Disclaimer; The Impossibles and Big D belong to Hanna Barbera, no copywrite infringement is intended. The civilian IDs and personality traits, several characters, as well as some locations and the original story this sequel is inspired by, belong to their creator Erin T. Aardvark, thanks for the loan Erin.
Many thanks to my friend and mentor Irual, for her invaluable help in getting this chapter ready for posting and especially for her help in putting together the camel sequence with Clyde and Ahab.
Read and review please, as the adventure continues….
Chapter nine. Out of the frying Pan
As he started to close the door, Prince Ali looked back at the unconscious figure on the bed thinking, 'This is the only way, my friend. If I am to be worthy of becoming Sultan, I must be able handle any and all challenges.'
Ali's thoughts then turned to his fiancée Serina, waiting back in the United States for the go ahead to join him.
He knew until this business with Sandrina and the Guild of Thieves was solved, she would not be safe here.
For a moment his loneliness and worry made his mind wander and he could almost see his beloved.
Meanwhile back in Seaside, Danalleah, Shawn and Serina were trying to keep themselves occupied.
They had not directly heard anything from the boys and FG since they had left for Khakistan.
Big D had informed the girls a bit about what was happening as far as the Sultan, Ali's real father passing away and that the Prince was now Sultan, but elected to keep the other information as far as the threats and hospitalization of Multi and Coil between himself and the boy's families.
He assured the Mills's and the Collins's that the boys were being expertly cared for.
Big D knew the girls would only worry and want to go immediately join them in the Middle East, he also knew it would be a dangerous place for the future queen as well as Danalleah and Shawn, until the prince's sister and her cohorts were caught.
He knew that Ali would have enough on his plate without being worried for his fiancée, as well as the kingdom he had just inherited.
Serina had tried to go to the restaurant in the hotel, but since she had been seen hugging the Impossibles band member Franky McAlister, the press had been trying to get her to do an interview.
She was forced to retreat to the suite the hotel had provided to the girls, when the Singing Impossibles had been forced to abandon their concert tour.
As they waited for their food to be brought to the room, there was a knock and Shawn went to answer the door.
Almost imediatly there were loud voices and sounds of a camera and flash going off and an argument from the front part of the living room, as Danalleah and Serina looked at each other with puzzled expressions, then toward the direction of the sound of a door slamming.
Angrily Shawn returned from answering the door and getting the room service saying, "Honestly, some people have All the nerve, as well as no manners! That bell hop was really a reporter, who bribed one of the regular restaurant employees to let him bring up our lunch!"
Setting the tray of food down she sat on the couch beside Serina patting her on her shoulder sympathetically, then she continued in a somewhat calmer voice, as Danalleah unwrapped the sandwiches and chips….
"We'll call up headquarters and let them know what's going on, Big D will send out a couple of agents to watch the door and escort us around, until we can make other arrangements. Maybe he'll have some news about how things are going for the boys and your fiancé Serina."
Nodding slowly and looking thoughtful, Serina's eyes held a determined glint as she said, "Well, they DID frighten me downstairs, BUT, as Ali's wife I will be on stage as it were…"
She blushed a most becoming shade as she added, "I never thought that marrying my childhood sweetheart, would make me a Queen….but he and I did agree, that I wouldn't just be sequestered, even as an ordinary wife. Throughout our relationship, we have always planned on both of us finishing our educations after we were married. So…Khakistan is going to have to get used to a queen that stands by her husband in all matters and I am going to have to get used to a certain amount of rudeness, from outsiders…and my Ali's ministers, as well.
Laughing Danalleah offered, "That's the spirit…we've had to learn to handle our boyfriends double careers, their fans and the press and we'll help you. But first….we had better finish lunch.
Shawn agreed as they ignored the persistent knocking on the door….
"It's going to be a long afternoon and once the Chief sends us some agents as bodyguards, we can get back to SSHQ, then we can figure out what we'll do next….."
