On October 27th, 1994, I made the following post on America
Online in a folder dedicated to all aspects of cartoon Fan-Fiction

>

Would anybody out there be interested on writing a group TTA
>story?  I think it would be a lot of fun.  I'll even volunteer to edit it
>together and post it when it's finished.

Now, over two years later, that story is finally finished.  It's
been an interesting project to work on, and a lot of fun too.  If
anyone is interested, I'll be happy to get involved in another
collaborative effort, but there is no way that I am going to serve as
editor and moderator for the thing!

This story is based upon the TV program, Tiny Toon Adventures,
which is owned and copyrighted by Warner Brothers, as are the
characters from that program.  This story is copyrighted to the
contributing authors, who make no claims whatsoever to that
program or to the characters in question.  Having said all that, I'll
now shut up and let you enjoy the story.
Kevin Mickel  (HKUriah@AOL.com)  November 15, 1996


             Mondo Negatory Tiny Toons:  The Other Side of Comedy
                       an original Tiny Toon Adventures story by;
                              Kevin Mickel (HKUriah@AOL.com)
                              Mike Cote (mcote@NMSU.edu)
                              Rebecca Littlehales (littlrs0@sisters.salem.edu)
                              John Friedrich (Nefaria@AOL.com)
                              Mike Demico (RRQUEST@AOL.com)
based upon an idea, and edited by Kevin Mickel

                                               Prologue

	As Babs approached Buster's rabbit hole, a sense of dread
began to grow within her.  Things like this just didn't happen in
Acme Acres.  Or rather, they didn't used to happen, and if they
could now happen to Buster, they could happen to anyone.
	Reaching the tree stump that led down into Buster's burrow,
Babs called down into it, "Buster, are you there?  It's Babs."
	"Come on down, Babs," came Buster's tired reply.  "But don't
say I didn't warn ya."
	Taking a deep breath, Babs made her way down into Buster's
home, and what she saw, even though she thought that she was
prepared, shocked her.  The place was a mess.  Everything had
either been overturned or smashed, and Buster looked grim as he
looked around at the destruction.  "So what did they take?" asked
Babs.
	"Just about everything of value," said Buster with disgust.
"Assuming of course that it wasn't too big to carry.  If it was, they
just smashed it."
	"I can see that," said Babs with remorse as she looked at
Buster's destroyed things.  "But have you figured out exactly what's
missing yet?"
	"For the most part.  But, I'm sure that once I start to sift through
all of this that I'll discover that more things are gone.  I've made a list
of everything I'm aware of so far," and he handed her a sheet of
paper that had a lot of writing on it.
	Babs quietly looked over the list.  Missing things included
Buster's stereo and CD player, the VCR, the Emmy statuette that
was in his keeping, his Reality Transferer, the original model sheet of
Bugs Bunny's that used to hang on the wall, his portable boom box,
his video game unit, and the list went on from there.  She didn't
bother to look at the list of things still present but smashed, as she
could see them for herself.  "So what did the police say?" she asked
as she gave the list back to him.
	"Not much.  No prints, no traces of anything.  This was a
professional job, Babs.  They'll keep an eye out, but it doesn't look
hopeful."
	"Well," said Babs with effort, "I'm glad of one thing.  You
weren't here when whoever it was that robbed you was.  If you had
been, they might have done to you what they did to your place.  I
wouldn't want to be visiting you in the hospital right now."
	"I suppose that is something," said Buster.  "Thanks for the
concern."  He looked around for a few seconds then, and as his eyes
fixed on the spot where Bugs's model sheet used to hang, he said,
"Besides, most of it can be replaced.  Turing to Babs then, he asked
with a grin, "So, are you gonna help me clean up this mess?"
	"That's why I'm here," said Babs as she rolled up her sleeves.
"Let's get to work."
				##########
	The next morning, while Buster was on his way to school, he
stopped for a second to look at a new ad sign that was posted by the
road.  "Do you need more home security?" it read.  "If so, call the
Acme Homeowners Security Hotline at 555-SAFE for information
on how to better secure your home."
	"Great," muttered Buster.  "Why couldn't they publish this ad a
week ago?"
	Buster started to head for school again, but before he had taken
three steps, he was suddenly enveloped in a flash of white light, and
when it had subsided, Buster was gone!
	"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-hah," laughed Montana Max as he stepped out
of the bushes he had been hiding in.  In his hands he held a strange
looking device whose main component was Buster's Reality
Transferer.
	"I did it!" exclaimed Monty with jubilation.  "Buster's gone!
Now nothing can stop me from taking over all of Acme Acres!"
Monty started to laugh again with jubilation as he headed for the
Loo to plan his next move.

				Chapter 1

	  Buster felt as if he was falling.  It didn't seem to him that he
was falling very fast, but it was dark, and he couldn't see where he
was going. He could see only faint after-images which flickered all
around him, but he could not make out anything for sure.  All
Buster knew was that he wasn't in Kansas anymore.
				##########
	There was an odd calmness in first period.  Yosemite Sam was
in his usual cheerful mood, but no one was there to constantly
harass him. That job was usually reserved for Buster.
	"Now,  you li'l varmints better listen up," Yosemite Sam growled
at them, "since that no-account fur bearin' critter ain't here, we's
gonna have a quiz!"
	A chorus of groans filled the room.  In the back of the room,
Babs sat and talked with Plucky.
	"I don't know.  He didn't tell me he wasn't coming to school
today."
	"Oh, great.  If I knew he wasn't going to be here, I would've
studied last night!  Now we've got some stupid quiz...
BROTHER!!!!!"
	It was hardly like Buster to miss school, Babs thought to herself.
Buster had not missed one of Yosemite Sam's lectures since his
freshman year, much to Sam's dismay.
	When class had ended, Babs went straight to a pay-phone and
called Buster's house.  The phone rang twice, and was picked up.
	"Hello," Buster answered.
	"Buster, why are you at home?  You're not sick, are you?  I
know you said that you weren't feeling good the other day."
	He let out a healthy chuckle.  "Just kidding," he answered.  "I'm
not home right now, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to
you."  Babs hung the phone up, not out of disgust at falling for this
same tired joke with the answering machine for the umpteenth time,
but out of worry. Buster just wouldn't be missing school without
telling HER where he was.
	The more she pondered upon it, the worse it got in her mind.
"Oh, my goodness," she thought to herself, "what if those robbers
came back last night?  What if they did something to him?  I've got
to find him and make sure he's all right!"  Babs was off like a shot
toward Buster's home.
				##########
	Buster squinted, and saw that he was heading toward a faint
light. As he came closer and closer to it, he could see distinctly a
green square, hanging from a dark orange sky.  It resembled faintly
the entrance into Wackyland simply by it's position, but the
resemblance ended there.
	"Hmm," Buster thought, "I guess Gogo's redecorating again."
	Buster felt himself begin to pick up velocity.  He soon began
falling faster and faster, until he was only a red and blue streak
racing down the tunnel.
	As he cleared the tunnel, he was met by a blinding flash of light.
It took only a few seconds for his eyes to refocus (that's what beta
carotene does for ya', kids), and he saw the familiar skyline of Acme
Acres... or was it?  The sky was a deep orange, many buildings in
town were black and windowless, and the forest was gone.  In it's
place was a huge factory, belching out black smoke which filled the
air for as far as Buster could see.
	Buster was so caught up in with the absurdities of the town, he
failed to notice that he was about to land face first onto the ground.
He arrived to the surface with a resounding "smack", and peeled
himself off.  As he regained his senses, he looked around again.  It
was Acme Acres all right, but not the Acme Acres he knew.
				##########
	"Please open the door," Babs said to herself.  She knocked on
the rabbit hole cover again.  She impatiently stamped her foot,
waiting for Buster to answer, but he didn't.
	 Babs quickly realized that Buster might be in there, and that he
might be in trouble.  An idea struck her.  She reached onto the top
of her head and removed a small hare pin.  She inserted it into the
lock and began to fool around with it, not that she knew anything
about opening locks this way, but she had no better alternative.  As
it turned out, her nimble fingers did the trick, and the door lock
clicked open.
	The cold, heavy steel door screeched open.  Babs slowly veered
inside, fearing the worst.  "Buster," she called down the hole,
without much voice behind her.  There was no response.
	Taking a deep breath, Babs started down the hole.  She felt her
heart racing.  She had no idea what she'd find down there.
	She reached the floor, and a huge wave of fear engulfed her.
"Buster, please, if you're here, tell me!  I'm scared!"  She received
no response.
				##########
	"This isn't right, this whole town can't just be deserted!"
	It wasn't right.  It was a Tuesday morning.  Acme Acres was
always a bustling town in the morning, especially Tuesdays when
"Big Louie's" All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Buffet was being served.
There were usually hundreds of people crowding the streets just to
sample Louie's scrambled eggs and slung potatoes.
	When he reached the diner, he was speechless.  Big Louie's had
been boarded up.  A large sign on the door read: "This Building Is
Hereby Condemned, By Order of The Chancellor."  This was all he
needed to see. Buster knew that if something was wrong with Big
Louie's, then by God, something was wrong.
	"All right, I'm gonna find out what's goin' on," he said
emphatically to himself.  Buster marched down the cracked,
neglected sidewalk toward the library at Acme Loo.
	As he walked toward the Looniversity, he was absolutely amazed
by the fact that he seemed to be the only one around.  It was as if
everything in Acme Acres was the way it shouldn't be.
				##########
	Babs had finally calmed down enough to have a look around.
She sneaked around the house, and finally became somewhat
satisfied that neither the burglars nor Buster was there.
	She took a look inside Buster's bedroom.  The bed was made.
She couldn't decide whether that meant Buster was home this
morning, or that he had not slept in it last night.  The room offered
no other clues as to his whereabouts, and there was nothing written
down in his appointment book.
	As she went back into the living room, she noticed something
she hadn't seen the first time.  That morning's paper was sprawled
out on the floor, the same way he had it every morning.  After years
of waiting for Buster to finish the newspaper so they could walk to
school together, Babs knew Buster's sprawling style.  "He was here
this morning," she said.  "Something must have happened to him on
his way to school." She quickly realized that she wasn't going to find
him without some help, so she left Buster's and went back to the
Looniversity.
				##########
	Only a couple of blocks away from the Looniversity, Buster still
had not seen anyone.  Not a soul was in Acme Acres besides him,
or so he thought.  Little did he know that he was being followed.
For the past several blocks, two toons were keeping a close watch
on the intruder. They were now situated in a dark alleyway, from
which only their eyes could be seen.
	"My mortal enemy, the Chancellor, is foolish to go out walking
by himself," the leader said to the other.
	"Are you sure that's the Chancellor?" asked the other.  "The
Chancellor I've seen is orange furred, and dresses far better than this
one."
	"The Chancellor does not fool me for one minute with his
disguise. Prepare to eradicate him, my trusted instrument of
destruction!"
	The Looniversity was in sad shape.  Rats of all varying colors
ran across the campus.  The administration building was little more
than a pile of ruins.  The library, although largely intact, had been
boarded up, and looked like it hadn't seen use in decades.  Buster
decided that the library was as good a place as any to get clues, so
he entered it through a hole in the wall.
	"Great," said Buster, none too enthusiastic about being there,
"this should be fun."  The sagging floor creaked as he walked slowly
across it on his way to a bookshelf marked "Periodicals."  "Maybe I
can read some back issues of the Acme Gazette and find out what in
the name of Dole is going on around here."
	Buster stopped dead in his tracks as he heard: "All right, freeze,
rabbit!"  He slowly turned around toward the hole through which he
had entered.
	"What are you doing, Hamton?" he yelled at the figure standing
at his entrance, who was wearing a spiked, black leather jacket and
jeans, and was pointing a .44 Magnum right at Buster.  "It's me!"
	"I know it's you, Chancellor.  And I know your reign is about to
end!" Hamton's finger began to slowly squeeze on the trigger.
	"Stop," a voice rang out, a voice Buster was all too familiar with.
Buster looked at the hole, and saw Babs, also dressed in spikes and
black leather.  "Let me do it."  Hamton handed her the weapon.
	"Babs..."
	"Empress Babs to you, Chancellor.  Oh, I must say, you've put
up a good fight, but now... the fight ends."
	Buster's life flashed in front of his eyes.  He saw memories of
Babs, and their future plans together... but now it was coming to an
end.
	A shot rang out, fired from Babs's gun and aimed at the blue
rabbit. But he was not there.  The floor underneath him had given
way at the exact same moment, sending Buster falling down to the
basement.
	"No, we must not let him get away again!" yelled Babs.
"Quickly, Hamton, run down to the basement!"  Hamton did as he
was told, and ran toward the stairwell.
	Buster realized he would need a place to hide.  There was a
small crack in the wall, through which he could squeeze, but
Hamton's more ample frame could not.  He quickly decided it
would have to suffice, as there were no other places to hide.
	Forcing his way through the wall, Buster reached a small room.
Standing against the wall right next to the crack was a bookshelf,
small enough to easily push in front of the crack, but large enough
to conceal it. He quickly shoved the bookshelf in front of the
opening, and waited quietly, although his heart was pounding.  After
a few seconds, he heard footsteps running across the other room,
and out of earshot.
	Buster wiped his brow.  As he turned around, he noticed a large
table, filled with books written by Tolstoy, Chekov and Voltaire.
He also saw a door just behind the table.  Buster thought that
Hamton would soon figure out where he was, and that he would
have to leave before Hamton did.  He slowly crept toward the exit.
	When Buster was halfway across the room, the door began to
creak open. Buster was filled with terror as a figure standing at the
door came into view.  But it was not Hamton.  The figure
straightened it's reading glasses, and closed the book it was reading.
	Buster stared at the figure quietly.  "Is it possible?" he thought to
himself.  "Well, I HAVE seen some weird things today."  It still
made no sense to him, but he somehow managed to squeak out one
word:
	"Elmyra?"

				 Chapter 2

	"Buster's gone?" said Plucky, back at the Looniversity we know
and love.  "You mean, GONE gone?  After all those years of
praying..." said Plucky to himself.
	"PLUCKY!  He's your friend, and he needs our help!  Think of
everything he's done for you!" said Babs, practically frantic. "What
if Elmyra's got him... or worse!"
	"What could be worse than Elmyra?" asked Plucky.  "Say!  You
don't suppose that Monty finally came up with some way to
outsmart old blue ears, do you?"
	"No way!  Buster knows how to handle Montana Max!  Why,
Max couldn't trap a rabbit if he took lessons!" said Babs.  "Come
on, let's find Hamton and try to figure something out!"
				##########
	"From your attire and the color of your fur, I deduce that you
are not the Chancellor-- although your resemblance to him is
striking," said Elmyra. Like Babs and Hamton, her clothes were
different.  She was wearing a gray-blue robe that looked sort of like
something a priest or monk might wear.  Her hair, which everyone
at Acme Loo was certain was a wig, was pinned back behind her
head with barrettes.  The hamster skull bow atop her head was
gone.  There was something different about her eyes, too, and after
a moment Buster realized what it was; there was INTELLIGENCE
in them for once.  They weren't totally empty.
	It was definitely Elmyra, though, and she didn't seem to pose any
particular threat at the moment-- although Buster was poised to start
running again if it became necessary.  "Elmyra-- what's going on
here? Who's this 'Chancellor' that everyone keeps talking about?"
asked Buster.
	"The Chancellor is the lord of the ACME Zone, Ruler Supreme,
and is hated more than anyone in the land.  You must have come
from far away not to know that," she answered, looking him over.
	"I'm beginning to think that I come from much farther away than
I thought," said Buster.  "I better get some Frequent Flier miles for
this, or something."
	Suddenly he heard a scraping sound behind the wall and his
plight came back to him.  "I need to hide, quick!  Is there a way out
of here?"
	"Go through this door, and take a left, and there you will find
sanctuary," said Elmyra as she stepped away from the door she was
standing in front of.  "I will protect you."
	"Great," said Buster.  This new Elmyra was really something, he
thought as he dashed for the door.  The hallway in front of him was
long, but he sped down it as fast as he could and came to a
crossway. He took a left, as Elmyra had instructed, and came to a
door.  He opened it, ran inside, and slammed it behind him.  For a
moment, he was enveloped in darkness.
	Hamton, being unable to follow Buster through the crack in the
wall, took the easy way and blasted a hole in it.  "Bookkeeper!
Where is the Chancellor?" he shouted to Elmyra furiously as he
stepped through the smoking rubble.
	"Chancellor?  There is no Chancellor here," said Bookkeeper
Elmyra, regarding him coolly.
	"You must tell me the truth, Learned One," said Hamton.
"Empress Babs awaits his hide!"
	"I am telling you the truth, Defender Hamton.  You know that if
the Chancellor WERE here, I would surrender him to you, as I wish
to see him destroyed just as much as you and your Empress," she
said.
	"That is true," said Hamton, pondering.  "Then where could he
have gone?"
	"Perhaps he was down here before I got here and the Piranha
birds got him," said Elmyra.
	Meanwhile, it had taken Buster's eyes only a few seconds to
adjust to the dark (that's what carrots'll do for ya, kiddies!), and he
was able to make out the shapes of large, oddly feathered creatures
around him. They were watching him silently, and he was growing
very nervous.  He gulped. One slowly rustled its feathers and he
realized that they were birds-- but no birds that he'd ever seen
before.
	Then one yawned, and he could see about a million teeth inside
the gaping maw.  Unfortunately, rather than snapping shut again,
the mouth stayed open and the birds began to advance toward him.
	"Uh-oh," said Buster, beginning to sweat.
				##########
	The Chancellor wandered this strange, bright land warily.  His
experience had taught him that there were enemies around every
corner, and so he tended to avoid going outside, but in this case he
had no choice. 'Naked came I,' he thought to himself, although he
actually had arrived completely clothed in a very snazzy outfit.
Each time anyone came near him (which happened with alarming
frequency), he was forced to duck into the bushes until they left.
He wasn't making much progress in the department of exploration.
	His heart had nearly combusted when, at one point, he'd been
sure he'd seen the Empress.  He'd been disoriented, having just
arrived in this odd new world from his normal dark, dreary quarters,
when he'd heard a tapping coming from nearby.  He looked over
and saw what appeared to be Empress Babs standing near a old tree
stump, but she was wearing very odd clothing. Odd for her, that is...
Well, really, odd for anyone in the ACME Zone.
	Then she'd started calling to some guy she called "Buster", and
went down a hole in center of the stump.  He still wasn't sure
whether it was her or not, but one thing was clear; he wasn't safe
here.  He needed some sort of sanctuary, a house of peace.  And in
the ACME Zone, there was only one place that the Chancellor
could go without risking life and limb; to the  house of his only
friend, Montague Max.
				##########
	"H-Hey, guys," said Buster, grinning stupidly at the birds, "you
don't wanna eat me.  I'm all fur-- it's murder to get out of your
teeth." They seemed to understand him, and paused a little.
	"Besides, eating me now would only get you smacked with a
huge lawsuit!  You know what Warner Brothers is like-- I'm still a
trademark even if I'm not in use!"
	The birds stopped, and cocked their heads at him.  The ones
with their mouths open snapped them shut.
	"Tell you what-- You spare me, and I'll set you up with some
great fish!  You like a Little Mermaid?  Or maybe we can barbecue
some lion flank!" he said, noticing that he seemed to be having some
effect on them.
	One of the birds emitted what sounded like a low chuckle.  Then
another one echoed it, and another.
	"Oh, you guys like that, huh?" said Buster.  The birds were now
no longer coming towards him, and they were definitely laughing.
"Well, if I'd known you guys were comedy lovers I'd have brought
along the rough draft for my term project in Wisecracks 101 and
asked your opinions on it!"
	Suddenly Elmyra burst in amidst all the laughter.  She yanked
Buster out by the back of his shirt and slammed the door.  "You are
safe now. Hamton is gone," she said.
	"Great!  Is that your idea of protection?!" said Buster.  "If I
didn't know better, I'd swear you were TRYING to get me killed!"
	"I was," said Elmyra.
	"I KNEW I knew better!"
	"You do not understand.  The Chancellor must be dealt with.
His only ally in the entire ACME Zone is Montague Max, and he is
friends with EVERYONE.  There are those, like Empress Babs and
her minions, who wish to do away with the Chancellor so that they
may establish their own evil rule. Then there are those like me, who
merely wish for our freedom.  He has bound me to this library... I
am unable to leave."
	"Boy, this Chancellor sounds like a real creep," said Buster.  He
paused for a moment, starting to put things together.  "Huh... If he
looks just like me, but he's a creep, then it makes sense to think that
this is probably some sort of opposite universe!  Of course!  That's
probably why Babsy hates me, and you're smart... No offense...,"
he said to Elmyra.
	"None taken," she replied.
	"Wait...  One thing doesn't make sense.  When you first saw me,
you said that you could tell I wasn't the Chancellor.  But you tried to
kill me anyway."
	"I could not be sure that you weren't the Chancellor in disguise,
or perhaps someone similar to him.  It was a necessary risk," she
explained.
	"But then what made you save me?" he said.
	"I heard the Piranha birds laughing, and I knew you must have
caused it.  That proved that you were not the Chancellor-- he has no
sense of humor whatsoever."
	"Whoa.  This is an opposite world.  Elmyra, I don't know what
this place is like beyond the Looniversity, but I don't intend to find
out.  I need to find a way to get home, and I'm gonna need your
help," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
	She nodded.  "I am called the Bookkeeper for a reason, you know.
Come back with me, and I will tell you whatever you need to know."

				   Chapter 3

	Elmyra perused through the library shelves, deftly pulling out a
volume here and there and lying them down on the polished wood
table. Buster took a peek at several pages, but most of them made
no sense to him whatsoever. The higher math and strange notations
confused him immensely, and what he did manage to grasp defied
all the logic he knew.  He watched Elmyra expectantly, hoping that
she'd be able to explain the warped reasoning to him.
	Descending from her ladder, a book in each arm, Elmyra opened
the books. She seemed to know exactly what she was looking for, as
if she had read each volume several times, and soon the books were
sorted into the order she wanted.
	"Many great philosophers have pondered the possibility of
parallel or inverse universes.  I am sure you have never heard of any
of them in your world, as they would have been especially ignorant
nobodies." Elmyra paused then, wondering what her other-world
twin was like, and shuddered at the thought.  "Well, in short, the
most highly regarded work on the subject rests before you.  I'll spare
you the details, as you seem to be confused enough already."
	Buster sat down and started to relax, and Elmyra frowned a bit
as she looked through the theories.  "Without question, there must
be some force at work keeping you here.  Otherwise, you would be
immediately catapulted back to the universe where you came from.
But destroying this force may not be easy.  Its origin may reside
back in your world, out of our reach.  Or, it may have become part
of you, in which case destroying it could result in your death.  The
first thing we must do is establish a window into your world so we
can examine the consequences of your arrival.  I fear that your evil
twin must have been sent in your place, as that is the only way to
preserve the balance between the universes."
	Buster gulped quietly.  Would Babs be strong enough to handle
his evil twin?  Buster was no match for the Empress, and the
Chancellor must have been far more powerful than the Empress.
Babs could hold her own against anybody, but not if she was taken
by surprise, by her own best friend.
	"Can I borrow a sample of your tissue?" Elmyra asked
quizzically. Buster shivered in fear at that request; and Elmyra
quickly added as she handed him a sampling dish, "Saliva will be
good enough," in an attempt to soothe him.  "Any part of you which
has been through both universes.  With the library's computer, I can
find out what changes occurred, and thus conclude how to return
you to your world."
	Buster drooled a bit onto the sampling dish, and Elmyra
ingeniously set to work at her computer.  Soon, a view began to take
shape on the screen, and the shadows of Acme Acres began to
flicker across it.  "Hey, Elmyra, nice reception!  Didya pick up that
trick from Calamity?  He's always been good with inventions and
stuff."
	"No, Buster," Elmyra corrected him, "the Calamity here is an
unskilled carpenter.  His work lacks flair, but it is extremely durable,
such as the table you are sitting upon.  I learned my skills with a
grant from Montague Max, back when he was still wealthy, when
he still cared for me."  Her face grew red for a moment then, and
Buster saw a teardrop stain the page in front of her.
	The viewscreen flickered vividly to life, and the gorgeous blue of
Acme Acres flooded the room.  Buster sighed happily, feeling
almost like he was home again.  As Elmyra finished tuning the dials,
she studied the wondrous sight before her.
	"You seem to have a great deal of life in your world, and much
friendship as well.  Although most of it seems rather silly."
	"We like it that way," Buster replied as he wiggled his toes,
"silliness keeps us from going crazy."
	Elmyra smiled, and watched with amazement as the screen
passed over such rudimentary locations as a school playground and
the two hour lag at Weenie Burgers.  She sighed.  "It's a beautiful world.
Almost makes me forget the terror that has haunted me my whole
life."  Closing her eyes to return to reality, she explained, "The only
rule here is survival of the fittest.  Murder is commonplace.  Life
has no value, and no meaning."
	Elmyra's morose comments were abruptly shattered by the vision
of her twin barging through the front door of Weenie Burgers,
grabbing a beaver in her left hand and a gerbil in her right, squealing
and ewwwwwwwing about making her own club sandwich out of,
"aminals." Elmyra stared in horror at the screen for a long minute,
then broke down into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.  "How can
you stand her? She's horrible!" she managed to spurt out between
the peals of laughter.
	Buster coolly replied, "Well, I guess from an outsider's
perspective, she is sorta funny."  He grinned  himself as he watched
Elmyra try to get the toothpicks through the poor aminals, and then
Fifi charged to the scene and skunked Elmyra until she passed out,
freeing her captives. Once that had happened, the viewscreen
moved on down the road again.
	"Hey, Elmyra, try to get it focused along the road.  It leads to my
burrow, and we might be able to learn something there."  Elmyra
managed to stifle the last of her sudden humor, and the screen
panned along the path as requested.  Buster noticed fresh rabbit
tracks, spaced far apart, across the dusty trail, but he didn't know
what to make of them.
				##########
	 Babs fretted as she emerged from Buster's hole, still 
completely clueless as to where her blue boyfriend may have gone.
After sending Plucky and Hamton to seach the rest of the campus,
she returned to Buster's to see if she had missed anything before.
After finding nothing and climbing back out of the hole, thoughts of
kidnapping again filled her mind.  She put her hands on her hips 
and thought deeply, trying to figure out who could have taken him,
and where they might have gone.  At the moment though, nothing
came to her, and then her attention was distracted by an orange 
rabbit shape that danced through the bushes in the distance.  She
moaned, figuring that one of her brothers or sisters must be running
away from home again, and she dashed off in hot pursuit.  After 
going few hundred feet though, she realized that the figure was too
big to be one of her siblings.
	The Chancellor, facing the other direction, did not notice her
until she was practically on top of him.  His first reaction was one of
fear and anger.  "Empress!  Stalking me again!  Have at thee!" and
he reverted to a trained defensive pose.  The Empress was the
greatest martial artist in the ACME Zone, and he had no time to
draw his weapon, so he felt that he was at a severe disadvantage.
	"Oh, Buster, please!" laughed Babs.  "You've complimented me
so many times, but Empress is overdoing it a little, huh?  Gee, what
happened to you?  Looks like you got dyed orange and dressed by
the NRA.  Maybe Elmyra gotcha again?"  She winked
mischievously at him, a bit miffed that he was still playing games.
"Well anyway, why'd you miss school?  If you wanted to play
hooky, why didn't you tell me so I could join ya?"
	The Chancellor watched her closely.  The Empress was not
known for her wit, just her bloodthirstiness.  He thought it unlikely
that she was trying to ensnare him.  And the Empress never dressed
in such ridiculous, unrevealing garments.  Most likely, this was but a
traitor with the Empress's visage, a decoy perhaps.
	"Please forgive my intrusion," the Chancellor offered, bowing,
but never taking his eyes off Babs, "I haven't been myself lately."
	Babs walked toward him then and said, "Yeah, well, let's go
some place fun and start some chaos!" She sauntered over to him,
and tried to take him by the arm.
	Then he hit her.  It was a cruel blow to the jaw; one that 
dizzied her and sent her collapsing to the ground.  Pain shot through
her body and her heart.  She rubbed her hand against her face, and
noticed blood. "Buster! What are you doing!  You never hurt me
before!!"  She fell further to the ground then, with the mix of her
wound and the Chancellor's contempt overwhelming her.
	"How puny!" the Chancellor sneered  "Taken down by a mere
punch? I wonder how you'll stand up to a blow from Scathe," and he
held up a sharply curved knife that glowed with an evil blue-green
color. "Whoever you may be, your corpse will send a fine message
to your master."
				##########
	Buster stared paralyzed at the viewscreen, his entire body going
cold and numb.  Elmyra tried to console him somehow, but words
failed her. As the Chancellor gloated and raised his blade, Elmyra
sent the deepest part of her mind to work, considering options at
enormous speed.  She narrowed in on one possible solution, but it
would take time, which she suddenly realized that she was out of.
Reflected in the glass of the viewscreen, she saw the Empress
creeping up behind both Buster and her, ready to finish them both
with two swift blows.  Her security gone, she suddenly realized a
relationship that had eluded her thoughts.  In a flash, she short-
circuited a set of wires in the back of the viewscreen, and turned all
the dials to maximum.
	She revived several minutes later, the smell of ash and smoke
heavy in her nostrils. Buster sat on the floor next to her, his fur singed,
his shirt torn, and he was cradling the limp form of Babs in his arms.
Babs seemed unharmed and unmarked, except for the trickle of drying
blood on her cheek.  Buster held Babs close to him, petting her gently
and softly, hugging her, hoping that she'd be all right.  Buster smiled
as Elmyra got up.  But she only stared at the smoking ruin that was
once the library's computer, now beyond any hope of repair.  "I got the
sign wrong," she whimpered.  "It should have been positive, and I made
it negative.  Otherwise, you'd both be back where you belong."  She
shuffled through the dust, back to her study room and buried her face
in her hands.

