The Shadows That Walk At Night
By Mike Beebe
MBeebe7769@juno.com

		Episode One: All Endings Must Have an End.
			Part One: Enter the Castle

	"I made a mistake...."
	These words echoed through my castle on the hill, overlooking
this strange place called Acme Acres. I had been sentenced by the gods to
roam the world in my castle on the hill until I could reach my eternal
freedom by making two thousand friends. I walked over to the chalkboard
which I have had since I was sentenced to this eternal prison.
	I shook as I saw the count stood at one thousand nine hundred
ninety five. I sighed as I saw I only had five to go.....
	My sentence was always unclear to me; Whenever I made a friend,
my castle would phase out of reality and phase into a different part of
the world. I have been alive for...well I lost count. I have seen many
empires rise and fall, many friends die as seen by the many thousands of
mirrors in my castle. These gods that have done this to me are vengeful,
as I cannot see myself in a mirror, but only them as the gods torment
them and kill them. I could do nothing.
	This is my curse. To be free, I must basically send two thousand
people, who think of me as their friends, to their deaths. I sighed and
rubbed my eyes, only five more. Only five more. I was startled by a sound
from downstairs. I ran to the top of the stairs to see what it was.
Someone had intruded into my castle! But instead of protesting, I
listened...
	"Yeah this old castle has been abandoned for years..." Said one.
"I still think it's creepy..." Said another. "Like, I am getting mega
negatory vibes from here.." Said one I was receiving psychic feelings
from. "Zo am I..." Said an skunk. "Aw, you all don't know what you are
talking about, there's treasure afoot..." Said a green duck with nothing
on but a green tank top.
	What's this? A blue bunny, a pink one, a skunk, and a green duck,
and a weird looking loon. Many people have come to my castle over the
millennium, but these were by far the weirdest bunch. This topped the
colorful bears in the cloud cars a few years past, or the Inspector with
his niece and their dog. and even those little annoying blue things
singing that horrendous `la la la' song. How to deal with them. These
gods who have imprisoned me here have given me great powers, not anything
powerful enough to escape, mind you, just some shapeshifting and limited
wish granting capabilities. As I thought what to do, they started to talk
again...
	"I think we should split up." said the green duck.
	"Go by ourselves? That's ludicrous!" said the pink bunny.
	"We stuck together at Slumber Party Mountain, and what good did
it do us?" said the blue.
	"He doez have zee point." said the skunk.
	So they nodded to each other, and broke off into five different
directions. Should I get each one separately, or just one? I sighed,
shapeshifted, and moved off into the castle. I decide to try and make
friends with the blue bunny first. When I found him, he was snooping
around the torture room. He was just about to hit a hidden trigger when,
	"Hey look out!" 
	I screamed as I ran, jumped and grabbed him out of the way of the
falling blade from the ceiling. We landed about two feet from the blade
that would have made two blue bunnies instead of one. We got up together
and dusted off, and he, as many before him have, introduced himself to
me,
	"Thanks for the save. I'm Buster Bunny."
	He put a gloved hand out to me, and I shook it.
	"My name is Rudy. No problem Buster, but you should really be
more careful around my castle."
	"YOUR CASTLE? We were told that no one had resided here for years
and there was treasure here."
	I shook my head, "There's no treasure in this place, but it's a
good thing you are alone, because this place is quite the little
deathtrap."
	His eyes went white as plates and he squeaked, "Deathtrap??"
	I nodded back, "Yeah, there are traps and monsters all over the
place. Aren't you alone?"
	He sadly nodded his head no.
	I took his hand as we left the room, "We had better go get your
friends then!"
	We found my next victim..er..friend on the patio. He approached
her quickly and said,
	"Babs! We have to get out of here! This place is a veritable
deathtrap dungeon!"
	"Ok Buster, let's get out of here!"
	As we started to walk out of the patio area, Babs said,
	"I'm feeling all right Buster, you don't need to have your arm on
my shoulder."
