Abigail and the Rats of NIMH - Chapters 1-10

Here I am going to post my 2013 fan fiction classic, Abigail and the Rats of NIMH: a graduate-level crossover fan fiction about talking mice. I say that because I wrote it at the same time I was writing my Master’s thesis, as a creative outlet. My viewpoints have changed over the years, and since I no longer have aspirations of being a wealthy and respected literary author, and I don’t care about money and capitalism, I’m going to post my fan fictions everywhere, because I like them. You see before I was worried about my legacy being tarnished by writing lowly fan fiction. But at this point if that’s going to be my claim to fame then at least I have some sort of claim to fame. It’s true what Mark Twain said, “Fame is a vapor, the only earthly certainty is oblivion.” But no one creates art and doesn’t want someone, anyone to look at it. My pride’s been shattered since leaving college and entering the real world, and I’ll take what I can get. Besides, this might even represent my best writing. After having not read it for long enough to have forgotten what happens in it, 26 year old me was able to keep 36 year old me on the edge of my seat all the way through. It has an inherent underlying silliness to it, being a story about talking animals, but some very serious overtones.I think it holds up a lot better than the book I DID end up publishing.  Several people on fanfiction.net and Deviant Art had been asking me about it lately, and after years, I dove back into it again and decided to re-edit it. This is the 2022 edit. 

You know I had someone make me a really pretty photoshopped cover for this fan fiction, and I thought I had lost it years ago, and I had no idea where I could find it again until I remembered the TV Tropes page for this story had it! Yes I guess I must have written a trope page for it back then. I do that for everything I write and publish in some way, even on a fan fiction website. 

Lastly, it will help to be familiar with the films Once Upon a Forest, The Secret of NIMH, The Rescuers, and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. Blogger dies every time I try to post the whole thing, so I may have to divide it up. This will be the first ten chapters, then the whole 36 chapters will take up three more blog entries. A synopsis:

A month after the ecological disaster that wreaked havoc on Dapplewood, the forest denizens face a new threat; scientists from NIMH, who received word from cleanup crews on the strangely advanced dwellings the animals lived in. What follows is a disaster that threatens the lives of every sentient rodent. Dapplewood is ransacked by NIMH's scientists, thinking it to be the dwelling of the intelligent rats that escaped their facility years earlier, that is until they find more than just rats living in an intelligent manner. The furlings, a group of four young forest creatures, are forced to journey alone as refugees, in a frantic and seemingly hopeless search for their families.

Title: Abigail and the Rats of NIMH

Category: Cartoons » Once Upon a Forest
Author: Masked Bard
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Sci-Fi/Adventure
Published: 01-01-13, Updated: 08-27-13
Chapters: 36, Words: 94,501

It is 15 years since our departure from NIMH; and 11 years since our departure from the Fitzgibbon's farm to Thorn Valley, where we have lived undetected and in peace. As their leader, I have brought prosperity to the Rats of NIMH. Under my leadership we have built an entire city underground, beneath the thorn thicket, where neither human nor predator can reach. We  harness electricity at the nearby river. Thanks in part to Mrs. Brisby, we were able to start a new civilization. And yet I sense our troubles have not yet ended, that they may never permanently end, as long as NIMH exists. No one, no rodent on Earth is completely safe anymore. The humans will never stop searching for us. They'll never leave us be.

As Justin wrote in the book Nicodemus once used, his gaze turned to the open chest on the desk beside him, where he kept a round, red jewel. He picked it up, and gazed at his own reflection in it, deep in meditation.

There has been a catastrophe, east of here, several dozen miles away. Somewhere in Dapplewood. Thousands of animals have met their death by way of toxic gas. That is what my visions tell me. Though far from here, I have a feeling, a dreadful feeling, that it will eventually come to affect Thorn Valley as well. The humans are becoming aware; not just of us, but of all intelligent rodents. And we need to be ready.

Justin signed his name at the bottom of the page, as he always did, and placed the stone back into the chest carefully. It was time to tell the council of his visions. He just hoped they would believe him.

Abigail and the Rats of NIMH

Abigail looked up at the dead tree, her ears going down as she folded her arms. She used to climb that tree and gaze across the lush forest of Dapplewood. But now its branches were bare and dry, and it wasn't yet autumn either. Her father had warned her that the branches were too brittle and might snap under her weight. Abigail had fallen out of enough trees now to not want to chance it. And even if she could get up there, she'd be gazing at a cold, lifeless forest. The gas leak two months ago had killed every living thing in its path. She was fortunate that of the few survivors, her father was one of them. She'd already lost one parent, she couldn't bear to lose both.

"There you are," came a voice from behind, the voice of her father, "You're not thinking about climbing up that tree again, are you?"

The young woodmouse turned around, shaking her head with a coy smile, "Of course not, daddy."

"I think until this forest starts to bounce back you'll be keeping your paws on the ground, hm? Unless you're in that flapperwingamawhatsit, of course."

"Daddy, I'm old enough to do things like that now if I'm careful," she argued, "Cornelius says so."

"I just worry is all," he said, "I know you went through that big adventure with your friends, but that's no excuse to needlessly put yourself in danger."

"I know, I know…" she twirled a tuft of her auburn hair and sighed.

Her father smiled, "You look just like your mother when you do that."

"Did you lecture her ear off too?" she asked jokingly.

Her father chuckled, "Well…let's not get into that right now. Anyway, I came to tell you that it's time for your lessons with Cornelius."

"I knew that too," Abigail said, "I was just on my way."

"What are you doing today? More cleanups? Planting some more trees and bushes?"

"Maybe," Abigail answered, "Cornelius said it was finally time for the lesson about the hard black trail in the forest, the one with the monsters-on-wheels. He said he thinks he finally knows how the gas leak happened."

"Sounds, um…very interesting," Abigail's father pulled on his collar nervously, "I'm sure he knows what he's doing, but you pay extra attention to Cornelius today. That trail is really dangerous…I've had friends who died walking there."

"I know, I'll be really careful daddy," she said, giving him a hug.

He hugged her back, "I know you will. Now, I'll see you this afternoon. You better get going."

"Bye daddy, I love you" she said.

"Me too, Abigail," he replied.

"You love yourself too?" she looked up at him teasingly.

"I mean I love you too," he corrected himself, shaking his head.

She giggled and waved, "Anyway, see you later!"

With that she dashed off into the forest toward Cornelius' home, past the dried, yellow grass and the dead ferns and bushes. A bell could be heard ringing through the woods. As she got closer to Cornelius' house, she could see little Michelle the badger pulling the string and calling out. She wore a little pink dress, and since the accident, a pair of glasses. Russell and Edgar were already there waiting.

"I'm here!" Abigail shouted as she ran toward them, "Am I late?"

"Not too late," Edgar said, the timid mole adjusting his eyeglasses.

"But late enough," Michelle answered, "Don't you know what today is? You guys get to go on a big dangerous adventure, while I'm gonna be stuck here working out of a notebook. Boring!"

The little girl had maintained most of her perk even after the gas leak, which had killed her parents, and almost killed her, causing permanent damage to her eyes and   giving her asthma. But things would never be the same as they once were. She'd hardly smiled since then, and she'd been having mood swings too. She might suddenly become angry, or burst into tears without warning. Things had gotten better after two months, but the pain and grief were still there, and maybe always would be in some way.

"You'll be old enough to come with us, one of these days." Russell patted her back, before the brown hedgehog's belly began to rumble "Anyway, I wonder what he's got planned for lunch. I'm starving."

"Did your siblings steal your breakfast again?" Edgar asked.

"Yeah, I was late getting out of bed," Russell sighed, "That's why I hope Cornelius has a big lunch planned.

"Guess we'll find out," Abigail said, walking toward the door, "Lets see what  Cornelius is up to."

The four young rodents opened the door and walked down the stairs to Cornelius' study, where he sat at his cluttered desk, his face blocked by books.

"Ah, good morning, my furlings," he said, standing up. His back cracked as he stood up, and he winced.

"Uh oh, he's having rumertism again," said Michelle.

"Rrrrheumatism, dear girl," he corrected her, rubbing his back with a groan.

"We were just wondering what was for lunch," Russell chimed in.

"You mean you were," Abigail shot back.

Cornelius gave a small laugh, "You're more interested in food than what we're doing today, Russell?"

"It's more interesting than what I'll be doing," Michelle said, kicking at the ground.

"You know with the food shortage our options are limited," Cornelius said, answering Russell's question, "Your parents are working hard to bring fruits and berries from unaffected parts of the forest, but we can only manage so much. However, I did manage to procure some rrraspberries for us all to share."

"Oh boy!" Russell said hungrily.

Abigail rolled her eyes, "What about the black trail?"

"Yes yes, we're still doing that today. I want you three to be the first to hear my conclusion about the gas leak, the monsters-on-wheels and the humans. I'll be presenting my findings to the rest of the animals in the forest tomorrow night when we have our meeting."

"Sounds important," said Edgar.

"Oh it is," Cornelius said, "I think that my findings, taking also into account that incident where the human spared your life Edgar, will help us better understand humans and how to cope with living among them."

"So you don't think they're all bad anymore, do you?" Edgar asked, "The one that let me out of the trap seemed pretty nice."

"I have definitive proof, I believe, that the gas leak was an accident, and that much of the harm that humans inflict upon animals is simply out of ignorance rather than malice. I'll demonstrate that by taking you to the black trail. Are we ready to go on a rrramble?"

"I'm ready," Abigail said with confidence.

"I'd be ready if I were going," Michelle said bitterly, grabbing her notebook and stomping towards Cornelius' desk. All this talk about the gas leak was bothering her. Cornelius immediately felt guilty for having brought it up so casually with her still in the room. None of the others had lost any family in the gas leak.

"Now now, Michelle…" he said, walking up to her as she sat at his desk, "You'll get to go on tomorrow's ramble, and perhaps after today's lesson you and I will do  something fun together. Play games, go swimming…or go flying."

She turned to look up at her uncle, "Will Abby, Russell and Edgar come too?"

The three of them exchanged glances.

"I'll be free I think, I'll just have to go home real quick and tell my dad, and see what he says," said Abigail.

"Yeah, and I have to tell my mom," said Edgar.

Russell hesitated for a bit, thinking about how, with his ten other brothers and sisters, his parents probably wouldn't even notice he was gone, "Um, yeah, I'll just stay here after the lesson, I won't be missed."

Michelle gave a smile, but it was a half-hearted one, "Thanks Uncle Cornelius, and thanks guys…"

Cornelius kissed her forehead, and then turned to the others, "Do we have     everything?"

"Can I carry the food?" Russell asked.

"You're just going to eat it all," Abigail said, grabbing the supply pack before  Russell could reach it, "Why don't you carry it, Edgar?"

"Sure thing," he said, strapping it to his back as Russell frowned.

"All right, step lively children," Cornelius said, heading for the door, "And Michelle, we'll be back in a couple of hours. Don't leave the house."

"Yes Uncle Cornelius," Michelle sighed, looking down at her notebook, squinting behind her glasses to read it.

The four of them exited Cornelius' home and walked into the yellow, dead grass, and then around a conspicuous empty patch of dirt where for years there'd been a rusty old animal trap. The humans destroyed it and took it away when they were cleaning the forest. There were seedlings sprouting on the patch; Cornelius had the furlings start a garden there in an effort to create more food for the forest.

After a short walk through mostly dead foliage, they came to a gentle slope, which was where the black trail was. They climbed the slope and emerged from the grass, and stared at the hard, black trail. It was wide, and had a yellow stripe down the middle. Such a large stretch of hard ground, without any plants growing on it at all, was  mysterious to the forest animals. Here many creatures had met their doom, being crushed by the monsters-on-wheels. But to the furlings it was a curious place that was exciting to visit, precisely because they'd been forbidden to go near it all their lives. However, they had been here once before.The memory of Russell nearly being run over by a monster-on-wheels the last time they came here was fresh in their minds.

"Now then furlings, I want you to stay alongside the trail. You are not to venture onto it. Stay close to one another."

"Yes Cornelius," Abigail answered. 

"I also want you to keep an eye out for anything unusual," Cornelius instructed, "You see, I've discovered something very interesting."

As they walked, the children did begin to notice some unusual features in the dead grass alongside the trail. There were shards of glass, and ribbons of a strange black material. Abigail picked up one of the black strips.

"It's kinda squishy…" she remarked, sniffing it and then making a face, "What is it?"

"I know the monster-on-wheels went by quickly when we were here last, but did you happen to look at its wheels?" Cornelius asked.

"They were…black. Like that." Russell said, picking one up.

"And what about all this glass?" Edgar asked.

"It's sharp, don't touch it," Cornelius warned, "Anyway, if you recall, the monster dropped something as it sped by, an enormous glass bottle of some kind. One that broke on impact."

"I do remember that," Abigail remarked, "It was still in the middle of the trail when we left."

"With its sharp points skyward, correct? Now with the evidence before us, what can you deduce, children?"

"Another monster-on-wheels must have run over the bottle, and its wheel got ripped up…" Russell said.

"And this must have been the same day as the gas leak," Edgar added, "Because that happened only an hour or two later, right?"

"Prrrecisely," Cornelius said, proud that they were able to figure it out, "Come with me, just a little further now."

They followed Cornelius as he led them further down the trail. Within a few minutes, they came to a turn in the trail, where the guard rail alongside the trail had been torn apart. The rail itself was something strange to the furlings, something that was hard like a rock, but thin. Here the black trail had two long, black designs on it. As they followed the designs, it led them through the broken guard rail to a steep slope, and the designs gave way to two deep, long grooves in the soil. And then there was the tree at the bottom of the hill. The grooves in the ground stopped at a tree, a tree which was splintered, and looked as if an enormous chunk had been torn from it somehow. Everything here was dead though, including the tree. The ground was a mess of mud, and further down the hill had been stripped of foliage. The entire forest here was a wreck.

"Cornelius…what happened here?" Abigail asked, looking around.

"This, furlings, is where the monster went after its wheel popped on the glass," Cornelius explained, "It lost control, broke through that…that hard fence…and rolled down the hill before it slammed into that tree, perhaps landing on its side. And if my theory is correct, this is where the gas leak started."

"The monster had gas in it?" Russell asked, "What did it eat?"

Abigail and Edgar chuckled a little, though not for long, as this wasn't a laughing matter.

"You see furlings, I believe that monsters-on-wheels are not monsters at all,"  Cornelius said, "I've been coming here by myself for the past few days to deduce just what happened here, and I tell you I've seen humans inside these monsters. I think that these monsters are really machines."

"Machines?" Abigail cocked her head, "You mean like the flapper wingamathing?"

