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Toonium City - QC Planet

APQC-GP-03 The Lost Boys By Darrel James Vanwinkle (Ratseye/Pouchlaw) Re-Written on 01/03/2014

Friday night behind the Prince household, Oslo was giving Gerard and Arnie an advanced martial arts lesson in the small field down the hill from the romantic hill top. "You boys are doing just fine. Just mimic my moves as best as you can." The lesson was proving to be a lot of fun and if Rianne found out that he was learning martial arts she would literally have kittens. Gerard had been disappointed by not impressing the coach for softball but the toon otter was keeping his end of the bargain like a true friend.

And then it happened. Both Gerard and Arnie had forgotten that it had been a week since they last saw Captain Redears. All was quiet in the night and suddenly his space pirate ship appeared in the sky over the field and the pirate lapines began descending over the sides of the ship with hover boots and energy rapiers.

"What in the heck?" exclaimed Oslo as he saw what was going on.

Gerard had his communicator at the ready instantly. "Commander Rabbit! This is Gerard! Redears just appeared in Toonium City! Arnie and I are going into action!" He then looked over at his friend. "Ready to do this, buddy?"

"Let's take it to the next level!" Gerard and Arnie shared a wink at each other as they began their sequences.

"Empowered Legacy! Activate!" Gerard struck his pose and felt the energy rush cascading up his body from his waist to his head. Then as he felt his hair stand on end and goosebumps ripple over his skin, a circle of power and a conic pyramid of energy illuminated his body brightly. The circular disc he stood on in front of the pyramid of conic energy then moved around behind the pillar of power as on another disc the form of a handsome and muscular rabbit man came around from the other side to take the place of the former human. Then his costume appeared in flashes up and down his new body, followed by his gloves and boots, and finally, his clear visor appeared on his head over his eyes. He leaped off of the disc and made some impressive martial arts moves as he landed in his finishing pose for all to see. "Captain Rabbit!"

"Empowered Legacy! Activate!" Arnie struck his pose and felt the energy rush cascading up his body from his waist to his head. Then as he felt his hair stand on end and goosebumps ripple over his skin, a circle of power and a conic pyramid of energy illuminated his body brightly. The circular disc he stood on in front of the pyramid of conic energy then moved around behind the pillar of power as on another disc the form of a handsome and muscular eagle man came around from the other side to take the place of the former human. Then his costume appeared in flashes up and down his new body and wings, followed by his gloves and boots, and finally, his clear visor appeared on his head over his eyes. He launched off of the disc and made some impressive martial arts moves in mid air as he landed in his finishing pose for all to see. "Eagle Lord!"

The two grinned at each other again and with another shared wink, they both shouted, "All-Stars! For Justice!"

Oslo was surprised when his two human friends transformed into anime empowered heros, one of which who seemed mighty familiar to him.

And then the fight commenced as Eagle Lord took flight and Captain Rabbit grabbed Oslo and flipped him all the way in somersaults to the top of the romantic hill then he immediately turned to do battle against the invading lapine pirates. On the hill top, the toon otter landed on his feet and he quickly turned around to watch the rest of the battle in progress.

Shortly into the fight itself, Commander Rabbit arrived and took a position to guard Captain Rabbit's back. "They pulled out the stops this time. A night battle."

"Desperate morons pull desperate maneuvers," replied Gerard in his Captain Rabbit guise. "But please... don't hurt Lonepaw. Recently I think he's been secretly sending me a mental call for help. I have to somehow rescue him from Redears."

"If that's the plan then we'll try to effect that rescue. It won't be easy since Lonepaw never leaves Redears' side."

Fortunately for the three heroes, a rainbow laser beam illuminated the darkness and as it struck Lonepaw, the sidekick lapine vanished from Redears' side and he reappeared across the entire battlefield in the strong paws of what appeared to be a Care Bear Cousin of the tiger variety. But his tummy symbol was that of a tilted hourglass over a large heart. And then Eagle Lord was joined in the air by what appeared to be a large panther like gargoyle. And the final participant appeared to be female witch all in black who appeared with an explosive blast beside Commander and Captain Rabbit; the shock wave from the blast sent lapine pirates flying away from the two's position.

"Dark Witch, at your service! Timesheart Tiger has your rescue target! Dalis, you and the Eagle guy can start pushing these scum back!"

Another rainbow beam shot across the battlefield as it struck a lapine pirate and immobilized him where he stood. "I just love my time manipulation powers! No other Care Bear can do what I can do! See any potential toads, Dark Witch?"

The witch chuckled as she pointed one finger toward a lapine pirate who was trying to get the drop on Captain Rabbit and a wicked looking ray shot out and the evil rabbit changed into a warty toad which made a croaking sound. "One toad, as requested!"

The panthagoyle known as Dalis flew down with a grin firing his belt laser at Redears who leaped and jumped backward to avoid each and every incoming shot. "Hold still, Redears!"

Finally, Captain Redears growled and said, "Next time, Captain Rabbit! I'll have the drop on ye!" And upon activating a button on his wrist, he and his pirates, minus Lonepaw who had been caught, all vanished off the battlefield and then the pirate ship shot off into the sky and vanished through atmosphere. The heroes all gathered as Timesheart Tiger handed over Lonepaw to Captain Rabbit. "That was fun; sure beats studying for our junior high exams. I am Timesheart Tiger, the son of Braveheart Lion. This is Dalis Hailey, the son of Panthagoyle, and she is..." Dark Witch transformed back into her anime female form complete with a stylish yet dark Sailor outfit. "...Miyuki Tsukino, the cousin to Sailor Moon. What is your team name, Captain Rabbit? And do you have room for three more Forgotten Legacies like us?"

Gerard and Arnie detailed to the tiger and his friends what was going down regarding the lapine pirates. "...so if you want in on our All-Stars action, you have been warned. Redears is primarily after me. But if you guys tag up with us, you know who your primary enemy will be. Anyway, it is up to you. Also, Eagle Lord and I have secret identities, meaning that my parents don't know that we have these powers. If they did know, I'd be under house arrest and then one of them might get hurt."

Timesheart glanced at his two high school friends who nodded their heads back at him then he turned to face the Captain again. "We're in. You just doubled the size of your little hero team tonight. Anytime you need the Forgotten Legacies, just give us a call. And if we see Redears ourselves... we'll do something about it."

Commander Rabbit was then handing out the team communicators to the three newest members. "Word of warning, guys... Captain Rabbit and Eagle Lord can only be contacted via their communicators when they are in their hero identities. Otherwise, you will end up calling me."

Miyuki smiled. "We three will go get your hero team registered since you have far more than the required number of members. We'll foot the bill; you can repay us another time. Believe me... we three were thinking about making a team of our own. And the All-Stars sounds like a winning team name. Commander Rabbit can come with us to vouch for the team rights."

Timesheart grinned. "I'll bet you boys are cute in your secret identities. Okay, All-Stars... let's go get this team name registered!" And the four left to do that.

After it was just Eagle Lord, Captain Rabbit, and Lonepaw, Gerard powered down and he... hugged Lonepaw and... planted a deep kiss on his muzzle. And he not surprisingly found Lonepaw returning the kiss, along with hugging him in return and... rubbing his paws over the boy's back side. When the kiss broke, Gerard asked, "Lonepaw... have you been trying to send Captain Rabbit a mental message lately? It is important that you tell me the truth. You are not under arrest. I promise."

The first mate lapine nodded his head slightly. "I wasn't sure if you would get the message, Captain Rabbit. Redears wanted me to see if I could somehow get the Super Carrot Formula out of you without killing you. And now that I see you are okay with kissing another lapine guy, very unlike your predecessor, perhaps we can be friends. Look, I'm not a prisoner to Redears; he is actually good in bed. I'm sorry if we have to fight every time we show up but truth be told, you boys initiated the fight this time; not us."

Arnie then changed back into his normal identity looking somewhat disgusted by the male to male kiss, yet he chose to stand guard just in case.

"Arnie... stand guard and don't interrupt, okay?" Gerard took Lonepaw behind the bushes where they laid down on the grassy ground and...

