Chapter 1: Hawaiian In New York
"See, Gadget, why I allowed us a day off?"
On this mild winter morning, Charles Maplewood, known to his friends as Chip, did not exactly live the life of a dedicated crime fighter. Instead, he was having a second breakfast with the love of his life, Gadget Beatrice Hackwrench, at one of their favorite places. The Morning Sun, a little café and restaurant in a hollowed-out stump, had rested well enough in their memories since what had almost become their last date to be their choice again. Chip did indeed feel a little awkward about Gadget calling the owners Uncle Frank and Aunt Suzanne as they were relatives of hers, but he didn't mind too much.
"Golly, Chip, I'm glad that you decided to go on dating me. Although I must say that I've never been on such an early date."
"The time of day doesn't matter, my love." Chip gently caressed Gadget's cheek. "All that matters is that we're together."
Gadget smiled a bit more than she already did and held Chip's hand so she could feel his warmth on her cheek. The events of the past autumn had changed her considerably, but certainly for the better for both Chip and herself. And in a certain way, so had already done her first encounter with the fedora-wearing chipmunk back in 1988. Before those events, she used to lock herself and all her pain and sorrows away in her workshop whenever she could and felt like. The visit of her father's old friend Monterey Jack and becoming a Rescue Ranger saved her from becoming a recluse after the loss of her father, but it also confronted her with Chip. For the first two years, she hardly noticed him and Dale flirting with and fighting over her, as mentally absent as she often was. But after Foxglove had arrived and taken Dale away, Chip started to date her seriously, and she started to fall in love with him. This feeling, however, she couldn't explain in any of the scientific ways known to her, for all she ever knew about love she had learned from television. Yet she soon found out it could and did hurt, so it gave her a second reason for crying through sleepless nights besides the painful loss of her father. Her performance as a Ranger was kept on a constant level by increasing amounts of caffeine, not only for breakfast, but also throughout the whole day, and by working so hard at her workshop that she was too exhausted not to find any sleep. There used to be not few nights after which the other Rangers found her fast asleep at her workbench or on the workshop floor, surrounded by tools and parts of an unfinished invention.
October and November, however, brought significant changes for her. First, the Rangers found out that her father was not only alive, but also back in the city after twenty years of absence and proclaimed death. And together with her father, she and the Rangers reassembled her family by liberating her mother from a laboratory in Maryland and taking Lawhiney, a former opponent of the Rangers who then turned out to be Gadget's twin sister, back to New York City where they helped her start a new life. A month later, Chip and Gadget finally confessed their love for each other on their 500th and almost last date. Since then, Gadget had no reason to cry anymore. Instead, she rediscovered the joy of a family life, one with a real family rather than with the family replacement the Rangers were for her, and she found out how wonderful it was to have someone to love who loved her back. Since then, she enjoyed the best time in her life. For even in her childhood and youth, she had never been loved by so many.
"Besides," Chip continued, "there's surprisingly little crime going on lately. I actually wonder what happened to Fat Cat. We haven't heard of him yet this year."
Gadget joked, "Maybe our new group size scared him away. Either that, or LaWahini." She and Chip both remembered her formerly evil twin sister's aerial attack on the chubby feline when she was captured by him.
"Yes," Chip said, "until that day, I had no idea of how she'd act as one from the 'good side.'" He had no problems with having an almost exact copy of the girl of his dreams in his team. Despite their similar looks, Gadget was still one of a kind. Still, he had to admit, "I wonder what she's doing now, and how she's getting along with her life in this big city."
LaWahini got along pretty well and enjoyed the permanent action and activity of the never-resting metropolis. There was so much to see, so much to experience, so much more than in her little Hawaiian village. Soon after arriving in New York City, she had decided that she would rather be a simple rodent citizen of the Big Apple than the queen of a village full of retarded Hawaiian natives who do hardly anything else than surfin' and hangin' loose all day and together with a boyfriend who probably was the worst of them all, a muscular stereotype of a surfer with little more than enough brains to not fall off the board.
She was hiding in a room of an art gallery near the park and having a look at what was exhibited there. More than usually, this gallery had been turned into a fortress. The reason was the Clutchcoin Collection, a set of 14 different gems which their owner allowed to be shown to the public in an exhibition. They were one garnet, one ruby, one sapphire, one emeralds, four differently colored topazes, one amethyst, one turquoise, and four downright perfect diamonds. All these stones were about the size of a walnut. Roy Clutchcoin, one of New York City's wealthiest citizens by far, had allowed the gallery to host the collection for two weeks, one day for each gem. On that day, the exhibition had just begun, and as the first stone, one of the four diamonds was exhibited in the middle of the room. It lay on a green velvet cushion that was placed on top of a column. Girders around it made sure that no-one got too close to the gem, and in case the girders failed in whatever way, an electronic security system including a number of light barriers was installed and connected to the gallery's alarm system.
