"The Choice"--A Fraggle Rock FanFic

[Convincing John]

Chapter Four, Everyone!

“Could be soon we'll cease to sound,
Slowly upstairs, faster down.
Then to revisit stony grounds….
We used to know.
§---------------§
Each to his own way I'll go mine.
Best of luck in what you find…” --Ian Anderson ‘We Used to Know’


Chapter 4--“Fears Faced…Together”

Boober hadn't moved since he saw the scarecrow-like Fraggle statue. His feet were the only part of his body not shaking. They were firmly planted on the rocky floor and were not going any further.

Mokey's eyelids lowered in sympathy. Red sighed, a little exasperated. Wembley glanced from the entrance below to his worried friend and back again. He couldn't decide whether to go on ahead with Gobo or stay behind with Boober.

Gobo's mouth twitched a little as he considered the journey ahead. Boober simply was not explorer material. But then again, Cantus clearly wanted Boober to travel with them.

Cantus slowly walked to where Boober was, leaning on the cave's entranceway for support. Cantus kneeled down and put one of his wide hands on Boober's shivering shoulder. Even though Cantus couldn't see Boober's eyes (no one could) he knew they were looking into Cantus's.

"We all feel fear...all of us," Cantus spoke evenly. "but fear can either pass...or it can remain with
us. It's our choice to make...and ours alone to make."

Boober sniffed. He thought it was the rock dust affecting his allergies...

"I..." he whispered. "I can't go..."

"You can." Cantus nodded. Even though time was growing short, Cantus was patient. That's the way he was.

"Boober?"

Boober shifted his gaze momentarily from Cantus to another Fraggle standing over them. She hunched down with Cantus and put her hand on Boober's other shoulder.

"I'm scared too." Mokey's hand, which was normally as steady as a rock, now was quivering like radish leaves in a sudden breeze.

Boober gulped. "You? B-but you go into the Gorgs' Garden all the time! Th-th-the...Gorgs!" he finally stammered. "I've seen you risk death for radishes!"

"Boober," Mokey continued. "the Gorgs' Garden is different. I know how to handle the Gorgs...but I've never been to Outer Space. The others have...even Wembley."

Boober remembered when Wembley had gone through the hole to Outer Space during his brief phase as "Wilfred Fraggle". That was Convincing John for you. He had made Wembley that decisive.

"But if I had someone with me who has never been to Outer Space," Mokey explained. "it wouldn't be so scary...and I wouldn't feel alone."

"Fear does not have to be faced alone." Cantus gave Boober's shoulder a gentle pat and stood up. Without another word, he slowly walked to where Gobo, Wembley and Red waited.

Mokey gave Boober's shoulder a little squeeze.

"Will you do it...to help me?"

Boober looked at the floor and sighed deeply.

"To help the Silly Creature?"

Boober shifted his weight and thought it over.

"Cantus is right, Boober. Fraggles help those in need. It's our nature. If he is really sick, you might be able to help save his life."

Boober sighed again. Finally, he nodded his head a little.

“We’ll…be together.” he muttered, half to himself, half to Mokey.

Mokey gingerly but firmly took Boober’s hand. Boober tried not to look directly down the deep ramp that led to a world of germ-laden Silly Creatures.

The rest of the Fraggles watched patiently as Mokey walked along, holding Boober’s hand. His shaky, uneven steps made him look like a nervous toddler. Finally, they approached their friends.

Red tilted her head a little, her pigtails bobbing.

“You okay, Mokey?”

Mokey quickly wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve.

“Oh, it’s just…rock dust.”

Cantus nodded approvingly at the group.

“And now that we have all decided to help the Silly Creature, we can proceed further.”

Leading the way, Cantus strode down into the T. Matthew Fraggle Room. Swallowing heavily, Boober watched Gobo follow him. Wembley trotted excitedly alongside his best friend.

“C’mon, Mokey! I can show you the tunnel where I saw the Blue Dragon!” Red hopped down the ramp after them. “Wait for me!”

Now, only Mokey and Boober were left at the top of the ramp. Mokey looked at Boober.

“Together.”

Boober looked back at Mokey.