"Precisely," Cornelius said, "Though they are powered by a technology that makes my grandest invention seem like a child's toy. Humans ride in these 'monsters' to go faster. And these monsters, with their air-filled wheels, must have a hard surface free of trees and bushes and pointy thorns to work, so the humans built the black trail. While riding in these monsters, the humans can't see forest creatures crossing the trail because they're traveling so fast. So, by accident, they sometimes hit them."

The three of them listened closely. It was a heavy topic, but since the accident, Cornelius had been more open toward talking about things of this nature with them.

"I wonder if the Yellow Dragons were machines too," said Abigail.

"I'm sure they were," Cornelius answered.

"So why did it have poison gas?" Edgar asked.

"That is a mystery I haven't solved," Cornelius said, "Perhaps it is powered by the gas? Perhaps it was in the wheels? But the point is that the whole thing was an accident, and the humans never meant to poison the forest. Which is why they came back to clean things up."

"Huh, so I guess we can say they're not bad?" Russell asked.

"They're still certainly to be avoided at all costs I think," Cornelius answered,  "After all…they did still take my parents from me, and they created those traps. Maybe it depends on the particular human. There are bad ones, and good ones. But, I think that for the most part, they don't mean to be as hostile as we think they are."

At this, the sound of a monster-on-wheels rolling down the black trail became louder. Strangely, however, it sounded like it was slowing down.

"Uh oh, wh-what's going on now?" Edgar asked.

"Quickly, into the bushes furlings," Cornelius ordered, leading them into some dried, dead bushes at the end of the clearing.

Two large vans pulled over at the side of the road, as Cornelius and the furlings watched in wonder.

"Grrreat honk…" Cornelius whispered.

The doors opened, and humans stepped out, and began climbing down the hillside. This time, the furlings could see their real faces. It was something none of them had seen before; the few humans they had seen were wearing protective masks that looked very alien to them. But these humans had hair, and eyes, and mouths. There were two people in long white lab coats, followed by a group of men wearing gloves and jumpsuits, carrying nets, bags and chainsaws.

"This is where the leak happened, right?" asked the man in the white lab coat.

"By the looks of it, yes," said the young woman, perhaps in her twenties, with blonde hair and a clipboard, dressed in a long lab coat, looking at the damage in the area, "Most of the animals in the area probably died in the chlorine leak but there were reports of a few survivors…along with the anomalies discovered during the EPA's cleanup. Any animal intelligent enough might have found shelter when the gas leak occurred and returned later. We'll see if any of them are ours."

"Hm, yes. Let's have a look around. Spread out everyone, and if you see any unusual animals, especially rats, capture them. Inspect the trees too. That's where some of the cleanup crew described seeing hints of intelligent life."

Cornelius turned to the furlings, who could only watch in shock and awe.

"Listen furlings, you're younger and faster than I am. Run to my house now. Fetch Michelle. You should find a trrrap door beneath the chair at my desk, leading to a   basement. You are to hide in there. I will catch up to you."

Abigail gulped and nodded, "Come on, guys."

The three of them turned and darted through the foliage as the humans split up and searched the area. Cornelius turned to look at them once again. The vans had the letters 'NIMH' printed on the side. But he had no time to ponder what the strange acronym meant. He did his best to make it back to his home as fast as he could.

Chapter 2

Michelle squinted, taking a quill and dabbing it in ink so she could copy from a book Cornelius was having her read. She was starting to learn the alphabet, soon she'd be able to read and write like Cornelius could. She coughed, and took deep breaths in order to avoid a coughing fit, or perhaps another asthma attack. Cornelius had herbal remedies prepared in case she did get another asthma attack; yerba santa leaves or licorice root worked the best. She couldn't understand why the gas had done this to her lungs, and her eyes. But it was just another thing she needed to get used to, like the death of her parents. After staving off the coughing fit, she sighed, rubbing her throat, and getting back to work.

It was then that Abigail burst through the door, followed by Russell and Edgar.

"Michelle! Are you here?" Abigail called out.

She peeked from behind the pile of books on the desk, "What's wrong?"

The three of them ran over to the desk.

"Humans are coming," Abigail answered, "Get up, Cornelius said there'd be a trap door under this chair."

"Humans?" Michelle blinked, "Are they cleaning the forest again?"

The three looked at each other, and then Abigail shook her head, "There's no time to explain, Michelle. Just get up."

Michelle slipped out of the chair, and Russell pushed it aside, as Edgar stooped down and felt the floor.

"Is it there?" Abigail asked.

As Edgar felt around, he came across a little ring in the floor. He pulled on it, and the trap door opened up.

"Alright, get inside Michelle," Abigail said, "We'll tell you what happened once everyone's in."

"Where's Uncle Cornelius?" Michelle asked.

"He's on his way," said Russell.

The three of them climbed down a step ladder, into a dark room. It had been  abandoned for a long time, and the smell of dirt and dust was thick in the air. When they closed the door, the only light came in through cracks in the wooden trap door.

Outside, Cornelius hurriedly made his way through bushes and grass, as fast as his old legs could take him. He could hear the footsteps of humans and the sounds of their voices. He couldn't let himself be seen; he was all Michelle had left.

"Hm, looks like the forest has only just started to bounce back," said the blonde woman with the clipboard, followed by a couple men in jumpsuits.

"Dr. Stacy, you might want to have a look at this."

Cornelius peered through the grass as one of the men brought a tiny wooden wheel barrel over to the doctor. She took it in her hand and gazed at it.

"Remarkable…" she said in awe, "Where did you find this?"

"Near a patch of seedling sprouts over there by the stream. They looked like, well…they were in little rows."

"Signs of irrigation?" the doctor was most intrigued, "I think we've finally found out where those escaped rats have been hiding all these years. Keep searching."

"I must get back to the furlings, quick!" Cornelius whispered as he pressed on, trying to keep himself hidden in the dead grass.

Taking the longer route, it was several minutes before he reached the tree in which he'd made his home. But now the humans were storming the forest. He could hear the shrieks of animals being captured in nets and placed in bags throughout Dapplewood. He reached for the door, as a shadow loomed over him.

"Doctor Clark, Doctor Stacy, look at this," said one of the workers, "This badger's wearing clothes! And…and that's a little door, there in the tree!"

The two doctors turned, "Catch him, quickly!"

Cornelius gasped and opened the door, running inside.

"Furlings! Are you hidden?"

"Yes Cornelius," came Abigail from below the floor.

"Quick, the trap door!" Edgar shouted, "Get down here Cornelius!"

The roar of a chainsaw came from outside, and the little house shook as it began to cut through the wood. The humans were going to cut the whole tree down just to get at him. At that moment, Cornelius had to make a decision. The humans had seen him come in here, and when they cut the tree down, they would look for him. The furlings would stand a better chance of not being found themselves if he did not join them in the basement…if he let himself be captured. He hated to cause yet another loss to poor Michelle, but it was either that, or let them all be captured.

Soon splinters began to fly as the chainsaw cut through the tree. The children were screaming for Cornelius to join them. Hastily, Cornelius ran to his desk, opening some drawers. He took out some scrolls; maps, charts, plans for the flapper wingamathing, and some herbs for Michelle. They were things the children would need after he was gone. They were going to need to flee Dapplewood. The noise was too much, he would never be able to tell them with his voice, so he opened the trap door. For a split second the furlings thought he was climbing down to join them, but they were confused to see some scrolls drop down from the opening, and then for the door to close again. Cornelius hoped they were smart enough to know what to do. But he had faith in them.

There was a deafening crash as the tree fell to the ground. The whole house shook. Books flew from their shelves and sawdust made Cornelius cough and choke. The     ceiling was gone now, exposed to the sky above, and the towering humans stood above his study, amazed. Cornelius could do nothing more than look up in terror. Was he to share his parent's fate now?

"My God…are those books?" one man said, squatting down over Cornelius' home.

Dr. Clark looked to Dr. Stacy, "Penny, did NIMH ever even work with badgers?"

"I'd have to do some research," Dr. Penny Stacy answered, "But offhand, I have never heard of any experimentation being done on badgers at NIMH."

Dr. Clark turned to one of the workers.

"Grab the badger, and everything inside this tree," he said, "And remember, you’re never to divulge what you've seen here, under any circumstances."

With that, the worker reached down with a gloved hand and picked Cornelius up. Cornelius squirmed, but he couldn't put up a fight. He was dropped into a bag, as the other humans collected his books and furniture. The samples would be very valuable indeed.

Another worker approached the doctors.

"We've been seeing things like this all through the forest. Animals wearing clothing, as well as trees, burrows, all furnished with human-like technologies."

"Gather up anything you find," said Dr. Clark, "Animals and objects alike. Then I want you to destroy the burrows. We can't leave any evidence behind."

The humans began removing everything from Cornelius' home; the desk, the book shelves, the bed, everything. Luckily for the furlings, the workers left the trap door alone, not noticing it. The children huddled together, teary-eyed, but trying to remain absolutely silent.

"Man, this sure is a trip, ain't it Brock?" said one worker.

"Yeah man, it's like, something out of a cartoon," the other chuckled, "Anyway, I think we got everything here.'

As the two men left, the furlings let out a collective sigh. Michelle buried her face in Abigail's chest, sobbing quietly as Abigail hugged her tight.

"What do we do now?" Edgar whispered quietly, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.

"We need to wait until we know they're gone…" Abigail whispered, "Then we need to get to the flapper wingamathing, and get out of Dapplewood…"

"But…what about everyone else?" Russell asked, stifling tears himself, "What about our families?"

"I don't know," Abigail said, a tear rolling down her cheek as she thought of her father, "Maybe we'll search for anyone the humans forgot first. But we'll never know where the humans took everyone else…"

"Think there's any way we could rescue them if we did find out?" Russell asked.

"Where do humans even live?" Edgar wondered, still whispering.

A few moments passed, as the four of them thought, and grieved.

"Hey…maybe if we follow the black trail from the air, we'll find out," suggested Abigail.

After some consideration, Edgar and Russell nodded in agreement. Michelle whimpered lightly, and Abigail lightly rubbed her head.

"Don't worry Michelle…with a little teamwork, nothing is impossible," Abigail assured her.

So the four of them waited perhaps an hour more, until all they could hear outside was the chirping of birds. Thunder rolled in the distance, and the light patter of raindrops could be heard on the floor above them. Mustering up some courage, they gathered the scrolls and herbs Cornelius left them. Abigail was the first to climb the ladder and open up the trap door, cautiously peeking through it before opening it. She was baffled to see nothing but a hollow stump left of Cornelius' home. A raindrop hit her on the tip of her nose and she wrinkled it before shaking the drop off. She looked up at the dark gray sky above. There was no ceiling anymore. Everything had been taken. Only the stone fireplace was left intact, though it was cut off at the top. The other furlings followed behind Abigail as she carefully stepped over splinters and through damp sawdust. She walked up what was left of the stairs. Trees had been cut down around the forest, burrows stomped through and destroyed. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"We'll…we'll meet back here after we check our homes and look for survivors." Abigail said, trying to stay calm.

"What about me?" Michelle asked, her voice a numb monotone. She already knew her home had been destroyed and her only family taken away.

Abigail turned around and held out her hand, "You can come with me."

The furlings darted off in different directions, Abigail going a little slower so Michelle could keep up. She ran back through the dead grass and ferns, past the tree she used to always climb, splashing through puddles as the rain fell, before finally spotting her home in a hollow overturned log.

Or, what was left of her home.

The log was sawed in half, and everything that was inside was gone. Including her dad.

"Daddy?" she called out, her voice choking as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Daddy, are you there? Daddy!"

She fell to her knees and cried, rain soaking her clothes and her hair, as Michelle put a hand on her shoulder. Abigail turned to hug Michelle, sobbing and sniffling.

"We need to leave before the humans come back," Michelle said.

Abigail continued to cry. She had no family anymore. She felt so alone. Who knew what the humans were doing to her father? Why were they doing this? She cried uncontrollably for a few more minutes, before wiping her eyes and shakily getting back to her feet.

"I know how you feel.” Michelle said, holding Abigail's hand.

"L-let's go…" Abigail sniffled, her ears down.

When they got back to what was left of Cornelius' home, Edgar and Russell were already there, sitting at the former entrance, and by their saddened expressions, it didn't look like they'd had any more luck than Abigail had.

"Th-they're all gone…" said Russell, sniffling.

"Mama…" Edgar said, his voice cracking as he wiped his eyes.

"We're the only ones left in the forest," said Abigail sadly, "I wonder if the humans found the flapper wingamathing."

"Let's go look." said Edgar, getting to his feet.

The furlings walked toward the bush where they always parked the flying craft, right next to the willow tree, the bark of which apparently helped with Cornelius' rheumatism. Sure enough they found it, having fortunately been overlooked by the humans. It would have taken most of the day to build a new one, and it would have been much harder doing it in the rain.

"Get in, we'll follow the black trail," said Abigail as she climbed into the cockpit.

Edgar tossed the backpack in first, filled with scrolls, herbs and some raspberries, and climbed in alongside Russell. The two of them pulled Michelle up.

"I'll steer," Russell said.

"Michelle, you can help be our navigator and make sure we're following the black trail on the ground," said Abigail, "Edgar and I will be busy cranking the winder-uppers until we get high up enough."

"Okay Abby," Michelle said; despite her dismal mood she felt glad to be given an important job.

As Abigail and Edgar made it to the cranks and began rotating them, the leafy wings of the contraption started to flap like those of a bird, shaking water off and spraying the furlings making them wetter than they already were, and soon it hovered over the air and became airborne. The aircraft glided forward as Russell steered it up past the trees and into the sky. Michelle peeked over the edge, looking at the forest below.

"Oh, I think I see the trail," she said, pointing, "Go that way."

Russell could see it too, "Alright, navigator. Let's see where it takes us.”

Chapter 3

The furlings glided through the air in the flapper wingamathing for hours before the sun finally began to set through pink, parting clouds. The rain eventually began to let up. Once they were able to lock the wings in place, Abigail joined Michelle in looking over the side of the aircraft, as Edgar updated their map to include places they hadn't charted yet. But with the sun going down, they thought it best to land the craft somewhere so they could forage for more food and get some sleep. They'd already gone through their meager food supplies.

"How far are we from Dapplewood?" Abigail asked Edgar, looking over his shoulder.

"I'd say we've almost tied our record now for the furthest we've ever been," he answered, "But the black trail hasn't taken us to any humans yet."

"We just need to keep going," Abigail answered, looking at the map, "Of course, after we stop to camp out somewhere."

Abigail looked at the regions around the black trail. She blinked when she noticed they weren't far from Oakdale meadow. That was where the furlings had traveled to get the lungwort and eyebright to save Michelle's life. The natives hadn't been very friendly, save for a single field mouse who'd befriended them and believed in them. Abigail missed him, though she wouldn't admit it to the others out of embarrassment.

"Why don't we go to Oakdale meadow?" Abigail asked.

