Author's Notes and Disclaimer: Greetings, fanfiction fans, and welcome to the 3rd chapter of "Loonatics Unleashed in: The Secret of NIMH". I hope everyone's been enjoying the story so far.
Here's the disclaimer: I do not own the movie "The Secret of NIMH" (owned by MGM/UA Entertainment Co., Aurora Productions, and Don Bluth Productions), the characters of "Loonatics Unleashed" (owned by Warner Bros), or the "Tiny Toon Adventures" character Calamity Coyote (owned by Warner Bros and Amblin).
Recap: The Loonatics and Calamity have been sent into the story "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" (although the way events play out is pretty much the movie adaptation of the book) to get away from the troubles occurring back in their world for a while…and (unbeknownst to them) to help the Loonatics develop themselves more. The group met Mrs. Brisby, a widowed field mouse whose son Timothy is suffering from pneumonia, and Mr. Ages, who provides the medicine Mrs. Brisby needs.
Now the Loonatics and Calamity are going to escort their hostess home, but something tells me it's not gonna be easy.
Let's read on…
Chapter 3: Jeremy
The walk from Mr. Ages' place was shaping up to be a long one. And while some were finding it fascinating and/or strange to actually be walking through grass as if it was a forest, there was one particular individual who was finding the hike just plain annoying. Not to mention inconvenient.
"You know," Duck panted, "if we were our regular sthelves, thisth trip would be a hundred timesth easthier, justht sthayin'."
"Well, we're not," Tech told him. "So you're gonna have to keep walking."
Duck groaned at that. His flat feet were hurting him already; if he kept this up, he thought, they were going to be even flatter.
"Eh, how much farther, Mrs. B?" Ace asked the widowed field mouse.
"Not far," Mrs. Brisby replied. "Just past the mill at the river, and then we head for a stone in the garden; my house is near there."
"What's it look like? Just so we know what to look for," Rev clarified.
"It's a cement block buried in the ground," Mrs. Brisby explained. "There's a pan at the entrance."
"Rev, can you…?" Tech asked his friend.
"Already on it," Rev answered, his eyes closed shut to mask the red glow coming from them as he accessed his Global Positioning ability.
As he had never been in this place before nor had had the time to do an aerial reconnaissance of the area, it was taking Rev a little more time than usual to find the place described, and Tech had to guide the anthro roadrunner to keep him from tripping over his own feet.
Rev's eyes soon opened.
'You found it?' Calamity asked.
"Yeah, I've got an idea where it is," Rev answered.
"Stho…?" Duck trailed impatiently.
"Well, at our normal size, it would take us maybe 5 minutes, but…at our current size…" Rev hesitated a moment before finishing, "We'll be there by nightfall."
"WHAT?!" Duck shouted.
Slam let out a groan.
Tech let out a sigh.
From his spot on Tech's shoulders, Calamity blew out a tired breath.
"Is everything all right back here?" Mrs. Brisby asked, Ace and Lexi with her.
"Yes, ma'am," the remaining boys responded automatically and politely.
The trek to the Brisby home was quiet after that, until they came to a large, hollowed log by the river. As they started through, they heard struggling and coughing sounds.
"Um, Duck, I know yer're tired and all, but can ya not make a production of it?" Ace asked, thinking that it was the anthro mallard making the noise.
"That'sth not me," Duck said, shaking his head.
"He's right," Lexi confirmed, her Sonic Hearing at work. "It sounds like it's coming from the other end of this log."
"Looks like it too," Ace added, pointing to the other end, where it looked like a black-feathered bird was struggling to get out of some, red, stringy substance.
"What on Earth is that?" Tech asked curiously.
'That's a crow,' Calamity identified. 'You know, black-feathered avians who are commonly depicted as thieves, taking shiny objects, corn…?' he explained to the Loonatics, referring to the many stories they had been told featuring crows and the cartoons they had seen that depicted crows in that fashion.
"Well, it doesn't look like he's trying to steal anything to me," Lexi said.
"Leeblaghgargabah Stuck crow," Slam said.
"Yeah, he does look stuck," Ace agreed. "We'd better help," he added, beginning to follow Mrs. Brisby to a hole at the top of the log.
"Do we have to?" Duck whined. "No! Wait, don't ansthwer that!" he said a split second later, not wanting to hear (or feel) a reprimand from one of his teammates. "Wait for me!"
"Eh, don't mind Duck, Mrs. Briz," Ace said. "He's just been having a very long walk."
"I understand," Mrs. Brisby replied, apparently not minding Duck's current attitude or just ignoring it.
The group followed Mrs. Brisby to the end of the log to a tangled mess of red string wrapped around a branch on the log and around a branch on a nearby tree. After Mrs. Brisby put the medicine packet down, she and her seven new friends took a look down and saw and heard the crow still struggling to get out of the string.
"Is everything all right here?" Mrs. Brisby asked the crow.
"What the-?! O-oh!" the crow yelped, seeing the mouse and her companions. "Lady! People! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"Sorry," Lexi apologized.
"Eh, what's up, crow?" Ace asked with a friendly smirk. "Ya need help or somethin'?"
"What? Help? Oh, uh…Oh, no! Uh, it's OK, heh, I was just sorta workin' out," the crow said sheepishly, making like he was relaxing despite hanging upside down. "You guys just broke my concentration, that's all."
"Ri-i-ight," Ace stretched out sarcastically, still smiling.
Duck shook his head and rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"I don't think I recall this exercise," Tech said, smirking.
"Little messy for an exercise, don't ya think?" Rev asked, playing along.
"Yeah…heh…er, yeah, I guess that's enough exercise for one day," the crow said sheepishly, realizing that these guys called his bluff, before pulling himself up to the top of the log and sitting down. "Besides, I'm really after this terrific string. I'm working on a love nest for two," he explained, chuckling. "You know what I mean?"