	"But Babsie, my arm isn't on your shoulder..."
	Babs turned to see what had its arm on her shoulder, and there it
was, a giant spider, and it crawled toward us at a blinding pace. I
decided it would be to my advantage to destroy this beastie. So I said
with a grin,
	"Time to pull out some heavy ordnance!"
	And I pulled out my weapon of choice, the BFG9000, and yelled,
	"Get back a bit.."	
	Buster and Babs ducked behind me as the BFG warmed up with a
light hum, and discharged a large plasma bolt into the giant spider. 
	*Wham*
	All that was left was spider legs. Babs picked one up and said,
	"Anyone have any Bar-B-Q sauce?"
	We all chuckled, and I asked Buster,
	"Is that all of your group?"
	Buster gave a shake no, and I asked,
	"How many more?"
	"Three..."
	"Great..."
	They ran back into the main hallway and started yelling their
friends names,
	"Fifi!"
	"Plucky!"
	"Shirley!"
	After this, the skunk and loon came into the hallway. They smiled
and Buster introduced them to me.
	"Fifi, Shirley this is Rudy."
	"Nice to meet you" I said to them both and shook their hands.
	"Ditto." Said the Loon.
	"Zame 'ere." Said the purple skunk.
	"But where's your green duck friend?" I asked.
	Shirley looked at me very suspiciously and said, "How did you
know we had another duck with us?" But Buster jumped in, "Lay off
Shirley, he saved our lives. We have to find Plucky and get out of here."
I decided to ask the question I already knew the answer to. "What did you
come here for anyway?" Shirley told me, "Like, Plucky dragged us all here
so he could get some treasure." Treasure? Uh oh. I knew where he was.
	"Follow me, quickly!" We started to run down this long
cobblestone spiral staircase down to the crypt where the ultimate evil I
had been assigned, well, punished, as another duty.
	I could here it in the crypt. He was going to open it. I was too
late to stop him.
	"Riches beyond my comprehension!!! I am back in the chips!!!"
	I opened the door and there was Plucky, opening the box. Which
contained, I knew not what, but I knew as he opened it, something
horrible would be unleashed.
	*Creak*
	When the lid flew open, Plucky flew back as he was bowled over by
millions of souls that poured out of the box. These spirits looked
familiar, they were the friends I had made over the thousands of years
since I had lived here, in my castle on the hill.
	Buster broke the silence, "What's happening!!!" But I turned the
four around and told them, "Run for it! It's going to go!" Shirley
protested, "What about Plucky!?!" I pushed her out the door, "I'll get
him, just save yourself!" Oh boy, I just wanted to save my own skin at
this point, but poor Plucky was out like a light. I opened the door and
rushed in to save Plucky. But I was frozen in place.
	"Ruuudddyyy...." A voice beckoned from the box.
	"You have failed me." said the voice. "It is not my fault. They
are the ones who have opened the chest." I answered defiantly. "It
matters not. You have failed in your assignment to guard the Box. The One
Box, the one to bring them in and to bind them, the Box who will rule
all. For this insult, this world along with everyone on it, the
surrounding solar system, adjacent nebulas and systems, will be
destroyed. But first, you will die. Your new friends will die. Too bad
you were one short of your goal of two thousand." The Box started to
cackle and laugh at me. The castle on the hill, which was my home for
many, many years and centuries, was crumbling about me.
	I did what didn't come natural: something heroic. I grabbed
Plucky, and ran out the front porch as my mirrors shattered around me and
the screams of my past friends were echoing around me. I was suprised
when tears rolled down my cheeks as I saw their tormented souls, finally
set free, scream and disappear. I was almost becoming...becoming a toon.
As I cleared my castle on the hill, I jumped onto the lawn as the castle
sank into the ground, engulfed in flames, it was the last thing I saw for
a while, as I did not notice the rock until I had smashed my face into
it.