"What, so we can get made fun of by squirrels again?" Russell asked.

"They have things to eat there," Abigail protested, "And a place to sleep where we won't have to worry about predators."

"But you remember how every rodent in the meadow fought over one acorn, don't you?" Edgar reminded her, "And the squirrels said we were only there to steal their food. I don't think there's a ton of food there."

"Oh, yeah…" Abigail scratched her head, "Well…we at least have someone there who might help us."

Edgar didn't remember who she was talking about, but the memory crept into Russell's mind.

"You mean that mouse boy who wouldn't stop breathing down our necks the whole time we built the flapper wingamathing?" he asked.

"His name was Willy," Abigail said, folding her arms, "He was the only one that believed in us. And right now he is the only one we know outside of Dapplewood that would care to help us."

"I guess maybe you're right," Russell sighed. Of all the individuals they had met on their first journey out of the forest, Willy was the only one who might be remotely helpful. The choir birds weren't much of a help besides telling them where the meadow was, and everyone else they'd encountered was either a bully, or a rodent-eating one-eyed owl.

"It might be fun to rub it in that one squirrel's face that we were able to build a real flying machine," Edgar said with a grin, "We left too fast last time for that."

"Let's set course for Oakdale then," said Russell, turning the steering wheel and heading east of the black trail, "Remember where the trail is, you guys."

"I've got it on the map," said Edgar.

"I can remember without it," Michelle boasted.

The aircraft glided downwards, across the tops of trees and over open grassland. Before long, as the sun was on the horizon, they crossed a pond and spotted rocky red cliffs up ahead. This seemed like the place. Abigail and Edgar took their places at the winder-uppers and Russell circled around until they lost enough altitude to make a safe, smooth landing in the grass.

"So this is Oakdale," said Michelle, standing on her tip-toes to see outside the cockpit, "It's about how I imagined it."

Not far from where they'd landed, an opportunistic field mouse hid in the upper branches of the lone oak tree that dominated the field, watching as a red squirrel gathered acorns for himself.

"I'll make sure those dirty no-good mice don't see a single acorn from of our tree," said the squirrel to himself.

"Alright, steady…" he whispered, taking aim with a pebble.

With careful precision, he threw the pebble down, knocking the pile of acorns out of the squirrel's hands.

"What the-hey!" the red squirrel shouted, "Willy!"

Willy scurried down the bark of the tree on all fours, "Sorry Waggs, they're mine now!"

"Why you worm-tailed buck-toothed little thief!" Waggs shouted, climbing down after the nimble gray field mouse in the blue shirt.

"You kiss your ma with that mouth?" Willy chuckled, reaching the roots of the tree and snagging a couple acorns.

"I hate mice!" Waggs yelled, as Willy darted off with three of the acorns, "All a bunch of no-good thieves!"

Waggs quickly gathered up the acorns that Willy hadn't taken, for fear that if he didn't, the gophers would get them. Willy ran up the gentle slope, chuckling and taking a bite out of one of the acorns, holding the other two in one arm.

"Dinner is served," he said with satisfaction, before reaching the top of the hill.

His jaw dropped when he saw the flapper wingamathing parked in the grass not too far off. He paused for a moment, blinking to make sure it wasn't a mirage.

"She came back!" Willy exclaimed with a laugh, before darting down the hill toward the aircraft, "Abigail!"

Abigail's ears perked up as she climbed out of the cockpit. She turned around and peered through the grass.

"Who's that?" Michelle asked.

Willy emerged from the grass. Abigail gave a bashful smile, looking down and tracing her toes across the dirt with her arms folded behind her.

"Hi Willy…" she said softly.

"Abigail, I thought I wouldn't see you again," he said, coming closer, still holding the acorns.

Abigail rubbed her upper arm and looked to the side shyly, "Well, I did want to come back to Oakdale meadow one day…to see you, I mean."

Russell rolled his eyes, "So that's what we're doing here, huh? To come see your boyfriend?"

"So the truth comes out," teased Edgar.

Abigail frowned, turning red from embarrassment, "Shut up, you two."

Willy blushed as well, before looking down at his acorns, "Hey uh, you hungry?"

Abigail looked back at Willy and nodded, "We all are."

"I don't have enough acorns for all of you, but I can give two away." Willy said, giving Abigail two of his acorns.

"Thanks," she said, looking back at her friends, "Who should get them?"

"Me!" Russell said instantly.

"I'm real hungry too," said Michelle.

"Edgar?"

"Eh, I'll hold out for something else," he answered.

Abigail handed the acorns over. Willy watched, having wanted Abigail to have one but admiring her selflessness. He also noticed an extra member of their team this time.

"Hey, is she the little badger girl you were trying to save?" Willy asked.

Abigail nodded, "This is Michelle. We got the herbs to her just in time."

"That's great to hear, I always wondered what happened," Willy said, smiling at Michelle, who put her acorn down and gave him a shy curtsey, "So uh, what exactly brings you to the meadow, huh?"

Abigail's ears went down and she looked away, "We have no where else to go…"

"Dapplewood got attacked by humans," said Russell, biting into his acorn.

"Yeah," Edgar said sadly, "They kidnapped everyone, and then they destroyed our homes."

"Humans?" Willy was shocked, "I've only ever heard of those in stories, but they say that humans built the water cave that flows into the pond a long time ago."

Willy motioned to a metal drainage pipe which flowed into the pond, supported by cinder blocks. The furlings remembered well their trip down the sewer where they were washed through that drain.

"They also say that humans have something to do with the Yellow Dragons that drained the marsh," Willy explained.

"Humans did that?" Russell asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me," said Edgar.

Willy scratched his head, "So let me get this straight, the humans just waltzed into the forest and took everyone away? Why would they do a thing like that?"

"Don't ask us," Russell sighed.

"We're trying to follow them," Abigail explained, "We know that they sped away inside their monsters-on-wheels along a big black trail. But it was getting late, we were really hungry and we needed a place to sleep. So I thought that we should come here. You’re our only friend outside of the forest."

Willy gave her a look of sympathy, "So you guys are on a pretty big adventure? I'll see if I can help. I'll take you guys to my burrow. It'll be a little cramped but we'll manage. I've got some seeds and oats stored away for emergencies."

"Is it far?" Edgar asked.

"Nah, it's just over the hill, along the shore of the pond. I'll show you."

The group headed through the grass and over the gentle slope, Russell grabbing their supply pack and bringing it with. Willy led them down to the shore, and past the sand there was a hole in the grassy dirt. They were being spied on by Waggs and some of his squirrel friends, who were originally going to take his acorns back before the sight of the furlings made him forget that goal.

"Did you hear that guys?" Waggs asked, "Come on."

Willy turned, seeing his old foe marching down the hill towards them.

"Uh oh. What do you want?"

"Well if it isn't those little punks from the forest?" Waggs said, "Why'd you come back?"

"None of your business," Edgar replied.

"I already overheard you guys," Waggs said, "Dapplewood was attacked by some humans and now these little worm-munchers are gonna lead them here!"

"Are not!" Willy snapped.

"What if they were followed, huh? Do you wanna be gassed? Or trapped in some cage heading for who knows where?"

"We weren't followed," Abigail contested, "The humans were gone when we left. We checked. If they knew about us we would have never made it this far."

"Yeah well, it's easy for you to feel comfortable, you've got that flying machine. If the humans come to the meadow you'll zoom out of here and leave us high and dry just like you did to your own families, right?"

"Shut up!" Edgar yelled, making Waggs take a step back as the mole confronted him, "You probably don't even know what it's like losing your family and home! But none of this has anything to do with you. And by morning we'll be gone anyway. So why don't you just shut your mouth before I shove an acorn down it?"

Abigail and Russell looked at each other, while Michelle watched curiously. They'd never seen Edgar this mad before.

Waggs was taken aback, before balling his fists and frowning at Edgar, "Do you wanna make something of it, mole? I'd like to see you try to make me shut up, worm-eater."

"You want me to?"

Waggs gave a smug grin, "Ha! What would you do, dig and fling dirt at me? Mud-munching mole."

Edgar charged at Waggs. The stress of everything that had happened had finally made him explode. He knocked Waggs down to the ground with a shoulder to the gut and mounted him, punching him in the face repeatedly until Abigail and Willy ran over to try and pull him off. Edgar struggled, but after they lifted him off Waggs scurried away with a black eye and a bloodied nose.

"Y-you just wait!" he stammered as his other two friends ran up to him, "I-I'll be back! Stupid worm-eater!"

As he ran off, Abigail turned to Edgar, "What's gotten into you?"

Edgar panted, shivering with rage, and he yanked his arm from her grasp, "I wasn't in any mood to be told I abandoned my family."

"I thought that was pretty cool," said Michelle, "He won't be back after that I betcha. Mean old squirrel."

"He's had that coming for a long time anyway," said Willy.

The group then silently went to Willy's burrow. Abigail didn't like knowing that the grief Edgar was feeling was making him capable of things like that. But she could hardly blame him. Just twenty-four hours ago they were all having dinner with their families, and though the forest was still devastated, life wasn't too bad overall. So much had changed in such a short time.

"Alright, I know the place is small but make yourselves at home," Willy said.

The burrow looked like Willy had dug it himself. There was a main chamber carved through the dirt, just tall enough for Willy to walk through, and a bed of grass and cotton pulled straight from a plant.

"Do you live alone, Willy?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah, since I turned 13 a few months back," Willy said, "That's the age us field mice strike it out on our own you know. My Ma's got twenty other kids to look out for after all, I can't hang around there all my life."

"Twenty?" Abigail was surprised; this wasn't the way life was in Dapplewood at all.

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," said Russell, knowing what being part of a big family was like.

"Where are all the chairs and tables?" Michelle asked, "Don't you have any books?"

Willy gave her a confused look, "Tables? Books? What are those?"

"I think things are a lot different outside the forest," Abigail explained to Michelle.

"Why, what's it like inside the forest?" Willy asked.

"Well I…um…for starters, except in Russell's case, parents don't usually have that many kids, and we stay living with them for longer."

"We also have furniture," Michelle interjected, "And books. And candles."

"Huh. Well uh, I've got food stored in the back chamber, help yourselves."

Remembering how hungry they were the group ventured into the next room, finding a small pile of seeds and leaves. As they feasted, Abigail began to ponder whether or not Willy's simple way of life was abnormal. Or…was it the forest that was abnormal? Was that why the humans took everything? Because Dapplewood was different?

Chapter 4:

Back at the lab that night, Dr. Penny Stacy was seated at a boxy black-screen computer monitor, clacking away at a keyboard and browsing NIMH's database. She was working overtime again when she'd have rather been home. Her boss, Dr. Strauss, loomed over her shoulder. He'd been pressing for results ever since they arrived back at the institute.

"Did you find anything on badgers yet?" he asked.

"No, not a thing," she answered, scrolling down the screen, "Mice, rats, squirrels, dogs, cats, monkeys…but never badgers. Not in this facility. Nor have there been any hedgehogs or moles for that matter."

"Hmm…" he stood up straight, "The government is going to want some answers regarding this, Dr. Stacy. And I want it verified that this anomaly had nothing to do with that rat incident. Then, I want to know exactly why we have sapient rodents living out in the middle of the woods."

"Think it could be the work of someone outside of NIMH?" Dr. Stacy asked, "Some disgruntled former employee?"

"I have contacted everyone formerly involved with the project," he answered, "We'll be questioning them over the next few days, seeing if perhaps they shared the formula to those injections with any other organization that engages in animal testing. In the meantime I want you to do a little research. Look into everyone, down to the most crackpot mad scientist, who could have been responsible for this."

"Yes sir," she said, "I'll keep researching."

Honestly, she felt like she was becoming a crackpot mad scientist sometimes, she thought with a sigh, trying to block out the sounds the animals were making in the lab as they were examined, probed, prodded. Dr. Clark was at the next table, reading one of the books they'd recovered under a microscope, turning the pages with tweezers.

"I still can't get over this," he said, "The terminology in this is a bit unscientific and literal, but this is functionally a textbook on how gravity works. In English!"

Penny looked over at the microscope. How could any of this be real? She had to know. Not just because Dr. Strauss was pressuring her. The drive was something more than that.

Abigail awoke that morning to the sound of Michelle coughing and gasping for breath. The rest of the furlings were stirred awake too.

"She's having an asthma attack!" Abigail explained, "Quick, someone get the herbs!"

Russell reached for the supply bag and rummaged through the scrolls, finding the herbs wrapped up at the bottom, "Which one does she need?"

"I think they both work," said Edgar, taking some yerba santa leaves from Russell and bringing them to Abigail as poor Michelle continued to have an uncontrollable coughing fit.

"What do we do with them?" Russell asked.

Abigail folded one of the leaves and put it into Michelle's mouth. Normally Cornelius would grind them up in a bowl but they didn't have that now. Michelle chewed, shakily breathing and letting the fumes from the leaves open her air passages again.

"What’s happening to her?" Willy asked.

"Ever since the gas leak she's had breathing problems," Abigail said sadly, stroking Michelle's head as she panted and caught her breath, "Cornelius calls it asthma."

"Th-thank you Abby…" Michelle said weakly, coughing again, but only once.

"Shhh," Abigail hushed her, picking up Michelle's glasses from the ground and putting them over her eyes for her, "You're welcome, but wait until you feel better before you talk."

"That gas leak must have been terrible." Willy said, sitting up in his bed.

Abigail looked to him and nodded sadly.

Edgar walked out to the entrance of Willy's burrow, "The sun's starting to come up anyway. You guys wanna get going again?"

"I guess we'd better, so we can cover enough ground until dark," Russell said.

Willy seemed contemplative, "Say uh, I was thinking…you guys want an extra passenger to um, help take care of things?"

"Huh? Like you?" Edgar asked.

"Well yeah," Willy said, looking to Abigail.

"This isn't a sight-seeing tour," said Russell, "We aren’t sure where we're going, we're just gonna follow that trail until it takes us to the humans."

"I know it's gonna be dangerous," Willy said, "I just, well…I wanna do something besides steal acorns all day. I want to help you guys."

"I think he should come," said Abigail, "I mean who knows when we might need an extra hand?”

"Cranking the winder-uppers does get tiring after a while," said Edgar, "If you come you can help with that while one of us rests."

"We can take shifts," Abigail suggested.

"Thanks you guys," Willy smiled, "We can bring what food I have left too. And I'll stand by you until you find your families."

"See guys, I told you he'd help us," Abigail said with a smug grin.

"Yeah yeah," said Russell.

"Let's get everything gathered up," said Edgar.

Abigail helped Michelle to her feet and grabbed the supply bag, filling it with as many seeds as it could carry.

"We'll have to make this last," she said, eyeing Russell.

"I'll do my best," Russell said sheepishly.

"Okay, let's go track those humans down," Abigail said.

