Author's notes: This chapter is based off Season 2 Episode 6: I was a 99 Lb. Weakling. I like the way this one turned out, I think it's a nice little addition to end the story further than the episode did.
Also, I know that the episode aired a couple years before the famous "One small step for man" speech at the moon landing, but I wrote without thinking, and it turned out so good I hated to take it out, and I think that if the Monkees had continued to air for a few years further, they would have said something like this, so I went ahead and left it in. If you want to flame me for getting the dates wrong, go ahead. I stand by my stories.
Peter groaned loudly and put his head in his hands. This was getting out of hand. Well, more our of hand than it already was, at any rate. He found himself wishing, for the upteenth time that day, that Mike was there.
"She said she liked a mind, and I don't have a mind. I lost it, but I have a body now! But she doesn't dig that. She digs a mind. And I don't have a mind, I traded it- I mean sold- I mean, I mean-"
Davy cut Micky off in the middle of his speed talk.
"Lemme get this straight," he said. "After all that work you did to get strong, after all we did to get you out of that fraud Sha Khu's body building scam, you find out that Brenda digs a guy with a mind?"
"Uh-huh," Micky moaned pathetically, putting his head on the table, which was covered with huge dusty books he had borrowed from the library. "And now she's going out with the smart guy on the beach. I've gotta get smart, so I can win her back. I'm not going to stand for this any more! So long to stupid Micky!"
"Now wait a minute," Peter said desperately. "Only a couple days ago, it was so long to Skinny Micky!"
"Well, who cares about strength now?" Micky said. "Brenda digs a guy with a mind!"
"It sounds to me like Brenda just digs any new guy she meets," Davy said.
"Yeah," Micky said sadly. "New."
"So..." Peter said tentatively. "Are you gonna keep trying to change yourself to win Brenda?"
"What else can I do, when she doesn't dig me?" Micky exclaimed. "If she digs smart guys, I can't stay dumb! I gotta learn, I gotta study!"
He flipped open one of the huge books on the table and began feverishly reading, muttering out loud a few words or phrases.
Peter sighed. "What are we gonna do?" He asked, turning to Davy, who shrugged.
"I don't know," the shorter man said. "Wait for Mike to get home?"
Mike had had to go away for a few days, for a family emergency in New Gallifrey, Texas, which left the others coping by themselves.
Peter shook his head. "We can't do that," he said, looking over at Micky, who had placed a pair of reading glasses on the edge of his nose as he read. "If we don't figure out how to stop this now, he's just going to dig himself deeper and deeper in trouble to impress Brenda."
"I don't see how he's getting into trouble," Davy pointed out. "I mean, he's just sharpening his mind a little, that's a good thing, right?"
"It is when you're doing it for the right reasons," Peter said with a frown. "But Micky's not doing it because he really wants to learn, he's doing it because he wants to change who he is, so he can impress a girl who changes her mind about what she wants every few hours. If he keeps at it, he won't know who the real Micky is after awhile."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Davy said with a sigh. "It's too bad, I was looking forward to meeting 'Smart Micky.' Oh well, let's get at it then, shall we?"
With that, the two boys walked over to stand on either side of Micky, who was too busy reading aloud to pay much attention.
"Micky," Peter said. Micky didn't respond, just kept on reading.
"Micky?" Davy tried. Micky kept reading.
"Micky, hello, Micky?" Peter waved his hand in front of Micky's face, but Micky just took hold of Peter's wrist and began reading his palm.
"Earth to Micky," Davy said from inside a space suit. "Come in, Micky, over."
"But if you're Earth," Peter said while Micky continued to read his palm. "Then shouldn't Micky be the one in the space suit?"
Then Micky was in a space suit while Davy and Peter sat at a desk with a sign on it reading "GROUND CONTROL," speaking into an intercom.
"Earth to Micky, come in Micky, over," Davy tried.
"One baby step for man, one bear step for- no wait, one big step for baby, one leap for- Oh, how did it go again?" Peter said into his intercom. "One leap for frogs, one half skip and a jump for- for elephants..."
"Micky, come in, Micky, this is ground control," Davy said.
"One big step for man, one... even bigger step... for a Monkee..."
"Man, nothing's working," Davy said as the two of them once again stood beside Micky, who was poring over his books.