“T…together.” he said in a small but determined voice.

Slowly, they both descended into the T. Matthew Fraggle Room hand in hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gobo led the way with Cantus close behind. Wembley’s eyes swiveled from side to side as he observed the cave. He had never seen the interior of it before.

It was, in structure, like many of the caves and tunnels in Fraggle Rock. This room, however, was composed of much lighter-hued rock (almost white) speckled with silver.

It was also brighter than most caves. The light source seemed to come from the alabaster cave walls themselves. Only when Wembley looked down one of the tunnels did the light appear dimmer.

Aside from the Fraggles’ footsteps, the T. Matthew Fraggle Room was deathly silent. Nothing lived or grew in the spacious caves. The dripping water from stalactites heard in most areas of Fraggle Rock was noticeably, (and disturbingly) absent here.

At the bottom of the ramp, Gobo stopped and turned to face the group.

“Okay,” he instructed. “whatever you do, don’t touch the walls or arches. Every one of these tunnels leads to somewhere different in Outer Space. Once you touch an arch, the wind from the tunnel will pick you up and take you right to Outer Space as quick as that,” Gobo snapped his fingers as he said ‘that’. “so everyone be careful, ‘ay?”

“Sure, Gobo…” agreed Wembley. “but how do we know where to find the Silly Creature?”

They all looked at Cantus.

“As you have said, Gobo,” Cantus began. “these tunnels all lead to Outer Space. However, to find the Silly Creature, we must work together…by working separately…and then by working together once again.”

“Huh?” asked Red.

“It’s really very simple,” explained Cantus. “we will explore different areas of Outer Space in separate groups, then we will all work together to help the Silly Creature once we find him.”

“There’s only one problem,” said Gobo. He looked around him at the dozens and dozens of unmarked, mysterious entrances to Outer Space. “it’ll take forever to search all these tunnels.”

“We do not need to search them all.” replied Cantus. He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a handful of large, colorful, round stones.

“Rollies!” Wembley exclaimed. “I didn’t know you collected rocks, too!”

“We will use these to mark the tunnels we will explore, thus keeping us from exploring the same areas twice.”

“Hey, yeah…” Gobo nodded. “but wait a minute. Rollies might roll into Outer Space with us. They’re round. If there was a way to hold them down…”

The six of them thought for a moment. Suddenly, Red jumped up excitedly.

“I know!” she shouted. “I’ll be right back in two shakes of a Fraggle’s tail!” She hurried back up the ramp in a red-orange blur.

Gobo looked around the tunnels again. He frowned.

“There’s still a problem,” remarked Gobo. “even if we mark the tunnels we go into, it’d still take forever to explore them all. There’s places down here that even my Uncle Matt hasn’t explored yet.” Cantus smiled.

“This is where I can help. Earlier, I discovered that this cave is very magical. True, all of these tunnels lead to Outer Space, but some of these tunnels are linked very strongly with certain areas…and individuals…of Outer Space.”

“This cave is magic?” Wembley whispered in awe.

“All caves are magic,” Cantus replied. “but there are some tunnels in this cave which are more magical than others. Some of these tunnels are powerful links between Outer Space and Fraggle-kind.”

“I think I understand,” said Mokey. “it’s like there are places in Outer Space that…are almost a part of us.”

“Exactly,” nodded Cantus. “and I know how to find these places.”

“Ohh….” came a whimper behind Mokey.

Gobo glanced over at Boober. He was still shaking, but at least he hadn’t fainted. Well…not yet.

“I’m back!”

Red ran down the ramp towards them. In her had was a green cylinder with a small brush sticking out of it.

"I forgot I still had this glue when Cotterpin and I repaired that mirror. We can use it to glue the Rollies to the tunnel floors!"

"Will it hold?" asked Wembley.

"Are you kidding?" smiled Red. "This is Doozer glue. Three months ago, Morris Fraggle accidentally got some on his sweater sleeve. When he tried to wipe it off on the wall of his cave, it stuck! And to this day, his sweater is still stuck to the wall. Nothing can get it unstuck!"

"Except some radish leaves mixed with bleach nuts, a tablespoon of salt and a cold water rinse." muttered a small voice behind Mokey. Cantus turned around.