They exited the burrow into the early morning light, Willy stopping to look back at it for a moment before turning around, hurrying to catch up with the others. They found the flapper wingamathing right where they left it.

"I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to fly," said Willy as he climbed in.

"Now you will," Abigail said with a smile, picking Michelle up and helping her inside.

Edgar and Russell climbed in as well, Russell taking the steering wheel as usual.

"So uh, Willy, you wanna get us into the air with the winder-uppers?" Edgar asked with a grin.

"Aw, can't I look over the side while we're going up?"

Abigail giggled a bit, "Just let him, he can take over once we're up in the air."

"I can see Abigail's gonna let you do whatever you want," Edgar griped, taking one of the winders.

"I promise I'll help when we get in the air, like Abby said," Willy assured him as he excitedly joined Michelle in gazing over the edge.

"Alright, crank the winder-uppers," said Russell.

Abigail and Edgar put their muscle into it as the wings began to flap, and a steady breeze helped them go airborne. Willy giggled excitedly as they lifted off the ground, the meadow that had been his whole world since he was born falling further beneath him as they ascended.

"Woo! See ya suckers!" Willy called out as they passed the oak tree, causing a few squirrels to turn their heads.

The makeshift aircraft turned East again when it gained enough altitude.

"Alright, I'm locking the wings," said Russell, pulling a wooden lever to lock the wings in place as the aircraft glided through the air.

"Amazing up here, isn't it?" Abigail said, coming to stand beside Willy.

"I've never experienced anything like this," he said, "So this is what it's like to be a bird."

"Okay, we're looking for a black trail," Edgar said on the other side of the flapper wingamathing.

Michelle stood on her tip toes to see over the side, "It was a little further up…ah, there's the trail."

"Okay Russell, we're following it north," said Edgar.

"Got it," Russell said, turning the aircraft right and steering over the black trail once again.

The trail was winding below them, and steering to follow it was a tough job. Every now and then they'd see a monster-on-wheels speeding along. But none of them looked like the ones that had taken their families away.

"They look like little beetles from up here," Michelle remarked.

"Just be glad you're not on the trail itself," said Russell.

"What are those things?" Willy wondered.

"Cornelius thought they were some kind of machine," said Abigail.

"And um, we're looking for a couple in particular?"

"Yeah, big white ones," said Edgar, "Kinda square-shaped."

"Except at this point who knows where they might be," Russell sighed, "They've had all night to speed off to who knows where."

There was a silence for a few moments. Was this whole mission hopeless?

"We're not going to get anywhere thinking like that," said Abigail, "We need to just find out where the humans live and start looking for clues. Maybe someone will help us."

"You think any animals live among the humans?" Edgar asked.

"I guess we don't know that," Abigail answered.

"They'd probably all have died by now," said Michelle grimly.

"Don't say things like that Michelle," Abigail scolded.

"Well she has a point," Russell argued, "We live way far away from any humans and look what's happened to us."

"She doesn't need to be encouraged to think such depressing thoughts," Abigail retorted, "And it's not good for us either. I know my daddy's out there, and we're gonna find him, and all of your families too, and Cornelius. You haven't given up hope, have you?"

Edgar looked down. Russell was silent, steering the plane. Michelle sat down and hugged her knees. Willy fidgeted with the hem of his shirt and looked over at Abigail, not sure what to say in the awkward silence. Abigail was facing a losing battle, trying to lift her friend's spirits. She sighed, and turned around to gaze at the forest beneath them.

"It may seem hopeless, and maybe it is, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try," Edgar said finally.

"Yeah, kinda what I'm feeling too," said Russell, "It's not like we can really do anything else. We can't go back to Dapplewood because humans might get us, we can't stay in the meadow because everyone hates us there. We've just got to go search for a needle in a haystack and hope that we somehow get lucky and find it."

Michelle sniffled and buried her face in her arms, beginning to cry.

"Well, I guess at least that's better than giving up," Abigail said softly, her ears down as she stared at the ground far below them.

Willy lightly put a hand on her shoulder, "We'll find your dad. If you guys can team up and build a real flying machine, you can do anything."

Abigail looked away and scoffed. Russell was absolutely right. This mission only had about a one in a million chance of succeeding. Abigail blinked back some tears. Then, through her teary eyes, she noticed the black trail splitting off into two below.

"Uh, guys? Which way do we go?" she asked.

Russell turned the Flapper Wingamathing around and flew in a wide circle around the fork in the road The rest of the furlings looked over the edge.

"Great, just great," said Edgar, "As if this whole thing wasn't impossible enough, now we've got a fifty percent chance of going the wrong way too!"

"Maybe we really should just give up," Russell groaned.

Michelle was beginning to sob. But no one had the words to comfort her now.

"No, we have to keep going," said Abigail, "Just…just pick one. We might be wrong but…you've got to just pick one."

"Um, alright," Russell said, "I'm gonna guess…right."

"It's as good a guess as any," said Edgar miserably.

Russell nodded and steered the aircraft right, following the black trail, hoping in their hearts that this was the same way the vans from NIMH had gone. And tragically, this would be the first of countless forks in the black trail.

Chapter 5

The day after their excursion into Dapplewood, Dr. Penny Stacy was led into the bowels of the Glenbrook Mental Asylum by one of their lead psychologists, Dr. Jenkins, following one of the only leads she was able to dig up when it came to who might know something about the intelligent animals in Dapplewood.

"We hope from what we've shown you so far that we've successfully demonstrated that our facility provides the best care it can to its patients," said Dr. Jenkins, somewhat nervous after having someone from the National Institute of Mental Health drop by for a surprise inspection, "However, the ones you're about to see were certified as criminally insane. We've done all we can to help them, but, well…"

"I understand, doctor," Dr. Stacy said, making notes on her clipboard as they walked down a dimly lit hallway, past padded rooms that had been fitted with bullet proof glass on one wall for observation.

The inmates wore straight jackets, either muttering to themselves incoherently, rocking back and forth against the padded walls, or simply sitting stoically, leering at Dr. Stacy as she walked by.

"The inmate you requested to psychoanalyze and observe at the institute is right this way," said Dr. Jenkins, "Last cell down on the left side."

They continued to walk down the hallway until coming to the cell. In it was a very short man in a straight jacket, red-headed but balding, with a mustache.

"The rodents, they're smart I tell you, smart!" he muttered, staring at the wall, "Always, always wrecking my plans!"

"Professor Norton Nimnul?" Dr. Stacy asked.

He turned his head with a crazed scowl, "Who's there? Are you here to take my shrinking ray again? I'm going to shrink the art museum and steal all of its contents! Hahaha!"

"This is Patient # 34829, Doctor Norton Nimnul," said Dr. Jenkins, "He has been incarcerated several times for using his inventions to commit bank robberies and pull museum heists, among other things. He was finally found to be clinically insane after being captured at a police station."

"It wasn't me! It was the rodents! They showed up like they always do. They got me sent to prison, and then I was sent here, because nobody believed me. Those vermin, they always ruin everything!"

Dr. Stacy's eyes narrowed, "His case file mentioned that he also experimented on rodents, is that correct?"

"Well one of his crimes involved using hundreds of mice running on wheels to power a generator of some sort," answered Dr. Jenkins, "The guy goes on and on about this imagined group of rodents that conspire to foil all of his crimes. We think they might be some sort of psychological manifestation of his guilty conscience."

"Interesting," Dr. Stacy said, "Was any evidence found pointing to the presence or involvement of rodents in his heists, besides the one you mentioned?"

"Not at his last one, though he was once found to be training mice in his lab to rob a bank. Why, is that important?"

"NIMH is currently looking into any cases of unauthorized animal testing we can find. Plus Dr. Nimnul presents a fascinating psychological case which we'd like to study further. Have him brought into the van outside."

"Very well, Dr. Stacy."

"The rodents are all intelligent!" Nimnul shouted, "They're as smart as humans I tell you! Just as smart as humans!"

——————

The furlings munched on their lunchtime rations as the day wore on. The black trail went on forever, and it split over and over. They had no idea where they were going. They only knew that they had to press on.

"Another split down below," Russell grumbled.

"Um…go left this time," said Edgar, trying to keep track of where they'd been by drawing the trail on the map.

The flapper wingamathing cleared a hill, and below them, the furlings beheld a very foreign, unfamiliar sight; but one that they'd been looking for. At the bottom of the wooded hills the forest simply stopped. Here the black trail was arranged in a grid. And around this grid were strange buildings. Something the furlings had never seen before.

"I think we finally found out where the humans live," said Abigail.

"What are those things?" Willy asked in wonder.

"I don't know," said Edgar, looking at the buildings, "Maybe the humans built those big rectangle things."

"I'll take us down lower," said Russell, and the aircraft swooped downward, taking them along the black trail, which was lined by trees on either side, arranged in perfect rows. Alongside the trail they also saw monsters-on-wheels, but they were stationary, with no humans inside. Michelle remarked that the monsters must come here to sleep.

"The trees are so strange here…" Abigail remarked, looking upwards at them. Michelle looked upwards as well, with curiosity, "And…and what are those black vines?"

Between the leafy trees that lined the trail sometimes the furlings noticed a tall tree with no leaves at all; instead they had strange white cylinders on top, and twin black vines, connecting them to the next odd tree.

"Didn't we bump into something like that on the way back from the meadow last time?" Russell asked.

"You mean when our wing caught on fire and we crashed back in Dapplewood." Abigail said, "You're right Russell, they must have those strange trees in the forest somewhere, but I never saw one up close."

"Cornelius would know what they are I betcha," said Michelle.

They turned their attention to the buildings behind the trees. Everyone but Willy recognized doors and windows on them, things that the homes in Dapplewood also had. But all of them were much bigger.

"This has gotta be where humans live," said Abigail, "What else is that big?"

Their suspicions were confirmed with the sighting of a young human boy riding on a contraption with two wheels, an older human man operating a noisy device which cut the grasses in front of his home, a human woman trimming bushes.

"We did it you guys!" Abigail said excitedly, "We found out where the humans live! Now we just have to look for white, block-shaped monsters-on-wheels."

Their guesswork had paid off. Their families must have been taken to this strange place. They kept vigilant and watched the monsters-on-wheels as they passed directly beneath them, following trail from above. They came in all colors, and many shapes. They stopped whenever they came to a spot where two black trails intersected, and sometimes they would slow to a stop in front of a human home, as the humans inside stepped out. The furlings finally realized that the 'monsters' really were nothing more than advanced machines, as Cornelius had thought. But just then, as they were taking in the awe of their alien surroundings, the furlings heard a faint tune in the air.

"What are those…those sounds?" Willy asked, baffled.

Ahead, Russell spied a white rectangular truck. It looked similar to the ones they'd seen pull up by where the gas leak occurred.

"You guys, it's the one we're looking for!" Russell exclaimed.

Abigail and Edgar looked over Russell's shoulder, as Willy looked over the side and Michelle stood on her tip-toes to see.

"It's white and rectangular alright," said Abigail, "But what's with that music?"

"I dunno," said Russell, "But I'm gonna follow it and try to land on top of it. If our families are in there we've got to rescue them."

"Right, it's not going very fast so we should be able to catch up to it," said Abigail.

Russell steered the flapper wingamathing forward, and as the monster-on-wheels stopped at an intersection, he made a landing. It was fortunate that it wasn't traveling as fast as they usually saw the monsters travel, or else they'd have been blown clean off. The music was loud, Michelle kept her hands over her ears.

"We're on!" said Edgar, "So, how do we get in?"

"Let's wait for it to stop somewhere," said Abigail.

"Then what?" asked Willy.

"Some of us will get out and try to find a way inside," Abigail explained, "Let's have three of us go, then someone will need to stay with Michelle and fly the Flapper Wingamathing for our getaway. Get the rope out of the backpack."

"Why can't I go?" Michelle whined.

"We need to keep you safe," she said, patting Michelle's head, who crossed her arms angrily, "We can't risk our navigator, right?"

"I'll go," said Willy, wanting to be of use.

"Can I come?" Russell asked, "Flying this thing is getting kinda exhausting. Edgar can fly it, can't he?"

"I've flown it before,' said Edgar, digging through the backpack for some rope.

"Okay, and then I'm gonna come with," said Abigail.

They rode on back of the monster for some time, until they spied some human children running after it. It pulled to the side of the road. The furlings watched this with confusion. What would drive human children to run after such a horrifying machine? But, as it stopped, Abigail, Willy and Russell stepped out of the flapper wingamathing.

"You stay here with Michelle, Edgar," Abigail said, carrying some rope wrapped around her shoulder, "We'll be back."

The three of them peeked over the side, as a window opened up. An adult human greeted the group of children that gathered in front of the window, and then they began exchanging green slips of paper for some sort of snack. The furlings wouldn't have thought it was food until they saw the children eating it.

"I wonder if that's any good," said Russell hungrily.

"I wonder if this is the monster-on-wheels that we're looking for," said Abigail, beginning to doubt it.

"Only one way to be sure, huh?" said Willy, "We need to get inside. But how?"

"One of us stays here and holds the rope," said Abigail, "Then two of us can swing through the window, after the humans stop paying attention."

"Okay, think you're strong enough to hold the rope?" Abigail asked Russell.

"Sure," he answered.

"Why, you think I'm too weak?" Willy asked with a frown.

Abigail giggled, "Well, you're smaller, less robust…"

Willy flexed his bicep, "Feel that. It's rock solid."

Abigail giggled more, and reached out to squeeze his upper arm, "Oh, yes, it's like a rock. I'll be very impressed with you if you can do this."

She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and he blushed.

"Okay okay, so he'll do it," said Russell irritably, "We've got to go now, the kids have gone."

Abigail handed Willy the rope, and he unwound it, tossing it over the edge but grabbing the end, "Okay you guys, it's now or never."

Abigail went first, climbing down the rope as Willy strained to hold the rope tight. She swung a little in the wind, but eventually, landed on the window sill. The human was at the driver's seat, counting his money. This was her first glimpse inside one of these monsters. The inside was cold, and dominated by a huge shiny box in the middle, behind two seats at the front. Maybe their families were inside that silver box?

Soon Abigail was followed by Russell. It was hard on Willy holding the rope up for him, but he managed.

"Is this the right one?" Russell asked when he got there.

"I don't know, but we need to act now while the human isn't looking," Abigail whispered, "Here, hop onto that big box, and we'll try to open it. If there's nothing in it, we'll leave."

Russell nodded, getting a running start and jumping onto the big shiny box. He was followed by Abigail. The box was cold to the touch, and it hummed and vibrated beneath their feet like it was alive. Finding the door, the two of them kneeled down to try and lift it, grunting because of the heavy weight. Cold air leaked out of it as they did. Finally, with some effort, they gained enough leverage and pushed the flap open with a clang. But the monster-on-wheels gave a roar, and started to move, the music starting up again. Russell lost his footing and fell inside, with the cold boxes.