Back in Khakistan, Ali resolutely got his mind back on the business at hand, closed the door and started down the hallway leading to the main entrance of the palace.
As he approached the throne room, he saw Franky's cousin FG and Mark's little dog Skittles.
For a moment he thought about trying to impersonate his look-alike, to convince FG that her cousin was on his way to meet with the kidnapers.
But Ali thought he would not be able to pull it off convincingly, so he just kept walking at a quick pace past the throne room and out through the front entrance, hearing her repeatedly call her cousins name.
Moments later FG, with Skittle's help, discovered her cousin where Ali had left him, unconscious in the Sultan's bedroom.
After talking to Fluey, FG tried desperately to contact Ali.
Using her bracelet communicator, she tuned in the wristwatch communicator Fluey had given to the Prince.
"Your Majesty, This is FG come in…..Prince Ali Come in!"
Unable to raise Ali and getting only static on the channel tuned to his commentator, she wanted to make sure that Fluey was all right, her cousin was still a bit disoriented.
Fluey explained about how when he turned to retrieve the carpetbag, Ali had grabbed him from behind applying pressure to certain place on his neck.
They both were amazed at the way Ali was able to overpower Fluey.
"It sounds like something we learned in training at SSHQ!" Fluey said.
"Or something you'd see on a certain sci-fi show on TV!" FG remarked with a snicker, getting an odd look from her cousin.
Changing the subject FG said, "I had better get going after Ali, to see if I can catch up to him before he gets into real trouble!"
Meanwhile after multiplying himself out the window of the hospital Multi had dodged around the corner of the hospital building.
He was trying to figure out a way to get to the palace, he moved carefully further down the street so that he wouldn't be spotted from the hospital's windows in case anyone came into his and Coiley's room.
As he moved onto the next block he saw a funny sight that made him pause despite the hurry he was in.
There was a man in a hammock that was suspended between two poles and he was snoring loudly which obviously meant he was asleep.
However, what had made Multi stop was the fact that a fairly large one humped camel was nosing around in the man's wrapped shirt and eating something it had gotten from the folds.
As it sniffed and slobbered, it kept making grunts and groans that almost sounded fairly obscene.
And in spite of the whole nosing and slobbering, the man did not miss a snore until the camel's fuzzy muzzle tickled his neck under his scraggly beard, as the beast diligently searched him for more tasty morsels to devour.
Turning away Multi started to look for a taxi, his head still ached and he needed to get to the palace in a hurry after all, but the closest he could come to anything like transportation was a couple who passed by him on rickety looking bicycles.
A loud excited shouting, in a mix of native Khakistanian and surprisingly, English he heard, "SON OF A JACKLE! Clyde! Those dates were fore Jenteil, NOT YOU!"
Multi turned toward the angry voice, seeing that the camel he had spotted earlier was looking woefully at the man who had been sleeping, as he tugged on the camel's head rope and waved his free hand excitedly.
'Holy Ali Baba,' Multi thought, remembering the movie he had once seen, that showed people riding these one-humped camels.
Known as dromedary, he realized that this camel was wearing a riding pad and harness.
He had heard some chatter over his guitar communicator, it was a garbled transmission that sounded like FG, trying to get a hold of Prince Ali.
That DID surprise Multi but he figured he could ask FG and Fluey about it, once he reached the palace.
Not even thinking that this man wouldn't allow him to borrow this ill tempered, tan colored, hairy, slobbering mode of transportation, Multi rushed over to him saying, "Excuse me, but I need to commandeer your camel! I have to get to the palace right away!"
The camel and its human handler turned in their standoff, to see the red haired teen standing before them, dressed in his red, green and purple performance costume.
Seeing the momentary confused look on their faces, Multi tightened his grip on his guitar, suddenly realizing just how ridiculous he must have sounded just then, to this perfect stranger and his beast.
Multi Started to blush, as the short, mid easterner clothed in his robes, dusty turban and desert boots and his camel stared at him.