"Oh, I see," Mrs. Brisby smiled. "You have a girl."
Ace began to feel warm under his fur. He knew that Mrs. Brisby was talking to the crow, but now he couldn't help but wonder if she thought that he and Lexi were…well, together. He decided to shake it off and focus on giving orders to his team so that they could get the string undone.
"And Duck, remember, no you-know-whats from yer hands," Ace reminded Duck in a singsong tone.
Duck huffed at that. He knew that Zooky had told them not to use certain powers unless it was an absolute emergency, but using his Power Eggs would make this job go by so much faster! But then again, there was Mrs. Brisby and that stupid crow…if they saw…
Urgh, I hate it when sthomebody elsthe isth right, Duck growled in his thoughts. Maybe if I only power up a little bit…the heat from the Eggsth might burn through the sthtring.
"Well, not really, I mean…I haven't found Miss Right yet, but when I do-" The crow then stood up, making the string tighten and pulling some of the adventure group off their feet, and began to sing, "The whole world will hear us singing…" and then tilted backwards and fell off the log, and landed in the water below with a loud splash.
Those who had been lucky not to get knocked over or had recovered quicker helped the others to their feet just as the crow, now dripping wet, pulled himself back up.
"Excuse me, pardon me," the crow excused himself.
"Don't look now," Duck whispered to Ace, "but I think thisth bird-brain is one pancake sthtack short of a breakfas-th-t platter."
"Duck," Ace growled in a reprimanding tone.
"Well, you keep making all that noise and Dragon will hear you," Mrs. Brisby warned the crow. "If he hasn't already."
Slam muttered something in his native language.
'You're right, Slam,' Calamity agreed. 'Let's hope he hasn't.'
"Wouldn't you sing too?" the crow asked as he shook himself to dry off. "I mean, if you felt…(he laughed a bit)…If you felt the call of the wild?" he asked, grabbing two parts of the string and chuckling some more.
If anybody was looking, they would've seen some of the male members of the adventure group smile in embarrassment and almost have a tinge of blush appear on their faces; they had a feeling they knew what the crow meant when he said "the call of the wild".
"I would-I would not, if I knew there was a cat nearby," Mrs. Brisby said, lowering her voice as she bit down on a part of the string.
"Coitainly not," Ace agreed, still blushing a bit under his fur, as he used a hand to hide his Laser Vision as he cut a piece of string.
"But…But she's out there…somewhere," the crow said, standing up so that Mrs. Brisby and Tech could get by. "And when I find her, I'll feel it; way down in my wishbone. I-What cat?" he then asked, the sentence Mrs. Brisby said finally sinking in.
"The cat, Dragon! Hel-lo?!" Duck yelled rudely, thoroughly annoyed with the crow now. "How many timesth we gotta tell ya before it sthinksth in?!"
"Not helping here!" Lexi called in a singsong voice to the irritated mallard.
"But he is correct," Tech pointed out. "In the cat being Dragon, that is," he clarified before using his teeth to cut string piece he had been holding.
"He belongs to Farmer Fitzgibbons," Mrs. Brisby said. "Look towards the house. See if you can see him."
The crow spread his wings and flew up to the top of the branch, dragging Mrs. Brisby, Lexi, Duck, and Tech with him. The latter four were left hanging on to or tied in the string at various levels of the branch; Lexi was closest to the top hanging on her side, Duck was in the middle upside down, and Tech was just above Mrs. Brisby, looking like a tangled marionette. The field mouse herself was swinging at the bottom of the string at the bottom of the branch.
"C-(gasp)-ome back down here!" Mrs. Brisby gasped. "He'll see you for sure up there!"
"Tech!"/'Tech!' Rev and Calamity cried out in alarm for their friend and brother figure.
"I'm OK! I'm OK!" Tech called to them. "Lemme just-YAH!" he yelped as he felt himself fall a bit while trying to get himself out. "Oh, brother!" he groaned.
"Uh-oh," Lexi whimpered, her super ears picking up something.
"Uhm, Lex? I don't like da sound o' dat "uh-oh"," Ace said nervously.
"Hey, there's a cat out there!" the crow noticed loudly.
"Quiet!" Mrs. Brisby called in a hushed tone.
"Cat?" Slam growled.
'Dragon,' Calamity said in fear.
"Can he see ya?" Ace asked the crow.
"No," the crow replied. "Yes," he answered again with a scared, wheezing chuckle.
"Stand perfectly still," Mrs. Brisby instructed.
"Everything's fine. He's headed right for us," the crow whimpered, seeing the cat leap out of the grass.
"Cat? Coming? For usth? Oh, no. We're doomed. Doomed!" Duck cried out, going into one of his hysterics.
"Duck! Quiet!" Lexi and Tech ordered.
"Nobody panic!" Mrs. Brisby said. "Fast or slow?" she then asked the crow.
"Medium," the crow answered.
"Uh, sounds fast, actually," Lexi corrected nervously.
"Yeah, what the lady bunny in the clothes said; fast," the crow said. "Very fast-I have to go now! Excuse me! I really-!" the crow then panicked and tried to fly off, but he only got more entangled in the string and ended up pulling Lexi down, dropping Duck on his head, getting Tech more trapped and now getting Mrs. Brisby entangled, resulting in the latter two being pulled around and then hanging upside down by their feet.
"Will you cut it out?!" Duck shouted, rubbing his sore head. "Sthomebody'sth liable to get hurt here! Namely, me!"
"Hang on, Lexi; I gotcha!" Ace called before freeing his friend and teammate from the string and scrambling to get out of the panicking crow's way.
Finally, the crow started pulling on the string with all his might, still panic-laughing and wheezing.
"Break!" the crow yelled.
Slam jumped up and bit the part of the string the crow was straining against, sending the crow tumbling backwards and almost falling off the log again and freeing Mrs. Brisby and Tech, whom Rev caught.
The group of eight made their way over to where the crow was just as he pulled himself up and peeked down over the edge, the group doing the same.
"Something's in the log," Lexi whispered.
"Oh my goodness," the crow whimpered.
"Here it comes!" Ace warned, seeing a hopping, fast-moving shape get closer and closer.
The crow screamed and tried to take off again-making everybody duck-but was stopped short by the string. He fell back down and ended up swinging in front of the entrance to the log, just barely missing a rabbit that hopped out of it. Seeing this, the crow began to laugh boisterously, realizing that he had worried himself over nothing.
"What in da name of Freleng-?" Ace started to ask, only to begin laughing as well.
"A rabbit!" Lexi gasped in surprise. "I don't believe it!" she started to laugh.
"Wait, stho-ha-ha-what we thought was-was-wasth-hee-ha-ha-a cat-ha-ha-ha-wasth actually a-a-AAH! HA-HA-HA-HAAH!" Duck managed to say before laughing as loud as the crow.
Tech barely managed to express his slight embarrassment before he ended up joining in the laughing along with the others.
"Well of all the silly nincompoops!" Mrs. Brisby laughed to the crow. "You got yourself all worked up over a rabbit!"
"Well-ha-hee-well, he wasn't the-ha-ha-ooh-only one, mah-ma'am," Ace said through his laughter as Mrs. Brisby bit through the string that was holding up the crow, making him fall to the bottom of the log.
"You should've seen yourselves!" the crow then laughed, as if to prove Ace's point.
"Will you keep quiet?" Mrs. Brisby then asked.
Slowly realizing that they weren't out of trouble yet, the adventure group gradually stopped laughing. All except for Duck, who was still laughing loudly with the crow.
"Uh, Duck?" Ace asked the still-laughing anthro duck.
"I can't-I can't believe it!" Duck continued laughing. "You-You're a rabbit, and-and-and you got…you got…sth-sthcared by a-by a-AAH! HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAH! HOO-HOO-HOO HOOOO!"
"Yeah, a rabbit scared by a rabbit; very amusin'. Joke's over now, Duck. C'mon now, we still got woik to do," Ace reminded his comrade. "Gettin' Mrs. B back home? De medicine?"
Duck finally and gradually, stopped laughing. However, the crow was a different story.
"You were scared stiff!" he continued, flying back up. "A rabbit! And those two are-!" he said, pointing to Ace and Lexi, before letting out another laugh.
"That'sth what I sthaid!" Duck exclaimed.
"I knew it all along!" the crow said. "I knew it was a rabbit!"
"Oh, sure ya did," Ace smirked, his tone sarcastic.
While the group carried on the conversation and recovered from their scare, unbeknownst to them, there was a cat coming through the log. Nobody noticed, except for Lexi, who started hearing heavy footsteps and breathing over the crow's laughing, and Calamity, who began picking up predatory thoughts coming from below.
"Will you hush up?" Mrs. Brisby asked.
"Admit it! You guys were scared!" the crow teased the group of eight.
"Oh fiddlesticks. Hold still," Mrs. Brisby told the crow.
"If I had actually been near a cat, I'd be sneezing my brains out," the crow told them. "See, I'm allergic to ca-ah…I'm allergic to ca-aaaay…I'm allergic to-" he breathed, suddenly unable to finish. He then let out a sneeze.
"Sheesh, isth thisth guy allergic to the word, too?" Duck asked sarcastically.
Tech scoffed. "That's ridiculous, Duck! There's no evidence of being able to become allergic to a…to a…to-What the?" the older coyote asked in confusion as he suddenly felt an itch in his nose.
Calamity suddenly started sniffing, feeling his nose get itchy, too.
"Uh, you guys OK?" Rev asked the coyotes.
"Oh, great! Don't tell me thesthe guys are allergic to the word 'cat'!" Duck groaned.
"I am NOT!"/'I am NOT!' Tech and Calamity yelled at Duck.
"Duck, we've been through this before," Tech said while still scratching his nose. "I'm not allergic. It's just the canid genes in me; they make my nose act up when there's a cat in close proximity."
"You mean like…right now?" Lexi asked in a very scared voice, looking behind everyone.
"Well, yeah, but it's strange, I don't-What?" Tech asked suddenly, starting to catch on.
"What?" Rev parroted.
"Wha-AH-OOH! Aah…umm…umm…" Duck started to panic, now seeing what Lexi was seeing.
The crow, not noticing, let out another sneeze, this time, into Dragon's face.
"AH-CHOO!" he sneezed. "Excuse me. Pardon me," he said nervously, finding himself in the murderous cat's face.
"Uh, wait, don't tell me; that's-" Ace began nervously.
"DRAGON!" Lexi and Mrs. Brisby screamed.
"I asked ya not to tell me that!" Ace yelled rhetorically as Dragon practically roared in the crow's face.
The crow screamed, trying to fly off once more, but was again stopped by the string, as the rest of the group-except for Slam-ran away from the giant feline. As Dragon came up, he grabbed the string still holding the crow down. As Mrs. Brisby and Rev bit and pecked, respectively, at that piece of string, Slam jumped up and gave the cat an uppercut, stunning the latter and Mrs. Brisby.
"Oh my goodness…!" the widowed field mouse exclaimed in awe.
"Yeah, it's a long story," Ace told her, him and the others temporarily coming out of hiding.
Dragon shook it off and roared like his namesake, now madder than ever. Slam steadied himself, ready to dish out more.
"Looks like Slam's ready to sock it to him," Lexi commented.
"Oh! Oh, no! No, Ace; he'll be killed!" Mrs. Brisby begged the gray anthro rabbit.
"Chief, we do need to consider the rules," Tech reminded. "And right now, they're saying we're rather ill-equipped for this!" he added in a panic as Dragon began coming toward them.
"Slam! Abort! Abort! Get outta dere!" Ace called. "Everybody else, move! Move!" he urged.
Heeding his leader's order, Slam retreated, then ended up going back the way he came when Dragon leaped at them. Mrs. Brisby and the adventure group tripped over a string piece and bumped into each other, making the former accidentally let go of the envelope containing Timothy's medicine and sending Duck into the water.
"The medicine!" Mrs. Brisby cried out.
"Down!" Ace yelled.
The remaining seven of them jumped down to the bottom of the log, then had to jump into the river when Dragon followed them.
Despite having gone to swimming club a few times at Acme Loo, Calamity found himself floundering in the water. Luckily, Tech grabbed his hand and helped him along. Likewise, Rev was having some problems, but he somehow managed. And a good thing, too, as Dragon nearly snapped them all up.
They all surfaced to get a breath and still found themselves at the mercy of Dragon, who pretty much didn't care that most of his victims were not actually small animals. In his predatory mind, they were all fair game.
The crow flew in behind Dragon and pulled on his tail as a distraction, and it worked, giving the group of seven time to get out of the way.
The remaining Loonatics couldn't remember the last time they were all so afraid, so useless (well, actually, they could remember, but that's not important). But, then again, none of the adversaries they ever faced were quite so vicious and wild, nor were they the size of the Royal Tweetums.
After practically pulling some hair off of Dragon's tail, the crow flew towards the group and called out, "The string! Quick, grab the string!"
They obeyed in the nick of time and were dragged upward into a tree until Rev and Slam, who were at the bottom of the string, hit a branch, the impact jarring the string and making everybody lose their grip. Rev didn't have time to complain about anything that might have been crushed by having Slam press up behind him because Dragon started climbing the tree, still in hot pursuit.
Despite not having the natural or artificial means to climb a tree, the six newcomers kept pace with Mrs. Brisby as best they could, all while avoiding Dragon. They soon found themselves literally out on a limb, and Dragon was still coming.
Meanwhile, down in the river, Duck finally managed to surface.
"Oh! Finally!" Duck gasped dramatically after spitting some water out. "Man, I thought I would never get out of thisth!"
He climbed up onto a nearby rock and coughed some more. Once he felt that he had sufficiently recovered-despite being soaked to the bone-he stood up to see where he and the others were.
"Now to-" He looked around to find that he was alone. "Hey, where'd everybody go? And where'sth that cat? Cat?! Are you kidding me?! That thing'sth a monsth-Toompf!" Duck exclaimed as a slightly soaked envelope came into contact with his face.
Duck pulled the paper container off and examined it.
"Thisth looksth familiar…" he mulled.
At that moment, a scream sounded off. Duck spun around to find the source, then, once he slipped the envelope into his jean jacket, ended up going for another swim towards a higher rock. This time, his line of sight gave him view of a tree near a waterfall and a mill. It was far, but Duck didn't need super vision to see the giant cat climbing it or a genius brain to figure out that that was where everyone else was.
Another scream sounded off as the cat started going on the outstretched tree limb.
"Lex-th-i," Duck gasped, recognizing the scream. "Hang on, guysth! I'm coming!" he called.
Duck tapped into his Quantum Quack, visualized where he wanted to go, and disappeared in a flash.
Lexi screamed again as Dragon got closer. Ace held her tightly. This was not looking good.
Suddenly, there was a strange sound like a screech and a flash of light, and guess who appeared?
"Duck!"/'Duck!' the Loonatics and Calamity exclaimed.
"Duck, yer're alive!" Ace said.
"Wasth there any doubt?" Duck asked rhetorically, trying to look heroic.
"LOOK OUT!" Rev hollered.
Dragon roared and Duck's heroic demeanor dropped. The cat was now licking its lips, ready to pounce.
Tech looked behind and over Mrs. Brisby to see the waterfall, then glanced toward the mill. It was risky, but there was only one chance of escape.
"Chief, this is gonna sound crazy…" Tech started to say.
"DO IT!" Ace yelled.
Dragon sprang.
"JUUUUMP!" Tech howled, taking Calamity and Rev's hands and doing so, everybody else following a near second before Dragon landed.
Due to the cat's weight, the end of the branch broke, sending the half-blind feline into the water. Deciding that he had had enough, the cat swam away, leaving his prey alive to live another day.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Brisby and the adventure group swam against the current of the falls, grabbed onto a water wheel, and let it carry them to a hole in the wall of the mill, where they entered. Mrs. Brisby moved on a ways, while the reunited adventure group decided to lay down and get their breath back.
"Well," Ace began after a moment. "That was…um…what's da woird I'm lookin' for?" he asked while wringing his shirt out.
"If you're referring to the swim, it was…refreshing," Lexi remarked sarcastically while squeezing her hair to dry it out. "If you're referring to everything else we went through, well, it was…"
"More fun that I never want to have again," Duck finished sharply, starting to take his shoes off.
"Eh…I'll take it," Ace shrugged. "Where were you anyway, Duck?" he asked.
Duck huffed before replying, "Where elsthe; sthwimming like a duck in water. Uh, by the way," he added, something occurring to him, "did Missthusth B sthee me…?" he asked, nervously wondering if Mrs. Brisby had seen him appear.
"Nah, she was behind me and Rev," Tech told Duck. "Might've heard ya, but she didn't see a thing. You OK?" Tech then asked Calamity as the young, psychic coyote squeezed his tail of water like a towel.
'I'm OK,' Calamity started before sitting down and taking off his shoes. 'Except now I've got river water in my shoes,' he finished as a stream of water poured out of a shoe that Calamity was currently holding upside down.
"Well, you ain't the only one," Tech chuckled, pouring water out of his own boots.
"Yeah, I'm pretty soaked myself," Rev said, carefully wringing out the plumage on his head.
"Are you kiddin'?" Duck scoffed, hitting his head in an attempt to get rid of any water in his ears. "I've probably got water in placesth I didn't even know I had!"
Suddenly, everybody was hit with a shower, revealed to be from Slam shaking himself dry.
"Are you kidding me?" Lexi groaned.
Duck growled as he got wet again.
"Slam!" most of the group groaned.
"Watch it wit' da water, please? I've already had a bath," Ace said to Slam.
"Oops. Sahree," Slam apologized sheepishly.
"It's OK, big guy," Ace assured the anthro Tasmanian devil. "Just be careful next time."
Rev was just about to do another round of wringing out when yet another shower hit him, this time from Tech shaking himself like a dog. (A/N: No offense, Tech.)
"Hey! Will you-?! Quit it!" Rev yelled.
Tech stopped as soon as he felt as dry as he could get, and saw what he did.
"Uh, whoops. Sorry, Rev," Tech smiled in embarrassment.
"I can't believe this!" Rev grumbled. "Drenched again!"
"I didn't mean to!" Tech said.
"Man! Now-I'm-gonna-be-soggy-for-the-rest-of-the-day,-thank-you-very-much!" Rev continued, his voice picking up speed again.
"Geez! I said I was sorry!" Tech argued, trying to get a word in.
Ace and Lexi couldn't help but laugh at this impromptu comedy-duo moment.
"Well, at least Cal has the decency to dry himself off at a distance!" Rev said once he stopped for a breath and slowed his voice down, pointing a thumb back at the named coyote, who had just about finished.
"I don't suppose anybody has a towel to make this go faster?" Lexi asked.
Calamity shrugged his shoulders as he came back over and began putting his shoes back on.
'I'm afraid not,' Calamity admitted. 'And even if I had put anything in my hammerspace to bring…well…look.' He then put his hand behind his back like he was going to bring something out from behind like the cartoon character he was, only…
"Hey, what'sth the gag here?" Duck asked. "All I sthee isth your hand sthticking out from behind your back."
'Before our run-in with the crow and Dragon, I tried reaching into my hammerspace, just to experiment,' Calamity explained. 'But…It's like my hammerspace isn't working. Or it's not there.'
"Zooky did warn us dat da rules of this woirld were a bit different," Ace pointed out. "I guess cartoon physics don't woik here."
A look of panic came over Calamity. 'But…if this world has its rules based in Real World physics…then…I can really…We could…'
"Whoa, Cal, breathe. Breathe," Tech soothed. "I know it's pretty scary. Believe me, there was a mission we went on once where we lost our superpowers; I had even lost my Molecular Regeneration ability. But I still had my genius," he continued, smiling. "And so do you, along with those powers of the mind you got. If those still work, then you can use 'em."
"Yeah, Tech's right," Rev added, putting a comforting hand on the young coyote's shoulder. "When I lost my super speed on that very mission, I…honestly…felt…pretty useless," he admitted. "But I still had some skills goin' for me that couldn't be taken away that easy," he added in an upbeat tone. "You got some skills too. When all else fails, use 'em!"
"'Sides, even if what we learned in Toontown doesn't work here, we've still got our powers and our natural skills; we'll be just fine," Ace put in.
'Thanks, guys,' Calamity smiled, feeling a bit better.
"Now, speaking of bringin' t'ings…" Ace trailed, getting the feeling he was forgetting something very important. He turned his head and then asked, "Where's Mrs. Brisby?"
"Maybe she went on ahead of us," Lexi suggested. "I saw her in front of us on the waterwheel."
'She is here,' Calamity said, having stretched out his telepathy to find her.
There were sighs of relief.
'She's so sad,' the psychic coyote added, frowning.
"Sad?" Slam asked in concern.
"C'mon, let's find her," Ace told the group.
After walking farther in, they found Mrs. Brisby on a rusted pulley, crying into her cape. The feeling that they had forgotten something came back to Ace in double. Then, he remembered.
"When we bumped into each other," Ace said to himself, "I t'ink I hoid Mrs. B say somethin' about-" He gasped and began checking his pockets. "Guys!" Ace exclaimed. "Check yer pockets! I-I t'ink Mrs. B dropped the medicine for Timmy in da confusion! Maybe one of us picked it up?"
'I'm afraid I don't have any pockets to search,' Calamity said truthfully. 'No hammerspace,' he reminded, saying that last sentence only to the adventure group.
"Sorry Ace," Lexi said apologetically. "No go."
"Nope," Tech reported, shaking his head.
"Ergh…Me neither," Rev groaned. "And I'm the one with the fast reflexes; I should've been able to grab it."
A search of his own pockets equaled nothing for Ace.
"Hey, Miss Mouse," came the familiar voice of the crow, startling everyone except Mrs. Brisby, who continued to cry. "Don't worry, (chuckle), I'm OK," he said before whistling cheerfully to prove his point. He then flew over. "See? I'm all right."
"That's not the reason I'm crying," Mrs. Brisby told him. "I lost Timmy's medicine."
"I'm real sorry," Ace sighed, feeling like he let her down.
Slam began checking his own pockets.
Duck swallowed a lump in his throat as another feeling came to him, one he hadn't felt for a while: guilt. He was feeling really bad for Mrs. Brisby, and it was affecting him; it was almost like he was seeing his own mother cry, even though he never knew his own mother.