"Russell!"

He landed on a cardboard box, sitting up rubbing his arms for warmth. It was freezing.

"Russell, open one of the boxes," Abigail said, "We need to know for sure if…if our families are in this strange thing."

Russell nodded, and opened one of the boxes rather easily as it was closed with a flap. But, inside were only more of those colored ice treats. Abigail's ears went down and she wiped her eye with the back of her hand, but Russell gave a smile, pulling one of them out. It was covered in a strange transparent wrapping, a material he'd never seen or felt before.

"Come on Russell, now's not the time for a snack."

"I just wanna see what it tastes like," Russell said, opening the top of the wrapper and then pulling it back with his hands, nibbling on the tip of the soft blue ice, "This is delicious! Abigail you've gotta try some!"

"The others are probably worried about us," she warned, "We have to go, before the human notices us."

"Oh alright," he said, taking one more large bite out of it before climbing another box, "Here, pull me up."

Abigail strained to pull the overweight hedgehog out of the cold box. When she did, the rumbling of the monster-on-wheels made it hard to keep their balance. Russell, regaining his balance, got a running start and jumped to the window sill, rolling into a ball when he landed. Next was Abigail. Taking a breath she leaped, but nearly fell short of the ledge, clinging to it. Russell rushed over and helped pull her up.

"Ice cream! Ice cream!" came the excited cries of human children from outside. The vehicle slowed down.

"Come on, we need to go," said Russell, grabbing the rope.

Above, Willy felt the tug and tightened his grip. Russell and Abigail frantically climbed as the monster stopped on the side of the trail.

"Woah look, this truck's got mice!" exclaimed one of the kids.

They made it to the roof as soon as the adult human came to the window, confused to see a couple parents lead their struggling children away. But before he noticed the cause, Abigail and Russell pulled themselves up to the roof, collapsing in exhaustion, Willy panting and blowing on his hands, suffering rope burn.

"So? What did you find?" Michelle asked, "We were pretty worried when the thing started to move. You didn't get found by the humans didja? Huh?"

Abigail caught her breath, "We…we were almost…”

Feeling a sob well up in her chest, Abigail staved it off, sniffled and wiped a tear her cheek, shaking her head, “L-let's get out of here…"

Edgar sighed, "I had a feeling this was the wrong one. Come on in, quick."

There was a scream down below after the man tried to hand a child the ice cream bar Russell had partly eaten, confirming suspicions that the truck was infested. Abigail, Russell and Willy hurriedly climbed into the flapper wingamathing and worked the winder-uppers, taking to the air as children gawked. Once reaching a safe altitude they locked the wings, and Abigail and Willy slumped against the edge of the cockpit together, worn out.

"Guess we keep looking huh?" Russell asked.

Abigail nodded, disheartened. Willy blew on his hands due to the painful rope burn. Abigail leaned against him.

"You really were able to hold the rope, with both of us on it. You're so strong."

Willy blushed a bit, "Aw, it was nothing."

After resting up a bit the furlings peered over the edges of the flapper wingamathing, searching for the next monster-on-wheels that looked like it might be the one that had their families.

Chapter 6

Thorn Valley was a place of peace for the rats that had taken up residence there 11 years ago. Underground, buried beneath a thorn thicket at the side of a river, it was very isolated from the troubles and tribulations of the outside world. No one ever ventured in, and no one ever left. Only one mouse, at a farm not too far off, knew anything about it's location, and she wasn't going to tell a soul.

In eleven years, none of the survivors from NIMH seemed to have aged a day, and their offspring had a similar longevity. And yet, they continued to change. They were rapidly reaching a higher intelligence, even exceeding that of a human. Justin attributed it to the awakening of parts of their brains that had fallen into disuse among feral rats and mice. Or maybe it was just a mutation, brought on by the chemicals they had been injected with. All he knew was that Nicodemus' strange powers; divination, telekinesis, among others, were passing onto him now. It hadn't started all at once. Even early on, he would get visions, flickers from the future. But now he was able to tap into the power of crystals to augment his mental powers. He had, in all aspects, truly become Nicodemus' successor.

But lately, his visions had become more troubling, those visions involving the tribulations of a young woodmouse and her friends, and those of the scientists from NIMH, always probing, dissecting, tormenting.

There was a knock on the door to Justin's chambers. His ears perked up as he sat at his desk. It was what he'd been waiting to hear.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and Mr. Ages walked in, escorted by Brutus.

"Greetings, my dear Justin," the old mouse said with a bow, still feeling obligated to be polite to someone he knew quite well before he'd earned such a high position, "Now what is it you wanted to see me about?"

"I'll explain in a bit," Justin said, standing up, "You're excused, Brutus."

The huge lug of a rat grunted, and closed the door.

"Well?" Mr. Ages asked.

"I know that your time is valuable, Mr. Ages," Justin said, "But I didn't know who else I could discuss this with before presenting my visions of the outside world to the council. I don't think my visions are going to go over well. In fact I don't think they'll go over well with you either, but you'll at least listen."

"Oh my, that serious are they?"

"Indeed they are. Whether or not they'll have any serious ramifications for Thorn Valley is still debatable though, which is why I am afraid they'll be dismissed."

"The problems of the mice and rats of the outside world are their own problems of course, not ours," said Mr. Ages, "But you must have some legitimate reason for concern if you brought me all the way down here."

"It's NIMH, Mr. Ages," Justin said gravely, "They're still searching for us."

Mr. Ages gave a look of worry, "Yes? Are they close now?"

"Not yet. What worries me though is the animals that they're victimizing in search of us, and the ones they could go on to victimize as they get closer to the truth. They've stumbled on to things no human has ever taken notice of before. They're becoming aware. Aware of the actual intelligence of the animals around them. As you well know, feral animals far outnumber the other, more sophisticated ones like ourselves. Up until recently humans thought we were all like that. We survivors of NIMH, and as well as their most recent victims, are the only ones who know exactly what the humans would do if faced with the truth; that they are not alone in this world when it comes to their sapience."

"They'd make sure they were the only sapient ones in the world, that's what they'd do," Mr. Ages said with a cold cynicism, "What's this all about, Justin? What's going on out there?"

"NIMH found another community of intelligent rodents while searching for us. Someplace in the forest. The name Dapplewood comes to my mind. The scientists took everyone when they found the rodents living in human-like dwellings, with books and other technological advances. Nothing near what we have in Thorn Valley of course, but certainly more than any human is used to seeing out of an animal. Only a small group of children survived."

"Hm, I suppose it is a bit odd, creatures deep in the forest being smart enough to read. Perhaps somebody from the city migrated there a long time ago, bringing these human ideas with them. It's a pity. But, we're better off for it. If NIMH thinks they have found Thorn Valley, let them keep on thinking that."

Justin fully expected such a selfish response from Mr. Ages. It was likely the same thing that the council was going to say. But one of the curses of being in the heightened mental state Justin had now achieved, was a deep sense of compassion. He no longer had the luxury of just sweeping it under the rug when he knew how much others were suffering, or were going to suffer.

"We aren't off the hook yet, Mr. Ages. The presence of other animals like badgers and hedgehogs meant that it couldn't be us, and NIMH knows this. This could be the start of something far worse. Something that could effect every intelligent rodent in the world. It's like you said. They'll try to make sure they are the only sapient ones on Earth."

"Yes now that would be terrible, but we'll be safe here, I'm confident of that," Mr. Ages replied stubbornly, "Let the other mice worry about it themselves. We're all much smaller than the humans. Humans can't scour every inch of this planet looking for us. Let the outsiders build their own Thorn Valleys. We did it, why can't they?"

Justin nodded knowingly, "You've represented your argument well, Mr. Ages. I'll need to come up with a decent counter-argument before I present my visions to the council. But, I think I may have a rather convincing one by then."

"Oh? And when do you plan on presenting it?"

"When that group of children who survived Dapplewood arrive here, of course."

Mr. Ages blinked, but then gave a chortle, "Ah, so never then."

"I have complete faith in them."

———————

Professor Nimnul felt an eerie calm as he was walked into the bright observation room, one with a large one-way mirror. NIMH's scientist could see through on the other side. His straight jacket was still on, and he was seated at a table in the middle of the room. The interview was to be conducted through a microphone by Dr. Stacy while others took notes. Dr. Strauss was present as well, interested in what they might find out.

"We're here to ask you a few questions about your 'career', Dr. Nimnul," Dr. Stacy began.

"I am not a mad scientist, Dr. Stacy," Nimnul replied, "A little angry maybe, but not mad."

"I didn't call you one."

"I just wanted to get that out of the way," he said with a wry smile, "Because what I may tell you will sound mad."

"You may be surprised what we're willing to believe."

"You all know it too, don't you?" Nimnul asked, "You may be just finding it out."

"Finding out what, may I ask?"

"That rodents are intelligent, of course. That they've been hiding it all along."

"That suggestion is highly unlikely, doctor. There's something else we want to know from you, if you'll cooperate."

"And what have I to gain from cooperating?" Nimnul inquired, "If I wasn't in that loony bin you took me out of I'd be in regular prison anyway. And now I've basically been licensed out as a human test subject. Which is technically illegal, but I know enough about NIMH to know that you people have ways around those silly human rights violations and animal cruelty laws, am I right? It'll take a little convincing to get me to cooperate."

"We only do tests on animals that are legal to test on, Dr. Nimnul, and we have no intention of experimenting on yourself. We do however wonder if you've followed the same ethics."

"What are you trying to pin on me? Want to blame me for one of your experiments gone wrong?"

"I'll cut to the chase, doctor," said Dr. Stacy, "We want to know the details behind your experiments involving rodents. And perhaps you could tell us more about the ‘smart’ ones, the ones who always ruin your plans."

"Well it's exactly as I've told you, doctor. Rodents are smarter than we give them credit for. So smart in fact that they're constantly able to outsmart a genius like myself. Oh I started thinking just like you when it began…they're just dumb animals, they can't really feel pain, emotion, things like that. Lower life forms. And sure, I toyed with their minds a bit, learned how to use mind control on their simple little brains, making them power my generators or rob banks for me. Simple tinkering with the minds of small life forms. The same sort of things I imagine you do here at NIMH, though with different goals."

"Mm hmm. Go on."

"Ah, but something always got in the way," Nimnul continued, "Rodents. Always rodents. And I had no idea it was the same rodents foiling me every single time, until one day."

"Were these rodents you'd experimented on?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I've experimented on so many. They were two chipmunks, two mice, and a fly. I discovered them one day after completing my Modemizer. You see the Modemizer was one of my greatest inventions; it was a helmet fitted with an acoustic coupler which allowed me to escape the police by traveling through telephone wires! But there was a glitch. The vermin got ahold of it, and we all switched bodies! Well, heads anyway. I switched with their pet fly, and we ended up all having to work together to set things back to normal. They took me to their secret headquarters and everything. Called themselves the Rescuers? Rescue Rangers? I don't know. But they lived like humans, I tell you. And they wore clothes. That mouse with them, Gadget I think her name was, she was practically a scientist herself!"

There were snickers among those listening, but Dr. Penny Stacy was intrigued. As scientists, however, they found his "Modemizer" idea and his body-switching story to be pure idiocy. Dr. Strauss rubbed his temples, and shook his head with a groan.

"We're wasting our time with him," he said.

Dr. Stacy put her hand over the microphone.

"Should we continue this session?" Dr. Stacy asked Dr. Strauss, "He might be delusional, but perhaps there is a kernel of truth hidden in his story somewhere."

"You people think I'm making this up don't you?" Dr. Nimnul said from behind the glass, standing up in front of his chair, "I'm not, I tell you! And I can prove it too! If I could only remember where their headquarters was, you'd see."

Dr. Strauss considered what to do. Finally, he took the microphone from Dr. Stacy, "You're asking us to suspend a lot of disbelief, Dr. Nimnul. But, if you could possibly show us conclusive proof of intelligent rodents, perhaps you can be of use to us. We may even certify you as sane."

"You mean, I'll be cured?"

"Yes. But, I want results. We are researching such anomalies at the moment, as in animals with above-average intelligence, ones which might have been given injections of a certain concoction."

"Excellent!" Nimnul rubbed his hands together with a grin, "I don't remember the exact spot but I can take you to the general vicinity, and we'll search from there!"

Dr. Strauss turned the microphone off, and the door opened, as Nimnul was led back to his holding cell.

"We're really going to pardon this maniac if we find something?" Dr. Clark asked.

"If we do find anything I'm confident it will have been created by Dr. Nimnul," Dr. Strauss answered, "If he's to blame for this Dapplewood mess as well, we may want to find out how he did it. That's if he isn't a complete lunatic."

Dr. Stacy finished up her notes on the interview. But she was shaken.

“Rescuers?" she mouthed to herself, "Rescue Rangers?"

She resolved to have a one-on-one session with Nimnul later.

Chapter 7 

Eventually, as the furlings searched across this human community, they came across a part of the black trail that was really wide, on top of a stone bridge, with monsters-on-wheels speeding on it as fast as they could go. The furlings were in awe over its size.

"Look at that," Michelle exclaimed, pointing, "That's a real big trail!"

"Those wheel machines are going super fast on that," said Russell, who'd decided to start calling them that rather than monsters-on-wheels, knowing definitively that these machines were no more alive than the Flapper Wingamathing.

"A trail that big has got to lead somewhere," said Abigail, "What do you guys think? Should we follow it?"

"Well we're not getting anywhere around here," said Edgar, "All we've found so far is some kind of ice snack."

"It was a good ice snack," said Russell defensively.

"Yeah yeah, let's just follow this trail and see where it goes."

Edgar steered the Flapper Wingamathing above the overpass and they followed, passing a green sign that listed various towns and cities. At the bottom, the sign read, '"New York - 125 miles".

"What's a New York?" asked Michelle, who'd been getting very good at reading.

"For that matter, what's a mile?" Edgar asked.

"Whatever it is, there's a lot of them," said Russell.

"What are you guys talking about?" Willy asked.

"Oh, that green sign we passed, it had words on it," said Abigail.

Willy, being completely illiterate but not wanting to appear ignorant, nodded his head hesitantly, "Oh, um, words huh? I uh, I guess I understand, yeah…"

Abigail smirked, "I can tell you don't, but I won't hold it against you."

"No I do," Willy insisted, "It's like uh…you could hear the words somehow from the sign thing…"

"No silly," Abigail laughed, "It has symbols on them, and each symbol represents a sound, and when you put the symbols together they make words. Cornelius taught us about them."

"Really?" Willy let the concept sink in, "Wait, so humans know about this too?"

"I guess so," said Abigail, looking forward at the next green sign, "I wonder how Cornelius learned about them."