Suddenly even more excited, the man's eyes widened as he took in the lanky teen's mod styled costume and black gogo boots.
Then they roved to his reddish-orange long mop top hairdo, with the long bangs completely obscuring his eyes, before finally coming to rest on his distinctive and unique light blue and white guitar.
A look of utter surprise and recognition entered his eyes, as he saw standing before him, one third of the American Singing group, The Singing Impossibles.
Suddenly the man's eyes bugged out like golf balls, as he began to stammer and blabber….
"Most worthy young Sahib! I am humbly HONORED to meet you. Jenteil…my little desert blossom and Habiba my honored wife will NEVER believe it! One of The Singing Impossibles HERE! You must be joining your band-mates, yes?"
Dragging a bemused Clyde further into the street, he stammered saying…"I am Ahab, a humble guide and Camel handler and it will be our honor, if I or my unworthy beast can be of service."
He glanced shyly at Multi and offered, "You ARE going to play for the new Sultan are you not? Eh…he is forward thinking, just as our beloved ruler his honored late father was I see. This will be good, very good indeed."
As he nattered on he was tightening straps on the harness and after making the camel kneel and groan. He then began shoving Multi onto the pad, tied over the creature's hump and then Muttered "Cush, Clyde cush…." trying to get the camel to it's feet.
Clyde seemed unimpressed at having a celebrity of sorts on his back and chewed his jaws, as the now harried camel driver swore and stomped in embarrassment at his animal's reluctance to move.
Multi was feeling a little run over, having had little sleep in addition to his aching head, but found it hard to suppress a chuckle looking down from his perch, as he heard Ahab muttering and explaining to Clyde and trying different methods to motivate the all too stubborn beast.
However, even though he had a prod-like stick with a knob and a slightly pointed end on it Multi saw that the now frenzied Ahab never once tried to strike his uncooperative beast or hurt him.
Desperately Ahab searched the folds of his shirt for some more of the sweet dried dates that Clyde loved, but the wily camel had already eaten them all…
Atop the massive animal, Multi was beginning to feel very conspicuous as he sat on the camel's back.
Nevertheless, hearing its owner muttering something about bribing the camel with dates DID give him an idea.
Spotting a street vendor with some dates, he waved to the young boy in charge of the stand and as the boy came closer, he too recognized the mop top rock n' roller, smiling up at the out of place teen, sitting on the camel.
Multi then offered to play a song in exchange for some dates to entice the camel.
Surprised but delighted at this unusual method of payment, the youngster excitedly agreed, deciding he could spare a few of his fruits to see a semi-private performance, from one of the famous Singing Impossibles.
He sealed the bargain by spitting into his palm and shaking hands with Ahab, before giving him a small bag of dates and stepping back waiting to see what the colorfully clad teen singer would do.
Multi thought to himself, 'Fluey and FG are never going to let me live this one down if they find out.' before starting to strum his guitar and launching into an Impossibles rock n' roll classic…..
"1 2 3 Ooooh When you hear that beat, gotta move your feet, get up in the groove, gotta shake and move and dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, you gotta dance, dance, dance!…."
Finishing the first song, he immediately began to sing another song familiar to fans of The Singing Impossibles.
"Some people think that you gotta have money, other people wait for a day that's sunny. But I don't care what other people may doooooo, cause nothing's better, then being together with you!"
Clyde perked up at the sound of the guitar and snorted as the teen sitting on his back warbled, but seeing the dates, he got to his feet rocking forward then back as he stood up, rather like a ship bobbing on the waves.
It was all Multi could do to keep playing and singing as this bobbing motion was making him a little seasick.
Multi continued to strum on his guitar as the camel driver Ahab led his camel Clyde, who was happily munching on the dates, down the street toward the royal palace, snorting and smacking loudly as he plodded along, stopping at regular inner voles along the street, for more dates.