	*WHAM*
	Ouch! That hurt! But I guess I deserved it, I thought as I
blacked out. The next few minutes was very blurry, but I could feel
myself being carried. Things faded in slowly after that. It was a white
haze then it faded into four pairs of eyes. I screamed. They grabbed me
and shook me and shouted at me. "Wake up Rudy! Wake Up!"
	They shook me more violently now, as I could feel from their
voices they were becoming panic stricken. I started to come to. As I
started to regain consciousness, I could feel my head being cradled by
someone, I couldn't tell who, but they had their hand on my forehead, and
were rubbing in a circular motion. It was working on my pounding
headache, and I opened my eyes.
	"He's, like, coming to!" Shirley said, as I could now see her,
and as I looked around, I could see Babs, Buster and Fifi running towards
me. I reached out for something, anything, I felt a gloved hand take
mine, and I was helped up.
	"You okay? You took a nasty bump." Buster asked as he helped me
up. "I'm okay, where's Plucky?" I asked. Buster lowered his head and said
in a low voice, "He's over there, but he's not doing so well." He pointed
to a bed as I could see around me we were underground in some sort of
burrow, but as I looked at Plucky, I was filled with dread. His green
body was offset by the red, dark shell he was encompassed by. As I
reached out to touch the red casing, it hardened and I could no longer
see Plucky. But as I withdrew my hand, he came back into view.
	"What's wrong with him?" Shirley asked me, with pleading eyes. I
didn't know, well, I should say I knew, but forgot over the course of
thousands of years. I just needed time to remember. I climbed out of the
burrow, and walked to where the ruins of my castle now lay. I sifted
through rubble, looking for something, anything to remember the past
with. Mostly broken glass...what's this? A dark black robe, no longer
dark black from fading, I put it on.
				
				Part 2: Images

	As I put on the robe, I was no longer in Acme Acres. I was in a
place I knew not where. Memories faded slowly back. This was the Glen,
where I had grown up. Why was I born here? Why did I live here? These
doubts circled in my head as I entered the castle, stranger still, no one
could see me. I walked about the courtyard, seeing the various people,
and toons, walking around as if the Glen was still there, and I was
breathing Glen air, as if it had never been obliterated by the Box. More
memories came back.....
	Next I was standing in the King's throne room, and I saw
something that took my breath away, it was me. I was sweeping the floor,
as if I was some kind of servant, but I couldn't tell, so I listened to
good King Tronic, as he made a speech to his nobles and barons.
	"Now that we have the Box, we will rule the world!" A roar from
the crowd. "And the Glen will regain its holding of the rest of the
world." Another roar. But I wasn't really listening to him. I was looking
at the Box. The fools, I thought, they don't even know what they have on
their hands.
	This image of King Tronic faded out, and an image of a battle
with the hated Hanna Barbarians. I was watching the battle move back and
forth with flanking attacks that ravaged both lines of troops. Just as
the battle seemed won for the Hanna Barbarians, King Tronic, his eyes
glowing red with rage, appeared with the Box. He made a defiant response
when asked for a surrender. "You don't know it fools, you will be
destroyed!!"
	He then proceeded to open the box, which produced an image so
terrifying, I will have trouble describing. It was a blood red demon of
about thirty to forty feet, with razor sharp claws, and just as equally
sharp teeth. It roared and dived into the Hanna Barbarians. It would be
considered a rout, but a rout has survivors. Or dead bodies for that
matter. The demon absorbed them as he went. Then King Tronic opened the
box again, thinking it would return to its place of confinement. It did
not. With savage bloodlust and hatred it tore at everyone it could get
its hands on.