"He said he had a teacher a long, long time ago who taught him what he teaches us," said Michelle.

"I wonder if that teacher ever went to the land of the humans," Abigail said.

"Could be," said Edgar, "I hope we'll get to ask him."

"I think he always knew more about humans than he let on," said Abigail.

The furlings were left hoping they'd get some answers, if they ever managed to rescue their old mentor. Meanwhile the wide trail stretched on, and they followed along for hours and hours. This trail branched off too, into more narrow trails, but having found what appeared to be the main one they decided not to deviate from it. But it would be hours and hours before, as the sun began to set, they noticed tall, thin towers on the horizon, rising from the ground like trees stripped of their branches.

——————-

"Temperatures in the city are expected to be moderate with a warm front heading in tomorrow afternoo- He's the one who likes, all our pretty songs and he, likes to sing along, and he-"

"Dale!" Chip snapped, the fedora-clad chipmunk reaching back and bonking his friend Dale on the head for changing the radio station, "We were listening to the news for any possible cases."

"Aw but it was just the weather report," Dale grumbled, "I just wanted to listen to Nirvana."

"Too bad," Chip said in a huff, switching the radio from FM back to AM, "You can listen to your rock stations on your own time, Gadget didn't install a radio into this plane so we could goof off."

Gadget Hackwrench, who was a very pretty young mouse with sandy-blond hair, wearing a jumpsuit and goggles, tried to tune out their usual bickering as she piloted the Ranger Wing, their airplane made from scraps of discarded litter left by humans. Also in the Ranger Wing was Monterey Jack, a large, mustached, Australian mouse, and his pet fly Zipper.

"It's been awfully quiet lately hasn't it," Gadget said, hoping to calm the tension as the weather report continued, Dale grumpily folding his arms and looking out over the edge of their plane.

"Fat Cat ain't been stirrin' up trouble very much lately," said Monterey Jack, "And with Nimnul in the looney bin there just hasn't been much goin' on."

"Are we near the police station yet?" Dale asked.

"We're getting there," Gadget answered, "We'll see if anything's happened since morning."

"Ya know on slow days like this we might as well take a day off and just enjoy ourselves for once," Dale said.

"Crime doesn't take days off, so neither do we," Chip said, a line it sounded like he quoted from one of his detective novels.

"Yeah yeah," Dale said dismissively, staring out into the sky as the sunlight faded and twilight set in. He noticed a dark shape not too far off, coming from between two tall buildings and flapping its wings. But it didn't quite look like a bird. "Hey, what's that thing over there?"

"Hm?" Chip turned, "What is it?"

"It's a flying thing…but uh, not a bird. At least I don't think."

"Is it a bat?" Chip teased.

"I know Foxglove when I see her," Dale said irritably.

Chip and Monterey both looked out and tried to find what Dale was seeing, until Chip noticed it too, "Hey, I do see it. I thought we were the only rodents who flew planes around here. Gadget, wanna take us in closer?"

"Sure thing, Chip," she said, turning the bottle cap steering wheel.

As they got closer, they could tell that it indeed was some sort of flying contraption, being piloted by rodents like themselves.

"Is someone else tryin' ta muscle in on our turf?" Monterey accused.

In the Flapper Wingamathing, mouths were agape at the awesome architecture they saw before them. The lights in the windows illuminated the towers. None of them had ever seen anything so alien, so majestic.

"Wh-what is this place?" Willy asked.

"I guess…humans built this place," Edgar speculated.

"How could even they do something like this?" Russell wondered, piloting the Flapper Wingamathing after Edgar had been for most of the day, "They're like…mountains."

Michelle was the first to notice they were being tailed by someone.

"What's that bird over there?" Michelle asked, pointing behind them.

Abigail turned, and noticed it too.

"It's…it's another Flapper Wingamathing!"

"What? You mean it?" Willy asked.

"Just look, there's mice in it!"

"But I thought Uncle Cornelius invented it," said Michelle.

"Maybe in Dapplewood he did," said Edgar, "What do we do now, turn around?"

"It looks like they're gaining on us anyway," said Abigail.

"Uh oh, is that bad?" Willy asked.

"Th-there's no way to know," said Edgar nervously.

The Rangerwing, powered by propellers and three AA batteries, was much quicker than the Flapper Wingamathing. Once it came alongside the aircraft Gadget put it into hover mode. The propellers at it's wings swiveled downward, slowing the plane but keeping it airborne.

"Oi there mates!" shouted Monterey Jack, "What do ya think yer doin' way up here?"

The furlings all looked at one another. What could they say? Finally Abigail walked to the edge and cupped her hands over her mouth, "We're lost!"

"Golly, I don't think they have any adults on that plane," Gadget said.

"What do we do?" Dale asked.

"Lets have them land at the park and we'll sort all this out," said Chip.

"Alrighty," said Monterey Jack, "Zippa, fly ova and help guide 'em down."

The little green fly saluted and buzzed over toward the Flapper Wingamathing, as the furlings looked on curiously.

"Follow us!" Monterey Jack shouted, as Gadget steered the Ranger Wing around.

Zipper fluttered into the cockpit, speaking in a squeaky incomprehensible voice. Michelle smiled up at the fly.

"He's cute," she said, giggling.

The fly pointed to the direction the Ranger Wing had flown.

"I guess we follow them," said Russell, turning the Flapper Wingamathing around.

"Your friends are nice, right?" Edgar asked.

Zipper nodded.

"And they're gonna help us?" asked Abigail.

Zipper nodded again with a grin.

"That's just what we needed," Abigail smiled.

"I wonder if they know where the humans took our families." Michelle said.

"Hope we can trust these guys…" said Edgar.

The aircraft swooped downward over the bustling city below, the wheel machines crowding the black trails and honking, lights on the front of them resembling menacing eyes. Between the huge towers it was like a canyon. But eventually they emerged to a square of land that still had foliage on it, with trees and grass, and even a lake. It was comforting to the furlings to see someplace like home, and they began to understand that this must be where those rodents came from.

Unsure if the furlings would be able to make a landing on the branch in front of their treetop headquarters, Gadget landed in the grass in front of the tree. Russell circled the Flapper Wingamathing around and descended, Willy and Abigail taking the winder uppers as it made a slow landing, right beside the other plane. Zipper buzzed over to Monterey Jack and chattered in his fly language.

"The kids are lookin' for their families, ay?" he asked, "Well, good thing you tykes found us."

Gadget hopped out of the plane, and walked toward the Flapper Wingamathing, eyeing it, seeing how it was constructed.

"Did you kids build this yourselves?" she asked.

"Yes, we did," Abigail answered.

"A plane made out of just leaves and twigs, wow," Gadget circled it, "Completely organic materials."

Willy couldn't take his eyes off Gadget, the older mouse being among the most beautiful he'd ever seen, with her deep blue eyes, cute button nose and golden mane. When Abigail noticed his gaze she gave him an elbow to the ribs, making him wince and turn to her sheepishly as she glared.

"Ahem, allow us to introduce ourselves," said Chip, as Dale unbuckled himself and Gadget continued to inspect their plane, "We're the Rescue Rangers. We help anyone in need. My name's Chip, that's Dale, the big guy over there is Monterey Jack, the fly you met is named Zipper, and she's Gadget."

"Huh, Rescue Rangers?" Edgar pondered, "You guys live around here?"

"Right up in that tree," said Chip.

"Well uh, we're the furlings," said Russell, "I'm Russell, this is Edgar, her name is Abigail, that’s her friend Willy, and the youngest one is Michelle. We're from far away, in Dapplewood."

"Dapplewood?" Dale asked, "Where's that?"

"In the forest?"

"Very specific," Chip mused, before coming to the point, "So you all lost your families hm?"

Abigail nodded slowly, "Dapplewood was attacked by humans, just a couple days ago. They took everyone away, and destroyed our homes. We wanted to follow them, and all we had to go on was the big black trail that they rode their wheel machines away on. So we followed the black trail in our Flapper Wingamathing, but it branched off a lot, we probably went the wrong way. We kept following it for days until we ended up…wherever this place is."

Dale scratched his head, "Flapper Thingamawhat?"

"So basically yer all lookin' fer the car that took yer families away, but ya got lost followin' the street," said Monterey Jack, interpreting Abigail's literal terminology.

"Car?" Abigail repeated questioningly, having never heard such a word.

"These guys must be real country bumpkins to not know what a car is," Dale said with a chuckle.

"But what reason would humans have for attacking your homes and kidnapping your families?" Gadget wondered.

"Don't ask us," Russell sighed.

"But you guys can help us find the humans that took our families right? Can't you?" Michelle prodded.

"Describe these humans for me," said Chip, "And did you get a look at the cars?"

"Well, two of them wore long white coats, the rest wore…kind of like overalls I guess," said Abigail, "They carried these really big, noisy things that cut through trees. They cut down the tree we were hiding in, the home of our teacher Cornelius. Then they took him, and all his stuff. All his books and notes and furniture…"

The picture the Rescue Rangers were beginning to piece together with Abigail’s information was an alarming one. Gadget wore a look of worry.

"The 'cars' were big and white," said Edgar, "They looked like boxes."

"Golly, I think scientists took your families away," said Gadget.

"What's a…scientist?" Willy asked.

"Um…well someone who studies things," Gadget said, trying to come up with a quick definition.

"They must have found those homes you were living in pretty interesting," said Chip grimly, "Humans aren't supposed to know animals are able to read and write and build things. I mean I'm sure some know, but if the wrong ones knew…"

"It could be a disaster fer all of us," said Monterey Jack.

"So, you'll help us get our families back, right?" Russell asked.

"Yes, of course we will," Chip said, "Although I think this case has even bigger implications. It may be our biggest case in a while. Anyway, breaking into some lab and freeing the animals shouldn't be too difficult, right? As soon as we find out which lab it is."

"That'll be the hard part," said Gadget.

"What's a lab?" Abigail asked, fearing their answer.

The rangers eyed one another, not sure how to explain it without scaring them. Gadget, being the scientist of the bunch, realized it'd probably have to fall onto her shoulders. But she tried to sugar-coat it, knowing that horrible things often happened to rodents in such places. There was no sense in upsetting them.

"It's…it's a place where scientists study things," she explained, "I even have a lab myself, but all I do is build things in it. More of a workshop, I guess you would say. But they're probably just studying your families, seeing how smart they are and such. Maybe having them run through a little maze. That's all."

"I sure hope they're being nice to Uncle Cornelius," Michelle said, hanging onto Abigail's arm sadly.

"Here, why don't you land your plane up in the branches of that tree," Gadget said, "Then we'll show you our headquarters, and you can sleep there for the night. If it looks too hard to steer it through the branches I'm sure I could help. It really does look like a neat little airplane and I'd like to see how it handles."

"She's using a weird word again," Michelle remarked.

"She means the Flapper Wingamathing," Abigail replied, "At least I think…"

"I'm tired of flying anyway," said Russell, yawning, "Go ahead and take the wheel if you want. It's a little crowded in here though."

"I suppose I'll be flying the Ranger Wing up?" Chip assumed.

"Yeah, but we'll do it one at a time," said Gadget, hopping into the Flapper Wingamathing and taking the wheel.

Abigail and Willy took the winder-uppers and the wings flapped. Abigail kept a keen eye on Willy, Gadget's presence making her feel defensive and jealous. Willy knew he was being watched though, and stared at the ground bashfully as he cranked the winder-uppers.

"It’s primitive, but very effective," Gadget remarked as the aircraft lifted off, and Gadget steered it around the tree in a wide circle, "I guess you can build a plane out of just about anything with the right skills."

"My Uncle Cornelius invented it," Michelle boasted proudly, "But he only wrote the plans for it. When my friends were getting a herb for me on a cliff they took his plans and built it for real."

"Is that so," Gadget smiled, "Don't worry, we'll do everything we can to find your uncle."

Gadget did a few more laps around the tree in the Flapper Wingamathing before coming in for a landing on a wide branch. She hoped that this case wasn't going to be too big for them. But, it was the duty of the Rescue Rangers to try, regardless.

Chapter 8

The furlings were in awe as they stepped through the door into the Rescue Rangers’ headquarters.

"It's not much, but make yourselves at home," said Gadget, following behind them as outside the others landed the Ranger Wing beside the Flapper Wingamathing, "I'm afraid we don't have a guest bedroom or anything, but I have some extra blankets and a few pillows if you wanna sleep out here."

Gadget's hospitality barely registered as they inspected their new environment. The living room mostly consisted of a long, plush couch shaped as a half-circle before a large black screen. There was a strange coil-shaped chute in the corner, and there were doors leading to other rooms. The kitchen was connected to the living room too, and Russell, seeing this, gravitated toward it. Abigail, Willy, Edgar and Michelle walked over to the couch, Abigail looking at the remote mounted in front of the television. Gadget watched in amusement as they looked around. Having grown up around technology all her life she could only imagine what a shock seeing it for the first time would be.

"Why do you guys have this big black window in here?" Edgar asked, tapping on the TV screen.

Abigail pressed a button on the remote, and the TV came to life, making Edgar scream and jump to the couch as the others gasped. There was a human, staring down at them from a desk, holding a sheet of paper and talking.

"The humans found us!" Michelle screamed, hugging Abigail who looked up in terror. Willy took Abigail's arm and started to run for the door.

"You guys, it's just a television," Gadget said, walking to the remote and turning the TV off.

Chip opened the front door, only to be knocked down by Willy running into him with Abigail and Michelle in tow.

"What's going on here?" Chip asked angrily.

"There's a human in there!" Willy exclaimed.

"It's in the window!" Abigail added fearfully.

Chip, Dale and Monterey Jack looked inside, seeing the television, its screen blank.

"It was just there, honest!" Willy insisted.

Dale started to laugh, as Chip put his palm over his face.

"Simma down pallies, it's only da TV," Monterey Jack said.

"The TV?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah, there's not really a human being in there," Chip explained, "It was only a projection."

"What's a pro…jection?" Willy asked, trying to say it correctly.

"Ugh, it's like…well, kind of like a reflection. Only what's being reflected is far away."

"So that human is far away from here?" Michelle asked.

"Yes, now come inside," Chip said irritably, "No human is going to find us here."

They could have argued on that point, seeing as how this strange little forest seemed to be right in the middle of human central, while the humans had no trouble finding Dapplewood. But, they obeyed.

"So it's a window that shows us things from far away," said Edgar, looking up at it from the couch, "Is it magic?"

"Gosh no, it's science," Gadget answered, sitting down next to him as the others came inside, "It's a human technology. I of course made a few modifications myself. The antenna where we receive television signals is way up in the high branches, so we get a pretty clean picture. And everything electronic that you see in the headquarters is solar powered, because I installed some panels up in the leaves-"

"Um, Gadget…" Michelle said meekly from behind the couch, "You're saying things that don't make sense again."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't know about that stuff," Gadget said sheepishly.