				  Chapter 4

	Buster watched in a slight state of shock as Elmyra departed into
her study room, still reeling a bit from the explosion of a moment
before; the explosion that had somehow brought Babs here.
Looking at her now, lying there unconscious in his arms, a wave of
immense relief washed over him as he held her close. To think that
moments ago, she had nearly lost her life at the hands of his evil
parallel world twin.  He shuddered slightly, brushing aside the
thought of what had nearly happened to her, how his own life had
nearly been shattered had the bookkeeper Elmyra not acted so
quickly. A tender look spread over his face as he removed one of his
gloves, and generously licking his forefinger, he gently began to
wipe away at the trickle of blood that was beginning to mat the
beautiful fur of Babs cheek. With a deep contemplative sigh as he
finished the job, he gazed at her and thought how in his own world,
under different circumstances, how romantic the situation would be
if he was holding her in his arms. He loved her dearly, and with all
of his heart.  What life would be like without her, he hoped he
would be lucky enough to never ever find out.  However, he knew
that, unfortunately, right now was not the time to be dwelling on
such heartfelt thoughts.
	"Babs!" Buster said in a soft tone as he gently stroked the fur on
her forehead, trying to prod her awake.  "Babsy! Come on, Babsy!
Wake up! Please!" It took about a minute, but at last she began to
stir, slowly blinking her eyes open as she responded to his touch.
	"Huh?.......Wha?" she asked in dazed voice, her eyes slowly
focusing until they caught sight of Buster looking down at her.
"You!" she cried in alarm, her eyes widening as she shot out of his
arms and over to the other side of the room a few feet away. A hurt,
accusing look covered her face as she stared across at him,
remembering what had happened a moment before. "How could
you, Buster?!" she called out, not even realizing where she was at
the moment as her hand gently brushed her cheek, feeling the touch
of pain which confirmed her memory of a moment ago.  "I thought
you cared about me!"
	"Babsy," Buster began earnestly as he took a step toward her.
	"You touch me again blue ears, and I'll.......!" she growled
warningly, raising a fist behind her in a defensive pose. "Where in
the heck did you shanghai me to anyway?!" she demanded, looking
around at the darkened and decrepit library.
	"Whoa, Babs!" Buster called out, waving his hands in front of
him.  "Time out! I know what you're thinking, but you gotta believe
me. That wasn't me! You KNOW I'd never hurt you! I do love you!
You know that!"
	"Uh-huh." Babs said flatly, crossing her arms in front of her as
she looked at him in an expression that clearly communicated her
disbelief. "Well even though you tried to disguise yourself with that
silly orange coloring over your fur when you clobbered me, you still
had plenty of time to get it off while I was unconscious! So, Mr. "I
gotta believe you", just who was it that nearly sent me singing with
the Valkeries? Your evil twin brother that you never told me
about?"
	"Uh... well not exactly." Buster said with a sheepish grin at Babs's
near guess as he readied himself to explain the situation once more.
	"Oh come ON, Buster!" Babs replied in a disdainful tone.
"What kind of a fool do you take me for? An evil twin brother!
Sheesh! Couldn't you come up with something a little more original
than that?!"
	"But......!" Buster stammered, trying to get a word in edgewise.
	Her arms still crossed, Babs turned her back to him. "Right.
Your evil twin brother. And I'm Dan Castellenta if you expect me to
believe that."
	Sighing heavily, Buster turned toward his left where the study
was. "Bookkeeper!" he called, "could you please come back?"
	Bookkeeper? Babs wondered, turning around to look where
Buster had called. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of
approaching footsteps.
	"I'm quite sorry for leaving so abruptly." Elmyra stated as she
walked into the light. "But I was upset over my mistake. I only seem
to have made matters worse instead of correcting the problem. In
addition, I ended up destroying my computer due to my
miscalculation. I am glad that you're safe now though, Miss Bunny,"
Elmyra stated, turning toward her from Buster after wiping away the
tears on her face. "How is your cheek?" she asked with a tone of
gentle concern.
	Babs did not reply. She could only stare in wide eyed shock at
what appeared to be Elmyra before her. Her jaw dropped like an
anvil, hitting the floor with a loud "KLANG!"
	Slightly taken aback by Babs's reaction, Elmyra turned to Buster,
a befuddled look on her face. "Did I say something wrong?" she
asked him.
	Buster smiled at Elmyra and let out a light chuckle. "Nah," he
replied, "she just doesn't know what's going on yet."
	Picking her jaw off the floor, Babs continued to stare at Elmyra
for a few more moments before she turned to look at Buster, pointing
a finger at Elmyra. "Howedahowedahowedahowedahowedahoweda-" 
she stammered. Then, shaking her head vigorously, placing a hand to
her temple, she looked at Buster once more. "That's somebody wearing
an Elmyra suit... right?" she asked, a strangely nervous grin on her face.
	"Nope," Buster said, shaking his head.
	"Then....... I'm dreaming, right?" she asked him uncertainly, the
nervous smile now developing a slightly spastic twitch on one side
of her face. "I'm still unconscious from that punch you gave me and
I'm dreaming all this right?"
	"Wrong again." Buster replied with a grin. "Care to listen to the
explanation waiting behind door number three, Babsy?" he asked,
taking out a carrot and casually munching on it.
	A very uncertain nervous expression still clearly evident upon her
face, Babs turned her gaze from Buster to Elmyra and back toward
Buster again. "O-kay." Babs stated in a small voice, the nervous
smile spreading even farther.
	In a few short minutes, the tale was told as Buster recounted the
events that followed after he had landed in this dimension, including
everything he had been told, up to the point when Babs had been
transported here.  Babs listened intently to the story, hanging on his
every word as the nervous smile slowly disappeared from her face
and an expression of shocked wonderment slowly replaced it.
Then, giving herself and adequate pinch and swiftly checking
Elmyra over (who was clearly even more puzzled by this latest
action) for any signs of a costume seam or zipper, she took a step
back from Elmyra  and looked steadily at first her and then Buster.
	"Well?" Buster asked uncertainly. Babs was not usually this
quiet. "You okay, Bab-" he began to question her. Before he could
finish his sentence though, almost before he could react, he
suddenly found him self swept backwards into a passionate embrace
and on the receiving end of an extremely passionate but tender kiss
from the girl he loved. Going limp into her arms as she held him
aloft over the floor, Buster felt his mind slipping blissfully away. A
moment later, Babs broke off the kiss just as Buster felt himself
beginning to melt completely away into a puddle.  She still held him
for a moment though, as she gazed sweetly into his eyes.
	"That was to say I'm sorry for not believing you before." she
stated, working her fingers lovingly through the fur atop his head. "I
should never have doubted that you'd never hurt me or your love for
me."
	Buster stared back into her eyes, his arms tight around her as a
contented smile spread over his face. "I always love the way you
apologize." he stated impishly as she pulled him back onto his feet.
"Now what was that about my expecting you to believe in evil
twins?" he asked with a sly grin.
	"D'oh!" Babs exclaimed, her face changing for a second into a
resemblance of a genie as she smacked her head.  Releasing Buster,
Babs then turned toward Elmyra who stood nearby, though facing
away from her and Buster. "Elmyra," she began, "I just wanted to
thank you for saving my life befo-" Looking closer, Babs stopped
and stared at Elmyra, looking back at Buster in the hopes of getting
some sort of an explanation. She had thought that Elmyra was only
turned away from them out of some sort of embarrassment for her
open display of affection for Buster. Now though, looking closer,
while she saw that while she did have some tint of having blushed
from being privy to such a tender scene, the reason that she was
now turned away from them was due to the fact that she was
looking at her the wreckage of her computer. As Babs had watched,
breath hitched in Elmyra's chest, a tear clearly rolling down her
cheek a moment later. Shrugging his inability to explain Elmyra's
reaction, Buster moved forward hesitantly alongside her as Babs did
the same.
	"Elmyra?" Buster asked gently, looking at her. "You okay?"
Nodding slightly, Elmyra sniffed, choking back a small sob as she
closed her eyes.
	"Yes." Elmyra whispered.
	"What is it, Elmyra?" Babs asked. "Can't you replace the
computer?"
	"The computer yes," she replied, "but not what was in it. Within
this computer I had stored the only pictures I had left of when
Montague still cared for me. All the others were destroyed by the
Chancellor after he discovered them the last time he came down 
here.  That's why I left in tears before, and why your affection for 
one another now only served to remind me once more, that I have
nothing left to remind me now," she finished in a small voice. "I
thought they would be safe here where the Chancellor could not
stumble across them, but even in his absence, this world seems
to do his bidding by fate in bringing me sorrow." Looking at the
computer, Buster could only place a comforting hand upon
Elmyra's shoulder.
	"Gosh, I'm....... I'm sorry Elmyra." was all Buster could bring
himself to say in a sincere voice, looking from the computer, to
Elmyra, and finally to Babs who looked like she was about to start
crying herself.  Buster scowled hard as he turned his thoughts
inward.
	"But that......." Elmyra said, drawing in a deep breath and
swallowing before she opened her eyes, "is in the past. Right now,
we must work on the present. Namely bringing the both of you back
to your own dimension.  To do that, I will need to obtain some new
equipment to build the proper machinery."
	"Equipment?" Babs asked curiously, "Well if Calamity's
a carpenter in this world, who's the local genius tinkerer around here?"
	"There is only one in all of the ACME Zone who is capable
of creating the equipment necessary to bring you back home. One
who's intellect may even surpass my own. His name is the
Technodyne."
	"The *What*?!" asked Babs, quirking an eyebrow at Elmyra.
"Sounds like a new stereo brand."
	"Rope it in, Babs." Buster sighed, grinning sidelong at her. "So
where do we find this 'Technodyne', Elmyra?" he added turning
toward her. "And what does he, she or it look like?"
	"The Technodyne," stated Elmyra, leading them toward a relief
wall map of the ACME Zone and pointing out the exact location,
"lives in the Eastern reaches of the ACME Zone, where the great
city ends. He is a bird of great strength, grace and wisdom."
	 "A male bird with great strength, grace and wisdom." Babs
repeated, looking at Buster. "And since this is a world opposite from
ours, that means we're looking for-"
	"Concorde?" Buster blurted out, surprised in spite of having
already accepted the premise behind this topsy turvy world.
"*Concorde's* the one who's gonna help us get home?!" Stopping a
moment, he considered what a parallel Concorde would be like.
"Well, I guess it makes sense. For this place anyway." he added.
	"You must be wary though." Elmyra cautioned them with a
worried look in her eyes. "For the Technodyne is also a creature of
great cunning and evil. He has nearly succeeded many times in
trying to usurp the Chancellor for the rule of the ACME Zone."
Pulling a book from a nearby shelf, Elmyra turned it swiftly to the
needed page and presented it to the bunnies for inspection.
	"Yeeeee!" Babs breathed, drawing back as she gazed upon the
hulking mass of feathers, talons and teeth that stared voraciously
back at her. "We're going to go ask THIS guy for a favor?!" she
asked, jabbing a finger at the picture.  "He'll have us for breakfast
faster than the wolverine back home!"
	"Never the less," Elmyra stated earnestly, "it is the only way. All
the remaining technology in the ACME Zone other than weaponry
has either been hoarded by the Technodyne, or created by him. It is
to him you must go to try to get the equipment I need. I will give
you a list of what I require, but unfortunately, I cannot accompany
you. For as I have said before, I have been bound here.  I can not
leave, much as I may want to."
	"Hmmm." Buster stated thoughtfully, looking up from the
picture. "Elmyra, you said that Montague Max is friends with pretty
much everyone here in the ACME Zone?"
	"Yes," Elmyra replied, her voice straining slightly at the mention
of Montague's name. "Why?" she asked, uncertainly.
	"I've got a plan." Buster replied with a knowing smile. "Do you
have a picture of the Empress?" he asked.
	"Yes." Elmyra nodded, smiling slightly as she began to see what
Buster was driving at. Climbing a ladder, she swiftly obtained
another book. "Here." she stated, flipping the book open and
handing it to him.
	"What do you think, Babsy?" Buster asked, grinning as he
turned toward her, showing her the picture of the Empress. "Think
you can imitate your parallel self?"
	Staring thoughtfully at the outstretched picture for a moment,
Babs suddenly spun into a whirling cyclone of pink motion,
emerging a moment later in a leather covered outfit that was studded
with spikes. "Ewwww." she stated, with a grimace giving herself the
once over as Elmyra looked on, her face clearly impressed. "Talk
about tacky! I feel like I just joined Hell's Angels!"
	"Oh, I don't know." Buster stated teasingly as he sauntered over
to her. "With the exception of the spikes, I kinda like it!"
	"You would!" Babs shot back with a good natured smirk.  "With
all those 'Frederabbit's of Hollywood' catalogs I always see you
leering over! So what's the rest of this plan of yours, Shcwartzkopff?"
she finished, her voice curious.
	"Well,......." Buster began to say, as he slowly paced around the
room. "The way I figure it, we can use Montague's popularity
around here to our advantage. We'll go to him and he'll be the one
to ask the Technodyne for the equipment."
	"Not a bad plan," Babs stated, leaning against one of the
bookcases as she gestured out a hand toward him. "but you forgot
something."
	"What's that?" Buster asked.
	"You are *you* going to be?" Babsy asked. "You can't go
around impersonating the Chancellor. If you do, we're going to have
to go there separately. They're mortal enemies, remember?"
	"Hmmm." Buster murmured, seeing Babsy's point.
	"And I'll tell you this much," Babs added, "from what you've
told me about what the ACME Zone looks like outside of here, I'm
*NOT* going there alone!"
	"What she says is true, Buster," Elmyra chimed in. "You can not
travel together as your counterparts, and the ACME Zone is much
too dangerous to travel alone. What will you do?"
	"Don't go changing into Carl Muldoon on us now, Buster,"
Babs quickly added before Buster could so much as blink. "We
have to get going!"
	"Am I getting that predictable?" Buster asked with a quirky,
surprised grin. The thought had barely entered his mind of changing
into an impersonation of the famous Acme Express spokesman.
	"Only to someone who would have done it before you, sweet
stuff," Babsy grinned. "You forget how much we think alike."
	Buster chuckled. "I don't believe this! I'm being taught self
control by Babs Bunny! Ah! Pardon me! Your Majesty!" Buster
intoned humorously, sweeping himself into a grand bow as his smile
spread even farther, referring to Babs's stint as queen of Wackyland.
"With an emphasis on the 'jest' in 'majesty!' he finished as he looked
up at her. "This world is more backwards than I thought!"
	 "Knock it off." Babs smiled, then, narrowing her eyes at him as
she crossed her arms patiently before her. "So, Hannibal," she stated
after a pause as Buster raised himself erect again, "how are we
going to work this?"
	"Simple." Buster answered with smile and a shrug, "I'll just go
as-"
	"Hold it right there, Chancellor!" a cold, harsh voice snapped
after the door behind him flew open. Stopping in his tracks, Buster
slowly raised his hands above his head and turned around to face his
antagonist. There, in the doorway to the library, Hamton stood with
a bazooka loaded and leveled right at him, not a dozen feet away.
	"Speak of the devil," Buster stated as he looked at him.
"Though considering this world, that description fits most everyone
here!" he finished in an imitation of Groucho Marx's voice, looking
back at Babs and Elmyra.
	"Shut up!" Hamton barked, striding into the room until the
business end of the bazooka was no more than eight inches from
Buster's head. "I thought that you and the Bookkeeper might have
cornered the Empress when I couldn't find her. It looks like I got
here just in time!" he finished, glaring daggers at Elmyra as well. "I
would just annihilate you now, hated Chancellor, but my Empress
deserves that particular honor," he stated as he looked at Babs.
	"Well," Buster sighed in a tone of resignation. "it looks like you
got me dead to rights, Hamton," Buster stated in his own voice, not
even bothering to sound like the Chancellor. Hamton didn't believe
he wasn't the Chancellor when they had first met, why should he
start believing him now? "We had just cornered the Empress like
you said, and were about to finish her off. Isn't that right?" Buster
finished.  Turning his head toward Babs then and giving her a wink
as he mouthed the name, "Jessica!"
	"VERY good work, Hamton!" Babs stated, a knowing look
flashing in her eyes as she sauntered forward from where she had
been frozen, with her back up against the bookcase at Hamton's
arrival. "I *knew* you would not let me down!" she continued, her
voice taking on a darkly seductive, almost sadistic tone. Walking
sensually toward Hamton, Buster stood slightly agape as he watched
the way her body moved within the leather jacket and tight leather
body suit.
	*I was right about liking that outfit!* he thought fuzzily with a
transfixed gaze as he tried to keep a straight face and his tongue
from rolling out onto the floor.
	"I can ALWAYS count on you, my big strong, passionate pig!"
Babs crooned seductively as she took Hamton's head in her hands,
turning it forcefully to look at her. Though Hamton still kept his
bazooka resolvedly trained in Buster's direction, his expression
clearly communicated his distraction as he looked into Babs's evilly
narrowed but sparkling eyes and saw the leering smile upon her
face. Purposefully, she leaned in closer to him.
	"M-my Empress," he faltered, clearly caught off guard by what
he thought to be his Empress's behavior. "Wh-what-?" Clearly at a
loss for words for the Empress's change in her treatment of him, his
words were now lost entirely as Babs leaned into him, planting a
forceful kiss on him that even sent Buster's toes tingling from the
heat with which she delivered it, even though it was only an act.
Hamton went limp in her hands an instant later, the bazooka
clattering to the floor as he fell backward in a dead faint, a blissful
smile plastered on his face.
	"Hmmm," Babs stated curiously, looking down upon Hamton's
unmoving form as she studied him. "I guess toons in this world don't
melt."
	"Guess not," Buster grinned as he moved alongside her, sliding
his arm around her waist in a familiar gesture. "*I'll* always melt for
you, though!" he added a moment later, cocking his head toward
her as he wiggled his eyebrows. "Care to see if I'm wrong?" he
asked, laying his head on her shoulder now and puckering his lips
playfully.
	"Cut it out," Babs smiled, pressing her forefinger to his lips as
she moved out of his grasp. "We have to hurry up and get home
before our evil twins turn Acme Acres into Chernobyl, part two!
We've got time for that later!"
	"I know, Babsy." Buster nodded, folding his arms behind his
back, his grin still present. "I was just kidding... for NOW that is."
he added slyly.
	"Shouldn't we tie him up?" Elmyra wondered, moving to join
them around Hamton. "He could come to any second!"
	"Nah," Babs answered, waving the thought away with her hand.
"You can tie him up, but he'll be out for hours. My friend Harriet
back home taught me that kiss a few days ago. She perfected it so
that it's guaranteed to render a boy unconscious when you kiss him
good night. It also works so that it's guaranteed you'll be the first
thing on his mind when he wakes up in the morning."
	"Harriet taught you that?" Buster asked curiously, quirking an
eyebrow. "I wonder what else she knows?" he wondered with a sly
tone to his voice. "Now I've *really* got to meet Harriet one of
these days when we get back home!" he laughed.
	"You wish!" Babs squinted knowingly at him. "You're all mine,
blue ears. You just remember that!" she finished with an assertive
smile, pushing her forefinger playfully against his nose before taking
his chin lightly between her fingers, and sweetly kissing him on the
nose as well.
	Giving her an affectionate smile, Buster then turned his gaze
down toward Hamton once more. "Guess I'd better get changed
then." Spinning about as Babs had moments ago, the cyclone of
whiling blue motion quickly turned colors from blue and red, to
peach pink and black. A second later, an identical Hamton to the
one who lay unconscious on the floor appeared before Babs and
Elmyra. "So what d'ya think?" Buster asked with a shrug, looking
himself over in his new disguise.
	Elmyra gasped. "How...h-how do you change forms like that?"
she asked in wide eyed astonishment. "Do beings in your universe
posses the power to morph into different forms as I've read of
witches and vampires possessing?"
	"Nooo," Buster stated, shaking his head as he peeled away the
mask of the Hamton outfit away from his own face. "It's just a
costume, see?"
	"Fascinating." Elmyra breathed in a curious monotone of study.
	"No Spock jokes, Babsy," Buster stated as Babs turned toward
Elmyra and had barely began to open her mouth.
	"You thought of it too, huh?" Babs asked with a smirk.
	"Who from our world, wouldn't?" Buster shrugged. "Besides the
fact that we both think alike, like you said."
	"Darn it, Jim," Babs grinned at him in her best imitation of Dr.
Bones McCoy, "I'm a comedian, not a Vulcan. Don't expect me to
exercise *too much* self restraint!" Shrugging at Elmyra, she smiled
and said, "I just can't help myself!"
	Rolling his eyes, Buster sighed heavily before looking toward
Elmyra once more. "Oh, and Elmyra, could I ask you for a small
favor?" Buster asked.
	"Certainly." Elmyra nodded.
	"Please don't mention the word "morph" again," Babs stated,
picking up on Buster's unspoken thought. "A few of us back home
have had this weird, collective recurring nightmare about something
involving that word. It's become something of an anathema among
us."
	"Right." Buster nodded towards Elmyra, flicking his eyes in
agreeance towards Babs.
	"Of course," Elmyra said, nodding compliantly, a curious frown
upon her face.
	"Well?" Babs asked, offering Buster her arm as he replaced the
mask on his costume over his head. "Shall we go?"
	As Buster and Babs checked the wall map for the location of
Montague Max's house, making certain it was in the same place as it
was in their universe, Elmyra quickly wrote up the list of items that
she needed to built a new computer; one that would be able to
generate a dimensional warp that would return the bunnies back
home.
	"I hope your journey is a safe one, my friends," Elmyra called
out to them a minute later, waving at them from the doorway as the
disguised Buster and Babs began to ascend the stairwell back to the
main floor.  "And that you may obtain all that we need to return you
to where you belong."
	"Don't worry, Elmyra," Buster called out over his shoulder.
"We'll be okay!" 'I hope,' he added to himself with a gulp as Babs
waved goodbye to Elmyra as well. As they exited through the main
doorway of the Looniversity, Babs stopped short, her breath
catching in her throat as she viewed the sickly orange sky, the
abandoned and decrepit buildings, and the looming, sprawling
factory, which spilled it's filth endlessly from where the forest
should have been. "Welcome to the ACME Zone, Babsy," Buster
stated. "Not a pretty sight, is it?" he asked observing her all too
obvious expression.
	"Yeeeeuuuhhh!" Babs exclaimed with a grimace, sticking out her
tongue slightly. "It's not a nice place to visit, AND I wouldn't want
to live here! This place looks worse than the nightmares I had after
eating those three carrot, salsa and peanut butter peanut butter
pizzas on a dare!"
	"I hear you, Babaroo." Buster stated, looking out over the sight
before them as well. "Well come on," he said, taking her hand, "the
quicker we get the stuff we need, the quicker that Elmyra can get us
back home." Hurrying down the steps, the two rabbits started on
their journey into the ACME Zone. It was barely a minute into their
hurried walk upon the barren dirt road however, that Babs noticed a
change in Buster's mood. He seemed somber, introspective, as if
something important was bothering him.
	"What'cha thinking about, toots?" Babs asked with a tone of
concern as she watched the mouth of the Hamton mask deepen into
a slight frown.
	"Hmm? Oh, nothing, Babsy," Buster answered distractedly, his
expression unchanging.
	"Come on, Buster, you can't fool me." Babs prodded him gently,
"I know something's bothering you other than being in this place.
What is it? Maybe I can help."
	Looking at her concerned expression, Buster sighed heavily. "I'm
just thinking about the Chancellor, my ACME Zone double."
	"What about him?" she asked.
	"Well for starters, he hurt you and almost *killed* you," Buster
stated, his voice etched with hate and worry. "For which I'd love to
get my hands on the little creep myself, if I could."
	"But you both can't be in the same dimension at the same time."
Babs nodded, understanding. "What else?"
	Buster sighed again. "It's something Elmyra said. This
Chancellor has done a lot of terrible things during his reign here. He
hurt Elmyra, he probably turned this whole place into a wasteland
singlehandedly, and he's got most everyone terrified.  Elmyra said
that the Chancellor has to be dealt with, but she also said that to
maintain the cosmic balance or something, one of us can't exist
without the other. Even if we get transported back home, if the
Chancellor gets what's coming to him from one the enemies he's
got, what's going to happen to me? If he kicks the bucket, do I go
too? And what about you? What if someone decides to get rid of the
Empress after she takes over?"
	Babs looked at him with a soft expression. She wanted to answer
him, to tell him that he was worrying for nothing, but she wasn't
certain. Until now, she thought that the only thing that governed a
toon's longevity was dependent upon keeping people laughing, but
the discovery of the ACME Zone today seemed to put a whole new
wrinkle into the rules. What would happen? She wondered briefly
before snapping her self out of the negative thoughts.
	"Hey, Buster, come on!" she stated in something of a cheery
tone, trying to bring him out of his meditative funk as well as
herself. "Elmyra may be a genius here, but surely she can't know
everything! She might be wrong about this!"
	"And if she isn't?" Buster asked, unconvinced.
	"Weeelll," Babs said, thinking quickly. "Elmyra could just tie the
Chancellor and Empress up as soon as we get them back here and
throw them in a dungeon or something. That way, they wouldn't be
a danger to anyone else, or us! They've GOT to have plenty of
dungeons around *here*!" she grinned.
	"I suppose...."  Buster murmured, considering the possibility as
his spirit picked up a notch.
	"We'll talk about it with Elmyra when we get back with the
stuff." Babs stated, glad to see the rabbit she loved had begun to
break out of his funk. "For right now, let's just take this adventure
one step at a time, okay?" she asked.
	"Okay." Buster replied, a smile finally breaking through. They
continued walking on, until Buster noticed that Babs was looking at
him with a quizzical smile on her face. "All right." he said, looking
at her from the corner of his eye. "What?"
	"I was just considering what I should call you...  Hamster?" she
asked, her grin stretching from ear to ear.
	"What did you call me?" Buster asked, a puzzled but amused
half smile twisting up one side of his mouth as an eyebrow shot up.
	"Hamster," Babs replied, letting out a small chuckle. "HAMton
on the outside, BuSTER on the inside. I can't be calling you Buster,
especially if anyone sees us!"
	"Just stick with 'Hamton,' Empress." Buster sighed, giving her a
wry grin.
	"Aw, come on..." she teased, "you ARE a 'Hamster'!"
	"Are you really gonna call me that?" he asked in disbelief.
	"Why not?" she asked, walking right next to him now and
brushing herself up against him as she petted 'Hamton' softly under
his chin. "I think it's kinda cute!" she purred in a seductive whisper.
	Buster gulped hard at this flirtatious advance, the costume
suddenly feeling WAY too hot for him. "Uh, Empress...?" he stated
with a nervous laugh.
	"Yes?" Babs cooed to him.
	"Fancy meetin vu 'ere." a voice behind them stated in a light
French female accent.
	Turning abruptly at the voice, Buster and Babs looked to find
themselves face to face with another counterpart of the ACME Zone.