	This horrendous jumble of images faded, and the castle on the
hill, in the Glen, faded back in. It was in flames. I hurried to the
King's chamber, hoping to find out what had happened. I arrived and saw
King Tronic, heavily wounded, in bed being attended by the Queen and
several others. The good Wizard Asgoth was present, and reading something
by his bed. Just then, I ran, that is to say, the past me. "What has
happened to the king Asgoth? What is that thing outside the gates? What
is to become of the Glen?" The past me screamed. Asgoth put his hand up,
"Calm yourself boy, for if I do it, you will not like it. Sit and I shall
explain." Finally! The answers I was searching for. "That demon out
there," Asgoth began, "is Tlarcum, the one who seeks souls for the
Slocum, the ultimate evil."
	A chill went up my spine as I heard him detail the purpose of
sealing Tlarcum in the Box, and what would happen next. "All shall be
decimated. Nothing will survive. Unless..." Asgoth trailed off into
thought. My past self was becoming scared, "What can I do? I am just a
servant. But I am prepared to do anything!!!" my past shouted defiantly.
Famous last words I thought, but since I am in this time bubble alive, I
assume I will survive, but how? Asgoth looked up, "Anything, young Rudy?
Fine. Take this and hurl it into the heart of the beast Tlarcum." "That's
all?!? Fine, I'll be back." Asgoth grabbed my past's shoulder, "Not so
fast Rudy. In doing this, you will save other places, but the Glen will
be incinerated in the resulting inferno." My past stiffened, but said in
a soft voice, "I must do it, otherwise all we be lost for others." As my
past started to leave, King Tronic called for him. My past approached,
and the King told him, "Go my boy, and save the rest of the world, for
the fate that has befallen the Glen should never be repeated." And the
King took his last breath. My past, tears streaking down its cheeks, ran
out into the courtyard, and called on Tlarcum.
	"Come out and face me, you horrid beast!!" My past shouted
defiantly. 
	As Tlarcum ran towards him, he held up the amulet Asgoth had
given him, and threw it. It bouced off. My past screamed, "NO!!!!!"
picked up the amulet and jumped in its mouth. Tlarcum rumbled for a
second, and went up in a fireball. All flashed around me as I covered my
eyes, and the Glen, the castle on the hill, everything surrounding was
incinerated. But then these images faded....
	And all was dark. I could see my past's burned body on a slab. I
could here voices, I knew not from where, circling around.
	"This little one destroyed the mighty Tlarcum?"
	"Hard to believe? It's true."
	"Tlarcum must be replaced. The gathering of souls must continue."
	"Let us use this young one for the gathering."
	"He is too small to use as we used Tlarcum. He will trap victims,
take thier souls, and destroy thier homes as we did his."
	"Let us begin by sealing away all his memories."
	A sickly-looking green beam shot out from a podium, and hit my
past's body, and above him, a cloak was being formed. 
	"This cloak will be set in the Keystone of  the new castle. His
memories will be lost forever. He will guard the Box, until enough souls
are gathered."
	"How many do we need?"
	"One thousand nine hundred ninety six. But let us tell him two
thousand to be sure."
	Evil laughter filled the chamber as everything faded out....


				Part 3: The Four Set Out

	As the Glen and everthing faded out, this place called Acme Acres
faded back in. I was back in the rubble of my castle on the hill. My
prison for so long...but no longer. I sat and looked at the clouds as
they passed. I wrapped myself in my cloak. These were all that was left
of my memories. 
	"Rudy!" A voice called out to me. I didn't look up. I didn't
move. It was Babs. I sat there. "Wow! You look terrible! Are you hurt
from the explosion?" I shook my head no. "What's wrong?" I shook my head
no again. As I looked down at Acme Acres, with the strange Weenie Burger,
enormous Looniversity, and numerous dwellings, ranging from the gigantic
mansion, to the small burrows. All would be gone, in a matter of days. I
chuckled a little as I thought that at least I wouldn't have to see it go
first. I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice that Buster and Fifi
had joined myself and Babs. I also hadn't noticed that I was shaking.
	"What's wrong with Rudy?" Buster asked Babs. "I dunno. All he
does is shake his head when I ask him anything." Babs replied. "Oh yeah?