"That remedy will come in handy later. But for now, we have a journey to embark on," Cantus held out his hand. "everyone take a Rollie."

The Fraggles obeyed, even Boober. He was getting accustomed to the quiet cave.

"Everyone, watch the tunnels carefully. When you see light come from a tunnel, glue a Rollie on the floor at the tunnel entrance." Cantus instructed.

Red busily brushed a dab of Doozer glue on each of the six Rollies, including her own.

"Ready?" Cantus lifted the magic pipe to his mouth.

"Ready!" the Fraggle Five chorused.

Cantus took a deep breath and blew a long, low note through the magic pipe. As if in response, six of the tunnels began to glow a light, fluorescent blue, and echoed the note Cantus played from their mysterious depths.

Quickly, the Fraggles ran up to the tunnel entrances, careful not to touch the arches, and glued the Rollies in place. Even Boober succeeded in doing this. He held his knotted tail in one hand and the Rollie in the other. Squinting, he glued his Rollie down at the mouth of a lit tunnel, then hurriedly dashed back to the center of the cave.

The magic pipe's note faded away, and so did the blue light from the tunnels. A sixth, unmarked tunnel with a weakening blue light caught Cantus's eye. He carefully glued a Rollie into place.

"And now, the journey can truly begin." said Cantus.

Wembley got that panicky look on his face when he was asked to make a decision.

"B--but...but," he stammered. "how do we choose where to go? The Silly Creature could be down any one of these tunnels."

"Well, Cantus," began Gobo. "you said that all of these tunnels have some extra special link between us and Outer Space, right?"

"True." Cantus nodded.

"We could each pick a tunnel," Red offered. "that'd save time."

"And face the bottomless chasms full of ravenous germs and hordes of Fraggle-eating monsters ALONE? Nooooo, thank you!"

"Boober's right," Gobo pointed out. "we don't know what's out there...it could be dangerous. It wouldn't be a good idea to go alone."

"But what if we split up into groups?" Mokey suggested. "Would that work, Gobo?"

"That would be best," Cantus agreed, gesturing to the three nearest tunnels. "we will search these three entrances to Outer Space first."

"Right," Gobo nodded. "we'll split up in three groups of two and look for any Silly Creatures in trouble. If you see one that really needs help, come back here right away and wait for the rest of us. That way, we can all go and help the Silly Creature together."

"I'll go with you, Gobo!" Wembley hopped excitedly next to his best friend. "I always wanted to explore Outer Space with you!"

"And I'll lead the expedition down this tunnel," Red announced in a boastful mock impersonation of Traveling Matt. "then I can prove that Outer Space isn't half as strange as Uncle Matt's Gorg-brained postcards make it sound!" Red turned to her best friend. "You comin' Mokey?"

Mokey stood behind Cantus. Boober was clutching her hand like a worried child. Cantus stepped forward.

"Red, you and I will explore this tunnel and Mokey and Boober will explore the third tunnel."

Red looked concerned and a little let-down.

"You sure you'll be OK, Mokey?"

Mokey did her best to hide her fear. She managed a smile and nodded her head a little. "Mmm-hmm."

"All right, everyone," instructed Gobo. "on three, everyone touch the arch at the entrance of your tunnels."

Boober squeezed Mokey's hand and looked up at her.

"Together."

She looked down at him.

"Together."

They would face their fears as a team.

"Okay," Gobo steadied his hand just over the rock wall. Wembley copied his stance. "one...two..."




Three.




Six Fraggle hands touched the entranceways to Outer Space. A gentle but firm wind lifted them up off their feet and spun them around as if they were dry leaves. The tunnels glowed a soft blue, orange and green as they separated the groups from each other, transporting them into the unknown.

Within seconds, the T. Matthew Fraggle Room was deathly silent once again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More soon.

Convincing John

 

[The Count]

That was truly the best chapter so far.

Boober and Mokey facing their fears together, that's probably the most moving part of the chapter. And how they'll face it... Together.
The Doozer glue was a stroke of genius to hold the rollies in place, but I guess I kind of expected those six blueish-lighted tunnels to lead somewhere. The archways marked by a rollie, these are tunnels that won't be explored?