				    Chapter 5

	Buster and Babs whirled around to see two sights that
surprised them beyond measure.  The first was that other than 
that the ribbon in her hair had been replaced with a small red 
beret, this alternate-Fifi looked no different from their friend back 
in Acme Acres.  The second, and much more alarming thing, was
the large caliber pistol that she had pointed at them.  "Zo, Empress,
Ah have at long last captured you!"
	"Fifi?" asked Babs with astonishment, and for the moment,
forgetting who she was supposed to be.  "Why?"
	"Why?  WHY?!?  You honestly theenk that mah hatred eez
leemited to zee Chancellor?  Ah hate you joost as mooch as heem.
And now, Empress, you weel taste of zee joosteece!"
	Buster swallowed hard.  He didn't like the tone in Fifi's voice;
she obviously meant to kill Babs.  He was trying to figure out how
he was going to get the gun away from her when she suddenly
handed it to him and said, "Keep her covaired, Hamton.  Ah weel
call for help."
	Buster took the pistol, and looking at Babs she saw her flash him
a, "play along," look.  Nodding ever so slightly, he swung the pistol
around towards her and commanded, "Don't move!"
	Fifi produced a small walkie-talkie, and switching it on she spoke
into it, "Greyhound one, theese eez Greyhound leadair.  Have
Peenk Package.  Request immediate pick up.  Out."
	"Zere," said Fifi as she put away her radio, "your days are
numbaired, Empress.  Very soon, you weel die!"
	"What is the meaning of this!" demanded Babs as she threw
herself back into the part.  "Hamton, put that weapon down at once!
How can you betray me, your Empress?"
	"Hah!" said Fifi with scorn.  "Don't you get eet?  Hamton eez
not one of your so called "defendairs," he is a member of zee
rezeestonce. I planted heem in your organization weeth zee hopes
zat he could help you destroy zee Chancellor.  Once zat was doon,
you would have been next. Unfortunately, Ah had to change my
plans."
	"What happened, Fifi?" asked Buster in his best Hamton voice.
"Why the change."
	"Ah had to.  Another of our people had deescovaired that zee
Empress's security people had found you out, and they were going
to expose you to her tonight.  Ah couldn't reesk having you keeled,
Hamton, even though it would mean blowing my covair as a leader
of the rezeestonce."
	As Fifi said that, a huge machine thing suddenly burst forth from
the ground only a few yards away from them.  It was as large as a
navy destroyer, and its drill looked like it could bore through solid
granite. "Move!" commanded Fifi.  "Eentoo zee transport!  Eet
won't be long before either zee forces of the Chancellor of zee
Empress see and start shooting!"
	Needing no further prompting, Buster and Babs ran towards the
thing with Fifi right behind them.  "Go!" she commanded once she
had closed the hatch.  "Hurry!"
	"Like, sure thing, Fifi," said someone from the front of the small
control room that they were in.  "Here we go, or some junk!"  With
a sudden jolt, the giant burrower quickly bored itself back under the
ground.  After a few minutes, the thing stopped again, and Shirley
left the controls to walk over to Fifi and say, "Like, we're down
about five hundred feet.  We should wait a while though before
going on so their motion sensors can't pick up on our location."
	"Good idea," said Fifi.  "Eet dooz not matter eef zee Empress's
appointment with the guioteene eez postponed a little."
	Babs swallowed hard at Fifi's pronouncement, and she
involuntarily rubbed her neck a little.  Fighting down her fear
somewhat, she looked at the white feathered fowl and asked,
"Shirley?  You're in the Resistance?"
	"Yes, Empress," said Fifi with a hint of triumph in her voice.
"Ironic eez eet not?  Your closest advisor eez actually my main
contact een your organization."
	Fifi paused for a moment to allow that information impress itself
to, who she thought to be, the Empress, before looking at Hamton
and saying, "Geeve me zee gun.  Ah weel covair her while you
search her."
	"Search her?" asked Buster as he handed over the weapon.
	"Oui.  For weapons, or tracking devices zat could lead her
soldiers to our headquarters.  Be thorough, we can't afford a major
battle yet."
	"Uh, right," said Buster, and he headed for Babs.  He flashed
her a quick look that said, "I'm sorry," before saying, "So, Empress,
are you gonna be reasonable, or do I have to do this the hard way?"
	A look of defiance formed on Babs's face, but as she looked
over at Fifi's gun, she swallowed hard and said, "You'll die for this,
Pig.  I swear it," and she very calmly turned around and leaned up
against the wall of the control center.
	"Ah don't theenk so," said Fifi.  "Go on, Hamton, I've got her
covaired."
	Buster looked at Babs as she stood spread eagle against the wall.
He'd had dreams very similar to this on occasion, but he couldn't
help but feel bad as he began to feel through her clothes for
weapons.  "Oh, Babs," he thought, "I've always wanted to get my
hands on you, but not like this." Buster was thorough in his search,
but he was also careful to put his back to Fifi and Shirley in such a
way so that they could not see that he didn't really search in certain
areas, even though a part of him really wanted to.
	After a few seconds, Buster stood back from her, and turning to
Fifi he said, "She's clean."
	"Good," said Fifi.  Handing her pistol then to Shirley, she added.
"Watch her.  Eef she tries anytheeng, keel her.  Hamton, come with
me, we must talk, alone."
	Fifi led Buster through a maze of passageways until they came to
her cabin.  Closing the door behind them, Fifi suddenly pulled
Buster into her arms and kissed him most passionately.  "Oh,
Hamton.  Ah have been so worried about you.  Eet has been too
long since we were last togezair."
	"Uhm, yeah," said Buster, feeling very uncomfortable, "it has."
	Fifi smiled at him mischievously.  "Ah'm so glad you theenk so,"
and she slowly walked away from him to lay down on the cabin's
bed. "Why don't you come here and we can end zee longing?"
	"Oboy," thought Buster.  "Apparently this Hamton and Fifi are a
LOT closer to each other than the ones back home are."  Buster
stood dumbfounded as Fifi reached out a hand towards him while a
"come hither" look formed in her eyes.
	Buster forced himself to swallow.  As tempting as the invitation
was, Buster knew that it had to stop here and now.  "I'm sorry, Fifi,"
he said with sincerity.  "I can't."
	Fifi looked at him with puzzlement.  "Ah do not oonderstand.
Do you not love me anymore?"  The pain in her voice was obvious.
	"It's not that," said Buster.  Pausing to build up his courage he
added, "You see, I'm not Hamton."
	"What?!?" demanded Fifi as she stood up.  "Who are you?"
	"My name is Buster.  Buster Bunny," and he calmly pulled his
Hamton mask off his face.
	"Mon Dieu!  You look like a blue version of zee Chancellor!"
	"You mean you don't think I'm him?" asked Buster with surprise.
	"Eet eez obvious zat you are not.  Zee Chancellor would not
have said no, and zen he would have keeled me."
	Fifi paused for a moment to think before asking, "Tell me.  Zee
preezenair, eez she really the Empress?'
	"No, she's not."
	"Ah see," said Fifi with a heavy sigh.  "Ah theenk you'd better
explain soome things, Boostair.  Ah need answers.  Not zee least of
wheech eez, where eez zee real Hamton?"
				##########
	Babs couldn't help but feel somewhat apprehensive when she
saw Fifi and Buster return, as Buster was no longer wearing his
Hamton suit.  "Poot down zee gun, Shirley, zat eez not zee
Empress.  She only looks like her."
	"Like, are you sure about that?"
	"Ah am.  Do not worry.  Everything is okay."
	Fifi regarded Babs then for a moment before saying, "Hello,
Babs. Boostair has explained to me who the two of you really are.
Ah weel allow you to go to Montague to get zee theengs you need
for zee Bookkeepair, boot first, you must do something for me."
	"Sure, Feef.  What is it?"
	"Hamton.  You must return to zee ruins of zee library and bring
heem back to me.  He eez een great dangair.  Ah cannot allow heem
to retairn to zee Empresses people.  Zay weel keel heem eef he
does."
	"No problem.  Buster and I'll gladly go and get him for ya."
	"Ah don't zeenk zo.  Een zee ACME Zone, you trust no one.
You, 'Empress' Babs, weel rescue my Hamton.  To ensure zat you
do theese, Ah weel hold your Boostair as hostage.  Once you have
safely returned weeth mah Hamton, Ah weel allow you to go to
Montague to get what you need for zee Bookkeepair.  Eef you fail
though, and eef mah Hamton eez lost to zee forces of zee Empress,
zen you weel know zee same pain zat Ah do.  Ah strongly soogjest,
therefore, zat you do not fail."
				##########
	Babs worked her way back into the Bookkeeper's room and
found Elmyra sitting at her desk with a blank expression on her face.
As she saw her sitting there, Babs couldn't help but feel sorry for
this alternate Elmyra, she seemed to be a truly noble individual who
was plagued by unhappiness. If only there was some way to repay
her for all she was doing for them. Realizing though that at the
moment there was nothing she could do, Babs stepped back into the
room and cleared her throat to get Elmyra's attention.
	"Oh, you have returned quickly.  Did Montague seem interested
when you told him you needed the equipment for me?"
	The hopefulness in Elmyra's question really got to Babs.  She
truthfully regretted saying, "Uhm, actually, I haven't been there yet.
I had to come back first."
	"Oh," said Elmyra, attempting to conceal her disappointment
over not being able to ask how Max was doing, "I see.  I should
have realized that you could not have gone there and returned so
quickly. Why have you come back?  And where is Buster?  You
were not intercepted by the forces of the Chancellor, were you?"
	"No, we weren't.  We ran into..."  Babs paused for a moment.  It
probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell Elmyra exactly who she and
Buster had met up with.  "We, uh, ran into a resistance group.  We
were able to convince them of who we really are, but before their
leader will let us go, I have to bring Hamton here back to them.  It
seems that he's a part of their group, and they don't want to risk him
being discovered by the Empress's people."
	"Interesting," said Elmyra.  "It is rare here that the Resistance
would risk further exposure to rescue a single operative.  He must
be very important to whoever sent you back for him."
	"You could say that," said Babs as she thought about what
Buster had told her about when he and Fifi were alone.
	Shaking the images that were forming in her head out of them,
Babs looked down at Hamton's still unconscious form and said, "Do
you have any water?  I need to wake up sleepy-head here, and I
need to do it fast."
	"Sleepy *head*?" asked Elmyra.  "What a curious expression.
Is it common in your world to refer to people as various kinds of 'heads'?"
	"Uh-oh," thought Babs.  "Have I goofed?"  "Uhm, in a way,"
she said after a few seconds.  "Some people use it more than others."
	"I see.  Well, I think I'll remember it.  It sounds kind of funny,
and if I need anything around here, it's laughter.  Hang on, I'll get
you some water."
	With that, Elmyra went into small side chamber and returned a
few seconds later with a small glass of water.  "Here," she said as
she handed it to Babs.  "But how will this help you to awaken him?"
	"Just watch," said Babs with a grin.  Turning then to stand over
Hamton's sleeping form, Babs yelled, "Hamton!  Wake Up!" and
she dumped the water on his face.
	Hamton bolted up off the floor, sputtering.  "Huh, what
happened? Where am...  Oh!  Empress!  I uh, uhm, uhhhhhh......"
Hamton's attempts at communication trailed off as he remembered
what it was that had knocked him out in the first place.
	"Skip it, Hammy," said Babs as she pulled him up to his feet.
"Listen, I'm not really the Empress, and I know that your in the
Resistance and were supposed to eventually kill her.  I'm here to tell
you that your cover has been blown, and to take you back to your,
uhm, your leader."
	Hamton eyed Babs warily.  "Empress," he said, not believing her
assertions, and trying to think of a way to save his life, "how can
you say such things?  I am loyal to you, now and always."
	"Look, Hamton," said Babs as she moved closer to him.  Once
she was close enough, she started to spin around, and drew Hamton
into her vortex. When she stopped, she had him on his hands an
knees and held him securely in a half nelson.  When she spoke
again, her voice was calm.  "I don't wanna say this again, so listen
up, okay?  I'M NOT THE EMPRESS!  YOUR LIFE IS IN
DANGER!! NOW STOP ARGUING AND COME WITH ME TO
A PLACE OF SAFETY!!!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!?!?"
	Babs let go of him them and Hamton fell to the floor to push his
throbbing eardrums back into his head.  After a few seconds, he
stood up slowly and said, "I understand.  Well, shall we go?"
	Recognizing the code phrase that Fifi had told her that Hamton
would use, Babs very carefully replied, "To just go would not be
wise. It would be safer for us to leave when it's dark."
	All traces of doubt left Hamton's face.  "Okay," he said, "so your
not the Empress.  Who are you?"
	"Babs Bunny.  But that's not important right now.  Come on.
Your, leader, is waiting."
	"Be careful," said Elmyra as they turned to leave.  "It is nearly
the time when the Chancellor's forces make their daily sweep of this
area."
	"Right," said Babs as she headed for the exit.  Before leaving
though, she looked back and said, "Why don't you come with us?
I'm sure the Resistance could use someone smart like you."
	"I know they could, and would love to join you, but I can't.  I
have been bound here by the Chancellor; I can not leave."
	"You keep saying that," said Babs.  "What do you mean, 'bound
here'?"
	Elmyra sighed deeply and opened the collar on her robe a little to
reveal a circlet of steel or some other metal that was around her
neck. "This place is shielded against an electronic wave that covers
the entire ACME Zone.  If I were to leave it, the wave would
activate this device, and it would contract to half its size.  I can not
leave."
	"Oh," said Babs.  "I see.  Listen, Elmyra.  I don't know how, but
once we get you your equipment, before we let you send us home,
Buster and I'll find a way to free you.  I promise."
	Elmyra smiled weakly.  "Many have tried, Babs.  But none have
ever found a way to defeat this device.  Still I welcome the offer,
even if it is doomed to fail."
	Babs felt very awkward as Elmyra left them to go and put away
her glass.  "Come on, Hamton," she said.  "We should get going."
	Once they were back outside, Babs looked at Hamton and said,
"Okay, Fifi told me that you can call her for pick up.  Do it, and let's
get out of here."
	"Very well.  But not here.  We need to get farther away from the
buildings first."
	The two of them left the ruins of the Loo behind them, and once
they were far enough away, Hamton opened a secret compartment
on his belt, and pulling a tiny microphone out of it he said,
"Greyhound one this is Greyhound five.  Request pickup.  Repeat,
request pick up, out."
	Putting away his mini-mic, Hamton looked at Babs and said,
"Well, it shouldn't be long, that is, if they are waiting for us."
	As if to confirm Hamton's assertion, the transport machine broke
up through the ground not too far away from them.  "Come on," he
said as he started towards it.  "We might not have a lot of time."
	Moving quickly towards the transport, Babs and Hamton were
suddenly thrown backwards by a huge explosion.  "Run!" shouted
Babs as she quickly regained her senses.  "I'll take care of them!!"
	Not waiting to see if Hamton would do as she said, Babs quickly
spun around and changed herself into Superbabs.  "Up, up, and up
some more!" she cried as she flew into the air to take on whoever it
was  that was shooting at them.  It was a squad of some dozen
mercenaries, and they were shooting at her with everything they
had.  She hovered over them and laughed taughntingly as their
bullets bounced harmlessly off her chest.  "Hahahahaha!  You puny
mortals'll need more than that to take down Superbabs!"
	Babs saw that her taughnting had had the desired effect.  One of
the mercenaries was unpacking his bazooka and aiming it at her.
"OOOOH," Babs shouted down at him, "I'm really quite scared!"
	FWOOOMMM!
	The bazooka shell streaked upwards towards her with incredible
velocity.  Just before it slammed into her form, Superbabs veered
out of its path, and grabbed ahold of the projectile.  After making a
slight adjustment to the warhead to make it a bit less lethal, she
swung it around and hurled it back at the mercenaries with all of her
super strength.
	KABOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!
	Smoke and debris filled the air, and when it cleared, Babs saw
that the mercenaries were all covered with black soot and that they
had a blank look of disbelief in their eyes as they passed out.
"Awright!" shouted Babs when she saw it.  "Score one for the good
guys!"
	Having dealt with the problem, Superbabs flew back over to the
transport, and once she was safely inside, she spun out of her
Superbabs suit and back into her Empress disguise.  "Well," she said
to Fifi once the purple skunkette had closed the hatch, "I got you
back your Pig.  Where's my Bunny?"
	"Here I am, Babs," said Buster as he came into the control room.
"Are you okay?"
	"I made it back, didn't I?"
	"Yeah, but just barely.  What was the idea of pulling that
Superbabs routine?"
	"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time," said Babs.
	"Yes," said Fifi with astonishment.  "Zat was an amazing theeng
you deed joost now.  Could you do eet again?"
	"I doubt it," said Babs glumly as she pulled out her Superbabs
costume.  The consume itself looked okay, but the inner lining,
which was the most important part, was in tough shape.  "I'm afraid
that the suit is ruined.  I don't think it would have lasted much
longer."
	"My point exactly," said Buster.  "Things are different here,
Babsy. It's not like back home."
	"I know.  Don't worry, Buster.  I won't try anything like that
again."
	"Good.  Because it wouldn't be worth going home without you."
	"Speaking of which," said Babs as she looked back at Fifi, "we
still need to get to the Montague Max's place."
	"Zees eez not a problem.  We can transport you to a spot not to
far from heez home.  Boot once zere, you are on your own.  We
weel have to, how you say, lie low, for a while now."
	"That's understandable," said Buster.  "But can we get going?"
	"Of course.  Shirley, take us to Montague's, and then home."
	"Like, okay, Fifi.  Here we go!"
	As the transport started to bore its way through the earth on the
way to its destination, Buster and Babs both found themselves
thinking that they were finally making some progress towards getting
home.
				##########
	Meanwhile, back in Acme Acres...
	Just as the Chancellor prepared to bring his blade down on Babs
with death, she seemed to explode in front of him.  The explosion
threw him backwards, and he hit the ground hard, knocking all the
air from his lungs. It took him a few seconds to recover, and when
he did, he was dismayed by what he saw.  Whoever it was that he
was about to kill was gone, and in her place was quite obviously the
 real Empress, and she was holding his blade.
	"So, Chancellor," she said with contempt, "it is finally come to
an end.  Prepare to die, my old foe," and she started towards him
menacingly.
	The Chancellor swallowed hard and prepared to defend himself
as best he could, but before she could get close enough to strike, a
1984 Dodge Aries K car stopped next to them, and a female rabbit
who was more than twice the size of the Empress climbed out of it
and said in a demanding tone, "Barbara Anne!  What are you doing
with that sword? And look at the way you're dressed.  Put that thing
down and get in the car this instant!"
	The Empress looked over at the tall lady bunny with contempt.
"Go away, ancient one!  Otherwise I'll turn this blade on you when
I'm done with the Chancellor!"
	"What?!?" bellowed Babs mother with surprise.  "Alright, young
lady, that does it!" and she started around the car.
	The Empress was so stunned that someone would defy her that
she made no move to defend herself, which for her was most
unfortunate. Mrs. Bunny grabbed ahold of her wrist and bent it
backwards until the Empress was forced to drop the Chancellor's
weapon.  Once that was done, Mrs. Bunny grabbed the Empress by
the ears, and dragging her over to the car she said, "This time, Babs,
you've gone to far.  Just you wait till you father gets home!"
	The Chancellor watched in amazement as Mrs. Bunny drove off
with the Empress, and as he did so, something strange started to
occur to him.  He looked around at his surroundings and muttered,
"So familiar, and yet, so different.  Could it be possible?"
	He looked over at the tree stump that he had seen the one who
looked like the Empress emerge from.  "Perhaps the answers are
down there," he thought, and he headed down into Buster's home.
				##########
	An hour and a half later, the Empress stood, her tail was still to
sore to sit on, by Babs's desk reading her diary.  "This explains
much," she thought as she read over its contents.  She was starting
to think of ways that she could use this newfound knowledge to her
advantage when Babs's phone started to ring.  She looked at it oddly
for a few seconds before picking up the receiver.  "Hello?" she
asked warily.
	"Ah," said a disturbingly familiar voice, "I was correct in my
assumption.  Hello, Empress, this is the Chancellor.  Have you
figured out that we are not in the ACME Zone any more?"
	"It does appear that way," said the Empress matter of factly.
"What do you want?"
	"Well, I'm calling you from the home of one, 'Buster Bunny.' He
is apparently my counterpart in this strange world.  I've learned
much about him, the Babs of this world, and their relationship to
one another."
	"So have I.  What's your point?"
	"Not over the phone.  I'd like to meet you, in a public place, to
discuss terms.  I have an idea that you may find amusing."
	"How do I know that I can trust you?"
	"Truthfully, you don't.  But I give you my word, that for the
moment, I will not attempt to harm you.  You may even choose the
time and place for our meeting."
	In spite of everything that told her to be wary, the Empress was
intrigued by the Chancellor's offer.  She sat down in Babs's chair,
wincing as she did so, and said, "We can't meet today.  I'm, uhm,
required to stay at home.  Tomorrow is Saturday, and it would be a
good time, as we would not be expected elsewhere.  I have
information that suggests that Buster and Babs frequent a place
known as "Weenie Burgers."  Tomorrow at noon?"
	"I'll be there, Empress."
	"So will I, Chancellor.  So will I."
				##########
	The next day at noon, Empress Babs sat in a booth at Weenie
Burger's and looked around warily.  She didn't trust the Chancellor
one bit, everyone in the ACME Zone knew his word was worthless,
but then again, they weren't in the ACME Zone anymore.  She
glanced over to the entrance and noticed that the Chancellor had
arrived.  Or at least, she thought it was the Chancellor.  He had
somehow managed to turn his orange fur to the same shade of blue
as the one called, "Buster," whom her counterpart had a picture of
in her room.  More interesting than that though was his attire.  He
was wearing white gloves, a red sweater, and nothing else.
	When the Chancellor joined the Empress at her booth, she
looked at him incredulously and asked, "Did you forget your pants?"
	"No," said the Chancellor as he sat down across from her.
"Under normal circumstances, Buster doesn't wear them."
	"Really?" asked the Empress as a hint of a smile formed on her
lips. "How, interesting."
	"Spare me your lack of wit, Empress.  You look rather ridiculous
yourself."
	The Empress nodded calmly.  "It is what this world's Babs
wears. Rather revolting, isn't it?"
	"I suppose."
	"Yes, well, I'm sure it is.  Now then, Chancellor...
	"You'd better call me, 'Buster,' Babs."
	The Empress cringed at the thought of her enemy addressing her
in such an informal manner, but she knew he had a valid point.
"Very well, Buster. Why did you want to see me?"
	"As strange as it may sound, to offer an alliance."
	"What?  Are you mad?"
	"Please, hear me out.  Look around you, Babs.  It would be very
easy for us to take over this world.  The people here are not
warriors, they are weak, simple-minded creatures who are
concerned only with their own comfort.  We could easily dominate
them, and do so without fear.  No one would dare move against us,
they'd be too frightened."
	"An interesting proposal, Buster.  But haven't you overlooked
something?"
	"Such as?"
	"Well, if we are here, then our 'counterparts' must be in the
Acme Zone.  I would think that their biggest priority would be
returning here and sending us back there.  What would be the point
of taking over this place, only to be sent back to our home when
they reach theirs?"
	"I wouldn't worry about that.  I took out your counterpart here
with a single punch.  I assume you had a similar experience with
mine?"
	"Come to think of it, we did corner him fairly easily."
	"My point exactly.  Buster and Babs won't last a week in the
Acme Zone.  They're probably dead already.  And let's face it,
Babs, the Zone is in ruins.  This place isn't.  We can take over this
place, and then impose order, as opposed to the chaos that runs
rampant in the Zone."
	"Assuming that I except your proposal, how do we go about it
all?"
	"Simple.  This world's Montague Max has not lost his fortune.
We can exploit that fact to our advantage."
	"An interesting proposal, Chancellor.  It is worth my
consideration."


				   Chapter 6

	Before either "Buster" or "Babs" could get out another word,
they were interrupted.
	"WHAT?!!" yelled someone from the counter at the top of their
lungs, "What do you mean my super-double-cheeseburger-deluxe
special is gonna take another two minutes?!  I thought this was
supposed to be FAST food!!"
	Both the Empress and the Chancellor looked over toward the
counter, and standing there was a small green duck wearing a white
tank top, who bore a strong visual resemblance to the Chancellor's
chief tactical advisor.
	"Don't ANY of the males in this universe wear pants?" asked the
Chancellor.
	"Like, take it easy, Plucky," said his female companion, who
strongly resembled the Empress' chief advisor.  "Impatience is like, a
total symptom of spiritual misalignment.  You should be free of
impatience and accept delays as like, a time of spiritual healing, or
some junk."
	"Those two aren't..." started the Chancellor.
	"I doubt it," interrupted the Empress, "neither of their
dispositions match those of our advisors."
	As Plucky and Shirley argued the matter of lunchline impatience,
Empress Babs and the Chancellor got up to leave.  Both of them,
still untrusting of the other, kept a safe distance away from the other
one.
	The only exit was the one by the service counter, and both
rabbits made a straight line toward it.  However, Plucky and Shirley
were coming the other way, still debating away.
	Shirley was the first to catch sight of "Buster" and "Babs".
"Like, hiya bunnies," she said to them.
	The alternate rabbits looked at one another strangely.  Neither
one had ever been approached so directly by anyone else unless they
were attacking. Both of them were unarmed, so they quickly
assumed martial arts postures, and awaited the forthcoming attack.
	Plucky and Shirley were taken aback by their old friends' odd
behavior.  "Uhm," said Shirley, "we'll, like, uh, see you guys later."
Plucky and Shirley sat down at the nearest table and pretended not
to be looking at Buster or Babs.
	Much to the rabbits' surprise, there was no attack.  The Empress
turned toward the Chancellor and whispered: "Perhaps they were
not attacking us at all."
	"That would seem to be," said the Chancellor.  "It appears we
will be able to use this Buster and Babs ploy to our advantage,
seeing as how they seem to be so popular around this area."  The
two left quickly as Plucky and Shirley watched.
	"Whoa," Shirley said, "that was like, totally weird.  They must
really be in bad moods, or some junk."
	"Hmm.  Must be that time of the month again," added Plucky as
he picked up his burger, which instantly became liquefied and
dribbled off his hands. "Geez," he said, "this burger looked SO
much better in the commercial!"
				##########
	The transport again broke through the ground.  Buster and Babs,
who had been riding in the back of the transport, had no idea what
the surrounding area looked like.
	Once they were released from the transport they looked around.
In incredible contrast to the Montana Max they new, who lived in a
large, conspicuously-consumed manor, the alternate Max lived in an
area of the ACME Zone which was not much more luxiourous than
a junkyard. Several old buildings stood closely bunched together.
Each looked run down, and barely fit for living in.
	"Alright," Fifi told them, "Montague Max leeves in ze basement
of zis building," indicating the one nearest to the transport.  "Ah am
ahfraid we cannot help vous raight now.  Za Chancellor's army weel
soon be ahproachaing, and we must return to our sehcret base."
	"Where is your secret base?" asked Buster, who was again
wearing his Hamton suit.  "We might need to know if we need your
help again."
	She smiled at him vexingly, "Ah, moi handsome lapin.  If Ah
was to tell vous ze location of ze sehcret base, it wouldn't be a
sehcret any longer, no?  Au revoir, lohvers!  Vive le revolution!"
she said as she went back into the transport.  She shut the hatch
behind her, and almost instantly it was hidden beneath the ground;
not one clue remained to suggest that it had ever been there.
	"Well," said Buster with a hint of fear in his voice, "this is the
place."
	"Yep.  Let's get goin'," Babs said with some trepidation in her
voice as well.
	Buster opened the door, and the two rabbits went inside the
apartment complex.  It was just as dismal from the inside as it was
from the outside. Rats ran rampant through the entrance way.  The
two bunnies took cautious steps toward a stairwell on the other side
of the hall.  Once they had reached it, they looked down below, and
could see nothing but darkness.
	Babs took a deep breath, and took a hold of Buster's hand.  She
started downward, but soon it became evident to her that Buster was
not going down with her.  She looked back, and saw Buster's
elongated arm stretched a quarter of the way downstairs.  The rest
of Buster's person was at the top of the staircase.  He was holding
firm a railpost, and was shaking violently.
	Babs let go of Buster's hand, and it retracted quickly to it's
normal position.  She made her way back up the stairs to her
trembling loverbunny.
	"Buster, are you all right?"
	Putting one hand on top of his head, and the other below his
jaw, Buster pressed them firmly together to keep his teeth from
chattering. In the short time he managed to do this, he squeaked out
"Yeah, I'm fine."  As soon as he let go of his head, however, he
began quaking every bit as violently as before.
	Knowing that Buster was trying for her benefit to appear brave,
she gently put her arms around his waist, pulled him closer to her
and whispered to him, "It's alright, Buster.  You can wait up here.
I'll go down there."
	She held onto the trembling bunny for another minute, and then
slowly made her way down the stairs.
	Each stair squeaked as she stepped on it.  She had noticed the
squeaks the first time, but this time they seemed one hundred times
louder.  She was three-quarters of the way down the stairs.  She
didn't know what was louder, the squeaking of each step, or her
own heart pounding hard in her chest.
	Three steps to go, and Babs still could not see what lie in front
of her.  Two steps.  One.  She slowly put her foot on the
ground...but there was none.
	"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!"
	Buster, who had lost sight of her after she had gone halfway
down the stairs, had not one clue what had happened.  "Babs?
Babs?!!!" he yelled down the stairs, awaiting an answer.
	Not knowing what else to, Buster started down the stairs, quickly
at first, and then more apprehensively as he neared the bottom of
the long stairwell.  Soon, Buster caught himself saying "Oh boy"
with each and every step he took downward.  He held on tightly to
the handrail.
	He reached the last step, he prepared to set his foot down.
Then, quickly putting two and two together, he realized that there
might not be anything to set his foot onto.  Buster clinched the rail
as tight as he could and began to feel what, if anything was under
his feet.  "That's funny," he thought to himself, "there's no hole
down here."
				##########
	The Chancellor waited for the call, which was now nearly two
minutes overdue.  He and the Empress had set their watches
synchronously, and she was to call him at exactly 12:14.  Neither
one of them wanted any more face to face contact with the other
until their deal could be properly arranged, for several reasons, not
the least of which was having to pose as "Buster" and "Babs" in
public.
	Their plan consisted of, after working out the deal to ally,
meeting at Montague Max's, and hopefully using (if stealing was not
necessary) his assets to build a war machine which would bring this
world to its knees. The Chancellor deduced that since the Montague
Max in his world was virtuous and altruistic, that his alternate would
be nasty and despicable... just his kind of guy.
	"She is toying with me," he said to himself.  If nothing else, the
Empress was well known for her punctuality, and to be late calling
him was a sure sign that she wasn't going to be totally cooperative.
	Ten minutes later, the phone rang.  The Chancellor picked it up
and yelled angrily: "Where in blazes have you been?!!!"
	The Empress answered, very woozily, "I...I do not know."
				##########
	"Are you sure you don't remember ANYTHING?" asked Buster.
	"Nothing.  I don't know what happened."  Babs sat on the
ground, holding her head.  "It's like... I was nowhere."  She tried
everything she could to remember even the slightest detail.
	"Well, if you remember anything, be sure and..."
	"Wait," she said, "something's coming to me.  I was in this little,
white room or something, on one side of see-through wall.  On the
other side of it was..."
	"Was what?" asked Buster.
	"Her."
	Buster looked at her questioningly.  "Her who?"
	"The Empress.  We just stood there against the wall and stared at
each other for a couple of minutes, and the next thing I knew, I was
back here."
	It was pretty obvious to Buster that Babs wasn't going anywhere
soon, so he took a seat next to her and let her overcome her trauma.
	"Are you going to be alright?" he asked her a couple of seconds
later.
	"Yeah," she told him in a somewhat weak sounding voice, "I
should be all right in a few minutes."
	"You really scared me for a while."
	"Well, GEEEEEEEZ, I'M SORRY!" she snapped at him in a
tone of voice she had never spoken to him with.  "Heaven forbid I
should get sucked into another universe and cause you any
inconvenience!!!!" Buster hadn't the slightest idea how to react or
what to say.  Babs, realizing what she had just said, covered her
mouth in near terror. "Buster," she told him quickly, "I didn't mean
any of that.  I don't even know where that came from.  I..."
	Suddenly, a dark shadow lurched up on her and Buster.  They
looked up, and saw standing before them a short figure, wearing
Shakespearean dress, complete with a puffy shirt, leotards, and a
cape.  "Are you two all right?" the person asked.
	 "Montague Max, I presume," said Buster.
	 "Why, of course it's me!  I would think that Empress
Babs and her minion would recognize me!  Pray, come inside my
apartment, for ye are always welcome at the apartment of Montague
Max!"
	Max helped the two to their feet.  "Pray, my lady Babs," he said,
"you look ill.  Perhaps you need some of my special herbal tea."
They walked down the hall, and into the last door on the left.
				##########
	Another face to face meeting was in order, so felt the
Chancellor. On the phone the two agreed to ally themselves for the
time being, but the Chancellor still felt the Empress might be trying
to deceive him by pretending something had happened to her.  He
couldn't put his finger on what she might be trying to accomplish;
she should have known playing on his sympathy would do no good,
he had none.
	At exactly three p.m., the two were to meet in front of the house
of Max, in their Buster and Babs disguises.  As was usual, both
were there at exactly three o'clock, not one second earlier or later.
	"Tell, me, Empress," the Chancellor said as a way of greeting,
"why the deception?  What are you trying to pull?"
	"I am trying to 'pull' nothing.  What I told you was absolutely
true, blue ears!"
	The Chancellor ran her last clause through his mind.  "'Blue
ears'? What sort of childish remark is that?"
	"Listen up, toots," continued the Empress, who switched vocal
inflections to that of Edward G. Robinson, "if we's gonna take over
dis joint, see, we gotta have a plan of action, see?"  She grabbed the
Chancellor by the shirt collar and lifted him into the air.  He was so
taken aback by her actions, he did not even react. "Udderwise, I'm
gonna hafta be fittin' youse wit' cee-ment overshoes, see?"
	Just then, after regaining his composure, the Chancellor 
angrily swiped at her arms, and she promptly dropped him on his
rear end. "What are you trying to do?!!!" he demanded as he 
stood up again.
	Finally, it occurred to the Empress that something was amiss
with her personality.  "What's... happening to me?" she said to
herself.
	"I am THIS close to terminating our alliance," said the
Chancellor, indicating by a minute spacing of his fingers how close
he was.  "I strongly suggest that you not go off the deep end like
that anymore!"
	Watching this argument the entire time on his external security
monitors was Monty.  He chortled to himself when it appeared
Buster and Babs were going to get into a scuffle, but he soon
realized that they were trying to go up to the house.
	"Those two rassafrackin' rabbits!  What do they want?!"  he said
vehemently as he watched them struggle with the wrought iron gate
on the fence surrounding his house.  He flipped one of the many
switches at the control panel he was sitting at.  "There," he said
satisfactorily to himself, "they oughtta get a CHARGE out of this!"
	Outside, "Buster" was tugging on the gate when suddenly...
ZZZZZZZZAP!!!  Fifty-thousand watts of electricity surged through
his body, revealing his skeleton to the exterior world.
	"Heh heh heh," laughed Monty.  "That'll learn that long-eared
pest!"  Monty kept close watch on the external monitor so he could
thwart any ensuing attempts the rabbits made to get in.
	"Babs" made her way over to "Buster", whose fur was quite
singed and still smoldering.  "Perhaps we should look for another
way inside," she told him.  She looked around, and then noticed a
large tree, one branch of which was hanging over the fence.
"Perhaps we can scale that hardwood, drop to the ground, and make
our way to the door."
	The two rabbits walked over to the tree.  "Please," said the
Chancellor motioning for her to go first.
	"No.  I think it would be best for me not to turn my back on
you."
	"What about me?!" he said.  "What reason do I have to trust you
when my back is turned?!"
	Without saying a word, the Empress took twenty large paces
backwards. "There, I couldn't possibly get to you before you get
over the fence."
	Having no other argument, the Chancellor looked for a place to
start climbing.
	"I just can't help myself," said the Empress to herself, before
wondering how that thought could possibly have entered her head.
	Of course, before the Chancellor had even begun climbing the
tree, Monty knew what he was doing.  "Not on your life, Buster,"
he said as he picked up a nearby phone.  "Hello, Grovely?" he said
into the phone. "Yeah, I've just decided that I no longer have any
use for that tree out in front of the house!  Take the chainsaw and
cut it down... NOW!!!"
	Before Monty had even slammed down the phone, Grovely
answered, "Very good, Master Monty," zipped out to the toolshed
behind the pool, pulled out a chainsaw, and was well on his way to
the front of the house.
	It took the Chancellor a few seconds, but he managed to scale
the tree.  "There," he yelled to the awaiting Empress, "I've climbed
the tree, now it's YOUR turn."
	"That's all right," she yelled back, "just go ahead and get into
the yard first!"
	The Chancellor grumbled an unflattering comment about her
to himself, and slowly made his way toward the overhanging branch.
Before he could get much farther, though, he was halted by a grinding
noise, which appeared to be coming from below.  He looked down 
just in time to hear a "Timber" coming from Grovely. The tree fell to
the ground, with the Chancellor hanging on for dear life.
	After a moment, a staggering, woozy Chancellor walked away
from the fallen oak.  He made a roundabout path toward the
Empress, and told her, "You KNEW that was going to happen,
didn't you?"
	She smiled innocently at him.  "No, I didn't KNOW it was going
to happen."
	"I... hate... you," he said.  It was his last conscious thought
before falling to the ground.  The Empress watched, and afterward,
she had an odd sensation, like nothing she'd ever experienced in her
entire life.  She felt like... laughing.
	At this particular moment, Shirley was making her way toward
the mountains overlooking Acme Acres.  There she could cleanse
her aura from the constant pollution of the unspirtiualized world.
The way to the mountains led past Monty's house, and as she passed
it, she saw Babs standing there.
	She hadn't the slightest idea why Babs might be there, but it
seemed very odd to her.  Normally she would have just gone right
up to Babs and asked her, but because of the absurdity she was met
with at Weenie Burgers, she was reluctant to do so.  Feeling like
there was little she could do, she simply went on her way toward the
mountains to entrance herself.
				##########
	Buster and Babs had not been at Montague's for very long when
he began making Babs her tea.
	"It's almost ready," he called to them from his dilapidated
kitchen.
	The two rabbits were sitting on his rat-chewed, spring loaded
couch. Buster occupied his time by removing the cockroaches that
had seen fit to crawl up his leather jacket sleeves when he wasn't
looking. Babs was just sitting there, however.  She moved seldom
and spoke not at all.  Buster looked at her to see if any of the
roaches were crawling on her.  Oddly enough, none were.
	"Babs," he told her, "could you give me a hand here?"
	"Shut up!" she snapped at him.  "Solve your own problems, I've
got enough of my own!"
	"All right, that does it," he said sternly.  "What is wrong with
you?!"
	In one quick motion, Babs grabbed one of the cushions on the
couch, and smacked Buster in the face with it.  Buster's eyes rolled
in his head, and he momentarily went numb.
	"Awright," he said through his smashed-jaw,  "you bedder dell
me what da problim iz, er I'm ginna git rilly angry wid you."  His
jaw popped back into position, and he turned toward Babs, who
was now in a state of shock.
	"Buster, I'm sorry!"
	There was obviously something amiss with Babs.  It was like she
was two different people in the same body.
	Buster was about to ask Babs something, but in came Montague
Max, carrying a sterling silver tea tray.  "Here we are," he said
cheerfully. "Your tea is ready, Madam Empress."
	While Montague poured the tea, he noticed out of the corner of
his eye that Empress Babs was very quiet, something she never was.
As he handed her a cup, he looked in her eyes.  A small tear was
forming in the corner of one of them.  Feeling very confused, he
stammered "Um, uh, would you like a cup, uh, Hamton?"
	"No, thank you, Montague Max."
	Now Montague knew something was up.  Hamton had never
called him 'Montague Max'.  He always called him 'Mr. Max', or
'Mr. Montague', but NEVER 'Montague Max'.
	"But I insist," he said as he poured another cup.  He carried the
cup over to "Hamton" and handed it to him.  "Drink
up....IMPOSTOR!!" he yelled as he grabbed the nose of the
Hamton mask Buster was wearing and tore it off, revealing Buster's
real face.
	Buster and Babs stood there in shock.  They had been
discovered.
	"What's going on?!" demand Montague Max.  "I want some
answers NOW!!"
	"All right," said Buster, "let me explain."  Buster told Montague
about the events leading up to now.  "...and after I got away from
Hamton, I ran into Elmyra the Bookkeeper, and she..."
	"You saw Elmyra?" asked Montague.  "Uh, I, uh, how is she?
Does she fare well?"
	Buster hesitated.  "I...guess so.  I mean, she's not the happiest
person in the world."
	The words slowly sank into Max's brain.  He sat down, and put
his face in his palms.  "It was a long time ago," he said quietly.  "I
was selfish, I cared only for my money and nothing more.  Each day
I think about her, and what I gave up when I left.  I can never go
back to her now."
	"Oh, stop your whinin', YA' BIG BABY!!"  yelled Babs.  She
hopped up from off the couch, stomped over to Max, and stared at
him vehemently. "Those that search only for love and happiness are
weak, and deserve to be..."  Babs cut herself off again.
	Max looked at her with wonderment, and then turned toward
Buster.  "Are you SURE she's not the Empress?" he asked him.  "At
times, your friend sounds just like her."
	Only after Montague had pointed it out did Buster notice.  "You
know, she does sound like her," Buster told him after he had really
listened to her voice.
	"You haven't told me how your friend was transported here."
	"Well," started Buster,  "Elmyra somehow managed to get
images from my universe through her computer.  When she did, we
saw that Babs was about to be stabbed by my opposite self, and so
Elmyra quickly fooled around with some wires in the computer.
There was this huge explosion, and Babs was sent here."
	"Hm.  If that's true, than theoretically, you should have been sent
back to your universe instead of her being sent here."
	As Buster opened his mouth to say something, he looked around
the room and saw that Babs was no longer around.  "Where did she
go?" he asked Max.
	"I believe she went to retrieve something from the icebox."
	Buster turned around, and sure enough, Babs was standing at the
icebox.  She looked inside, removed a large slab of raw steak, and
began tearing into it ravenously.
	"You were about to say something, were you not?" asked Max.
	"Oh yeah, well, Elmyra said something about having her wires
crossed. She connected negative to positive instead of negative to
negative."
	Max shut his eyes tightly and tried to envision what would
happen. After a moment or two had passed, he opened them again.
"I think I know what has happened," he told Buster.  "When the
circuits are crossed such as Elmyra had them, not only are the two
persons in question brought to different universes, but their
personalities might also be replaced with that of the other."
	"Ohmygosh!" yelled Buster.  "What can I do?"
	"Well, from what I've heard about such things, the onset starts
off very gradually, but quickly worsens.  I suggest that you find
another computer, similar to the one Elmyra used, and execute the
operation correctly."
	Buster thought hard.  "Elmyra already mentioned something
about the Technodyne."
	"That's what I was about to suggest, too," said Max, "but first, I
want to make certain that my hypothesis is true."  Max reached into
his shirt pocket and removed a solid gold pocketwatch, attached to a
gold chain. "Babs," he called into the kitchen.  "Would you mind
coming here for a moment?"
	"What do you want?!"  she growled as she picked some bone
fragments from her teeth.  Suddenly, she started feeling very sick.
"Did I just eat a big slab of raw meat?" she asked.
	"Would you please come lie down on the couch?" asked Max
again.
	"I think I'd better," she said as she put a hand on her unsettled
stomach.
	When Babs was lying on the couch, Max told her:  "I believe I
know what is happening to you, Lady Babs, but I want to be certain.
I happen to be a clinical psychiatrist with extensive knowledge in the
field of hypnosis.  Now that you are 'more yourself', shall we say, I
am going to try and hypnotize you.  Just relax and follow the
watch..."
	"Oh please, I am one person that can't possibly be hypnotized,"
she protested as Max swung the watch toward the left.  Before it
had even reached the right, Babs was out cold.
	She felt light, almost weightless as she gently floated through a
quiet blue sky.  As she floated, she could see off in the distance a
mountain formation, much like the one marking the northern border
of Acme Acres, and her ears filled with an unmistakable chant:  "Oh
whataloon Iam...Oh whataloon Iam..."
	As she floated onward, she found herself hovering over her old
friend Shirley. "Hey Shirl!" she called down to her.
	Shirley was incredulous.  She looked up and saw Babs hovering
several hundred feet above her.  "Babs, like, what are you doing
here?" Shirley began levitating, and floating upward toward Babs.
	"Babs, I've like, never seen you here before.  How did you like,
get to this plane of consciousness?"
	"I think I'm under hypnosis right now.  Shirley, listen to me, that
Babs that's there in Acme Acres, she's not me."
	"Like, I totally didn't think so.  A few minutes ago I saw her, and
she was kind of acting like you, but like, when I saw her at Weenie
Burgers with Buster, she was like, really, really cranky, and I was
reading all sorts of totally negatory vibes from her, or some junk.
What's going on?"
	For the next several minutes, Babs told Shirley what had
happened to bring Buster and herself into the alternate universe, and
then of how her personality was changing without her being able to
do anything about it.
	"Like, freak me out, or some junk!  Don't worry, Babs, I'll try to
do something!"
	"Okay, you probably should warn...oh boy," said Babs as she
felt herself regaining consciousness, "I think I'm starting to wake
up...." And then she did.
				##########
	"Boy, those rabbits don't give up easy, do they?" grumbled
Monty to himself.  The only thing left to do was call out Arnold to
physically remove the rabbits from the premises.  Monty got on the
phone, and in no time, Arnold was making his way toward the two
rabbits.
	By now, the Empress was quite her old self, ranting and raving
about the Chancellor's incompetence and cursing whatever was
altering her personality.  "NOW how are we going to get inside?"
she demanded.  "We need Montague Max's assets to properly
instigate our plan!"
	"Will you calm yourself for one lousy moment?" asked the
Chancellor. "The Montague Max of this world must have an
adversarial relationship with Buster and Babs.  Since he believes we
are them, he is trying to prevent us from seeing him."
	It was then that the front door of Monty's mansion swung open,
and out lumbered Arnold.  The two rabbits were a bit taken aback
by Arnold's size, and they both prepared for a tough battle.
	"Now see here," yelled the pit bull, "you two bunnies are
trespassing, yah?  If you don't leave right now, I'm going to wring
both of your scrawny, vimpy necks!"  Neither rabbit moved, and so
Arnold went toward the gate of the fence.  "You asked for it,
bunnies," he told them as he opened the gate.  Before he even
stepped outside the perimeter, both rabbits jumped at him. Within
seconds, Arnold found himself lying on the ground, barely
conscious, humming a broken little German folk song as images of
bratwursts danced through his head.
	Monty saw the whole thing on his external monitor.  He sat in
his chair, shocked.  "Huh?  Buster and Babs aren't vicious like
THAT!"  He looked back at the monitor and saw that the two
rabbits were making their way toward the front door, which Arnold
had accidentally left open.  "Uh oh," said Monty to himself.  "What
if they're after me?"  In order to activate the front door security
system, the door had to be closed.  Monty quickly realized that the
only thing he could do was run downstairs and shut the door before
Buster and Babs got inside.
	All that could be seen racing through the hallway on the fifth
floor was a brownish-white streak.  The streak zipped down the long
spiral staircase to the first floor.  Monty screeched to a stop at the
door, which was kicked further open, smacking him in the face.
	The Chancellor closed the door, and saw whom he thought was
Montague Max smashed into it.  The Chancellor peeled him off.
	"Montague Max, my old friend," the Chancellor greeted him.
"How are you?"
	"I'm id gread deal of bain," answered Monty.  He then shook
himself out and looked at the two rabbits.  "What do you two
varmints want?  And why are you calling me 'Montague'?"
	"Perhaps we should explain," said the Empress.
	"Explain?  Ha!  I'm callin' the cops!  You can't trespass on MY
property and get away with it!"  Monty started toward the phone
when the Empress' vice grip-fingers grabbed him by the back of the
neck.
	"I don't think you're going anywhere," the Empress told him.
"We have some...business to discuss with you."  The Empress and
the Chancellor marched Monty upstairs to his room.
	Outside the mansion, Shirley was walking past Montana Max's
house.  She looked to see if the impostor Buster or Babs was
around, but they were nowhere to be seen.  Shirley wasn't sure who
to tell about her encounter with Babs.  It wasn't likely anyone was
going to believe her, but she had to warn them anyway.  Shirley
made her way down toward the Acme Swamp, to talk to the person
in Acme Acres who was least likely to believe her.


