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A CHALLENGE TO ALL WRITER'S.

Hello:

The story I have submitted is part of an unofficial, informal challenge to one and all. It is intended to be fun, and hopefully will hone the writing skills of those who decide to participate.

I have selected a group of characters familiar to most, if not all who enjoy reading furry stories. Your task, should you decide to accept it, is to write subsequent chapters to this story, preserving the continuity and flow to the best of your ability, yet engaging your imagination to its fullest potential.

Where will this plotline lead... Frankly, I have no idea, but it should prove interesting to say the least. After all, it's not the destination, it's the journey that's important.

A couple of simple rules. First, each episode should began and end at the Ranger's Headquarters. This will give everyone a starting point for the episodes. Second, Don't kill off any of the seven main characters. Doing so makes it difficult for the writer following. Third, try to incorporate as much of the previous writer's continuity as possible. Fourth, Zipper is retired... besides, he isn't going to hang around anyplace where there's an insectivore living. Fifth... Have fun.

Let's see where this train is going.

The Radical Gopher

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RESCUED RANGERS: Chapter 1 - A Change of Mode

The door to the Ranger's Headquarters sprang open and Monterey Jack pushed his way in, followed by Chip, Gadget and Foxglove. "Crikey!" he sighed, "it's good to be home. Especially after dealing with a gonzo screw loose like Nimhnal." He gently deposited the white, fuzzy bundle he'd been carrying on the couch and flopped into a large recliner nearby. The others circled the silent figure, concern mirrored in each other's eyes.

Gadget tapped Chip on the shoulder. "Why don't you find Tammy and have her bring her medical kit out here?" The chipmunk nodded absent-mindedly and disappeared into the adjoining hallway.

Tammy, a young tree squirrel, had once been a "client" during their first year of operation. Now she was their newest, probationary, team member. She had, from the start, been fascinated by the Rangers and would often spend time visiting between cases. Over time, she had demonstrated an amazing talent for performing first aid, often helping Gadget patch-up the other Rangers following their more difficult missions. Though still too young to do field work, her recent studies in veterinary medicine allowed her to fill an important "hole" on the team as a non-field rated medical technician.

Chip reappeared a few minutes later with the young squirrel in tow. The Ranger Cadet had a small black bag tucked under her arm and a mini-stethoscope draped around her neck. "Okay... I'm coming! I'm coming! You don't have to paw me so hard Chipper!" Despite his recent engagement to Gadget, the adolescent squirrel still had a minor crush on the Ranger leader, and often referred to him with the nickname she'd originally invented.

She looked around at the faces in the room. "Where's Dale?"

"Here," answered Foxglove softly from the far side of the couch, her wing/paw stroking his head.

Tammy circled the couch and looked. Her mouth immediately dropped open as she saw Dale, or someone who would have strongly resembled Dale if not for the fact that he was a white furred hamster. He still had the same red nose pad and buckteeth, but he was definitely not a chipmunk.

"What happened?" she asked, even as she knelt next to the still figure and began recording his vital signs.

"We got snickered into a nasty trap Nimhnal set and were almost micro waved by that crackpot. Dale saved us when he shorted out the lab's power by crash-diving the Ranger wing into one o' his more delicate gizmos. Trouble is, it was a new kind of transmogrifier or something. It did a real gonzo number on both him and the Ranger wing."

"You mean it's wrecked again?"

Monty scratched his chin. "Well now... I don't think you could exactly call it wrecked." He gazed out the window thoughtfully for a moment or two as if looking at something. "Naw..." the Auzie muttered, "Definitely not wrecked."

Finishing with his vital signs, Tammy began working on Dale. Aside from his dramatic change he seemed to be suffering from trauma induced shock and electrical burns. His new, white fur was singed black in several places. His favorite Hawaiian shirt was scorched and shredded. The squirrel expertly removed what remained of it and trimmed the burned fur back, applying salve and bandages where needed. She gave him a small injection to help boost his immune system and allow him to rest comfortably.

Tammy looked up from her patient and smiled reassuringly at the others. "He'll be alright. All we need to do now it put him to bed and let him sleep." With Monty's help the Rangers moved Dale into the room both he and Chip shared. Foxglove volunteered to keep an eye on him. Being nocturnal, it would be easier for the bat to stand night watch than any of the others. Everyone else returned to the living room. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves and into the open window.

Monty looked down on Tammy and smiled. "Ya did a real top-rate job on Dale, love. Keep it up and it won't be long before ya get promoted from kay-det." The squirrel's ears blushed slightly at the compliment and she looked up at the Auzie, then did a quick double take.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

"Just a might tired, love," he replied. "Why?"

Tammy led him over to a full-length mirror that hung next to the door. Monty took a good long look at himself. As he did his eyes became as wide as saucers. His short muzzle had lengthened slightly. His ears were slightly smaller than before and less rounded. He was still tall, but his frame had been reshaped into a slightly more muscular, less flabby barrel shape. His forepaws were larger, his fur more coarse and his tail slightly longer.