The boy who had given them the dates followed along, carrying more dates in a larger bag, laughing and enjoying the show the redheaded Impossible was putting on, with a growing number of townspeople following the odd improvised parade, which was closing in on the Sultan's Palace.
Finally, the procession reached the gates of the palace.
One of the guards on duty was Amal, one of the guards who had been there to assist Multi, after Coiley had been shot with the dart.
He immediately recognized the red haired teen, who by this time was looking a bit green around the gills from the ride on the camel, as well as not being fully recovered from the attack couple of days prier.
FG was just coming out of the front entrance, to follow Prince Ali and even though the Prince had quite a head start, FG knew she had to intercept him, before he got into any trouble.
She was startled to see this tremendous crowd at the palace gates and even more astounded to see her cousin's friend and band mate Mark Mills, perched precariously atop a large single-humped camel right up front, with a short native Khakistanian camel handler leading the camel.
For a moment, seeing Mark plod in on this hairy pungent beast FG forgot why she had left her cousin and come out to the front of the palace courtyard.
FG could only stare dumbfounded as Ahab settled Clyde down on his knees again to assist the teen down, from the back of the camel.
As he reached the ground Multi felt his legs go a bit rubbery and he was also dizzy and a bit pale and from the ride as well as his head injury and the Middle Eastern heat was not helping his condition any.
FG and Ahab helped support Multi, until he began to get his land legs back.
As he struggled to over come his dizziness and Clyde's musky smell, making him feel somewhat nauseous, a lady stepped up to him offering Multi, who was still coughing a little from the dusty street a small bottle of clear liquid saying, "Drink this rosewater young sahib, it will help your throat."
Multi gratefully accepted the drink taking a few sips and then handed it back to the woman thanking her for her kind assistance.
As soon as she was sure Mark would be all right, FG remembered her own mission and had one of the guards saddle her a horse.
After telling him what had happened, FG took off into the desert after the wayward Prince.
Multi thought about following after her, but then he figured he had better link up his band mate and Skittles and use the Impossi-Mobile, to take off after FG and the Prince…..instead of the crazy camel he had ridden in on.
Azeem directed Rashid to reimburse the camel driver for services rendered, but when Ahab tried to share his money with the young vender who had provided the dates, the boy who's name was Ghani, insisted he had been paid in full.
Saying the fun of watching and listening to Multi serenade the camel and crowd of townspeople, he had never had so much fun in his life while working.
Then he rushed off to get back to his abandoned fruit stand, heading back to town, as did most the people, who had followed the odd group to the palace gate.
After thanking the camel driver Ahab, Multi presented him with one of several group photos of himself and the other two Impossibles, which he carried in a hidden compartment in his guitar, with autographs signed on it, for his daughter Jenteil.
His action was rewarded when the delighted camel driver gave him a wide toothy grin, grabbing his hand and pumping it vigorously.
Multi then rushed into the palace.
He was directed to the prince's room and found Skittles and Fluey, who did a double take as Multi came through the door, and was very surprised to see his red haired team mate.
"Hey Multi, what are you doing out of the Hospital?"
"Long story, let's just say I didn't exactly get out the regular way." Multi replied still feeling a little weak in the knees, as Skittles, overjoyed to see her young master, jumped into his arms and gave him one of her usual slobbery puppy greetings, nearly knocking Multi off his feet.
Fluey just stared at his teammate for a minute trying to figure it out and then it hit him.
"YOU SNUCK OUT? Oh boy, the doctors at the hospital aren't going to like that."
Then he thought of something else….
"Holy high jinks! Never mind the doctors, when Big D gets wind of this, he is really not going to like it. But now that you're here, we have to get going and catch up to FG and the Prince before any real trouble happens, or your little "escape" from the hospital, is going to be like a walk in the park, compared to what Big D will cook up for you!"
Multi got a squeamish look on his face, at the prospect of what disobeying direct orders to stay put in bed would get him, as the two teens and Skittles rushed out of the palace to where the Impossi-mobile was parked.
