Never-Ending Story

[karenee]

Still chuckling to himself, Gregory Gargle the Gargantuan Grump (Super G, for short) headed up the secret stairway to the outside world. Flicking a switch on his wristband, he stepped through the garden gate and into the modern world. "This timetravel gizmo is incredible!" he muttered to himself, "But where is DantheMan? I need him to complete the set."

Activating his radio, he called up his fellow conspirators. "Jumpy, Scratchy, where's Dan? I thought you said you were sending him here!"

A low, muttering arguement ensued. "Your fault!" "No, yours!" "Look, I'm not taking the rap for this!" "You got us into it!" "It was YOUR plan! YOU talk to him!"

"I'm getting the idea that DantheMan is NOT on his way to rescue his beloved wife."

"You..." "I...? No!" "Yes!" "NO!" "He did it!" The arguing was getting a little annoying.

Super G sighed. "Boys, I don't care which of you failed. Just bring DantheMan here...NOW! I may have plenty of time in the past, but up here I'm on a schedule. Now MOVE IT!"

[Tegid]

On the rocks in Iona, the slithery snake spoke, "[red]DanTheMan[/red], our grandfather Talaryant has been captured by my old nemesis, Super G."

Dan scratched his head and turned to Tegid with an inquiring expression. "Grandfather is dead."

"It has to do with a time travel device G stole. He knocked Grandfather into a coma, thinking he was me, and managed to lure most of the others into a time trap."

[red]DanTheMan[/red] nodded. "So what's the plan?"

[brown]Tegid[/brown] raised his head, flicking out his tongue. "G's minions are on their way to urge you to rescue [pink]dreamer[/pink]. Don't be enticed by their smooth talking. And don't join them on a visit to an abbey or castle in Ireland. Believe me, [pink]dreamer[/pink] and the others will be alright as long as you don't go. Besides, if you fall into the snare, that will be the end of Grandfather, who, I might add, has not yet had any children."

With that warning, [brown]Tegid[/brown] slid away. [red]DanTheMan[/red] called after him, "Why a snake this time?"

"They'll be after me, too, if they ever find out who's really inside that protective shield I've put around Talaryant. You think they'll take a snake to Ireland?" With that, he was gone.

So [red]DanTheMan[/red] turned his mp3 player back on and continued his contemplative stroll over the rugged, windswept landscape.

[karenee]

Dreamer leaned forward. "I think he's gone for a while. Let's take care of these ropes. Can you believe he thought he could keep us tied up?"

Karenee pulled her arms from the bindings. "I thought he would never leave! We almost didn't get ourselves tied up in time when he brought you guys in, Dancer. Does anyone know who this creep might be?"

Cree looked up. "I have an idea, but it's...well. Just give me a minute to think about this, alright? If it is who I think it is, we're in trouble." He turned away, muttering. "Who else could have captured Tegid?"

Leaving him to his ponderings, Dreamer, Dancer and Karenee began looking for a way to break the containment shield.

[dreamer]

dreamer thought for a minute. "Are we sure that it was Tegid? I mean, we've gone back in time and that looks like he looks now. All of us look slightly different, but how does he manage to look the same? Maybe we're looking at this problem from the wrong viewpoint. If that's not Tegid, who could it be?"

[karenee]

Karenee paused. "That's Tegid?"

"Yes..." Dancer stared at Karenee for a moment before shaking her head. "I'd forgotten you've never seen the family albums."

Peering through the shield, Karenee nodded. "Well, I haven't. So that's Tegid... Odd, I've never seen him before, even that time Cree found him lying unconscious. How'd he get visible?"

Cree jumped up. "That's it! I'd forgotten about the time change!"

Dreamer and Karenee looked at each other in surprise. "Um, well...I don't know how the time change affects anything," Dreamer said. "Tegid travels all the time."

Karenee's knees gave out and she caught Dreamer's arm. "That's not what he meant, Dreamer. He's talking about time travel! Remember when you and Not-Dan vanished?"

Cree nodded. "You wouldn't be able to see him if it was Tegid. In fact, noone could have seen him, and the trial and our captivity wouldn't have happened. Of course, I'd see him just like always, so I didn't think of it right away. It must be Grandfather Talaryant."

Dancer nodded. "That's how Dreamer and I know what Tegid looks like. Everyone shows us pictures of Grandfather Talaryant and says he looks just like that, only in color."

Just then, they heard the rumble of the hedge beginning to move to the side. "Hurry, let's get tied up!" Karenee whispered.

Soon they heard the footsteps of their captor on the stairs. "Ugh! Just leave it!" Dancer whispered to Cree as he fumbled with the ropes. "It LOOKS tied, I think."

Karenee glared up at the man as he stepped into the room. "I see you don't have Dan yet? Would you, by any chance, be planning on keeping us alive? Because I haven't seen a bite of food since you brought us down here, and I'm thirsty too." As he hesitated on the last step, she raised her eyebrows. "What, Not-Dan, you don't know what to do? Why not start by giving up this whole tying up the superheroes bit." She pulled her arms out of the rope. "Did you really think it would work? ROPES? For SUPERheroes?"

"I am NOT called Not-Dan! I'm Super G. And I'm NOT an idiot! You're still here aren't you? How long have you been working to free yourself?"

Karenee shrugged. "I released the ropes the moment you turned your back. None of us is really tied anymore. It's the shield that contains us that has proven more difficult. I've decided pretense won't really help us, so we're dropping the rope bit."