				   Chapter 7

	Late at night in the ACME Zone, a quiet beeping went off inside
a large Manor.  In a rush, a short green waterfowl-- impeccably
dressed-- ran to answer the sound.  Approaching the console, he
straightened his tie, cleared his throat, and pressed a button on the
front of the control board. "Sir Pluckton Duck, Tactical Advisor to
the Great Chancellor of the ACME Zone, speaking.  In the name of
the Chancellor, state your name and--"
	"Like, skip the spiel, Plucky--I've heard it at least a thousand
times!" interrupted a female voice.  "You know my name and
purpose."
	Pluckton stared at the video screen before him.  "Shirley... You
shouldn't have called.  If anyone other than myself had answered the
vid, you would have been discovered.  Where are you?  Are you
with the Empress?"
	"I wish I was with you, my dearest duck," she said softly, gazing
at him through her end of the video screen.
	"Seriously, Shirl... Where are you right now?" he said, gently
brushing off her not-so-subtle advances.
	"I'm with the Resistance.  We've set up camp... I was just, like,
calling to ask if you knew where the Chancellor was right now, or
some junk," said Shirley.  She tried her hardest not to let how much
she'd been hurt show.  Maybe, if she played it off really well, he'd
think that her adoration of moments before had been a joke, a
harmless flirtation. She knew she was kidding herself, though-- he'd
known for years how she felt about her, and he'd never returned the
emotion.  Their forbidden friendship was apparently enough of a
stretch for him.  She forced herself to smile and pretend that her
question wasn't the stupid farce she knew it to be.  She knew
through the Resistance's earlier encounter with Buster and Babs
where the Chancellor and the Empress were.  But it sounded like a
good reason to call in the middle of the night.
	"No one here has seen the Chancellor in more than 24 hours.
I'm not sure if this is a cause for alarm or not, since he does enjoy
his privacy... But he has never been known to leave the manor
unaccompanied.  It is a great risk.  Does... does the Empress have
him?" asked Pluckton.  Behind his concern for his superior, Shirley
knew there was a tinge of hopefulness.  He knew of the Resistance's
efforts to get rid of the Empress.  If Empress Babs did have her
hooks in the Chancellor, then there was a hope that both of the
tyrants may be defeated and the ACME Zone could finally be free
again.
	"No," said Shirley regretfully.  "The Empress is... uh, well, she's
like, totally... indisposed right now."
	"Have you captured her?"  Pluckton was once again hopeful, this
time more openly so.
	"Not quite," said Shirley.  "It's a long story...I don't have time to
go into it.  Are you sure you don't want to join us, Plucky?"  Shirley
made this offer every time she made contact with the Chancellor's
advisor. Each time, he humbly declined, saying he didn't have either
the experience or the intelligence needed to perform effectively in
such an operation. This time was no exception.
	"No, thanks, Shirl.  It's bad karma, you know."
	"Ptch-- 'Karma'?  I totally don't believe in any of that stuff," said
Shirley with a roll of her eyes.
	"Yes, I know," said Pluckton, chuckling a little.  He was
watching her intently, noting her every move, every expression.  He
knew all too well that she thought she loved him... What she didn't
know, his best kept secret, was that he loved her deeply in return.
He'd made up his mind early on never to tell her, knowing that he
wasn't nearly good enough for her, couldn't provide her with
anything she'd need in life. She deserved the best, and he couldn't
even give her mediocre.  "No, seriously," he began again, "I couldn't
join you.  I don't have the courage to join an underground
organization..."
	"Another load of baloney that I've been hearing since, like, this
whole mess started, or some junk.  Plucky, you have got to
understand that you are brave enough, smart enough,  good enough,
and doggone it, people like you!" said Shirley.  She rarely gave pep
talks, her motto being "Whatever happens, happens," but Pluckton
was someone she truly believed in.  Unfortunately he never believed
what she told him, and he never saw in himself the brilliance that
she knew to be there. "Plucky... why did you start working for the
Chancellor, anyway?"
	Plucky was mildly taken aback.  Shirley had never asked this
question before, and he himself had never given it much thought.
"To survive, really," he answered after a moment of consideration.
"I mean, I wasn't given much of a choice...If someone like the
Chancellor requests your services, you don't have much of a future
if you refuse."
	"Right."  Shirley was looking pensive.
	"Gee, Shirl, why'd you start working with the Empress, then?"
	"Oh, you know why, Plucky!  She was a different bunny then!  I
wish... I wish so much we could go back to those times..."  Shirley
let her voice trail off and remembered what was generally referred
to as "the good old days."
				##########
	The Chancellor's history was foggy at best, and most of what
was said about it were rumors.  His parents were unknown (some
pinned the blame on Bug's Bunny, a one-shot actor from years and
years back. Bug's had disappeared well before the Chancellor came
into power), his birth year was barely guessed at, and no one was
sure exactly how he came into power. Memories from that era,
although not so long ago, were oddly spotty.
	Barbara Anastasia Bunny was born to wealthy parents in the
same year that the Chancellor was believed to have been born.  She
grew up on the edge of the ACME Zone with her friend Shirley.
The two spent most of their days together, and they were together
the day that the ACME Zone fell completely.
	"It's lost," Babs had said to Shirley, watching the fires from a hill
a few miles outside of the Zone.  "The Chancellor got them all."
	"Like, no way, Pinkie.  Let me see," said Shirley, and grabbed
the binoculars from  Babs's hands.  She focused them and saw the
bodies on the ground and the survivors who were being taken away
in chains. Standing above all of this was the Chancellor, his orange
fur matching the color of the flames burning near him, laughing
cruelly.
	"Ooh, that creep," snarled Shirley as she watched him.  "I'd love
to boil his hash--"
	Babs took the binoculars back.  "Chill, Shirl.  We'll take care of
him soon enough."  She smoothed her outfit and flicked a piece of
dirt off of her jacket.  Babs had lately taken to wearing black
leather, a look that many people in the ACME Zone had picked up
on.  Shirley saw no need herself, but she enjoyed imagining Plucky
in leather.
	Shirley sighed, briefly picturing Plucky, and then returned her
attention to her friend.  "Like, freak me out!  How are we gonna get
back at the Chancellor, Babs?  He's, like, ten times more powerful
than anyone in this hemisphere, or some junk!  You and I are the
only free people in the ACME Zone... WHAT CAN WE DO
AGAINST THE CHANCELLOR??"
	"We'll find a way, Shirley.  Trust me." Babs set her teeth angrily.
Shirley had known that look in her friend's eye well enough to know
that Babs was dead serious about this.  The Chancellor was going to
pay somehow.
	After some surreptitious searching in the ACME Zone, Shirley
and Babs were able to find other citizens left free in the carnage.
Some of them, like Fifi and Hamton, were pretty gung-ho against
the Chancellor and agreed to join the fight right away; others, like
Pluckton, refused to jump into things that way.
	"Honestly, Shirley, isn't better if I work from the inside, as the
Chancellor's advisor?"  Pluckton's reasoning had seemed good
enough at the time, although not nearly strong enough to dissuade
Shirl from Babs's plan. "If I can persuade the Chancellor to tone
down his act, I'll be doing everyone involved a great deal more good
than I would by senselessly killing," he said, and smiled at her
reassuringly.
	"Um, I guess so, Plucky...," said Shirley.  She wanted what was
best for him, and this sounded safe enough... Unless the Chancellor
lost his temper.  "But, like, be careful, 'kay?"
	"Of course I will, Shirley," he said.  "I guess I'll be packing up
now."  He waved to her cheerily, and turned to go.
	"So... so, like, you're just, like, gonna, like, leave, or some junk,
just like that?" said Shirley.  She suddenly found herself on the
verge of tears, and wondered where they were coming from.  Babs
had advised her never to show emotions, and Shirley took this
advice to heart.  But right now, all of a sudden, she just couldn't
help herself.
	"What do you mean?" asked Plucky, turning back to her.
	"I mean... like... um, without even a goodbye hug?  That's totally
harsh, Plucky," she said, unable to tell him her real feelings for him
even now, when she might never see him again.
	"Oh.  Sorry," he said, and wrapped his arms around her.  He
held her tightly, and she pressed her face into his neck and breathed
in deeply, trying hard not to cry.  "You know, you're the only one
who ever calls me Plucky."
	"Should I stop?" she said, her voice somewhat muffled.
	"No.  No, I sort of like it."  He patted her shoulder gently.
	'Well, it's now or never,' she thought to herself, and took a deep
breath and said, "Plucky?"
	"Yes?" he said, showing no signs of getting sick of holding her.
'There's a good sign,' she thought.
	Suddenly, though, she got caught in a fit of nerves and moved
her face so that it was against his neck again.  Her next comment
came out sounding like "Mmmlffoo."
	He paused for a long moment.  "What?" he said, finally.
	"Uh, I said... I said, 'I love you'."
	He was silent for a long moment, and she had no idea what he
was thinking.  Then, at long last, he said, "I'm flattered, Shirley, I
really am." She burst into tears.  "Hey--hey, don't do that!  Oh,
Shirley, please don't do that," he said, still holding her in his arms.
	"Well, well, like, what do you expect me to do, huh?  I mean, I
just offered my heart on a silver plate to you, and you rejected me!
What should I do, just forget it?!" she cried, breaking out of his
arms.
	"I'm not rejecting you!  Shirl, I SWEAR I'm not rejecting you!
I-- I don't deserve you," he said quietly.
	"What?"  She was stunned.  Here was who she considered one
of the most perfect mallards on the face of the earth, telling her she
was too good for him.
	"You deserve someone who can take care of you, and stay with
you, and give you what you need-- You deserve a million wonderful
things, Shirley, and I can't give you any of them.  Even if I were
twice the man I could be, I still wouldn't be half of what you need.
It's just... It's not right, do you see now?"
	"No, I don't."  She was confused-- How did he feel about her?
Did this mean he loved her and felt that she was above him, or that
he was trying to let her down gently... the old, "It's not you, it's me,"
routine? "Plucky..."
	"Shirley.  Don't say another word, please.  My heart is breaking
as it is."  He came close to her, placed a finger on her lips.  "It's best
that we part as friends.  Isn't it?"  She nodded tearfully.  "I have to
go now. I'll see you again someday, I'm sure of it."  And with that,
he had gone.
	Pluckton had been right-- he had seen Shirley again.
Unfortunately, it had been in battle.  Not a fortnight after Plucky left
to work for the Chancellor, Babs had herself named Empress
among her followers.  They all supported the crowning of Empress
Babs, but deep down inside, some of them noticed a change she
was going through... The more power she amassed, the more
followers joined her cause, the crueler she got.  She snapped at
Shirley often, and many of the citizens who refused to join her
empire, she had killed.  Shirley grew frightened of her friend, with
whom she had once talked of dressing up like "ladies" and going to
fancy balls.  She fought ruthlessly, and attacked the Chancellor
often with only an outline of a plan.  She said she'd make the rest up
as she went along.  She never smiled or laughed, and spoke only of
ruling the ACME Zone and brutally killing the Chancellor.
	Shirley had known there was unease among the Empress's
followers, but she didn't know it would inspire mutiny... and she
never expected to join the transgressors.  Not until the night that she
was stopped by a shadowy figure in a dark hallway in the Empress's
palace. "Raise your 'ands," commanded the figure.
	Shirley's eyes fell on the gun that was being pointed at her.  She
complied, eyes blazing angrily. "Like, who are you?  Don't you
know who I am?"
	"You are Shirley, Advisor to ze Empress, non?"  Shirley nodded
defiantly.  Her eyes adjusted to the dim hallway and she was able to
make out the curvy figure of a female skunk.  "C'est moi, Fifi.  Ah
'ave come to make you an offair."
	"I totally don't take bribes, Feef.  You shouldn't have put
yourself in this position-- I'm the Empress's right hand!  I'll have you
thrown in prison so fast-"
	"Ah don't theenk zo, Shirley.  First of all, Ah would not be
arrested-- Ze Empress would certainement 'ave me executed.  And
secondly, eef you do not comply weeth us, you weel not be een ze
position to 'ave anyone arrested.  Now, as Ah said, Ah 'ave un petit
proposition to make you."  The skunkette snapped her fingers, and
Hamton stepped to her side.
	"You've seen what the Empress has become as of late.  Do you
still support her methods and the ends to her means?" asked
Hamton. His and Fifi's faces were masks of cold seriousness.  This
was business to them.
	"She's my friend," said Shirley.  It was all she could think of to
answer.
	"Is she still?  Is she, really?" asked Hamton, causing even more
doubts to bloom in Shirley's mind.
	"Our offair ees seemple, Shirley," said Fifi.  "We are forming a,
how do you say, alliance-- a rebellion against both ze Chancellor
AND ze Empress.  We plan to free ze ACME Zone from zeir
tyrannical rule, and return eet to ze people.  You have a good head
for what ees right, and ze rezeestonce would appreciate your help.
Weel you join us?"
	Shirley knew right away what her answer would be.  "What
would you do if I said no, or some junk?" she asked carefully.
	"You know far too much, Advisor," said Hamton.  "It would be
a shame if you refused..."
	"We would be forced to keel you, to keep ze plan a secret," Fifi
finished the thought for Hamton.
	Shirley nodded.  It was the answer she had expected, and in fact,
sort of hoped for.  She had wanted to know how serious they were
about their cause, and if they were serious enough to risk both their
lives by killing the Empress's advisor, then that was good enough.
	"Okay, I'm in," said Shirley.  Hamton and Fifi's faces broke out
into happy, triumphant grins, and they moved a bit closer together.
From their stances, it was obvious that they were an item.  Shirley
wondered how long that had been going on.  The Empress outlawed
personal relationships in her kingdom.
	"Meet us in three nights, in this same corridor.  It's the only one
in the building that isn't under surveillance.  Be here at midnight,
and come alone," said Hamton.  Shirley nodded in agreement again,
and then Fifi and Hamton slid back into the shadows again and were
gone.
	Fifi and Hamton had done quite a bit of recruiting.  Within a few
weeks, nearly a quarter of the Empress's followers had joined the
side of the Resistance.  Most people asked were happy to do so, and
not just because of the threat of death.  After this small victory, the
Resistance spread to the Chancellor's side and members of his force
joined. Pluckton, when asked, turned down the offer and said he'd
rather continue to try and "fix things from the inside."
	"You're too honest," Shirley told him.  He smiled and shrugged.
	After a while, Fifi conveniently "disappeared" from the
Empress's forces.  The rumor was that she went AWOL.  Hamton
went out in search of her, and came back an emotional shambles,
claiming that she refused to come quietly and he'd had to shoot her.
The Empress accepted this, never suspecting that Hamton and
Shirley had been left to work on the inside--Shirley as an informant
to the Resistance, and Hamton as an aide in disposing of the
Chancellor.  And so it had gone, for years, until this very day... The
day it was discovered by the Resistance that both the Empress and
the Chancellor were gone, for who knew how long.  Maybe forever.
Maybe this was a new start for the ACME Zone... A chance for a
better future.
				##########
	"The Empress was different then," Shirley repeated.  "She was
my friend, and her cause was totally something to believe in."
	"I remember."  Plucky had also grown quiet, with a pensive look
on his face as well.  "I remember... many things."
	Shirley knew what he was thinking of.  "Me, too, or some junk,"
she said quietly.
	"Shirley... be careful," he said softly, looking through the view
screen right into her eyes.  "I couldn't stand it if anything happened
to you, fighting in the Resistance or elsewhere.  My life wouldn't
be... right without you."
	She stared back into his eyes, realizing what he had just tried to
say to her.  "You be careful too... Everything you said goes, like,
double for me, or what?"  The two of them stared at each other for
a long moment, unable either to speak or to break the connection.
Finally Pluckton reached above him and flicked a switch, blacking
out the transmission.  The images they had been staring at faded,
but the love they had sent to each other lingered for a long time.
				##########
	"Huh?" said Babs, sitting up on Montague Max's bug-infested
couch. "What happened?  What's going on?"
	"You were hypnotized," Max reminded her gently.  "I attempted
to contact your subconscious--"
	Babs interrupted him, still somewhat dazed.  "But what about
Shirley?" she asked.  Her voice sounded a bit fuzzy, like she'd been
asleep for a few hours.
	"Shirley?" said Max, confused.
	"What about Shirley, Babsy?  We saw her with the--uh, people
earlier today?" prompted Buster vaguely, catching himself before he
revealed Shirley's presence in the Resistance.
	"No, no, I saw her-- The real Shirley!  The Acme Acres Shirley!
Didn't I?" said Babs, half to herself.  If she had been under
hypnosis, couldn't she have imagined the whole thing?  She was
sure she hadn't. There had been such clarity to it, she was positive
she hadn't been hallucinating.
	"You went back to Acme Acres?  How??" asked Buster eagerly.
	"Easy, Buster... She's still a little groggy," advised Max.  He
turned back to Babs, speaking in a smooth, mildly hypnotic voice.
"Babs, you may have had an out-of-body experience, prompted by
your desire to get home.  What did you say to Shirley?"
	"I saw her on the spiritual plane.  I told her where we were, and
she said she'd seen our counterparts earlier.  She said she'd try to do
something to help, and I tried to tell her to warn the others, but then
I woke up... There was something else I wanted to tell her, though,
something... important...," Babs trailed off, lost.  "I can't
remember."
	"It's alright... I'm sure you'll remember in time.  Hypnosis often
leaves people a bit disoriented," said Max.  "While you were under
hypnosis, I attempted to find a way to reverse the changes your
personality seems to be undergoing."
	"What?!  What changes?" said Babs, now thoroughly confused.
	"It seems that your personality is being switched with that of the
Empress, and vice versa.  I could not think of a way to reverse the
changes, but I have done my best to bring them to a halt until you
return to your own world.  I planted a hypnotic code word in your
mind.  This word is the key that keeps your own psyche under
control, and the psyche of the Empress dormant."
	"If you hear this word," Max continued, "the Empress's
personality may be unlocked and you may start to revert to those
mannerisms.  The change, when complete, will be permanent.
However, Buster has been given a second code word to reconstruct
my work.  Do you understand?"
	"Sure... it's about as clear as mud," said Babs.  "Give me a
couple of minutes to get my mind working again."  She swung her
legs around and sat straight on the couch, head in hands.
	"Are you feeling okay, Babs?" asked Buster gently, sitting down
next to her and putting his arm around her shoulders.  He repeated
the code words mentally:  The first one, which would unleash the
Empress's personality, was Limbaugh, as in Rush; the second one
was Georgia. Buster had chosen Limbaugh as the protective code
word because, he figured, very few people would go around
mentioning Rush Limbaugh here.  When he brought up the name,
Montague Max had given him a look of total blankness.  He took
that to support his hypothesis that Rush was pretty much an
unknown here.
	The word "Georgia" was chosen pretty much at random.  It
wasn't so necessary that no one mention it out of the blue, so Buster
chose the first thing that came to mind for him.  It conjured up
images of blue skies and green grass, and happy days.  He had a
sinking feeling that he might never see a happy day again.
	 "I'm fine," said Babs, and she buried her head in his shoulder.
It was nice to have her being affectionate again, and he took
comfort in her presence.  "I just wish I could remember what it was
I wanted to tell Shirley..."
	"Right now, we should probably plan what you should say to the
Technodyne when you reach him," said Max as he took a seat at the
other end of the couch.
	"Well, that's sort of why we're here," said Buster.  Babs sat up
straight and nodded.
	"What do you mean?" asked Max.  He raised an eyebrow
quizzically, and the resulting facial expression was one so alien to
Montana Max's face that both Buster and Babs had trouble
restraining their laughter.
	"Well, we were wondering...  Couldn't you do us just the
*eensiest* favor?" said Babs as she regained control of herself.
	"I thought I already did," was Max's reply.
	"You're such a sweet guy," began Babs, trying another tactic.
The seduction angle had worked before, and so it occurred to her
that maybe she could charm him into doing what they wanted.  She
made sure to keep the act somewhat reined in, though, both to keep
him from having a reaction similar to Hamton's and because she
didn't want to move in on Bookkeeper Elmyra's territory.  "I've
always had a weakness for sweet guys.  I mean, you're friends with
just about *everyone* here in the ACME Zone, right?"
	Max watched Babs calmly from the side of eyes as she sat next
to him and began running her fingers through his hair.  "Ah, Lady
Babs...," he began.
	"Are you friends with the Technodyne, too?" she asked in a
cute, innocent voice, nearly whispering it into his ear.
	"Do you want me to go with you and ask the Technodyne for
the technology as a favor?" he said, completely unruffled.
	Babs sat up straight.  "Um... yeah."
	"Well, why didn't you just say so?  I'd be happy to!" he said,
rising up from his end of the couch.  "Just let me gather a few
necessary provisions, and we can be on our way."
	He left the room, and Babs looked over at Buster, dumbstruck.
	"Well, it would have worked on ME, Babsy!" said Buster, and
shrugged.
				##########
	"A new rule, Max," said the Chancellor, standing's next to
Montana Max with his arm around Monty's shoulders.  His arm was
stiff and cold, with no sense of emotion or sincerity in it at all.
"Acme Acres is desperately in need of a new rule, and Babs and I
are intending to bring it about."
	Monty gulped.  On his other side stood "Babs", looking every bit
as cold and unyielding as "Buster".  He turned his head in her
direction and she smiled at him, arms crossed over her chest.  This
smile was more than just cold; it was very nearly predatory.
"How... how in the heck did you get here, Buster?" he choked out.
	"We walked," was the answer.
	The Empress sighed loudly and scowled.  "Fool!" she barked at
the Chancellor.  "I doubt that was his meaning.  He obviously
knows something is amiss with us, or rather, with who he thinks we
are.  How much do you know about interdimensional travel,
Montague?" she asked Monty.
	"Whuh?"  Monty knew almost nothing about interdimensional
travel, or the likes.  All he knew was that he had sent Buster off
somewhere, hopefully for good, but now Buster had shown up at
Monty's house... most likely for revenge.  Except that he didn't seem
as though he was looking for revenge. Neither Buster or Babs was
acting the way they normally did at all, in fact... There seemed to be
something much weirder here than what first met the eye.
	"I don't think that it is necessary for you to divulge important
information in this manner... Babs!" growled the Chancellor.  The
Empress took no heed to his tone.
	"Obviously, you know very little," she answered her own
question for Monty.  "Well, then, suffice it to say that we are NOT
the Buster and Babs that you know, but better versions than you
could ever dream of.  Acme Acres under our rule will be divine!  It will
give the people a place to go, and things to do, rather than letting
them waste their time pursuing their own frivolous pursuits.  With
your help, Max, such a future can come to be."
	"G-gee, I'm sorry, Buster... I had no idea where I was sending
you, and in fact, I didn't even mean to do it!  I-I was forced into it
by... by Elmyra!  Yeah, that's it... That big-headed animal-loving
geek forced me into it!"  Monty's last ditch attempt at getting himself
out of danger made no sense to the bunnies, but it was upon hearing
this that they realized he and they were on totally different wave-lengths.
	The Chancellor withdrew his hand from around Monty's
shoulders. "Why are we even bothering to ask?" he said to the
Empress. "Let's just TAKE what we want!"
	"For once, I agree with your reasoning, Chancellor... Shall we
dispose of this slime now, or tie him up and deal with him later?"
	"Let us get rid of him now... His pathetic gibbering is beginning
to grate on my nerves.  And then, I think that we should visit this
world's Elmyra... she may not possess her superior intellect in this
world, but I've always held a particular dislike for her... It will be
satisfying to see her done away with," replied the Chancellor.
	It dawned on Monty what the rabbits were discussing.  "H-Hey,
wait a minute... You don't want to kill me!  I- I can be very useful!  I
know a lot of people around here, and I'm really rich... I can get you
just about anything you want!  Yeah, I mean, all you had to do was
ask!"
	The Empress and the Chancellor looked at each other,
considering the prospect before them.  Then the Chancellor gave
voice to the decision they had made silently:  "Well... Alright.  You
may live, you simpering fool.  But if we begin to tire of you, we'll
execute you in an instant."
	"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Monty, groveling.
He kissed their feet.  The rabbits smiled smugly... this was the kind
of treatment they were used to.
				##########
	"All that meditation crud has finally warped your brain, Shirl,"
said Plucky seriously.  "I think you need to take a rest and just veg
out in front of the boob tube... Or maybe, you could let *me* take
your mind off your troubles...," said Plucky, reaching over and
slipping his arm around Shirley's waist.
	"Like, sorry, boob, I'm totally not interested."  Shirley slapped
his arm away.  "I'm serious, Plucky!  Babs came to me on the
spiritual plane to warn me!  It was totally cosmic, or some junk!"
	"Uh-huh, right.  You're sure you didn't just eat a bad burrito
from Taco Bell or something?"
	"Oh, why do I bother with you, duck.  You're not nearly smart
enough to handle spirituality seriously... You're just like a big baby,"
said Shirley, and got up to go.
	"But that's why you love me, right?" he said.  He got no answer.
"Shirl?"  He looked up at her, and saw that she was halfway out the
door. "Hey!  Shirley!  Wait a minute!  I am NOT a baby!  Maybe I
will believe you after all!"
	Shirley stopped.  She knew it would work... It always did.
"Really? Like, thanks, Plucky, I knew I could count on you.  Now
we've gotta get some people together and get up to Montana Max's
place, like, now!"