He was in such a hurry to get going, that Fluey did not change out of the desert outfit he was going to use to fool the thieves with.
Before the Two Impossibles could reach their car, they ran into some of the lingering crowd who had followed Multi and the camel driver to the palace.
The townspeople thought they were having a close encounter with the new ruler of the kingdom, even though Fluey was telling them otherwise and trying to placate the crowd by promising a concert at the coronation, while trying to wade through the throng of people.
They were finally rescued by the palace guards and were able to hop into the Impossi-mobile.
As the guards kept the crowd back, the Impossi-mobile was converted to jet mode and they took off in hopes of averting a catastrophe.
While Multi, who was feeling a bit better thanks to the rosewater, handled the driving, Fluey was busy tuning in the tracker signal built into the communicators both FG and Ali were wearing….
"Anything yet, Fluey?" Multi asked in a worried tone.
"No not a thing, not one blip!"
Just as he spoke, suddenly, the tracker screen lit up and began to flash, showing two blinking green dotes…
"Wait a minute! Go 10 degrees left and head straight for that dark green patch. That must be the Oasis…"
At the exact moment, they spotted the Oasis, a signal alarm came thru to Multi and Fluey's communicators.
As Fluey activated his wrist com-link, a visual picture of his boss materialized….
"Big D, calling Agent Fluid, Come in immediately, urgent! We have just gotten a communication from the Khakistan hospital, where agents Multi and Coil are being treated. They report that Agent Multi is missing, last seen by one of the royal guard Prince Ali left guarding the door. Drop what you're doing immediately and locate him!"
"It's…..Ok Chief….Multi's not missing…he's ah, right here with me. I'll explain later, but right now we're on our way out to intercept the Prince, before he gets himself into trouble."
Fluey winced as he heard the irritation in the Chief's voice…
"Very well Agent Fluid, but your team mate will have some explaining to do as soon as you two are back from your mission!"
From the drivers seat Multi heard the chief too and shuddered slightly, they both saluted and said, "Right Chief!"
Fluey deactivated his communicator.
"Oh boy…Flyin Flipsides!" Multi replied as he kicked the Impossi-jet's engine into overdrive, "I'm in for it after we finish this adventure!"
Fluey just slapped his hand onto his forehead, thinking, 'I could have guess how the Chief was going to react to Multi leaving the hospital, without a doctor's ok..'
However, he was happy to have his teammate on hand, to help him.
With the trouble Ali was riding into and with Coiley out of commission, he knew even with FG on hand, they would need extra help.
The blips were getting stronger and they were fast approaching the Oasis when they spotted FG and Ali surrounded by a nasty group of marauders, Fluey quickly took out a pair of high-powered binoculars and focused on the group….
"Holy Mesopotamia! FG and Ali are in real trouble down there!"
Fluey and Multi took out their transformers pushed the buttons and in a whirl of patterns and colors, became their fighting super personas.
As Multi slapped the autopilot button and set the Impossi-Jet on hover, shouting "RALLY HO HO!" Fluey fully transformed to liquid, shot out and down to the Oasis, becoming his solid self again and landing beside his royal double.
Looking at the menacing group they were facing, Fluey noticed a figure dressed entirely in black but smaller in stature, to all the other thieves standing just behind the tallest thief.
Some how even though covered from head to toe, Fluey had the distinct feeling he knew this mystery figure.
Shouting "RALLY HO!" and leaving the Impossi-mobile via the trap door, Multi duplicated to the ground and Skittles slid down his duplicates and landed onto the sand.
She immediately barked and back flipped, turning into Impossi-Pup to get ready for action.
As Multi retracted his duplicates, they quickly joined their comrades, ready for the skirmish to come…
Author's note: My sincere thanks to Foxcat93, who's comment in her review about the Neck Pinch from Star Trek, gave me the idea to to include in this chapter, FG's comment, while talking to Fluey.