"Hehe, they thought what was in the TV was real," Dale chuckled, "Wonder what they'd think of the radio on the Ranger Wing. They'd think someone was hiding in the engine with a guitar."

"Come on Dale, they've come from a very different environment than us," said Gadget defensively, "We just need to be patient and explain things so they understand. It’s something I guess I could stand to work on myself."

"You could stand to work on it with us too," Dale mused.

Russell cautiously inspected the tiny refrigerator, and opened it, "Hey, it's a cold box, just like the one we found in that…that car."

"You kids must be starvin, ay? Why don't I git ya something to eat," Monterey Jack offered, walking into the kitchen, "You kids eva had cheese before?"

"What's cheese?" Russell asked.

Monterey was stunned by the question. He looked to the other furlings in the living room, who seemed equally clueless.

"Ya mean…ya don't even know what cheese is?!"

"Is it a plant?" Abigail asked.

"Blimey! Alright, alright, your ol' pal Monty's gonna show ya what cheese is. I'll even give ya some of my best sharp chedda. An' I don't share that wit' just anybody."

He reached into the fridge and took out a block of yellow cheese, taking a small knife out of a drawer and slicing it up, giving the furlings a slice to munch on while taking the majority of it for himself. Abigail curiously nibbled on it, and then, finding it delicious, began to wolf it down. She hadn't eaten much all day, and this was one of the most delicious things she'd ever tasted.

"Ahem, now that you've seen a bit of the headquarters, would you mind telling us exactly what happened?" Chip asked, "How you ended up all the way here, I mean?"

Abigail's ears went down a bit, "Well, it's a long story…I'm not sure where to start exactly."

"I guess you could say it started with the gas leak a month ago," said Edgar.

"Gas leak?" Chip questioned.

"Some 'car' crashed and it leaked poisonous gas throughout the forest," Abigail explained, "It killed almost every plant in Dapplewood, and…a lot of animals too."

Michelle looked down at the ground and rubbed an eye. The Rescue Rangers gave looks of sympathy.

"It got Michelle's parents…and almost killed Michelle too, but we were able to find the herbs to cure her in time," Abigail concluded, "She was in a coma for a few days."

"It's why I hafta wear these,' Michelle said, taking her glasses off, "And why I got asthma."

Gadget couldn't resist giving the little badger girl a hug.

"You know I think I remember reading about a chlorine gas leak in the newspaper around a month ago," said Chip, "It was down in Maryland somewhere, out in the woods by the Appalachian mountains. There was a big cleanup effort afterwards too."

"Golly, wonder if that was the same one," Gadget said, Michelle resting in her arms, "It must have been chlorine gas for it to hurt poor Michelle like that."

"Humans did come back to clean up the forest," said Edgar, "It made us think, well, that humans weren't so bad after all. But then came a few days ago, and we told you what happened then…"

"Humans might do bad things sometimes but they're not all bad," said Dale, "Heck we even rescue humans sometimes."

"Really?" Russell asked, surprised by this.

"We have taken up human cases occasionally in the past,' said Chip, "Though that isn't our main line of work."

"What would a human need help with?" Michelle asked.

"Um, well we protected a baby human from a bear once," said Gadget.

"We also saved the reputation of a cop who'd been framed for something he didn't do," Chip added, "That was our very first case. Anyway back on topic here, so you say the humans came back to clean up the forest. Might they have found anything suspicious then?"

"I guess that's the only time they could have seen our homes," said Edgar. 

“Then a research lab must have gotten wind of it," said Gadget, "I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a trip to the library."

"So then, can you go into detail on what happened next?" Chip asked, "The day the humans came up until today?"

Abigail nodded, and began to reiterate everything that had happened starting just prior to the abduction of everyone from Dapplewood. As they listened the Rescue Rangers grew to pity the furlings more, but they also admired their resourcefulness and determination in the face of such miniscule odds of success, having journeyed all the way to the city by way of their makeshift aircraft.

"Maryland is a pretty good distance from here, you've come a long way," said Chip, "But we'll take everything from here, don't you worry. You're in good hands now."

"Chippa's right, nothing's too tough fer us Rescue Rangas" Monterey Jack chimed in.

"Thanks, we couldn't be more grateful, really," Abigail said.

"Well it's still early," said Dale, "When do you guys usually go to bed? We could watch a little TV if you're bored."

"That thing still kinda creeps me out…" Edgar confessed, staring at it.

"Aw come on," Dale said with a chuckle, "Tonight's creature feature night, they're gonna show old B-movie sci-fi flicks on Channel 6."

"I think that'll be too scary for them," said Gadget.

"Nah come on, you guys'll love it," Dale protested.

"I'm not scared," said Abigail, folding her arms and trying to look tough.

"Me neither," said Willy, not wanting to appear less macho than Abigail, "Nothing in that box is really there, right?"

Dale laughed, "Do you really hafta ask?"

"Come on Dale," Chip said, "Why not have them do something like play a board game until they get tired? It's kind of refreshing meeting children who haven't had their minds turned to putty by TV yet. Case in point…"

"Aw you're such a party pooper," Dale griped.

"I think Chip's right," said Gadget, "Think of little Michelle. Maybe Abigail and Willy could handle something scary but, well, she's been through enough already."

"Or do you want to be in charge of taking care of her at 3 in the morning when she wakes up having nightmares?" Chip asked Dale, "Because it'll be all your fault."

"Hey, I'll be fine," Michelle insisted, "I'm not a baby!"

Dale sighed, "Oh alright. Let me get something for us to play."

Russell shrugged, "Fine with me. What kinda games do you have anyway?"

"Hmm…hey you're a hedgehog, aintcha?"

"Yeah, so?"

Dale grinned, "Gadget, you still working on building that rodent-sized Sega Game Gear for me?"

"I haven't had a lot of time to perfect it, since I've had more important things to work on," Gadget said, "I'm still trying to build the controller, and figure out how to make it run on fewer than 6 double-A batteries. We need those for the Ranger Wing. I've taken the whole thing apart trying to tinker with it."

"D'aw there goes that idea," said Dale, turning back to Russell, "There's this video game called Sonic the Hedgehog I bet ya'd like, but the system's made for humans, we'd have to stand on either side of the thing and press the buttons, and we wouldn't be able to see the screen in the middle that well."

Abigail glanced down at the big button on the front of her overalls. The furlings had a hard time imagining a device like that, and couldn't quite fathom how pressing buttons could become a game. Though the idea of a game where the main character was a hedgehog certainly piqued Russell's curiosity. Dale went back to his bedroom, rummaging through the closet for board games, which had been made by mice in imitation of their larger human-made counterparts. He took a bunch of the boxes out and brought them back to the living room for the furlings to choose from. As Dale was left in charge of keeping them entertained, the rest of the rangers had a seat at the table in the kitchen and looked on.

"So Gadget, know of any science labs based in Maryland?" Chip asked, keeping his voice low.

"There's more than one," said Gadget, "But there's two in particular I really hope isn't the same one that took everyone from Dapplewood."

"Yeah? Which one, luv?" Monterey asked.

"The National Institute of Health," Gadget answered gravely, "Or worse still, the National Institute of Mental Health. Both are affiliated with one another, the second being a branch of the first. And both are based in Maryland."

"I…forgot that was in Maryland," Chip answered, getting a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach upon hearing this.

The reputation of those facilities preceded them in the rodent world. Though no animals had ever been known to escape the labs to tell the tale, the scientific articles published by humans made some of what went on in those labs common knowledge among literate animals.

"Ya think maybe we're in ova our heads wit' dis one?" Monterey Jack asked, "I reckon we're talkin' about rescuing upwards of thirty animals from dis high-security place…"

"We may need to contact somebody from the Rescue Aid Society, if this case is too big for us," Gadget suggested.

"No," Chip replied firmly, "I think we can handle this one ourselves. I believe in the Rescue Rangers, we don't need help from those glory hounds."

"We can't let our pride get in da way of this one, pally," said Monterey Jack, "Them kids are countin' on us."

Chip looked over at the furlings as Dale explained the rules of the rodent version of Candy Land to them. It was the first time he'd seen a smile on some of their faces.

"I know it upsets you that they take a lot of the high profile cases you want, but a little help couldn't hurt in this case," Gadget said, putting a hand on Chip's shoulder.

"The answer's still no," Chip insisted, folding his arms, "We've saved that many animals before, after all. We'll do fine on our own. I mean, if the going really does get too tough, perhaps we could try to get some help somewhere. But only as an absolute last resort."

"Alright Chippa, we'll see how far we can get on our own," said Monterey Jack.

"And I'll see if I can find out which lab we might be dealing with here," said Gadget, "Looks like I may have to put my computer hacking skills to the test."

"I guess that's all we really have to go on at this point," said Chip, "If all else fails we could go find Dapplewood and search for clues ourselves."

Chapter 9

For breakfast Monterey Jack cooked his special cheese chowder, with Zipper on his shoulder, helping to throw in the spices and herbs. Monty was eager to show the furlings the beauty of cheese while doing his best not to eat it all himself. It was a strange, foreign food, but they ultimately enjoyed it, Michelle needing a little coaxing first before trying it.

"So, guess since it's up to me to keep you guys entertained, what do you wanna do today?" Dale asked.

"We should go exploring," said Abigail, eating some chowder, "There's so much to this 'city' place."

"Maybe I could take you to an arcade," Dale suggested, "Or how 'bout a movie theater?"

"There you go again with that," Chip groaned, sipping some coffee, "These kids actually want to go out and do something physical, and you want to sit them in front of a screen all day so they can vegetate."

"What's a movie theater?" Willy asked.

"It's where they show movies! Uh, kinda like, long TV shows. Oh wait you won't get that either…" Dale rubbed the back of his head, "Well it's like a big dark room with rows and rows of seats, you see? With a really big screen. Like the TV in our room but a hundred times bigger."

"And nothings-"

"Nothing's inside of it," Dale chuckled, "So don't get scared."

"It sounds amazing," said Edgar, "But…still creepy. I'd have to get used to it."

"And we'd get to eat popcorn, drink slushies…"

"You're a horrible influence, Dale," Chip said, shaking his head, "You might be in charge of babysitting them, but who's going to babysit you?"

"I don't see any babies here," Michelle interjected.

"Well since I'm going to the library anyway maybe I can drop you guys off somewhere," Gadget offered.

"It'd be kind of a tight squeeze wouldn't it?" Dale asked.

"Um, hm…you're right Dale, the Ranger Wing is only designed to seat five. But without Monty in the Ranger Wing we might be able to squeeze in one more of you. But, there's five of you…"

"Oi, tryin' ta tell me somethin Gadget luv?" Monterey Jack asked, offended.

"N-no Monty," Gadget replied sheepishly, "I-I didn't mean to say…um…"

"Well how about that Flapper Thingamajig?" Dale asked.

"Wingamathing," Michelle corrected.

Happy to change the subject, Gadget thought it over, "We were packed pretty tight when I rode with them, I hoped it'd still hold all seven of us."

"But it needs at least three people to fly it," Edgar said.

"Oh, that's right, I couldn't fly it by myself without someone to work the wings. Huh. Maybe someone can sit in somebody's lap on the Ranger Wing."

The furlings glanced at one another.

"In that case Russell can't sit in anyone's lap," said Abigail.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Well for one thing you've got quills, for another…"

Russell gave a glare.

"Must be 'pick on da overweight guys' day at da Ranger HQ," Monty muttered.

"Let's not go into it," Abigail giggled, "But Willy can sit on my lap if he likes."

"That really doesn't seem safe in a plane…" said Willy.

"Don't worry," she said, fluttering her eyelashes and grinning, "I'll hold on tight."

Willy blushed and rubbed his upper arm.

"Er, on second thought, Willy may have a point," Gadget said, second guessing herself, "I wouldn't want to be responsible if something went wrong."

"No-no, I'm fine with it," Willy said, having quickly warmed up to the idea.

"You need to all be buckled in tight," said Gadget, "We can't have someone ending up being blown out by the wind currents."

"Well then what?" Dale asked, "We just don't have enough room in any of the planes to take everyone."

"Hm, what movie were you planning on seeing anyway?" Chip asked with suspicion.

"Well uh, I dunno, what's out right now, hm?" Dale played innocent.

"Would it happen to be a certain PG-13 movie about scary, cloned dinosaurs?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about," Dale said, denying it, "Besides is that even still in theaters? It debuted over a month ago."

"I'm sure it's still playing somewhere, it's only the biggest movie of the summer. You've been begging us to go see it with you again since we went to see the grand opening and no one wanted to. So…"

"Say, you're a regular Basil of Baker Street, Chip," Dale said, hoping that patting Chip's ego would help ease his temper.

"You're going to scare the living daylights out of them with Jurassic Park," Gadget said, "Especially for someone who's never even seen a movie before."

"You kids are all 13, right?" Dale asked.

"Um, I am," Willy replied, after the rest of them were silent.

"I'm gonna be 13 soon," Abigail chimed in.

"How soon?" Chip asked.

"Um…nine months?" Abigail shrugged.

"See? They're too young," Chip said.

"The PG in PG-13 stands for parental guidance," said Dale, trying his best to sound smart, "It doesn't say that kids under that age aren't allowed to see it, just that they need guidance. And, since their parents aren't here, I guess I'll guide them."

"Yeah he'll guide us," said Abigail, "I wanna see a movie. I'm curious. And I'm not gonna be scared."

"Me too," said Russell, "I wanna try that 'popcorn' he was talking about."

"And I'll be a responsible adult," said Dale, "I'll let them know that what they're watching isn't real. It's just a story, told by actors."

"Dale, you're no responsible adult, you're just a kid who's been alive a long time," Chip rolled his eyes.

"Well even if you do go you're not taking Michelle to such a scary movie," Gadget said, kneeling down to hold her protectively.

"What? Awww why not?" Michelle whined.

"You'd thank me if you knew what was in that movie," Gadget said, stroking Michelle's hair.

"I never get to do anything!" she complained.

"So I take it we're stuck with her?" Chip whispered to Monterey Jack.

"Looks like Gadget's givin us da job whether we want it or not, betta come up wit' something' fer her to do."

Chip cleared his throat, "Let them go, Michelle, because you're going to stay with us and get important work done."

"Like what?" she asked.

"W-well…we can solve a crime! Like um…a crime committed around the house."

"Sounds boring," Michelle folded her arms.

"No, it isn't," Chip insisted, "Here, Monty will be the bad guy and we have to solve the crime and capture him."

"Why am I da bad guy?"

"Because I can't be one, I'm the brilliant detective and Michelle is my assistant. And Zipper's our pet who helps us sniff things out."

Zipper objected to being the pet.