You know... I'm liking how you describe the action in the T. Matt Fraggle Room.
The way that they're transported reminds me of traveling through furnaces with flu powder from the HP series.
And the circular room with all its sinister unknown passages reminds me of the Room of the Unknown in the Ministry of Magic's bottom ninth floor from Order of the Phoenix.

You've done well with this story... Now keep it coming and post mroe when you can.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Ohhhh I love it! The stuff with Mokey and Boober is so great! I just want to read more!

 

[Faylo]

I love this fic
You got all the characters down pat. I love it, especially Mokey and Boober.. It sounds like something exactly Mokey would do! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Convincing John]

That was truly the best chapter so far.
The Doozer glue was a stroke of genius to hold the rollies in place, but I guess I kind of expected those six blueish-lighted tunnels to lead somewhere. The archways marked by a rollie, these are tunnels that won't be explored?
.

The bluish tunnels are the ones being explored, since six of them lit up. One thing I noticed in the T. Matthew Fraggle Room from "Red's Blue Dragon" episode is that the tunnels Gobo, Red, Matt (and eventually the dragon) explore light up with different colors, then fade back to off-white when the transport process is complete. So, when the tunnels are "dormant" they are colorless. I noticed this same characteristic in "The Singing Cave" from "Mokey the Minstrel". When Mokey touches the various rock formations, they change color, but only temporarily. (Maybe this is why Cantus is intrigued by the T. Matthew Fraggle Room...)

The "fluorescent bluish" response is a different kind of magic these tunnels (supposedly) have, which is a special reaction to Cantus's magic pipe. The fluorescent blue (and the echoing notes the tunnels make) was inspired by the part in "The Dark Crystal" where Jen is trying to choose one of three shards from Aughra. He saw the shard first as an image in the green bowl of the Mystic Master. The image gave off a clear musical note. When Jen played the same note on his flute in Aughra's observatory, the real shard lit up, then faded. I decided to give these tunnels that extra magical link to Cantus via a Dark Crystal reference. I originally thought of having the tunnels being green, but they already used that color for the Dark Crystal shards, and I didn't want it to be too similar.

So yeah, these six tunnels (marked with the Rollies) are the ones the Fraggles are exploring. But remember the fluorescent blue light was temporary, just like the rest of the colors in the T. Matthew Fraggle Room. The only way to keep the blue light going was for Cantus to keep playing that note. Now, we don't want Cantus to pass out on us so...Doozer-glued Rollies to the rescue!

After the fluorescent blue color fades, each pair of Fraggles touches an arch, and the T. Matthew Fraggle Room tunnels (the marked ones, once fluorescent blue) display their "usual" magical colors. I guess to be specific about it, the one Gobo and Wembley use lights up the soft blue (as opposed to the fluorescent blue it was before), the one Cantus and Red use lights up orange (like from "Red's Blue Dragon") and the one Mokey and Boober use lights up green.

So yes, you were right, Count. These marked tunnels lead somewhere. Three are being explored right now, and three remain unexplored...for now.

Floo Powder...wow, I never thought about that. Thank you for the compliments. I love the Harry Potter books!

Convincing John

 

[The Count]

Oh... Thanks, that makes much more sense now.

Dark Crystal visual reference, no wonder I didn't get it at first.
The tunnels lit up a fluorescent blue echoing the note from Cantus's magic pipe, then revealed their normal magical colored light when each Fraggle pairing touched the archway. And the arched tunnels that responded to Cantus's musical magic are the ones being explored... OK, got it now.

Originally posted by Convincing John: "A gentle but firm wind lifted them up off their feet and spun them around as if they were dry leaves."
This is what reminded me, at least of how I imagined it in my mind's eye, of the flu powder method of travel in HP.
Rully cleverly writen, even saying how the T. Matt Fraggle Room was now deathly silent once all six Fraggles had been swept into the tunnels.

Keep it comin', hope for more soon-ish.

 

[Convincing John]

Chapter Five!