"Gerard? What are you-" He stopped and jerked his view to watch in the direction of the house where he saw Oslo Otter approaching him. "Um... hi Oslo."

The toon otter chuckled at the disgusted friend. "Boys will be boys. Lonepaw is a good boy, given a chance. Gerard will treat him good, Arnie. Try not to think about it."

On a typical Saturday morning, Gerard and Arnie would normally be sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons. But because they now lived on QC Planet, simply walking outside of the house put you in a cartoon. Besides, Gerard had other plans for that morning. After having Rianne pack him a lunch and borrowing some of Leon's tools, he set off for Fenmire's home. He hadn't ever been there before but seeing where Fenmire lived had been on his mind ever since he'd met the rat. As Gerard stepped through the thick bushes leading toward where he often saw Fenmire disappear to after getting off the school bus, he just barely stopped in time to prevent himself from stepping right off into a muddy swamp. "Oh boy, that was close." He then looked for the path. "Right... there's the path to Fenmire's pontoon house." And he headed along the edge of the mud toward the odd little house. When he got over to the tarp awning covered plywood porch, which seemed to only barely support his weight, Gerard knocked on the door lightly almost afraid that his knocking on it might push the entire house down. True, he didn't see the Big Bad Wolf or Three Little Pigs around, but on QC Planet you couldn't be too sure.

When the door opened, a taller more muscular unkempt looking rat was standing there in the buff. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm Gerard Prince from down the street. Fenmire and I are supposed to be going on an outing today. Is he here?"

The not much older rat grinned and allowed the boy to step inside. He then closed the door and said, "Fenmire is off fetching the mail from the post office. Why don't you come on back into my room and have a seat? I feel naked out here in the living room." And he turned and walked back into a thin corridor swaying his tail behind him. Gerard followed the rat, not having much choice and because he didn't know which room belonged to Fenmire. Just inside the larger rat's room, Gerard noticed that half the room was furnished and the other half was blatantly open to the muddy swamp out back of the house. And the larger rat was stepping into the mud and settling himself down into a pool that was soon up to his neck. The tall slender rat glanced back at Gerard. "Have a seat anywhere. That love seat is sure to be sticky with either jam, honey, or semen; take your pick. Or you can sit on the floor over here near me. It's funny that the floors are probably cleaner than the furniture."

Gerard came over as close to the rat as he dared without getting into the mud and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. "Are you Fenmire's brother or his dad?"

The large rat grinned and said, "Older brother. Our dad divorced mom and took us with him to Jaded Shadow in the Meta Star City region where we lived there for about 2 years. Then dad got drunk and threatened to kill us if we didn't get out of his house. A friend of mine had just sold me this place, so being the nice brother that I was I brought Fenmire to live here with me. That was about 2 years ago." He studied the boy for a moment. "So you're Fenmire's newest toy. Funny, you don't look like donkey material. But I suppose that will change."

Gerard irked. "What do you mean by 'donkey material'?"

The rat grinned. "Fenmire usually only pals around with toon donkeys or anime mules. He never talks about humans around here. But he sure talks about Lampwick and Wilwick a lot. By the way, you can call me Scott. Scott Rat. Took my GED last year so I'd have a diploma but I make sure Fenmire gets a real education. He sure hates going though. I can't say that I blame him really... we're rats after all."

Gerard reached his hand out to shake Scott's furry hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Scott." The rat grinned as he took Gerard's hand in his own shaking the hand... then rather than letting go, he gave Gerard a nice tug toward him and Gerard yelped as he fell forward right into the mud! Gerard sputtered the mud out of his mouth! "WHY'D YOU DO THAT FOR?! Aww man!! I can't go on an outing like this!" Scott smiled and pulled Gerard into his lap and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry about it. Whenever Fenmire returns, I can have you cleaned up as if you didn't have any mud on you at all in under a few minutes. You won't even be able to tell that I pulled you in... so relax and keep me company. Besides, with as often as Fenmire gets in trouble, you might be over here a lot in the coming weeks or so and it'd be nice if you knew that you could count on good old Scott."

Gerard arched an eye. "You can really have all the mud off my clothes and everything in under a few minutes?" The rat nodded his muzzle in response. "How do you do it, then?"

The rat brother grinned and licked Gerard's face a little. "Tell you what... from now on, anytime you get your clothes too messed up to be seen around your house, you come on over here and I'll fix you up with my trick. In return, you spend some time with good old Scott and I'll educate you on things that I know about. Do we have a deal?"

Gerard grinned because he liked learning new things. And Scott wasn't asking for much... just some company now and then. Gerard thought this was the perfect deal. "You have a deal."

Scott then helped the boy out of the mud. "Then I better get you cleaned up with my trick. I hear Fenmire coming back and we don't want him seeing you looking like a mud man." And soon, just as Scott promised, Gerard who was very surprised that it could be done at all was spotless of the mud. And not a second too soon as Fenmire came into the house carrying the mail.

After dropping off the mail, Fenmire and Gerard were walking down the street for their outing. Fenmire was a little miffed that he could smell his brother's scent on Gerard's face but at least his friend still had his clothes on. "What did you think of Scott?" Gerard calmly replied, "He's a trickster, that's for sure. He dunked me in his mud after a handshake. Then got me all cleaned up before you came home. He's an okay rat, I guess. He helps to take care of you... I mean, you have a room in his home so he can't be all bad." Fenmire chuckled at the mud dunking statement. "He muddied you. That's how he finds out if a person can be trusted as a friend or not. I'm surprised you didn't kill him."

Gerard asked, "So where to first?" Fenmire replied, "I have to go pick up Benwick Weasel. His parents hate humans, so you can't come with me to there. In the meantime, I want you to go pick up Huckwick Hound and Tomwick Dane. The two dog boys from school? They live over on Thorn and 9th Street. Well, actually... go to that intersection, and hang a left down the dirt road alleyway of sorts, around the curve of the wooden fenced pastures you'll see, and you'll get to the Kennelmount Farms. That's where they live. And for gosh sakes, Gerard... don't get caught with your pants down over there or we might be late getting to the island. Okay?"

He arched an eye at that statement but Fenmire had already parted company with him as he headed off to fetch Benwick Weasel. Gerard shrugged his shoulders and headed off in the direction of Thorn and 9th street to fetch Huck and Tom, the dog boys. Finding Thorn Street was pretty easy; it was right on one edge of town. There were fenced pastures on one side of the street and somewhat of a housed forest on the city side of the street. This was the canine side of town where Wile E. Coyote, the Big Bad Wolf, and Council Dog Scooby Doo lived.

Back at the Prince household, Arnie was dressed and he had just finished having breakfast when Mrs. Prince was heard inviting someone into the house. He wasn't too curious since toons were all the time coming to visit with the real life woman. But then, he heard Rianne call out to him.

"Arnie? This visitor is here to see you."

Finishing up his cereal, he then washed the bowl in the sink before putting it and the spoon into the dish washer. Then he walked into the living room and nearly came to an immediate halt because standing near the front door was the self-same union judge toon mouse dude from Monday's outing. "Um... I'm Arnie. Did I do something wrong?"

The Union Judge actually smiled when he saw Arnie finally. "You can call me Ezrel. Overcat told me yesterday why you hugged me when I questioned him about it. And since I have today off, I thought I would come and invite you on a tour of the Meta Star City Hero and Villain Union that I work for. Then we will have lunch at Arden's Pizza. And then in the afternoon, I will show you where I live and after dinner, we can have some fun in my private arcade. Would you like that?"

"Wow... Overcat was sure you would be upset that I hugged you while you were working," he said. "I'd love to spend the day with you. I don't know where Gerard got himself off to so quickly but he worries me sometimes... especially since he is hanging out with Fenmire Rat."

Ezrel actually made a cute snarling sound. "I hope your friend isn't in trouble then. Fenmire has a tendency to lose the friends he makes. Three are currently missing; the other nine are still publicly findable. Although we have had a report from Jaded Shadow that a current missing person case they have on file is suspected to be related to Fenmire's activities."

Arnie was very worried now. "Now a Union Judge also gives out the same warning about that rat. I am really worried about my friend now. He has come home human without fail, so far... but if even the Union is watching Fenmire then it doesn't look good for Gerard."