Behind Karenee, Cree sighed. "I thought it was a good idea," he muttered, but freed his hands and helped Dancer to her feet.

"So, are you going to starve us, oh, Super G?" Karenee tapped her foot. "What does Super G stand for anyway? Goofy?"

"You'll never know!" G turned away and stomped into a part of the cavern they couldn't see.

"Nice, Karenee," Dreamer brushed off her skirts. "You're doing the macho guy thing perfectly, only don't you think you could tune the age to something other than a twelve year old?"

Shrugging, Karenee slumped against the wall. "I'm sorry guys. I lost my temper with that idiot, and I'm starving! He's the most incompetant captor ever."

"Because he doesn't feed us?" Dreamer sighed. "Look, he's been rather busy collecting us all. Maybe he'll feed us soon. I just hope he hasn't caught DanmyMan yet."

Behind them, Cree stared after G. "So I was right. I'm going to have to get us all out of here because this isn't good."

[Tegid]

A dim light started shining over to the right, and as it grew brighter, a starving [green]karenee[/green] thought she was imagining a cake -- no, two cakes -- were taking shape on a sideboard. She dashed over to the soft light of the small candles and was greeted by the words "Happy Birthday -- [red]DanTheMan[/red]" written across the cakes.

"A prime blessing! But is this for him, or from him? And why are there two?" [green]karenee[/green] wondered.

[pink]Dreamer[/pink] came up quickly behind her and smiled, "He's twice the hero he used to be!" She started cutting into the lemon bundt cake.

[karenee]

Karenee stepped back till the caramel cake was cut, knowing that even to a starving super hero it would be worth the wait. "I wonder how they got here?" She glanced over at Cree, who seemed to be having a long discussion with himself.

[dancer]

As cree continued his diatribe with himself, dancer helped herself to some caramel cake as well, thankful there was enough for all of them to eat. She wasn't worried. She knew cree would come up with something to save them. He always did.

Karenee happily sat munching her cake contemplating the possible scenerios of escape. Any plans that hatched were quickly realized they would never work. Continuing her thought process...if DantheMan could get cakes in here, couldn't he get us out? hmmmm

Dreamer licked her lips from the slice of lemon cake she just finished. Hmmm "Well, at least I know we won't starve in here."

[karenee]

Cree turned to Dreamer and Dancer, who were hovering over the shield and discussing the best way to open it while they ate their cake. "Don't try to open the shield! Tegid put it there." He stopped talking suddenly. "Wait, I think G is coming."

Super G strode into the room and stopped when he saw the cakes. "Where did you get those?" He shook his head, "Never mind! No more cracks about superheroes."

He studied Karenee for a moment. "I hadn't planned on taking you, actually. You're completely unnecessary. But I think I've found a good use for you after all! DantheMan will certainly come when he finds out his compatriots will die if he stays away. Of course, he won't come at first because he'll think I'm bluffing, but when I kill you he'll change his mind." Chuckling, Super G headed up the stairs. "I'll be back in a moment. Don't worry, this won't hurt...much!"

[DanTheMan]

DanTheMan, oblivious to all that transpires n Ireland, continues his vacation across northern England and eventually makes his way to ...


Hadrian's wall!

[DanTheMan]

After a quick nap, DanTheMan awoke refreshed and had to explore some more.

[karenee]

Soon DantheMan became aware that someone other than himself was walking along the wall. Though they evidently were trying to match their steps to his, they weren't keeping up very well. Pausing, he glanced around to see if he could spot his companions.

___

Meanwhile, Karenee stared into the shadows beside Cree, wondering if Tegid had somehow snuck into the cavern. Deciding she didn't really want to reveal him if he had, she turned back to study the man in the shield. "Well, it's good to know what Tegid looks like," she muttered. "Not as though it really helps anything. I'm wondering what G thinks he will accomplish by capturing the family. He really seems to think it will do something great for him, though what I can't figure out."

Dreamer noticed Karenee muttering and sat down next to her. "DanmyMan will get us out of this, don't worry."

"Maybe it would be better if he didn't try." Karenee shook her head. "I'm really confused. What does he think he'll achieve?"

[DanTheMan]

DanTheMan, along with his invisible companion, decided to go south and visit a place he had found on the internet: Castlerigg!!

[karenee]

G ducked into the room, looking disgruntled. "We're going to have to move home-base." Snapping a couple bands filled with illuminated buttons onto his wrists, he turned to face the blank wall of the cavern and raised his arms. The superheroes watched in amazement as the stone wall retracted, uncovering a large screen that curved around a full half of the cavern. A thumping vibration throbbed through the floor.

Karenee found her muscles tensing as pressure built in her ears. The entire room convulsed, and she had the eerie sensation that she had arrived in a non-place and didn't belong before the room wrenched again and she found herself standing in a completely different cavern than the one she'd been in a moment before.

Dreamer reached out to test the shield, but it remained stable and unbreakable. Karenee shook her head, watching the wall slide silently across the screen once again, completing the illusion of a new cavern. "Interesting."

G tapped a button on his gauntlets and snapped them off. "Now we're getting somewhere! I'll see to DantheMan myself!"

[DanTheMan]

DanTheMan suddenly had the feeling it was time to go and get farther away from this place, so he visited the eastern side of Northumbria and visited Lindisfarne: