On top of a gray mountain that was made of wood and paper coverings in the middle of an asteroid (or, at least, what was supposed to be an asteroid) stood a man. He wore a cheap, form-fitting yellow outfit that had bits of even cheaper red plastic glued on. The slight beer-powered belly he was working on stood out proudly and the blood-shot eyes were covered by the red-tinted goggles he wore. A very cheesy, almost lame-beyond-belief pose was struck by the man, his laser pistol held heroically in one hand as the other one made a fist that rose into the air. He turned toward the viewer and said his famous speech that he gave after defeating every villain.

"Now that the vicious villain has been vanquished, I must return to patrolling the galaxy. For I am Captain Constellation, protector of all things good and decent. All evildoers in the galaxy beware, for I shall always be there to shield the innocent and right wrongs!"

"Rockets are GO!"

Five voices shouted the famous phrase as the captain did what was supposed to look like flying into space with rocket boots, but was a poorly-edited scene of him being lifted by wires up past the camera's range. However, this went unnoticed by the owners of the four voices that had joined in yelling his catchphrase. The excited fanboys had even raised their fists into the air as the actor on the television screen had.

As the screen went to the credits and the announcer for the station cheerily named the next show, four college students just sat there babbling amongst themselves the highlights of the episode. Their various sentences mixed together, turning into a mess of voices.

"Did you see that kick? POW! Right in the face!"

"The laser was better, though."

"What are you talking about? Those aliens were the same from episode 15, season 2."

"It is true. It is bogus that they keep using villains that have already been defeated."

The four of them sighed, their spirits dampened by the fact that their favorite show was starting to repeat itself. Then James had an idea. A sudden, lightning strike idea. One that could be pure genius…or one of the stupidest things they had ever thought of.

"Hey, Drew…do you think you could build one of those ray guns?" he started out, hoping that one of the others would pick up on the idea.

"Of COURSE I can!" Drew answered indignantly. "I could build something like that when I was in Kindergarten."

"And I could probably make a few rocket boots," James said as a smile started to eat his face.

It seemed that Ramesh caught on first. And didn't agree with the idea.

"I do not think so, James. You can count me out. I have an exam in the morning," Ramesh said with a yawn. As he stood up, Drew looked from Ramesh to James and back again, his face showing his confusion all too well.

"Did I miss something? James? Ramesh?" His paranoia was as obvious as his confusion. Getting slightly desperate when they didn't answer within a second, he repeated the question to Chen. Lucky for Drew, Chen had caught on by then.

"James wants to build some of the stuff from the show. You know, for our own sort of adventures," Chen explained. "I guess it might be fun. I mean, if we can actually get all of the stuff made. Otherwise, it's a stupid idea."

"You three have fun with that. I will be in my room sleeping," said Ramesh as he walked out the door. The last part he mumbled while he was walking back to his room went unheard by the three remaining members of the posse who were already making their plans.

A few hours later (and after a lot of 'secret borrowing' from the laboratories), Drew and James had finished building a laser pistol and two pairs of rocket boots. Even though they had already left the lab and were now in the commons area of the campus, the inventors were still looking at their creations like fathers seeing their newborn children for the first time. Or, more accurately, seeing a hot woman walking down the street that they couldn't take theirs eyes off of. This, of course, creeped Chen out a little, though he was the only one; it was nearing midnight at this point and they were the only ones there.

"Hey, dudes, c'mon. They're just machines." This got him glares from two sets of eyes. Coughing a little and pulling at his neckline, he amended his complaint. "I mean, we're supposed to be messing with them, not making googly eyes."

"Oh! Right. Yes. Well, I would prefer a pair of those rocket boots," Drew said in a commanding tone, actually reaching for the boots in James's hands. "After all, it wouldn't be fair to hoard my invention."

"If you get a pair of boots, then I get the laser gun," James replied, "because there's no way I am going to miss out on being able to shoot down the alien invaders." He started to make odd noises that could have sounded like a projectile being fired, but was more like him sputtering a little. Drew and Chen took a pair of boots while James was distracted and Drew threw the laser pistol at James. James, being the typical nerd, missed it by a mile. It fell onto the cement, clanking loudly and, unknown to the two giving disbelieving glares to the also clueless (and embarrassed) third one, a microchip came loose in the device.

"So how about we try these babies out, huh?" Chen asked. He was already sitting down to replace his shoes with the rocket boots before the other two responded by prepping their own devices.