"Where is he supposed to be today?"

"He mentioned a repair job on a gaming parlor but he also mentioned that Fenmire was going to be there and I cannot see that rat actually doing real work."

Ezrel tilted his head. "The only broken gaming parlors I know of are those on Pleasure Island. As long as your friend doesn't act like a jackass he will not become one."

"I know he has a last hour class there every day in school but I can't imagine why he would want to keep going there otherwise. Anyway... let's get our outing started, Ezrel."

And the union judge toon mouse took the boy by the hand and teleported with him to their destination.

For Leon on this particular Saturday, he was with Mickey Mouse at the golf course as they discussed yet another council issue and to get in eighteen holes. They were on hole five when the famous Disney mouse remarked, "Are you wearing clean pants today, Leon?"

The human adult glanced over at Mickey with a tilted head and a odd look. "Yes. My wife does my laundry every week at the same time she does all the laundry. Why do you ask?"

"Because I noticed that Simba is using binoculars to look at the seat of your pants every time you step up to make a shot or a putt."

"Again?" Not bothering to look around at the statement, he simply reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his cellphone. "Without pointing at him, where exactly is he?"

Mickey quietly explained where the big lion was then watched the man use his cellphone to speed dial the cat lord judge who they had the court order with. Leon quietly explained what Simba was doing and where he was at and what precisely he was doing. He ended the call by saying, "Could you please remove him from the golf course? He is certainly not playing golf if he is looking squarely at my ass. Or would you rather my calling my wife to take the matter in hand herself?" Then he put the cellphone away.

In the next few moments, a toon police skunk, a toon police warthog, and a toon German Shepherd all confronted Simba and forcibly escorted him away while Mickey and Leon watched from a distance. Mickey commented after they departed. "He has been doing this since you got on council? I had no idea."

Leon explained every Simba related incident that had occurred from the first day onward. "He interrupted my wife and I having a romantic moment on our own property. On Monday, he snarled and lectured Bugs Bunny after I initiated a kiss on the rabbit's lips. Bugs said that just once he wanted to kiss a guy with clean breath. Well, I use Scope every morning. The next time Simba caused an incident was when I was walking with Scooby Doo after the council day to discuss the charity project; Scooby can bark loudly. Following that, Yogi and I went to fetch the council lunch on Tuesday and Simba showed up at the food court offering to help carry the food. My immediate remark was that if he thought I needed help with the food, then why didn't he switch duties with Yogi. And the bear growled that time; You don't get between him and food. On Wednesday, Daffy and I were in the archives in the basement and Simba walked in, coincidentally, to file something in the archives. Later, Daffy told me that Simba never entered archives for any reason. Thursday, Casper and I were performing a council inspection of a business which had structural damages to the walls. Casper noticed Simba sneaking into the building and I asked the friendly ghost if he could phase passengers through a wall and he said he could, so I had him phase me through the back wall to the lot behind the building. We heard Simba nearly killing himself trying to find the back door. And on Friday, Wendy and I were about to go question a magic book store owner and Simba blatantly asked where we were going. I simply stated that I had my wife on speed dial. I was pissed by that time and I threatened to call her if he didn't back off. He did back off. And now today... he is using binoculars to look at my ass while you and I play golf."

"Wow!" exclaimed the Disney mouse. "I didn't think it was that bad. I cannot imagine what his problem is. We have all seen humans before so I cannot figure out why you are different."

"If Simba isn't in Council on Monday, it is probably going to be likely that he will be in jail for thirty days. We do have that court order against him."

In Orbit Over QC Planet

First Mate Lonepaw was taking a hot shower humming a sexy tune when Captain Redears came to check on him. "Arr, so how did it go, Lonepaw? Did you get it?"

"Oh yeaaahhhhh...... I got it all right! And how fun it was!" He then glanced out of the shower and irked when he saw the lapine pirate captain standing there. "I mean, I haven't checked into the ship labs yet to see if any of the formula was transferred to me. But I did manage to get him to kiss me on the mouth just like we planned. _ And then some... _"

Redears grinned. "So you tempted him, did you? Is he interested?" He was liking where this was going.

The first mate reached out and gently stroked a paw over the captain's whiskers. "He thought I was your unwilling sex slave. Then he offered to let me hang out part time with him and he... sealed the deal with a very pleasing romp. I didn't expect the hero to go that far, but... his partner seemed disgusted by the display. He even released me at the end saying that I wasn't under arrest and that he would like to see me again sometime. So maybe... we can arrange a truce meeting between him and us." He winked as he resumed his shower.

The lapine captain smiled as he leaned in and gave his first mate a loving kiss on the neck before pulling back. "As long as you think you can get that boy on our side, you can continue to meet with him as often as you like. And if you can get his rabbit identity knocked up... all the better because then he couldn't change back until after he gave birth. And I would insist upon his marrying you then. He would be as good as in our pocket then. I want that formula, Lonepaw. Report to the labs as soon as you are able. I'll be in my stateroom."

Lonepaw smiled dreamily after Redears departed as he thought about Gerard's nice human form. He was getting an idea on how he could make the boy feel responsible enough to want to come with him to do whatever he asked. It was a fine plan but he knew he would have to get Gerard to have sex with him just one more time. The mental thing worked once so may, just maybe it would work again. Not to mention the mental link aroused the boy something fierce. And that was distracting because the young man had said as much.

"I won't bother Gerard today; I know he is on that outing with those shady toons. No, I'll send him the message next week during the teachers meetings."

Lonepaw then reported to the ship labs and he gave the pirate doctor a light kiss on his ears. "Time to run the tests on me, sexy. I successfully got the hero to plant a deep kiss on my muzzle. And he went a bit overboard doing it. Redears is expecting good results from this."

"As ye say, matey," said the doctor. "Now let's see what we can find in your fluids." And he got to work on the sex minded first mate.

Lonepaw grinned as he lay on the table for the examination. "I can't wait to tempt that hero again."

Southern Toonium City...

It took Gerard about an hour of walking but he finally arrived at the dirt road turn off and he headed toward Kennelmount Farms. Gerard couldn't imagine why a canine's home would be called something like -mount but he was curious enough to want to find out. As he arrived in the yard of the farms he saw several cartoon hounds trying to get a rowdy cartoon stallion under control in the barnyard. The stallion was uptight about something and he was knocking hounds away from him left and right and then... he saw Gerard. And more so... he caught the boy's scent and in the next moment, Gerard had a big stallion leaning on him and rubbing his muzzle against the teenager's chest.

The head hound came over and placed the horse's blinders over his head saying, "Well, I'll be... Raging Hell is kitten calm. I've ne'er seen anything like it. What's your name, sonny?"

"Gerard Prince. I'm here to see Huck Hound and Tom Dane. Are they around?"

The head hound nodded his muzzle. "Why sure as I'm a doggy. They're in their room packing up for some sort of overnight camping trip." He then pulled out a ten-spot and handed it to the human boy. "This is for your help in calming down Raging Hell; we couldn't have got him calmed without you."

Gerard blushed as he pocketed the ten dollar bill then he turned to head into the bunkhouses to find the two toons. Inside, he suddenly came face to face with Buckeye the Stallion. "What are you doing in here?" to which the the cartoon stallion smiled when he saw Gerard and said, "Hey... this is no place for you, Gerard. The boy's rooms are in that building over there." He pointed the way. The human male raised an eye. "So what's in this building?"

Buckeye leaned in close and whispered, " ...Breeding Barn... Now if you don't care about being caught with your pants down then come on in. Otherwise, you better just stick to getting the boys you came after."

He didn't need to be told twice as he back-peddled out of the barn and turned toward the right building. But still... he was curious about what Buckeye was doing in the Breeding Barn. He decided that he'd return another time to find out. Inside the boy's bedroom, Gerard found Huck and Tom all packed up and ready to go. "Come on, you two. Fenmire will be meeting us at the lake dock with Ben. The head hound said you two were packing up for an overnight outing. We aren't going to be on the island all night, are we?"

Tom replied, "Fenmire told us at school yesterday to be prepared to spend the night there, just in case. So we're getting prepared."