Two guards, armed with hardly more than their large spotlights, were providing some additional security. "I've never seen so many visitors here," one of them said. "These gems are bringing the gallery higher ticket sales than ever."
"The harder it is to take care that nobody manages to snatch the stone. I mean, couldn't they at least afford some plexiglass cupola to cover it? I don't trust these girders and these makeshift electronic gimmicks."
"Don't worry too much. There are enough ways of triggering the alarm. And once it's on, our team will make sure that no-one gets into or out of the building. After all, there are still the usual security systems."
"Yes, but you've heard what they said. Any attempt at stealing this diamond will lead to ending the exhibition and removing the stones from the building immediately. Why else do you think they're keeping an armored van in the backyard?"
"Take it easy. I don't believe that anyone would be crazy enough to just rush in here, grab the gem, set off the alarm, and rush out again past the security and the masses of visitors."
Still in her hiding, LaWahini loved how the light from the energy-saving spotlights in the ceiling made the diamond glitter. 'Lawhiney, as these stupid islanders used to call me, would have made plans on how to steal it,' she thought, 'But I left her on the islands, buried under a layer of solid lava. Lawhiney is the past. LaWahini is the present, and LaWahini is a Rescue Ranger. I am a Rescue Ranger. Guess Gadget and Mom are mighty proud of me.'
However, a city that huge had much more to offer, so she didn't stay at the gallery forever, and soon she left. As she came along a side alley in the immediate vicinity of the gallery, she heard some now familiar voices. Sneaking a peek, she spotted Fat Cat and his gang of four.
"But boooooss," Mepps' ever-annoying, whiny voice rang in her ears, "what do you need that diamond for?"
"What do I need a reason to steal it for?" his boss shouted. The noise from the streets made him feel sure not to be heard. "It's rare. It's famous. It's valuable. It's glittering and sparkling. Not to mention that we're talking about a diamond, a symbol of wealth. There, enough reasons?"
"Um... yes, I think..."
"Since when do you think, Mepps? Be careful not to overexert your brain. Now, has everyone comprehended their parts of the plan?" Fat Cat wondered why he even asked. Wart and Snout nodded, Mepps shook his head, and Mole was apparently undecided.
"Yeah, that's why I gave you two the easier parts," he addressed to the other cat and the mole. "Alright, we'll meet here in an hour. Go get the equipment."
Unseen by the crooks, LaWahini was still witnessing their conversation. "How are the odds that you're not talking about the gem in there?" She glanced over her shoulder back to the gallery building. "Great, Fat Cat is gonna pull off a crime against humans, and I can't reach the other Rangers in time. I don't even have a clue where they are now. Seems I have to do everything by myself."
She had an idea. "Wait. I can do it by myself. All the time I spent with my sister and her buddies finally pays off. Now all I need is a way to get back to the Headquarters quickly to buy me some time."
"Do you need a ride to somewhere, young lady?"
LaWahini turned around to see who said that and noticed a pigeon. "Um, sure. Can you get me to the Rescue Rangers Headquarters?"
"Why, I just wanted to offer just that to you! Hop on and enjoy the flight!"
She climbed onto the back of the pigeon who immediately took off. "See," she remarked, "there are many advantages of being a rodent in New York City."
"Oh, now I'm curious. Please tell me."
"First," she started, "unlike human taxis, pigeons never get stuck in traffic jams. They simply fly everywhere. Second, one doesn't have to pay for a pigeon ride. Third, flying doesn't allow them to take a long way, at least not unnoticed."
"And is there a fourth, too?"
"Fourth, from what I've heard from humans, their taxi drivers aren't half as polite as you pigeons."
"Thank you very much, young lady, for your kind words."
"You're welcome." 'Actually,' LaWahini thought, 'I'd have to thank you for your kind words. 'Young lady.' You'd probably never guess how old I really am.'
After only a few minutes, the pigeon touched down on the platform in front of the Headquarters' main door. "Here we are, miss."
"Thanks for the flight," LaWahini said briefly as she got off.
"Shall I wait for you here, do you still need my services?" the pigeon offered.
"No... I think there's no need for you to wait." She remembered that Dale had gone on a stroll with Foxglove and left his hang glider behind, so she would have a means of transportation if necessary.
"Well, all I have to say then is, 'au revoir!'" The overly polite pigeon flew back into the direction where they came from. For a moment, LaWahini wondered why so many pigeons in New York City spoke at least a little French before she went through the door.