"Ready? Those boots are voice-activated, so you just have to shout his catchphrase to get them to start up," James explained to his friends once they were strapped in.

"And that pistol works by pulling the trigger and releasing it. Like a regular pistol," Drew said, pointing out the trigger on the laser.

"Okay then," they all said together.

"Rockets are GOAAAGH!" Chen screamed as the phrase activated his rocket boots, surprising him completely. Unfortunately for Drew, he was close enough so that Chen's phrase activated his boots as well.

"Oh, snap," Drew sighed before he joined Chen in flying around uncontrollably while screaming his head off. They flew around the main square, unable to guide their direction or even control their speed. And when James makes rocket boots, James makes rocket boots.

"Oh…uh, sorry, guys," said James, his face broken into a sheepish grin. "I got so excited about making boots that could fly that I forgot to put in controls for them. Don't worry; I'll just shoot the engines out with the pistol." He aimed the pistol at Chen's boots as he blasted by, but quickly lost control of the laser once it had activated. The beam was only supposed to be used in short bursts so as to control the force produced, but the microchip that had been knocked loose by the hit on the pavement was the inhibiting mechanism, so instead of ceasing its firing, it kept going, barely missing giving Chen a shave that would be much too close for comfort.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Chen yelled just before being smashed into the side of one of the buildings.

"I-I can't get it to stop!" James bellowed back, desperately aiming the beam at the ground. Unfortunately for him, the heat of the beam started the grass on fire. "Ahh!"

He tried to stamp the fire out, but moving the beam just created a trail of fire. James was starting to panic, realizing that the situation was getting out of hand. Then a large, hairy hand grabbed the pistol out of his hand. Surprised, James turned to find Professor Kwatch messing with the innards of the pistol, having just torn the covering off and tossing it to the side. He noticed that Sassy had the beam pointing at the cement portion of the ground, creating a slightly melted area but otherwise not doing anything else.

After a bit of poking and prodding, their professor had eventually found the loose chip and replaced it. The beam switched off, but not before Drew's boots had accidentally flown through its sight.

"AAAHHHHHHH!" he hollered as the boots shut off due to most of their circuits being reduced to melted bits of silicone and various metals, such as tungsten. His face and body slammed into the ground and skidded a little before coming to a full stop. A few seconds later, he jumped up from the ground, not feeling any pain because of the massive amounts of adrenaline that had flooded his system, and began pacing, his tone and body language being on the verge of hysterics.

While Drew was trying to regain his wits, Professor Kwatch took aim with the pistol and shot Chen out of the sky as well. Unlike with Drew, the professor managed to catch Chen before his face and the rest of his anatomy became very familiar with the ground. Stunned and messy, he didn't argue or complain when the much larger man set him down and dusted him off.

Once he had calmed Drew down enough to keep him from crying, Professor Kwatch herded the three undergrads together and gave them a stern stare. Although it was only for a few seconds, it was enough for them to feel highly foolish and small.

"How did you know?" was all James was able to say.

"Ramesh called and said you three were starting another project again. And I don't need to have what happened at Halloween to happen again," he replied, looking over his square glasses down at them. Drew suddenly looked highly uncomfortable and James blushed slightly.

"…did I miss something while I was at home?" Chen asked with a raised eyebrow, having noticed the change in the mood.

"NO! Er, no, of course not. Hehe," Drew responded quickly, his hands waving to emphasize the point. Professor Kwatch just rolled his eyes.

"Now then," the large man continued as he stomped the fires out that were still burning on the grass, "you three will go back to your dorm and you will not pull any of these projects out again. And there will be no more 'secret borrowing' from the labs. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," the three muttered reluctantly before trudging back toward their rooms. As they walked, Drew came to a definite conclusion about something.

"Never will I mess with rocket boots. Jet packs, jet boards, even rockets maybe, but never boots," he muttered somberly, his feet dragging from the lack of energy.

"Same here," the other boot victim added.


I'm not exactly sure if they really said much about Captain Constellation, but from the things I have seen in the episodes and the way James reacts, I'd say that it was a total Power Rangers show. Or Space Ghost. But a Power Ranger in Space thing seemed funnier to me.

It's slightly out-of-order for my own fun. And yes, I do find it loads of fun. Hopefully, most of you will find it fun as well. Reviews are appreciated, though not necessary.