"Fenmire never mentioned anything like that to me," remarked Gerard as he wondered what the rat was up to this time.

Huck grinned. "He's probably got some surprise prepped up for you."

"Anyway, let's get going, guys," the human boy said. "I need to deposit this ten dollars the foreman gave me into my bank account and then I would like to get some work done on the carnival while it is still light."

The three left Kennelmount Farms and after stopping by the bank, they proceeded around the outskirts of town where the dog boys showed Gerard where some of the fun places to visit at night were. Finally, the three arrived at the lake dock where Fenmire and Benwick Weasel were waiting on them. Once the five were in the boat, Fenmire got the boat moving, piloting the old wooden vessel over to the island and the dock thereof. As Gerard was helping the others out of the boat he said to Fenmire, "I didn't know you could pilot a boat. You're really talented." The rat grinned at his human friend. "Just one of my many talents I have under my belt. Let's get a move on while the morning sun is still on one side of the sky. Lampwick and Wilwick are waiting on us." Gerard and the other boys headed up the trail to the carnival entrance where they were greeted by Lampwick and Wilwick.

Lampwick said, "There you guys are. I was starting to get worried when you didn't show up at sunrise. Come on in and we'll see about getting some work done on this place."

The group followed Lampwick into the old closed carnival and split up into teams of two so as to work on various portions of the carnival. Fenmire and Benwick headed off over into the roller coaster section of the old carnival. Huck and Tom headed off toward the game booths section of the carnival. And Gerard ended up with Wilwick and Lampwick between the fun house and old billiards hall... a section once known as the indoor attractions section. Gerard worked well and with precision, much to Lampwick's delight. However, Wilwick was often getting distracted every time Gerard would bend over to get a nail out of the sack of nails on the ground. Wilwick dreamily smiled, as he imagined himself pouncing an all bent over Gerard. Eventually, Lampwick announced that he was going to make a few rounds through the park to check on the others who were evidently being quieter than usual. To make sure that Fenmire and the others were still working, like they were supposed to be. And off Lampwick trotted.

Gerard smiled at Wilwick and said, "It's just you and me now, buddy."

Wilwick nodded his muzzle, then hung his head and moaned a little.

Gerard arched an eye. "Are you okay, Wilwick?"

Wilwick lifted his head slightly and replied, "Tummy hurts. I skipped breakfast because I was so wanting to see you again. Could you escort me over to my place so I can get something to eat? It's about lunchtime anyway and we could come right back afterward."

Gerard nodded his head in reply, saying, "Sure. I think lunch sounds like a fine idea. Let's head over to your place. Which way is it?"

Wilwick slyly grinned to himself. "It's this way. I'll show you." The donkey led Gerard off deeper into the carnival and straight up to a wooden back wall with a door in it. "Right through here. Watch your step." And once they were through the door, Gerard saw another side to the carnival that Lampwick hadn't mentioned... this side of the amusement park was still operational and looked fairly new.

Gerard asked, "You mean there is a functioning carnival on this island? So what were we repairing over there?"

Wilwick grinned slyly without Gerard seeing. "Lampwick was saving this as a surprise for you because you offered to help fix up the older carnival. Come on, my place is this way." And he started off in one direction. Gerard followed slowly, though he began to notice boys with donkey ears and donkey tails wandering to and fro between the games, refreshment stands, and the rides. Although Gerard was also trying to keep his donkey escort in sight he soon collided by accident into one of the eared/tailed boys and they both fell on the ground.

He shook his head as his vision slowly came back into focus at the half donkey boy in front of him. "All my fault. I'm terribly sorry." The donkey eared/tailed boy giggled as he pressed a soft gooey chocolate bar into Gerard's mouth! "It's good, isn't it?" Gerard wasn't prepared for that reaction as he irked and swallowed the addictive super sweet chocolate that was given to him. And the moment he did, the dizziness returned with a pounding rush! And worse, he knew that he just had to have another chocolate bar! "That was delicious! I'm Gerard!"

The partial donkey boy replied, "I'm Cris! Wanna get some more chocolate with me? I'm glad I met you!" Gerard grinned, still dizzy from the chocolate. "Heck yeah! Let's get some more chocolate!" Cris grabbed Gerard's hand and dashed off pulling Gerard with him!

Soon the two were within a building that smelled like chocolate and they were both sitting down in an odd tub next to each other wearing bibs. Cris grinned. "You want to try the milk bunny chocolate or the dark donkey chocolate?" Gerard grinned back. "Let's try the dark! Why not? That chocolate bar was really good!" Cris smiled. "It's your first time, so I'll let you push the button!" Gerard patted Cris on the shoulder which seemed a little more furry than it did before then he pushed the button. The moment he pressed the button, the bottom of the tub dropped out and the two fell down into a huge, deep, sticky vat of dark donkey chocolate! KER-PLOP!!

Cris giggled as he watched Gerard's clothes completely dissolve from the acidic but delicious chocolate and then another load of the sticky chocolate dumped down from above on top of them! But Gerard, at that point, didn't really seem to mind. He was enjoying the chocolate too much. And Cris liked his new friend. It was only a few hours later after Cris helped a naked Gerard out of the chocolate vat as the human boy asked Cris, "Is this what happened to your clothes?" Cris replied with a smile, "No, I lost mine on the swamp ride. I was wearing clothes when I went on the ride but when the ride ended they were gone. But I really don't mind at all. Wanna go on the swamp ride with me now?"

Gerard nodded his head in agreement and the two headed off to ride the next ride.

Back over in the rundown carnival, however, Tom Dane had arrived on the scene where Wilwick and Gerard was to have been repairing some doors and windows, so he could borrow a hammer, and he saw that no one was there. Perplexed on where they could have went, Tom headed back over to where Huck and Lampwick were working. When Huck saw Tom approaching, he asked, "Did you get the hammer?" Tom replied, "Actually no. Gerard and Wilwick weren't there."

Lampwick looked up at the sun then back at the dogs. "It is lunchtime. I'll bet they found a spot to sit down and are having lunch. No need to worry about them; they'll turn up soon."

At that moment, about part way across the old carnival, Fenmire and Ben were working on one of the old broken roller coasters, when the toon weasel saw something across the fence. "Hey Fenmire? Wasn't Gerard supposed to be repairing the indoor amusements section?"

Fenmire grinned. "Yeah... him, Wilwick and Lampwick. Why do you ask?"

Ben pointed out toward a place across the fence. "...because that naked boy over there looks just like him."

The swamp rat glanced over in that direction and said, "You know something? You're right. That does look like Gerard. But we both know that can't be him because only donkeys can open the special door to the real carnival. So that has to be someone who looks like Gerard. In a way, I wish it was him, so I can finally be able to say that I finally saw him naked."

The weasel grinned. "You really like the human boy, don't you?"

Fenmire nodded his head, blushing. "Yeah, I have to admit that I do like him. When Gerard is around, I don't get into as much trouble as I normally would."

Ben hammered on his side of the track for a moment then said, "What thoughts did you have when you first laid eyes on Gerard?"

Fenmire grinned. "They were plenty naughty, I can tell you that right now. I would love to get him in bed some day."

"I am interested in him myself but my parents are convinced that humans are not nice people," Ben said. "They would ground me if I played with a human no matter who it was."

At that moment, Wilwick joined the two and said, "Fenmire... Ben... I'm in some trouble. Please don't tell Lampwick this but I when I went to take Gerard back to my place for lunch... I lost track of him in the carnival. I am afraid he might accidentally get into some of that chocolate the park is infamous for. Have you seen any sign of him across the fence?"

Ben glanced at the silent Fenmire and then he personally chose to gain some points by telling the truth. "Earlier, we thought we had seen someone naked over in the carnival who looked like a chocolate coated Gerard. He was heading toward a ride with that donkey boy named Cris."

Wilwick moaned. "Cris is worse than Fenmire on a bad day, um, no offense, Fenmire. But he is the worst one for Gerard to encounter. He gobbles chocolate like there's no tomorrow."

Fenmire said, "I suggest you go get one of the other island lords to help you find Gerard. We won't tell Lampwick a thing... this time. But you'll owe us. Now you better get going."