				    Chapter 8

	Shirley retreated to Plucky's bedroom for a little privacy in the
face of the oncoming storm.  She'd listened in on a few of Plucky's
phonecalls, and the reaction from each of her pals was the same;
deep shock at learning that Buster and Babs had changed into
hideous monsters, then fiery resolve to march on Montana Max's
estate to put things aright again.
	Hot battles required clear thinking.  She closed her eyes, chanted
her now-famous "Owatalooniam" mantra, levitated off the bamboo
floor, and let her consciousness drift into other dimensions.  She felt
a strange tugging at her from somewhere on the other side of
Nirvana, and let herself flow into the dreams of Anti-Shirley in the
ACME Zone.
	Anti-Shirley felt a thud deep inside her, and her eyelids sprang
open, expecting to see the cramped but familiar quarters of her
resistance bunkroom.  But instead she was surrounded by a pitch
black emptiness which was only broken by an image of herself
floating in space.
	The image was grinning widely.  "Hey, so you're Anti-Me? Like,
pleased to meet ya, or whatever," Shirley spoke with reverence,
"Hmm, Anti-Me looks just like Me, so I guess I'm more centered
than I suspected!  I must be totally cosmically balanced or some
junk."
	Anti-Shirley just stared at her with her mouth hanging wide
open, then she pushed it shut.  "You're a ghost, right?  No, that can't
be, you must just be a bad dream, no such thing as ghosts, nosiree.
I would have seen a vengeful ghost kill the Chancellor by now if
there were."
	Shirley watched her with puzzlement, "I guess Anti-Me is a little
mondo-earthbound, sigh.  It'll be tough getting through to her if she
thinks I'm a dream."
	The two Shirleys managed to form a strange friendship in the
short time they were allotted.  Shirley learned that Buster and Babs
were safe for the moment, which was a load off her mind.  Anti-
Shirley asked a lot about Acme Acres, her eyes getting real wide and
her mouth smiling with admiration and jealousy.  A mischievous yet
playful and funny world where no one dies; she envied Shirley
immensely.  As both toons prepared to depart and finish their
preparations, Shirley had one last question, "You wanna, like,
switch boyfriends?"
	Anti-Shirley shook her head, "No, the Pluckies would never
agree to it.  Besides, I think I know how to win Pluckton's heart
now, thanks to your help."
	With that, their connection faded like a bad UHF station, and
Shirley floated back to Acme Acres.
				##########
	The Bookkeeper poured over her papers, tracing delicate lines
on the reams of paper in a blank book.  Her computer was
destroyed beyond recovery, but her mind was clear and her memory
was sharp. She warmly welcomed the call from Anti-Shirley, putting
down her pencil and chatting cheerfully for several minutes.  New
equations danced in her mind, and a fresh plan of attack filled her
thoughts as she hung up the phone.  Closing the books on her
nonworking-prototype interdimensional travel chamber, she began
tracing the electronic paths for a paralyzer rifle.  Then she hunted
through the immense library for her telephone book.
				##########
	Buster and Babs snuggled each other in the back seat as
Montague drove them past ruined highways and craters that had
once been houses. Despite the scenes of long-forgotten carnage that
passed by the window, the bunnies were feeling quite warm and
happy, filled with new hope and reveling in the fact that they still
had each other.  Buster even stole a quick kiss from Babs, to see if
Montague was observing them. No response, he must've had his
eyes firmly fixed on the dangerous roadway.  Babs took the cue,
tilting Buster down into her arms and gently petting and caressing
the top of his head.  Buster practically melted at her touch, but
managed to keep himself together.  He looked up at her with his big
eyes, then gently nuzzled her under his arm. Babs giggled and kissed
him again, holding him close.
	Montague discreetly adjusted his rear-view mirror, smiling as he
secretly watched them cuddle. "Technodyne's Office 500 Feet!"
Montague shouted, disturbing the bunnies who had cuddled
themselves into a peaceful slumber.  Montague had waited as long
as he could before awakening them, but he didn't want them to
know he'd been snooping.
	Getting up groggily, Buster lifted a still-drowsy Babs from her
reclining position, petting her ears and straightening her ribbons.
Just as he finished, Montague opened their shabby car's door.
Buster and Babs groaned as they looked around, burned factories
with shattered windows filled the view to the horizon, with one
notable exception.  Directly in front of them, plated with slick green
glass, stood a towering monument to engineering genius.  Sixty-four
stories of double-helix twisted columns rose skyward, with a few
mournful workers peering sadly out the windows to take in the view
they'd grown accustomed to but not accepted.
	Montague directed them to an elevator at the lower-left corner of
the helix. "Technodyne has all of the inside bugged, so I'll say this
before we enter.  Let ME do all of the talking, say as little as
possible if you are questioned, and don't let on that you're not the
Chancellor and the Empress unless we're in trouble.  Technodyne
respects both of your doubles, even though he hates them, so you
may gain an advantage. He is prone to fits of temper, and his insane
rages are legendary. Check the horizon, all of it is his doing.  Out of
fury at being defeated by the Chancellor, he destroyed the war
factories and those who worked in them.  He's as vicious and
dangerous as your enemies. Oh, and watch out for his bodyguard."
	With that, he walked them to the elevator, pushed the buttons of
the prime numbers less than 64, and waited as the elevator slinked
upwards and sideways toward the secret room on the 63rd floor.
The bunnies trembled as the elevator doors opened, revealing neat
rows of dozens of guards with rifles aimed at their hearts.  Buster
reflexively hugged Babs close to him for safety, then realized he'd
made a big mistake.
	The Technodyne eyed them coldly and warily, shifting his gaze
back and forth between them.  He looked even more sinister than
the portrait they had seen; Babs figured the portrait must have been
retouched to flatter him.  Scars and warts covered his steely body,
undoubtedly the results of failed war experiments.
	Pushing Babs aside, Buster stood proudly, letting Montague
head forward to deliver his message. "Technodyne, you appear
well," he said, with a somber but understanding expression on his
face.
	"Not nearly so well as I was before the war, but I am beginning
to accept things as they are," Technodyne answered, the cold look
frozen across his face, "I see you bring guests. You should have told
me the nature of these guests when you called, I would have
prepared a more pompous and deadlier welcome for them." He
motioned to one of his guards, "Retrieve the knife from the
Chancellor, the special one I gave him long ago with the promise
that he would never be defeated when he carried it into battle.  And
tie the wrists and ankles of the Empress together with strong chains
so that her martial arts will be rendered useless.  Then we may talk
privately, as Montague has requested.  Be careful, guard, I will not
be responsible if you clumsily let them get the best of you."
	The guard approached the rabbits, 7 feet tall and not an ounce of
fat on his entire body.  He pulled his sword out and with the speed
of thunder had its blade pressed at Buster's throat.  "The knife,
villain."
	Buster swallowed hard a few times, hoping the gulps wouldn't
scrape his Adam's apple against the blade.  "I, ehrr, didn't bring it, I
left it at the cleaners to be polished."
	Taking the response as an insult, the guard unceremoniously
grabbed his legs in one hand and began shaking him, reaching into
his pockets.  "Hey hey, cut that out, it tickles!" Buster giggled as
the guard dragged out piles of spare change, a half-eaten Weenie
Burger, some pocket lint, a cute photo of Babs in nothing but bikini
briefs, some staples, and an anvil that landed painfully on the
guard's left foot.
	Suppressing the desire to moan in pain, the guard grittily spoke,
"He's clean... sir!" before hobbling over to Babs. Gazing uncivilly at
Babs, the guard unfastened two lengths of silvered steel chain from
his belt.
	Babs grinned nervously and tried to make the best of the
situation, "Oh look!  These highlight my eyes wonderfully, I bet
they'd go great with my Hare Raising Night outfit (one of my better
episodes don't you think?) and Harriet would just love the
pattern...."
	Rudely interrupted as the guard kicked the backs of her knees,
Babs collapsed to the floor, and he locked her ankles in place.  She
couldn't stand up and felt rather miserable, until she looked over at
Buster and saw a wide grin that said "Later?" loud and clear to her.
She returned the grin, then turned it into a snarl for the
Technodyne's benefit.  Buster stared heavenward as he fantasized
about his leatherbound bunny wrapped in chains.
	Technodyne waved his hand, dismissing the guards.  "Good
guard that one, no trace of fear, although that anvil trap cost him his
promotion.  You must show me how you compress matter that way,
it's truly fascinating."
	Buster and Babs took a longer look around the room, and they
found his bodyguard approaching from a far corner.  It was a huge
gray mouse, must have been at least 700 pounds, with a dark chest
and a white Sumo wrestler's garment wrapped around his legs.  "Ah,
I forgot to introduce you to Big Belcher.  My finest warrior.  He
might be a match for either of you separately, but I hope we need
not resort to violence.  This entire tower is rigged to explode if my
heart stops beating."
	Wondering if he may have said too much, he gestured to
Montague Max.  "Please explain to me what is occurring here.  And
don't bother trying to convince me that these miscreants are the
Chancellor and the Empress.  I simply won't believe it."
	Big Belcher reached the bunnies, sniffed them suspiciously, then
burped loud and long in Babs' face.  She coughed and turned green
for a few seconds, then drank deep breaths of fresh air to clear her
watery eyes.
	Montague sighed softly, Plan 1 down the tubes, Plan 2 being
pure honesty, which can be tricky.  He cleared his throat and told
Technodyne all he knew, then Buster and Babs filled in any other
necessary details.  They tried to keep in mind Montague's command
that they not say too much, but Technodyne had a way of extracting
information which was quite brilliant.  By the time the rabbits had
finished, Technodyne had all the information he needed.  He
snapped his fingers, and Big Belcher lowered himself into a
dangerous-looking warrior's stance.  Buster realized that he and
Babs were trapped in a corner with no room to run.  "Do you
realize", the Chancellor intoned, "that if I were to kill you both, my
worst enemies would most likely die with you?  And that even if
they did not die, it would be highly unlikely that they could ever
return to my dimension? And yet you insist that I should construct
the necessary device that would bring them here into my presence,
where they would undoubtedly kill me on sight, all for the sake of
my friendship with Montague?"  He turned his back to them. "Can
you name one reason why I shouldn't finish you off here?"
	"Because you never kill innocent people", Montague spoke
hopefully.
	"Unless I am enraged," Technodyne replied, "and the thought of
those two wreaking further havoc here is enough to enrage me.
You've seen the lives they've destroyed, the young and the old, the
women and children burned and buried alongside the warriors.  No,
mercy towards these two would be unwise."
	"Howsabout you make the device and use it on us when we're
tied up in a prison, so the Chancellor and the Empress will be yours
to discipline for the rest of their miserable lives?" Buster requested.
	Technodyne's eyes lit up, "An excellent idea, and the answer I
was expecting from you.  Belcher, please release Babs from her
bondage. We shall escort them upstairs.  I've been saving floor 64
for a special occasion such as this."
	Buster watched somewhat dejectedly as the giant mouse pulled
the chains to his teeth and snapped them, sending Babs tumbling to
the ground on her tail. The elevator slid shut as they entered, then
opened again almost immediately. Montague stared in horror as he
looked around.  The bunnies adjusted more quickly to the shock,
having grown used to the unlimited horrors of the ACME Zone.
Lining the walls, filling the center of the room, and hanging from
the ceiling were dozens of machines whose only purpose could have
been the torturing of rabbits.  Instruments for stretching ears and
yanking off tails had obvious purposes, while other tables showed
hypodermics, beakers of strange fluids, spiked wheels, and other
vague promises of pain that made the bunnies shudder.  They
hugged each other and found some comfort.
	"I assure you that you will suffer only the slightest discomfort."
Technodyne consoled them, "You will merely be bound tightly to
the tables while I prepare the dimensional transport device.  I should
have it ready within an hour, if the information you've given me is
correct."
	Buster considered asking if it would be possible for him and
Babs to be bound together, then decided that would be asking too
much.  He just whistled a little as Big Belcher escorted him to an
especially nasty machine near the center of the room.  Just as he sat
himself down and allowed himself to be thoroughly restrained,
Belcher let out another roaring gas cloud that sent Buster's head
spinning.  "Ugh, Limburger!"
	Babs' face twitched, then her eyes narrowed their focus.  With a
stunning flying double-kick, she toppled Technodyne and Montague
unconscious across a wooden table, which promptly shattered.
Belcher snarled and dove at Babs, avoiding the roundhouse kicked
she aimed at his head as easily as Babs dodged away from his lunge.
The rabbit and the giant mouse dueled like Arthurian knights as
Buster watched helplessly, a metal cap lowering over his head.
Realization hit him between the eyes like a thunderbolt.  "Oh Babs, I
said Limburger, not Limbaugh!  Didn't you hear me?"
	Babs ignored him completely, focusing her mind on the combat
at hand, which was proving to be an extremely passionate match.
The giant mouse and the pink bunny had each scored a solid hit, but
neither was the least bit dazed.  Buster figured he'd be stew meat as
soon as either of them had finished the other off.  He realized that
their only slim chance at getting out of this alive would be turning
Babs back into her regular lovable self.  Problem was, he couldn't
remember the magic word.
	"Oh not now, what's wrong with me?  Wait, it was one of the
states, I just have to remember which one.  Let's see, Alabama,
Alaska, Arkansas, no this won't work, I always forget some when I
try doing them alphabetically.  Gotta be a better way to get them all.
Wait, I know! Baton Rouge Louisiana; Pasquateway Nevada; Sioux
City is the capital of O-Hi-O, NO!  Darn, I forgot the lyrics, why
don't I ever watch the competition on Animaniacs?!?"
	He turned his head to the right, both warriors were still fighting
bravely, and more hits had been scored. The blows seemed about
even, but the heavy mouse was starting to tire, and Babs looked as
fresh as a summer daisy.  Buster wondered whether Babs would
torture him a little with the machine before she killed him.
				##########
	"Really, it was an honest  mistake, heh heh, I didn't know the
diamonds had serial numbers on them!" Monty explained, trying to
keep a big grin on his face while the Empress held him by his tie
high in the air. "Would you like a check instead?  I'll write ya a big
one, promise!"
	The Empress sneered at Monty, "Very well, make it a huge one,
with lots of zeroes.  No, more than that.  That's better."  Monty's
face turned overcast as he added three more zeroes to the check
thinking "There goes the family fortune."
	"Why don't you just anvil me like you used to guys?  Haha,
there's nothing like the taste of fresh cast iron!"
	The Chancellor casually walked up to Monty, slapped him hard
across the face with his glove, smiled smugly, then tore up the
check. "Forget the check, Empress, it's another one of his stalling
tactics.  He'd probably have the account closed before it cleared."
Motioning the Empress to drop Monty, the Chancellor lifted up the
crumpled form of Monty, who was most definitely having a bad
day.  "I realize you are a thrifty person, Maxy?" Chancellor spoke
coldly, "but I am tired of your delays.  We need enough cash to
purchase a small arsenal of nuclear weapons and few other delights
not yet available to civilians. If you obey us well, we may let you
live as our servant when we have conquered this dimension.  But if
you persist in annoying us, we will simply kill you now and sell off
your estate for the money we need.  But that would take time, and
we grow impatient.  Now MOVE!"
	Pushing Monty from behind, prodding him with his magic knife,
the Chancellor made Monty run to his treasure vaults and pack his
most valuable liquid assets into crates.  As his butler carted them off
to the bunnies' Lear jet, Monty's throat became dry, wondering if
there was anything he could do to save the world and his money.
He felt that his only hope would be to get back to his reality-transfer
device and try to turn the screwy rabbits back to normal.
	"Barbara Anastasia Bunny, please escort Monty to someplace
comfy where he can cool off, a nice rat-infested hole would be
appropriate.  Please try not to kill him yet though."
	The Empress stared at him wryly, "Don't flatter me by calling me
that.  And don't get in the habit of ordering me around.  As soon as
we conquer this world, I intend to duel you for the rulership of it."
	"Do tell", Chancellor smirked, "that will be the crowning
achievement of my takeover, crushing your throat under my heel
after I have made you beg and grovel for mercy."
	The Chancellor watched the vicious rabbit drag Monty off into
some dark corner of the mansion. His thoughts must have been very
loud in his mind, because he didn't hear the clatter of Oxford shoes
racing toward him across the marble floor until it was too late.  Just
as he turned around, a little girl compressed her arms around him in
a horrifying hug, then she kissed him full on the lips with a terrific
smack.
	"Hel-lo, Bun-ny!" she squealed.  "Gee, I was gonna take Monty
on another date, maybe we can double up now!" She squeezed
tighter, a look of bliss across her face, while the disoriented
Chancellor tried to reach for his knife.  He managed to get a weak
grip on it, but Elmyra twirled him around and sent it flying off into
the laundry chute.
	Feeling dejected, he could only groan as Elmyra grabbed 
his ears and gleefully bashed him against the walls and floor as
she started down the corridor where the Empress had gone.
				##########
 	"So, which way to someplace special?" the Empress asked
her prisoner. "Would you like me to lock you in the sewers with the
alligators, or perhaps in one of your old furnaces?  Monty it played cool,
smiling at each suggestion she came up with.
	The Empress became wary, figuring that Monty may have had
escape routes planned from almost everywhere.  He could be a
force to reckon with if he escaped and used his fortune against
them. She rattled off a few more locations, then saw his throat
constrict slightly as she mentioned the vaults.  "Which vault should I
chose Monty?  I want one without any escape routes or air ducts,
someplace to make you sweat a lot."
	She lifted Monty by his neck, slowly strangling him.  "Speak
truthfully, or you'll spend your time there with a broken neck!"
	Monty gurgled, "The silver vault (ack!) it's airtight to keep the
silver from tarnishing (choke!)"
	"Sounds reasonable," she admitted, releasing him to the ground
again.  She liked doing this, it reminded her of the good old days
when she first began torturing her prisoners.  Faint memories of her
friendships with Shirley and Fifi washed over her for a moment, but
she pushed them back deep into her mind where they wouldn't
bother her.
	Suddenly she heard the pitter-patter of little feet and some
squeals of delight, then got a good look behind her. The Empress
rolled on the floor in convulsions of hysteria, her ears waving
through the air like windsocks.  "O Mighty Chancellor, it does seem
you're in a bit of a pickle," she cackled, catching her breath between
laughs, "captured and rendered helpless by a little girl!  Oh Monty, I
promise to spare your life if you will but lend me a camera to
document this historic moment!"
	Monty pointed to a surveillance camera that was recording their
every action, and the Empress leered at the poor captive blue bunny.
"What a sad sad fate," she said with a smile.  "My dear Bookkeeper,
or whatever you are in this dimension, how did you come to capture
this foul villain?"
	"Welllllll", Elmyra began, "first I was coming over to see Monty
so we could go out on a date, and he usually gets the naughty
puppy- woof guard dog to keep me out, but puppy wasn't feeling
well today so I came right on in!"  Elmyra scritched the Chancellor
under the chin, which made him furious.  "And THEN I saw Mr.
Hippity-Hop, so I just HAD to bring him along for the ride!  Don't
worry, Bun-Bun, I won't lock you up in the cage today, I just wanna
play games with Monty and you.  We can try playing doctor again!"
	The Chancellor sobbed pitifully, while the Empress went into
another bout of hysterics. "Very well", the Empress smiled, "you
may join Monty and Mr. Hippity-Hop? in the silver vaults.  I'll be
back to retrieve you, once I figure out where to take you next."
	The Empress tagged along next to Monty, a wide grin on her
face as Elmyra danced and sang songs, smashing the Chancellor
against the evenly-spaced pillars that lined the corridors. The
Empress tried to console Monty and Elmyra, who didn't seem too
happy to be locked in the dingy vault.  "This is only for a little while,
you two have served me well, I won't forget that.  Just make sure
your new pet is well-behaved, I'll have to make some preparations
for him while I plan the destruction of toonkind!"  With that she
slammed the vault door shut, locking the three of them in the dimly-
lit steel prison.
	The Chancellor was thoroughly demoralized and dejected,
Elmyra was her usual blissfully ignorant self, and Monty had a
beguiling look in his eyes. "That Empress may be a great fighter, but
she's a lousy judge of human character," Monty chuckled.
	Sifting through the silver, he uncovered the reality-transfer
device. While Elmyra cuddled with her love-bun, Monty pried open
the battery case.
	It was about this time in the ACME Zone that Babs adopted the
personality of the Empress in the Limburger incident, so naturally
the Empress must adopt the personality of Babs in Acme Acres.
She did a few cartwheels down Monty's halls and then headed
outside for some warm sunshine so she could think of what to do
next to save the world.
	But when she exited the mansion, she discovered that it was
under siege by an entire army of toons!  Seems like all of the
Warner Bros. characters had surrounded the place in an effort to
contain the pink- and-blue menace.  The Empress waved cheerfully
at Fifi, "Hiya, Feef! What's up in the junkyard?"
	"SEIZE HERR!" Fifi replied with a howl, raising her sword
Napoleon style as Lil' Beeper launched torrents of stewed tomatoes
at the unsuspecting bunny.  Handcuffed and hauled away, the
Empress watched in detached amusement as the army stormed
Monty's abode.


				 Chapter 9

	With battle cries ringing through the air, the massive militia of
toons that Shirley had organized crashed like gangbusters into the
opulent and richly decorated foyer of the mansion. Even as they
stood there in the splintered wreckage of the door that they had
broken through, looking for all the world like a vengeful band of
villagers that were out to destroy some hideous monster, their grim
and snarling looks of battle readiness and bloodlust were met
directly opposite them by an unwavering picture of calmness and
straight faced composure.
	"I take it from your most insistent entrance, that you do not have
an appointment then?" Grovely asked, staring straight ahead at the
mob even as he casually but purposefully flicked splinters of broken
oak from his uniform without looking.
	"All right you *##@%% *$$%@@!@##$&!!" Fowlmouth burst
out before anyone could get a calmer word in edgewise as he
stomped up to Grovely, walking neatly over to and *straight up* the
butler's long and lean body until he stood face to face with him,
holding the manservant roughly by his lapels. "Where the ##$%, is
that no good @#$*&% @#$ $# @ $^%$# that calls him self da
dad-gum @#$%*$ Chancellor?!!"
	Standing next to Fifi, Shirley reddened slightly and sighed,
covering her eyes with a hand as she placed her other hand upon her
friend's shoulder for support. "Like... we didn't even *have* to
break down the door. Like, FM could have done it *for* us, just by
*talking* to it." she murmured.
	"I regretfully must tell you that I do not *know* any
'Chancellor.'" Grovely announced, sighing with a slight disdain
toward the irritable fowl that was in his face. "Are you *certain*
that you have the right address?"
	"*Yeah* we got the right *#@$!@ address, you-*Whoa!*"
Fowlmouth began to say before being yanked abruptly off the
butler's person by Foghorn Leghorn.
	"I say, I say, simmer *down* there, son!" Foghorn stated
insistently, poking his finger lightly into Fowlmouth's chest as he
held him aloft before him in one hand. "We're never gonna get
*anywhere* if'n you melt the man's vocal cords with those *words*
o yours!" Turning then towards his friend, the dog who had played
a foil for him in all the Warner Brothers cartoons, he murmured to
him, "Boy reminds me of that Acme Nuclear plant that blew up a
few years ago in that thar Borsht belt... to hot for it's own good and
no one knew how to shut it off."
	"Like, Mister Grovely," Shirley began, approaching him in a
much calmer, but still serious manner, as Foghorn set Fowlmouth
upon his feet once more, keeping a restraining hand upon the young
rooster's shoulder, "we *know* that the Chancellor is here. Like, I
saw him come in here, and we caught his accomplice, the Empress,
leaving here, like, a few seconds ago."
	"You are referring to Miss Babs?" Grovely stated with a slightly
curious note in his still completely controlled composure. "I did see
her leaving the premises a moment or two ago upon coming in from
the stables.  When did she take on such a peculiar namesake?"
	"Like, I don't think that Grovely knows what's going on here.'
Shirley thought to herself, after a moment of looking closely at his
aura. The hue of it did not seem to indicate that he was covering up
for Monty in anyway.
	"Like, that *wasn't* Babs, Mister Grovely," Shirley replied
sympathetically, going on to explain in short order all that had
transpired before and the reason for their somewhat barbaric
intrusion.  Her final proof though, was given to him upon
presentation of Arnold in his somewhat mangled and dazed state.
Having developed a fairly good friendship with Buster and Babs
upon his few dealings with them, even with his unwavering
allegiance to Monty, from what Grovely knew of the two young,
goodhearted Rabbits, they would never resort to the type of violence
off camera which had left their guard dog in such a sorry state.
	"My *word*!" Grovely exclaimed upon Shirley's completion of
the tale. "And do you mean to tell me that the second of these two
cutthroat rabbits is still at large in the manor?" he asked with an
aghast expression, his question being more of an involuntary
outburst of fact, rather than a rhetorical question. "Well by all
means, then!" he gestured urgently, sweeping his arms to usher all
the assembled toons within the house. "Do proceed to *catch* this
vicious lapine!"
	"Like, Little Beeper? Professor Road Runner? Professor
Speedy?" Shirley asked, getting the attention of her three cohorts,
"Like, the three of you could search this mondo humongous house
faster than all of us. Could you like, check it out and find where he
is?"
	With two double "meep's" of acknowledgment from the Road
Runner and Little Beeper, and one "But of course, Senorita
Shirley!" from Speedy Gonzoles, Grovely and the rest of the
gathered mob were instantly buffeted from the winds the three left
in their wake, only to have their fur, feathers and skin and hair
whipped back around once again as the three returned almost
simultaneously seconds later.
	"Meep!" Professor Runner frowned, shrugging his wings at
Shirley.
	"We met up as we were coming back, Senorita Shirley," Speedy
explained. The three of us searched the *whole* of the house with
the exception of the vaults, and found no-theeng! No Senor stinker
Chancellor, *and* no Montana Max!"
	"Oh, my." Grovely mumbled, paling slightly.
	"Like, then, we'll just have to open up the vaults. The Chancellor
could have shut him self in one of them with Monty when he saw
like, that we'd captured the Empress. He *could*, like, be holding
him hostage!"
	A general murmur of apathy along with a few lacksadaisial
shrugs spread through out the assembled mob at Shirley's words.
	"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Bugs answered, taking a few bites
of his carrot. "But we've still got to stop the Chancellor before da
little stinker does any *real* damage. Like if he were to get out this
house with some of dat dough? Think what he could do with dat!"
	As Bugs's words sank into the assembled throng, Shirley turned
toward the Road Runner and Little Beeper once more.
	"Like, take me, Fifi and Grovely over to the vaults, guys." She
directed them. "The rest of you, spread throughout the house and
get to all the windows you can, to make sure that he doesn't get
away. A few of you stay by the door, kay?" As the others nodded at
her affirmatively, Shirley extended her hand out to Little Beeper,
while the Road Runner took Fifi up in his wings, carrying them both
over to the vaults about a half mile away in less than a heartbeat.
However, even as Little Beeper and the Road Runner skidded to a
halt in front of one of the many vaults that were lined up along one
particular hallway of the mansion, to their great surprise, to say
nothing of Shirley and Fifi's, they found Plucky there, waiting for
them expectantly.
	"Plucky?!" Shirley called out as she dropped from Little Beeper's
wings to the floor. "Like..." she paused, gesturing with confusion
toward the path they had just flashed along. "We just left you by the
front door! How'd you get here ahead of us, like, so mondo
*quickly?!*"
	"Hey, Shirley," Plucky shrugged to her, with a look on his face
as if her question really needed no answer. "If you think I'd pass up
the chance to cast my avian eyeballs over those greenback babies
and mucho moola, you don't know me too well!" he grinned.
	"Sometimes I wish I didn't know you at *all*, duck." Shirley
scowled at him, turning to the Road Runner and Little Beeper.
"Like, take him back to the front door, would you guys? And bring
Grovely back here so he can unlock the safes, kay?"
	With an answering beep and before Plucky could so much as
open his beak, Little Beeper and the Road Runner grabbed one of
Plucky's wings and in a flash, disappeared from sight with him,
returning a scant second later with Grovely held between them both.
Even as they screeched to a halt before the girls though, both of the
bottom of their beaks dropped to the floor in shock. Turning, the
girls looked to see what had caused their friend's drastic wild take
reactions. Plucky was standing behind them, leaning against one of
the vaults, eagerly.
	"Sorry guys." he stated, "but when it comes to money, I'm pretty
much the fastest thing around," he grinned.
	"Oooooh!" Shirley steamed, slapping a hand to her face in
exasperation. "Okay! Okay! You can *stay* with us! Like, but if I
see you try to glom even *one* dollar *bill* or less if not more from
those vaults," she warned him, "I'm gonna make sure you replace it
with your own, and I'm *not* talking money, Plucky!" she stated,
grabbing Plucky's bill, clamping it roughly in her hand. "Got it?!"
	"Mmmmhmmm!" Plucky nodded enthusiastically, looking down
worriedly at his beak which Shirley was now gripping so forcefully.
	"Good," Shirley stated, letting Plucky's beak go so he could
allow himself the luxury of remolding it back into proper shape from
the way she had bent it. "Guys?" she then asked, turning to Little
Beeper and the Road Runner once more. "Like, check around
outside and see if the Chancellor possibly got away somehow before
we got in the house. "He couldn't have gotten more than a mile
away. If you don't see him, then just stand by in the house in case
we need you."  Saluting affirmatively, both Little Beeper and the
Road Runner sped off.
	Turning to Grovely, she nodded for him to start opening the
vaults, "Like, if he's in there, either Fifi or I'll knock him out
between the two of us," she told him. "Like, *ready* Fifi?" she
asked, turning toward her friend, her wingtips now begining to glow
with charged telekinetic/electrical power.
	"Ready and waiting, Shirlee." Fifi nodded, holding her tail at the
ready as she would a shotgun, which pretty much packed the same
amount of punch, Shirley knew.
	Going around from safe to enormous safe in the hallway, the
small band continued to find no sign of Montana or the Chancellor,
but there were still about five safes left to search in the hallway. One
thing that they *did* find however as they continued to search
through the storehouses of the enormous amounts of wealth, was
that trying to have Plucky behave like a normal duck around such
vast lots of currency, was like trying to keep Daffy Duck away from
a Schloscher.
	"Like, put your greed gear in "park", Pluckface," Shirley
muttered irritably as they worked their way down to the next vault,
seeing his near slavering expression, to say nothing of the now
greedy bright green radiance of his aura which was practically
blinding her. "I *told* you what would happen if so much as tried to
lift one coin, gold bar, nugget, or dollar bill out of these vaults. If
you're going to lose control, do it outside, kay?"
	"Moi? Why Shirley! You *wound* me!" Plucky retorted
quickly, slapping on an angelic expression of innocence, particularly
with the suspicious and examining look which Grovely had begun to
turn upon him at Shirley's words.
	"Yes, *you*, you money craving mallard," Shirley replied,
snatching the halo now suspended over Plucky's head, and flinging it
over her shoulder where it clattered loudly upon the floor behind
her.
	"Shirley," Plucky stated, holding up a hand in a pledge of honor
as he looked her right in the eyes. "I promise you that I won't even
*breathe* on any of the money in these next vaults, let alone
*touch* any of it!" As he said this, he showed her his other wing, to
show to her openly that he had not crossed his fingers. His tail
feathers however... *that* was a different story.
	 "I know you won't, Plucky," Shirley smiled at him, lying
through her teeth as she placed a confident hand on his shoulder.
She had seen him pull this trick before with someone else. Glancing
over toward Fifi as they continued their walk toward the next vault,
she whispered over to her out of the side of her mouth, "Like, Fifi?
Would you like, do us all a favor?" she asked, glancing over toward
Plucky surreptitiously who was walking on the other side of her.
	"But of course!" Fifi nodded agreeably as she swung her tail
around toward him.
	Sidestepping quickly and wrapping a protective, shielding spell
around herself and Grovely at that instant, Shirley turned and
watched as Plucky was abruptly caught flatfooted by the spray and
nose curdling scent from Fifi's tail. Stiffening ramrod straight, his
beak fell from his face, and with his tongue hanging askew out of
his mouth and his pupils turning to "X's" he fell over like a tipped
mannequin onto the cold marble floor with a "clunk."
	"Like, nice work, Feef." Shirley nodded appreciatively at her,
leaving Plucky behind on the floor for him to recover.
	"Eet is, 'ow you say, no problem." Fifi replied, blowing on the
tip of her tail, which she had sprayed at "half power", before settleing it
back behind her. "I need to keep in ze practice for ze next boy's
heart who I inteend to capture."
	"*This* way, ladies." Grovely announced evenly, beginning to
stride down the hallway as Shirley and Fifi moved to accompany
him, Shirley keeping her protective spell about them both until she
was sure they were far enough away from Fifi's tail blast to let it
drop.
	"Like, Fifi?" Shirley asked curiously as they neared the door to
the silver vault. "Like, I thought you and Hamton were, like,
dating... or some junk."
	"We are." Fifi sighed with a slightly depressed air as she looked
at her avian friend. "At least, zat is what you could *call* eet," she
admitted. "Moi leetle piglet, he eez quite ze gentleman, un he likes
me a loot I know, but..." she shrugged. "We do not share all zat
much in ze common. I am,... 'ow you say, ze frisky type, un
Hamton, he eez so *shy*. I like going out on the nights on ze town.
Ze dining, ze dancing til dawn on ze weekends, ze painting ze town
red like I used to do in France un all of zat, but moi Hamton, he eez
more of ze 'domestic pig'. Soo *placid*. He eez all too content to sit
at home, watch ze T.V., un eat and clean all night and ze day...  Eet
can be quite frustrating, Shirlee. He eez *willing* enough to *try*
ze new things zat I like to do to have ze fun, but whenever we
actually go out to *do* zem, he seems zo uncomfortable, un eet
always brings moi down un spoils ze mood," she frowned. "I *like*
moi leetle pigleet, but I do not know eef I want to continue dating
eem."
	"Like, I'm *sorry*, Fifi." Shirley replied, placing a consoling
hand upon the young skunkette's shoulder. She didn't know what
else to say, and with Grovely clearing his throat from beside them at
that moment to call her attention back to the matter at hand, she
realized that her friend's problem would have to wait until later.
	Opening the door to the silver vault as the girls stood ready, a
strange sight met their eyes as Montana abruptly looked up toward
them. "Well it's about Razafrakkin *time* that you came to get me
out, Grovely!" Montana shouted as the butler and the two girls
stood slack jawed at the sight of now unconscious Chancellor laying
limp and unconscious in Elmyra's arms as Montana hunkered near
them, peering over the battery case to the device laying on the silver
before him. "Now go get me a 12 volt Energizer battery would ya?!
This good for nothin' Supervolt is *already* dead!"
				##########
	"Come on, Buster! Think!" Buster Bunny murmured to himself,
his eyes closed and his brow creased in hard thought. Droplets of
sweat were now beginning to bead on his forehead while all heck
was breaking loose around him. "What the heck was the name of
that state that I put as the code word?!" Wracking his brain, he knew
that with another few solid hits or so, Big Belcher would be down
for the count, and then the somewhat Empress possessed Babsy
would undoubtedly turn her unmerciful and dreaded ire upon him,
even in his helpless state. 'If I don't get that code word back' he
thought to himself worriedly with a tight knot in his throat, 'I'm
going to be checking out of the Hotel California and be climbing
that ol Stairway to Heaven!'
	Another few seconds passed Big Belcher was now on his last
legs. With Babsy getting ready to deliver the final blow, *still* the
needed word had not come to him, much to his terror as the sweat
now began to pour down his body in buckets, as Babsy turned to
regard him evilly for a moment with a killing smile. 'Well,' he
thought, swallowing hard with the sound making an audible thud in
the pit of his stomach. 'It's better than getting on the *Bullet Train to
*Heck*, which would probably take me right back *here*!' he
assumed. With a final vicious spinning kick which sent Big Belcher
hurtling right through the wall in back of him where when he
landed, with only his feet sticking forth from the concrete and laying
completely still, Babsy turned toward Buster expectantly. Blowing
on her knuckles as she would the smoke from a just fired gun, she
made her way swiftly towards him, licking her lips to savor the
moment, even as something mercifully clicked within Buster's mind.
'Bullet Train to Heck?' he thought once again, the word "train"
instantly bringing to mind that old song: "On that Midnight Train to
Georgia!" he thought triumphantly.
	Watching with wide eyed terror as Babsy raised her hand high
over his windpipe, meaning to crush it just for the start of her
torturous execution of him, while he still had his voice intact, he
desperately cried out "Sweet 'Georgia' Brown, Babsy! *Please!*
Snap out of it!" With a violent start, as if she had just been
awakened suddenly from a nightmare of some sort, Babs blinked
and looked down at Buster innocently, before looking up at her
hands now held high above her in a threatening gesture of immense
bodily harm.  With an audible gasp, she quickly withdrew her hands
from above him to hold them clenched together before her chest, as
if she didn't trust either of them to let the other one know what it
was doing.
	"Oh, Buster!" she cried, horrified at what she was about to do,
and what *might* have been done to him by her as well. "What did
I-?"
	"Shh-shhh. It's okay, Babsy. I'm all right. You never laid a finger
on me," he hushed her comfortingly, smiling up at her. "Can't say
the same about *him* though." Buster added, using one of his ears
to gesture and point over to the hole in the wall in which Big
Belcher now lay.
	"Yeep!" Babs breathed, her eyes widening even more as she
peered over at the bruise covered mountain of twisted muscles that
lay in the prone within the hole. "Is..is he..?"
	"I don't think so....I-" Buster said hopefully, even as a the faintest
of unconscious wheezing could now be picked up by their twin pairs
of sensitive hearing rabbit ears... a sound that was followed a
moment later by an unconscious, but still very audible belch. "No,
he's *definitely* alive." Buster sighed, smiling gratefully at his
beloved pink Bunny.
	"Yes, but *you* will *not* be in the next moment or so,
*Empress*!" Technodyne snarled as Buster and Babs swiveled their
heads to face him. He was holding Montague by the neck in a
strangling position, and looking none too well with his bruises or the
large wooden splinters that were now sticking out of his arms and
legs like the spines of a porcupine, *nor* was he looking too
*happy* about it.
				##########
	"Are vous sure zat theese is going to work, Calamity?" Fifi asked
uncertainly and nervously as she looked upon the proceedings.
Within a chair that was bristling with sensors and other scientific
equipment, Elmyra sat contentedly snoring away with a stuffed
bunny crushed between her arms. Off in a corner, a short distance
away from the chair within Calamity's lab, both the Empress and the
Chancellor were lying upon the floor, unconscious, hogtied,
chained, gagged, and guarded by no less than four armed toons.
"Ah, meen, I do not like Elmyra any more zan ze next pursun, but I
would not want her to be put eento zee deadly daanjear, either, no?"
she stated uneasily.
	"Don't worry," Calamity held up a sign which stated this, smiling
at her reassuringly before turning back to his control panel. It was
into this control panel which he had hooked up the reality transfer
device which Monty had given over to him with his blessings, happy
to have someone familiar with advanced technology take the reigns
on the mechanism before *another* catastrophe might have
occurred through the tinkering of it.

