than two!" cried one of Rattles' rhino lackeys.

"They tried to pull a fast one on us!" complained the other.

"They must think we're stupid," said Rattles. "There they go! C'mon!"

Binky ran along the street with all his might. Hearing no footsteps behind him, he assumed that he was far out of reach of his pursuers.

Then it occurred to him. If he didn't hear any footsteps, then where was George?

He stopped and whirled around, panicked. Half a block away, the three rhino thugs had accosted the slow-running George. Rattles grabbed the moose boy by the collar and lifted him off the ground until their faces were even.

"Your moose is cooked, antler boy," Rattles threatened.

Seeing no other hope for himself, George summoned up as much fury as he could manage. His eyes bulged. He snorted through his nostrils.

"You're making me angry," he growled.

The three rhino boys chuckled. Binky rushed towards them as fast as he could, hoping he was not too late to save his small friend.

"I'm gonna wipe that smart mouth right off your face," said Rattles, making a fist with his free hand.

George's frame started to shake. His limbs began to swell up.

"YOU'RE MAKING ME ANGRY!" he roared loudly.

As Rattles reared back his fist, George's body began to expand...

...and expand...

...and expand.

Rattles was forced to let go of his collar as it rose higher and higher.

George, now a rhino almost twice the size of Rattles, ripped off his tattered shirt. The antlers had fallen from his head, but on the crest of his nose sat not one, not two, but...three horns.

Rattles and his two thugs turned and fled in terror. Binky stopped in mid-stride, astonished at the transformation he had witnessed.

George turned around, looked down at him, and spoke in a deep bass voice. "Hey, little buddy."

(to be continued)