In Japanopolis, Lupa-Vega arrived at the Biker Mice Motorcycle Museum. As she had often told her sorority sisters, anyone with a motorcycle was more likely to get her attention than anyone else alive. And that extremely nice Farrel Davenport had told her about the museum so she felt obliged to check it out. As she admired one of the red Martian motorbikes, she became aware of someone standing just behind her who said, "Model 14-Z, the second motorcycle I built for the TV series." Turning to look over her shoulder, she saw Throttle Van Wham standing there looking as handsome as ever. But he was wearing a curator uniform with his name on a chest tag.

"I always wondered what had happened to you when your series ended," she said. "I watched it to see the hot motorcycles and the studs who rode them."

Throttle blushed a little at the compliment. "Thank you, miss. Perhaps you might be interested in a part time job in the museum workshop where I still build motorcycles. Got to keep in practice to assist my nephew Zachary and my son Clutch. I can pay you well for your help."

Turning around fully, she shook the Biker Mouse's hand. "Lupa-Vega Prince, Astrophysics major, Sigma Phi Delta sorority, The SUM. And I would love to work for you, Throttle. My boyfriend has a cycle himself but I don't know who he goes to for getting his ride repaired."

"Do you know any martial arts?" he asked out of curiosity.

"But of course," she smiled. "There is always time for chaos." She winked with a soft chuckle.

Throttle placed one arm around Lupa-Vega's neck with a smile. "Do you know Ninjutsu too?"

"Not yet but I would love to learn it," Lupa replied very interested in where this might be leading.

"My wife and I are to have dinner with Master Splinter tonight. I could invite you along and then as a favor to you, I could ask him if he would give you Ninjutsu lessons."

Lupa smiled widely. "That would be fantastic! Thank you so much! Um... my main weakness is anyone with a motorcycle. Does Master Splinter have one that we haven't seen in the cartoons?"

"Oh yeah," he replied with a wink. "I was glad to build it for him. He is an easy rider despite his lifestyle."

Lupa smiled as she hugged the Biker Mouse briefly. "Why don't you show me this workshop so I can get to work while I have time today?"

"It's this way." And Throttle led the human girl off toward the back of the museum.

At the Toonium City Mega-Mart, Rianne was slowly pushing her cart along as she looked over her grocery list. "Coffee... oh, there it is." And when she reached down to get a large can, her hand collided with a furred paw belonging to Nala. "Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Nala."

Nala had a shopping cart of her own although it looked as if she was only shopping for one. "Thank you, Mrs. Prince. How are you finding life in Toonium City?"

"Better since we got the restraining order against your mate Simba," Rianne said. "I am sorry we had to do that but he was pestering my family night and day, and I had enough of it."

The lioness calmly said, "I guess you didn't know, Mrs. Prince, but Simba and I are divorced. So any restraining order you have against him is really of no concern of mine... or is it? What all has he done this time?"

"This time? You mean he was like this back when you were married to him?"

Nala said, "I shouldn't spread gossip, Mrs. Prince."

"It isn't gossip if its the truth. Now give."

The lioness said, "Hmm, I see you don't take lip from a mincy lion king. Very well, I will tell you what I know. But once you do know, I am sure you will be as upset as I was. But to be fair, you have to tell me what he has been doing to your family. Anyway, Simba is heavily into sadism, I am sure you know what that is. I discovered by accident that he was also bisexual and he was having a gay affair with Timon. But that is chicken feed compared to what else I learned. He had a secret room built into our home where he would take his weekend dates for leather boy scout adventures. As in boy scout uniforms made of leather which has a hole for the tail and a hole for... I don't want to be crude... for the anus. He would have his date wear the uniforms and he would mount them as they begged for him to do it again and again. I found all manner of recordings hidden in his gym bag. The last straw was when he had Kovu in the secret room and they accidentally left the door ajar and I caught them in the act. That was it. I packed my bags and by morning, I had spoken to the judge about our divorce proceedings. The divorce occurred the week before your family moved to QC Planet. Okay, it's your turn now. What else has he done?"

Rianne pulled the two letters Simba written them out of her purse and just showed them to Nala. Then she explained in detail what Leon had said Simba had been doing. (See above.)

"Oh my lords..." the lioness said looking upset herself. "He is still up to his old tricks and he is after your husband. If I was you, I would have the restraining order changed to make it so if Simba so much as touches your husband for any reason, the big stupid lion is immediately incarcerated. This will not end well as long as he doesn't get help for his idiot condition. If you have any torture plans against him, I will gladly help you do them."

Gerard had no idea what time it was when he started to snap out of the sugar rush but what he did realize right away was that he was naked in a slow moving log plume ride with Cris who was sitting right beside him. "Um, Cris? What happened to my clothes?" Cris grinned at him and replied, "You lost them in the chocolate bath and you said it didn't matter. You and I have been riding rides ever since all over the park and eating lots of great food and stuff. You're the bestest friend I've ever met and the most fun to spend a day with. I am really glad I met you." Gerard was blushing profusely now. "Um, I'm naked, Cris. How the heck am I going to explain losing my clothes to my parents?" Cris hugged Gerard a little. "Honestly?"

The naked boy nodded his head quietly; he was majorly embarrassed. Cris held him and rubbed his shoulders. "Don't be embarrassed, Gerard. It was an accident and it wasn't your fault. And that's the truth; I don't see the problem. Besides, unless someone fetches you some clothes you might as well not even attempt to go home or everyone will see that you're naked. You'll need to get someone to go get you some clothes while you wait here for them to come back. And then... there's the other concern you should be having."

Gerard arched an eye at Cris. "What concern is that?" Cris steeled himself up for a possibly upset Gerard as he held up a donkey's tail that was obviously not Cris'... "You have one like mine. I don't recall when you got it but I know you've had it the last few rides." He paused. "...the ears, too. Like mine." He had grabbed the donkey tail when Cris touched it then slowly reached up and felt his new donkey ears. "Why am I changing into a donkey? I haven't been acting like a jackass..." he paused. "...have I? I befriended you and spent the day with you. I shouldn't be changing like this? I don't get it. How do I get out of this?"

The partial donkey boy replied, "If you want out of it then you are going to have to petition Lord Lampwick for a favor to be restored. But as long as you are planning to get restored you might as well have some fun in the meantime. Lord Lampwick won't be back at his quarters until late tonight and we have a whole day to go before then."

Gerard said, "Oh, I know where he is. I just have to go back through the door in the wall and ask him. That shouldn't be too hard." Cris then grinned and said, "Except for one little flaw in that logic." Gerard asked, "And what's the flaw?" Cris kept grinning as he rubbed Gerard's furry shoulders. "Only full donkeys, like Lord Lampwick and Lord Wilwick, can open that door; no one else can open it. That's why I suggested that you just continue to have some fun until Lampwick returns to his place tonight." Gerard sighed. "So until he comes home, I'm stuck here in this carnival?" Cris nodded his head. "I'm afraid that's how it works." Gerard hummed. "You said Lord Wilwick... he's the one who opened the door for me originally. What power does he have here in this carnival?" Cris replied, "You're probably going to be mad at him but... he's the recruiter for this carnival. It's his job to find boys who haven't been good and dump them into this carnival so they can get changed into donkeys. But like you said, Gerard... you haven't been bad, so I don't know why you're changing unless you're goofing off when you should be doing something." Gerard placed his hand over his eyes. "I was supposed to be working today repairing the old carnival. Wilwick asked me if I'd like to go to his place for lunch and it was lunchtime anyway so we came over here and when I ran into you... I lost track of where Wilwick went."

Cris sighed. "And I unwittingly kept you entertained for a better part of the day. It's all my fault. I am so sorry, Gerard; please forgive me. If I had known, I would have taken you straight to Wilwick's place. Now, you have to wait for Lampwick to get restored because Wilwick can't do it. He could have stopped you from getting changed but once you started changing it was out of his hooves, so to speak. Now only Lampwick can undo this."