	"Like, Calamity knows what he's doing, Fifi. It's, like, okay, or
some junk. I went over all of this with like, my alternate self in the
anti-universe on the spiritual plane, like, remember?" Shirley asked
from the other side of Calamity beside the control panel.
	"Oui," Fifi nodded, still not one hundred percent at ease with
what was about to take place. "I am jus' 'oping zat nothing goes the
wrong way. We have *already* had zee much trouble with  going
between ze universes!"
	"Like, I know what you mean, Fifi." Shirley nodded back at her.
"But like, that was when we didn't know what was going on. I think,
like, we've got this worked out now, or some junk. Ready,
Calamity?" she asked.
	"Just about!" Calamity "stated," holding up this sign with one
hand, studying the control panel attentively as he flipped some
switches and carefully turned a dial to the proper setting. Flipping
his last sign behind his back, he watched the needle on an indicator
come up to the proper level, before flashing another sign out from
behind his back. "Ready!" it said.
	Standing back a number of feet from the control panel, even
though the panel was the correct amount of calculated distance from
the chair in which Elmyra sat, Shirley, and Fifi crossed their fingers
as did the rest of the toons standing about near them in the room
around them. Tapping a button on the console, Calamity moved
back a few feet to join them, glancing over at Fifi's worried look as
he did so. On the console, a small lighted display began a
countdown. "Five" a monotone electronic voice called out from the
console to follow the dropping digital numbers.  "Four...three...two...
one...*activate,*" the voice stated.
	From the reality transfer device that was hooked up to the
console, a flash of light quickly sprang forth and shot toward
Elmyra, enveloping her sleeping form. In an instant, the young and
somewhat brainless redheaded girl was lost from sight to all those
assembled, only to be replaced in the next instant as another figure
appeared in the chair. Very similar in height, build and appearance
to Elmyra, save for her somewhat longer hair, her lack of a hamster
skull-bow, and her different attire of clothing, the one *striking*
distinction that clearly showed her to be not the Elmyra that they all
knew, was the look of *high intelligence* that was evident on her
face. In one of her hands, held in a clearly *non* threatening pose,
was a rifle of some sort.
	"Whew!" the Elmyra lookalike breathed, looking around the
room at those assembled before her. "I must say, that was quite a
ride! Being displaced between spatial dimensions is certainly *not*
an everyday sensation!" she stated. Even though Shirley had told
everyone there the task that they were striving to accomplish, and
what they would be expecting when Elmyra disappeared, she
couldn't help but feel her jaw drop to the ground along with that of
all of the others in the room, as they witnessed a girl who looked for
all physical appearances, for the most part, to be the Elmyra that
they all knew, yet one that spoke as though she had more of a brain
in her head than Calamity, Wile E. Coyote, and Egghead Jr. put
together.  Observing their reactions, the one known as the
"Bookkeeper" could only react slightly before trying to stifle a giggle
of amusement. "Well, Shirley," she stated, stepping down from the
chair and coming toward her, "I am forever in the debt of you and
your counterpart. The first step of your bold plan worked!"
	"Like, your *welcome*, Bookkeeper Elmyra," smiled Shirley as
she returned the thankful embrace that she found herself wrapped
in a moment later as the anti universe counterpart of Elmyra hugged
her.
	"Now," Calamity "said," holding up a sign once they were
finished, "how's about we get that collar off of you?"
				##########
	"Oops! Eh, heh, heh." Babs grinned sheepishly and innocently
up at the looming and badly bruised Technodyne after tossing the
once more unconscious Montague away over his shoulder like a rag
doll, promising to tend to his treachery "later."  "Did *I* do that?"
she asked with a gesture to the wood impaled parts of his body, her
ears drooping weakly to the sides of her face.
	"Uh, Babsy..." Buster stated in his most casual manner before
taking in a deep breath. "...*RUN!!!*" he cried out as loudly as he
could, snapping her out of her "deer in the headlights" mode, as the
Technodyne began to charge toward her in a berzerker's rage.
	Instinctively heeding Buster's words, Babs instantly turned tail
and sped from the oncoming charge of the rampaging hulk of a
condor, literally climbing the walls with her velocity as the
Technodyne did the same, chasing her around as well as through the
room.
	"You will not escape my vengeance *this* time, hated witch!"
The Technodyne swore at her, his gleaming razor metal tipped
wings reaching for her throat, less than a foot away, as he continued
to chase her.
	"Yaaaaaah!" Babs screamed in terror as she ran as quickly as her
rabbit feet could carry her, wishing right then that she could still
achieve the "warp speed" that she was capable of in her own
universe. "TD! I'm sorry!" she cried, glancing behind her to see how
uncomfortable close he was. "I wasn't myself! Really!" she shouted,
trying to reason with him.
	"It's no good, Babs!" Buster shouted to her. "He's not gonna
remember about the personality problem that Montague told him
about. Not when he's in one of his insane rages!" he called out to
her.
	"Great!" Babs shouted worriedly back down toward him as the
path of the chase now carried them across the ceiling and directly
over him. "So what do I do now? Hope his ticker gives out from all
this running?"
	"Babs, that's one thing that you *can't* do!" Buster called back
as she and the Technodyne sped around the room again, two blurs
of motion that were almost to fast for him to make out. "Remember
what'll happen to the building if his heart stops?"
	"So *what do I do*?!" Babs screamed desperately at him.
	"You gotta *lose* him somewhere!" Buster replied. "Ditch him
somewhere in the building! See if you can knock him unconscious
again somehow! Then get me out of this thing and we'll go from
there!"
	"Uh, Buster?" Babs called back uncertainly. "Is it a smart move
to be letting him hear our plans?!" Her voice was too filled with
desperation and worry to fit any sarcasm that would normally be in
her tone with such a statement at such a moment.
	"Believe me, Babs." Buster replied, watching as the slavering
and blood crazed condor continued to claw, slash and gnash at the
air just behind Babs's body, just out of his reach. "I think his mind is
too much on 'track one' to be listening to *us* right now!"
	Risking a glance behind her, Babs understood and agreed with
Buster's assessment. "Right!" she called then. "I'll be right back then!
Don't go away!" With that, pulling a couple of diamond blade ear
sheaths from the inside of her shirt, she slipped them over her ears.
With a cry of "Contact!" she knocked them into a propeller like
motion, and taking a flying leap, burrowed neatly through the solid
concrete and steel of the floor below her, with the Technodyne
diving in right behind her, hot on her hot little cotton tail.
	"Where am I gonna go?" Buster asked no one in particular,
giving the classic reply to the classic statement that Babs had given
to a helpless person, such as he was at the moment. Looking over to
one of the few machines that had not been demolished during
Babsy's fight with Big Belcher, or in Babsy's flight from The
Technodyne, he observed that a camera eye that was mounted on
it's console seemed to have swiveled towards him and was now
watching him, it's various lights seeming to blink in curious
regardment of him as well.
	"Say, pal," he asked in an offhand tone of one who had nothing
better to do besides worry, and nothing to lose by asking, "you
wouldn't have a carrot on you, would ya?"
				##########
	"Oh, *thank you*, my friend!" the Bookkeeper gushed
ecstatically to Calamity, rubbing the area of her neck gingerly which
had formerly been covered by the restraining collar put there by the
Chancellor. "I cannot tell you what a relief it is be *free* once
again!"
	"You're *free*! Free as a *bird!*" a small turtle standing on a
table next to her chorused joyfully.
	"Zat ees *right* Tyronne." Fifi smiled, placing a friendly hand
on the young tortise's head. "Our bon ami ees now free of zee
wretched Chancellor's iron greep, and...SACRE BLU! WHAT EES
THEES?!!" Fifi cried, having turned toward the rear of the room to
take in the view of the Bookkeeper's former captor. Around her, the
Bookkeeper, Calamity and Shirley, were clustered all the other
toons which Shirley had gathered, eager to witness the moment of
release for this kind and quite likable counterpart of Elmyra's. Even
the five armed guards consisting of Arnold, Arnolda, and three ninja
monkeys, were gathered close around them at the far end of the
room for the few seconds it had taken for Calamity to use the devise
he had constructed to remove the restraining collar. In those few
seconds, their two prisoners had gone unguarded, and in those same
few seconds, Fifi now saw, looking around the assembled mass of
toons to see the empty area where the unconscious Chancellor and
Empress had lain, the despised pair of ruthless lapines had *gotten
away*.
	"Thufftherin Thuccotasshtfhhh!" Sylvester spluttered as he and
the rest of the toons turned to see the now vacant chains lying on
the floor in which their prisoners had been held captive.
	"Aw, no!" Calamity held up his word sign, smacking his head
with his other hand.
	"Quickly!" The Bookkeeper cried, running forward to snatch her
paralyzer rifle out of Bugs's hands.  "They couldn't have gotten far!
They must not be allowed to escape!"
	"Ya! Enough with the wimpy, girly-man, namby pamby small
talk!" Arnold seconded with as much bravery as he could muster in
his voice, running forward after Elmyra who was darting toward a
conspicuously open window of Calamity's lab. "We must find them
und crush them!" he finished, half of him itching to get his hands on
the rabbits once again for a rematch, while the other half of him
cringed at the thought of having to fight the two martial arts masters
once again.
	Turning almost as one, the rest of the toons charged forward
after The Bookkeeper, a split second after her words, and they were
only a step or two behind her as they suddenly witnessed their
alternate dimensional friend suddenly bounce harshly back from the
empty air of the window as she tried to leap through it.  She landed
at Arnold's feet with a thud and Arnold skidded to a stop to keep
from stepping on her.  The rest of the group, unfortunately,
slammed into the back of muscular pit bull and each other, their
combined weight and momentum tipping the lot of them over onto
the Bookkeeper with a shuddering crash.
	"Eeew! Like, *what happened?*" Shirley asked after the dust
cloud had settled and she sat up from the pile, rubbing her now sore
head.
	"Um frrrrc flll." a voice wafted up from the bottom of the pile as
others began to pick themselves up.
	"Like, *what*?" Shirley shrugged, looking around at the others
to see if they could decipher the mumbled message or had an
explanation of their own.
	Calamity whipped out a sign as he picked himself up. "She said,
'A force field.'" he replied, going to the window himself as he tossed
the sign away. As some of the students and teachers who were near
the top of the pile helped up those who were at the bottom of the
pile, Calamity carefully held out a hand to the air around the open
window, and visibly exerting an effort to push his flattened hand
forward as though he were starting a mime's act, shook his head and
turned back toward the others. He pulled out a sign. "Sorry guys," it
said. "Somehow, the Chancellor and Empress found and grabbed
my portable force field generator after they freed themselves, and
turned it on somewhere outside, trapping us all in here."
	"Like, what do we do now?" Shirley shrugged, looking over
from Calamity to the Bookkeeper.
	"Could we not, how do you say, break though zis field?" Fifi
suggested. "We certainmoi have ze strength of ze numbers to try
eet!"
	Calamity took out another sign. "Sorry," it said as he shook his
head. "I designed my force field to withstand the combined strength
of all the linebackers that we faced off against before the "Acme
Bowl," and then some. Even with everyone that we've got here,
we'd need at least..." he stopped, doing a quick mental calculation of
everyone in the room and some other equations in his head. "500
more people with *Arnold's* strength," he stated, going over to a
chalkboard moments before to draw a rough picture of the Acme
Looniversity, as he spoke, covered by a large dome. "Even the
world's largest Acme Anvil dropped from the Space Shuttle couldn't
break through here," he finished, tapping his chalk on the dome.
	"Gosh, Calamity," Hamton murmured as everyone groaned at
the news.  "It sounds like we'd need an Acme Atom Bomb or
something to break out of here!"
	"Too bad Slappy's on vacation." Bugs stated offhandedly with
some frustration, "or I'd give her a call."
				##########
	Somewhere on the outside of the domed force field, yet still on
the Acme Looniversity grounds, the Empress laid herself down
upon the soft grass, allowing herself a few moments to catch her
breath. It had been a close getaway. A good thing that her reflexes
were so fast, and her mind was still the sharpest among anyone in
her universe save for the Chancellor, she thought begrudgingly. If it
hadn't been, she might not have had the time to spirit both of them
away, and to cut them off from pursuit. She had gotten that force
field machine of Calamity's set up just in time. A good thing she had
recognized the technology among all the other various equipment in
his lab when she had been laying there. Beside her, the unconscious
form of the Chancellor stirred slightly. Looking at him, she regarded
him with a cold scrutiny. She could have left him to the attentions of
the buffoons back in the lab. She could kill him right here and now
if she wished. But no. He was still too valuable an ally, and for the
next step of her plan, she knew that she would need he is cunning, a
fact which she hated to admit. Lifting herself up, she stretched
herself forward and roughly smacked her hand across his face twice
in each direction. "Wake up, Chancellor. We *both* haven't got all
day," she growled.
	"Uh........wha?" The disguised rabbit mumbled and opened his
eyes to see the Empress sitting a foot away from him, waiting for
him to come to. "Where are we?" he mumbled, looking at his
surroundings, the last thing he'd remembered before passing out
from lack of oxygen, being the inside of the silver vault in Montana
Max's mansion, locked in the crushing grip of Elmyra's arms.
	"We're on the outside of a place called the "Looniversity," she
replied, gesturing toward the building behind her. "Undoubtedly a
counterpart of the university in our own world. You and I were
captives for a short while..." she stated, relating to him the details
that had taken place during his sleep.
	"One thing I don't understand," he asked of her when she had
finished the tale. "*How* did you manage to free us? Normally we
would be able to free ourselves from any chains, but with our
universe's Shirley telling *this* universe's Shirley how to keep us
bound properly, there shouldn't have been *any way* for us to
escape."
	"I made a little discovery." the Empress answered. "Look at my
eyes-"
	"Hah!" The Chancellor laughed, scoffing in her general
direction. "Your opinion of me degrades by the minute if you think
me fool enough to fall for such a trick!"
	Though she felt like slashing her nails across his face, The
Empress simply drew in an irritated breath and scowled at him. "I
said look *at* my eyes, idiot! Not *into* my eyes!" she growled. "I
found out during one of those strange "silly" fits that have occurred
of late, that the laws of physics are a bit more malleable in this
universe.  It allows us a greater deal of control of every part of
ourselves. Watch," she instructed. Warily drawing closer to her so
that he could have a good view of her eyes, the Chancellor's own
eyes widened in dumbstruck curiosity as he looked.  To his view,
like an extra pair of hands, two of the Empress's eyelashes stretched
out slightly, and reaching up into the fur on her forehead, withdrew
the lockpick that he normally kept on his own person for
emergencies.
	"They had our ears bound back as well," she informed him,
taking the pick from the grip of her eyelashes and flicking it over to
him. "I couldn't reach my own pick, so I wiggled my way over to
where your pick was and set us both free. A worthwhile thing to
know, wouldn't you say?"
	Staring first at the pick in his hand, he absently nodded once in
reply. Then, turning his head up, he looked at the Empress curiously
as he replaced the pick on his person.
	"Well, Empress," he stated factually, "considering the fact that
you could have left me behind or killed me in my sleep, I take it that
our partnership is still on. Do you have any sort of a plan in mind?"
	"As a matter of fact, I do," The Empress replied.  As she got to
her feet the Chancellor did the same, and regarding her warily.
"While I was pretending to be unconscious, I overheard many
interesting facts of past events regarding this area. One fact of
which, is that there is a great deal of wealth stored and hidden but a
short distance from here. An amount of wealth so great that we
would not have to even bother with emptying any of the pittance
within that fool Montana's vaults to obtain the resources we need.
All we need do is to hijack a small amount of equipment from
Montana's home to get it, and I know exactly where it is."
	"And the other fact?" The Chancellor asked, one furry eyebrow
shooting up in a most intrigued manner.
	"We shall need to plunder Montana's vaults anyway." The
Empress grinned toothily then, her cunning smile the very picture of
evil and ruthlessness. "To pay off our help."
	"Help?" The Chancellor asked, cocking her head at her, even
more intrigued at this.
	"Yes," she replied, uttering a low, guttural chuckle. "It seems that
we have *allies*."
				##########
	'WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!!' Babs thought
frantically to herself as she drilled a hole into the basement of the
building and quickly ran forward into the darkness, knowing that the
Technodyne would be coming through the hole at any moment to
resume the chase. She had led him all throughout the building's
many levels, finally gaining herself a bit of breathing room after
having slowed him down with a shower of heavy pots and pans in
the kitchen, along with a banana peel which she had left for him
around the corner. Glancing back, she had seen his beak crack with
the tension of his gritting his teeth together before letting out a howl
of rage that sent a chill racing up her spine. 'If I thought he was mad
*before!*' she had thought to herself with a shudder. Now, as her
keen rabbit eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness around her, she
spied that the area was filled to the extreme with various crates,
boxes and consoles of various shapes and sizes. Hiding behind one,
she tried to stop her racing mind and calm her beating heart
somewhat so that she could think clearly and come up with some
sort of a plan. 'Got to get back to Buster and get the heck out of
here until ole' Techy calms down.... if he ever does!' she amended to
herself. 'I sure *hope* he calms down.' she thought to herself. 'That
loony is our only ticket out of this place! Now how do I give ole'
Techy the slip and get back to Buster?! Come on, Babsy, think!
There *has* to be a way!' she ascertained, casting a glance back
toward the light of the hole that she had made.
	Then she heard it.
	*Boom.* A far off, yet still clearly powerful explosion rumbled
through the walls around her.
	'What the heck was *that*?!' Babs wondered worriedly, looking
up and around her.
	*Boom!* The noise sounded again a few seconds later, coming
closer.
	"Oboy." Babs whispered, a lump starting to form in her throat
which she found hard to swallow as she continued to look around
nervously. Her ears drooped around her head.
	*BOOM!* the noise sounded again, now right on *top* of the
hole as a slight plume of flame came through it, which she
witnessed.
	At this point, Babs was frantically chewing her nails of both
hands down to the stubs at a breakneck pace. Pieces of fingernail
flew in everywhich direction like shrapnel.
	*BOOOOOM!!!* A surge of blistering firepower came through
the hole, as if a volcano were exploding from top to bottom,
creating a *new* hole below the one that Babs had made.
	Then, after a few more seconds of strained silence, she heard the
voice.
	"Oh Emmmmmpressssssssssssss! Oh little *bunny* rabbiiiiiiit!"
the Technodyne's voice cooed out from above the hole. "Why don't
you come on up, little bunny rabbiiiiiiit? I have a nice juicy *carrot*
here for youuuu! Hee! Hee!" it giggled in not quite a natural tone.
"Huh? What's *that* Mommy?" the voice continued after a pause in
a bit of a whisper. "Shh! Shh! I'm hunting a little *bunny* rabbit,
mommy! Her name is *Empress!* Isn't that *nice*? Hee! Hee!"
	Babsy's mouth opened wide with shock at the words, not quite
falling to floor but coming close. "Eek." she whispered breathlessly
to herself with wide staring eyes, the ring of the line "Heeeeeeer's
*Johnny!*" from a long ago movie now resounding in her head as
her heart now began a triathlon in her chest at doubletime. Turning,
she flattened herself up against the crate that she was hiding behind,
leaning against it for support. "Oh, yeah," she whispered, bringing in
a gasping breath.  "*He's* gone!" she breathed, picturing the
Technodyne in a postal worker's uniform, squatting above the hole
in her mind's eye. 'Insane and loaded for bear....or rather....loaded
for *bunny!*' she amended. "This is *not* my ideal combination!"
she murmured, thinking of how the close call with the chainsaw
wielding, homicidal maniac two summers ago had just been topped
something fierce by the present pickle that she was in.
	A slight thud sounded on the ground in the direction of the hole.
"Oh, little bunny rabbiiiiiiiiiiit!" The Technodyne called, his voice
now clearly coming from *within* the confines of the basement.
"Come out, come out *wherever* you aaaaaare!" his voice crooned.
	"Buster!" Babs whispered to herself in an extreme state of terror,
wondering if she would ever see her beloved blue rabbit again, as
she dug what was left of her nails into the wood of the crate at her
back.
	"Where aaaaaaare yooooooooooooouuuuuuuu?" the
Technodyne continued to call insanely. "Are you....*here?!*" he
called, his last word coming out as a snarl as he turned and fired his
weapon at a crate before him. To her left, Babs' felt her breath
freeze in her throat, as she watched the blast from the Technodyne's
weapon smash through and for the most part disintegrate the crate
that stood in it's path, regardless of the fact that it was in the third
such row beyond where the Technodyne now stood! She couldn't
tell if the blast had continued on to destroy the crate or console or
box in the next row or the row beyond it, the light from the blast
had gone out as quickly as it had appeared. One thing was for
certain though.....
	'If I even get *clipped* by that thing, I'm hasenpfeffer!' she
realized.
	"Or how about......*here?!* the condor growled again,
unleashing another devastating blast which took out some items far
down to Babs's right. "Don't you just *love* plasma launchers?"
The Technodyne stated in a syrupy voice of affection, which was
followed by the sound of a big wet kiss which Babs guessed was
him kissing the weapon the insane megalomaniac now held.
	'I gotta *do* something! I gotta get *out* of here! But *what*
do I do?!' Babs screamed in her mind, closing her eyes and cringing
as another lethal blast shot through an area this time *much closer*
to her. 'I gotta *do* something, but I can't *think*!' she screamed in
her mind, yanking her ears roughly down around her chin in terror
and frustration. 'What do I do to get *away* from him?! *What*?! I
can't get past him without him seeing me!'
	"Or how abouuuuuuuuuuut...."
	Babs' eyes widened even further as the hairs on the back of her
neck began to tingle and small voice inside her head shouted
something urgently.
	"*HERE?!*"
	Heeding her instincts and diving to the floor to her right at that
instant, Babs cried out as she felt the *heat alone* from the plasma
launcher singe across her cotton tail and the pads of her feet, the
main part of the blast ripping through where the young rabbit had
been standing but a *split second* ago.
	"Ah-HA! Hee! Hee! Hee!" The Technodyne cried triumphantly,
giggling as he caught sight of Babs getting to her feet to dash away
as he moved through the hole in the rows of crates, boxes and
console that his weapon had just created.
	Catching sight of the massive condor move through the hole in
the row, Babs dashed two rows down and diving, slid across the
hard concrete into the new row, even as another lethal blast ripped
through the area almost directly behind and above her. Having
gotten to her feet before to see The Technodyne beginning to sight
his plasma launcher upon her, she had almost half expected him to
say something like "Iiiiiiiiit's *Wabbit season!*"  'Wish I could plug
up that gun of his with my fingers as easily as Bugs did with Elmer's
shotgun on camera!' the thought shot through her mind as she
gasped for another terrified breath. "Somebody *please* come and
help me!" she whispered, hoping that Montague had perhaps woken
up and freed Buster to come after her. "I'm too cute and talented to
die!"
	The chase continued for many more minutes with so many near
misses that Babs did not bother to keep count of them as the
Technodyne drove her deeper into the reaches of the basement. At
this point, this far away from the light which the hole she had made
let in, her keen rabbit vision could barely make out anything around
her. Fortunately though, the Technodyne did not seem to have an
advantage on her from this, as she could tell from his now once
more random blasts, that he did not have any sort of infrared vision
goggles to help him out either. On the downside though, with
everything that his plasma launcher was incinerating, she was
quickly running out of places to hide.
	"Oh, *come now*, little bunny rabiiiiiiiiit!" The Technodyne
called drippingly as Babs listened to his footsteps move closer and
closer to her position. "Come on out! I can *assure* you that this
won't hurt a  bi-iiit!" With this, he giggled insanely once more.
"After a-aaaall.....*I* won't feel a *thing!*" he screamed out.
	'Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpm....!' Babs babbled in her
mind, flattening herself out on the floor as another blast incinerated
the upper half of the metal console that she was hiding behind.
Desperately, she resisted the urge to ball up into a fetal position as
she heard the *clack* of something on The Technodyne's weapon
being readied.
	"We-eelllll...." Since you *won't* come out to pla-aaaaaay, little
bunny rabbiiiiit!" The out of control condor grinned, his dripping
saliva hitting the floor as his tongue lolled out of his mouth, "Then I
guess that *playtime's*.......*OVER*!!!" he cried, setting his plasma
launcher from *manual* to *automatic* and opening up the weapon
to spray incinerating plasma fire in every direction around him.
"*EAT HOT DEATH!* AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HEE-
HEE-HEEEEE!" he cackled.
	Having made herself ready to run just moments before the
Technodyne set his weapon to full automatic, Babs now flattened
herself down as far as she could on the floor, covering her head as a
random stray part of a blast now took out a little more of the
console she was hiding behind, sending *another* not so gentle
shower of metal chips and computer parts raining down upon her
head. Hearing the Technodyne's insane laughter, she cringed at the
sound, and then rolled out of the way of the console she was hiding
behind as another stray blast hit the ceiling above her, causing a
chunk of concrete to nearly fall on top of her.
	It was at that instant that something snapped inside of her.
	"*All RIGHT!* That's *IT*!!" she growled to herself as she
sprang up onto her haunches, her attitude changing right then and
there from frightened, to ferociously fierce. 'I did *not* get sucked
into this universe to become a toasted lapine *pancake*!  "I-HAVE-
HAD- *E-NOUGH*!!!" she cried resolutely. Even as a small part of
herself wondered what the heck she was doing, as though she were
watching herself from outside her own body, Babs charged forward,
deftly dodging the deadly plasma blasts directed her way as the
Technodyne sighted her. Leaping atop of one of the crates which
was about seven feet taller than she, in an amazing jump,
considering the less "toony" physics of the anti dimension, she
sprang from it onto the next one as the crate practically disintegrated
beneath her feet. Leaping from the top of one crate to the next,
sometimes back to the floor and back up again, Babs practically
"danced" between the incoming blasts, ignoring the searing heat
singing her fur as she gracefully and deftly avoid the danger to her,
drawing closer and closer to her target with each bound. When she
was within but a few feet of the Technodyne, as the light from the
latest plasma blast lit up the area around them, she could clearly see
a slight bit of nervous fear now showing upon the condor's face,
intermixed with the higher degree of insanity set within it.
	Witnessing this, she grinned sinisterly with pleasure. Leaping
from the floor to the top of a console, she sprang into the air
without missing a step, leaping deftly *over* the latest incoming
plasma blast sent her way, and with a midair flip, locked her right
leg outward.
	"Kaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiya!!!!" she screamed, even as her outstretched
foot connected with the Technodyne's beak, cracking it even further
as his head was whipped about, pushing him back a number of steps
and slamming him into a nearby group of consoles and crates,
staggering him. She landed in a crouch before him, and even as he
turned to look at her, his eyes swimmed dazedly in his head, she
looked up at him and snarled with her teeth clearly bared. Leaping
into the air, with another spinning kick very similar to the same one
which had put Big Belcher away, she connected with The
Technodyne's chest, sending him flying away from her to crash into
and through a group of crates, causing the rest of them to collapse
in on top of him.
	Catching the plasma launcher that flew from the Technodyne's
hands as he was sent hurtling back, Babs landed on the balls of her
feet, and taking a moment to draw in a single breath as she held the
heavy weapon, she looked up toward where the Technodyne had
landed, a look of pure confused astonishment on her face. She
blinked at the pile of wood and metal which now obscured her
former antagonist from her view. "Where did *that* come from?!"
she murmured, looking from what she had done, down to herself to
wonder if she was wearing someone else's body. From the pile of
smashed crates, a weak groan floated up into the air, intermixed
with the sound of a slight growl. 'Well I'm not sticking around to
find out!' she decided. 'Not when *this* guy's still got some spunk
left in him, weapon or *not*!' Hefting the large and burdensome
weapon between her hands, she ran forward toward the light of her
hole as fast as she could, leaving the Technodyne behind.
	Instinctively bounding up from the floor through the hole, a
small part of her still wondering *how* she had managed to learn to
jump so high, Babs stopped and turned her weapon toward the
surrounding walls that stood next to the hole. Unleashing three
blasts, she watched with satisfaction as a small avalanche of stone
and mortar came tumbling out of the walls and ceiling to pour into
and fill in the hole that she had drilled into the basement. "Sorry,
Techy," she murmured, with a mixture of apology and sarcastic
pleasure, "but that should keep you out of my hair until Buster and
I get away from here." Racing forward then to the nearest elevator
and with her adrenaline still pounding in her ears, she punched the
"up" button and glared at the indicator, trying to will the machine to
come down to her that much faster.
	Behind her, she heard the slightest of sounds, barely perceptible
to even rabbit ears, and the hairs on the back of her neck once more
stood on end. Her body was in motion before her mind even
realized it. Instinctively swinging the plasma blaster around to her
left with one hand, she fired off a shot, even before her head had
turned to see *why* she had. Looking, she discovered one of the
Technodyne's vicious and fearless guards standing at the far end of
the hallway, about two hundred feet down, looking at her with an
aghast expression, holding it's scorched right hand gingerly with it's
left. The weapon that it had been holding lay in a smoldering pile of
melted metal before it. "If you value your life..." Babs growled
dangerously, the words coming out of her mouth before Babs even
realized herself saying them. "Just you and everyone else *stay out
of my way.*" Nodding his head with extreme agreeance and
enthusiasm, the guard zipped back around the corner from where it
came, yelping, whimpering and whining to itself in fear and pain as
a defeated dog would.
	Watching this, the elevator car arrived with a *Ping!*, and as the
doors opened, Babs stepped into the car, only then lifting her
weapon from where she had aimed it. As the doors began to close,
she punched the button for "floor 64", and taking another deep
breath, blinked once more and sagged slightly before straightening
up, the weight of the weapon once more feeling heavy to her as she
looked around at the car in confusion. Looking down at the weapon,
she saw that the setting on it had been switched from "wide blast" to
"tight beam". It was the only obvious explanation of why she had
incinerated the guard's weapon instead of just the *entire* guard.
	"When did I do *that*?" she wondered, once again feeling as
though she were waking from a half dreaming state. 'It must be part
of the Empress's personality and skills coming through from the
stress, in spite of Montague's programming!' she surmised logically.
"I just hope that I can keep it under control so that I don't attack
Buster or Montague!" she murmured worriedly to herself. 'If we
encounter anymore guards on our way out of here to trigger it...' she
thought, and even as she did, the state of merely *thinking* about
such a potentially lethal situation, without her even realizing that she
was doing it, Babs' stance shifted to a ramrod straight and solid state
of readiness, a hard expression setting on her face as she lifted the
plasma blaster into the air with one hand effortlessly once again, her
mind clearing of any thoughts but getting Buster and Montague
from the building. She rode that way the rest up the trip in the
elevator.
	"Sixty-fourth floor approaching," a robotic voice intoned from a
speaker in the elevator as the car came to a halt. "There *are*
lifeforms present," the elevator's sensors informed her, the function
having been installed by the Technodyne to prevent against the
possibility of an ambush.
	"Silent mode," Babs murmured to the elevator, the Empress
having had the same function installed on the elevators in her own
stronghold.
	Shifting the weapon down in front of her, Babs narrowed her
eyes in a steely gaze as the doors opened before her.
				##########
	"Whattya *mean* we're %$##&^ *$$#@ *&^ stuck?! Dose
$%##@* maniac rabbit are on da *loose* out dere!" Fowlmouth
shouted as Calamity and The Bookkeeper began a series of
calculations on the chalkboard beside the diagram he had drawn,
trying to come up with a plan. He knew that they couldn't get out of
the force field by trying to tunnel out through the floor. When
activated, the force field formed a *completely enclosed* dome
which extended a foot under whatever surface or area that it was
activated or projected on. No telephone signals could get through
the dome, since the force field since the field would have severed
any communication lines. Even a cellular phone's signals would not
work with getting into the dome from the outside, or from the inside
going out. The generator was able bounce off and block all manner
of signals. It was one of the bugs that he had been striving to work
out of the machine. The only thing that could get through the dome
was light. A laser could get through, but the field would simply
allow it to pass through. A laser would not cause a "hole" to be
burned in the field through which they could pass. Light was their
only answer, and yet he had no way as yet invented in which he
could turn either himself or his friends and teachers into lightwaves
that could pass through the dome. However.....
	"Would somebody *please* shut him up?" Calamity asked with
irritation through a sign that he had just withdrawn as Fowlmouth
continued to rant quite colorfully about the lack of a solution to the
dilemma that they were in.
	"Wattya &^%%$ *mean* shut up?! I'll ^%$$## give you
*&^&& shut &%%$ up! Yoip!" Fowlmouth yelped as he was
grabbed by the ankle and hoisted upside down into the air and
brought face to face with Arnold who frowned at him from behind
his sunglasses.  "Hear me *now* und see me next *Friday* you
mamby pamby, pencil necked little irritation puuurson you!  The
wimpy little namby pamby girly man coyote with the *brain* and 
the Elmyra like puurson are trying to theenk so *BE
QUIEEEEEET!!" Arnold shouted, the force of his voice blowing
off every feather on the little rooster's little body.
	Too stubborn for his own good, Fowlmouth simply glared back
at the oversized pitbull before launching into an even *more* heated
and faster amount of colorful and ear shocking phrases.  "WHY
YOU! LOOK WHAT THE ^&$$% YOU DID YOU @#$$%#!
&^^%$# &%%$%*!! YOU #%%#@@%!! YOU-!" What
happened next was a might ugly by all the toons standards, but
completely within the means of necessity as Arnold took slightly
*irate* and noisy measures to insure the silence of the foul tempered
rooster while not hurting him... at least not *too* much. While this
scene was taking place, out of sight at the far end of the room,
*another* noise was also taking place for a few brief seconds,
stopping before Arnold was finished with his task.
	Calamity sighed in relief when the scene was finally over,
withdrawing a sign that stated, "Thanks," thankful even for the
slightly mixed compliment which Arnold had given about him to
Fowlmouth. He knew it was meant with respect from the way it had
been said.
	"My!" The Bookkeeper stated, removing her hands from her
ears. Are friends here *always* this rough with one another?
	Calamity held up a sign. "No," it said. "Fowlmouth is a different
story though in keeping one's patience," he shrugged and held up
another sign. "Now, about how to get out of here, so we can catch
the Empress and the Chancellor.  If we use the reality transfer
device in a flux state to bounce a beam of transported matter,
namely any one that we aim the device at...." he went on, pointing
to a part of the calculations and the diagram that accompanied it as
he simultaneously pointed out the window to satellite antennae on a
building a short distance away, "and then reflect the beam back off
that antennae to the ground before the force field..."
	"Then that *should* provide one of us with a way to get outside
the field to turn off the generator, I agree!" The Bookkeeper nodded
with satisfaction as she extended her hand out to Calamity which he
grasped thankfully, grinning at her. "Let's get to work resetting the
device then, Ca....."  The Bookkeeper stopped suddenly as she
turned to look back at the equipment.
	First Calamity, and then everyone else quickly turned to look at
what had startled her.  At the far end of the room, Dizzy Devil now
sat in a bloated state in the middle of where the reality transfer
device and Calamity's equipment had been, contentedly smacking
his lips on his fingers. Getting the feeling that he was being watched,
he turned to see all his fellow teachers and students starting at him in
dismay.
	"What?" he asked in confusion as he shrugged innocently as at
them.
				##########
	Standing before the hole that Babs had made in the floor a
dozen or so feet before the elevator, Buster was just about to go
through it to track down Babs, when all of a sudden the elevator
doors sprang open without any warning, and he was aware of only a
blur of motion before him before he was abruptly looking *down*
the muzzle of a very *large* and very *nasty* looking gun. "Eep!"
was the only sound he could utter as he slowly raised his hands
while his ears simultaneously drooped meekly to his sides, lifting his
head a fraction of an inch more to try to see who was welding the
weapon.
	"B....-B-B-Babs?" he stuttered nervously as he witnessed the
stern look on her face, which fairly stated that she had been *born*
to weld such a lethal instrument.
	"Buster?!" Babs stated in amazement as she lifted the muzzle of
the plasma cannon away from Buster's face to see him trembling at
the edge of the hole that she had made.  The tone of her voice told
him that Babs had not somehow slipped back into her "Empress"
state somehow, and Buster sighed and began to smile with relief,
putting his hands down before Babs abruptly whirled about to point
her weapon and an accusing finger toward the elevator that she had
emerged from. "You crazy pile of computer parts!" she yelled, her
face set into a hard scowl as she stalked back to the elevator car.
"What's the *matter* with you?! I could have *killed* him, having
me think that one of the Technodyne's guards was in front of the
doors! Why didn't you *tell* me that the "lifeforms" were
unarmed?!" she demanded.
	"You didn't ask." The elevator replied in a calm, offhanded voice
that was either emotionless or indifferent.
	Babs' only answer to the remark was a growl and a "wide shot"
burst of plasma which she directed up to the speaker in the ceiling
of the elevator.
	Witnessing this act, Buster could only slowly get to his feet,
watching Babs nervously as she grinned spitefully up at the elevator
speaker from the inside of the car, her expression seeming to say
"What do you have to say to *that*?!" Keeping his hands raised in a
calming gesture, he slowly walked over toward her.
	"Uuuuuh,...you look a little *edgy* Babsy." Buster stated
uncertainly, happy for her safety but beginning to wonder worriedly
about her sanity. "Anything you want to-"
	"I HAVE GONE *OVER* THE EDGY!" Babs screamed,
whirling about to face him and blasting Buster with the force of her
hurricane voice. "I nearly get killed by a lookalike of *you*," she
began to rave with frustration and exasperation, poking at finger at
Buster as she advanced on him.  Proceeding then to wave her hands
about in the air with the gun to accentuate each sentence as she
stalked back and forth before him, her words coming out in one
long and continuously fast and furious torrent of sound. "I'm slowly
turning into a warped, demented alternate version of myself, I get hit
repeatedly by an over muscled sumo mouse with bad breath that
could even possibly be *worse* than Fifi's odor, I nearly get turned
into a sacrifice to the volcano *gun* gods by Freddy Cougar's
*nightmare brother* from the feather factory, my body's full of
bruises, my fur is singed *all* over, my hair's a mess, my makeup is
running, there isn't a shower *anywhere* in sight, I haven't got a
*phone* to call Harriet to tell her all of this, there's *no* malls
around here, no carrot cake... and ah the *HECK* with it!!!" she
cried.
	Slinging the plasma gun back over her shoulder by it's strap, she
roughly and unexpectedly grabbed Buster by his shirt front and
yanked him toward her, planting a steamy kiss, full of lustful passion
and love on his unsuspecting lips for a full minute. "*Whew!*
Thanks Buster!" she said as she casually let her friend drop to the
floor in a heap as she released his shirt front. "I needed that." she
stated in a relieved and now normal voice as she cheerfully began to
groom the ruffled fur on her ears back into place, now taking little
notice of him.