I know it's been a while, but I've been busy with other stuff lately and couldn't work on the story as much as I thought. Anyway, here's Chapter Five...with a special nod to Terry Angus.

"Tabby, spotted, black as coal -
Serval, Margay, Caracal.
Moggie in the moonlight listens:
whiskered sensory miracle." --Ian Anderson 'Hunt By Numbers'


“Chapter Five--Invisibility and Reality Are in the Eye of the Beholder”

“Mama! Look! Kitty!”

The little girl was pointing to a bright blue, fuzzy, stuffed cat about fifteen feet away from her. It was sitting among a group of people behind a counter. A row of telephones in front of them. There were a few technicians adjusting the phone wires beneath the counter.

“Fifteen seconds!” yelled a cameraman. The technicians fixed the wires and hurriedly ducked out of camera shot.

“Shh.” shushed the girl’s mother. The two of them waited in the small studio audience.

“The boom mike slid just out of the camera’s vision, revealing a full shot of the backdrop, which consisted mostly of a digital display of numbers preceded by a dollar sign.

Near the side of the room, one of the larger air vents at the floor glowed an unusual shade of blue. Its cover swung open sideways on a hinge. A second later, a pair of Fraggle heads, one bearded, one pigtailed, emerged from the air duct.

“We made it!” Red cheered. Cantus put his finger to his lips for silence.
“Shh…listen,” he pointed out into the huge room. “and look.”

The stage manager counted down behind the cameraman.
“And in five…four…three…two, and…” he pointed to the blue cat next to the telephones.

As if by magic, the blue cat came to life and spoke to the camera.

“Hello, everyone! Butch G. Cat here, welcoming you back to the IWK Children’s Hospital Miracle Network Telethon.”

Red’s expression matched those of the mesmerized children in the audience. What was that furry, blue, talking creature? She tilted her head curiously as the blue creature continued.

“These folks behind me are hard at work taking pledges from our Canadian friends,” the creature waved a paw to the sitting Silly Creatures behind him. Each one was holding a “C” shaped object to their ear with one hand, and writing something down with the other.

“The IWK Children’s Hospital needs your support. That’s why they asked me to come. I’m here to talk to all the cats out there watching. Ahem…meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Now, for those of you who don’t speak ‘Cat’, I just told all our cat viewers the following message: Hey there, fellow felines! Tell your owners to call the number you see on the screen and make a pledge. After all, cats care about the IWK Children’s Hospital Miracle Network too. But as you can see,” the blue creature glanced behind him. “our operators standing by don’t speak ‘Cat’. So it’s best to let your human owners do the talking. And if you can get ‘em to make a pledge, thank your owners by not scratching on the furniture. I know it’s tough, but helping these kids out will definitely be worth it!”

A lady Silly Creature with a leaflet in her hand walked up to the blue, furry creature and smiled at the audience.

“That’s right.” she said. “the IWK Children’s Hospital Miracle Network relies on public support and benefits from your generous donations.” As she spoke, the furry creature edged over to her and gently nodded.

“And stay tuned to view the Mission Statement and the goals of the IWK Children’s Hospital.” the Silly Creature concluded.

“It’s important!” the furry creature pointed straight ahead. “don’t miss it! We’ll be right back.”

As the cameras pulled back, some light music played from overhead. The Silly Creature smiled and scratched the furry creature between its pointy ears. The creature smiled and closed its eyes.

“Ahh…a little lower, please.” the furry creature purred.

A crouching Silly Creature out of camera shot (a silhouette from the audience’s point of view) pointed to another Silly Creature in shadow, who nodded. A moment later, some monitors both near the ceiling and in the cameras displayed the same recorded message--footage from the hospitals framed with both stationary and scrolling text.

“Cantus…what’s…what is this place?” Red tried to understand what was happening around them. Despite her dislike of Uncle Matt’s postcards, there were things here he had described: Silly Creatures that were Fraggle-sized, mushroom-shaped creatures that rang, and even a furry creature.

But what was going on? Were they watching a play? And what were those strange flickering…(paintings?) above their heads?

“This place has Silly Creatures who are in need of help, it seems,” Cantus observed. Even though some of the surroundings baffled him, the minstrel was able to pick up the gist of what was going on. “these smaller Silly Creatures need help, but it appears that the larger Silly Creatures and that furry creature are giving them the help they need.”