"Aw, don't cry. I hate to see a woman cry," the crow said softly. Then, in an attempt to cheer everybody up, he smiled and said, "Hey, was I great or was I great? And you, you big guy, you were great, too," he added, referring to Slam. "When you…you punched him in the kisser? Hoo! And did you see that cat out there, all drippin'…and…and wet…with water…?" he trailed off, seeing that this wasn't working.
"I'll go back to Mr. Ages t-tomorrow," Mrs. Brisby said sadly.
"Please tell me one of youse guys…?" Ace begged, hoping that somebody actually grabbed the medicine.
Slam shook his head slowly, his own search turning up empty.
"D'o-o-o-oh," Ace groaned. "Why couldn't somebody have grabbed da envelope?"
Duck perked up, suddenly remembering something he had stowed away in his jacket.
"Envelope? You mean thisth?" Duck asked, withdrawing it from a pocket in his jean jacket. "It'sth a little wet, but-You know, thisth thing hit me in the face when I got out of the drink; didn't know where it came from…"
Mrs. Brisby gasped happily. "That's it! Timmy's medicine!" she exclaimed in joy, taking the envelope.
"It isth? I mean, when it hit me in the facthe, I thought, 'Thisth looksth familiar-'" Duck began, but was cut off when Mrs. Brisby hugged him in gratitude.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" she told the surprised anthro duck.
Duck didn't know what to say at first; it was like when she hugged him, his brain became discombobulated. So many emotions started running through his mind at once, it surprised Calamity for a second. But soon the surprise drained away and he was left with this…rather warm feeling he couldn't quite identify. Was this what it felt like when you got hugged by your mother?
"Um…you're…you're welcome," Duck finally said, gently patting Mrs. Brisby's back.
"Wow," Lexi whispered in amazement.
"Way to go, Duck," Ace praised, though still surprised.
"Yeah, way to go there, Duck," the crow said. "Y'know, I prob'ly could've picked it up myself, but… My name is Jeremy," the crow introduced himself.
"I'm Mrs. Brisby," the field mouse told Jeremy. "And these are my friends. You already know Duck," she said as the anthro mallard, actually showing courtesy for once, helped her down.
"Hello," Duck greeted.
"Hiya," Jeremy said back.
"And this is Tech, Calamity, and Rev," she continued to list, pointing to the coyotes and the roadrunner.
"Hi there, fellas," Jeremy said.
"Ace and Lexi," she introduced the two anthro rabbits to Jeremy, who said hello. "And this is Slam," she finished. "He's a…Tas…manian…devil?" she enunciated, looking to Slam, who nodded in confirmation.
"Oh, that's nice, I should've known-A what?" Jeremy asked, suddenly nervous.
"A Tasmanian devil," Mrs. Brisby repeated.
"Uh…huh…" Jeremy nodded slowly, not knowing exactly what a Tasmanian devil was. He then looked toward Tech, Calamity, and Rev. "And they are…?" he asked.
"Oh, Rev's a roadrunner, and Tech and Calamity are coyotes," she answered calmly. "Oh, thank you for your help," she added as she and the group began to leave. "I have to go home now."
"A Tas…man…ian de…vil, a roadrunner,…and two coyotes-What's a coyote?" Jeremy mumbled to himself. "Uh, wait-" Jeremy started to say, but found that the group had gone on ahead already, so he flew after them to the top of a lobster trap. "Uh, where's home?" he asked.
"In the garden patch, by the stone," Mrs. Brisby answered, pulling on some rope.
'May I hold that?' Calamity asked Mrs. Brisby about the envelope with Timmy's medicine.
"Oh, yes you may. Thank you, Calamity," Mrs. Brisby said in a motherly way, giving him the medicine before pulling on the rope some more.
"Well, uh…you like me?" Jeremy asked as Slam slid down the rope first to hold it steady at the bottom.
"Of course we like you! Bye now," Mrs. Brisby said as she began to slide down the rope into the lobster trap, with Calamity on Tech, then Rev, Duck, Lexi, and Ace following in that order.
"No, I mean…I mean, um…I mean, you guys don't think I'm clumsy or anything?" Jeremy asked before grabbing the rope and falling with a "WAH!" into the trap, the impact kicking up dust and getting Jeremy tangled in some nets.
"Oh…Sorry. Excuse me, pardon me," Jeremy apologized, hearing coughing besides his own.
"Not…exactly graceful…are ya?" Lexi asked rhetorically between coughs.
The dust irritated Calamity's nose so bad that he sneezed aloud, despite his undeveloped vocal chords.
"Oh dear," Mrs. Brisby gasped upon hearing that.
"Whoa, bless you, Cal," Ace told the young coyote still on Tech's shoulders.
"Yeah, real sorry 'bout that, kid," Jeremy apologized again.
'Thanks,' Calamity said before sneezing two more times and then handing Timmy's medicine back to Mrs. Brisby.
"Oh, bless you, dear," Mrs. Brisby said, taking the envelope back. She then told Jeremy, "Well, if you're going to feather a nest, you've got a lot to learn about how to treat a lady."
"Right. When you're right, you're right. And you're right. None of the girls I meet wanna get serious," Jeremy said while trying to disentangle himself from the nets.
"I doubt they'd survive," Lexi rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"Huh?" Jeremy asked, not hearing what Lexi said. "Maybe it's my approach," he thought as he kept trying to get loose. Then, getting an idea, he turned to the group and said to Mrs. Brisby, "Say, you were a girl once! And you, uh, Lexi, you're one! Maybe you two could teach me how to…you know…how to-?"
"Behave yourself?" Mrs. Brisby suggested as she followed the adventure group out of the lobster trap.
"I'm not that bad," Jeremy protested, following her out with one leg still tied in the netting. "I just need a few pointers to polish my style," he said, striking a pose before falling flat on his front.