"CRIKEY!" he gasped, just before his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell over backward in a dead feint. The whole room shook slightly. Chip and Gadget dashed to Monty's side.

"GOLLY!" cried Gadget, "what happened?" She squinted intently, unsure of what she was seeing.

"HOLY SMOKES!" Chip exclaimed. "He's... He's... a RAT!"

Tammy looked up at the other two Rangers. "Was he anywhere near the, uh, trans... thing-a-ma-what-cha- call it?"

"Transmogrifier," Gadget answered. "He's the one who pulled Dale out of the wreckage."

Chip pushed back his hat and scratched briefly at his head. "If I remember correctly, it was still sparking quite a bit when he did."

Tammy turned to Gadget. "Could you get your Geiger-counter from your workshop?"

"Sure," she replied. "Back in a jiffy." The mouse disappeared for a few moments, and then emerged wearing a small backpack. At Tammy's direction she waved a small wand across herself and Chip. Both Rangers showed as normal. Monty was another thing though. When he was examined, the Geiger counter nearly jumped off the scale. The same results were obtained when they checked out Dale.

"That helps explain a few things," Tammy commented.

"What?" asked Chip.

"We're looking at some kind of radiation induced mutation," the squirrel replied. "But it's nothing that registers on either the Alpha, Beta, or Gamma wavelengths."

"Could you explain that in English?" Chip asked, feeling slightly annoyed.

Gadget looked patiently at the chipmunk. "It means Professor Nimhnal was using a completely new type of energy wave to induce mutation, similar to what we call radiation, but unique."

"So... will the effects eventually wear-off?" the chipmunk asked hopefully.

"According to these readings," Tammy said, "The radiation levels are already dissipating. By nightfall they should be at zero."

"So Monty and Dale will change back?"

Both Gadget and Tammy shook their heads. "Their genetic codes have been altered at the molecular level. You'd have to stick them back in an identical machine and reverse engineer them at that same level," the squirrel replied.

"Huh?"

"Do you remember Nimhnal's first transmogrifier?" Gadget asked. Chip nodded. "Well, that machine didn't really alter our genetic structure, it simply spliced elements of one structure on another. Reversing its effects was just a matter of putting existing structures back the way they were."

"But here," Tammy continued, "the structures are completely changed. There's no baseline pattern to revert to."

"So the effect is..."

"Permanent," both girls responded together.

The squirrel looked at Gadget. "Why would the machine turn Monty into a rat and Dale into a hamster?"

"Well," the mouse explained. "Just before we fell into Nimhnal's trap we were busy freeing the lab animals."

"Let me guess... rats and hamsters?"

"And a few mice," Gadget added. She suddenly brightened. "The boys probably picked up some stray bits of fur from the cages, at least enough to give the transmogrifier a secondary source of DNA to work with."

"Makes sense." Tammy agreed

"Why weren't the rest of us changed?" Chip asked. "I mean if both Dale and Monty were radioactive, wouldn't we be affected too."

"Direct verses indirect exposure... I think," muttered Gadget. "It only makes sense. The most radical change occurred to the Ranger Wing because it absorbed the largest amount of energy. Dale received less because he was partially shielded by the wing itself. Monty received the smallest dose. That's probably why he didn't change immediately.

Tammy looked at Gadget with a puzzled expression. "What happened to the Ranger Wing?"

"Golly! That's right! You don't know yet!" She grabbed the squirrel by the jacket sleeve and raced out the door. "Come on! You'll find this fascinating!"

"Gadget! Wait... What about Monty?" Chip called, gesturing toward their unconscious teammate. The chipmunk shook his head. Now that she was assured both Dale and Monterey Jack were not in any immediate danger, her mind has shifted gears back to that of the curious inventor. He shrugged in resignation and rolled his eyes, then fetched a pillow from the couch and placed it under Monty's head before following the two girls.

It wasn't hard to catch them. They were both standing silently looking up at what used to be the Ranger Wing. Before them stood a magnificent, silver-feathered Peregrine Falcon.

"How... How is this possible?" Tammy muttered, totally awestruck by the raptor.

"What you see is a product of Nimhnal's mad genius combined with Dale's goofiness."

"Dale?"

"After the last time we ... uh, I crashed the wing he stowed a couple of falcon feathers under the back seat. He said he was going to use them to abandon ship the next time we crashed."

"And they provided the secondary DNA source?"

The mouse nodded. "There's much more to it than that, of course." Gadget looked up at the falcon who'd been standing completely still. "Curtiss?" The raptor slowly turned its head and looked down on the pair. For a brief moment, Tammy thought it had smiled.

"Yes, Mommy?"

"Mommy?" the squirrel repeated, looking at Gadget.

"He calls me that because he knows I built him, or rather the Ranger Wing." She addressed the falcon once more. "Curtiss? Would you show me your left wing?"