	"Uh..." Montague asked nervously as he peered out from behind
an examining table and came forward to meet her. "I take it that
everything is... okay?"
	"Oh, I had a *little* trouble." Babs stated sweetly, smiling at
Montague as she continued to groom her ears. "Nothing I couldn't
handle though. What have *you* guys been up to?"
	Still looking at Babs curiously, Montague stated, pointing at
Buster, "He was just going to look for you. He was quite worried."
	"I knoooooow." Babs stated, launching into an imitation of Joan
Rivers' voice as she knelt down and stroked a hand over Buster's
head affectionately, continuing over to caress his ears and leaning
over to kiss his nose as Buster still lay in a happily dazed state on the
floor. "He's *nuts* about me, you know." she finished, gesturing as
well with her hand as the actress and talk show host would. "So you
finally came to, and got Buster out of his shackles, huh?"
	"No, actually that was our friend's doing." Montague replied.
	"Friend?" Babs asked curiously, stopping her grooming. "What
friend?"
	From behind the same table that Montague had emerged from, a
mid sized, floating prism of some sort, about the size of Montague's
or Babs's torso, slowly poked itself out from it's hiding place to
"look" at Babs as she gasped at it. The prism quickly hid itself once
more.
	"Come on out." Montague coaxed it gently. "It's okay."
	Slowly at first, and then with a speed of curiosity and
confidence, the small ball shaped prism that bore a rough
resemblance to a diamond in it's shape, shot over to hover just
before Babs' eyes. The two regarded each other wonderingly for a
moment, before small panel opened on the prism and a robotic hand
extended out a normal sized carrot toward Babs. "Carrot, miss?" the
prism asked.
	"Hey, *thanks!*" Babs exclaimed joyfully, taking the proffered
snack, and sniffing it once as Montague nodded to let her know that
it was safe as well, bit into it with gusto. "You wouldn't happen to
have any *carrot cake* on ya, would you, kiddo?" she asked
hopefully, rubbing the flat top of the prism affectionately, causing it
change shade from a light crystal blue, to a warm pink.
	"You're welcome." the prism answered. "I-" it began.
	"Sentient technology." Montague explained, interrupting and
crossing his arms. "The unit is AI and seems to function as some
sort of a personal servant, fetching food, tools, and whatever else
the Technodyne needed with it's tractor beam, anti gravity beams
and appendages, as well as being able to record function as a
"companion" of sorts... one that he knew couldn't betray him,"
Montague shrugged, heralding a guess. "The unit sits in it's
recharging station over there..." Montague stated, pointing toward
the console which Buster had been talking to before, "which acts as
a dumbwaiter of sorts for itself, so it can travel to whichever floor
the Technodyne goes to. It must have been damaged in the fight or
flight between you and Big Belcher or the Technodyne so that it
stayed here instead. Normally, it would only respond to the
Technodyne's voice, but I guess that restriction was damaged as
well.... and *no* it doesn't have any carrot cake," Montague
finished, shaking his head. "The Technodyne ate *only* for
nutrition... *never* for pleasure." he explained.
	Babs only frowned and snapped her fingers in disappointment.
	"I am sorry." the prism finished with a regretful tone.
	"I was on the table, and I saw that thing looking at me from it's
station, so for the heck of it, just being a wise guy..." Buster stated
with a shrug as he raised himself back up to a standing position.  "I
asked it if it had a carrot. After a few minutes, it actually *brought*
me one, so for the heck of it again, I asked if it could get me loose."
Buster shrugged again.  "It did that too, so then I asked it to wake
Montague up while I went to get you."
	"An *amazing* piece of technology," Montague stated with
admiration. "A work of absolute genius."
	"Yeah, well, I gotta tell ya, there's a real *fine line* between
genius and insanity," Babs stated with a scowl. "And I think ole'
Techy just tripped over it *real bad*."
	"Why? What happened?" Montague asked worriedly.
	"I'll tell you later." Babs stated as she swung the weapon around
by the strap to fit snugly into her hands once again. "Right now, we
gotta motor before ol' feather face digs himself loose." With this, she
sighed tiredly and regretfully as she turned to look worriedly at
Buster. "Buster, how are we gonna get home *now*?" she asked.
"TD's got the only equipment around here that can get us back, and
we can't bring it back to The Bookkeeper since we don't know
where it is, or how to operate it," she continued as she began to
make her way back to the hole she had drilled. "And Techy sure
isn't going to do *me* any favors anymore!" she finished rolling her
eyes. She stopped as she felt Buster place a hand on her shoulder,
stopping her. Turning back, she met Buster's smiling grinning face.
	"Check it out." Buster stated in a smooth tone, cocking a thumb
over his shoulder.
	Looking back, Babs' eyes widened curiously as she saw the
prism now a few steps away from them, guiding along some sort of
small hover cart that was loaded to the gills with various types of
machinery and electronic equipment.
	"I got it covered." Buster spoke with a wide smile to Babs'
unspoken question as she stared at the cart. "I figured, if this little
guy would get me anything I wanted, why not get me the stuff we
needed to do everything we need? Build a dimensional transporter
to get back home? Build a machine to get your personality back to
normal, giving the Empress back all *her* ugly little quirks? Even a
little something to get that tacky ole' collar off our friend the
Bookkeeper? Little guy did some figuring, found the right parts
around the lab, loaded em up, and *bingo!* Everything we need to
bring to the Bookkeeper to get everything back to normal! Elmyra'll
know how to go about keeping the Chancellor and Empress locked
up without killing them, instead of ole' TD. All we gotta do is bring
this stuff back to her," he grinned.
	"Consider it a pre 'welcome home' gift, Babsy," he finished,
placing a tender hand on her shoulder.
	Turning back to face Buster with an ecstatically beaming look on
her face, Babs was sorely tempted to kiss him long and passionately
once again in excitement from his having accomplished getting what
they needed to get back home. Knowing that they couldn't chance
running out of time what with possibly turning him comatose again
for a minute or more, she settled for throwing her arms around him
in a thankful hug which he warmly returned before they all entered
the elevator for the trip to the ground floor, with Babs keeping
herself alert all the way for any sign of trouble. A minute later, the
car was loaded, and the foursome started off toward the University
and the Bookkeeper's home, with Buster and Babs excitedly looking
forward to seeing the Bookkeeper again.  And so was Montague,
he did share Buster and Babs reasons for wanting to see her again,
but he also had some more *romantic* reasons  in mind as well.
				##########
	Looking at a satellite picture which showed the dust being kicked
up along the road by Montague's car which was now more than fifty
miles distant from his building, the Technodyne smiled harshly and
let out another insane giggle as he pushed a button on the console,
dispelling the picture. "Oh, no, Miss Empress," the looming condor
stated ominously, shaking his head in a deep tone. "You don't
humiliate me, hurt me, bury me alive, steal my equipment and my
artificially intelligent companion, and then just skip out of here as
easy as that. Like you... I have had *enough*. Enough of *you*,
enough of the *Chancellor*, enough of this *entire* miserable
existence that we have the *gall* to call *life* on this mudball... and
*enough* *is* *enough*!" he finished as he pushed a button on
another console, which then opened to reveal a keypad set into the
wall.
	Tapping out a string of numbers, another wall panel opened,
next to it, and turning to the lever that lay in *this* wall panel, he
slammed it down, pushing the button that was set beside it as well.
"There is a *reason* that my building is shaped like the double
helixes of a DNA sequence. A *living*, *bioengineered* *reason*.
In less than three hours, this building will release it's storehouse of
what the very shape of it represents. A bioengineered virus that will
slowly kill *every* *single* *living* *thing* that remains on this
misbegotten planet, and Hee! hee! hee!" he stopped giggling as he
gleefully pictured a world in his mad mind, dead and free from the
likes of the Chancellor and Empress, not to mention everything else.
"With the double reinforced force shields and plexi-reflectiglass
shielding that I've just extended around the building that will repel
any bombardment or assault either under or above ground, there is
*no* way that it can be stopped! Ah! A-hee! hee!" he sighed and
giggled as he looked at the sky. "Oh what a wonderful world it will
be!"
				##########
	Somewhere below the surface, between the Technodyne's
building and the current position of Montague's car, in a hidden
base that had fortunately had been *kept* hidden since the site had
been proclaimed "headquarters," a small pair of furry lips parted.
Opening slightly in horror at the words that were coming through it's
headphones from the "bug," one of their covert agents that the other
worlder Buster had unwittingly carried with him into the
Technodyne's building, and who was now transmitting to him, a
small pair of brown hands began to write as quickly as he could, his
thick brown tail twitching nervously. Writing down the message,
Skippy turned in his chair to present the dire words to his superior.
	"Aunt Slappy ma'am! Aunt Slappy ma'am!" Skippy cried,
running up to her.
	"Whatcha got there, Skippy?" General Slappy asked calmly,
holding a pair of spectacles to her eyes as she took the paper which
Skippy urgently brandished to her.
	"Hmmmm." Slappy murmured, her face wrinkling with a deep
frown as she scanned over the message. "This is bad. Get this over
to Shirley," Slappy stated, returning the message to her nephew.
"She and Fifi'll might know what to do. Meantime, I'm gonna take
the mole machine to see if I can get to the Bookkeeper and ask
*her* about all of this, and to see if she has any ideas if Shirley and
Fifi don't." Watching as her nephew nodded and shot off like a
rocket toward where the command room was in the far end of the
complex, Slappy rolled her eyes heavenward as she started to make
her way to mole machine. "For the love of my sister's fried walnut
fig dough, *all* our fat's in the fire this time."
				###########
	"Yes? Who is it?" Roderick Rat asked snidely, opening the
sliding viewport to the door that led into Perfecto Prep. "BUSTER
AND BABS BUNNY?!" the treacherous little snob of a rat
exclaimed incredulously as he looked out the viewport. "What do
*you* two loser wa-" he began to ask before he was roughly
silenced by the point of a double barreled shotgun that the
Chancellor fit neatly onto his nose with one barrel.
	"Rest assured, you little weasel," the Chancellor growled at him,
giving him a killing smile. "Though we look like them, we most
certainly *not* the weaklings that you know as Buster and Babs
Bunny."
	"Let's get right to the point, shall we?" the Empress stated
casually, grabbing Roderick by his snout and yanking him roughly
through the viewport to stand before them. "We understand that you
have a bit of a grudge between your school and the weaklings of
Acme Looniversity. We also understand that you're quite ruthless
and would do anything to win. How would you and your school like
to *destroy* Acme Loo while it's helpless, and earn an immense
sum of money in the process?"
	One look at the evil set of her eyes told Roderick that this Babs
Bunny lookalike that now stood before him in a biker's outfit, was
all on the up and up with what she was proposing.
	"Lady....." Roderick said, practically drooling at the prospect that
she was proposing. ".....you just got my interest."
	"Good." The Empress stated, gripping him firmly by the
shoulder. "We're going to need your help in getting our hands on an
ICBM, and, some *Dip!*"  The Empress paused for just a moment
then to eye Roddy sinisterly before she began to count off some
more items.
	As the Empress talked, the Chancellor cast a glance back toward
the quintuple flatbed rig that was parked on the road before the
steep incline of steps leading up to the school. A large industrial
crane was parked on the back part of it, along with all Montana's
money from his vaults, which was carefully strapped down and
covered to prevent it from falling off.  In the front of that, there was
a huge round, covered object.  However the tarp wasn't quite large
enough, and around its bottom edges, the bright gleam of gold
peeked out from under it.
				##########
	"Like, Fifi..." Shirley said suddenly with an odd look on her face
as she turned her attention away from Dizzy Devil. "Did you just
like feel like *a tremor*?"



				CHAPTER 10

	Without any further warning, the ground began to shake
violently.  Everyone scrambled to grab onto something, or someone,
in a desperate attempt to keep his or her balance.  Suddenly, there
was a loud grinding noise and the floor of lab cracked open.  In that
same instant, the earthquake stopped.
	Before anyone could even move, a very angry looking Gremlin
popped up out of the crack, and making his way over to Monty, he
grabbed him by the lapels of his Jacket and said, "All right, Bub,
where's my nugget?"
	"N-nugget?" asked Monty with alarm.  "What nugget?"
	"Don't play funny with me, Bub," snapped the Gremlin.  "We
saw those two rabbit friends of yours steal it, using your crane, and
we want it back!"
	"No, really," said Monty with more than a hint of fear, "it wasn't
my doing.  In fact, those two rabbits weren't even Buster & Babs!"
	"What?" asked the Gremlin warily.  "What do you mean?"
	"There, like, impostors," said Shirley as she stepped forward,
and she quickly explained the whole problem.  She finished up by
adding, "We'd be happy to help you get it back, but were, like,
totally trapped in here by the forcefield, er some junk."
	"Well now I wouldn't say that," said the Gremlin.  "After all, if I
can get in..."
	"Then the field must be, like, totally down!"
	"Right!" said the Gremlin.  "C'mere."
	Leading the Toonsters over to the window, he handed a pair of 
binoculars to Shirley, pointed out over towards the edge fo the campus,
and said, "Look."
	Shirley raised the binoculars and looked in the direction that the
Gremlin had indicated.  After a few seconds of searching, she spotted
a pile of electronic debris on the gound.  "Is that, like, the generator, or
some junk?"
	"What's left of it," said the Gremlin.
	Hearing that, Calmity stepped forward, and taking the binoculars
from Shirley, he looked out at the wreckage.  After a few seconds, he 
looked over at the Gremlin, and pulled out a sign that said, "How?"
	"The earthquack," he explained.  "It shook the generator all
to pieces."
	A thoughtful look appeared on Calimity's face.  "That could
have done it," his sign said, and he wandered over to the drawing board
to see where he had miscalculated.
	"Look," said the Gremlin then with just a hint of ittitation, "I don't
mean to denegrate your young friend there, but I want my nugget back!  Are
you all gonna help me get it or not?"
	"Zee Gremlin eez correct," said Fifi.  "We moost get aftair zose evil
rabbeets!"
	When everyone else had indicated their gereral agreement, the Gremlin
smiled and said, "All right then, let's go!"
				##########
	Montague pulled his car up to the ruins of the Looniversity
Library and looked around wistfully.  "I haven't been here since..."
	As Montague's voice trailed off, Buster and Babs eyed him with
a strange sense of pity.  "Well," said Babs softly, "maybe it's about
time that you came back."
	"Yes, it is.  Come, let us find the Bookkeeper, and get you
home!"
	The three of them carefully made their way down into the ruins
of the library and into the Bookkeeper's room, only to find it
deserted.  "Elmyra?" called Buster.  "Bookkeeper, where are you?"
	"I don't get it," said Babs.  "She couldn't have left, could she?"
	"No," responded Montague.  "The Chancellor's vile collar binds
her here most effectively.  She must be in hiding."  He paused for
just a moment then before clearing his throat and calling out,
"Elmyra, my beloved.  Are you here?  It is Montague!  I've come
back!!"
	Still, there was no response.  The three of them looked at each
other with confusion, when Buster suddenly has an idea.  "Say, you
don't think that those pirahnna birds in the next room could have..."
Buster's voice trailed off as he could not bring himself to finish the
thought.
	"There is only one way to find out," said Montague.  I shall go
and investigate."
	"Waitaminute," said Babs with alarm.  "If those things are as bad
as Buster said they are..."
	"Nay, lady Babs," said Montague as he gently cut her off.  "Stay
thine objections.  It is better that it be I who should go rather than
for the two of you to risk the danger.  Besides, if they have taken
my beloved Elmyra...  Well, then it will be no loss," and he started
down the passage to the pirahnna birds' room.
	He'd not been gone long for more than a few seconds when
Buster and Babs heard a blood curdling scream.
				##########
	"D-dip?" asked Rubella with just a hint of trepidation.  "What
would you want that for?"
	"Simple," said the Chancellor.  "We've got Acme Loo and all of
it's denizens trapped under a forcefield.  With a Dip warhead on the
missile, we can destroy the Loo and kill all of the Toonsters in one
swift stroke."
	"I see," said Rubella.  "Roddy, can I have a word with you?"
	"Excuse us," said Roddy.  "We need to confer on this."
	"Of course," said the Empress.  "But don't take too long."
	Moving out of earshot, and then taking a few more steps do to
the fact that they were dealing with rabbits, Rubella looked at her
boyfriend and said, "Roddy, we can't do that!"
	"I know," said Roddy ruefully.  "I don't mind humiliating the
Toonsters, and even destroying the Looniversity would be fun, but
Dip.  That'd be murder."
	"So what are we gonna do?"
	"Well, I don't know about you, but I still want their money.  Play
along, I've got a plan!"
	"Oh Roddy," she said admiringly, "you are SO devious!"
	While the two rats were busy conferring with one another, the
Chancellor looked at the Empress and asked, "Can we trust them?"
	"I doubt it.  By all accounts, these Perfectos are a lot like us, and
I wouldn't trust us if the roles were reversed."
	"Then why..."
	"Think about it, Chancellor.  They *do* have contacts and
resources.  Once they obtain the Dip for us, we can test it, on
them."
	"Hmm," said the Chancellor thoughtfully.  "A good plan
Empress.  Perhaps we should have joined forces long ago."
	"Don't even think about it, Orange Ears.  You destroyed
everything I loved in your climb to power.  For that I shall hate you
forever."
	"Oh, and you've ruled your little Empire with benevolence?
You've been just as brutal as I have."
	"Maybe so, once I had learned how effective the methods could
be for imposing my will."
	"My point exactly, Empress.  We are alike, you and I.  We
should put aside out past differences and join forces perminately,
which will guarantee that no pitiful 'resistance' will spring up like it
did back home."
	The Empress was about to open her mouth to protest that
assessment, but before she could do so, Roddy and Rubella came
back over to them.  "Well," said Roddy, "it's doable.  The missile
you can have tonight, but the Dip, that'll take time, and money.  Dip
is rather hard to come by, you see, and very expensive.  We'll need
payment in full, in advance."
	"What?" demanded the Chancellor.  "Do you take us for fools?"
	"Hey!" said Roddy with indignation.  "Do you wanna do
business with us or not?  You want the stuff, you pay for it, now!"
	"Why?" asked the Empress.  "So you can take the money and
disappear?  I think not.  We'd be better off killing you and then
search your files to learn how to obtain these things for ourselves."
	"An excellent idea, Empress," said the Chancellor.  "I haven't
killed anyone with my bare hands in a long time."
	"Nor I," said the Empress as the two of them started towards the
rodents with violence in their eyes.
	"Hey, waitaminute," said Roddy as he and Rubella started to
back away.  "You can't just..."
	Roddy's speech was cut off then as the engine in the truck
carrying  the giant nugget roared to life.  They all turned to see that
the Gremlin was sitting behind the wheel with a big smile on his
face.  "I'm sorry, bunny rabbits," he said with a slight quiver in his
voice, "but you see, this is mine, and I can't let you have it."
	Smoke belched forth from the trucks exhaust pipes as it was
thrown into gear and started to pull away.  But neither the
Chancellor nor the Empress was content to allow someone to steal
their stolen merchandise.  "After him!" yelled the Chancellor as he
ran towards the truck, the Empress right behind him.
	They had not gotten far though when all the Toonsters from
Acme Loo came running up the hill, with Shirley and Fifi in the
lead.  "Like, charge!  Or some junk!" cried Shirley when she saw
the evil rabbits.
	"Oh, bugger," said the Chancellor.  "Not again!"
	"Roddy," said the Empress in desperation, "how do we..."  She
stopped when she turned back around and saw that the two rats had
vanished.  "I knew we shouldn't have trusted them," she said with
hatred.
	"No matter!" said the Chancellor.  "Follow me!"
	"Where?" demanded the Empress.
	"Like you, I have studied this world.  Come on!!"  With that, the
Chancellor dove into the ground and began to tunnel away from the
danger that was fast approaching them.
	"Fascinating," muttered the Empress as she dove down into the
hole to follow him.
	No sooner than she had done this, the Toonsters converged on
the spot from which the evil rabbits had made their getaway.  As
they gathered around the hole, a feeling of dispair began to wash
over them.  "Like, this really stinks, or some junk," said Shirley.
"How are we ever gonna get them outta there?"
	"Zat eez eet!" said Fifi suddenly as she stepped towards the
whole.  "Shirlee, vouz are a genius!  Ah wheel, how you say, skunk
zem out!" and she promptly swung her tail around and pointed it
down into the hole and let go a full powered blast.
	"An excellent idea, my young pupil," said Pepe as he stepped up
to her side.  "Ah shall asseest you, no?" and promptly sent down a
blast of his own into the hole.
	At first, nothing happened.  Then, ever so faintly, the ground
began to tremble, and was soon shaking rather violently.  "Uh-oh,"
said Pepe with alarm.
	"Eet eez going to blow!" shouted Fifi as she started to back
away.
	Only seconds after shouting her warning, the whole area around
the hole that the Chancellor and Empress had escaped down
exploded violently, throwing dirt and rocks everywhere, obscuring
everyone's vision.  Then, when the dust had cleared, everyone was
pleased by what they saw.  Lying amid the rubble, the very
unconscious forms of the Empress and the Chancellor were
sprawled on the ground.  "Right," said Shirley as she stepped
forward.  "Let's get them chained up, and they we can figure out
how to get rid of them.
				##########
	Buster and Babs charged into the Pirahnna Bird chamber and
were met with a gruesome sight.  The Pirahnna Birds were all
decked out in diapers and baby bonnets, and tied securely to high
chairs.  Furthermore, the unconscious form of Montague was held
tightly in the grip of-- Elmyra!
	"Oh, hi Hippity-Hops!" she said sweetly.  "What's going on
around here, and why is my Monty-wonty dressed so funny?"
	"Elmyra?" asked Buster & Babs with suprise.  "Is that you?"
	"Well of course it's me, silly bunnie-wunnies.  Who else would I
be?"
	"Look, Elmyra," said Buster, trying to keep calm, "I don't really
have time to explain but..."
	Buster was cut off as the Resistance mole-machine burst up
through the floor.  Almost immediately, the door in the side flew
open, and a voice could be heard over the loudspeaker saying, "You
ain't, kiddin' there, Buster.  Bring the Bookkeeper and get your
cotton tails in here, and I'll explain once we're underway!"
	"Eewoo!" squealed Elmyra with delight.  "Is that cute old cranky
squirrely-wirrley in there?"  And dropping Montague's unconscious
form, she scurried over to the mole-machine and ran into the open
hatchway.
	"This is gonna be hard to explain," said Buster as he picked up
Montague and started towards the machine himself.
	"Tell me about it," said Babs as she followed him.
	As the two rabbits pulled Montague into the transport, they were
dismayed to see that Elmyra was running around opening panels and
peering into tight places all over the machine.  "Squirrely?" she
cried. "Where are you?  Come on out and play!"
	Buster shook his head as he saw this.  "If she keep that up, she's
gonna break something."
	Babs sighed in agreement.  "A rabbit's work is never done," she
muttered, and pulling a large mallet from behind her back, she
promptly koncked Elmyra on the noggin.
	"Iieee," sputtered Elmyra as she slumped to the floor.
	Putting away her mallet, Babs punched the intercom and said,
"We're all aboard, Slappy.  Go!"
	Instantly, the transports hatch closed, and the great machine
burrowed back into the earth.  Once they were underway, Slappy's
voice again came over the intercom and said, "Come up front to the
control room.  I'll explain everything while we're on the way.
				##########
	As the group again drew near to Acme Loo, the clock in the
tower struck the hour, and out popped Gogo who cried, "Cukoo,
Cukoo, if you think this story's too long you're cukoo!"
	He was about to pop back into the tower when he suddenly
spotted the two prisoners.  "Oh no," he gasped.  "You!"
	The response of the Chancellor and the Empress to the dodo
bird's presence was astonishing, it was one of fear.  They both
struggled at their bonds in an attempt to get away from him.  "Keep
that thing away from me!" shouted the Chancellor.
	At the same time, the Bookkeeper stared at Gogo in amazement.
"The dodo bird," she said in awe.
	Everyone else regarded the visitors from the ACME Zone with
confusion.  "Like, what's the big deal, Elmyra?" asked Shirley.  "It's
just Gogo, or some junk."
	"Y-you know this creature?" asked the Bookkeeper with awe.
	"Well, sure we do," said Shirley.  "So?"
	The Bookkeeper looked at Gogo with fascination in her eyes.
"Back home, there is a legend of a great and magical race known as
the Dodos.  It is said that they lived in a bizarre place where strange
and wonderful things that defied rational thought could happen.
When the Chancellor came to power, he hunted and destroyed the
Dodos and had the entrance to their land sealed shut with a heavy
brick wall.  It was said that the Chancellor feared the Dodo's and
their land, which is why he destroyed them and cut off all access to
their land."
	"Like, waitaminute," said Shirley.  "Are you saying that it's like,
totally the Chancellor's fault that Gogo is the last of the Dodos?"
	The Bookkeeper sadly nodded her head and said nothing more.
	Before Shirley or anyone else could respond to this revelation,
both the Chancellor and the Empress gave off a blood curdling
scream of terror.  Everyone whirled around to see that Gogo had
manufactured a huge vat filled with Dip, and that the two evil
rabbits were suspended over it by a large crane that had Gogo sitting
at the controls and he was slowly lowering the two evildoers to their
doom.
	With just a hint of reluctance, Shirley created a psychic barrier to
prevent  them from being lowered into the vat.  "Like, don't do it,
Gogo!" she cried.
	"But why not?" asked Gogo in a pained voice.  "They deserve it!"
	"Maybe they do," agreed Shirley.  "But totally not like this, or
some junk."
	"Besides," added the Bookkeeper, "we need to send them back
to the ACME Zone so we can get your Buster & Babs back here."
	A look of hesitancy formed on Gogo's face as he listened to what
the others had said.  Finally, with a heavy sigh, he lowered the
prisoners to the ground and said, "All right, I'll help you get rid
them."
	"Like how?" asked Shirley.
	"Wackyland's a bridge of sorts.  On one side is Acme Acres.  On
the other, the Zone.  If we head to the path that leads to the Zone,
we can get everyone back where they belong."
	"Well in that case," said Shirley, "I guess I know what we need
to do. We need to, like, go to Wackyland."
	"What you say is true, Shirley," said the Bookkeeper, "but
unless Buster and Babs also make the journey, it will be for naught,
and we have no way to contact them, unless..."  Her voice trailed
off as she thought about some possibilities.
	"Unless what?" asked Shirley.
	The Bookkeeper's face brightened visibly as she said, "Unless
my idea works.  And in fact, we might not need to journey to
Wackyland at all.  Let's get back to the Loo's computer lab,
quickly!"
				##########
	Buster and Babs sat and listened as Fifi went over the plan of
attack. "First," she said, "our agent eez zee Technodyne's
headquarters weel create a small openeeng eez heez sheeld to allow
a small team of zee commandos to sneek een and deesable heez
computors.  Not only weel zees bring down zee shield altogezair, eet
shall also prevent heem from releasing zee virus and prevent zee
building from blowing oop if he eez keeled.  Once zee shield eez
down, our forces weel attack in earnest to prevent heem from
somehow reactivating zee macheenary. Once zee buildeeng eez
secure, we shall openly proclaim a revolution against zee Chancellor
and zee Empress.   Zee combination oov our victory and zeir
absence should make eet posseeble for oos to ween zee day."
	"Seence zee Bookkeepair eez oonavailable to deesable zee
computors, we weel need soomone who knows zomesing aboot zem
to take zem out.  Oonfortunately, zee Technodyne uses a rather
obscure type of computor called zee Mac 'N' Tosh.  Dooz anyone
heer know how to operate sooch a system?"
	Buster looked over at Babs.  "Sound familiar?" he asked in a low
voice.
	"What do you mean?" she asked just as quietly.