Red watched as the blue, furry creature disappeared behind the counter. Cantus saw it too. He turned to Red.

“I believe that this part of Outer Space is strongly connected with the Rock because of that furry creature we just saw,” Cantus emerged from the air duct and gently opened the grate wider. “wait here. I will return shortly.”

Red watched as Cantus carefully climbed out of the air duct and stealthily entered the milling group of Silly Creatures wearing odd-looking earmuffs and tinkering with black and gray boxes with long black ropes trailing from them. Within seconds, he was no more than an abstract silhouette that blended in with the rest of the moving shapes.

He walked along, undetected. It was as if the Silly Creatures couldn’t see him. He smiled in the dark. Invisibility, after all, was in the eye of the beholder.

Soon, he came to the low barrier that the furry creature had disappeared behind. Ducking under a dangling loop of wire, he peered behind it.

Red craned her neck until Cantus disappeared from her view. As she watched, she saw him mingle with the shadows, duck, rise, then nod, as though comprehending something.

Just then, something brushed against one of her fiery orange pigtails. Red turned to find herself facing one of the smallest Silly Creatures she had ever seen. It was a few inches shorter than Wembley, and was sitting in a kind of chair that cradled most of its body. Its tiny hands were trying to grasp Red’s pigtails.

Red and the small Silly Creature stared at each other, both sharing the same curious expression and unspoken question “what is this creature in front of me? I’ve never seen one like that before.”

A light breeze from the air duct tousled Red’s hair. The small Silly Creature smiled, gurgled, blinked its large, blue eyes and began to laugh. Red smiled at the little Silly Creature. It was Silly, but it was also cute.
The baby’s mother glanced down.

“Oh, you’re awake, eh?”

The baby smiled up at its mother, then flapped an arm at the air vent, squealing in delight. It turned its head, obviously entertained by something.

“What do you see, Tracy?” the mother asked, glancing at the air vent. She noticed the open grate, but nothing else out of the ordinary.

Red paid no attention to the large Silly Creature. She had discovered that every time her pigtails moved, the little Silly Creature would laugh. Red bobbed her head back and forth and the little Silly Creature tossed its head back and giggled with a toothless grin. Red was having so much fun that she didn’t even notice Cantus had returned.

“Red, we must be going.” he said gently. The little Silly Creature was even more amazed at the second mysterious being in front of it.

Cantus smiled at the little Silly Creature and gently waved goodbye to it. As he and Red climbed back into the air duct, they heard some soft crying behind them.

“What’s the matter, Tracy Allen?” asked the mother, picking up the baby and putting it over her shoulder. She patted its back, not noticing its tearful gaze and futile reach towards its retreating company.

Cantus turned around to face the little Silly Creature again. He tilted his head up and closed his eyes, listening carefully. After concentrating on the soft cries, he opened his eyes, wordlessly lifted his magic pipe to his lips and began to play a soft, lulling melody.

The baby heard the music, and its cries became softer and changed slowly to intermittent infantile mumbling. Within a minute, the enchanted melody put it to sleep. The baby sighed contentedly as it dozed on its mother’s shoulder, letting Cantus’s music continue in its dreams.

The mother, who had not heard anything out of the ordinary, stroked her baby’s back. She did, however, notice that the air duct grate was now firmly closed. Strange…she could have sworn it was open a moment ago...

Cantus and Red waited for the tunnel’s wind to take them back to Fraggle Rock. They knew it wouldn’t be long. They just had to travel a little further…

“Cantus,” asked Red. “did you find out anything about the blue, furry creature back there?”

Cantus conveniently found the area of the air duct to touch to transport them back. As the familiar wind lifted them up, Cantus merely shrugged.

“Not much.”

After all, he didn’t want to ruin it for her. After all, reality was in the eye of the beholder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


More soon-ish.