Duck, Calamity, Tech, Rev and Lexi couldn't help but giggle slightly at the crow's antics.
"Sheesh, even Duck's not that bad," Lexi said to the boys.
"I am not!" Duck protested. He then paused. "Well, at leastht he makesth it look funny," he admitted.
Lexi and the other boys with her almost couldn't believe what they were hearing; what was going on with Duck all of a sudden?
"Eh, no offense to ya, Jerr, but we have got to get Mrs. Brisby home," Ace told the clumsy crow. "We're burnin' daylight here."
"Oh boy, Ace, you're right!" Rev exclaimed, turning to follow.
"Not to complain again, but: Oh MAN!" Duck moaned.
"Don't worry, my home's not far now," Mrs. Brisby assured Duck, making him feel better.
"Well, l-let me-What-?! Ah!" Jeremy exclaimed as he worked on the netting around his ankle. "Let me fly you guys home! We can talk on the way!" he suggested, hopping on his free foot.
"Oh, no thank you," Mrs. Brisby replied. "I'm afraid of heights."
The adventure group cringed in embarrassment, having gone through all those falls during the chase with Dragon and not knowing that piece of information.
Noticing this, she assured them, "Oh, it's OK. You were all just trying to protect me, and I thank you for that."
"Well, you're very welcome Mrs. B," Ace said in a genteel manner.
"OK, then we'll walk," said Jeremy, following them out of the mill and still struggling with the piece of net around his ankle.
"Bye now," Mrs. Brisby told the crow. "Now, follow me and be careful," she told the seven newcomers.
They then followed her across the millpond, hopping on the lily-pads as she did. Slam's weight made them sink a little, but he made it across. Tech crossed over with Calamity on his shoulders no problem. Lexi hopped across the water plants and couldn't resist doing a cheerleading flip off the last one.
"Oh! My goodness, you're very graceful, Lexi," Mrs. Brisby gasped, amazed.
"Thank you, Mrs. Brisby," Lexi smiled, doing a bow.
The familiar sound of Jeremy wheezing and laughing nervously soon reached their ears as he followed them, falling into the water a few times as the lily-pads couldn't hold his full weight.
The reaction from the adventure group to this was pretty much the same all around: "Oh bro-ther!"
"I think I got real potential. I mean, girls go for the athletic type, don't they?" Jeremy asked eagerly.
"Jeremy, you're stepping on my tail," Mrs. Brisby complained.
"OH! Oh! Yeah!" Jeremy chuckled a bit before apologizing once again, "Excuse me, pardon me."
"I thought thisth trip wasth unbearable before," Duck was saying to Ace. "Now I really can't take it anymore!" he exclaimed as soft as he could, not wanting a certain crow to hear.
"I hate to admit it, Duck, but yer're right," Ace admitted. "But we can't cut out now; we promised da lady we'd help her home."
"How many children do you have besides Timmy, Mrs. Brisby?" Lexi asked the female mouse.
"There's three others," Mrs. Brisby replied. "Teresa, Martin, and Cynthia," she listed. "They're darlings, but they can be a pawful," she chuckled. "What about you?"
Lexi started a little before she replied the best she could, "Well, I…didn't have any siblings…I was an only child."
"Oh?" Mrs. Brisby asked, a little concerned about what Lexi said.
"Eh, me neither," Ace answered when Mrs. Brisby looked at him.
"Nope," Duck answered a little too quickly.
"Ah…" Slam said before holding up three fingers.
"Oh, you're one of four siblings?" Mrs. Brisby asked.
Slam nodded in reply.
"Are they older or younger?"
"Young," Slam answered.
"Then you're the young man of the house, aren't you?" Mrs. Brisby grinned. "My Martin's been a bit like that, ever since Jonathan was killed."
Now it was the coyotes' and the roadrunner's turn.
"I…had a younger brother; Rip," Rev replied slowly.
"Two brothers; one older, one younger," Tech said. "I guess…you can say I'm the middle child of the family," he added bashfully.
"Oh, it's all right," Mrs. Brisby said. "It was like that for Martin before Cynthia came along. Um…" she began, wondering if what she wanted to ask was a good idea. "What happened to them?"
There was a slight wince from Tech and Rev. They had never told anybody about what happened to Tech's younger brother, except Zooky.
"I'm sorry," Mrs. Brisby said softly, fearing that she had pried in where she wasn't wanted.
Now everybody was looking worriedly at them.
You don't have to if you don't wanna, Rev said silently to Tech.
I don't know… Tech looked unsure.
Well, just give them the general details, nothing specific, Rev suggested.
Tech sighed and decided to go along with that idea.
"Well, my older brother…he left home to make a life for himself," Tech began. "We've stayed in contact for a while." Now came the hard part. "My younger brother…he…he was…killed in an accident. I was still pretty young at the time."
Mrs. Brisby gasped. The other Loonatics, other than Rev, and Calamity, felt bad for their friend. Even Jeremy was stunned silent.
"Wow…" Jeremy finally said. "That's…That's…I'm real sorry."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Mrs. Brisby said in a hushed tone.
Likewise, he received condolences from his friends, even Duck.
'I don't have any siblings,' Calamity said. 'But then Tech came along and I got myself a big brother!' he then beamed, giving Tech a hug.
Tech chuckled, glad for the cheering-up.
"Make that two, kiddo," Rev added playfully, ruffling the fur on Calamity's head.
"Yeah, we kinda consider ourselves a little bit like a family," Ace explained to Mrs. Brisby.
"So I see," Mrs. Brisby chuckled a little.
"Are your kids by themselves at the moment?" Lexi asked.
"Yes, but they have a babysitter coming," Mrs. Brisby replied.