I betcha I can get him to answer me." Buster challenged back. "Ok, here I
go!" Buster then launched into the longest, funniest thing I had ever
seen, even though at the time it was not funny to me.
	First, he started with the classic face-stretching, tounge
protruding, wierd noise making thing that gets chuckles from most.
Second, seeing this hadn't worked, moved on to some popular gags sure to
get gaffaws from all, but me. The opening letters with dynamite inside
were pretty funny, but not to me. Then the good old "Yoinks, and away!"
with Buster in a Robin Hood costume, and smashing into all of ten trees.
Then lastly, he tried the never fails, pulling out all the stops, Anvil
Symphony number three. Smashed by multiple anvils, at faster rates, and
at growing bigger sizes. Fifi and Babs were in tears at this point, but I
had not moved.
	Buster was panting and leaning on a huge granite slab, "Phew!
Nothing! You try Babs." Babs then launched into the longest string of
impersonations and stand-up routines I had seen. Still I didn't laugh as
she proceeded to mimic The Spice Girls (Playing all four roles),
Godzilla, and various others before giving up. Lauching again into a
musical mood, she proceeded to sing some golden moldies with diffrent
words. She finished looked at me, saw I had not moved or laughed, and
threw her arms up in disgust.
	"He's hopeless! Let's get back to Plucky and Shirley. Coming
Feef?" Babs said. Fifi shook her head no, and watched as Buster and Babs
walked down the hill. Then, she sat down on a rock near to me.
	"I know zat look." She started. "It iz ze look of zomeone who has
not zee friend in the world." Without stirring, I replied, "You don't
know the half of it...." I turned my head and looked her straight in the
eye and asked her, "Do you like Acme Acres?" She seemed suprised, "Of
course I do! Vat a zilly question to ask." I think she knew there was
something else, because she moved closer. I drew my cloak around me, to
act as a shield, and put my head down. She put her hand on my head and
said softly, "What is it? You can tell me vouz problems." 
	I slowly rose my head. "Do you see all of this. This place called
Acme Acres? One week from now, it will all be gone." She shook her head
in disbelief, "What do vouz mean, gone?"
	She said this loudly, as Buster and Babs came back up to join us.
"All shall be destroyed." I repeated. Buster and Babs looked at each
other, and shrugged. "What is he talking about?" Buster asked. But Babs
was just as puzzled as him. I then looked at them, and saw the confusion.
I decided to explain thier impending dooms. "Buster, Babs and Fifi.
Please sit." They sat. "I have lived in that castle for thousands of
years. But now it has been destroyed. I was chosen long ago to guard a
Box that held a immense evil." I sighed. "All shall be wasted in Acme
Acres. Except Plucky." Babs scratched her head, "Why Plucky?" I sighed
again, "He opened the Box. He will become a monster like I was. He will
gather souls for the Box. But first, all of Acme Acres will be
destroyed."
	Buster, Babs and Fifi just looked into space and around as these
words sunk in. I chuckled, "Don't worry, we won't have to see it. We are
going to first." I don't know why, but I smiled. Buster was the first to
speak, "There's nothing we can do?" I rubbed my chin. "We can challenge
Slocum. But that would almost mean our certain deaths." Buster stood up,
"We have to try!" I put my hand on his shoulder. "Buster, this is my
fault, let me handle it." But all that accomplished is to have Babs and
Fifi stand also. "We will not let you go alone! We must save Plucky, and
Acme Acres." I sighed and rubbed my forehead, fools, I thought. But brave
fools. "I must breach the hole between these two worlds, and use my
limited powers against them. Anything you can do will help. But going
means your almost certain death." Babs said quietly, "But if we don't go,
we will die anyway." I clapped my hands, "That settles it! We four will
set out in the morning." And we went to bed, the vision of the horrendous
task before us, fresh in our heads.

End Episode One