Convincing John

 

[The Count]

Rully great chapter there CJ. Liked how you had a nod to ButchCat or Teri Angus as he's otherwise known. Cantus playing the melody to soothe little Tracey Allen... But the part that got me most was how Cantus just blended into the shadows, and how you worked the initial line of how invisibility is in the eye of the beholder... That, and reality also as the Minstrels' leader doesn't want to ruin the illusion for the young Fraggle.
Rully nice, post more when it's ready. Please.

 

[Convincing John]

Chapter Six! (Finally!)

Sorry for the delay everyone, but here is Chapter Six of the story. Chapter Seven is coming along nicely and isn't too far in the future.

"Tell us: is it you who are here for our good cheer?
Or are we here for the glory, for the story, for the gory satisfaction
of telling you how absolutely awful you really are?"
--Jethro Tull 'A Passion Play'

Chapter Six: The Maker of Merriment

"Oof!"

"You're on my tail, Wembley."

"Oh, sorry. I can't see anything except this blanket."

This area of Outer Space was the most confusing of all places Gobo had either read about or explored. The moment he and Wembley had traveled through the tunnel, they immediately were covered with a thick, velvety, dark red blanket that enveloped them like a deflated parachute.

"Did we take the wrong tunnel?" Gobo asked. "This area of Outer Space is blocked."

Wembley tried to push the heavy blanket off of him, but it was tiring him out. It was like being under Large Marvin's winter coat.

"Here, let me help," Gobo offered. "I'll get you out and we can go back to the T. Matthew Fraggle Room for help. Maybe there's another way to get into this part of Outer Space."

The weight of the covering suddenly doubled. Gobo was horribly reminded of Junior Gorg once, thundering after him and brandishing a huge, heavy sack.
Was this what had happened? Had they somehow transported into one of Junior's canvas vegetable or (gulp) Fraggle-catching bags? If so, there was no time to lose.

"Gobo," warned Wembley. "the floor's slippery here." There was a soft thump and Gobo felt Wembley's knee collapse onto his foot.

"Sorry, Gobo! I can't see anything! If I can just get..."

"Up!"

"Right, Gobo. I'll try to get up and..."

"I didn't say 'up'." Gobo ignored the dull ache in his foot.

"I said up!"

"There it is again!" Gobo whispered. "someone said 'up'!" Just then, the weight of the heavy covering lessened by half.

"Up! Up more, Bo!"

The mysterious voice was high and reedy, but sounded disgruntled. A slow, deep, humble voice responded.

"Sorry."

The next thing Gobo and Wembley noticed was that the blanket was becoming lighter and slowly uncovering the pair of explorers...as if a Gorg's hand was pulling it.

Gobo was prepared to grab Wembley and run back to Fraggle Rock as soon as there was enough light to run with.

To Gobo's confusion, no shout of 'FWAGGLE!' came. The blanket merely unfurled and hung vertically in front of them now, like Boober's laundry.
Behind them was the hole that led back to the T. Matthew Fraggle Room and darkness. Ahead hung the blanket, which was suspended by more darkness. At their feet was something new: light. It was a mere crack at their feet that split where the blanket ended and the smooth floor began.

They heard approaching footsteps.

"Duck!" whispered Gobo.

The two Fraggles collapsed to the floor, their eyes peering into the mysterious lit realm of Outher Space.

It was tan.

It was furry.

The footsteps flapped hurredly past them, and all Gobo could see from their wake was a quick blur of green. The tan fur directly in front of them shifted...almost nervously.

Wembley was startled by a sudden wave of applause. The high, reedy voice spoke again, this time nearly shouting with excitement.

"And now, the Muppet Show's number one maker of merriment, the fuzzy funnyman, welcome if you will, Mr. Fozzie Bear!"

Gobo and Wembley both jumped at a short fanfare that bursted from nowhere. The tan fur disappeared and both Fraggles crawled ahead and peeked out from beneath the covering.

What they saw amazed them.

The slick, brown, reflective floor they were laying on extended to an amazingly rounded, low cliff. Lights fringed the edge of it.

The low cliff seemed to be the entranceway to a cave as large (maybe larger) than the Great Hall. It had no interesting rock formations, save for a distant, wide ledge that was an odd, dull red and extended the width of the cave. It was full.