"You guys just don't understand," Micky said, glancing up at them. "I can't stay dumb forever, 'cause chicks don't like dumb guys, so I gotta learn, I gotta get smarter."
"So then what?" Peter asked. "Then what are you going to do when Brenda falls for a guy with money?"
"I'll learn to be rich," Micky said without skipping a beat. "And then I'll make tons of money."
"Oh yeah?" Davy asked. "Then what are you gonna do when she falls for a guy with looks?"
"I'll hire a personal stylist," Micky said.
"And then what'll you do when she falls for a musician?" Peter asked.
"Easy, I'll learn how to play an instrument and join a band," Micky said.
"Micky, you're already in a band," Davy pointed out.
Micky paused. "...Oh yeah," he said.
"Don't you see?" Peter said. "You're already forgetting who you are, 'cause you're too busy trying to change yourself for Brenda!"
"Guys, I'm not trying to change," Micky said, looking up at them. "I'm just trying to... expand a little."
"Yeah?" Peter said. "Because you haven't played the drums once since this whole thing started."
"That's not my fault," Micky said. "I haven't had the time-"
"Because you were too busy with Brenda, I know," Davy said.
"And now I have to study!" Micky said, returning to his books. "I don't have time to worry about that stuff, 'cause unless I learn this fast, she'll change her mind before I can show her how much smarter I am than that smart guy from the beach!"
"Why does it matter if you're smarter than the guy at the beach?" Peter demanded. "You just said yourself, she'll change her mind as soon as you manage it."
"Cause I need to show her that I'm good enough," Micky snapped. "I need to show her, I need to show everyone, that I'm good enough for them! I need to show them that I'm not a skinny weakling or a dumb kid! I need to show them that I'm good enough for them, no matter what they say!"
And there was the root of the problem.
"Micky," he said seriously. "Being good enough isn't about changing yourself to fit what other people want you to be. Being good enough is knowing who you really are and doing the best you can with what you have."
Micky looked at him, as if he were trying to decide whether or not to believe him.
Peter continued. "You can try as hard as you can to be super strong or super smart," he said. "But if it isn't the real you, everyone's going to see that you're just pretending to be something that you're not. You know what kind of guys I think Brenda digs? I think she digs guys who are real about who they are. I don't think she likes fakers."
Micky sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said. "But what if she doesn't like the real me?"
"Then she's not worth chasing," Davy said. "If a girl constantly expects you to change who you are to fit her whims, there's no reason to let her control you. If she doesn't like you for who you are, that means she doesn't really like you at all, just the guy you were pretending to be."
"The thing about fakers," Peter said, "Is that everyone knows they're fake. When you try to act like something you're not, you just end up looking like a fool, a skinny kid wearing shoulder pads and a winter coat, walking down the beach pretending to be strong."
"Hey, that was your idea, you know," Micky said defensively, but Peter could tell he was more joking than actually offended at the remark. He breathed a sigh of relief. Micky was back to his old self.
"Yeah, well," Peter said with a smile. "I'm not going to pretend to be smart. You're the one who agreed to one of my plans."
"Yeah, I know, I wasn't thinking straight," Micky joked, shutting the book and taking off his glasses. "Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"
Peter blinked. "M-Micky," He said. "You said something smart!"
"Hey, I did!" Micky said, eyes wide. "I think I read that in one of those books! I actually learned something!"
"Yeah, and that was all you," Davy added. "None of the fake stuff you would have been spouting to Brenda to make that poor sap at the beach look bad!"
"What makes you call him a poor sap?" Micky asked curiously.
"Well," Davy said. "Brenda's walking down the beach with an artist."
Going over to the balcony, they saw that Davy was right. Brenda walked down the beach, hand in hand with a young man in a beret and a scarf, holding a half finished painting of the ocean. Behind her, looking crestfallen, was the smart guy from the beach, book long forgotten as he watched the new couple.
"You know, that really is pathetic," Davy stated, shaking his head at the scene below.
"Yeah," Micky said with a laugh. "Pathetic."
Peter smiled. If Micky was joking it off, then he was back to the real Micky. No more strong Micky, no more smart Micky. Everything was back to the way it should be, and Peter could rest easy, knowing that tomorrow they would have moved past this whole thing and would one day laugh about it all.