"Okay, Mommy," he replied happily. He stretched his wing down for the three Rangers to examine. Tammy looked at the silvery feathers. Each one was honeycombed with minute, hexagonal shapes.

"These look like solar panels!"

The mouse nodded enthusiastically. "They are, after a fashion. The Ranger Wing was solar powered. These, I believe, are some kind of biological equivalent." She focused her attention once more on the raptor. "Are you hungry, Curtiss? Do you want something to eat?"

"No thank you, Mommy. I am still full."

"Amazing," commented Chip. "He's been flying us around for hours, but he's not hungry."

"He obviously draws sustenance from the sun, like a plant," Tammy observed, "only in this case without the aid of chlorophyll." She looked over at Gadget. "What I don't understand is how he can think and talk."

"I'm only guessing, but it's possible that Nimhnal's machine converted the Wing's onboard GPS and mini computer into a functional brain. It did have a small, basic function A.I chip as part of its processor."

Chip glanced briefly at the sun. "I hate to interrupt, Gadget, but it's getting late. We should try to find someplace to bed Curtiss down for the night."

"Golly! I hadn't though of that. When the sun sets he won't have a power source."

"We could let him 'sleep' in the hanger," Tammy suggested. "Technically, it's already his room."

"You're right," the mouse responded. She looked up at the falcon. "Come on, Curtiss. It's time for a nap."

"Coming, Mommy!" the raptor said, hopping from one branch to another as it followed the inventor back to its hanger.

Chip and Tammy watched as the two disappeared around the trunk of the tree. "Why Curtiss?" asked the squirrel. "For a name, I mean."

"That was Gadget's idea. He seemed to have too much personality to call him the Ranger Wing, or even hey you, for that matter?"

"But Curtiss?"

"Gadget said he was a famous aviation pioneer from around the same time as the Wright brothers. She thought it suited him."

"He does seem quite lively, for a former machine that is."

"I'm not really sure how alive it is," Chip commented, "but it does have a certain child-like quality to it." He looked at Tammy. "You might have to study some engineering and pediatrics, in case he's ever one of your patients."

"Patients? PATIENTS... OH MY GOSH... MONTY AND DALE!" The Cadet Ranger vanished in a blur, dashing back into their headquarters as fast as her paws would carry her. Chip smiled and shook his head. No wonder Tammy and Gadget got along so well together. They might be different patterns, but they were definitely cut from the same cloth.

Entering the headquarters, he found Tammy rummaging through the icebox, her tail flicking excitedly. "Ah ha!" she chattered to herself.

"If you're looking for the smelling salts, wouldn't they be in the infirmary?"

The squirrel chuckled slightly, triumphantly holding up a small wedge of cheese. "Who needs smelling salts when you've got Gouda." She tossed it over to Chip. "Just wave it an inch or two under his nose, then stand back."

"Right," muttered the chipmunk. He did as instructed and the results were nothing less than explosive.

"CHEEEESSSSEEE!!!!" Monterey Jack sat bolt upright, his moustache twisting itself into a curly-cue as he reflexively bit down. Chip had to yank his hand out of the way to keep from having it follow the cheese into Monty's mouth. "MMMMMM! That there's the most gonzo Gouda I've ever tasted! It's almost like I'm eating it for the first time!" He shook his head. "Wait a second... Something's not exactly too right here!" He looked over at Chip and Tammy. "You two look different, sort of like the lights are turned up real bright."

"That would be due to an increase in your visual acuity," the squirrel said. "And the cheese tastes better because of your slightly longer muzzle and increase in olfactory sensitivity."

"Say what?" Monty replied.

"She means you smell better," Chip offered.

"Well, I should mate," Monty replied. "I took a shower just this morning."

The chipmunk shook his head and tried not to laugh. Tammy took their friend by the paw and led him over to his favorite chair. "You'd better sit down Monty," she said. "This is going to take a bit of getting use to."

* * * *

Dawn came, bringing with it a slightly perplexed and highly transmogrified chipmunk. Everyone had gathered around Dale to show his or her support as the situation was explained to him. Naturally, he took the news in as typical a 'Dale' fashion as could be imagined.

"So... " Dale replied, "What yer sayin' is... I'm a hamster."

"That's right," Tammy confirmed.

"And you're a rat," he said, pointing at Monty.

"Only on the outside, mate," the Auzie replied defensively

"And the effect is gonna be permanent?"

"Probably..." Gadget said, "Unless Nimhnal decides to rebuild his transmogrifier to the exact same specifications. Then we'd have to analyze the energy wave's frequency, determine its cycle and..."

Chip gently nudged the mouse in the side and nodded. "Yes."

"And because of this change, none of my shirts fit?" Dale finished.

"I'm afraid not, sweetie." Foxglove sympathized.

"Well..." the hamster muttered. "That sucks!"

...TO BE CONTINUED?