"Hey, I've got an idea," Rev said. "How about if some of us go on ahead and keep an eye on the kids until this babysitter arrives?"
"That'sth an exc-th-ellent idea!" Duck piped up. "And it'll get me away from ol' Mr. 'Excusthe-Me-Pardon-Me' over there," he added to Ace.
"Ya know, dat is an excellent idea," Ace agreed, knowing that Duck probably wouldn't last another minute around Jeremy. "Say, Rev? Why don't ya take Duck with ya?"
"I think Calamity and I better go too, Chief," Tech volunteered. "It's getting real late and I'd like to get Calamity into a bed as soon as possible."
"Agreed," Ace nodded. "Is dere a shortcut to dat stone near yer house, Mrs. B?" he asked.
"Well, there's another path not too far from here that leads in the same direction," she answered, pointing past some grass.
"Well, I could take ya," Jeremy volunteered, almost falling over again.
"Uh…thanks, Jeremy, but…I think I can handle it," Rev told the crow. "C'mon guys," he beckoned those going with him.
"See you there, guys," Lexi called as the four of them split off.
Once sufficiently out of sight, Tech signaled Rev. The roadrunner then took Tech and Duck's hands and began to tap into his Sonic Speed and Global Positioning. Calamity got himself into a better position on Tech so that he wouldn't fly off. Once everybody was all set-and Duck mumbled some prayers-they took off.
"They'll be OK, Mrs. B," Ace was assuring the widowed mouse.
"Well, I-" Mrs. Brisby was about to say.
WHOOOOOOOSHHHHH!
"Whoa!" Jeremy yelped, flapping his wings.
"Oh, Heavens!" Mrs. Brisby gasped. "What on Earth was that?!"
"Maybe another field creature?" Ace suggested.
Ace didn't want to lie to her, but this wasn't exactly the best time for questions to get asked.
"I don't know," Mrs. Brisby said, tightly holding her precious package.
"I don't know, either," said Jeremy. "But whatever it was, it was fast. Really fast. I mean, I'm talkin' fast like the wind here! Maybe as fast as that cat! Maybe faster!"
"Um, Jeremy, bye now," Lexi waved as the remaining group started walking on.
"Uh, hey! Wait-Wait a minute!" Jeremy called out as he hopped to catch up.
"Is it too late to catch the Rev Express?" Lexi grumbled.
"Don't worry, he's bound to get tired and go home at some point," Ace told her. I hope Duck and the others are having better luck at the Brisby household than we are with Jeremy, he hoped in thought.
And…done! Whew, was that exciting or what? So, our adventurers and Mrs. Brisby meet Jeremy, who pretty much drives Duck a bit crazy throughout this chapter. That duck certainly has no problem speaking his mind, though, does he?
We also have some of the Loonatics using their powers (although discreetly) for the first time since they got here: Rev using his Global Positioning and later his Sonic Speed, Lexi using her Super Hearing, Ace using his Laser Vision, Duck uses his "Power Eggs" and his Quantum Quack, and Slam uses his Superhuman Strength. This has certainly raised some questions, but those are going to have to wait until later.
I have to say there are plenty of funny moments here, mostly courtesy of Jeremy (and possibly Duck), but I think you'll agree the sight of Lexi, Duck, and Tech all tangled in the string, the fact that everyone had gotten spooked by a rabbit (and Ace and Lexi are rabbits, go figure), and the moments where everyone's trying to dry off but they soaked by Slam, followed by Rev getting soaked by Tech, were pretty funny. And yes, I actually referenced John Smith's line from Disney's "Pocahontas" when he's wringing out Thomas' hat after they're brought back aboard ship: "Well, that was refreshing". And there's a reference to "Finding Dory" as well; kudos to you if you can guess what it is. Hope you liked that Easter Eggs. Oh, and, uh, near the end there; Rev, I think your Yakko is showing. ;)
Now, to get on some serious stuff. Duck's been given some character development here. Ever since "Loonatics Unleashed" surprised me with the fact that Danger Duck is an orphan, that's certainly opened up a lot of possibilities on how a lot of his traits might have come about. Plus, I've also read a few Danger Duck-centric fanfics, so that's helped me a bit. Since he's an orphan, that's also why he answers "no" to Mrs. Brisby's question regarding if any of the Loonatics have siblings. We also learn that the rabbits didn't have any, Slam's the oldest out of four, Rev's the oldest of two, and Tech's a middle child. However, it is learned that Tech's younger brother died in an accident while Tech was still a kid, something Rev and Calamity apparently knew about already. Also note that everyone's answers are in the past tense; why do you think that is so? And what do you think was the last time the Loonatics felt helpless?
Also, it appears Toon physics don't carry over into this world, as Calamity found out, which means, aside from his psychic abilities, he's extremely vulnerable. And much later, you'll see just how affected by this world's physics our adventure group really is. And it's true; there was an episode in "Loonatics Unleashed" where Acmetropolis' Finest actually lost their powers, it's called "Sypher". Be sure to also check out the episodes "The Heir Up There", "The Fall of Blanc Parts I & II", and "Family Business" to learn more about the Royal Tweetums and Rev's younger brother Rip.
Also, Ace's reference to "Freleng" is a callback to the Planet Freleng from "Loonatics Unleashed", which is in turn named after Friz Freleng, who was one of many directors at Warner Bros responsible for creating some of the Looney Tunes we know and love today.
Oh, and I know what you're thinking: "Why not have Rev take Mrs. Brisby back to her home as well?" Well, for one thing, Rev can only carry so many passengers at one time. And second, it would throw off what happens in the next chapter.
Speaking of which, next time, Rev, Duck, Tech, and Calamity arrive at the Brisby household and some more character development occurs (done in an OK fashion, I hope).
Anyway, until then, as always, please read and review. Thank you.