	"Who got us out of trouble at Jurrasick Toon Park because she's
the only one who knows how to work a Mac?"
	"Oh," said Babs in a completely deadpan voice, "that."  Taking a
deep breath to build up her courage, Babs stood up and said, "I can
operate a Mac."
	Fifi regarded her with respect.  "You weel do zees for us?"
	"It seems that I have no choice," said Babs.  "When do we get
started."
	"Raight away," said Fifi.  "Zoes of oos who must send out
messages weel do so now, and zen gazair een zee mole-macheen in
fifteen meenoots.  Let zee attack begin!"
	There was a flurry of activity as everyone moved out to carry out
their assigned tasks.  Resistance fighters checked their weapons, Cel
leaders sent out coded messages, and a general state of organized chaos
reigned throughout the headquarters.  Among those who had to
send a message was Shirley, and going over to her personal vid-phone
she punched up the code that only she knew.  In only a few
seconds, the face of Pluckton Duck appeared and said, "Sir
Pluckton Duck, Tactical Advisor to the...  Oh, Shirley.  I didn't
expect you to call again so soon."
	"Like, neither did I, or some junk," said Shirley.  "But I had to.
The Technodyne is about to release a killer virus that will totally
destroy all life on the planet!"
	"What?" asked Pluckton with alarm.  "How?  Why?"
	"It'll take to long to explain.  Uhm, listen, we, the Resistance, are
staging an all out attack to stop him.  I wanted to let you know in
case..."
	"Shirley," said Pluckton as her voice trailed off.
	The two of them looked at each other silently for a few seconds
before Shirley said rather quickly.  "I gotta go, Plucky.  I'm heading
back to the Empress palace to implement the Zeta Protocol."
	Plucky looked at her with astonishment.  "Has it come to that?"
he asked with dread.
	"We're taking it to that, Plucky.  This might be our only chance.
If we can wipe out their organizations, it won't matter if the Empress
and Chancellor ever come back.  We'll have won.  This thing that
the Technodyne is doing has forced us to try it."
	"But, Shirl, the risk if you fail..."
	"If we fail, everybody dies.  We've got to try it."
	"But..."
	"No buts, Plucky.  This is it."  She paused for just a few seconds
before saying, "Take care," and she abruptly cut off the
transmission.
	"Shirley, wait!" cried Pluckton, but it was too late.  She was
gone.  Staring at the now blank communication screen, a growing
sense of concern was building up inside of him.  He, more than
anyone, knew  how dangerous the Zeta Protocal was, and he found
himself worried sick that he might never see Shirley again, and that
one thought finally drove  him to take the action that he had
dreaded taking ever since the two of them had thought the idea up
so long ago.
	While Plucky had never formally joined the Resistance, he did
believe in their ultimate goal of restoring freedom to the ACME
Zone. He still felt though that he could be of more value staying in
the Chancellor's inner circle, and Pluckton didn't want risk the
Resistance if the Chancellor ever grew suspicious of him.  So,
instead of joining up formally, he organized the Zeta Protocol as a
last ditch action to take if all else were to fail.  It was risky, but
Shirley had thought it was a viable plan, and she even set up her
own version of it within the Empress forces, and now she was
heading out to activate it.  "Well,"  he murmered, "you'll not do it
alone."
	With a trembling hand, Pluckton activated the palace-wide PA
system, picked up the microphone and said, "Attention.  This is Sir
Pluckton speaking.  It is my duty to inform you that we are in great
danger.  Through confidential sources, I have learned that The
Technodyne has started the countdown on some sort of Doomsday
weapon.  As soldiers of The Chancellor, it is our task to neutralize
this weapon, and the Technodyne before he destroys all of the
ACME Zone. To that end, I am ordering a selective strike on the
Technodyne's fortress.  Furthermore, you should be aware of the
fact that we will be meeting allies in the field upon our arrival.  They
are already on the way there and will in all likelihood begin their
strike before we arrive.  All unit commanders should now observe
Protocol Zeta.  Repeat, The Zeta Protocol is now in effect.  That is
all."
	With a final sigh, Pluckton picked up his pistol and made sure it
was loaded.  Protocal Zeta was a desperate plan, and his
announcement had activated it.  All through out the palace, officers
loyal to Pluckton were quietly taking out those that were truly loyal
to the Chancellor.  According to his original thinking, he was
supposed to shoot the Chancellor personally, thus assuring an end to
his evil rule.  With him missing, and possibly going to reappear at
any moment, Pluckton knew that he was taking a grave risk.  Still, it
was worth it.  If it worked, the ACME Zone would be free at last,
and just maybe, he'd feel that he was finally worthy of Shirley's
love.
				##########
	With more than a hint of trepidation, Buster and Babs, burrowed
up into the lowest basement of the Technodyne's palace.  "Well,
said Buster as they climbed up out of the hole, "we're in.  Remind
me to thank whoever opened that hole in the shield for us."
	"I will," said Babs.  "So what now?"
	"According to Fifi, we wait for the alarms to go off, and then
follow the route she had us memorize to Auxiliary Control."
	"Oh, is that all?" asked Babs.  "I still can't believe we're in here."
	"Believe it, Babs.  We ain't got much of a choice."
	They'd not been waiting long when alarm sirens began to sound.
Almost immediately after that, the voice of the Technodyne came
over the loudspeakers and said, "Attention, the Resistance is
attacking.  Not that it really matters though, soon they, and we will
all be dead!  Isn't victory marvelous!!  All personnel to defense
stations!  We may as well get some target practice before we all die
horrible writhing deaths when the virus is released.  That is all!  Hee
hee hee hee hee!"
	"Man, is he gone or what?" asked Babs.
	"You're asking me?" rejoined Buster.  "Which way to Auxiliary
Control?"
	"This way," said Babs as she headed down the corridor.  "Fifi
had me memorize the maps of this place before we left."
	As strange as it may sound, they made their way to the Auxiliary
Control center without incident, and found the room to be
unguarded.  Once they were inside, they saw why.  Monitors
provided them a room of the entire fortress, and they could most the
Technodyne's people were all pressed up against the inner surface of
the force field trying to get away from the place.  A few others were
beating on the door to his control room, apparently wishing to stop
him, but they could not get passed the door.  In the control room
itself, the Technodyne sat in his command chair looking for all the
world like a crazed idiot, surrounded by the unmoving bodies of
everyone else in the room.  "Quite a show," said Babs dryly.
	"Rope it in, Babs.  We've got work to do, and you're the
Machead."
	"Right," said Babs as she sat down at the main computer
terminal in the room.  "Let's see know, what needs to be done?"
	Babs picked up the mouse and started to roll it around on its pad
as she pointed and clicked on various icons and menus.  Buster tried
to keep track of what she was doing, but after she had transferred
control to herself and locked out the Technodyne, he found it
increasingly difficult to do so.  Instead, he looked up at the monitor
that showed him the Technodyne, and what he was not a pleasant
sight.  The giant condor was livid beyond rage, and he burst out of
his control center with murder in his eyes.  "Uh, Babsy," said Buster
as calmly as he could, "you better hurry, I think we're gonna have
company."
	"Mmm-hmm," said Babs as she continued to work on her task.
"Tell them I'll be out in a minute, Buster.  I gotta finish this."
	Buster recognized the look on Babs face.  She was completely
absorbed into the task before her, which meant that it was proving
to not be an easy one.  It also meant that he was going to have to
deal with the Technodyne himself. "O boy," he murmered as he
glanced up again at the monitors and saw the enemy was getting
closer by the second.  "What do I do?"  But, even as he worried
about the arrival of Concorde's other worldly twin, a plan for
dealing with him began to form in his mind.
	Knowing that he didn't have a lot of time to implement it, Buster
started to work as fast as he could, which proved to be just enough,
for even as he finished his preparations, the Technodyne appeared
at the end of the corridor, looking as unhinged as ever.  "You!" he
snarled when he saw Buster waiting for him in the hall.
	"Hiya, Techy," said Buster casually when he saw him.  "How's
every little thing?"
	Taken back a bit by Buster's calm demeanor, the Technodyne
paused for a moment to consider.  "I'm well," he said cautiously.
"But I'll be better when everyone's dead!"
	"Oh yeah, that," said Buster.  "Listen, I uh, can't let you do that."
	"Oh you can't?  I'm afraid your mistaken."
	"Are you sure about that?"  asked Buster tauntingly.
	"As sure as I'm gonna have a rabbit stew before the end!"
shouted the Technodyne, and he started towards Buster again.
	Buster held his ground.  "Uh, you really don't wanna come any
closer," he said politely.
	"But why?" asked the Technodyne as he stopped again.  "I can't
eat you if I don't get close to you."
	"Well that's the point," said Buster.  "You can't eat me."
	"This is getting tiresome," said the Technodyne.  "Why do you
keep telling me I can't do things that I can?"
	"Because I was told to never tell a lie," said Buster.  "And if you
come just two steps closer to me, you will regret it terribly."
	"Oh I will, will I?  Well, we'll just see about that," and he took
two defiant steps forward.
	"Well" said Buster sadly, I did warn you," and he calmly pushed
a button in the wall at his side and began to hum the tune, "Powerhouse."
	The Technodyne watched with a detached curiosity as a
hatchway opened in the wall and a mechanical hand came out and
fired a sling shot down the corridor, but well over the Technodyne's
head.  "You'll have to do better than that," he sneered.
	Buster continued to hum and casually brush his fingernails
across his sweater as the ball bearing flew down the hall.
Eventually, it his the call button for the elevator and as the doors
opened a broom fell out of it and landed on a mousetrap that flung a
dart away as it snapped closed.  The dart crashed through a
lightbulb sending a shower of sparks down on the fuse of an old
cannon that was sitting under it.  With a loud "BLAMMO!" the
cannonball leapt from the weapon and hurled it self at the
Technodyne.  He saw it coming though, and stepped deftly to one
side, avoiding a painful impact and stuck his tongue out at Buster in
defiance.  But, in so doing, he stepped on a small button on the
floor. "Huh?" he said as he looked down to see what had clicked.  It
was then that he saw that he was standing in the center of a large
bullseye that was painted on the corridor floor.  He had just enough
time to look up and mutter "Oh no," before an anvil fell on his head,
knocking him out cold.  That being a accomplished, the anvil
opened up and reformed itself into an ACME Calamity 2000
Escape Proof Bunny Cage.
	Buster smiled inwardly as he walked over to the cage's control
panel and activated the thing, after resetting it to hold monster birds
instead of rabbits.  "Works every time," he said with satisfaction.
	Going back into the Auxiliary Control room, he saw Babs still
hard at work with the computer.  "How goes it, Babaloo?" he asked
casually.
	"I'm getting there," said Babs is a detached voice.  "What was all
that noise out there?"
	"Ah, the Technodyne just stopped by.  He wanted to kill me."
	"Uh humm," said Babs.  "Was he successful?"
	Buster opened his mouth to respond, thought better of it, and
pulled a chair up to watch Babs work.  After only a few more
seconds, a message appeared on the screen, "Final System
Deactivated.  Awaiting New Orders."
	Babs leaned away from the computer and sighed with relief.  "I
did it!" she said with triumph.  "We're safe now."
	"You sure no one can turn it back on?" asked Buster.
	Babs rolled her eyes in irritation.  "Of course I am.  What do you
think I am, an idiot?  Don't answer that," said Babs with mock threat
in her voice as she saw a playful gleam form in Buster's eye.
	Going out into the corridor, Babs was suprised to see the
Technodyne imprisoned in the cage.  "Where'd he come from?" she
asked.
	"Ah, who knows," said Buster.  "At least he's out of it for the
moment. So what do we do now?"
	"Now we wait for Fifi to come and get us.  I suppose we oughta
keep an eye on him while we wait."
	"Wonderful," said Buster.  "Just what I've always wanted to do;
watch a crazed bird while a war goes on over my head."
	Fortunately, they did not have to wait very long.  With the
shields down, it did not take long for Fifi's forces to secure the
building.  It wasn't long before Hamton found them, dressed now in
the uniform of a Resistance General, and not as one of the
Empress's Defenders.  A squad of heavily armed men were with
him, and when he saw the two bunies, the look of relief on his face
was apparent.  "Oh, good," he said as he approached.  "I've found
you."
	"Hamton," said Buster when he saw him.  "How goes it
topside?"
	"It goes well.  Our forces have secured the building, and are
busy working to physically remove and destroy the Technodyne's
virus and explosives.  What about you?"
	"We're okay," said Babs.  "Although Techy here is having a
really bad day."
	Hamton eyed the unconscious form in the cage with wonder.
"You *captured* him?"
	"Sorta," said Buster.  "I'll explain later.  What else is happening
up there?"
	"We've won!" said Hamton with joy.  "The dominions of the
Chancellor and the Empress are no more.  We still have a lot to do
before order is restored, but that will wait.  Tonight, we celebrate
the return of Freedom!"
	"Now that sounds like something worth celebrating," agreed
Babs.  "What say we go join the party Buster?"
	"An excellent idea, Babs," said Buster as he offered her his arm.
"Okay, Hammy, which way to the party?"
	"Just follow me," he said with a faint smile.  "We've got places
of honor reserved for you."
	Leaving the Technodyne to the custody of his men, Hamton led
Buster and Babs up out of the lower levels of the Technodyne's
fortress and out into the compound.  They immediately saw that
there was a lot of activity going on, but none of the Resistance
leaders were to be seen.  "That's odd," said Hamton as he observed
this.  "I wonder where they all are."
	"Well," said Buster, "your Transport's still here.  Maybe they're
in there."
	"Maybe," said Hamton.  "Come on."
	The trio quickly made their way over to the Mole-machine, and
as soon as they had entered the hatchway, they were greeted by a
guard, who said, "Oh good.  You've got them.  Go to the radio
room.  Fifi is there, and she's got the Bookkeeper online."
	"The Bookkeeper?" asked Babs.  "How?"
	"I dunno, Babs," said Buster and they followed Hamton to the
radio room.  "But I do wanna find out where she went, and how
Elmyra got here."
	Upon entering the radio room, they saw Fifi, Shirley and
Pluckton huddled around a small video screen image of the
Bookkeeper.  "Ah," said Fifi, when she saw them enter, "you are
heer.  We are ready now, Bookkeepair.  Go ahead."
	"It's really very simple," said the image of the Bookkeeper.  "I
know how to get everyone back to their proper universes."
	"Really?" asked Buster.  "That's great.  What did you come up
with?"
	"The same thing I was going to try back in the ZONE.  Events
over here drove the idea from my mind, but once everything calmed
down, I remembered it.  Gathering the needed equipment was rather
simple; it was all in your Looniversity's Science Lab."
	"Hey," said Babs, "that's great.  So all you need to do is push a
button and everyone goes home?"
	A look of embarassment formed on the Bookkeeper's face.  "Not
exactly," she said.  "Given the slight differences in the universes, and the
fact that Babs and the Empress have semi-switched personalities, I
had to modify the design somewhat.  But it will get everyone home
eventually.  First, a preparatory journey needs to be made."
	"Like, what kind of a prepatory journey?" asked Shirley.
	"I will need to send those who need to change universes to a
neutral limbo.  That will reset Babs's personality to normal.  Once that is
done, I'll recallibrate, and send everyone home."
	"Sounds good to me," said Buster.  "What do we need to do
over on this side?"
	"I would suggest that you all gather in a clearing.  I'll do the rest.
Oh, and Fifi?"
	"Oui?"
	"We've got the Empress and Chancellor in custody here.  We'll
need to send them back for Buster and Babs to go home."
	Fifi stared at the Bookkeeper's image for just a moment.  "Ah
see," she said at last.  "Ah weel send soome guards weeth Boostair
and Babs to apprehend zem een zee leembo."
	The Bookkeeper shook her head.  "It won't work that way.  You,
Hamton, Shirley, Pluckton, and Montague will have to accompany
Buster, Babs and Elmyra.  That is who will be coming from over
here to keep the tyrants under guard."
	"I oonderstood, Bookkeepair," said Fifi in her most serious
tones.  "We shall make zee arraignments at once.  Ah guess weel
see you in limbo."
	"I hope so," said the Bookkeeper.  "As there is no other way."
				##########
	With the Chancellor and the Empress securely chained up, Fifi,
Hamton, Plucky, Shirley and Monty gathered around the machine
that the Bookkeeper had constructed.  "I still don't know why I had
to come," said Monty.  As much as I wanna get rid of these two
psycopaths, I'm not all that keen on helping our own razzafrackin'
rabbits get back."
	"Like, shut up, Monty," said Shirley with just a hint of anger in
her voice.  "You're like totally the cause of this mess, so you're
gonna help fix it, or some junk."
	"Besides," added the Bookkeeper as she looked up from her
console, "you're counterpart will also be making the journey from
the other side, so you are needed to maintain the balance.  And
aren't you eager to see your Elmyra again?"
	"Yeah, right," said Monty rather quickly.  "Like I'm really
worried about that red-headed freak!"
	"B-but you..." started the Bookkeeper.  Then she stopped
herself.  "I guess not everything carries over," she said sadly as she
turned back to her instruments.
	"Ah, don't let him fool you, Bookkeeper," said Plucky.  "He's
really nuts about her.  He just doens't like to let anybody know."
	"You keep your beak shut, duck!" shouted Monty.  "Otherwise
I'll..."
	"Stop!!!" said Fifi angrilly then.  "Zees eez not zee time for
sooch an argument!"
	Everyone realized that Fifi had a point, so they dropped it.  Still,
the Bookkeeper couldn't help but notice that Monty's denials and
anger seemed awfully quick, and somewhat insincere.  Fighting
down a smile, she made a final adjustment, and said.  "Everything's
set. Are you all ready?"
	No one said anything in response.  But as she looked at each of
their faces, The Bookkeeper knew that they were.  Okay, she said,
here goes.
	As she hit the activation button, reality seemed to fade away
around them.  After a few seconds, it reformed, sort of.  Nothing
but a stark greyness extended as far as the eye could see.  But, the
Toonsters were instantly aware of the fact they they were not alone.
Standing right next to each of them, was their counterpart from the
other universe.  "Hello, Elmyra," said the Bookkeeper to her own
counterpart.  "It is, intriguing, to finally meet you."
	"Eewoo," said Elmyra with suprise.  "Look, another me!  How
many pets do you have?"
	"Hey, Plucky," said Plucky to Pluckton.  "Nice threads."
	"Uh," said Pluckton, who was taken back a bit by Plucky's
appearance, "it's Pluckton.  No one calls me 'Plucky' but Shirley."
	"Yeah, right," said Plucky with an air of dismssivness.  "So, tell
me, what's your secret?  My Shirley tells me that your Shirley is nuts
about you."
	"Like, greetings, Anit-me," said the A.A. Shirley.  "It's like,
really good to meet you for real, or some junk."
	"That's totally true," said the A.Z. Shirley.  "It's really totally
awesome."
	"Hail, and well met, Montana," said Montague.  "I am most
pleased to make your aquaintence."
	"Y-you're not me," said Monty in shock as he looked at his
counterparts attire.  "Are you?"
	"Hello, Hamton," said the A.Z. Hamton.  "How are you?"
	The A.A. Hamton looked at his counterpart with awe.  He saw
something in him that he always wished he'd had in himself, but
knew that he didn't.  "Oh, I'm okay, I guess.  How about you?"
	The A.Z. Fifi regarded the A.A. Fifi with calm hesitancy.  "May
Ah ask vous zomesing?" she asked after a moment.
	"Boot of course.  What eez eet?"
	"Does vous still have zee, uhm..."
	"Zee what?"
	A.Z. Fifi lowered her head and said quietly, "Have you steel got
your scent glands?"
	"Oui," said A.A. Fifi with confusion.  "Why do vous ask?"
	"Zee Chancellor had mine remooved by force when he came to
powair."
	A.A. Fifi gasped in horror.  "Zee villan," she said through her
clenched teeth.  "He moost pay for zat crime!"
	The two Fifi's turned towards the tyrants, only to see that their
own anger, and even their hatred was nothing compared to what
they saw.  Buster & Babs stood only a few paces from their
counterparts, and the looks of malice on all four faces was more
intense than anyone had ever seen.
	Buster was the first to speak.  "You tried to kill Babs," he stated
simply as he eyed the Chancellor.
	"And your personality almost made me kill Buster," said Babs to
the Empress.
	With looks that showed nothing but hatred and contempt, Buster
and Babs each pulled an Acme Disintegrating Pistol from out of
their pockets and aimed them at their evil twins.
	It has long been said that when one faces death, his or her true
nature will shine through.  This is a truism for everyone everywhere,
including the likes of the Chancellor and the Empress.  Like anyone
else, seeing their deaths before them brought who and what they
really were to the surface.  And like all tyrants and bullies who face
that moment, they proved to be snivelling little cowards.  They both
dropped to their knees and began to plea for their lives in a most
pitiful fashion.  "Please don't kill me!" cried the Empress. "It's not
my fault.  I only did what I did becasue of him!"
	"Shut up, you tramp!" shouted the Chancellor.  Then staring
at Buster's weapon, he added, "It's all a lie.  Propoganda that her
people created to make me look bad."
	"WHAT!" snapped the Empress.  "You tin headed liar!  I got my
methods by copying yours!"
	"In your dreams," snarled the Chancellor.  "You don't have
nearly enough smarts to copy my ideas."
	"Why you good for nothing..."
	"Ah-hem," said Buster pointedly.
	Both the Empress and the Chancellor snapped there heads back
to look at Buster and Babs.  "Well, Babsy, whattaya say we put
these mosters out of our misery."
	"Agreed," said Babs.  "Let's do it."
	"NOOO!!!" cried the two tyrants in unison as the bunnies pulled
the triggers on their weapons.
	"Oh, well whattaya know," said Babs as she watched the guns
crumble to dust.
	"They disintegrated!" said Buster with mock suprise as a huge
grin formed on his face.
	"Ahhhhh.  Heeee.  Hiiiiiii.  Hoooooo.  Haaaammmm," said the
Chancellor and Empress as they babbled in confusion and fear.
	"Did you get it all, Babs?" asked Buster.
	Babs pulled a mini camcorder out of her sleeve.  "Sure did,
Buster."  Handing the whole thing to the A.Z. Fifi then she added.
"Here.  When you get home, let everyone see just how pathetic they
really are."
	Fifi looked from the camera to the bunnies, to the tyrants with
solemnity.  "Ah weel.  Don't worry."
	Looking back over at the two evil rabbits, who were still
grovelling on the ground, Buster said, "Bring them to justice."
	"Thees too, weel be doon," said Fifi with a nod.
	"Well," said the Bookkeeper.  "That was, in a strange way rather
amusing.  Still, I believe that we should all be going home. I've
recallibrated the machinary.  After all, you folks have exams to
study for, and we have a trial to hold, and gallows to build."  Seeing then
the looks of concern on the faces of Buster and Babs, she hastily added,
"Don't worry.  While they are parallel, further study has convinced me
that events in the two universes do run indendently of each other.  You
have nothing to fear.  They, however, do."
	No one had any responses to make to that statement, so
everyone began to move into place for transport.  Pluckton and the
A.Z. Shirley took ahold of the Chancellor and Empress and started
to move them into position.  Having recovered somewhat from their
earlier breakdowns, the two tyrants eyed their former lieutenants
with contempt.  "You traitor, Pluckton," said the Chancellor.  "I'll
have your head for this."
	"I doubt it, Chancellor.  Very much so."
	"How could you, Shirley," asked the Empress.  "How could you
betray our cause?"
	"You, like, betrayed our cause when you became like him.  I
honored it by joining up with Fifi."
	"That's what you think," said the Chancellor.  Looking at the
Empress, he shouted, "Now!"
	The two villans spun around quickly, breaking free of Pluckton
and Shirley's grasp.  Then, before anyone could react, they both
dove forward to grab a hostage.  The Chancellor grabbed Elmyra
and the Empress grabbed the A.A. Fifi.  The Empress managed to
loop her chain around the base of Fifi's tale so that she could not
skunk her, and the Chancellor had Elmyra in a headlock. "No one
move," he snarled, "or I'll break her neck."
	"Hey," said Elmyra, sounding very irritated.  "Let go of me!"
	"Quiet you!" snapped the Chancellor, and he yanked on her hair
with the intent to shut her up, and cause her pain.  Of course, when
instead he found himself holding a red wig in one hand, and Elmyra
in the other, he was so suprised that he let go of her.
	"My hair!" wailed Elmyra in embarassment as she tried to cover
her bald head with her arms and she started to cry.
	Everyone stared at this development with shock.  Everyone that
is but Monty.  "AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" he shouted in anger
and he lept on the Chancellor in a rage.
	No one could make out what was happening as Monty and the
Chancellor wrestled, but after a few seconds, the outcome was
obvious.  Quite suddenly the blur that was their contest solidified
into a hogtied Chancellor with Monty standing over him, his foot on
his back, and Elmyra's wig in his hand.  "Tadaa!!" he cried in
triumph.
	"Humph," said the Empress.  "Not bad.  But I've still got this
one so..."
	The Empress threat was cut off as the A.A. Hamton calmy
bonked her on the head with a large mallet.  "Let go of her!" he
demanded.
	"Gggeeellp," said the Empress as she released her hold on Fifi
and fell over into unconsiousness.
	"Are you okay, Fifi?" asked Hamton once she was free of her
captor.
	"Ah am now," said Fifi with suprise.  "Hamton, how deed you
do zat?"
	"Aw, it was nothing.  When she was busy watching Monty and
the Chancellor wrestle, I snuck around behind her.  After all, I had
to so something."
	Fifi couldn't didn't even try to hide the grin that was forming on
her face.  Wiping aside a tear of gratitude, she looked at Hamton
and said, "Mah heero!!!" and she expressed her thankfullness as
only she could.  Hamton, his whole face covered with kisses, could
only giggle and grin back at her.
	Meanwhile, Monty knelt down next to Elmyra and pressed her
wig into her hands.  "Here," he said queitly.  "It's all right."
	Elmyra took the wig and hastilly pulled it on.  Sniffing and
wiping her eyes, Elmyra looked up at Monty and said, "You do
care."
	"Yeah," he whispered.  "I guess I do."
	Monty was about to say something more, when he was suddenly
aware of the fact that everyone was applauding.  Quickly standing
up, he spun around angrilly and shouted, "Whatareya all lookin'
at?!?"
	The applause quickly died out.  "That's better.  Now get those
two creeps tied up so we can all go home!"
	Pluckton and Shirley quickly followed Monty's intructions.
Soon everyone was in place.  "Well," said the Bookkeeper.  "I guess
this is it.  Goodbye, Buster and Babs.  And thank you," and she hit
the button.
	"Goodbye," said everyone as they felt reality dissolving around
them.
	Slowly, reality coallessed around them, and the Toonsters found
themselves in one of Monty's vaults.  "She did it!" shouted Plucky.
"We're home!"
	"Yeah," said Monty.  "We are.  Now get outta my house!"
	Babs could only shake her head.  "I guess somethings never
change," she said.
	"Tell me about it," said Buster.  "Come on, Babs.  I'll walk you
home."
	As everyone turned to leave the vault, something caught
Shirley's eye.  "Say, Buster," she asked.  "Isn't that your old model
sheet of Bugs?"
	"Huh?" asked Buster.  "Yeah, it is.  And that's my stereo, and
my Emmy, and my...  Monty!  YOU ROBED ME!!!!!"
	What followed was not pretty.  Needless to say, Buster got his
stuff back.  Soon everything was back to normal in Acme Acres, or
for what passed for it.  There was one curious exception though.
One day about a week after returning from the ACME Zone,
Buster, Babs and Concorde all missed a day of school due to a very
stiff neck.


				THE END

About the Authors:

Kevin Mickel (HKUriah@AOL.com)  [prologue, chapters 5, 10]
Other stories: The Buster & Babs Trilogy (Buster & Babs:No
Relation?  What's In A Name?  And That's A Wrap!); A Short,
Short Story; Pluck Amuck!;  Bunny Bedlam; Part 4 and the wierd
ending to Pocadot.  Works in progress: Buster & Babs: Relation?
with Don Spiers and Rebecca Littlehales; Disney Takes Over,
with Mike Cote and Ducks Out or Luck, which he is working on
all by his lonesome. Kevin lives in a small town outside of Boston
and drives a '58 Chevy in nice weather, an '85 Blazer in bad.
He has over 1000 different titles in his animation collection, which
ranges from The Enchanted Drawing, and Humerous Faces of Funny
Faces, considered by most to be precusour to and the first cartoon
ever made respectively, to just about every episode of the new WB
tv series in current production, and a whole mess of stuff in
between.  In other words, if it was ever animated and has been
released in some sort of video product, there's a good chance that
he's got a copy of it.  He also has 3 production cels, one drawing,
and one color model cel and drawing from Tiny Toon Adventures,
as well as an original painting by Kostas of Bosko standing in front
of the Superman logo.  He turned 30 last October, and hopes to publish
his first novel before he turns 40.

Mike Cote (mcote@NMSU.edu); chapters 1, 6
Mike has written two other TTA adventures "Aw, Have a Heart!" and
"A Really Very Special Tiny Toon Adventures Thanksgiving...I guess"
and is currently not working, along with Kevin Mickel, on "Disney
Takes Over", a TTA adventure with potential to be even longer than
this story.  Mike is currently umarried and is a member of several
12-step programs to attempt to alleviate this.  So far, he has had
no success.  Mike is currently waiting for a motion picture deal to
fall into his lap without him actually having to do anything to acheive
it.  He is expecting a call any day now.

Rebecca Littlehales (littlrs0@sisters.salem.edu); chapters 2, 7
Rebecca is a Freshman in a woman's college in Winston-Salem,
NC.  This is her only completed TTA work, but she has written
many a Darkwing Duck fanfic, most of which can be found at her
home page: http://www.angelfire.com/md/Zebeckras.  She is 18
years old, and hopes to someday be 19 and maybe learn to fly a
jet airliner.  But that's not all that high on her wishlist.  She drives
a 1987 Toyota Corrolla, color: silver, which answers to the name
of Herman Menderchuck.  Herman has a tendency to develop
a nerve-wracking malfunction anytime she's more than 50 miles
from school. 

John Friedrich (Nefaria@AOL.com); chapters 3, 8
Author of Buster's Guide to Unconsummated Romance and
several other stories of dubious qualities.  Has a severe case of
Babsaholism which can only be kept in check by regular doses of
Tiny Toons. Is very much in need of a life yet very reluctant to go
out and get one.  When he's not watching cartoons or vegetating,
you'll find him busing to work to work on one of the niftiest price-
yield calculators in the civilized world.

Mike Demico (RRQUEST@AOL.com); chapters 4, 9
Author of what might quite possibly be the longest fanfic
cronicle in the history of fandom (with this collaberation taking
another award for the longest multi author fanfic known), his
"Rhyme & Reason" saga which deals with the Disney series,
"Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers" is quite popular among Disney
enthusiasts, much to his satisfaction for the time he put in on
it. (Having a special passion for both the series and for Gadget
Hackwrench.) Having collaberated on a few other half completed
works with other authors which he hopes to finish up, his only
other work to date is another Rescue Rangers tale which has yet
to be posted to the net community. Currently at large in the TTA
mailing list and in the Disney apa: WTFB (Where the Fun Begins),
his aspirations include to become a professional writer for a
cartoon strip he has created (currently looking for an artist to
partner with) as well as publishing many more fanfic stories and
quite possibly a novel in the near future. A cartoon (comic strip
and animated) enthusiast extraordinare and a comic book
collector, he is fond of long, involved discussions having to do
with these media which have become one of his life's main
passions. Though a very focused writer with an eye for detail and
mood, he is prone to convuluted "wordyness" at times in his
texts, occuring when he gets too involved in a story which is
often. At present and until successful, he is currently searching
for a theory into traversing into the "toon" universe. He is
unarmed (save for his wit) and considered enjoyable company.
Approach with friendliness and you will be welcomed. Wurf!

*****

This story was inspired by actual events.  For more information,
read "My Life in the ACME Zone" by Rebecca Littlehales.
Available in all fine drug stores.
.
*****

All names in this story are fictitous, with the exception of "The 
Chancellor", which Kevin Mickel refers to himself as while at work, and
"The Empress", which Mike Cote refers to himself as typically.

*****

 "Powerhouse" by
 Raymond Scott. 
 Perfomed by 
 The WB Orchestra
 Conducted by
 Cark Stalling
 and arrained by
 Milt Franklin.

"Midnight Train To Georgia" by
Gladys Knight and the Pips

"You Light up My Life" by
Debbie Boone

"Enter Sandman" by 
Metallica

"That Thing You Do" by
The Wonders

"My Way" by
Frank Sinatra

"Oceanfront Property in Arizona" by
George Strait

"Moonlight Sonata" by
Ludwig von Beethoven

"Fernando" by
ABBA

"Rollin' With My Homies" by
Coolio

"Stairway to Heaven" by 
Led Zeplin

"Hotel California" by 
The Eagles

"All The Gold in California" by
Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers

"Turn Your Radio On"
and
"The Wabash Cannonball" by
Roy Acuff
 
"I Saw the Light" by
Hank Williams Sr.

Soundtrack available on Nefarious Records Ltd.

*****

The Technodyne: "I am the Lone Condor of the Apocalypse!
Think of me when you look to the night sky!"

Buster:  "Yeah, yeah, I will."

*****

The authors wish to thank everyone for their patience in
awaiting this epic, and especially for reading the thing.
We all hope you enjoyed it.

*****

The above credit is a thinnly disguised variant of the
thank you notation that Kevin puts in his own fanfic.

*****

Firearms borrowed from the private collection of 
Mr. Mickel, except for the plasma launcher, which 
he would like to have, but can not afford.  He does 
have an old geiger counter though, but it does not
work.

*****

Why does he have one of those?

*****

Why not?

*****

Anyone for tennis?

*****

"It's been surreal!"