What the ledge was full of, neither Fraggle could guess. They were creatures, some of which looked like Fraggles and some looked like living abstract shapes.

There were more of these creatures dozens more, sitting all together on the cave floor.

"Wow!" Wembley breathed as his wide eyes swiveled to take it all in. It was as if one of every kind of creature from outer Space was in this cave. "It...it looks like everyone from Outer Space is here!"

The creatures were all applauding and looking at something...something off to the left of the Fraggles...

A new voice came from the slick cliff. The voice addressed the audience of creatures cheerfully.

"Hiya! Hiya! Hiya! Here I am, Fozzie Bear with jokes to spare! No other comic can compare! I'll make you laugh, so sit right there!"

Gobo and Wembley looked to the left and saw a tan, furry creature. It wore only a long spotted tie. It had short, odd, wriggling ears, a bright pink, round nose, and was waving around a small, crumpled brown hat as he spoke.

Two other voices made Gobo and Wembley look further off to the left.
There, high up in the cave wall (which was oddly painted in red and gold) was a little nook where two elderly Silly Creatures sat by themselves. One had a white mustache. The other had a huge double chin.

"Hey, everyone! It's Fozzie Bear!" the one with the white mustache announced.

"His jokes are guaranteed to bring you despair!" The double-chinned one shouted.

Both Silly Creatures and some of the audience laughed heartily.

"Hey, knock it off, you two geezers!" the furry creature replied. He then addressed the audience.

"Say, speaking of geezers, I knew a guy who was so old..."

"How old was he? Do ho ho ho ho!" the elderly Silly Creatures replied together.

"He was so old, that when I asked him if he had seen the White House in Washington, he said that he had seen Washington in the White House! Ahhhhh! Get it? George? Washington? In the White House?"

The audience groaned.

"Thank you! Thank you!" the furry creature continued. "If you liked that joke, then you'll love this one! Ahem, I met a man the other day who was carrying a large rock down the street. So I asked him 'does lifting that rock make you stronger?' And he said, 'no, it gives me courage. With this rock, I'm always bolder.' Get it? Boulder? Bolder? Oh, I am so funneeeee!"

Gobo and Wembley groaned along with the rest of the audience.

"I wish I had a rock to lift." said the double-chinned Silly Creature.

"How come?" asked the mustached one.

"So I could throw it at him! Doh, ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

"And now, as my grand finale, how many Star Wars fans do we have here in the audience tonight?" asked the furry creature.

Many of the audience members cheered and clapped.

"Good! Well, you're going to love this joke! Okay, here goes. Why do sheep make excellent Jedi Knights? Give up? Because they train on Dago-bahhh! Dagobah! Dago-bahhh! Ahhh! Wocka! Wocka! Wocka! You've been a great audience! Thank you! Thank you! And thank you!"

The short fanfare repeated itself as the cloth concealing Gobo and Wembley slid sideways, touseling their hair.

"Uh, Gobo...Cantus said that there was a Silly Creature who needed help. Did you see one in trouble?"

Gobo shook his head.

"I don't think so, Wembley, but it looked like furry creature needed some help telling jokes, eh?"

"Oh, definitely," Wembley agreed. "too bad Boober isn't here. He could tell the furry creature the jokes he learns from Sidebottom."

"Boober telling jokes?" Gobo chuckled. "Now that's funny!"

Both Fraggles turned around as the wind from the T. Matthew Fraggle Room began to beckon them back.

Wembley took one last glance at the huge crowd before following Gobo back to Fraggle Rock. As Gobo took his hand and the wind blew them backwards, Wembley observed a wrinkled, green creature in the third row. It was frowning and shaking its head slowly.

The last thing Wembley heard before the magical tunnel transported them was a sigh and a gravelly voice which simply said:

"A pitiful comedian he is."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More to come. Mokey and Boober's adventure is up next. Stay tuned.

Convincing John

 

[redBoobergurl]

Wonderful! I had almost forgotten about this great story! This was a wonderful update well worth the wait! I loved the part with Fozzie Bear! I also loved how they thought the Muppet Theatre was sort of like the Great Hall. It's fun to see these things through the eyes of the Fraggles. Looking forward to the next update!