The boys ran in the direction where they saw the UFO, and found some kind of flying saucer, being piloted by a woman, wearing black and gray. She pushed a button on the saucer, and a laser zapped a light out. It hit a patch of grass, and it turned from green to gray.
"What the?" Mike asked.
"She just zapped away the color!" Micky shouted.
The lady began punching buttons around, zapping away the color from everything, laughing evilly.
"Hold it right there, lady!" Mike shouted.
"What?" the woman asked, irritatedly.
"What the heck are you tryin' to do here?!" Mike asked.
The woman just stared at Mike as if he was crazy. Then she began to laugh.
"I'm going to take away all the world's color, and there's nothing you can do about it!" she said.
The lady aimed her laser at Mike and fired it. He jumped out of the way just in time.
"She can't take away the world's color!" Peter shouted.
"Don't worry, Pete, I'll handle this," Mike said. He cracked his knuckles, and pointed his index finger at the craft. A magic beam shot out of it. The lady moved her flying saucer away from the blast.
"Not bad," she said, stifling a yawn. "What else have ya got?"
Mike glared at her, and began shooting his magic out in every direction imaginable. The lady kept moving her space ship all over the place, avoiding each blast of magic.
"This is gettin' frustratin'," Mike said. "All right, lady! Who are you, and what's your angle?"
The witch landed her craft, and climbed out. She smiled sneakily, and waved her hand in circle. A blast of magic hit a nearby tree, and zapped it's color away.
"I'm Achroma," she said. "And my goal is to turn the world into black and white. These colors are driving me batty!"
"You can't strip the world of it's color!" Peter shouted.
"Why not?" Achroma asked.
"Because . . . . it's not a nice thing to do!"
"Nice? What do I care about nice? I hate color, so how do I solve my problem, kiddo? Now if you'll excuse me . . . ."
Achroma returned to her ship, and took off. Mike began running after her.
"Come on, fellas!" he shouted. "We've got to stop her!"
Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky immediately followed the Texan Monkee, and they managed to catch up with Achroma and her saucer. She was blasting patches of flowers with her laser. Mike snapped his fingers and brought the saucer down, causing it to crash.
"Resourceful, magic man," Achroma said. "But I've got another trick up my sleeve."
Achroma stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A fleet of black birds appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to surround the Monkees.
"Why do they always want to do it the hard way?" Mike asked, rolling his eyes. He clapped his hands, and magic soared from the sky. The birds squawked, and scattered, in order to avoid getting clobbered by Mike's magic.
"You're resourceful, magic man," Achroma said. "But you haven't dealt with Buster yet."
"Buster?" Micky and Davy said in unison.
Buster appeared. He was the biggest blackbird known to man, even bigger than all four Monkees put together. He let out a squawk and took to the air. He seemed to have disappeared.
"Where'd he go?" Peter asked.
"Beats me," Mike said. "But I get this icky feelin' in the pit of my . . . . . oof!"
In mid-sentence, Buster came back down and clobbered Mike, hitting him in the side of the head with his feet. He fell to the ground, and was completely dazed. Just as he was about to get up, Buster swooped down, and hit him again. Then he flew into the air again, out of Mike's range, and then disappeared. Achroma laughed.
"Don't you know there's no stopping a giant blackbird when he gets going?" she asked.
Mike was about to blast Achroma with his magic, when Buster came swooping back down. He grabbed Mike by the shoulders with his feet, and hoisted him into the air.
"Hey!" Mike shouted.
"Miiiiiike!" Micky shouted.
"'Ey, let 'im go, you big buzzard!" Davy shouted.
"If you insist," Achroma said. She stuck two fingers in her mouth, and whistled. Buster squawked, and let go of Mike, and he started plummeting.
"You and your big mouth!" Micky shouted, giving Davy a swat upside the head.
Before Mike had a chance to use his magic to stop him from falling, Achroma managed to catch him in her saucer.
"Miss me, big boy?" she asked. Mike was about to respond, when Achroma snapped her fingers, and Mike suddenly found himself restrained tightly with what appeared to be leather straps, and he was unable to move.
"Hey, what in the world's goin' on here?!" he shouted.
"You're coming with me, handsome," Achroma said. "You're loaded with magic. I'll be invincible once I suck you dry!"
"Suck me dry, whattaya suck me dry? You can't do that!"
"I can, and I will."
"Wait a minute, lady, there's no way in the world you're gonna . . . ."
Achroma snapped her fingers and covered Mike's mouth with another strap.
"Now, let us be off," she said, as she started up her saucer. "I've got a world to drain of it's color."
"Hey, you can't do that to him!" Peter shouted.
"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-taaaaaaahhhhh!" Micky shouted, pantomiming blowing a bugle.
"CHAAAARRRRRRGE!" Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky shouted, and they ran toward the saucer. Achroma merely yawned, and snapped her fingers. A brick wall appeared from out of nowhere, right in the boys' tracks. They slammed right into it.
CRASH!
"Anybody get the license number of that truck?" Micky asked dazedly.
"Now that that's out of the way," Achroma said, "we can leave."
Achroma took off, cackling madly. By the time Franky and the other three Monkees got their wits back, they were long gone.
"We'll never catch her now!" Franky shouted. "What are we gonna do?"
"Let's go to the police!" Peter shouted.
"We can't do that, they'll nevah believe us!" Davy shouted. "Mattah of fact, I'm not even sure I believe what just 'appened!"
"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Franky argued.
"He's right," Peter said. "Mike's our leader, after all! He's helped us when we were in trouble!"
"Right, Pete," Micky said. "And we will do something! We'll follow her."
"Do you even know 'ow long that could take, Micky?" Davy asked.
"It does not matter how long it takes!" Micky shouted, in an overly dramatic voice. "We shall follow the evil Achroma until we find her and rescue our fearless leader!"
"Hey, Micky . . . ." Franky started.
"Even if it takes hours!" Micky went on, not even acknowledging the thirteen-year-old. "Days! Weeks! Months! Years even! We will not rest until we find them!"
"Micky . . . ."
"Even if we have to travel far and wide, facing many obstacles, we will not give up!"
"Micky . . . ."
"Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!"
"MICKYYYYYY!" Franky screamed at the top of his lungs.
"What, Franky?" Micky asked, sounding a little annoyed.
"Why don't we just call Mike's aunt in Texas and get the dirt on this chick from her?" Franky asked.
"Great idea, Franky," Peter said.
"Yeah, I know where Mike keeps that numbah," Davy said. "Let's get back to the Pad!"
And with that, Davy, Peter, and Franky raced to the Monkee Mobile.
"Oh, sure," Micky said, sounding a little put out. "If you wanna do it the easy way!"