Gerard hugged Cris, petting him in return. "I don't blame you a bit for this, Cris. It was an innocent accident." Cris smiled. "I am still glad we met, Gerard. Even if you do get restored, I think you are a swell guy. No one has ever purposely spent a day with me before and it... um... feels nice to have a friend like you to pal around with." Gerard smiled back at Cris. "How long have you been stuck here at the carnival, Cris?"

Cris replied, "A couple of years, since I got lost from the high school class I was with and I ran into Wilwick and he invited me into the carnival so I could get something to eat and drink for the night. And somehow, I got separated from him, got shown around the carnival by another donkey eared/tailed boy, and the next thing I knew... I had the ears and tail, too. And when I realized that I had the ears and tail, the other boy had left me to myself, and I never saw him again. So I continued living here at the carnival, having a blast by myself until I met you." Gerard raised one eye brow. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Cris Ketchum, would it?" Cris nodded his head. "Yeah, that's who I am. How do you know me?"

Gerard and Cris were now in another slow moving ride that slid through an indoor environment that looked like the inside of a giant toy box. They were joined by two other donkey eared/tailed boys as the ride was a 4-seater. "I asked Professor Stromboli who the missing students were, by name. He said Cris Ketchum, Alex Trent, and Brent Knight. If you're here, where did the other two vanish to?" Cris smiled. "Oh, they're here, too. I see them, occasionally. Brent went full donkey and now works for Lord Lampwick over at the estate on the back side of the island. Alex is still humanoid, like me. But he said that he didn't want to go back to school unless the school erased his failing grades. So he just lives at the carnival here and there." Gerard then asked, "What are Brent and Alex like?"

Cris shrugged then said, "Brent was a really bad boy. He was a bully and picked on other kids. His parents were getting ready to ship him off to... somewhere the grown ups refer to as... That Place. Brent caught wind of what they were planning, so during the next class outing to Pleasure Island, Brent headed inland and asked Wilwick if he could hide out on the island for a few weeks. Naturally, Wilwick brought Brent into the carnival and left him there. And within a day, he was a full donkey. Only after he became a full donkey did he start to realize that it was probably a bad idea to be a bad boy, but at the point, it was too late. After a couple of years, he worked up the courage to ask Lampwick for a job on his estate, and for the past year, that's where he's been."

Gerard nodded his head. "And what about Alex?" Cris smiled. "Alex started out a lot like you, Gerard." Then he frowned. "Then Oslo caught him and Alex wasn't quite the same after that. Then, Alex arrived here at the carnival and he seemed to snap... and though I occasionally still see him around, he's not someone, now, that I'd prefer spending a day with. You might say that I wouldn't want to have to trust him." Gerard hummed. "And where does Alex normally hang out, or do you care to know?"

Cris irked. "I know but I'd rather not tell you. I wouldn't want you to get hurt by Alex even by accident. Why do you want to know anyway?" Gerard smiled. "I'd like to meet him just once. If you'd prefer to be there when I meet him, so you can be sure I wasn't hurt, that's okay too. I just like meeting new people, good or bad." Cris hummed as he thought about it. Then he said, "Okay, I'll take you to meet him, but I still don't think it's a good idea. Alex isn't someone that I'd trust. And he can be tricky, too."

Gerard nodded his head. "That's okay. You've warned me enough. I want to meet him." Cris said, "Okay. As soon as this ride ends, I'll take you to meet him."

At the Council Chambers, Rianne and Nala were meeting up with Leon, Mickey Mouse, and Mighty Mouse, the latter having the master key to the filing cabinets themselves. Once inside, Leon led the group over to Simba's filing cabinet and pointed at the second drawer from the top. "That's the one to open, Mighty Mouse. But open them all, just in case he has moved things around." Nala was extremely interested in what secrets lay within the filing cabinet. She thought she knew all of Simba's secret stashes.

Mighty Mouse used his key to unlock the cabinet locks then he opened them one at a time. Fortunately for the group, Simba had not moved anything around. They had hit the jackpot.

Mickey was appalled. "Golly gosh! How could he keep stuff like this at... at..." He picked up the Playgirl magazine. "...eww... Nala, how can he do this?"

"He has been leading a secret life for a long time, Mickey," she said. "When Mrs. Prince told me what all he had done recently, that is what tipped me off that he was targeting her husband, Mr. Prince, as his next... role playing partner. I had to divorce him because of this stuff."

Then the cat lord judge arrived and he too looked over the find. "Oh my... the membership card is pretty damning. I thought you people were kidding about all this. Well that tears it. I am going to have Simba checked into the Insanitarium for psychiatric evaluation. And yes, that will last for thirty days. That means absolutely no access to any of his fixes. At the end of thirty days, we will follow him secretly to see what he does. But everyone should keep their eyes and ears alert for anything out of the ordinary that he does after his medical leave. Mickey? Will the council be able to function without him during his leave of absence?"

"If his problem is a medical condition, then yes, we can function without him. Although if it is a psychosis that he cannot get over, I fear it will take a great shock to his system to scare him from wanting to do it anymore."

Rianne asked, "You mean I don't get to pour sulfuric acid on his genitals?" She looked disappointed and so did Nala.

Leon shuddered. "Glad I stay as loyal as I do or that could be my punishment."

"Yeah, Minnie would do the same thing to me if I strayed from the path," said the Disney mouse in agreement.

"The term 'happily married' has real meaning then for the Mouse family."

"You better believe it. I've personally seen how she can handle a butcher knife."

Mighty Mouse was the one who shuddered this time. "Glad I am a bachelor; married life is way too complicated for this mayor."

In Meta Star City at one of the Arden's Pizza outlets, Ezrel and Arnie were having lunch with one of the head union officials, who was a pretty mouse lady wearing a black business skirt. "...and so you see, Ma'am, that is why Arnie here is worried about his friend Gerard Prince. Do you know anything about this at all?"

"Last Sunday, your friend Gerard spoke to us during that tour you both took and he showed interest in helping us to locate the missing school boys," she replied. "We were hesitant to accept his help but he revealed that he had a empowered hero form that Commander Rabbit had helped him to acquire. With that as his insurance, we relented and permitted him to do undercover investigation for us in Toonium City. He should have informed you, his friend, of what he was up to. But he likely didn't want to tip off too many people as to what he would be doing. You see, Arnie, there is a huge reward for finding these lost boys."

"That sounds like something he would do," the boy replied as he ate a bit of his pizza. "Gerard is just like that; always willing to help people who really need it. But his hanging out with Fenmire Rat is what bothers me. Everyone who is anyone has all given definitive warnings about not trusting that swamp rat for any reason. Yet my friend continues to spend time with him. I have to wonder if he doesn't have a spell on Gerard to make him do as he says."

"Fenmire isn't a magic user, so that theory is not likely, Arnie," said the female union mouse official. "But perhaps there is another incentive that has convinced your friend to pal around with him. Maybe the friend of a friend, as it were. Not to mention, Pleasure Island is infamous for making bad boys into donkeys. But... Lord Lampwick always updates the acquisition lists of those who end up there, according to his knowledge, and he sends us these new donkey lists once a month. He has admitted that people could be there without his knowing and if that was the case, then someone would have to prove they were there. However, the power of Pleasure Island can affect anyone; not just bad boys."

Ezrel thought about it for a moment. "So these missing school boys could be on Pleasure Island and that is why Gerard is out there today? To see if he can learn where they are? Sounds pretty dangerous to me especially since most people who end up as donkeys lose their clothes out there. Gerard could accidentally act like a jackass and end up naked. His parents might pitch a fit if he came home naked or in clothes other than his. I hope we are going to intervene on his behalf should this happen."

Arnie said, "The last time Gerard was seen naked by someone who wasn't family, he blushed very darkly. He told me later that he was very embarrassed and felt like hiding for the rest of his life. Being naked isn't something he likes to do willingly... however... he did do it for Lonepaw last night."

The Union Official raised one brow. "And that bothers you?"

"That lapine pirate boy enjoyed it too much; almost as if it was something he did all the time. That disgusts me but Gerard seemed to like it."

Ezrel commented, "Lapines are well versed in the art of multiplying, Arnie."