Michelle smiled, "Maybe it won't be too bad, staying here…"

Abigail patted her head, "We'll be back for you Michelle. And you'll be safe here. Just listen to Chip and Monty."

"Don't be gone too long, Abby," she said, hugging her older friend, who hugged back.

"And it looks like we may be barely able to fit everyone in the Ranger Wing," said Gadget, "Come on you guys, let's get into the plane."

"I get the front!" Abigail exclaimed, running for the door.

"No way! It's mine!" Willy shouted.

"I'll arm wrestle you for it," Abigail giggled, "And win, too."

"Nuh-uh!" Willy ran faster, offended now.

"Dale's sitting in front," said Gadget, "The passenger seat has emergency controls that I don't want you kids to tinker with."

Abigail's ears went down, "Awwwww."

Dale smiled brightly, "I never get the front unless Chip isn't around. I've waited for this a lot longer than any of you have."

One by one the furlings climbed up into the back of the Ranger Plane. Abigail got a side seat, sitting next to Willy, who was between her and Edgar. Russell squeezed in last. It was cramped but they fit.

"Alright, seat belts everyone," said Gadget as she hopped into the pilot's seat, and Dale climbed in beside her.

The furlings exchanged glances. Russell curiously yanked on a belt, and it rolled out.

"Huh, strange…"

"You've got to click the metal part into the other one with the slot on top, down on the seat," Gadget explained.

"Metal…" Willy thought he'd sound dumb if he asked what that was.

"It's the shiny part I think," Abigail said, sliding it into the slot on the belt beside her. The others watched, and did the same. Russell and Edgar had only one belt between them, had to share one.

"Alright, let's get ready for take off," Gadget said, and the engine revved up, startling them. The popsicle-stick propellers swiveled into helicopter mode and the plane began to lift off the ground.

"Heh, and without Chip around, it's time to rock out," Dale said, turning on the radio, Pearl Jam's 'Even Flow' immediately blasting from the speakers and startling the furlings. Dale sang along, "Freeeeeeziiiiin somethingsomethingsomething something made of concrete, oh yeah!"

"What is that noise?" Edgar asked with his hands over his ears.

Dale laughed, "You think there's someone hiding in the engine with a guitar don't you? See Gadget I knew it."

"Aw stop picking on them, Dale," Gadget scolded, as they flew out of the tree and above the park. She tried to tune Dale's singing out and focus on the task at hand, and she planned on changing the radio to a pop station as soon as Dale was out of the plane. Musically-speaking, she missed the Eighties more and more these days.

"I dunno, it's kinda catchy," said Russell, "Some kind of human invention, right?"

"You're right Russell, it's a radio," Gadget replied, "It's like a TV but without the picture part, because it also picks up signals transmitted from far away. Humans use it to broadcast music, news, or talk shows. And we hear them through speakers that I put in the plane. I took them out of an old pair of headphones someone threw away."

Not completely understanding everything she said, Russell just nodded.

"I wonder if they have music like those birds we met," Edgar said.

"The one's who couldn't get that kid out of the mud?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah, I liked their singing," Edgar said with a smile.

"Um…it was interesting, I guess," Abigail replied, "Not really my thing but…"

"Yeah, I think you're alone in liking those birds, Edgar," Russell said.

Edgar frowned, "I thought you guys liked it."

"You were the only one who was getting all into it," Abigail said with an amused chuckle at the memory, "Russell and I were just kind of bewildered by the whole thing."

"Guess I wasn't there for that," said Willy.

"This was right before we met," Abigail explained, "A detour on our journey for the herbs."

The Ranger Plane made it's way through the downtown area, over the noisy cars (the furlings had a much better understanding of what they were now). After some time Gadget came in for a landing on top of a roof.

"Alright, I'll be back to pick you guys up after a couple hours," Gadget said, as the furlings struggled to unbuckle their seatbelts.

"We're stuck!" said Edgar in alarm.

"Push the little red button," Dale said with a grin.

They did, and their belts clicked open. Relieved, they began to climb out.

"So here's what we do,” Dale explained, “we'll sneak in through the vents and climb down to the little window with the projector. The walls are covered with curtains so we can climb them."

"Will there be a lot of humans in there?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah but don't mind them. As long as they don't see us sneaking in no one will care. And humans hardly ever pay attention to us rodents…er, except when they do of course."

"Okay, good bye Gadget, see you soon," Abigail said.

"Y-yeah, good bye," Willy said, waving his hand a bit and then standing still, gazing at her, until Abigail took his hand and yanked him away.

"Cute kids," Gadget said to herself as she changed the radio station, "I just hope we can find their families."

She then took off, going straight to the library and hoping she could find a place secluded enough for her to use a computer, or look through their newspaper catalog for something on the chemical spill at Dapplewood, anything for some kind of clue.

Chapter 10

The library had a row of computers near the back, however with humans around, the usage of these computers was a risky proposition. Gadget decided she'd need to come back at night after the library closed, so she could use the World Wide Web to find out more about the lab that had confiscated the rodents in Dapplewood. This was a new invention, but one that Gadget had taken to immediately. She'd even participated in Usenet chats a couple times with human users, none of them aware that the person they were chatting with wasn't a person at all, but a mouse. Though quite an exercise to use a keyboard so much bigger than she was, it gave her a chance to meet other intellectuals and discuss science; the only people who even used computers were science nerds like herself after all. But she had a feeling it would catch on with everyone else one day.

Instead of logging onto the Internet, for now she perused the back catalog of the newspapers. Within the walls of the library mice actually kept their own library, with tiny books printed by tiny printing presses. No one had figured out how to build a fully operational mouse-sized computer yet, though Gadget often thought about trying to make one. She viewed Dale's mouse-sized Sega Game Gear project as practice for that goal. Connecting a computer that small to the Internet would be another challenge entirely, however. So for now, the mouse library only contained books, magazines, and newspapers, laminated copies going back to the 1860's. Gadget would entertain herself looking through the really old ones and seeing what life was like for mice in New York back then.

Gadget opened a file cabinet marked "The Daily Nibbler - Jan-June 1993".

"Let's see, it would have happened sometime in June…golly I wish they had a newspaper from Maryland here…"

She took a whole stack of thirty papers from June out and went to a nearby table, glancing through each issue from front to back. It would be nearly an hour before she made it to June 21st. In the 'Nation and World' section of the paper there was an article on the side column, "Human Chemical Gas Leak Displaces Wildlife in Maryland".

"That has to be it!" she said as she read through it.

It mentioned a spill of toxic chlorine gas having happened three days before, in the rural forest area of Dapplewood, and that the Environmental Protection Agency had sent crews to clean up the mess. News in the rodent world sometimes traveled slow, so in this case reports from the human media were the only clues city mice had that this remote disaster occurred. High death tolls were estimated, though no rodent reporter dared venture into the forest to find out.

"Oh, the EPA…well I doubt they were the ones who actually came back a month later to kidnap the animals, but maybe they'd be a good place to start researching when I log onto the Internet tonight. I wonder if I could get in contact with any scientists from it through Usenet."

Gadget glanced around the library, finding a miniature copy machine and taking the paper over to make a copy of the article. She knew Chip would want to see it.

Chip, meanwhile, was having his own problems, taking care of the rambunctious Michelle.

"Come on Chip, we gotta catch Dr. Monty before he steals all the cheese in the world with his cheese ray!" she exclaimed, tugging at Chip's sleeve as he staggered through the living room, worn out from running around with her.

Chip panted, "Can't we…take a break?"

"You said crime doesn't take breaks!"

"Ugh…I think I'm retiring that little catch phrase…"

They could hear Monterey Jack give a laugh from upstairs, "Soon the resta da world will be cheeseless, while I, Dr. Monty, will have enough cheese ta last me till doomsday!"

"Not if I can help it!" Michelle declared, tugging Chip along.

Suddenly, the tree shook, as if something had bumped into it.

"What was that?" Chip asked.

"Crikey, come an' lookit dis!" Monty shouted from above.

Chip rushed to the window. A ladder had been placed against an upper branch in the tree. Chip's eyes widened with horror. Zipper flew out the window to get a better look, as Michelle stood on her tip-toes to look outside, letting out a small scream when a human began climbing up; a short semi-bald man with a mustache. He turned and gave a look of surprise at the Ranger's tree house.

"I've finally found it! See, I'm not crazy! It's here! Have a look for yourselves!"

"Professor Nimnul!" Chip exclaimed.

Zipper rushed back in, giving a report of what he'd seen. They were surrounded by a team of scientists and groundskeepers from the park.

Dr. Stacy held a large cellular phone to her ear, looking up into the tree. It was well concealed, but she could see something built into it, along with what appeared to be some contraption with leaves for wings.

"Dr. Strauss, I think we may have found something," she said over the phone.

Groundskeepers began surrounding the area with police tape and cones to keep pedestrians out, as others readied their branch clippers.

"They…they followed us here…" Michelle said, stepping back, and then running down the hall. But there was nowhere to run.

—————————

"Oooh wait until you see this part, hehehe," Dale whispered.

Abigail screamed and held onto Willy as on the movie screen, a Tyrannosaur came out of nowhere to chomp the Velociraptor that was about to pounce on Dr. Grant and the kids. Willy had been on the edge of his seat himself, but enjoying the attention he got from Abigail, who leaned on his shoulder and held his hand throughout most of the movie. The five of them were seated on the sill of the projector window, the projection booth behind them, but shining above them so that their shadows didn't appear on the screen. They didn't get there right when the movie started, having to wait a good 45 minutes first, but because of that they got an excellent seat. Other mice were seated in the rafters or hidden under human seats, knowing fully well that if they were seen they could be killed. Too many rodents in one theater though and the humans might notice, so mouse attendants were employed to keep their numbers low. Inside the walls rodents could get popcorn, candy and slushies, in small quantities. They'd been given three popcorn kernels each, quite a mouthful for ones their size.

The movie itself was a completely new experience for the furlings. Seeing humans like this, interacting with one another, did a lot to demystify them. There were bad and good humans, just like there were bad and good animals. Abigail found herself relating to some of the human characters, and wanting to see them escape alive. She never thought she'd feel that way about a human. They'd also never imagined anything like these 'dinosaur' animals, which Dale assured them weren't real in the movie and had been dead for a long, long time. Things like 'animatronics' and 'computer animation' were well beyond their understanding though, they just had to take Dale's word for it.

Soon enough, the movie was over, the humans flew off in their giant Flapper Wingamathing and words started to appear on the screen while music played.

"Well, it's over. How'dja like it?" Dale asked cheerfully, "I'm glad I got to see it one more time, it's not gonna be in theaters for much longer. And we don't have a VCR at HQ."

"It was amazing," said Edgar, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"Can we watch another?" Russell asked.

"Ah ah ahh, you didn't say the magic word!" Dale quoted, and all of them had a good laugh.

"Please?" Russell asked again after giggling.

"Maybe tomorrow or something," said Dale, "Gadget's gonna be waiting for us on the roof soon, if she's not already there now."

"Then what else are we going to do today?" Abigail asked, helping pull Willy to his feet.

"Oh I dunno, maybe walk around the park or something? Or just show you around the city."

"We can bring Michelle for that," said Abigail, "I guess this movie really would have scared her, I can see why Gadget didn't want her coming."

"It sure scared you," Russell teased.

"D-did not!" she folded her arms and frowned.

Willy snickered, "Those must have been screams of joy then."

"Shut up," she said, giving him a playful punch to the arm. Though Willy knew she meant it jokingly, even when giving a playful punch it hurt a little. He rubbed his arm.

Dale hopped onto the curtain on the wall, "Alright, hang on tightly now and don't fall."

The furlings followed after him, climbing to the ceiling where there was an air vent. There were little holes cut into the curtains, put there by the mouse employees of the movie theater. What little the furlings had seen of the rodent society fascinated them. They'd become very well adapted to living among humans.

Once they got to the roof, Gadget was already there, sitting in the Ranger Wing and waiting.

"There you guys are!"

Dale walked up to her with the furlings in tow, "So, any luck at the library?"

"A little, I found a newspaper article about the chemical spill that verifies their story. I'm gonna have to go back after dark to use a computer though. Did you guys like the movie? It wasn't too scary, right?"

"Nah, of course not," Abigail said.

"It was a real scream," Russell said, nudging Abigail.

"That's great," Gadget said cheerfully, "Hop in, let's get back to headquarters."

The furlings gladly climbed into the Ranger Wing, nobody having any idea what had happened while they were away. Dale immediately changed the radio to his station again.

"So, got any more of a clue what we're lookin' for?" Dale asked Gadget.

"All I know is that the Environmental Protection Agency was in charge of the cleanup after the gas leak," Gadget answered.

"Are they…bad?" Abigail asked.

"No, I don't think so anyway. But they might have noticed your houses and told some scientists about it. I'm going to try and find out more tonight."

"You want us to come with you?" Edgar asked.

"You don't have to, but maybe someone should, just to help me with the keyboard."

"What's a keyboard?" Willy asked.

"Um, it's a sort of board with lots of buttons, and each button has a letter. And when you press the different buttons you can make words appear on the screen. They're made for humans of course, I'd have to do a lot of work to type on something so big."

"Ah," Willy nodded knowingly, pretending he knew just how it worked.

"Chip will probably go with you, and I'll have to stay home with the kids," Dale predicted with a sigh.

"Watching Michelle is probably tiring him out," Gadget said with amusement, "It was so nice of him to volunteer though. He's not exactly too fond of kids."

"I hope Michelle's doing alright on her own," said Abigail.

"I'm sure she's fine," Gadget replied, "She's been through so much, she must be very strong."

"She is," Abigail answered.

As they passed over the gate to the park, they took little notice of the white vans driving away.

"I bet she'll be happy to be with people she knows again though," Abigail added, "We kinda became her family after, well…"

"It's hard losing your parents," Gadget said, "I know what it's like. I guess that's kind of why I dote on her so much."

"I didn't know that," said Abigail with sympathy, "Was it humans?"

"No, at least I don't think so, it-wait…"

Gadget circled over the tree where their headquarters had been. The tree had been pruned of almost all of its branches. Workers were feeding the branches into a wood chipper, and the area was blocked off by police tape and orange cones. The headquarters, and everything in it, was gone.

"This…this has gotta be the wrong place…right?" Dale asked.

"I don't think…" Gadget circled the plane around the area, feeling the panic rising in her chest. Everything else in the area looked familiar. This was the right tree.

"Michelle!" Abigail shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh no…" Edgar breathed, "Not…not here too…"

Gadget took a deep breath, blinking back tears, as the furlings clamored over each other to look over the edge of the plane.

"I'm going to bring the plane down in the bushes. Whatever you do….don't panic. We'll…we'll s-search for…"

She couldn't bring herself to say 'survivors'. She simply left it at that, putting the plane in hover mode, and tearfully taking it down.

Part Two