When the carnival ride ended, Cris and Gerard headed deeper into the carnival. They made one stop to pick up some food and drink, eating and drinking that, before heading onwards again. They soon arrived at an oddly dark building that smelled somewhat of chocolate and vanilla. Gerard asked, "Is this where Alex hangs out?" Cris nodded his head and knocked on the door. "He usually sleeps during the day and prowls at night, but because it's so late in the day, we might get lucky and he would already be awake." After a few silent moments, Cris was about to knock again, when the door opened and a donkey boy blinked his eyes at the light outside. "Cris? Is that you? Come on inside and bring your friend with you. You know I don't like the light." And he retreated back inside the building, as Cris and Gerard followed him inside and closing the door behind them.

Inside the building, Gerard saw something that made him glad that they came here. Alex had suitcases full of boy's clothes and shoes. The next thing Gerard saw was that the front room was apparently being used to store clothes in, though there was another room further back, and a hallway beyond that. Alex led the two into the second room, where he sat down on a large mattress on the floor and looked back up at Cris and Gerard. "Okay, his is a face I don't recognize. And I think I would recognize someone as nice looking as him."

Cris said, "Alex, this is Gerard. We were talking earlier, and I accidentally mentioned you, and he decided that he wanted to meet you."

Alex slowly grinned, though in truth, he was upset that he had only been mentioned by accident. "I am very glad you did mention me to Gerard. Tell me something... does any of the four lords know that Gerard is in the carnival?" Cris irked. "Um, one of them does, but not the main one." Alex nodded his head and then asked Cris to go get some chocolate bars from the store room in the back hallway. Cris' eyes twinkled at the mention of chocolate bars, and Gerard had to force himself to not go search for the candy too. Then, after Cris was out of the room, Alex offered some mattress space to Gerard for sitting, and asked, "I am going to hazard a guess and say that Lord Wilwick didn't purposely dump you in here. So, what's your story, Gerard?"

And Gerard explained the whole story to Alex, including what his job was supposed to have been. "And if I could negotiate some of these clothes from you, I'd be super appreciative."

Alex grinned. "Clothing does tend to vanish around here. Tell you what... promise me that you'll return here to see me another time, and I'll let you use any of the clothes here as often as you like, whenever you like. Do we have a deal?" Alex thought Gerard looked really sexy with the tail and ears of a donkey, though he knew that in order to convince Gerard that he was sincere, he would have to let Gerard go, this time.

Gerard thought the deal was a good one, so, he readily made the promise to return another time to see Alex. Then, Gerard glanced toward the hallway and asked, "What's taking Cris so long?" Alex replied, "He probably is devouring those chocolate bars that I got just for him. And I should warn you now, Gerard... don't eat any more chocolate here at the carnival, unless you love having the donkey ears and tail. The more chocolate you eat, the more donkey you become. That's what happened to Brent and it was a sad thing to witness. So that's my good deed for the day. For now, however, I think you better gather what clothes you think you'll need then head on over to either Lord Merlion's place or Lord Donkaroo's place and ask one of them to restore you to your normal human form. You are able to be restored, at the moment." Gerard finished gathering up some underwear, pants, shirt, belt, socks and shoes, then turned to Alex again. "What is Lord Donkaroo? He sounds like the cross between a kangaroo and donkey."

Alex grinned. "Good guess, but he's a stud and he loves to help people." Alex refrained from mentioning that the Lords would charge a fee for the restoration. Gerard said, "I'd like to see this Lord Donkaroo then. Maybe he can restore me without any real problems. How do I get there?" Alex stood up and showed Gerard a removable toon hole. "I have several of these and if you're going to be living on QC Planet, you best learn how to use these things." And with that, Alex taught Gerard how to use the removable toon hole. "Now, I'll open the toon hole to the correct destination, the first time. After you go through, pick up the toon hole and put it into your unseen pocket just like I taught you. And remember what you promised me."

After a well placed toon hole, Gerard headed through and emerged in a warm chamber elsewhere. He then picked up the toon hole and pocketed it like he was taught. Then, he took a step forward and called out, "Lord Donkaroo? Are you home? I need to ask for a restoration, please."

Lord Donkaroo was indeed home and all too eager to restore his handsome visitor. Then, as the restored Gerard was beginning to get dressed in the borrowed clothes, Lord Donkaroo said, "'ow will yas be paying me for this restoration, mate?"

Gerard irked as he turned to look at Lord Donkaroo. "No one said I had to pay for the restoration. What do you think is appropriate?"

Lord Donkaroo smiled. "Ah'll make it simple. This summer, yas return and work for me around 'ere. Odd jobs and what not. Anything extra yas make yas get to keep. And besides... Wilwick was looking for yas earlier. Do we have a deal?"

Gerard now understood why Alex had him promise to return now. "We have a deal, sir."

After that, Gerard and Lord Wilwick returned to the other carnival where the two got busy trying to catch up on the work that they had fallen behind on. "It's not your fault I lost track of you, Wilwick." The donkey recruiter lord replied, "I know. You encountered Cris and he is bad for sticking that dangerous chocolate into new boys' mouths. But I promise I will make it up to you. Even if it involves getting you out of trouble someday anywhere on QC Planet."

"Could you speak to my mom later then?" he asked. "Because I know my parents will be upset that I lost my clothes on an outing that wasn't supposed to have any danger. They were told community service on a gaming parlor. And unless someone from out here can vouch for what happened then I may end up grounded for the rest of my life."

Wilwick replied, "I am not supposed to leave Pleasure Island during the daylight hours, but... for you, Gerard, I would speak to your parents on your behalf. I don't want you to get grounded over an accident. That would be just plain silly. Plus, I really like you." He licked Gerard's face.

Gerard smiled and kissed the donkey lord in return. "Thank you, Wilwick. That means a lot to me."

On Earth, however, at that very moment...

Alfonzo Tralfazworth was sitting at home on the couch watching a cartoon new cartoon called The All-Stars which featured Captain Rabbit, Commander Rabbit, Eagle Lord, Timesheart Tiger, a gargoyle named Dalis, and a pretty Japanese girl who could change into the scary looking Dark Witch. Their team was constantly in battles against the evils of the lapine space pirates who wanted to steal Captain Rabbit's powers for criminal usage. If only he knew just WHAT he was watching!

His brother Rex (yes, the guy Lupa-Vega HATES with a passion) came into the room from outside. "Finally got someone to tell me where the Princes moved to."

"Oh? I say, who cares? I never liked Gerard anyway," remarked the obese little brother. "Why are you so obsessed with finding them anyway?"

"Because Lupa-Vega belongs to me, that's why," he said with a snobby twist of his mouth. "She came to me for a date and she said I was nice. I don't let my dates get away so easily. The Prince family moved to QC Planet because their father got hired by the Toonium City Council. And now that you know where Gerard went, I figure you can continue to make his life a living Hell since you hate him so much. As for me, this is my chance to get that planet skipping girl once and for all. She is mine."

From the kitchen doorway, their royalist sister Venecia (who had long blond hair, blue eyes, purely fair skin, and a body to be jealous of) said, "You just now learned where they went? Man, are you slow! I knew the day before they left. And I also know that Lupa-Vega isn't in Toonium City with the family; she is attending that unique college in the city of Wonderland. They call it The SUM... the Surreal University of Mechanics. She got into a dangerous sorority there called Sigma Phi Delta. In fact, thanks to Lupa, I have 'an in', so to speak. You see, unlike Alfonzo's feud with the little brother, I actually get along with Lupa on purpose so she will share what adventures she has. I asked her if there was any way to get me into the college with her and she said she would ask Dean Rothwell for me. Naturally, I would have to get off campus housing since I am no peasant, but... a large enough house for the two of you and... Alfonzo could switch schools so Gerard didn't get any unfair advantages over him. Which I am sure he is getting at the toon school there."

"Is that so?!" Alfonzo was off the couch in a huff. "Then I'm in! Anything to continue my crusade against Gerard!"

Rex thought about it for a moment before asking, "What about mom and dad?"

"They have been wanting us out of the house for a while; you know that," she said with a winning smile which showed off her perfect and white teeth. "They have been wanting to go a second honeymoon since giving birth to me. You see, I was planned; you two, according to them, were accidents because dad wouldn't wear protection nor get the fix. So you see... we would be doing them a favor by just moving out. I will let them know where we are going so they don't worry" she was thinking also 'about me' "and then we can all get settled."

Rex grinned widely. "Then we have our plan! Lupa-Vega and Gerard will learn fast that they cannot escape from the Tralfazworth family so easily!" And then he laughed like a villain.

A few hours later in Japanopolis.

Throttle and Carbine had Lupa-Vega and Master Splinter at their table in a fancy rodent specific restaurant; Throttle vouched for the human girl to get her inside since his standing with them was top of the line. Even Charley who was currently married to Vinnie had a membership there.

The famous ninjutsu master smiled as he looked at the human female. "Throttle tells me you are an accomplished martial artist."

Lupa-Vega smiled. "He is too kind, really; Carbine is lucky to have caught him. I only use what I know to fend off hoodlums who have naughty designs on their minds. Otherwise, I am an Astrophysics major. And please, just call me Lupe. The hyphenated stuff was mom's idea."

Carbine smiled at the compliment that her husband's new employee gave her about catching the Biker Mouse.

Throttle smiled as well. "Lupe doesn't know Ninjutsu yet and since you are the master of the art, I said she could ask you for lessons. Unless you don't do that anymore..."

Master Splinter chuckled as he reached over and gently patted Lupa's hand. "For such a pretty young lady, I would be honored to assist. Although the boys still aid me from time to time in the martial arts school; Leonardo and Donatello spend the most time there; Raphael and Michelangelo have family issues of their own to deal with for which I am glad they do not push on me. Therefore, you should get a fine lesson when you attend. I know you attend The SUM and that takes up most of your time. And you work part time for Throttle now. So shall we say any evening you want to come into the studios... we can give you quite the workout."

Lupa replied, "That sounds like a plan, Splinter. Just make sure you warn the boys not to try to cop any feels on me or else I will break their arms. And failing that, I do carry turpentine for dealing with toons who can't take no for an answer."

The aged toon rat raised one eye as he asked, "How do you know if turpentine actually works or not on a toon?"

"Do you want to be first to volunteer to see if it has any effect when poured on your genitals?"

"No."

"You see?" Lupa said with a smile. "Every time my mother and I offer to do that to a toon, they immediately go pale and back away cautiously. So if turpentine doesn't work on toons, then why give off the big fear act? I mean, surely there are no Union cameras recording what they are doing when they are off duty, is there? Say for Funniest Home Videos or some other get rich quick scheme like that." She winked. Carbine then commented, "I like her, honey; she's funny."

"You lost your clothes doing what?" Leon loudly shouted at his son when he learned that Gerard had come home wearing a toon's clothes instead of his own. He was still agitated over the whole Simba thing and he was inadvertently taking it out on his son who normally never stepped out of line for any reason.

"Now honey," said Rianne. "If you don't calm down, I will stick you in a cell directly beside Simba." She turned to their son and said, "All right, Gerard. You said you had an explanation on how this happened. We would like to hear it right now. And you better make it good because your father and I have not had a good day today."

"One of the owners of the gaming parlor agreed to help explain what happened to you. He is waiting in the backyard. And I promise; I am not wasting your time. I know you are both upset over things happening locally, but please... hear this guy out. He can explain it better than I can. And no, it isn't Fenmire Rat from down the street."

Leading his parents out the backdoor of the house, they were surprised to find a donkey boy wearing a black polo shirt and wearing a flat topped showman's straw hat. "What the?" Leon exclaimed. "Gerard? This is a donkey."

"Okay, Wilwick... tell them the truth; they don't want to hear lies. They expect honesty out of me. And yeah, they are mad like I predicted they would be."

The donkey lord nodded his head once before beginning. "Mr. and Mrs. Prince? I am Lord Wilwick of Pleasure Island. The gaming parlor your son was helping to repair is on our island in a currently closed down section of the park. When he saw how everything was in disrepair, he asked me if he could come back and make repairs. I was reluctant to accept his help since Pleasure Island is the place where bad boys are sent by their parents to become donkeys. But Gerard convinced me and my co-partner to allow him to help us with repairs. During lunch hour on the island, one of the other donkey boys tricked your son into getting a shower of Pleasure Island Chocolate dumped all over his body; head to foot. This is special chocolate which can dissolve clothes very rapidly. Naturally, he ended up both naked and embarrassed. Fortunately, we have a storehouse where we keep boys clothes and we allowed Gerard to pick through to get himself a set for him to wear so he wouldn't be naked in public. It is our fault we didn't warn the other donkeys that Gerard was not to be bothered and for that we apologize. If anything, we are willing to replace his clothes with the Earth equivalent however you choose. We can pay for it, if that is crossing your minds. But we really like Gerard. He did a very good job today and he was afraid you would ground him for losing his clothes. And judging from your upset stature, I would say he wasn't wrong."

Rianne looked at the donkey lord and casually scratched his long ears. "So you are one of the two owners out there. And the other is Lampwick? Nala told me today at the store what went on out there, so your story matches what she told me. You people punish bad boys when parents send them to you. But she also said that bad boys in school are sent to 'That Place', where ever that is. And then Nala wouldn't tell me anything else about it."

Gerard made a face. "They won't tell you either, huh? It makes me wonder if Simba is in charge of it..."

Leon growled, "If he is, he is so dead!" He closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths of air. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Wilwick. "Do you know who pounced Gerard on Monday when he was on your island with the class field trip? He came home with his clothes coated in poop."

"I was told that Gerard was protecting me by telling you guys that another student pounced him. But... you want the truth so... I was the one who pounced him. I don't get to see many good looking and polite boys on the island. I didn't know he was standing in front of a dumping pit where we dump the donkey manure and when I pounced him, we both went in. And if you think cleaning poop off of clothes and skin is hard... you should try to clean yourselves with hooves someday. I had to get help from the other donkeys to get myself clean that night."

"You pounced him? You could have killed him. What were you thinking?"

Wilwick didn't look apologetic as he said the next part. "Mr. Prince... humor me for a moment and kneel down and place your arms under my belly and then stand up with me in your arms. Toons on QC Planet do not weigh how they look they might weigh. Please, for Gerard's sake. Try it."

Leon looked skeptical but if this was a fact, then it explained how the council were often so big yet didn't break through the floor boards of the council chambers. He knelt down and placed his arms under Wilwick's chest and stomach... and then he stood up with the donkey lord in his arms. And surprisingly... he felt like Charles Atlas since he knew he couldn't lift an Earth donkey like this. He then set Wilwick down once again. "That is... amazing. I assume Toon Physics plays some part in this feat?"

"That is correct, Mr. Prince. Toon Physics permit toons to weigh far less than they look. Otherwise Simba would weigh in around five hundred to six hundred pounds. But with Toon Physics, he only weighs around two hundred pounds." He refrains from mentioning that a toon can also make themselves heavier than they look but that part isn't necessary to tell.

The adult man looked to his son again. "You really like Wilwick, don't you?"

Gerard nodded his head slowly. "Yes, dad. He and Lampwick are really nice guys. Not like you see in the Disney film. Lampwick cares about what happens on his island and Wilwick just happens to like me more since he is lonely a lot of the time and nice donkeys like him don't have a lot of friends. I wasn't hurt by his pounce and he did apologize immediately after he saw what we landed in. I can't be mad at him since he did apologize. Plus, when I am spending time with Wilwick, I am not around Fenmire as much. Everyone keeps telling me how horrible that swamp rat is. But he hasn't ever did anything bad to me."

"Well, I appreciate the truth from you, son, but you did lie on Monday, so... I am going to have to ground you for that. You aren't going to be punished for losing your clothes."

Rianne said, "Leon is right, Gerard. Normally you never lie to us and because you did it, you will be grounded for a week. No after school activities and you can only spend time with Arnie here at home rather than be with anyone else you know during this coming week. You will be free again the following Monday. And next time, remember that we do not tolerate lies in this family. Lupa-Vega had to be grounded three times before she got the message. And if you are better than her, then you better make sure this is the only time it happens."

End of Episode Three

Stay tuned for the next episode, Carrots and Curfews